Hey, crafty friends! It’s Heather here for another TE 13th Birthday Challenge. We paired up the designers on the TE Creative Team and had them come up with creative challenges for each other and all of you. We have four challenges happening, the second of which starts today from Noriko Fairchild and Kavya! Create along with the challenges for a chance to win a TE Guest Designer Spot (for a future release) or a $25 gift certificate (13 will be drawn from all challenge entries) to the TE webstore.

Once you create your project for the challenges using TE stamps, dies, and stencils (you can create as many projects as you want!), upload them to the appropriate photo albums on the Fans of Taylored Expressions Facebook Page. The deadline to upload all of your projects is 11:59PM Central Time on Friday, September 17th. Winners will be announced here on the blog on Monday, September 20th.

Also, the cards that were created by the TE Creative Team for the challenges will be auctioned off! Yes, that’s right, the cards will be sent to the highest bidders and all of the proceeds will benefit Heifer International. You can get all of the details and bid on your favorite card over at the Fans of Taylored Expressions Facebook Page. You’ll also notice that all of the cards created by the TE Creative Team give you a sneak peek for new products that will be coming your way next week!

Here’s the second challenge! Create a quick & simple card and then put Noriko & Kavya’s tips to work to turn that simple card into something sensational. Take a photo of the Simple version before it turns Sensational and share both versions with us!

Here are tips from Noriko & Kavya to ‘step up’ your card creations to go from Simple to Sensational:

• Cardio is Hardio (ink blending your backgrounds)
• Stencil Me Happy (adding stenciling to your backgrounds)
• Shop Your Stash (stretch your supplies by combining two totally different products)
• Down to the Last Detail (add extra details like embellishments, white gel pen highlights, shadows, etc.) 

Click below to upload your project into the Simple to Sensational Challenge album on the Fans of Taylored Expressions Facebook Page:

Here is a look at the projects that Noriko and Kavya created for the Simple to Sensational challenge:

Noriko starts off her simple card (on the left) with an ink blended background and embossed sentiment with a sentiment strip embossed in white on an Oreo Cardstock strip underneath. This card is wonderful on its own, but adding a few additional elements stepped it right up to sensational. For the sensational card (on the right), Noriko added stenciling over the top of her blended background, transformed her sentiment into a shaker element, added splatters, and added sparkly rhinestones. It’s amazing how a few simple additions can transform your projects!

Kavya’s simple card (on the left) features the card sentiment embossed on Blueberry cardstock along with a few cute cupcakes beneath it. To step up her design to something a bit more sensational (on the right), Kavya did ink blending and added lots of splatters to the background behind the sentiment, she added a layer behind the sentiment cut out with a Petite Scallop Rectangle Stacklets die, she swapped out the center cupcake for one with Millie the mouse that is colored with Copic markers, and she added the ‘birthday’ word embossed on a Lollipop cardstock strip to the sentiment. Both cards are great designs, but the sensational version has so many wonderful extra touches that make it that more amazing!

Stop back again here tomorrow for the next challenge that is coming your way from Jen Shults and Emily Mydlowski. If you haven’t already, stop by and take a look through the challenge albums on the Fans of Taylored Expressions Facebook Page. I hope to see your card submission added soon! Thanks so much for stopping by today, friends!

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