Happy Birthday to Taylor!

I met Taylor VanBruggen in 2010 at the Craft and Hobby Association show in Chicago.  Taylor is the "Taylor" in "Taylored Expressions" and today is her 30th birthday!  Her husband, Jon, sent out a secret email request for birthday cards and wishes to help mark this significant birthday.  Since Taylor is known for her fondness of sweets, he asked for cards that oozed sweetness!

I have enjoyed all of the stamps, dies and other items I have purchased from Taylored Expressions over the last couple of years and I used some of them to make this card.

One of my favorite stamp sets from Taylored Expressions is It's in the Bag - I think I like it so much because it has a companion die set so you can make teeny tiny shopping bags.

 I also like this set of banners and greetings called It's a Banner Day 1 - once again it has a coordinating die to cut the banner image.  (There are two other banner day sets with different styles of banners as well as an additional set of holiday sentiments for all three banners).

I cut out the tiny shopping bag from the green glitter cardstock from the DCWV Cotton Bloom stack that I used for my father-in-law's card (it matched the other colors perfectly - sometimes it is good to be slow to clean up your leftovers!).

The die cuts and scores in one pass so it is easy to crease along all of the marked lines to shape the bag.

I use Scor-Tape to hold the bags together - it is great on the glittered cardstock which can be prone to popping open with a weaker adhesive.

The tiny bags are very cute - they finish at 1 1/2 x 2 inches and are about 1/2 inch deep.

Last year I participated in the kit club that Taylor offers called Key Ingredients.  Each month I received a box with cardstock, patterned papers, ribbons and other embellishments to make cards.  It is wonderful to be able to pick up one of these boxes and have everything already coordinated for you.

I  remembered that the January 2011 kit had lots of sweet papers (from the Little Yellow Bicycle "Cupcake Love") so I pulled out that box and chose my card base (Bazzill Chablis) and the glittery lollipop cardstock for my top card layer (cut at 3 3/4 x 5 inches).  I used the same green glitter DCWV cardstock that I used for the shopping bag for the bottom mat layer (cut at 4 x 5 1/4 inches).

Next, I created the banner for the birthday greeting.   I stamped the dotted design with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink and then placed the clear template on top (if you look carefully you can see that is marked "this side  up" to help you get it placed properly).  I made pencil marks in the two little holes.

Then I placed the die on top of the image and lined up the holes in the die with the pencil marks.

Here is my stamped and cut banner.  I stamped the "Happy Birthday" in the center with Crushed Olive Distress Ink.

I needed some foam dots to raise the sentiment and make it show up a little better in the shadow of the tiny shopping bag.

Here is the finished sentiment on the card.

I stamped the little cupcake from the It's In the Bag stamp set with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink.  Then I colored the leaves and liner with Crushed Olive and Dusty Concord Distress Markers.  I colored the flower on top of the cupcake with a Poppy ProMarker.  Then I added Crystal Stickles to the frosting and a drop of Glossy Accents on the flower.

I left it to dry for a few hours and the Glossy Accents became clear and let the Poppy Promarker and Worn Lipstick ink show through.  I punched out the image with a 3/4 inch circle punch and then placed the circle on a 1 inch hexagon punched from DCWV glitter cardstock (hexagons are all the rage lately!).

I used a couple of pieces of half inch Scor-Tape to secure the bag to the card. 

Here is a shot of the various items I used for the cupcake image (except for the stamp and the Worn Lipstick ink).

I added a small piece of shimmery pink fabric to the bag.  I thought it would stay fluffy and not get crushed like tissue paper when the card is mailed.

I think this is a happy card  - and definitely sweet!

If you have a chance - pop over to the Taylored Expressions Facebook page (or if you are not on Facebook you also leave a Happy Birthday comment on Taylor's Blog.  Say hi from me!

I didn't get my card in the mail on time - I wanted to add something sweet to the package that I haven't had time to make...that's today's project!  The birthday celebration will last a little bit longer this way.  I remember I used to find the cutest belated birthday cards sometimes and then wait to send them so they would be truly belated!

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