TE's Black Friday Blog Hop & Studio Challenge!

Hi All! Hope you all had a Very Happy & Blessed Thanksgiving! 8-) I've been a bit MIA this week as we've had company, but I'm back today to share that It’s time for the Baker's Dozen Studio Challenge and a BIG Black Friday Sale at Taylored Expressions! Whoo Hoo! 8-)  Also, as a Special Black Friday Treat, we are releasing a brand new set of Stacklets today - Labels Stacklets 3 (coordinates with Frame It Up 1), so you will be able to get these brand new dies as part of our Super Black Friday Sale as well! How Cool is that! 8-) 

And as you know,the Baker's Dozen Studio Challenge.  This is a monthly opportunity for us to share what makes our stamping studios hum.  Each month we will have a fun, crafty question so we can share our favorites, some tips and tricks, stamping advice and more.

The question for November is:

As crafters, we often talk about a hand-crafted Christmas. How much stamping do you do for the holidays?  Do you mail hand-stamped cards, make gift packaging, tags, handmade gifts?  Or do you stamp year-round, but not so much for Christmas?  Please show us some handmade tags and share a tip or two on how to keep stamping fun for the holidays.

OMGoodness! What a Great question! 8-) And Yes, I Do send out hand-stamped Cards at Christmas, Lots & Lots of them, lol. And I make gift packaging, tags and handmade gifts too! 8-)  I have a tendency to go a bit Cuckoo for Christmas, lol Plus I stamp all year round, but I definitely Do go the Extra Mile for Christmas..8-)  

My Best advise for keeping stamping Fun for the Holidays, is to first and foremost, start EARLY!! lol Nothing worse than being down to the wire and rushing like a chicken without it's head instead of being able to relax and enjoy the Holiday with family and friends.. 8-) Second, what keeps it fun for me, especially when mass producing, is keeping it simple, and mixing it up a bit.. lol  I have a tendency to get bored easily, so the most I will usually do of a design is 3-5 (max).. Then I create something new, do 3-5 of them, and so on... It Keeps things fresh and fun, for me anyway, and it lets me use as many fun stamps as I want to! lol Gotta Love that! 8-) I remember trying miserably one year to make 25 of the same Christmas card and pretty much never wanted to see that stamp again by the time I had finished.. lol So now I mix it up! 8-)

For my project today, I chose to make up some more Wine Bottle tags, as promised from last months Studio Challenge, lol  I started off again with Kraft CS, and cut 4 pieces at 7 3/4" x 2 3/4" And scored at 2.5". I used my Corner Chomper on the top two corners and hand cut fishtail notches at the bottoms. I used my Classic Circles Nesties set for the circle cut outs and TE's Scallops & Circles Impression Plate for a bit of texture. For this batch, I chose to decorate with TE's Darling Joy ALC & stamped my images with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored them up with my Trusty Copics. I added a touch of shading with Antique Linen Distress ink and layered them onto Lables Stacklets 1 Die cuts and popped them up with a bit of foam tape onto Layered Frame It Up 1 Die cuts. My Mats and BG layers were created with Hillary Bazzill CS, Cherry Cobbler CS and Simple Stories' Darling Handmade Holiday 6x6 Collection. To finish them all up I added some Fun Holly Leaves created with the Very Merry Outlines Dies, and Cute little buttons all tied up with Yummy Doodle Twine! 8-) These are Super Easy and lots of Fun to put together, and since I still need a few more for good measure you just may get to see yet another version of them in the very near future!... 8-)

Now, It wouldn’t be Black Friday without a sale! So, just enter coupon code BLACKFRIDAY2012 on your order at the TE Store Friday through Monday to save 10-30% off your entire order! The earlier you shop, the MORE you save! Details on the TE Store homepage.

The Baker's Dozen has Lots more goodies for you this morning, so hop on over and see...8-)

• Charmaine Ikach
• Jen Shults
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Shannon White (You are here!)
• Shelly Mercado
• Stephanie Kraft
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess

Here are the items I used for my project Today and you can find them in the TE Store...

InLinkz.com

Hope you all have a Super Day & Thanks so much for Hopping by! 8-)