July Baker's Dozen Studio Challenge

I am so excited to introduce to you a new challenge at Taylored Expressions!  It's called the Baker's Dozen Studio Challenge!  It's going to be a lot of fun and I hope you'll look forward to it each month!

Taylored Expressions is introducing a new monthly challenge for the design team: The Baker's Dozen Studio Challenge. This will be an 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 July is:
You are stranded on a desert island. The good news is that you find a fabulous stamping hut well-stocked with papers, inks and other stamping supplies, however you only have the 5 stamp sets you brought with you in the luggage you managed to salvage. So tell us, what stamps sets did you bring and why?

When I went through my TE stamps to choose the 5 stamp sets I'd pack in my luggage, it took me a bit of time.  As I went through older sets that I haven't used in a while, I remembered how much they were my favorites and it made it very hard to decide!  My final decision ended up being the following:

1.  Birds of a Feather
2.  Bugabee
3.  Discover Your Wings
4.  Make It Amazing
5.  Love Monsters

A couple of sets on my list (Bugabee and Love Monsters) are a no-brainer if you know my style.  I LOVE cute, adorable images and you know I'm all about ladybugs!  ;)  Those sets are definitely for days when I need a cute card.  Discover Your Wings had to be in my luggage because I need at least one silhouette set for the days when I don't have time or don't feel like coloring.  Make It Amazing is just a gorgeous set.  It's perfect for making those elegant/pretty/feminine cards with lots of frills and layers.  I couldn't leave that home!  :)  The set that I used for today's challenge and the set that I even surprised myself with choosing is Birds of a Feather.  Don't get me wrong, I love this set, but it's not my usual style.  I always seems to love everybody else's creations with a set like this.  I don't know why.  Everybody needs to pack a "challenging" set, right?  The one that wouldn't be your normal style, but you play with when you have time to play (like when you're stranded on a desert island with nothing but time!)   LOL 

For my project today, I chose to use the Birds of a Feather set.  I also used papers from the Tea for Two Collection from Cosmo Cricket, which actually was in my July Key Ingredients Subscription.  (I wonder if I'd be able to forward that subscription to the desert island?? Taylor???)  lol

I used the coordinating Birds and Branch Dies on my card.  I die cut the branch twice. . .once out of brown cardstock and once out of green.  Then I cut the leaves off of the green die cut branch and glued them in place on the brown branch.  I stamped and die cut two of the little birds from the set and mounted them on the branch with foam tape. 

The little panel behind the birds was die cut using the Take Note Frame 2 Die and then I ran it through my Cuttlebug with the Hearts Impression Plate.  For the sentiment section of the card, I die cut the yellow cardstock using the Medium Scallop Border Die.  I die cut a Layering Doily Die Small out of white cardstock.  I stamped and embossed one of the birdcages from the set onto cream cardstock, cut it out and attached it over the doily as a little accent.  The sentiment was stamped on an acetate band that I wrapped around the card front.  I finished the card off with some ribbon, buttons and stitching. 

Jen Shults

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Melody Rupple

Regina Mangum

Sankari Wegman

Shannon White

Shelly Mercado

Stephanie Kraft

Taylor VanBruggen

Wanda Guess