Mother's Little Helper

Taylored Expressions May Release Day: Birch Tree Cutting Plate

Not only is today Release Day for all of Taylored Expressions' May products, it's also TO DIE FOR!  What do I mean?  That I'm going to go all Nicole-Kidman-as-Suzanne-Stone-and-persuade-some-thuggie-teenagers-to-kill-my-husband?¹  No, silly.  TO DIE FOR means all of us in the Baker's Dozen (and our fabby guest designer, Joan Ervin) are featuring a particular die being released this month, and showing you two different ways to use it.  Fun-fun-fun!

I'm thrilled to be able to show you a couple of things I made with the new BIRCH TREE CUTTING PLATE.  I believe I've made mention of the fact that I ADORE TE's cutting plates, and that's not mere DT puffery on my part.  They are just so dang cool and EASY to work with; instant elegance with the crank of your insert name of your particular die cutting machine or a push of the ol' Vagabond button.  The BIRCH TREE CUTTING PLATE (BTCP) is no exception, except for the fact that it's exceptionally beautiful.²

Here's one way to use the BTCP, as a woodsy background for a masculine card:

I chopped up all of the sentiments from the new GRAPHIC GREETINGS DAD stamp, popped them up on foam boosters, and spread them out, ransom-note-style, all over the card front.  I added a little rustic twine for visual interest.  Easy-peasy!

Now, for a different look, I created a little winter scene using the BTCP:

Using white cardstock for the BTCP layer automatically made me think of snow.  I added a trio of cool blues for my other card elements (including an owl, bird, and the deer from the BIRCH TREE ACCESSORIES die set, and a panel from the BAND IT dies for the sentiment), then took a white colored pencil to add snowflakes.³  The sentiment is from the From My Window set.

And lookie: nice and flat for easy mailing!  Love when that happens.

Shall we visit the rest of the Baker's Dozen to see their TO DIE FOR projects?  Let's go!

Charmaine Ikach

Jami Sibley

Jen Shults

Joan Ervin

Kerri Michaud

Lynnette Kauffman

Sankari Wegman

Shannon White

Shelly Mercado

Stephanie Kraft

Tammie Edgerton

Taylor VanBruggen

Wanda Guess

 

Footnotes:

1.  Have you ever seen To Die For?  It is SUCH a great movie - by far and away my favorite Nicole Kidman performance.  She won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar for it, you know.  It's loosely based on the Pamela Smart case, and is a dark comedy (my favorite kind of movie).

  

2.  See how I did that?  Used some form of 'except' three times within the course of one fairly short sentence.  Why one would want to do that, I don't know, but it amuses me.  I'm easy!  Like Sunday morning. (Now, you know I have to do this, but you don't have to watch it unless you want to...)

 

3.  Hmmm... I got a little heavy-handed with the snowflakes; would probably look better with fewer.  Oh well - wabi sabi!  Let's just pretend it's a blizzard scene...

Raise the {Daffodil} Lantern

Hello, my pretties!  Happy happy Hump Day!  Wednesdays are long days for me for the next several weeks as I've started the summer semester; I'm in class from 4:30 - 10 pm (same on Mondays) through the end of July.  Blech.  But the subject matter is interesting: Career Counseling and Diversity Issues in Counseling.  Well, at least they're interesting to me, especially compared to all of the legal casebooks and texts I had to read in my previous life. 

I'm sure you'd like nothing better than to hear all about my course assignments and readings -- but really, I think we need to move on to more colorful subjects.  Like, say, this week's COLOR THROWDOWN!  Tammy the Hammer is this week's hostess, and she's throwing down a citrus-y combo that's sure to quench your palette...

I decided to use another of my brand-new ASIAN INSPIRED gals from last weekend's Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps.  I know you must tire of hearing me say how much I love Annie Rodrigue's Moonlight Whispers girlies, so I'm going to refrain from doing so. (But you know what I'm thinking...)  This time, I've used NATSUKO.  Her name means "Summer Child," which I thought went perfectly with Tam's colors. :)

The moment I saw this image, I immediately thought of the Chinese film, 'Raise the Red Lantern.'  Have you ever seen it?  I'm not a huge foreign film buff as I find subtitles a bit distracting (much harder to get 'lost' in the movie when you also have to read what the actors are saying), but I heartily recommend it.  It's visually stunning and has such a great story line: it's set in China in the 1920's and tells the story of a young girl who becomes the fourth wife (or third concubine/mistress) of a wealthy business man, and the politics of living in that household.  The significance of the red lantern is that each day, whomever the master intends to spend the night with has her house (each wife has her own house/rooms that are adjacent to the main house and connected via a courtyard) festooned with red lanterns by servants.  She gets pampered (receiving a foot massage that is apparently addictive) and gets to pick the meals for the next day (which all of the other wives must eat).  Anyway, it's a fabulous movie - it came out in the early '90s and was nominated for an Oscar.  Definitely worth renting (Netflix has it on disc) or buying if you can find a copy.  I'll put the trailer at the bottom of this post if you want to learn more about it.

Anyway, had she been carrying a red lantern, that little smirk on Natsuko's face could be seen as taunting the other wives.  Considering that her lantern is daffodil, and that the sentiment that comes with her is all about remembering kindnesses, let's assume she's not gloating about the foot rub that's coming her way.  I love the little hairnets (or whatever they're called) that Annie has sheathed her hair buns in.  What a unique take on pig tails.  Is that done?  I don't think I've ever seen them before.  They remind me of what my mom used to wear to bed when I was growing up.  She'd go to the beauty shop once a week to get her hair done, then every night before bed, she'd wrap her hair in toliet paper and then crown her swaddled head with a pink satin hairnet.  No wonder I'm so weird...

And, seeing that birds of a feather flock together, well, need I say more about the other eccentrics that make up the Color Throwdown design team?  (I say that with love, girls!)  Why not stop by the Color Throwdown blog to see what the other gals have come up with, then go to their blogs and thank them for putting up with the likes of me?  I'd truly appreciate it, you know. :)

• Tammy Hershberger
• Broni Holcombe
• Barbara Anders
• Danielle Kennedy
• Laura Pryor
• and June Guestie, Betty Wright

Wanna play along with us?  Of course you do!  Just use CTD146 when uploading to a public gallery and add your creation to the Color Throwdown blog using the linky tool.

Other card details?  Well, let's see:

• The sketch is based loosely on last week's Mojo Monday (#194) sketch that I missed while I was out of town.
• Natsuko and her lantern were colored with Copic markers and her dress was paper-pieced.  Her lantern was given a shimmery coat of Sakura Stardust Gelly Roll pen.  I scribbled the ink on it, then spread it around with a waterbrush (a trick I learned from my pal Jen).
• I used My Favorite Thing's Faux Crochet Border Die-namic to create the scallop-y detail near the bottom of the card.

And now, for your viewing pleasure...

 

Supplies used:

Stamps: Natsuko by Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps; Paper: leaf pattern from Echo Park's Springtime 6x6 pad, tangerine pattern from Basic Grey's Ambrosia paper pad, yellow woodgrain from Bella Blvd's Mr. Boy Quadrants 12x12 sheet, Kiwi Kiss & Tangerine Tango (SU!), Copic X-Press blending paper, Georgia Pacific white; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Accessories: Copic markers, corner rounder, Dainty Doily Border Die-Namic by My Favorite Things, Sakura Stardust Gelly Roll pen, ribbon, foam boosters from Jody Morrow's Sticky Stuff Store.