Taylored Expressions Stamp Joy Cards and Review

I just spent a wonderful weekend stamping while socially distant with a dear friend at a virtual crafty event called Stamp Joy 2020 hosted by Taylored Expressions. I took the two hour class last Friday and then spend all day Saturday making 10 cards in hourly Make and Take sessions. The one - and perhaps only one? - good change that 2020 has brought is that TE made Stamp Joy virtual so 900+ people could participate instead of the usual in person gathering at their store in Iowa. I would not have been able to attend and am sooo glad I could this year. I highly recommend you consider attending next year either way. I learned so much starting on Friday with the two cards above. I learned that the Taylored Expressions Masking Stencils are so versatile and can be used to make some very cool cards such as the ones above and below:

To be honest I thought I could make my own rectangle stencils, but then after trying their quality versions, I ordered my own and got them in two days! 

We did shading and double stenciling and ink brushing on embossing and all the sentiment and butterfly stamps you see were included in our kits. The butterflies were high quality rubber stamps with matching acrylic stamps that fill them in with color. Brilliant - especially for those like me who don't like to color. Taylor also taught a technique for stamping the  butterflies perfectly in the matching butterfly dies I had never tried but will do every time now! Most of the stamps and some of the stencils you see in my pictures were exclusive for Stamp Joy attendees but may be available in the future at Taylored Expressions. Here are some of the cards we made on Saturday: 

I am a very experienced stamper and card maker and did learn new tips and ideas both days. Once again what we received was so organized and generous! All the pieces for all the cards were provided as well as many stamps, stencils and embossing folders. I added the Wish Big sentiment die from Stamplorations and some of my favorite gems (even though those were provided), but that is all I used of my own. That gorgeous floral background stamp is a full size stamp with open flowers that can be "colored" with acrylic stamps shaped for the leaves and flowers. They are designed to be not perfectly covered for a easy fun look. And there is a matching stencil set to color with too as I did here in one of the bonus cards I made:

We received the "Share Joy" stickers because that is Taylored Expression's motto. We also used Therm O Web's Shattered Foil on the Brighter Skies card above and I couldn't let any of that gorgeous foil go to waste so I ran it again through my MINC with a Deco Foil Toner Sheet and made the top card with two of the cute stamps we received. We also received an awesome craft apron and TE gave away thousands of dollars worth of prizes too! And we were all surprised with a personalized stamp for each of us! 

My review? I loved it all and can tell you honestly Stamp Joy 2020 was worth every penny and I hope it is virtual again next year because I really want to attend again.