- WHERE WE STARTED -
As a little girl, Taylor adored the time she spent crafting alongside her mom. She delighted in how special it made her feel to give someone a project she had made herself and watch their face light up with happiness. As she got older, her love for paper crafting grew, and card-making was a natural hobby for her to turn to whenever she wanted to stay in touch with family and friends.
In 2005, after moving to Southern California so her husband, Jon, could attend grad school, Taylor started blogging to share her projects, and what started as a fun way to pass the time quickly turned into job offers for creative work. For a while, she enjoyed the excitement of designing for others, but, in the back of her mind, a new vision had started to form.
Remembering that childhood lesson of how good it felt to make handmade cards for others, and wanting to take the guesswork out of paper crafting so anyone could enjoy the hobby, Taylor decided to launch Taylored Expressions in 2008. Her first line of products was a series of cupcake-themed rubber stamps (because everyone loves a good cupcake!), and with the help of Jon, her mom and some dear friends, Taylor's business quickly expanded to include dies, stencils, cardstock, crafting supplies and more.
- WHERE WE ARE TODAY -
Today, Taylored Expressions has grown into a company known throughout the paper crafting industry for its high quality, American-made products, its trendy and timeless collections, its adorable characters and its sense of community. Thousands of stamps and dies into it, Taylor has maintained her desire to provide meaningful ways for people to live their lives creatively, and has added a variety of social media channels to her blog in order to ensure she can meet crafters where they are. TE also hosts its own live and virtual Stamp Joy events to bring fans together to craft, network and share their creative ideas and "aha" moments.
TE is also still committed to Taylor's basic premise that making and giving handmade cards and gifts is one of the surest ways to spread joy. Since 2013, TE has hosted several Share Joy campaigns to collect handmade cards from fans who are interested in seeing them donated to organizations that serve people where a special card can make all the difference. From children's hospitals to homeless shelters, bereavement programs to retirement communities, we've collected and given away more than 10,000 cards!
- WHERE WE'RE GOING -
As we look ahead to our future, we are super excited to think about all the things we can accomplish with the support of our TE fans and the global paper crafting community! Whether it's coming out with new products or discovering ways to make sophisticated card-making techniques simple and fun, Taylor and the entire TE Family are committed to the idea that making and giving handmade cards is still one of the best ways to show someone else you care. Beyond today's conveniences of texts and emails (and whatever may come along next week), cards made by hand are a beautiful way to connect with friends, family and even strangers to let them know just how special they are. They are a tangible expression of your love, which makes card-making, specifically, and paper crafting, in general, so much more than a hobby!
We can't thank you enough for allowing TE to be part of your creative journey, and we can't wait to see how much collective joy we can share in the years to come!