Baby bird

A quick hello for tonight!

I made this card for the RetroSketches challenge. Loved the sketch this week!

Hello, Baby

 Stamps: Flock Together, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Birds of a Feather

Colours: Summer Starfruit, Island Indigo, Whisper White

Embellishments: Summer Starfruit Stitched Satin ribbon, Dahlia

The bird in the cage is cut out from the DSP (which, if I haven't mentioned before, I LOVE), and the stitching around the DSP panel is done with Island Indigo marker... I could have brought out my sewing machine, but 1) that's a lot of work, and 2) I don't have Island Indigo thread ;)

Here's the sketch this week:

Thanks for stopping by today! Tomorrow is August 1st, and there's a lot of exciting things happening... Will be back with that later ;)

-Tara
xox

A Sunday Stamps Sketch!

Hello!

Are you all ready for another Sunday Stamps challenge? This week, Joan is the hostess with the mostess, and she brings us a cool sketch to work with.

Happy Birthday

 Stamps: Serene Silhouettes, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Colours: Chocolate Chip, Lucky Limeade

Paper: International Bazaar

Embellishments: Linen Thread

Tools: Stampin' Sponges

I admit, I took a bit of creative license with this one ;) When I was looking through my stamps, I came across the gorgeous tree from Serene Silhouettes - The placement of the trees foliage matched the three ovals from the sketch, and I just went from there.

To add a little extra interest to the tree, I first inked it in Lucky Limeade, then I sponged the edges of the stamp directly with Chocolate Chip. I like the way it turned out!

Here is the sketch for this week!

Check out what the wonderful inspiration from the rest of the Design Team, then hop on back to Sunday Stamps and link up!!

Holly Endress

Lisa Johansen

Monica Hornof

Hayley Kew

Joan Jeffery 

Looking forward to seeing what you create :)

-Tara

xox

A CAS birthday!

I have been on a stampin' rampage this past week!

I have another one to show you today, for the CAS-ual Friday challenge. 

Happy Birthday 

 Stamps: World Treasures, Bring on the Cake

Colours: Gumball Green, Midnight Muse, Baja Breeze. 

Tools: Big Shot, Argyle embossing folder 

The colours are SO fun together, eh? Here's the challenge this week:

Ok... that's really it until tomorrow ;) Be sure to come back and play along with the Sunday Stamps challenge. The Design Team has some great samples to inspire you!


-Tara
xox

Monochromatic Neutrals

As if I didn't love neutrals enough, the Dynamic Duos team is challenging us to make a monochromatic card using neutrals! Sweet :)

Birthday Wishes

Stamps: Stippled Blossoms, Bring on the Cake

Colours: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla

Embellishments: Crumb Cake Seam Binding ribbon

Tools: Big Shot, Top Note die, Elegant Lines embossing folder

I really enjoyed making this card. I have to say, the Stippled Blossoms stamp set is probably one of my favourite 'floral' sets from the new catalogue. Every colour combo I've tried just looks gorgeous together - even browns!!

It's been a really long time since I whipped out the Top Note die... Sometimes it pays to shuffle through your supplies. Normally I have something in mind and grab the necessities, but today I browsed my stuffs first and came up with the card afterwards!

Here's the challenge from the Dynamics Duos

Thanks for stopping by! Would love to see you back tomorrow for a new challenge with Sunday Stamps :)

-Tara
xox

Christmas in July!!

Good Friday morning!!

Time for another Friday Mashup challenge! Hold on to your red and white hats, folks! This one's going to blow your stockings off :)

Lisa has us celebrating Christmas in July! Yippee!!! She's also challenging us to decorate the inside of our card as well. I used the new "Open Sleigh" set from the Annual Catalogue. When I first saw the catalogue, I knew I needed that set. Believe it or not, this is my first time using it!

Merry Christmas

 

 And here's the inside:

Stamps: Open Sleigh, More Merry Messages

Colours: Crumb Cake, Gumball Green, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla

Paper: Be of Good Cheer

Embellishments: Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon

Here's the challenge for you this week:

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge:

1. Make a project "For Christmas."
2. Or Make a greeting card and "Decorate the Inside."
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a "Christmas Card & Decorate the Inside."

We would love to see you play along - bring on the Christmas cheer!

-Tara
xox

Craft Project Central roundup!

Project Designed by Kim!

 This fun gift box with four greeting cards and envelopes also includes a special chocolate treat in a separate compartment!  This project makes a great and inexpensive gift for those that like to send out cards and also like chocolate.  The tutorial includes measurements for three different box sizes, including A2 size cards with six nuggets, note cards with five nuggets, and 3" x 3" gift cards with three nuggets!

 Project designed by Julie!

Ever wonder what you can do with those 6" x 6" pieces of Designer Series Paper that you have?  Well, this plethora of small projects will give you a great way to use up those 6" x 6" pieces in a fun and easy way, and you’ll be ready for lots of gift-giving! With eight sheets you can make them all – a Candy Bar Pocket, a Tall and Thin Milk Carton, a Gate Fold Card, an Open Top Box, a Tied Up Carousel of Treats, a Double Pocket Pouch, and a Cute Cone!

Project designed by Sharon!

 Do you struggle with designing masculine cards?  I sure do!  Well here’s a set of cards and a matching box that is a great gift for men.  Your kids’ male teachers will be impressed with your creativity and will appreciate having the cards on hand.  The cards are also perfect for sending to the men in your life!  This project is also a fun class project!

Project designed by Heidi!

Do you know a little girl that likes to dress up or has a birthday coming up?  Here is a cute little tutu that you can make along with a coordinating tutu birthday card!  Change the fabric colors and designs and you have a cute little tutu for other events and holidays too!

Loving these projects? Me too!! if you want beautiful written tutorials on how to make these projects and 6 others, subscribe to Craft Project Central for the month of July! :) If you have some time, please stop by Craft Project Central and leave some love for these fab ladies and their creations!

-Tara

xox

More black, red and white!

I loved the black, red and white colour combo from my last post so much that I decided to make another one! This one reminds me a bit of Minnie Mouse (probably the fabric!), but I'm willing to accept that. ;)

I made this one for the CASE Study and CAS-ual Friday challenges. I'll get to those in a bit, but first, here's the card:

I'm here for you

Stamps: Blooming with Kindness, Serene Silhouettes

Colours: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White

Embellishments: Summer Smooches Designer Fabric

The challenge from CASE Study was to find inspiration for the muse's (Kristii Lockart) card. It's a gorgeous card!! I LOVE the colours in it, and all the sweet details. But I decided to pick a few elements and use those (the birds, the red and white ribbon).

The CAS-ual Friday card was to make a Clean and Simple (CAS) card using a black card base.

I love the sentiments from the Blooming with Kindness set - they have such a nice font and styling on them. I can see myself using these a lot ;)

We are finally getting rain here (after over a month of zero rain), so fingers crossed it helps a bit with all the brush fires going on around these parts!

-Tara
xox

Dynamic Duos!

I'm finally getting back into the swing of things! My mojo took a short vacation, but we've reconnected now and are ready to go.

I needed to play along with the Dynamics Duos challenge. It had been so long, and I don't even know where that time went!

Congratulations

 Stamps: Delightful Dozen

Colours: Basic Black, Poppy Parade, Whisper White

Embellishments: Pearls

Tools: Boho Blossom punch, Blossom punch, Simply Scored

This week at Dynamics Duos, the challenge was to use Black and Poppy Parade (and add in some punches!). It has been awhile since I've grabbed Poppy Parade, so if felt kinda good ;) The punches I used were the Boho Blossom and Blossom punch.

The big black flower has the faux suede technique applied to it, and I scrunched up the boho blossom flowers to give them a little more depth. I laid them out kinda willy-nilly and then just layered some more on top.

The background layer is scored with the Simply Scored Diagonal Plate - makes for a fun bit of texture :)

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara
xox

A new challenge at Sunday Stamps!

Good morning!

It's time for another challenge at Sunday Stamps. Each week we alternate between a colour challenge and sketch challenge, and this week we're throwing some earth tones at you!

 Stamps: Blooming with Kindness

Colours: So Saffron, Soft Suede, Riding Hood Red

Embellishments: Riding Hood Red Taffeta ribbon, Very Vanilla Taffeta ribbon

Tools: 1-3/4" Circle punch

I just love this set. Love it. I guess flowers are growing on me these days. I stamped the flower in So Saffron, but then added some highlights with Soft Suede and a blender pen. It gives the gorgeous flower a little more depth, I find.


Check out what the rest of the design team has to show show you!

 

Holly Endress

Lisa Johansen

Monica Hornof

Hayley Kew

Joan Jeffery

We would love to see you join us this week at Sunday Stamps! Get out your brown, yellow, and red and show us what you got!! :)

The next card is a card for Freshly Made Sketches. I'm so happy I found some time last night to make a few cards. I had a hard time with the sketch this week - I never know how to use circles! haha. But, I love that it challenged me!

With Sympathy

Stamps: Serene Silhouettes, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Colours: Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit

Papers: Comfort Cafe DSP

Embellishments: Pearls

Tools: Decorative Label punch, 2-1/2" Circle, 1-3/4" Circle

Thanks for dropping in today!

-Tara
xox

Soft with an edge!

Wow! Two 'no' layer cards in a row! Yesterday's card for The Friday Mashup was stamped and coloured directly on the Whisper White card base... and so is today's for the Play Date Cafe. I'm feeling very minimalist these days, apparently ;)

Life is a matter of moments

Stamps: Clockworks, Elements of Style

Colours: Pool Party, So Saffron, Primrose Petals, Pink Pirouette

Never in a million years did I think the first time that I used the Clockworks set it would be like this! When I ordered it, I envisioned myself doing something really cool with a lot of layered window sheets, but I failed (and miserably so!) when I tried to do that. Be very sure, when working with window sheets, that if you've stamped something with words or numbers, that you attach it the right way ;) My clock went backwards, and I completely didn't even think about lining the 12 up with the top. It was the wonkiest thing I've ever seen! hahah

The sentiment for this is from the Elements of Style set, and is absolutely perfect.

The lovely colours for this card today came form the Play Date Cafe! It's been too long again since I've played with them, and I certainly couldn't resist this week. Have a peek:

Thanks for stopping by today! See you tomorrow for a new challenge at Sunday Stamps :)

-Tara
xox

Summertime at The Friday Mashup!

Good morning!

It's time for another Friday Mashup. This week, Heidi's got us enjoying the summer weather :)

With You

Stamps: For the Birds

Colours: Real Red, Basic Black, Wisteria Wonder, Gumball Green, Regal Rose, Island Indigo, Daffodil Delight and Tempting Turquoise

.... that's it ;)

I wanted to keep my card super simple today. This card is in honour of summer, and the feeling of simplicity it brings (no getting snowsuits on, no brushing off the car or trudging through feet of snow, you get the idea ;))

I know, you're probably all thinking "when will this woman get over the 'bird' thing?"... The answer is, no time soon ;) I just love the "For the Birds" stamp set. One of those 'go to' for any occasion!

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge:

1. Make a project with "the Sketch."
2. Or Make a project w/ a "Lazy Summer Day theme (under the shade of a tree/ biking / Swimming / Sitting in an adirondack chair)."
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project w/ the "Sketch & the Lazy Summer Day Theme."

We would love to see what summer means to you! Link up at The Friday Mashup!

- Tara
xox

BLOG CANDY WINNER!

Hello everyone,

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments on my gift card & tag set for Craft Project Central.

The winner of the BLOG CANDY (a free subscription to July at Craft Project Central) is...

 Comment # 10 - LISA!

Congratulations, Lisa! :) Please email me at tarabourgoin@yahoo.ca so that I can get the necessary information from you.

My next project at Craft Project Central will be in September, so keep your eyes peeled - There will be another blog candy giveaway then as well.

-Tara
xox

Digital Tuesday on Wednesday!

Good Wednesday moprning, friends!

I'm currently sitting on a train, heading to Montreal. Technology is amazing, isn't it?! This week I started back at work - my "day job", and as I try and settle back into the new routine, I'm adjusting to having a little less creative time than I did before.

That being said, I didn't want you to miss out on the new Digital Downloads this week, so for now, as I watch the trees roll by and listen to the whistle blow on train #30, I'll highlight this week's fun new downloads - and when I get home, I'll create a project to show you which download I'm showcasing ;)

This week's downloads are:
(Click here for more details)

• 12 Days of Christmas Swatchbook template
• Convention 2012 Photobook Template
• Naturals Designer Buttons
• Razzleberry Splash kit
• Sassy Salutations stamp brush set
• World Spectacular ensemble

Let's have a look-see!

12 Days of Christmas Swatchbook template

Convention 2012 Photobook Template

Naturals Designer Buttons

Razzleberry Splash kit

Sassy Salutations stamp brush set

World Spectacular ensemble

Quite a collection this week, isn't it? :)

Don't forget the MDS2 will be coming out by the end of this year! It's got some great new features. If you purchase MDS now, you can upgrade to MDS2 of free! So don't delay, start using MDS today! Visit my online store to get a free 30 day trial and shop for some of the great new digi-downloads.

-Tara

xox

My Craft Project Central project & BLOG CANDY!

**Please scroll down to see this week's Sunday Stamps challenge!**

Hello!

Well, the time has come to show you what I created for Craft Project Central this month! I'm super excited because this project uses one of my favourite new stamp sets "Happy Hour" and uses ALL the new In Colours :)

Don't miss the blog candy info at the bottom of this post!

Gift Cards & Tag Set

In this set you'll find:

- four 3"x3" gift cards

- four gift tags

- four wine bottle tags

- Whisper White stitched grosgrain ribbon
- and, the box with dividers and a window sheet box lid :)

Here's another shot. 
All the cards/tags tucked away in their own little compartments :)

and a close-up of the inside of the box:

It makes the perfect gift for a friend or teacher, and a great project to make and keep for yourself so you're always ready to label your little creations/gifts :) Once you've used all the goodies inside, have some fun creating a whole new coordinating set!

Have a look at this fabulous and fun set!

***BLOG CANDY***

Be sure to leave me a comment on this project for a chance to win a subscription to Craft Project Central for the month of July. You will get access to 10 wonderful project tutorials! 

I will be using random.org to generate the winner.

Some simple rules:

1. If you do not have a Google/Blogger account, you can leave an anonymous comment - I just ask that you leave your name with the comment as well, so I know who you are and can announce it if you are the winner :)

2. Contest starts RIGHT NOW and goes until 12:00pm EST on Thursday, July 19th. I will be doing the draw on Thursday evening at 6:00pm EST and announcing the winner.

Good luck :)

-Tara

xox

Sketch time at Sunday Stamps!

Well, today is the first real "Sunday" for me since August, really... Tomorrow I return to work after the most amazing 10 months home with my little boys. I had so much fun being with them, making new friends with them, and enjoying life's incredibly precious moments.

Today is also my nephew's 2nd birthday, so we have one more grand celebration :) Happy 2nd birthday, my little man! We love you!

OK, let's get to the card, right? I stuck very closely to the sketch today at Sunday Stamps, right down to the butterflies! I don't make a lot of cards with butterflies, so I felt like taking advantage of the sketch and just go for it!

With Sympathy

 Stamps: Kindness Matters, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Colours: Midnight Muse, Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, Summer Starfruit

Papers: Patio Party

Embellishments: Summer Starfruit stitched satin ribbon

tools: Dotted scallop ribbon border punch

You're going to want to keep this sketch handy for another time, it's a good one ;)

Please join us at Sunday Stamps and show us your lovely creations!

-Tara

xox

Craft Project Central - July #4 & #5

Here are two more projects from Craft Project Central this month. To get the instructions for these projects, simply sign up for July for only $10! You'll receive beautiful tutorials for 10 projects!

Deigned by Christy at Create with Christy

 Everyone needs to send a little note from time to time, and this card set is perfect for just that!  The Flower Basket is a pretty way to store the six 3" x 3" cards with matching envelopes, and can also be used as a little gift basket after the cards are gone.  The set is also a pretty little gift (you’ll have to make more than one set as you won’t be able to part with the set if you make just one)!  This project is also a great class, club or camp project!

Designed by Amanda at Krafting Kreations

Here is an extra special gift box that is sure to wow and please someone on their birthday!  This birthday cake-shaped gift box, complete with icing around the edges is big enough to fit most gifts!  The inside of the box is 5-1/2" wide x 8-1/2" long, and 2-3/4" tall!  The sparkling frosting swirls and beautiful flowers finish off the cake and make it look good enough to eat!!

Oh, baby!

I fell in love with the Storybook Friends stamp set (the whole suite, in fact!) as soon as I saw it. I knew it would be great for baby projects, and for scrapbooking my (little) boys first year of school.

I played along at CASE Study today. I just loved the card they had for us this week, and I felt that this stamp set would work well.

Hello, baby

Stamps: Storybook Friends, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Colours: Wisteria Wonder, Pear Pizzaz, Pool Party, Blushing Bride

Paper: Twitterpated

Embellishments: Wisteria Wonder ruffled ribbon

Tools: Postage Stamp punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch

This is another baby project I made using this stamp set and the Notable Alphabet. It was a gift for my SIL who is due in less than a month with her first baby!! :D Can't wait to meet our new niece. I hope she likes this wall hanging.

Back to Case Study - Check out the card by the lovely muse! Gorgeous, eh?!

 Thanks for stopping by :)

-Tara

xox

Beautiful Banners at The Friday Mashup!

The Friday Mashup has a wonderful challenge for you today! There have been so many fun trends in the stamping/crafting world lately, and one of my favourites is all the banners flying around. This week, Holly is challenging us to string them up!

And what better paper to feature banners but the Patio Party DSP. It has such a colourful, clean and fun look to the patterns. 

Happy Birthday

Stamps: Bring on the Cake

Colours: Primrose Petals, Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit, Baja Breeze

Paper: Patio Party DSP

Embellishments: Midnight Muse Stitched Satin Ribbon, White Baker's Twine

Tools: 1-3/8", 3/4" and 1/2" Circle punches

So, here's the challenge this week:

1. Make a project with a "Banner or Flag."
2. Or Make a project with a "Matching Envelope."
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project with a "Banner / Flag & a Matching Envelope."

The inside banner is actually a multicoloured version of one of the banners on the DSP. I love the simple circles and wanted to incorporate them on the inside of the card and on the envelope.

We would love to see what you create. Stop on by and link up your card :)

-Tara

xox