Craft Project Central - Last projects for January!

Hello,

It's time to have a look at the last projects for January from Craft Project Central!

Project designed by Julie @ Just Julie B's Stampin' Spot

Project designed by Niki @ Stampin' with Niki

To get the instructions to make these projects plus 8 more, subscribe to Craft Project Central for the month of January for only $10!

-Tara

xox

Digital Tuesday!

It's time to showcase some of the wonderful and lovely new digital downloads for this week:

**FREE**

Grab this free "Box of Chocolates February Wallpaper"!

Thanks Stampin' Up!

Item # 133023

Cost: FREE

Box of Chocolates Kit

Item # 133024

Cost: 12.50

**Coordinates with the free Box of Chocolates February Wallpaper!**

Love More Ensemble

Item # 132795

Cost: 27.95

Happy Heart Greeting Card Template

Item # 133334

Cost: 3.75

Label This Closet

Item #: 133268

Cost: 5.95 

And I think this might be my personal favourite of the week...

Paper Doilies

Item # 132270

Cost: 2.50

Valentine Love

Item # 133327

Cost: 8.95



So, which one is your favourite? :)

-Tara

xox

Blog Candy Winner!!

And the winner of the free subscription to Craft Project Central for the month of January is....

Comment #3 - BRENNA!

Congratulations, Brenna :) Please email me at tarabourgoin@yahoo.ca so that I can get the necessary info to get you set up. 

I hope you have tons of fun creating some of the wonderful projects featured in January!

-Tara
xox

MDS Monday Challenge #6!

Hello!

It's time for another fun sketch from MDS Monday! Joan has a great one for us this week, and I had such a fun time playing with this sketch. I decided to scrap some recent pics of Jacks... I've been trying to catch up on my 2008 - 2011, but decided to get one more page from 2012 done before I travel back in time again ;)

I decided to highlight one of the pics on this page by making it in colour and the others in B&W. It's easy to do with MDS, since you can do some photo effects right in the program! I popped in the original coloured photos and then altered them to be black and white.

Here's the sketch challenge for the next 2 weeks:

As you can see, I switched up the hexagons for some ink platters - you can interpret those shapes as anything you want! Go ahead, get crazy. We look forward to seeing what you create with My Digital Studio at MDS Monday!

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara
xox

A new colour challenge at Sunday Stamps!

It's time for another colour challenge at Sunday Stamps!

These great colours are courtesy of the lovely Steph. And I sure did love them! But let me tell you how shocked I was to find that not only do I not have a Perfect Plum ink pad... I also don't have a Perfect Plum marker... or anything other than a lone sheet of cardstock! My use of colour was very limited for this one ;)

Notice how the butterfly looks like it's coming out of the Whisper White piece, and you can see the Perfect Plum in behind? I discovered that if you go to punch out your butterfly, but don't depress the punch all the way, it punches out only the wings and you can curl them up - the rest of the butterfly is still attached to the main panel. I fell in love... The rest of the card I just kept simple, since I wanted the words and the butterfly to really stand out.

I hope that you will join us this week at Sunday Stamps for this awesome colour challenge. Be sure to check out what the rest of the design team has to show!

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara
xox

A boy & his milk

So excited! My page won an honourable mention nod for mydigitalstudio.net's Spring Colors challenge!

I just love this pic of my little man so much - It was taken just before his 3rd birthday:

Have you checked out the weekly challenges at mydigitalstudio.net? If not, you should - they are super fun and a great way to get you thinking outside the box.

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara
xox

Merry Christmas!

That's right - I'm thinking about Christmas again :) Thanks to the Merry Monday challenge, we can think about Christmas all year long...!

This week's challenge was to have a bird theme. I just love this little skating birdie. Can't believe I haven't used him yet!

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara

xox

List of supplies:

Stamps:  For the Birds

Paper: Festival of Prints, Naturals Ivory CS, Lucky Limeade CS, Cherry Cobbler CS

Embellishments:  7/8" Natural Trim Ribbon

Paper Lantern technique for the Chinese New Year!

I hope you guys are too tired from this past work-week, because Heidi's going to make you think about this one :) She's got such a fabulous Friday Mashup challenge for us this week!

We're celebrating Chinese New Year with a great technique - Paper Lantern.

Now, I'll admit, I don't have a crimper, so I improvised a bit with this one:

For the paper lantern technique part, I scored a piece of vellum every 1/4". Then I flipped it over, and starting at the 1/8" mark, I scored at every 1/4" again (in the spaces left by the first scoring). I 'faux-crimped'! haha

And yes, this card will look familiar to some of you. This is very similar to a card I submitted to the Artisan Design Team competition last year.

The fron features gold embossing, the paper lantern (the vellum is backed by a piece of Whisper White), and an embossed sentiment. The red card base itself is cut a bit narrow and there is a standard base of vellum underneath (it's very hard to see that from the photo). It is held together with some Linen Thread weaved through the top/hinge.

Here's the challenge:

1. Make a project with a "Chinese New Year (Year of the Snake) Theme".
2. Or Make a project using the "Paper Lantern Technique".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project for the "Chinese New Year featuring the Paper Lantern Technique".

If you've never done the Paper Lantern technique, have a look at Heidi's tutorial!

Be sure to head on over to The Friday Mashup and check out what the rest of the design team has created - there are so many beautiful creations this week (as always)! Look forward to seeing you play along :)

-Tara
xox

Quotable You!

Had to share this one real quick... A page I made featuring all my favourite "quotes" from my son. Yes... I'm one of those moms that quickly jot down things as he rambles ;)

I made this for the mydigitalstudio.net Divided Page challenge.

Check out my other MDS projects by clicking on "MDS (My Digital Studio)" in the "labels" section to the left. What are you creating with MDS these days?

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara
xox

My project @ Craft Project Central & BLOG CANDY!

Good morning!

Today it's time to show you my January project for Craft Project Central.

Start 2013 off with a cute and ‘punny’ card set featuring a brand new set in the Spring Catalog!  When you’re done you will have a Valentine’s Day card, a Thank You card, a Get Well card, and a Welcome Baby card as well as a reusable box to store them all in!  This project makes for a fun class or club project too!

 Project designed by Tara @ Can't Stamp the Rain

Don't forget, if you want instructions on how to make the projects you've seen this month, sign up for "January" at Craft Project Central for only $10!

BLOG CANDY ALERT!

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 11:59pm EST on Saturday, January 26. I will be doing the draw on Sunday evening at 6:00pm EST and announcing the winner.

Good luck :)

-Tara

xox

Sale-a-Brate good times, come on!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

It's here! Sale-A-Bration 2013 has begun. How will you party during Stampin' Up!'s premiere events? There are 3 ways - choose all that apply!

1. HOST!
Have your friends over for a party and earn fantastic Sale-A-Bration freebies with a qualifying order:
$200 party = FREE pack of Silver Glimmer Paper (this is in addition to the normal hostess benefits)
$525 party = FREE pack of Silver Glimmer Paper PLUS FREE product bundle (this is in addition to the normal hostess benefits (including $90 in FREE products of your choice and one 1/2 price item!)

Contact me today to book your Sale-a-Bration party!

We could make a card like this using all products from Sale-A-Bration!

2. SHOP!
Shopaholics unite! For every $60 you spend, you'll get a FREE Sale-a-Bration product - there are nearly 20 to choose from.

Visit my online store to start shopping!

You could earn this awesome DSP for FREE!

3. JOIN!

Party all the time when you become a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. Plus, when you join during Sale-a-Bration, you'll get 25% more products FREE in your Starter Kit! 

Contact me to learn more, or click here to join my team!

Who doesn't love more free stuff? It's time to "Sale-A-Brate"!

Sale-A-Bration is one of the most exciting times of the year at Stampin' Up! How will you Sale-A-Brate? 

Want to see all the samples using Sale-a-Bration 2013 product? Check out my labels to the left and look for "SAB13"!

-Tara

xox

Happy Retirement

I'm your hostess this week at Sunday Stamps, and I've got a little sketch for you!

This card was made for the owner/President of the company that started my professional career. He'll be retiring at the end of the month.

To fill the Soda Pop Top I used the 1/2" circle punch to punch out the wheel/spokes from one of the bicycles. The frame around the sentiment was done by cropping the Decorative Label punch. The background of the card was give some texture (almost like corduroy!) by using the Simply Scored scoring tool and scored at every 1/8".

Here's the sketch this week:

Head on over to Sunday Stamps and check out what the rest of the design team has created! As usual, we'd love to see you playing along. 

In other news - I've been working on changing up my blog design for months now, and I think I'm almost ready to take the plunge and switch over. Maybe next time you stop by for a visit you won't even recognize it ;)

-Tara

xox

List of Supplies:

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes

Papers: Basic Gray CS, More Mustard CS, Fan Fair DSP

Embellishments: Two-Tone Ribbon, Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon, Soda Pop Top, Metallic Brads

Tools: 1/2" Circle punch, Decorative Label punch, Word Window punch, Simply Scored

Valentine's Cards from the boys

Just checking in real quick this morning with a project for this week's Dynamic Duos challenge! I'm glad I got the reminder that Valentine's Day is fast approaching - I have my cards planned for my classes, and I have the card for my husband ready, but I had forgotten to do the kids' cards!

These are for the daycare friends/family. I used the same set to do cards for them last year, but only used the excavator. Thought I'd put them all in the spotlight this year :) I just love this little set. You'd be surprised how versatile it actually is!


This week's challenge is Red and Black. The dessert option is to do Valentine's theme.

Thanks for stopping by!

-Tara
xox

List of Supplies:

Stamps: I Dig You, Oh Whale (hearts)

Papers: Basic Black CS, Riding Hood Red CS, Whisper White

Embellishments: Metallic Brads, Mini Brads, Cute Clips, Vintage Trinkets, Basic Black Taffeta Ribbon, Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon

Tools: Paper-Piercer

Love is in the air at Craft Project Central

Ready for some more goodies from Craft Project Central?

Project designed by Carrie @ Carrie Stamps

Project designed by Heidi @ Stampin' King

Project designed by Christy @ Create with Christy

Project designed by Regina @ Workin' out the Inks

Project designed by Kris @ Stamping with Kris

To get the instructions to make these projects plus 5 more, subscribe to Craft Project Central for the month of January for only $10!

-Tara
xox

Birthday & Brads at The Friday Mashup!

Oh, happy Friday to you!

This week at The Friday Mashup, Holly has a fun challenge for us. I made this card, and then I stared at it for a long time. It's not really what I would call my "style", but I had a lot of fun with it.

Generally I like layers... and lots of them. I don't tend to work directly on the card base. But sometimes you have to step outside your comfort zone a bit ;) I'm wild and wacky like that.

First I stamped the centre of the card with the oval from Oh, Hello, then used the Occasions Paper-Piercing pack to go around the shape. I cut a flower from the Flower Trim and mounted it on one of the new Designer Brads. The "wish big" is from the Bring on the Cake set and I punched out with the oh-so-fabulous Mini Curly Label punch rom SAB!

The 3 mini brads were added afterwards because I felt like it looked a little lopsided.

Here's the challenge this week:

1. Make a project with a "Birthday Theme".
2. Or Make a project using "Brads".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a "Birthday project with some brads".

Look forward to seeing you play along :)

-Tara
xox

Swinging into fun at MDS Monday!

Hello, and a happy (happy!) Monday to you all.

Today we've got a brand new challenge for you at MDS Monday. The oh-so-talented Heidi has put together a fabulous sketch. In fact, I liked it so much that I made two pages out of it!

This is from last spring. My two boys had a fun day at the park; Jackson got to go on his first swing ride and Hunter got to show him how :)

Click on the picture to view full size!

Here are the page individually

I used the new Lemonade Stand content disc from Sale-a-Bration that I got with my December pre-order. I love, love, love it. So many fun colours and patterns.

Here's the sketch this week:

We hope to see you joining us this week at MDS Monday for challenge #5!

-Tara
xox

Rich & Beautiful for a Sunday :)

Today we have a really fun colour combination for you at Sunday Stamps. Hayley has put together this rich palette... so go ahead, have fun with it!

Here's my take on the colours

This is a CASE of another card I did awhile back for a class. I just love the Up, Up & Away stamp set, but I always forget about it! I thought Hayley's colours this week would look great floating through the sky.

After I inked up the balloon with Midnight Muse, I dabbed a bit off in the top-right section (very lightly) with a sponge to give it a little bit of depth. I find that with the other two, the stripes curve to help it feel 3D, but with the polka dot one it needs a little something extra. 

Here's the challenge:

We'd love to see you playing along with us at Sunday Stamps this week!

-Tara

xox

Fun with patterns at The Friday Mashup!

Good morning, friends!

This morning we have a really fun Friday Mashup challenge from Amy. She's got us using fab colours and patterns!

Part of the mashup was to choose three or more of the suggested colours. I stuck with just the three... No surprise here, but I chose Sahara Sand (my all-time favourite neutral), Summer Starfruit (a colour I've been forcing myself to love, and now do!) and Tangerine Tango.

I can't get enough of the new SAB DSP so I used it to create a fun little flag banner. And the Soda Pop tops?! Ok, so maybe it's not going to be easy to mail, but who cares when it's that cute? I used the new paper-piercing pack as well to give something extra to the blossom punch.

As always, a list of supplies is at the end of this post.


Here's the mashup:



1. Make a project using "Different Patterns".
2. Or Make a project with the three or more colors from "Summer Starfruit, Tangerine Tango, Island Indigo, Early Espresso and Sahara Sand".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a "Patterned Project with the Challenge Colors".

Head on over to The Friday Mashup to see what the rest of the design team has come up with - All beautiful!!

Thanks for stopping by!

-Tara

xox

List of Supplies:

Stamps: Oh, Hello, Collage Curious

Papers: Sycamore Street DSP (SAB), Sahara Sand CS, Tangerine Tango CS, Whisper White

Embellishments: Soda Pop top, White Baker's Twine, Summer Starfruit Stitch Satin Ribbon,

Tools: Blossom punch, 1" Circle Punch, Occasions Paper-Piercing Pack, Stampin' Sponge

Sunday Stamps goes digital (for me, anyways!)

I do a lot of Digital scrapbooking, but not tons of digital cardmaking. I thought for this week's challenge at Sunday Stamps I would whip up a fun, lighthearted wedding card. Generally, I like to make wedding cards really 'over-the-top' and embellish like crazy, but I wanted something playful this time.

We have this great sketch this week, so come check out what the rest of the Design Team has created and play along. Would love to see what you do with this sketch :)

Thanks for stopping by!

-Tara
xox

January at CPC - Project #1 and #2

It's time for another month at Craft Project Central.

This pretty project comes to you designed by Monika!

This pretty little scrapbook tin and card project comes to you designed by Amanda!

To get instructions for Monika and Amanda's projects and all the other fabulous projects this month, subscribe to Craft Project Central for the month of January for only $10!

-Tara
xox

Feelin' the Love

I started the morning out with a paper cut. The good news is, I got the paper cut when I was opening my birthday present from my sons! :) Today, I hit the big Three-Oh, and I have to admit, I'm kind of excited about it!

I had a great morning surrounded by the ones I love, and got spoiled like crazy... so Liliana's challenge for this week at The Friday Mashup is very fitting - hearts and a sketch. Here's my take:

I had a lot of fun with this card! I love the Storytime DSP, and was going to save the entire pack to use for my son's school scrapbook, but decided that I could steal this sweet little image of two friends blowing bubbles.

Here's this week's sketch and challenge:

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge:

1. Make a project using the "Sketch".
2. Or Make a project featuring "Hearts".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project using the "Sketch and Hearts".

Thanks for stopping by today! Looking forward to seeing what you create and share with us this week.


-Tara
xox

List of Supplies:
Stamps: Itty Bitty Banners
Papers: Midnight Muse CS, Whisper White CS, Wild Wasabi CS, So Saffron CS, Storytime DSP
Embellishments: White Baker's Twine
Tools: Fashionable Hearts embosslit, Bitty Banners framelits, Corner rounder, Stripes embossing folder