Tic Tac Toe!

I was so excited on Friday when I saw the Tic-Tac-Toe board at the Friday Mashup - but I wasn't able to get playing with it until this morning! In fact, I intentionally set my alarm to get up early so I could make this before the rest of the house woke up :)

Welcome Baby

I fell in love with this card, which was originally designed by Jackie Topa, the first time I saw it. I was nervous to try it, as it seemed like I didn't have the "right material". I finally just accepted that, and made do with what I had on hand!

First, this is the challenge I was working with (I chose the first horizontal row - Lace, Baby, Neutral).

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge :

1. Make a project using " a Special Fold".
2. Or Make a project using the " Tic Tac Toe Board".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a " Special Fold card using Tic Tac Toe".

The special fold, as I mentioned, is the side-step card. I've seen variations on this one with two steps instead of one, but I needed a little extra room on the back panel to put the dress!

The lace on the dress is not Stampin' Up! It comes from my grandmother's sewing basket and has sentimental value. Sometimes I just can't help adding something truly vintage or sentimental to my cards :)

I will definitely be making more of these. They are just too cute!

-Tara

xox

Edit to add: So excited that this card was selected as a "Glamette" this week at the Friday Mashup! Thank you :)

Baby Fever

Hello!


There are a lot of new babies being baked these days, and I find that I'm always in need of a baby card. But this baby card is extra special! It was made for a brand new challenge, Retro Sketches! The design team goes back into their archive and picks a card from yesteryear and posts the sketch for us all to play along. How cool is that?!

Put the word "retro" in any sentence and I'm on board ;)

Welcome Baby

This is the sketch!

Materials used in this card:

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White

Paper: Twitterpated

Stamps: Short & Sweet, Gnome Sweet Gnome

Inks: Whisper White Craft

Embellishments: White Satin Ribbon

Tools: 1 3/8" Circle punch (for rounded corners), Heat Tool, Clear embossing powder, gel pen

In other news, we took our little lad to see his first movie on the weekend. It was SO much fun! 

The best parts:

1. His shock and awe as the "wall" turned into a TV! We don't own a TV, so the extent of his 'movie watching' is on our little laptop screen ;)

2. The movie theatre seat basically folding him in half because he's too light to make it stay flat (haha, I know, I'm a horrible mother). We ended up getting him a booster seat.

3. The wicked older couple behind us who loved being a part of his first movie experience.

4. After the movie was over, he declares "I want to watch Toy Story in here!" :)

Happy Tuesday, everyone (on this side of the world, anyways... Happy Wednesday to the rest!)  ;)

-Tara

xox

A little flirty

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

This week at the ColourQ, they challenged us to use the colours Pretty in Pink, Going Gray, Melon Mambo and Pumpkin Pie. These colours go so well with each other! How do I know? Because almost all of them are found in the designers series paper "Flirtatious"! It's one of my favs, not only because of the copious amounts of pink involved, but also because of the two fantastic sheets of laser-cut doily sheets included (in both Melon Mambo and Pumpkin Pie).

Instead of using the sheet as a layer, I simply cut out one of the doilies and used it behind the rosette as an extra little splash of something special ;)

Btw, I'm resisting the urge to quote all my favourite lines from Legally Blonde.

Wish Big

The flirtatious suite is perfect for those projects where you really want to have an overtly feminine feel to it, but it also includes some more subtle papers that are perfect for baby girl projects or Mother's Day!

Materials for this card: 

Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Basic Gray

Paper: Flirtatious DSP

Stamps: Short & Sweet, Mixed Bunch (centre of rosette)

Inks: Basic Gray

Embellishments: Rhinestones

Tools: 3/16" Corner rounder, Decorative label punch, 3/4" circle punch

It's been a cold day here (at least compared to the kind of weather we've been having lately), and I'm about to curl up on the couch with a blanket and read a good book watch some Seinfeld ;)

Until next time - Happy stamping! :)

P.S. Christmas is over, but the gift giving isn't! Head on over to my Facebook page and become a fan ("like" the page). Once we hit 50 fans, I'll be doing a draw and the winner will be getting something special from me!

-Tara

Everything's coming up rosettes!!

I've been fascinated by rosettes lately, but I've yet to try my hand at them. Lucky for me, this week over at the Friday Mashup, they challenged us to make a card using these clever little flowers. Honestly, there are some things out there that really fascinate me. Knitting, for instance - can you imagine the kind of brain someone must have to look at a piece of string and two sticks and say "ya, I can totally make that into a wearable garment".


Rosettes is on my list of "who came up with this stuff?!". Glad someone did though, because they are delightful. Along with the rosette challenge, FM also challenged us to use the sketch over there at the right. Lovely, no?!


And, as if I wasn't challenged enough, I threw in a colour challenge from the ColourQ :) Crumb Cake (yum), Pear Pizzaz, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry (double yum), and white. So, please read on to see my entry into both those challenges!

With all that inspiration at hand, I got to creating - an enjoyable (as always) 30 minutes in my little craft corner!

 Thank You

(FM33)

(CQC111)

For this card, I wanted to create something fun with a lot of colour!
1. Push the boundaries!: When I saw the colour challenge at ColourQ, I thought to myself "how am I ever going to fit Pumpkin Pie into this combination?". Turns out it was easy. Just a few splashes here and there really turned this into something special and unexpected. Participating in challenges like this is a great way to do something you wouldn't normally do, and use colour combination you wouldn't even think of!

2. Look for inspiration everywhere!: The "Have a Seat" set is one of my absolute favourites. It reminds me of my grandparents house with all their old, mismatched chairs. When I started reminiscing about their house, memories of all the things I loved started coming to the surface - one of those was their garden. Both my grandparents took care of the gardens, and they were always so beautiful. That plays a part in choosing both the patterned paper (Pocketful of Posies) and the burst of floral from around the bench.


The supplies I used for this card were:
Cardstock: Pear Pizzaz, Rich Razzleberry, Crumb Cake, Pumpkin Pie
Paper: Pocketful of Posies DSP
Stamps: Have a Seat, Short & Sweet, Tiny Tags
Ink: Crumb Cake, Rich Razzleberry
Embellishments: Whisper White Satin Ribbon
Tools: Dotted Scallop Border punch

Hope you enjoyed visiting today! I certainly enjoyed creating.

Until next time - Happy stamping! :)

-Tara

Keeping it Simple

Today, I participated in the Pals Paper Arts challenge. This week was to use ribbon on a CAS (Clean and Simple) card. I was super excited! I love the new ruffled ribbon in this year's In Colors, particularly the richness of the Island Indigo.

Love You

(PPA117)

For this card, I wanted to keep it simple!
1. Use an embellishment as a focal point: In this card, I used the ruffled ribbon as my main focal point. The single sheet of DSP added some visual interest, and the simple sentiment was used as not to draw away from the ribbon.

2. Try a monochromatic card! An easy way to make a monochromatic card without leaving it look too "plain" is to use a neutral but 'coloured' cardstock. In this case, River Rock. The Island Indigo jumps off the card, but the contrast isn't as strong as if I had used a white background.

 

The supplies I used for this card were:
Cardstock: Island Indigo (122923), River Rock (108640), Very Vanilla (101650)
Paper: Timeless Portraits Designer Series Paper (122352)
Stamps: Short & Sweet (W115060)
Ink: Island Indigo (122937)
Embellishments: Ruffled Ribbon - Island Indigo (122974)
Tools: Decorative Label punch (120907), Dimensionals (104430)


Thanks for stopping by - Until next time, happy stamping :)

-Tara