All tore up at The Friday Mashup

Good morning!

It's time for anew challenge at The Friday Mashup and this week I am your hostess!

Today, we're all about paper! First, we want you to rip some! Then we want you to cut something out. Both ends of the spectrum this week :)

I used the colours from ColourQ this week. They are just so fun and bright!

My paper ripping is done on the Pumpkin Pie Core'dinations paper, and I fussy cut out that darling little Sea Horse. I've run out completely or Whisper White cardstock, so I opted for some fun canvas today :)

Check out the challenge this week at the Friday Mashup!

1. Create a project with "Ripped paper."
2. Create a project with a "a fussy cut image." (Cut something out)
3. Or Mash it Up and create a project "with some Ripped paper & something Fussy Cut."

And here are the colours from ColourQ!

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara
xox

Cheers!

A quick post today!

I fell in love with this week's challenge colours at ColourQ, and just found the time today to play along! It felt like it had been awhile since I used the "Happy Hour" set, so I pulled it off my shelf today and got crackin'. I'm not a huge drinker, but I love this set.

Here's this week's ColourQ challenge (as a side note; can we talk about how awesome that duvet set is?!)

See you soon - thanks for stopping by!

-Tara
xox

A little Sneak Peek!

Shhh, this is for my sister-in-law's birthday tomorrow and I'm hoping if I don't write a lot, she won't notice ;)

Happy, Happy Birthday

 (**the sneak peek part is the oh-so-fun little cake from the 2012-2013 Annual Catalogue!)

I've used the super fab colours from this week's ColourQ challenge, and the equally wicked sketch from RetroSketches.  

Crystal, if you're seeing this before I've given it to you: Happy birthday, lovely! Hope you enjoy it! xox

I dig you, baby!

Just stopping in quickly today with a little card I made for the ColourQ and RetroSketches challenges. Kind of fitting that the colours from the challenge are so retro :)

I enjoy the 70s. As much as someone born in the 80s can, at least! Great music, great colours, great art... So I had a bit of fun with this card.

I dig you

 The sentiment on this card is actually from the "I Dig You" set, which is heavy machinery. But I thought it rather appropriate for this groovy card. I took a cue from the inspirational photo and hung some circles (the circle is from the new "Bright Blossoms" set which is available in the upcoming catalogue, AND for the month of April!!). The mushrooms are from "Funky Four" - I cut them apart when I first got them, assuming I would get more use out of them as individual mushrooms.

The sketch came courtesy of RetroSketches:

and the colours are from ColourQ this week:

I'm getting ready for a private stamping party tonight - it's bound to be a fun evening! :)

Hope you all have a splendid day!

-Tara

Soft Thank You

It's getting warmer out again! I say "again", because a couple weeks ago we were having unseasonably high temperatures, and it was glorious! It might not be getting *that* warm, but this weekend is supposed to be lovely.

And speaking of lovely, the ColourQ has challenged us with the softest, sweetest colour palette this week!

Thank you so, so much

Aren't they pretty? I don't often use Peach Parfait, so I appreciated the nudge in the right direction.

 

Hope you have a great long weekend. I'm really looking forward to 4 days straight with all of my men home! :)

-Tara
xox

Edit to add: So excited that this card was selected as a "Colour Coutier" this week at the ColourQ. Thank you! :)

Bright Wreath

My grandma was looking for something to hang on her door at the nursing home. She commented on how so many of the other residents have something 'pretty' on their doors, and hers looked so plain.

I've been wanting to try one of these rosette wreaths for so long, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to try it out and to brighten up her entrance.

Bright Wreath for Grandma <3

 

The fabulous spring colours come courtesy of the ColourQ challenge this week.

 

My husband is serenading me with an ad-lib song about our new green, shag carpet. It's incredibly entertaining... I didn't realize just how many things in our living room were actually green until he started listing them in verse! ;) And by the way, the carpet is actually really cool. It's not nearly as 70's as it might sound.

-Tara
xox

Edit to add: So excited that this card was selected as a "Colour Coutier" this week at the ColourQ. Thank you! :) 

Colour Q Challenge

If feels like it's been a long time since I played along with the Colour Q! Sadly, I think the last one was #123 (and this one is #127).

The colours this week reminded me so much of our wedding...

Friendship

Here are the challenge colours (I'll admit, I did substitute Certainly Celery for Pear Pizzaz). 

Materials used in this card:

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Pear Pizzaz, Blushing Bride, Whisper White

Paper: Everyday Enchantment DSP, Twitterpated DSP

Stamps: Language of Frienship

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Blushing Bride, Calypso Coral

Embellishments: Calypso Coral ruffled ribbon, Pearls

Tools: Fancy Flower punch, circle punch

Do you love that bird stamp as much as I do? The Language of Friendship set is so much fun, as it has two coordinating punches that go along with it - Boho Blossoms and the Bird Builder. You can get this stamp set for FREE from the Sale-a-Bration brochure with any $60 order!

With the time change today, I've lost an hour of my day!! There weren't enough hours in the day to begin with without losing one! I'm off to play catch-up :)

-Tara

xox

Sharing some happiness!

Well hello!

It's been quite some time since I've made a post on my blog. Things got pretty crazy around here! But, I'm back in the saddle again, and it feels good :)


Today, I'm playing along with the Colour Q challenge. The colours this week are so fresh, and I really wanted to make something vibrant and 'summery'. But, it didn't really work out that way ;) I've been dying to try out my "Happiness Shared" stamp set, which I've had for a little while now but had yet to ink up.

I love this set so much. The flower art is so gorgeous, and lets you go crazy with your creativity - you can colour it using any colours you like! For this one, I used Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait, Regal Rose and Old Olive. First, I coloured using Blender pens, and then I added some highlights with markers.

Happiness Shared

(CQC123)

Materials used for this card:

Cardstock: Whisper White, Peach Parfait

Ink: Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait, Regal Rose, Old Olive, Basic Black

Stamps: Happiness Shared

Tools:  Postage Stamp punch, Blender Pens, markers

I wanted to keep this card very simple. I think the sentiment speaks for itself!

Come back tomorrow to see a fun card made using the Up, Up & Away set (one of my favs!)

Until next time - Happy stamping :)

-Tara

Iris Fold: Part deux

Hi :)

I hope you all don't mind - but I'd like to toot my horn again... Yesterday I found out that I was named a Perfect Princess at the Freshly Made Sketch challenge (thank you, Jen!). SO thrilled. I love their sketches, and I love the styles of the design team. I am always so inspired by their clean and beautiful projects!


This week, I couldn't wait to get started on my card with the latest sketch :) In my last post, I mentioned that I tried a new technique - the Iris Folding technique. Unfortunately, I wasn't quite happy with the results of that one... So, for this sketch challenge, I wanted to have a second go at it.

I decided to use the colours from ColourQ challenge (because they are SO gorgeous), and the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

Here is what I came up with. I have to say, I much prefer this attempt over the last one. I'm a big fan of techniques that let me play with as much designer paper as possible (like that good ol' Herringbone technique I keep using, hehe).

Hello

(FMS17, CQC120) 

Hope you enjoyed this version of the iris fold :)

Matierals used for this card:

Cardstock: Island Indigo, Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White

Paper: Pocketful of Posies, Flirtatious, Twitterpated, Regals DSP

Stamps: Triple Treat Flower, Elementary Elegance

Ink: Island Indigo, Rich Razzleberry

Embellishments: Wisteria Wonder ruffled ribbon

Tools: Fancy Flower punch, 1/2" circle punch, Dotted Scallop Border punch,

Until next time - Happy stamping :)

- Tara

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

Family Portrait

Happy Wednesday, everybody!

Let me start this post by saying that we're not 'picture people' in this house. Ok, maybe it's just me that's not a picture person, but I digress. This year for Christmas, instead of having a family photo done (which we will eventually do, I'm sure), I used the All in the Family stamp set and stamped out a little Bourgoin family portrait :)

In making this card, I quickly realized that the Marvelous Markers set would have been a fantastic addition to my craft room. Yes, I stamped each person a couple times on various papers/cardstocks and cut them all out. No colouring for me! It was a tad labour intensive, but I couldn't stop laughing the whole time. This set sure makes me smile.

The awesome colours came courtesy of the ColourQ challenge this week: I modified only slightly to replace Cool Caribbean with Tempting Turquoise.

 Merry Christmas from our family

 (CQC114)

For this card, I wanted to keep it fun!
1. Don't take yourself too seriously!: It's almost impossible to keep a card "serious" when using the All in the Family set! It's so jovial and light-hearted! Every now and then, you have to make a card that just makes you smile with its silliness. Even though I don't necessarily think this card is silly, it's not your typical Christmas card, that's for sure!

2. Try paper-piecing!: Yes, it can be time consuming - but the results are certainly worth it! Granted, with the attention to detail that Stampin' Up! has already done, and the fact that they have markers in all the ink colours, you may wonder why you would ever want to paper-piece. Sometimes, it's worth it! It gives your card some added dimension, and the colours are solid. OR, try piecing with some patterned paper - look at "my" dress - that's a piece of Tempting Turquoise designer series paper! And what about those lights, you ask? Those are leftovers from the Triple Layer Doily punch! Save your scraps, you never know when they'll come in handy :)

The supplies I used for this card were:

Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Poppy Parade, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise
Paper: Temping Turquoise DSP
Stamps: All in the Family, Petite Pairs
Ink: Basic Black

Embellishments: Rhinestones 

Tools: Paper Snips (big time!!), 2-way Gluepen

Until next time - Happy Stamping :)

-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