PDCC & Sneak Peek Week - Day #4

Hello, hello!

I've been absolutely dying to show off this super-cute new set, and I loved the colours at the Play Date Cafe so much that I just had to put them together.

You're My Hero was at the very top of my list - I've got two little boys, and this set is a lot of fun for them. Plus, I figured it would be great for Father's Day from the kids, or baby cards...

Here are the gorgeous colours from The Play Day Cafe - I interpreted them as Raspberry Ripple, Island Indigo and Smoky Slate:

Thanks for stopping by today! :)

-Tara
xox

Having some quiet time

There's not tons you can do when you have pneumonia... Even walking upstairs to use the bathroom is exhausting! So, I decided to plant myself in my craft room and go nuts. If I can't move, at least I'm some place happy! Next stop is the couch with some tea and Legally Blonde (that's right, Legally Blonde!)

I  made two cards today - One for one of my favourite challenges and another for a challenge that is no doubt going to be one of my favourites... ith the always-awesome RetroSketches thrown in for some flavour!

The Play Date Cafe had some fabulous colours this week - I made a baby card (which I always seem to do with this set). This is for a friend who will be having a fall baby. Don't know if it's a girl or a boy yet, so I've got plans to make another one with blue if a boy pops out.

Here are the colours for this week (I interpreted them as Melon Mambo, More Mustard and Early Espresso):

And this one is for Fab Friday - a new challenge with a stellar design team that brings endless amounts of inspiration. Also for RetroSketches - one that I seem not to get to play along with as much as I want to!

It's hard to tell with this card, but the second stamp on the Stippled Blossom is actually Illuminate ink. I was playing around with this set the other day and thought it would be cool to use a colour and illuminate rather than two colours.

Here are the colours for this week. As many of you know, Sahara Sand is my all-time favourite neutral. What a great colour combo this is!:

And here's the sketch from RetroSketches:

Wow... that was a lot for one post. I'm pooped!

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara
xox

2 for 1 - Sunday Stamps & Play Date Cafe!

Good Sunday morning!!

I've got two (very different!) cards to share with you this morning for two separate challenges :) First up, Monica is hosting at Sunday Stamps this week and she has a great sketch for us!

I used the lovely Open Sleigh stamp set for this card and some Dazzling Details. The paper is from the Candlelight Christmas specialty paper and I finished it off with a Cherry Cobbler seam binding bow.

And here's the fabulous sketch from Monica. It's such a versatile sketch, keep it handy!

Also, because I was in my craft room and was ready to leave, I made a card for the Play Date Cafe as well - I just LOVED the colours this week. In fact, I want to make another one!

I kept the theme of the storyboard throughout my card with the feathers/brads. The "stone" colour in my card is in the antique brad. The feathers are stamped in Midnight Muse and coloured lightly with Calypso Coral. I then added a layer of Vellum cardstock overtop and stamped the sentiment. I held it together with the antique brad - I intentionally left the top part unattached so that when the card was standing up, the vellum would turn down a bit.

Because it was a square card, I made a scrapling with the 1-1/4" piece that was left once I cut the card down to 4-1/4" x 4-1/4". Love those little things :)

Thanks for stopping by 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

Best. Dad. Ever.

A very simple Father's Day card for my husband from his little boys this year - but it says it all. Who knew that the For the Birds set could be so versatile? :) I used the "thanks for your support" stacked birds as the focal image for this card because it just seemed so appropriate... Daddy on the bottom, (little) boy on the his back, and (baby) boy hanging out on the top :)

Best Dad Ever

 Stamps: For the Birds, Best Dad Ever

Colours: Midnight Muse, Baja Breeze, Raspberry Ripple

Embellishments: Baker's Twine

The colours are from Play Date Cafe this week - and I haven't played with them in so long! I was just dying to get back into it.

I could spend hours talking about how amazing Derek is, as a father and as a husband, but I'll spare you all. It all sums up like this: he's an outstanding father, a supportive and nurturing husband, and a kind friend to all (Love you, Derek).

Derek and Hunter (last summer)

"cheeeeese"

Derek and Jack (last week)

- Tara
xox

Edit to add: So excited that Derek's Father's Day card got a "Fab4" nod from The Play Date Cafe! :)

A neautral day

This is my card today for two challenges: A "splash of colour" from Play Day Cafe and a fun, clean sketch from RetroSketches! 

Hello

The sketch from RetroSketches:

The colour challenge from Play Date Cafe (how awesome is this inspirational photo?!)

Short one today, gotta get doing some stuff... I've been procrastinating all morning! :)

-Tara

xox

Short & Sweet

My post today, much like the card I'm going to show you is, is simple and to the point ;)

Up in the air over you!

This card was made for the Play Date Cafe challenge to use the following colours:

Materials used in this card:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake
Stamps: Up, Up & Away
Ink: Rich Razzleberry
Tools:  Postage stamp punch, Fashionable Hearts embosslits die

Do you guys have something silly that makes you laugh every time you see it? Want to share it?! :)

Here's mine! 

You're welcome ;)

Until next time - Happy Stamping :)

-Tara

A soft palette

As I was browsing though the new Occasions Mini, I came to a page that I had earmarked for future CASEing. If you're ever stuck for ideas, either colour combinations or sketches/layouts, why not open up your catalogue? It isn't called the "Idea Book & Catalog" for nothing :)

I'm constantly inspired by the cards in the catalogues and minis, even if I don't have the exact same supplies - necessity is the mother of invention, afterall! And if you need to make a card (which I so often do!), then you'll find something that works for you.

For this butterfly card, I used the colours from the Play Date Cafe challenge. I interpreted them as Very Vanilla, Certainly Celery and Pool Party.

thank you so, so much.

To make the butterfly, I stamped the flower from Mixed Bunch from the Occasions Mini on Very Vanilla cardstock with Pool Party ink and punched it out with the Blossom punch. I cut out two sections of two 'petals'. I then did the same thing with plain Pool Party cardstock. The body of the butterfly is made using the Jewelry Tag punch that I trimmed to a point. the antennae are just strips of pool party that were cut and curled.

Although it may be difficult to see from the photo, I added some faint texture around the sentiment using the Simply Scored scoring board. Here's a close look.

It's my mother-in-law's birthday today, and I have the flu :( I had to miss out on seeing her, and now have to wait another 364 days before I get to wish her a happy birthday in person! 

Materials used for the card:

Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Pool Party, Very Vanilla

Stamps: Mixed Bunch, Delightful Doze

Inks: Pool Party

Tools: Blossom punch, Jewelry Tag punch, Square punch, Scoring Board

Although it's not too cold here right now, this card makes me reminisce about much, much warmer times!

Until next time - Happy Stamping!

-Tara

Let's go Regal!!

Wow, has it really been almost a week since I updated my blog?! Sick little kiddos and lots of prep going on in this house these days :) I just finished making 50 Thank You cards for my sister-in-law's friends baby shower! Anyways, back to making single cards for me!

This week over at the Play Date Cafe they have some gorgeous colours to work with - and I mean gorgeous! I love the Regals colour family - the jewel tons and rich colours are so very 'me'. I would have made a great Queen... ;) So, when I saw the palette over at the Play Date Cafe, I immediately thought of Cherry Cobbler, More Mustard and Cajun Craze (at least, that's how I interpreted them!)

I tried my hand at a new technique with this challenge as well. My mother is a quilter, and a fantastic one at that. She's made some gorgeous quilts over the years. The Bargello technique is taken from an old quilting technique, and I'm not sure why I never thought of trying it with paper instead of fabric!

For Everything you are to me

 (PDCC108)

For this card, I wanted to try a new technique!
1. Borrow from other types of crafts!: So many types of crafts can serve as inspiration - Quilting, Macrame, knitting, drawing, quilling, etc - Quilting is all about colour selection and design, which is very similar to cardmaking! Or how about those gorgeous Nordic sweaters your grandma used to knit you? ;) Or try creating an accent on your card using some inventive quilling shapes! The inspiration around us in the crafting world can be overwhelming... But in a good way! :)

2. Get your markers out!: With this colour combination, I wanted to use a More Mustard colour ribbon, but didn't have one on hand. I did, however, have a More Mustard marker! I coloured my white satin ribbon with my More Mustard marker to match my card. Maybe it turned out a little "More Gold" than "More Mustard", but that just adds to the "Regal" charm of it all! To give the feel of tassels, I frayed the ends of the ribbon a bit.

 

The supplies I used for this card were:
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Paper: Regals DSP - More Mustard, Cherry Cobbler, Cajun Craze
Stamps: Petite Pairs
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, More Mustard marker
Embellishments: Whisper White Satin Ribbon - coloured More Mustard
Tools: Decorative Label punch

Off to find my crown and sit in my velvet chair...

Until next time - Happy Stamping! :)

-Tara

For you, baby!

This was one of those cards that doesn't have a planned recipient - however, I know that it's only a matter of time :)

This week's colours at the Play Date Cafe challenge were so sweet: grey, pink, yellow. They screamed baby card! Unfortunately, the photo didn't pick up the Pirouette Pink all that well.

Welcome, Baby

(PDCC106)

For this card, I wanted to keep it soft and curvy
1. Make your own edge border! I wanted to have a big, chubby scalloped border for this card to mimic the shape of the birdcage. I punched out the Fancy Flower punch from Pink Pirouette and snipped off the petals to make the border.

2. Cut it out! Add some dimension and depth by stamping an image directly onto the card base, and then cutting out another stamped image to pop up on dimensionals.

The supplies I used for this card were:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Gray, Pink Pirouette, So Saffron
Stamps: Aviary, Petite Pairs
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Whisper White (craft) 
Embellishments: 5/8" Whisper White Satin Ribbon 
Tools: Fancy Flower punch, Large Scallop oval punch, Large Oval punch, 3/16" Corner punch

Happy Sunday, everyone - Until next time, happy stamping :)

-Tara