Christmas Bauble for Colour Me...!

This week at Colour Me...! we are going subtle and using Island Indigo, Soft Sky and Crisp Cantaloupe. I decided to use these colours for a non-traditional Christmas card.

I have to say, I really wish we had Blendabilities in every colour  ;)

Check out the challenge this week:

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara

xox

Supplies:

Stamps: Christmas Bauble, More Merry Messages

Ink: Crisp Cantaloupe, Island Indigo, Soft Sky, Versamark,

Paper: Island Indigo CS, Brushed Gold CS, Whisper White CS

Embellishments: Gold embossing powder

Tools: Heat tool, Blender Pen

The Friday Mashup, way too late.

Time got a little away from me last week, and then that sort of carried over into this week!

Although very late, I wanted to share my project for this week's Friday Mashup challenge.

Check out the challenge:

• Create a Project using "Vellum". 
• Create a Project with "Stitching (Sewing or Faux)".
• or Mash it up! and create a Project with "Vellum and Stitching".

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara

xox

Supplies

Stamps: Blended Bloom, And Many More

Ink: Calypso Coral Blendabilities, Versamark

Paper: Brushed Gold CS, Calypso Coral CS, Pistachio Pudding CS, Vellum CS, Gold Soiree Specialty DSP

Embellishments: Gold Embossing Powder

Tools: Dotted Scalloped Border punch, Heat Tool, Sewing Machine

Daffodil Delight for Colour Me...!

Weee, it's that time of the month again - Monochromatic week!! I love Monochromatic week at Colour Me...!. I'm always so fascinated to see how so many people can use the same colour and have the projects look so different.

I've been wanting to try the stained glass technique with the Blendabilities for a while now, and finally got tried it out on this card. 

I brayered the background in Daffodil Delight. The flowers were embossed with White on a piece of vellum and then cut out. The back of the vellum was coloured with Daffodil Delight Blendabilities and then popped up on the background.

Though faint, the sentiment reads "With Sympathy".

Check out the challenge this week and be sure to pop over and see what the rest of the Design Team has created, and say hello to our Featured Designer for September!

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara

xox

Monochromatic week at Colour Me...!

This week at Colour Me...! we are going monochromatic and using Pistachio Pudding (love it!)

This card had a lot of little details, but I had such a fun time making it. I wanted to try and mimic the DSP in the background, so I stamped the fun starburst stamp from Kinda Eclectic on Gold Foil paper and then embossed with White embossing powder. I didn't want to the burst to be dead-on, so I punched it out using the new 2" circle punch a little to the left of the centre. I layered this on another 2" circle punched out in Whisper White, similar to the layers of circles in the paper. 

The chevrons down the left are punched from Gold Foil paper with the Chevron punch. A few scattering of sequins and loops of thick baker's twine and we were good to go!

Check out the challenge this week: 

Thanks for stopping by today (and I'm all caught up now, so I'll stop bombarding you with posts :))

-Tara

xox

Supplies:

Stamps: Kinda Eclectic, Celebrate Baby, Hello Darling

Paper: Pistachio Pudding CS, Whisper White CS, Gold Foil CS,  Gold Soiree Specialty DSP

Ink: Versamark, Pistachio Pudding

Embellishments: Sequin Trim, Pistachio Pudding Thick Baker's Twine

Tools: White Embossing powder, 2" circle punch, Heat tool

A new (to me!) technique for The Friday Mashup!

I first want to apologize for the lack of posting lately! As mentioned in my previous post, we went through a very big project of replacing all the flooring on the main level of our house. It took over a week, but we are SO thrilled with the results! Our fabulous cousin and so many other great folks in our lives all pitched in to help. Now our house smells like IKEA when you walk in (the showroom part or IKEA, not the food court part).

Anyway, I'm getting all caught up on posts that I have missed during the kerfuffle.

Check out the challenge for FM#170:

1. Create a project using the "Sketch"
2. Create a project using the "Delft Tile Technique" Tutorial here
3. Or Mash it Up! and create a project using the "Sketch & Delft Tile Technique"

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara

xox

Colour Me... Subtle!

Good morning! This week at Colour Me...! we are working with 3 soft colours for our subtle week; Baked Brown Sugar, Soft Sky & Pistachio Pudding.

Lately I've been avoiding the 'coloured' cardbase and background. I don't think it was intentional, but when this card was done, it had occurred to me that it was the case!

It had been way too long since I had used the awesome Paper Doilies that I knew I just had to whip one out... That, and I came across a rogue doily when cleaning up my scraps. Call it fate :)

The background is embossed with the Honeycomb Embossing Folder and raised on the cardbase with Dimensionals. I then cut out a bunch of flowers with the Floral Fusion Sizzlit. I sponged all those bad boys lightly around the edges with Soft Sky and popped a little Soft Sky Candy Dot in there in the centre. The leaves were cut out of Pistachio Pudding using the Little Leaves Sizzlit (one of my favourites!)

Check out the challenge this week:

We would love to see you playing along with us this week. Come check out what the rest of the fabulous Design Team has create and then link up your project!

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara

xox

Supplies:

Stamps: Wetlands

Paper: Baked Brown Sugar CS, Whisper White CS, Pistachio Pudding CS

Ink: VersaMark, Soft Sky

Embellishments: Paper Doily, Brad Base, Candy Dots

Tools: Big Shot, Honeycomb EF, Floral Fusion Sizzlit, Little Leaves Sizzlit, Heat Gun, White Embossing Powder

A 4-Colour week at Colour Me...!

Good morning,

This week at Colour Me...! we are working with 4 colours; Gumball Green, Blushing Bride, Pumpkin Pie, Pool Party and of course, any neutral you choose. 

I will admit, I had trouble coming up with the design for this one. Finally, after many failed attempts at doing something funky with the hexagons, I came up with this! It's a bit different, but I figured all I needed to do was to pop on some Chevrons and bling and I'd be A-OK. 

I used the Chalk Talk framelits to cut the tag out of the black panel and placed it over a layer of hexagons cut using the punch. I traced around the edge of the framelit with the White Gel pen and embossed the "Just for You" greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes. 

Check out the challenge this week. We'd love to see you swing over and play along :)

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara
xox

Supplies:

Paper: Basic Black CS, Gumball Green CS, Blushing Bride CS, Pumpkin Pie CS, Pool Party CS, Whisper White CS, Pumpkin Pie Core'dinations

Ink: VersaMark, Gel Pen, Basic Black

Embellishments: Rhinestones

Tools: Chalk Talk Framelits, Chevron Punch, Hexagon punch, Heat Tool

New technique for Technique Time Tuesday!

Hello!

Today I'm super thrilled to share with you a new tehcnique I've tried - The Embedded Image technique! I have the pelasure of being a Guest Designer over at Technique Time Tuesday for the month of December - thanks for asking me ladies!

I started with on oval of Naturals Ivory and embossed it three (or was it four? haha) times with clear embossing powder. Then, I stamped the lovely evergreen from Lovely as a Tree in Gumball green and embossed that as well. What a cool technique! It gives the appearance of the tree being embedded into the 'glass' of the clear embossing. I will have to try this again :)

Please be sure to stop by Technique Time Tuesday - all month you can play along by picking your favourite tehcnique that they have featured this year... All with great tutorials to get you going!

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara
xox

Christmas Time for Dynamic Duos

Well, this is it! This is my last week as a member of the fabulous Design Team over at Dynamic Duos. I just want to say a huge thank you to Anne-Marie and Lesley for having me on the team for the past 6 months; and as well to all the lovely ladies I've had the opportunity to get to know and craft with! It's been a blast.

For my last project, I decided to make a Christmas card.

I used the new Special Season stamp set for this one. In fact, I actually used the whole set, and no other sets! It's very rare that I do this. Usually I pull from a couple sets at a time, so it was fun to ink it all up at once :)

The tree is stamped in Perfect Plum on the background panel and then again on a scrap of Whisper White in Wisteria Wonder. Popped a mat onto it and layered it over the darker tree. Using my two-way gluepen, I added some Gold Stampin' Glitter.

The pinecones and sentiment were embossing in gold. I just love this set, and can see myself using it a lot for my Christmas cards this year!

Check out the challenge this week:

Thanks for stopping by!

-Tara
xox

Halloween @ Dynamic Duos!

**Be sure to check back tomorrow morning for the winner of the blog candy!!**

Well, it's just about that time... We've been planning our "family" costume for quite some time now. Hunter wants to be the Mad Hatter and I couldn't be more thrilled! Alice in Wonderland has always been my favourite story - I have a million copies of the book, and in high school even started illustrating my own version of it (that project is still yet to be completed! haha).

So, to set the mood a little, I made this wee little halloween luminary for the boys room for this week's Dynamic Duos challenge. Nothing too creepy, as I want them to be able to sleep still, but just to get them in the spirit.

The boot was stamped and embossed on vellum. I made a super simple box and cut a window from one side. The pumpkins were punched and drawn on, and the 'grass' is burlap ribbon.

The colours this week are Tangerine Tango and Basic Black, with a dessert option of a halloween theme.

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara
xox

It's getting spooky around here!

Good Friday morning, friends!

I'm so looking forward to Thanksgiving this weekend... I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve! I just love this holiday. So with Thanksgiving just around the corner, it seems slightly odd that I'm skipping over it today and showing you a Halloween card!

This week at The Friday Mashup, Amanda has a fabulous sketch for us and has asked us to make it spooky! I don't have a lot spooky, so I had to make due with what I had.

I punched out the two different sized butterflies and then reinserted them into the Fancy Flower punch to 'chop' off the bottom.

For the background, I wanted to give the illusion of mist, so I made sure to pour the embossing powder over the panel quickly after I did the brayering. It turns out it looks a bit like snow instead of mist ;)

Check out the Mashup this week:

1. Create a project using "the Sketch"
2. Create a "Spooky" project
3. Or Mash it Up and create a "Spooky project using the above sketch"


Thanks for stopping by!

-Tara
xox

Celebratory Stars for Dynamic Duos!

Well, it's a rainy, lazy Saturday here in Ottawa and we've got big plans to clean, clean, clean! Fun, eh? ;)

I'm taking a quick break to share with you my very CAS card for Dynamic Duos this week!

We're mixing up Crumb Cake and Basic Black with a yummy dessert option of heat embossing!

I reached for the Simply Stars set and my Black embossing powder. I freehanded a fun little border, et voila! It's that easy :)

A fun little card for a congratulations or birthday celebration!

We'd love to see you playing along with us this week. Be sure to swing on over to Dynamic Duos and check out all the lovely creations by the design team.

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara
xox

Black Tie at Dynamic Duos!

Hello! It's time for a brand new colour challenge at Dynamic Duos. This week we have a black tie week, which means we're also offering up a dessert option :)

 Pool Party + Basic Black (+ Embossing)

I used the Happy Day stamp for the flower/doily in the background and the faux suede technique for the larger Pool Party flowers. I love the look of that technique!

Check out the challenge this week:

Be sure to stop by and visit the rest of the design team to have a peek at their lovely creations!

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara
xox

Saying Goodbye to Bashful Blue

Ok, it's official - I'm completely out of Bashful Blue. When I heard it was retiring, I used up every last scrap of it. The final piece I had stashed away went into this little love card for Dynamic Duos.

Check out the absolutely lovely monochromatic colour combo this week!

We would love to see what you create with these lovely blues - so swing on over and take a peek at what the rest of the wicked Design Team has whipped up!

Thanks for stopping by today :)

-Tara
xox

2 out of 3 ain't bad!

It's time for another Friday Mashup, and Holly' got a triple challenge for you this week - The sketch, butterflies and your brayer! 

Unfortunately, I don't own a brayer, so I focused on the sketch and the butterflies. I wanted to add something a little extra to this card since I couldn't do that brayer part.

I layered a piece of Fan Fair DSP on another piece of vellum, which I had (tried to) distress. Just as an FYI , distressing vellum is a lot harder than you might think! Once these pieces were on my card base, I cut out an oval with the new Oval Framelits and then layered a Window Sheet behind it. On the inside of the card, I layered another piece of Vellum and heat embossed the oh-so-awesome flowers from Elements of Style in Pool Party. 

The sentiment is from Apothecary Art, and is Pool Party heat embossing on Vullem. The butterflies are punched out using the Elegant Butterfly punch and then embossed with the Polka Dot embossing folder. They are layered on another sheet of the Fan Fair DSP. 

Check out this week's challenge:

1. Make a project using the "Sketch".

2. Or Make a project using "Butterflies & Your Brayer".

3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project with "your Brayer using the Sketch and add some Butterflies".

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara

xox

Time flies!

Wow, I can't believe it's been a week since I posted on my blog... Time flies (hehe, how appropriate for the card I'm about to show!)

Erica has a great challenge for us this week at The Friday Mashup:

1. Make a project with a "Time Theme".

2. Or Make a project using the "Color Black".

3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project with a " Time theme using the color Black".

I kept it very simple and looked to the photo for inspiration. 

Thanks for stopping by today! I'll be back sooner this time... ;)

-Tara

xox

List of Supplies:

Stamps: Clockworks, Elements of Style

Paper: Basic Black CS, Window Sheet

Embellishments: Gold brads, Gold Embossing Powder

Tools: 1-3/8" Circle Punch, Heat Tool, 1/2" Circle Punch

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

Clean and Simple Embossing

Hello there!

This week I have the pleasure of hosting The Friday Mashup challenge, and with all the Christmas cards I've been making these days, I wanted to take a step back and do something a little... 'simpler'.

This week's Friday Mashup challenge:

1. Make a project using" Heat Embossing".
2. Or Make a project that has a "Clean And Simple Layout".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a "CAS project using Heat Embossing".

Hope to see you playing along with us this week!

-Tara
xox

List of Supplies:
Stamps: Blooming with Kindness, Bring on the Cake
Papers: Basic Black CS, Primrose Petals CS
Tools: Heat Tool, White Embossing Folder

CAS for Sunday Stamps

Anytime I work with red and black together, I always seem to lean towards "Clean and Simple". It doesn't get much more simple than this!
 

I stamped half of the big Pleasant Poppies with versamak on Watercolour paper. After embossing with black embossing powder, I coloured with Real Red and a blender pen... I wasn't too careful with my colouring - I like a little messy look sometimes!

This week's challenge is brought to you by Holly!

Look forward to seeing what you create for this week's Sunday Stamps challenge!

-Tara
xox

List of supplies:
Stamps: Pleasant Poppies, Word Play
Tools: Heat Tool, Black embossing powder

Spooky Sunday!

Hello!

A quick check-in this morning to show you the new Sunday Stamps challenge... then back to laying down! It's 'that' time of year... the time when everyone is sick and seems to stay that way for months. 

I'm your hostess this week and bring you a sketch to play with! The shapes may seem specific in the sketch image, but please feel free to change them up - just look at the Design Team! We've all interpreted it differently :)

Happy Halloween

*See end of this post for a list of supplies*

To create the 'mist' around the stamped image, I had to work very quickly. I sponged the image with sponge daubers and then went over that spot again with the lightest colour to make it moist, then quickly stamped the image in VersaMark and covered in black embossing powder. The black embossing powder sticks to the background that was sponged. 

Here's the sketch: 

Thanks for stopping by! Check out what the rest of the design team has as inspiration for this sketch, then link up your creation!

-Tara

xox

List of Supplies: 

Stamp: Toxic Treats, Teeny Tiny Wishes, En Francais

Papers: More Mustard CS, Tangering Tango CS, Basic Black CS, Howlstooth & Scaringbone DSP

Embellishments: Striped Satin Ribbon, Rhinestones

Tools: Elegant Lines EF, Framelits, Decorative Label Punch, Word Window punch