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

Card for Grandma

My grandma send cards for everything - all the time. So, I made this one to send to her for Easter. I don't typically send Easter cards, but I thought it would be nice for her to get one, considering all that she sends! With 14 grandchildren and 10 (or is it 11 now?!) great-grandkids, I don't know how she keeps it all sorted out!

Happy Easter

The lovely sketch came courtesy, once again, of Freshly Made Sketches :)

Materials used in this card:
Cardstock: Wisteria Wonder, Calypso Coral, Whisper White
Paper: Flirtatious DSP
Stamps: Fresh Vintage, Delightful Dozen
Inks: Wisteria Wonder, Calypso Coral
Embellishments: White baker's twine
Tools: Big Shot, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Jewelry Tag punch, Decorative Label punch


-Tara
xox

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

St. Patrick's Day card

Quick post today to check in to the Friday Mashup! What a fun challenge this week;

1. Make a project for "St. Patrick's Day".
2. Or Make a project using "at least 2 Punches".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project for "St. Patrick's day using your Punches".

Happy St. Patrick's Day

My two punches were the Decorative Label punch and the Corner Rounder punch.

Materials used in this card:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pool Party
Paper: Everyday Enchantment DSP
Tools: Big Shot, Fashionable Hearts Embosslit, Decorative Label punch, Corner Rounder punch

I love Saturday mornings, and I'm off to enjoy the rest of it :)

-Tara
xox

A birdcage day

Ah, Wednesday! Otherwise known as "Freshly Made Sketches" day, in this household ;)

Yesterday was a difficult day, after being handed some rather unfortunate news, so I was so excited to just sit and play with cards today! As I created, I thought about the situation, and felt comforted in the fact that everyone near and dear to me is healthy, happy and safe.

My mother told me that everything happens for a reason, and I believe that. My mother-in-law told me that when one door closes, another one always opens, and I believe that as well.

Then, Rita at Freshly Made Sketches provided this wicked sketch that seemed to scream "waterfall card" at me! It all seems very fitting... The natural flow of life and happenstance - the ease at which transitions can be made.

yada yada yada.. I'll spare you the philosophical psychobabble and get on with it ;)

Happy "bird"day

For some reason, I can't seem to get this pic of the sketch to work here... Please click here to go see!

I reached out to friends on Facebook yesterday asking them to tell me "good news" stories. I can't even begin to describe how it changed my day! It quickly reminded me that it's easy to find joy in other people's achievements (big or small!) and it's SO worth it to celebrate with them :) If you're having an off day sometime, I urge you to do the same. You'll be surprised how many people will post something positive and how quickly it'll make you feel better! 

-Tara

xox

Fresh Apples

This is my card for the Freshly Made Sketches challenge this week! I actually made two cards using this sketch - which I often do :)

I realize that the Well Worn paper makes this card look like it's not all that "clean", however, it's very minimalistic and simple in style. How can you compete with that awesome truck, anyways?

Materials used in this card:
Cardstock: Early Espresso, Very Vanilla 
Paper: Well Worn DSP 
Stamp: Countryside, Petite Pairs
Inks: Cajun Craze, Early Espresso, Real Red, Basic Black, Old Olive
Tools: 1 1/4" Square punch, Scallop Oval punch, Large Oval punch, Blender Pens

This is the sketch:

My mom is visiting this weekend, and she had just gotten this set. I thought it wasn't really my "style", but like so many of the Stampin' Up! sets, the second I inked it up, I loved it. I kind of wish she wasn't taking it home to Prince Edward Island with her ;)

I grew up in a fairly small town (around 3000 people when I lived there), and on the outskirts there was this old pick-up truck that sat in a big field. I'm no auto expert, but I'm going to guess it was from around the 40's-50's... Everyone knew where it was, and for some reason, no one really seemed to mind it sitting there. In fact, there was a bit of an uproar when it was finally removed. It was a significant 'heritage site' for most, I guess. This truck, though not nearly as dilapidated, reminds me of that landmark from my childhood. :)


Hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend!

-Tara
xox

Shabby Chic

Back again with my entry into this week's Friday Mashup.

1. Make a project using the "sketch" (below)
2. Make a "shabby chic/vintage" project

3. Or "Mash it up!" and create a "shabby chic/vintage card using the sketch"

Kindness Matters

 

Materials used in this card:

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Whisper White

Stamps: Kindness Matters, Delicate Doilies

Inks: Crumb Cake, Versamark

Embellishments: Basic Pearls, Gold embossing powder, feather*, Hemp Twine

Tools: Heat Tool, sanding block

*This is not Stampin' Up! It's leftover from our wedding :) 

This was the sketch I was working with

I admit, I had to look up shabby chic. And by "look  up", I mean I did my ever-extensive 2-step research process; Wikipedia, then google images.

Wikipedia:

Shabby chic is a form of interior design where furniture and furnishings are either chosen for their appearance of age and signs of wear and tear or where new items are distressed to achieve the appearance of an antique. At the same time, a soft, opulent, yet cottage-style decor, often with a feminine feel is emphasized to differentiate it from genuine period decor

And for those more visual people out there (like me!), Google images returned the following glorious result. I don't know if it's the most accurate portrayal of shabby chic, but I loved it nonetheless.

All this 'research' into shabby chic is really making me want to redo our bedroom again. And the first item on the list of new things to get for it would be that chandelier :)

-Tara

xox

Edit to add: So excited - This card was chosen as a "Glamette" with the Friday Mashup! :)