MDS Monday has gone weekly!

Hello! And a very (very!) happy Monday to you. Why am I so happy on a Monday? Because MDS Monday has gone weekly!

Each week we will post a new challenge for you that will stay open for two weeks. Every other week will still be a scrap sketch, but now we're introducing a card sketch/technique week as well. Feel free to use this card sketch as a page though :)

Here's my card for today:

Check out the sketch:

I added some embossing to my card and have created a little tutorial for you. It is posted on my main blog, and a link to it as well saved under my "Tutorials" page. I hope that you find it helpful.

We do hope you'll join us at MDS for this new challenge week! :)

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara
xox

Faux Embossing in My Digital Studio (MDS)

Faux Embossing in My Digital Studio (MDS)

Tara (Murphy) Bourgoin

A quick and easy way to add embossing to any MDS project!

Step 1

Select the image you want to “emboss” from the Stamp Brush sets. In this example, I chose Back to School - Dots Overlay from the Back to School kit. Apply to your project. It will show on screen in Black.

Step 2

Crop the stamp to the same size as the section you are “embossing”. For this project, I cropped it to match the white layer on my card, which is 4” x 5-1/4”. 

Step 3

Change the colour of the stamp to match that of the background you are putting it in. In this project, Whisper White. Move this stamp layer so it is 1 layer above the background.

Once you have changed the colour and moved it back in your layers, you won’t be able to see the pattern anymore. We’re going to fix this now!

Step 4

With the stamp brush layer still selected, select “Drop Shadow” from the Design Centre. Adjust your settings so that Opacity=”-40%” and Blur=”-3”

Step 5

For a softer look, adjust the Opacity of the stamp brush in the Design Centre to 90.

You can do this with any stamp brush set and colour! I find that some stamps work better than others when doing this technique. Here are a few more examples using the exact same process. 

Colour: Midnight Muse;  Stamp Brush: Decorative Overlays - Argyle

Colour: Crumb Cake;  Stamp Brush: Autumn Harvest - Flower 1

Colour: Blushing Bride;  Stamp Brush: Decorative Overlays - Woodgrain

Hope this tutorial was helpful.

-Tara

xox

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day, friends! To all the mom's, grandma's and great-grandma's out there, I wish you a day filled with love.

To celebrate, today I have a card for Sunday Stamps for my MIL. Sadly, the colours in the photo don't quite match... (that's supposed to be Bermuda Bay!), but you get the idea :)

This fabulous sketch comes from Joan this week:

Why not stop by and visit us at Sunday Stamps. Can't wait to see what you create!

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara
xox

Olive you!

Happy Birthday! The Dynamic Duos is celebrating their 1 year anniversary this week and I'm so excited to be a part of the celebration! For the challenge, you can pick andy past Dynamic Duo.

I have been wanting to use this stamp for so long, and then when I whipped it out to ink it up, I couldn't get this "simple" design out of my head. I stamped the olive and sentiment and then freehanded the border - trying to mimic the swirls in the olive pick.

I went with challenge #20, Lucky Limeade and Basic Black (The Dessert Option was a Halloween them). Although it isn't immediately obvious that this is 'halloween theme', I definitely was thinking about Halloween while making it. My hubby and I are already thinking about our costumes for this year, and the top of our list is a Martini Glass and an Olive - Last year I was a beehive and he was a beekeeper; before that I was a wall socket and he was a plug... I'll have to try and remember to give him this card by then! haha

We would love it if you played along with us this week! See you over there :)


Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara
xox

Sneak Peek for The Friday Mashup

Ok folks, I'm ready to start sharing some sneak peeks from the new catalogue. I don't know how to actually spell any of the happy sounds I'm making right now - the catalogue is JUST that gorgeous.

This week at the Friday Mashup, Amy is hosting with a super fun challenge! She would like us to use a sketch, and maybe make a set of cards with it. Challenge extended? Challenge accepted:

Believe it or not, I did actually use the sketch - I used my Simply Scored to make score lines in the white cardstock as if it were sections of paper. Here's an up-close-and-personal look at one:

These cards all use the absolutely amazing In Colors for this year (drool!) and a brand new hostess set that is just too perfect for words.

Let's check out the mashup:

1. Create a project using "the sketch".
2. Create a "set of cards".
3. Or Mash it Up and create a "set of cards using the sketch".

Amy has made a wonderful tutorial to show us how to get the most out of our DSP to make some lovely card sets. 

We would love to see what you come up with for this challenge!

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara

xox

Grandma

It is with a very heavy heart that I write this post. My dear grandmother passed away on Wednesday, May 1^st. Fortunately, my brother and I were able to be with her for her final hours and say goodbye to her. While going through her photo albums the past couple of days, I couldn’t believe some of what I was seeing. I’ll admit, I was ignorant to their lives before grandkids… I always took them for very straight-laced, conservative people (which they were! Haha), but I’d never really thought about how silly and in love they were until recently.

When I found this photo, I couldn't stop laughing. I've made it my personal mission now to find out what's going on here. All I know from the caption is that they were traveling someplace in Nothern Saskatchewan in 1970. Stay tuned :)

My grandmother was born in 1922 and had an incredible life. A long, happy life filled with friends and family that love her immensely. She was kind and giving – I can’t tell you how many photos I came across of her working at the Legion; hosting events, making ‘brown bag lunches’, working the poppy campaign for Remembrance Day. She was always smiling.  

My grandma taught me how to make cookies, she cared for me when I was home sick from school (there was nothing a bit of flat Ginger Ale couldn’t cure!), she loved her garden and kept a lovely home. She read the newspaper from front to back every day and watched every Blue Jays baseball game there was. Grandma made a matching game for the grandkids using two old Sears catalogues and some Bristol board (that’s right, we matched floral sofas, lava lamps, small appliances and TVs).

I could write for hours about her, and still not run out of things to say.

However, it’s time to get down to business as well – today is a new challenge over at MDS Monday. We would love it if you swung by, checked out the sketch and played along with us!

Here’s the super fun sketch by Rochelle. She’s added an extra little challenge of creating a monochromatic page – I was surprised at how much more difficult it is to create a monochromatic page than it is to create a monochromatic card!

My page is Mellow Moss and Old Olive. I chose green for a couple reasons. First off, the picture is from the 70s, and nothing says “70’s” more than green (or orange!). Second, my grandma loved green. She collected green glassware, wore it all the time, and thought it went with everything. She once told me “Every flower has a green leaf… everything goes with green!”.

Love you, grandma Murphy.

-Tara

xox

A new team at the Dynamic Duos!

Hello friends,

I'm so very excited to share with you that I'm working with a fabulous group of ladies on the Design Team for the Dynamic Duos! I couldn't be more thrilled to be a part of this group. I'm so looking forward to seeing all of your creations and making new friends along the way.

So, let's check out the fabulous challenge this week!

Want to meet the rest of the new Design Team? Stop by and say hi!

Alison Barclay

Anne Marie Hile

Debbie Henderson

Hayley Kew

Janet Bagnall

Janet Zeppa

Lori Turner

Michelle Williams

Susie Wittwer

Tara Bourgoin

Tracey McNeely

Can't wait to see what you create!

Thanks for stopping by today.

-Tara
xox