Colour Me... Striking!

The first week of Colour Me...! was so much fun, we thought we'd do it again ;) haha...

This week we have a 2-colour challenge as it is the send week of the month. This colours this week are Melon Mambo and Marina Mist.

I love the stamp set Crazy Mixed-Up Love. The images are just too cute. For the frame around the circle, I use two Fancy Flower punches and cut them into three sections each (2 sections of 2 and 1 section of 1). They fit around the 2-1/2" circle punch perfectly with one of the '1' pieces left over. 

I tore a strip of Marina Mist Core'dinations paper and put it in behind, as well as punching out a little heart with it. The finish touch was the Marina Mist Candy Dots and the Brad Base. 

Be sure to swing by the blog and see what the rest of the Design Team has come up with, and play along!

Brenda Hofstatter

Hayley Kew

Katie Melhus

Rosemary Dennis

Sam Simpson

Tara Bourgoin

Lesley Croghan

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara
xox

Feeling pretty at Dynamic Duos

Happy weekend, friends!

I'm still riding the high of a very fun and intimate BOGO event last night with some superb ladies. I'm just so excited about the new catty - can't wait to get my hands on new goodies.

Over at the Dynamic Duos, we've got a very pretty colour combination for you!

Happy Birthday Wishes - Tara (Murphy) Bourgoin

I went with Crumb Cake as my neutral for this card, which I generally don't do. I typically stick to white or vanilla, but sometimes you just have to get a little wild and crazy.

The stamp is from one of the new hostess sets, and I'm absolutely addicted to it already. After I stamped the image in Raspberry Ripple, I shaded underneath the foliage with Crumb Cake and a Blender Pen. I then added some highlighting with White craft ink. I have a Blender Pen reserved for this purpose alone. I like to use the white gel pen, but I find that I have more control over how strong the colour is going to be when I use the blender pen - It works great!

To make the 'chubby' scalloped border, I punched out one of the Fancy Flowers from Wisteria Wonder and cut it up into three pieces (two heart-shaped pieces with 2 petals each, and a single petal). It fits perfectly on a 4" panel. 

The Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon was pulled and ruffled. 

Check out the challenge for this week:

I am really looking forward to seeing all the lovely cards with this colour combination!

Thanks for stopping by today!

-Tara

xox

Happy Birthday blimp

Time for another challenge at Sunday Stamps! This week, Steph is bringing us a fun sketch challenge, and we're keeping the linky open for an extra week because of the holidays. It's crazy to think that Christmas is less than 2 weeks away!

I've been loving the Moving Forward set these days. The images are just so fun and friendly, and the stamp set itself is for a great cause. It's a win-win for everyone, really.

I haven't used the herringbone technique in a long time, and Steph's sketch this week seemed like the perfect opportunity to use some of the *awesome* Polka Dot Parade DSP. I have to admit, this paper didn't even register on my "DSP Radar" for the longest time, and then is just struck me one day how much FUN it would be to use!

Here's the sketch for the challenge this week:

Can't wait to see you playing along.

-Tara
xox

List of Supplies:
Stamps: Moving Forward
Paper: Real Red CS, Whisper White CS, Old Olive CS, Polka Dot Parade DSP
Embellishments: Marina Mist 1/8" Tafetta Ribbon, Brights Button
Tools: Cupcake punch, Fancy Flower punch, Perfect Polka Dots EF

Sketch time at Sunday Stamps!

Hello!

Guess what? Sunday Stamps has a sketch for you this week - and it's awesome :)

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

I used the Fan Fair DSP in my card this week, and I just LOVE it. I love it so much that instead of stamping my main image, I punched out a section of the DSP and framed it with some modified Fancy Flower punch bits.

The sentiment is from the Word Play set, which you can now order single stamps from!! How awesome is that, eh?

Joan is hosting this week, and she worked her magic to come up with this beauty:

And we have a new face over at Sunday Stamps, so hop on over there and see who it is!!

Can't wait to see what you create this week!

-Tara
xox

List of supplies: 
Stamps: Word Play
Colour: Island Indigo, Ivory, Basic Gray
Papers: Island Indigo CS, Naturals Ivory CS, Fan Fair DSP
Embellishments: Metallic brads
Tools: Fancy Flower punch, 2-1/2" Circle Punch, sanding block

The Friday Mashup punch art challenge!

Welcome friends! It's time to mash things up with The Friday Mashup again! This week I had a big "oops" moment. 

There are so many Leo's in our family (hubby, son, FIL, SIL, Step-dad, step-brother... on and on!). Here I was thinking that my nephew was a Leo as well, and I made this card for his 2nd birthday and I was so happy with it! Turns out, he's a week shy of being a Leo, and is in fact a Cancer (which is a crab, I think?). For the record, I had his birthday right in my head, just didn't realize the cut-off for Leo was a week after that date :P

Regardless, he's still going to get it, because I think it's cute. I'm sure he's not going to mind!! Maybe next year I'll try a punch-art crab. :)

Happy 2nd Birthday

Colours: Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Lucky Limeade

Punches: 1-3/4, 1-3/8", 3/4" 1/2" circles, Large oval, Boho Blossoms, Scallop Circle, Fancy Flower

Lili has a fantastic mashup challenge for this week. Take a look:

1. Make a project with " Punch Art ".
2. Or Make a project featuring your " Favorite Animal ".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project " with an Animal made from Punches ".

I do hope you play along - punch art is SO much fun. There are a lot of fabulous tutorials online, and don't worry if you don't have all the right punches - in my little lion I followed a tutorial that had his head, cheeks, and ears much smaller... but I didn't have the right punches so upgraded him ;)

-Tara

xox

Fly away!

I've been all about the 3D projects lately, but I think you'll agree, the Friday Mashup challenge left me little choice :)

It's the Fan Favourite this week at the Friday Mashup, and I've been super excited for it! The mashup was to:

1. Make a project using "Colorful Twines".
2. Or Make a "Kite themed" project.
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a "Kite themed project using some colorful Twine".

I made a kite for my son's door. The other son is getting one too, but I want him to be able to pick out the colours he wants, and this was made in the wee hours of the morning when I had some quiet time... so I started with the baby's. He has no say in the colours he gets ;)

Jackson Kite

Some details:

Colours: Bashful Blue, Marina Mist, Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral

Ribbons/Twine: Bashful Blue grosgrain, Lucky Limeade and Calypso Coral Ruffled Ribbon, Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral and White baker's twine.

Embossing on the bashful blue kite pieces is Perfect Polka Dots

The cloud 'paper' was made using the scallop circle punch out and marina mist sponging. The letters were cut out using the Big Shot and the naturally serif decorative strip. The bows on either sides of the name are made with the grosgrain and both coloured ribbons. The tail of the kite is made using all three baker's twines braided together for extra thickness. The other ribbons were tied on. The edge around the kite is made from the Fancy Flower punch that was cut up, and I usedthe two largest framelits from the wicked Labels Collection for the name plate. 

It measures approximately 12 inches wide (at the widest part) and about 14-15" long. 

I think that about covers it! 

-Tara

The Lorax

I am going to preface this post by saying that I took a lot of creative license with the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches...So much so, in fact, that I wondered if I should really be entering it at all. But when it comes down to it, this card would never have come about without the sketch inspiration from FMS.

When I saw the fabulous circles on Lesley's sketch, it reminded me of Truffula trees. Probably because I love Dr. Suess and recently went to see The Lorax with our son. I wanted to create something a little fun and different, so here you have it. Believe it or not, it actually IS a card for his birthday (we are going to have a Dr. Seuss themed party this year), but I also wanted him to be able  to hang it on his wall when all was said and done, so I made the Lorax the "sentiment" instead. He does speak for the trees, afterall...

The Lorax Birthday

Here are some notes:

Truffula Trees - These are made from white satin ribbon coloured with Stampin' Write markers. I glued them on a circular base and overlapped a bit as I did that, then I cut the 'seem' off the side and pulled the fibres out to make them a little fluffy on the edges. I finished them off with a designer button to hide all the 'messiness'. They are Daffodil Delight, Real Red and Pumpkin Pie, though the red turned out looking a bit pink!

The Lorax - Made from a Large Oval Punch. The space to make his legs was using the same punch, and punching out only a bit with the short edge. His beard started out as a Large Oval as well. His head is a 3/4" circle punch.

The Bush - The bigger bush on the left was made using 3 petals of the fancy flower... I put it in again and angled (twisted) it slightly to  make the smaller bits. 

Everything was outlined with a Basic Black marker to make it look like a drawing. The circle around The Lorax was done with a white Gel Pen.

Here was the original sketch, and for good measure, a picture of the Lorax himself :)

Now that I have that out of my system, I'm ready to get back to reality :P haha

-Tara

xox

Edit to add: So excited - This card was chosen as a "Perfect Princess" with Freshly Made Sketches! Thank you, Tui :)

 

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

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

Merry Christmas!

Well, this is it... the last 'workday' before Christmas. I gotta say, up until last night, it wasn't feeling 'Christmas-y'. Then my mom arrived from across the country, and BAM, the magic began :D

Today at the Friday Mashup, the design team has this wicked sketch challenge for you. And if you dare, you can mash it up and use the sketch with some watercolouring.

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge :

1. Make a project using the "Sketch".
2. Or Make a project using "Watercoloring".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project using the "Sketch & Watercoloring" .

Hello

I have to admit, I'm not the best at watercolour. I did try, but I'm not sure that I even did enough to claim that I watercoloured ;) Around the tree, bird and clouds there is a tiny bit of colouring, that may be hard to see. I also flipped the sketch on it's side!

I hope everyone has a very safe and happy holiday! And hopefully we'll see you back before next Friday! I can't believe I didn't update all week.

My mom, sister-in-law and I are planning a card afternoon, where we just get together and make some things, so I'll be back before too long with all the excitement of that :)

Until next time - Happy stamping! :)

-Tara

Chip off the old block!

As I write this, I’m running a fever and have so much pressure behind my eyes and ears that I feel like that frog from Shrek – you know, the one that Shrek blows into and makes a balloon for Fiona?

Anyways, this is going to be a super short one today, but I just had to come and share this fun Friday Mashup with you:

1. Make a project featuring "Chipboard (Precut or Diecut )".
2. Or Make a project with "Distressing ( ink, scissors or the Cutter Tool Kit)".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a "Distressed Project featuring Chipboard"

 Since I love distressing oh so much, I was thrilled about this one!

Sympathy

I realize you can barely see the stamp/sentiment, but that was partially intentionally – It’s a sympathy card and I wanted it to be subtle. The other reason is that I didn’t realize it was going to come out that light ;)

Going back to bed now – enjoy the Friday Mashup challenge, everyone!

Until next time – happy stamping :)

-Tara

Sugar and Spice!

This week at the Friday Mashup we were challenged with using a very yummy colour palette: aqua, chocolate and white! And, if we so dared, mash that up with a Christmas theme. I decided to take a break from Christmas with this challenge, and used the awesome colour combination to make a clean and simple birthday card using one of my favourite stamps: the Triple Treat Flower.

I love those bold lines, and how about all the coordinating punches?! Use the Fancy Flower, 5-Petal Flower, or circle punch to separate the layers and mix up colours!

Happy Birthday Wishes

(FM34)

For this card, I wanted to keep it simple!
1. Embrace the white space!: The white space in a card (or, the space without patterns/images), can be as striking as the focal point! It helps keep the card looking clean, and can really draw attention to the 'main attraction'. I resisted the urge to sponge, versamark, and slap on patterned paper... Something that's really hard for me! Stampin' Up! Designer Series Paper is so gorgeous, I usually look for every excuse to use it! Since I didn't want to use DSP in the main body of the card, I used it as an accent for the stamped image - a tiny hint of Spice Cake in the middle of  the Triple Treat Flower.

2. Be bold!: Using colours that really contrast each other help make the card pop - it gives the illusion of depth and dimension. I like to use stamp sets with very bold and heavy lines when the rest of the card is clean and simple! It gives the card some weight, like having a light and fluffy mousse cake with a nice cookie crumb crust ;)

 

The supplies I used for this card were:
Cardstock: Pool Party, Early Espresso, Whisper White
Paper: Spice Cake DSP
Stamps: Triple Treat Flower, Petite Pairs
Ink: Early Espresso
Tools: Fancy Flower punch

Until next time - Happy Stamping :)

-Tara

For My Wonderful Mother

There's never a 'wrong' time to send a card to your mother to remind her she's wonderful :) I wanted to make her a clean, simple and classy looking card. I played along with the Play Date Cafe Challenge this week to make a card using black and white, and a splash of orange.

 For My Wonderful Mother

  (PDCC107)

For this card, I wanted to keep it clean an simple, with a splash of colour!
1. Layer it!: For my splash of colour, I wanted to incorporate the Calypso Coral into the Triple Treat Flower, so I first inked up the stamp in the Calypso Coral, and punched it out using the Fancy Flower punch. I think inked up the Triple Treat Flower again using Basic Black. I don't currently own the 5-Petal Flower punch, which would be perfect for this, so I cut out the smaller flower and popped it up on dimensionals! A pop of colour and depth all at once!

2. Add a watermark background!: I had a lot of 'white' space to fill (well, black in this case!), but I didn't want to put any paper or colour on it - so I inked up my Triple Treat Flower stamp with versamark and scattered it around the card front. It's subtle, but in the right light, adds a nice little touch.

The supplies I used for this card were:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black
Stamps: Triple Treat Flower, Delightful Dozen
Ink: Basic Black, Calypso Coral, Whisper White (Craft), VersaMark
Embellishments: Whisper White Satin ribbon
Tools: Fancy Flower punch

Until next time, happy stamping :)

-Tara

Flirtatious

It's early November, and in the cardmaking world, Christmas has been in full-swing for quite some time! Sometimes though, it's nice to take a break. Thank you to the Friday Mashup! team for encouraging us all to do that ;)

Our family is going to a birthday party today for 3 women. So, this challenge couldn't have come at a better time!

1. Make a project featuring "A Girly Theme"
2. Or make a project using "Your Favourite Technique"
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a "Girly project using your favourite technique".

I mashed it up this week with a little Rock'n'Roll flirtation ;)

Happy Birthday

(FM32)

For this card, I wanted to make it as girly as possible as well as incorporating my favourite technique!
1. Flirtatious Suite: I know I just used the Delicate Doily set last week to make a Thank You card, but it just doesn't get any more 'girly' than that set and the coordinating paper - Flirtatious. If you're looking for a really fun feminine card, and you're not afraid of bright colours, this is the paper and stamp set for you ;)

2. Rock 'n' Roll: Once of my favourite techniques, even though it's an oldie, is the "Rock N Roll" tehcnique. And it's almost as if the Delicate Doily set was MADE for rockin'! First, stamp your image in a lighter coloured ink (in this case, I chose Melon Mambo), then, 'roll' your stamp in the darker coloured ink (I used Wisteria Wonder). The edges of your stamp will pick up the new colour, and the middle will retain the first. I used this technique on the doily, and then punched it out using the Doily Triple Layer punch.

The supplies I used for this card were:
Cardstock: Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Whisper White
Paper: Flirtatious DSP
Stamps: Delicate Doilies, Delightful Dozen
Ink: Wisteria Wonder, Melon Mambo
Embellishments: Wisteria Wonder Ruffled Ribbon
Tools: Fancy Flower punch, Doily Triple Layer punch

Maybe I'll put the Delicate Doilies away for a bit... But it will be hard!

Thank you for visiting! 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