Baby fun at The Friday Mashup!

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost a week since I posted last! Excuse me for my absence... even though I've been back to work over a month now, I'm still getting back into the rhythm of working.

This week at The Friday Mashup Amy has a very sweet challenge for us! Who doesn't like making baby cards? ;)

*see list of materials at the bottom of this post*

And here's the challenge:

1. Make a project with "Pleating".
2. Or Make a "Baby Theme" project .
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project with "Pleating and a Baby Theme".

If you want to try the paper-pleating technique, be sure to cheque out Amy's awesome tutorial on the "Mashup Tutorials!" page of The Friday Mashup blog.

Look forward to seeing your creations this week :)

-Tara
xox


List of Materials:
Stamps: Friendly Phrases, Happy You
Paper: Pink Pirouette CS, Crumb Cake CS, Very Vanilla CS, Fan Fair DSP

Embellishments: Vintage Trinkets, Crumb Cake Seam Binding, Pink Pirouette Tafetta
Tools: Jewelry Tag punch, 1-3/4" & 1-3/8" Circle punch

Friday Mashup & SUPER exciting news!

Glorious Friday morning! The sun is shining, and I anticipate a lot of water play and park fun in the next few hours :)

The fabulous Amanda has a really fun Friday Mashup challenge for us this week - but before I get to that, I have some really exciting news!

Last night I got a call from Stampin' Up! to tell me that I was chosen as one of the 20 finalists for the Artisan Design Team!! I was tickled pink! Since I won't be going to convention, I won't find out if I was one of the winners until afterwards... But nonetheless, I'm ecstatic! :)

OK, now on to today's challenge!

 Stamps: Flock Together, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Tiny Tags

Paper: Birds of a Feather DSP, Crumb Cake, Primrose Petals

Ink: Crumb Cake, Island Indigo, Primrose Petals

Extras: Stitched ribbon, Baker's twine

Toos: Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch, Jewelry Tag punch, Oval punch

Here's the mashup challenge for you this week:

1. Make a project using the " Party Time " theme.
2. Or Make a project using the " Box in a Bag " tutorial.
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a "Box in a Bag with a Party Time theme."

If you have never made a Box in a Bag before, Amanda has a great tutorial over on her blog, here.


So, head on over to The Friday Mashup and lets get the party started! :)

-Tara
xox

Dynamic Duos!

Hello

I'm so excited that I finally got the chance to sit down and play along with the Dynamic Duos challenge (#1!). And what a wicked way to start out: Pool Party and Lucky Limeade.

My sketch today comes from Craft Project Central's challenge, Creating Pretty Cards #11. If you haven't participated in their monthly challenge yet, be sure to do so!

This is one of the many cards we have stashed away to send to my mom. We try and send her one once a month, and generally I let my son make them for her, but sometimes I just have to take over ;)

-Tara
xox

Pretty in Pink

Wow, it's been a busy couple of days! We found out yesterday that our baby has pneumonia... and we must say, he's been a trooper! He's a tough little bird, just like his brother :)

However, during some downtime today, I took the opportunity to make a card for two challenges; Freshly Made Sketches and Pals Paper Arts.

Thanks so much

The fun sketch came from Freshly Made Sketches, and the lovely colours came from Pals Paper Arts. I'm multi-tasking today, by combining the two.

 

Thanks for stopping by - Hope to see you again soon :)

-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

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

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

A new challenge!

Hello!

Today's card is brought to you by the number 14, and the letters F, M and S... And by that I mean, I participated in the Freshly Made Sketch challenge #14 today. I've been seeing the sketches around all over the place these days, and keep thinking how absolutely lovely they are. Figured it was time to jump on the bandwagon ;)

"Clean". It's almost impossible to stay that way when you have a 3 year old and a 3 month old... So if my house, clothes and children can't be clean, at least my cards can be. And Freshly Made Sketches is all about clean. How refreshing!

As soon as I saw this sketch, I instantly thought of a present all wrapped up... So, I dressed up this card to look like a present. This isn't one of those cards you pop in the mail though, so I made this one to give to my dad at Christmas when I see him. We don't exchange gifts, so when he opens this "present" card, he'll see a little picture of his grandsons (well, the grandsons that I grew, at least!)

Merry

 

(FMS14)

For this card, I wanted to keep it clean!
1. Resist the urge to distress!: Let me be frank here; I have a not-so-secret love affair with sponging. I do it all the time. Almost too much (is there such thing?!). But don't be afraid of the clean lines! Nice, 'clean' edges can keep your card looking fresh and crisp. Back away from the sponges!

2. Embellish with "big"!: "Clean" doesn't have to mean embellishment-free! have at it, go crazy :) The reason for the big bow was threefold! 1) I was sticking with the philosophy "go big, or go home"; 2) When it comes to presents, the bigger the bow, the more likely it'll get opened first! hehe; and 3) With less surface area, I was less likely to cave to the gentle whispers of the sponge (see above).

The supplies I used for this card were:

Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist
Paper: Frostwood Lodge DSP
Stamps: Tiny Tags 

Ink: Cherry Cobbler

Embellishments: White Satin ribbon

Tools: Jewelry tag punch.

Until next time - Happy Stamping :)

-Tara