Sunday 21 August 2011

Hands To Hold......


Good morning everyone...... hope you are enjoying your weekend and the sun is shining brightly!

This week's theme at Cute Card Thursday is 'Weddings'.... I have to admit I don't make a great number of wedding cards but I thought I'd give it a go...... and it made a nice change too! I now have a number of vintage CD roms which I bought from Lunagirl on Ebay, so I am using these images more and more on my cards..... in this case I framed my image by cutting an oval shape in the design paper..... sorry I can't give more info on the papers I used but they are leftovers from old 12x12 sheets.

The sentiments are Kay&Co stickers and I added some vintage lace, satin leaf ribbon and a DooHickey leaf die and heart swirl die..... and of course you'll recognise the cream roses by now, lol..... yes, more of my fave torn roses for which I've done a tutorial here.

If you fancy having a go at the roses and want to use the Co'redinations cardstock I was recommending then I found a great supplier here...... and the p&p is free within the UK!!!


I'm also entering the following challenges:

Paperplay - Recipe : 3 embellishments (flowers, hearts and butterfly), 2 papers, 1 lace

Craft Us Crazy - Anything Goes

Allsorts - You've Been Framed

Aud Sentiments - Anything Goes

City Crafter - Scrap Happy

Crafty Cardmakers - Flutterbies

Creative Card Crew - Handmade Flowers

Desert Island - 7.Stickers, 9.Vintage, 10.Fabric

Fussy and Fancy - 3 or More Fave Embellishments (I chose hand-torn roses, satin leaf ribbon, lace and Doo Hickey dies)

Papertake Weekly - BINGO : Blooms, Free, Lace

Truly Scrumptious - Lace It Up


Well thank you so much for stopping by and enjoy the week ahead ;o)

TTFN and TFL, hugs Tara xxx







Friday 12 August 2011

True Friendship........


Afternoon folks and happy Friday...... how can the weekend nearly be upon us again?!!

I would like to say a huge thank you for the response to my torn rose tutorial and I really hope lots of people will give it a try now ;o)

Following on from yesterday's post I decided to put the dark grey roses to good use and this card is the result! I've made it for my ex-boss who is also a close friend and I felt she might appreciate something a little bit traditional.


I created one of my paper layers by stamping on various Tim Holtz images and a sentiment too, so I hope this allows me to enter my creation into this week's Paperplay Challenge. The outer paper is Kay&Co and the leaves are Marianne and Martha Stewart. This card is soooooooo simple by my usual standards and I was itching to add more, but everyone at home was telling me it was fine so I did as I was told, lol!


I'm entering the following challenges:

Cute Card Thursday - CAS

Cupcake Craft - Sew Mad

Charisma - Distressing

Flutterby Wednesdays - Open

ASFOS - Happy Birthday

Craft Your Days Away - Birthday Celebrations

One Stop - Sentimental

Corrosive - Earth Tones

Tuesday Throwdown - Birthday


Thank you so much for stopping by today ;o)

TTFN and TFL, hugs Tara xxx




Thursday 11 August 2011

Torn Rose Tutorial.......

Morning peeps..... it's certainly been very wet and windy in my part of the world but I'm feeling quite cozy indoors! I know I'm probably odd but I love it when the rain sets in!!! My son isn't quite so happy though as he had a cricket match called off last night because of the weather!!

Anyway, after receiving a couple of emails about my torn roses I thought I'd post a little tutorial..... this is a first for me so please be gentle, lol! Plus I thought I'd enter Tip Top Tuesday for a second time this week so that I can show this as my tip ;o)

Step One: Firstly I start with a piece of 6x6 paper or card...... Co'redinations card looks fantastic with this torn technique so that's what I tend to go for, but anything goes really.


Step Two: I cut the card into four smaller squares...... this gives a nice size for the roses.


Step Three: Then I start to tear in a circular motion to get a round shape from which to start my spiral.


Step Four: As I finish tearing the circle I leave a slight lip from which to begin tearing the spiral shape.


Step Five: I start to tear in a circular motion to create a spiral shape.


Step Six: I continue tearing and try to keep the width as even as possible, but if it isn't perfect it only adds to the handtorn effect really!


Step Seven: I start to fold over the outer edge of the spiral.


Step Eight: I continue to fold it, following the shape of the spiral as I go.


Step Nine: I glue the folded up shape to its base with a hot glue gun.


Step Ten: I tease out the spiral shape so that it looks like a rose...... then all that's left to do is add a pearl centre or a stamen..... whatever you like really.


Here are a couple of my recent cards where I've used these torn roses...... hope you'll have a go and let me know if you do so I can check out your creation ;o)




Thanks for stopping by!

TTFN and TFL, hugs Tara xxx

Tuesday 9 August 2011

Magnifique........


Good afternoon everyone..... hope you are having a good day!

I'm back with another Tilda card...... this is one of the older ones which I really love..... she's so graceful and dainty! I've added lots of white paint to distress the layers and made my own torn roses which seem to be a bit of a habit now, lol! The leaves are Marianne Creatable and DooHickey and my sentiment comes from a Kay&Co design paper.



I'm entering the following challenges:

Papertake Weekly - Grow Your Own

Oldie But A Goodie - The Great Outdoors

Tip Top Tuesday - Straight Edges

EAC - Summer

Craft Your Passion - Favourite Season (Summer)

Sentimental Sundays - Flowers

Dream Valley - Distressing

Totally Tilda - Pearls, Swirls, Ribbon and Lace....... hoping my torn roses count as the swirls ;o)

Simply Magnolia - Sketch...... I turned the layout quarter clockwise and moved the flowers...... hope that's okay ;o)

Addicted To Stamps - Anything Goes

Sketchy Colours - Pink, White and Gold...... there is some gold clitter on the crown ;o)


Well that's me..... catch you soon ;o)

TTFN and TFL, hugs Tara xxx


Friday 5 August 2011

A Summer Day.......


Good afternoon folks....... it's almost the weekend, YAY!!! I'm slightly wondering where the week has gone though!!! I'm so loving being off with my kiddos just now and I'm definitely one of those people who enjoys every minute of being with them in the school hols!!! I am still working the odd day but in the main we're having oodles of family time ;o)

Well it's been a while since I made a Magnolia card and I had a ball with this one! I took up the challenge on the Magnolia-licious Highlites blog to use only papers and it was a lot of fun! I really enjoy picking out elements of a design paper and cutting them out to create nice embellies..... I suppose it looks like decoupage but without all the layers, lol! If you think this challenge might be a bit tricky then check out the DT creations and you'll be raring to go..... such imagination and talent! I also had a snoop around for a nice sketch to follow and came up with one at the latest Oldie But A Goodie Challenge..... I hope I'm forgiven for making a few tweaks as I did move the sentiment and the corner a bit but hopefully the basis of the design is still intact!! Again there are some stunning DT creations to help you on your way!


So for my card I used Kay&Co papers and cut out some of the roses which are shiny and glittery.... but you may have to zoom a bit to pick up the sparkle! Every edge has been distressed with acrylic paints and Distress Ink, as well as being roughed up with scissor blades of course. I added some DooHickey leaves, a Pink Cat Studio round sentiment and a couple of punched Martha Stewart borders..... so I really stuck to the paper theme completely.



I'm entering these challenges as well:

Just Magnolia - Anything Goes (+ glitter option)

Raise The Bar - Anything Goes

CES - Feeling The Blues

Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes

Crafts & Me - Anything Goes

Creative Card Crew - Best Foot Forward

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Stampavie and More - Summer

Craft Us Crazy - Anything Goes in August

Charisma - BINGO (Flowers, Pearls, Glitter)

MDUC - BINGO (Flowers, Sparkles, Paint)



Well I hope you enjoy your weekend and thanks so much for stopping by ;o)

TTFN and TFL, hugs Tara xxx

Monday 1 August 2011

Giggle and Play........


Good morning folks.... hope you've had a lovely weekend and have lots of energy to face the coming week? The weather's been fantastic in the UK and I've been watching hubby and son cricketing and golfing. Can you believe it's now August? WOWZERS!!! It'll be Christmas before we know it!!!

When I saw the latest challenge over at One Stop I just knew I had to join in..... after all it's 'vintage' and that's right up my street at the mo...... been having a little break from stamped images but there might be a Magnolia card to show very soon!

I just love the pretty Kay&Co paper on this one and that sweet, innocent image too! I got to work with some gold dabber paint around all the edges and added in a gold dimensional butterfly. The trusted Tim Holtz tickets were used as sentiments and I rolled my own roses using some Co'redinations cardstock. I also used some of my fave leaf ribbon around the flowers.


I'm entering the following challenges:

City Crafter - Vintage Garden

Crafts and Me - Ribbon

Crafty Cardmakers - Flutterbies

EAC - Garden

Paperplay - In the Garden

Tip Top Tuesday - Make It Girlie

Sentimental Sundays - In The Garden

Wee Memories - No Less Than Four Colours (I've used Pink, Green, Gold, Cream)

Anything Goes - Pick Of The Bunch (Flowers)

Desert Island Crafts - Katie's Itinerary 1. Color Your Image (any coloring medium) 2. Stitching 3. Use a quote for a sentiment 4. Something with Wings 5. Make it Pop Up 6. Use 3 different shapes 7. Make it Manly 8. Use felt/fabric (not ribbon) 9. Give it Life (use an image of something alive) 10. Use 3 different colors only (apart from skin/hair) - I used 4, 5 and 9

The Emerald Faerie Garden - Lace



Thanks so much for stopping by today ;o)

TTFN and TFL, hugs Tara xxx