It's Sunflower Season!

Who here loves sunflowers, raise their hands.  I'll bet all the hands went up!

 

 

I adore sunflowers but have never been able to grow them because the squirrels either ate the seeds I planted or the ground hogs ate the flowers before they had a chance to grow tall. 

 

 

Well not this year... 

stick around to see photo's at the end of this post to see the sunflowers that are growing in my yard this year.

 

 

But first, let me share a set of sunflower cards I made using some really old (probably dated) design papers I've had in my stash that needed to be used.

 

I pulled out all the sunflower "things" to make this set of cards.  Dies from The Greetery, super old stamps from Kitchen Sink Stamps, (Do you remember them?) and a set from Sunny Studio.

 

The sentiments are all oldies as well, from PTI.

 

I packaged them all up in this sweet card box / organizer that I made using an Eileen Hull Scoreboards XL die from Sizzix.  I then wrapped them up in a cello bag and tied the tag on with a ribbon to gift to a friend for her birthday.  (She loves sunflowers too!) 

 

 As promised, here are some photo's of the sunflowers I've been growing this year. 

 

 This is a new set of four raised beds we added this spring. We purchased galvanized planters, but hubby trimmed them out with cedar and added a sitting ledge on top.  He thought that would be more comfortable for me as I get older. 😂 I filled one bed with different varieties of sunflowers.

 

I also planted them all along the inside edge of the garden that wraps around the south and east side of the greenhouse.

They are just starting to open up, but they're super tall.

 

Here you see two distinct colors.  Lemon yellow and the traditional orangey-yellow.

 

These smaller sized sunflowers are Teddy Bear Sunflowers.

 

Rather than having the typical elongated petals. they have very tiny outer petals and the inside is a big fluff ball... just like a teddy bear!

 

I love the darker ring of color on this sunflower.  The pollinators have had plenty to eat in our yard this year.

 

I've been a bit consumed by our gardens this summer.  I've enjoyed taking a short crafting break to spend time doing my second favorite hobby, which is gardening.  I've tried to keep up on commenting, but if I've missed some of your posts, you know why.  

The summer season is almost over and though I'm sad to see it coming to an end, I'm ready to get back to paper crafting once again.  I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer.  

 

I'll be adding one of these cards to the following challenges:

 

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge ~  Anything Goes optional mood board

 

Word Art Wednesday ~ Anything Goes

 

Thanks for stopping by!