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!

Sunflowers ~ Double D Challenge

Happy Wednesday paper crafting friends!  Are you ready for a new challenge over at Double D Challenge?  Diane has a delightful mood board for you for the next two weeks.

Sunflowers!  🌻🌻🌻 Who doesn't love a cheerful sunflower??  

Here's how I was inspired by the upper right corner.

I'm all in when it's sepia toned!  I inked up the edges of the card front using Vintage Photo and Antique Paper DOX inks.  

The sunny sunflower stamp is from Sizzix.  This stamp set was very easy to line up. The postage stamps are from Spellbinders.

While I had my supplies at hand, I made this CAS version, inspired by the lower right corner of the mood board.  I used a "sympathy" sentiment just so I could have a card on hand.  You never know when you'll need one and I'd rather make them when my heart isn't hurting.  

I look forward to seeing how you're inspired over at the Double D Challenge.

Here's the prize that you could win when you play along.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Sunflower ~ Double D Challenge

Hello friends ~  Double D Challenge is starting a new challenge this week and the theme is "Sunflowers".

But first, I want to announce the winner of my giveaway from the Altenew Collaboration Challenge from August 2nd.  

Congratulations Darlene!!!  You're the lucky winner!  I will also reach out to you to let you know.

Now onto my card:

I love sunflowers, especially in my paper crafting.  The only hurdle I faced with this challenge, was deciding which sunflower I was going to use.  

I chose to use the adorable Daisy Mouse stamp from Spellbinders.

I stamped the image onto Neenah Solar White cardstock and colored the image using Copic markers.  I let my Brother Scan N' Cut do the fussy cutting, then mounted it over a Spellbinders Fluted Classic Circle.  

I hope you enjoyed today's card as much as I enjoyed making it.

Click HERE to visit the Double D Challenge blog to see more amazing inspiration from my super creative team mates.

Here's the inspiration board to help get you started:

And here's the prize that will be award to a randomly selected participant:

Thanks for stopping by!

Mixed Media Monday ~ Sunflowers

Good morning, friends.  I've got my next installment of Mixed Media Monday for you today and it has a cheerful sunflower as its theme.

As always, I started with some inking, stamping and stenciling in my Create Happiness art journal.  I used the book stencil from Stamperia and a very old Postcard stamp.  

 

This page gave me opportunity to use up some older Graphic 45 papers as well.

This wonderful sunflower is from Cheery Lynn Designs.  I've had it for years and it still remains one of my favorites.  I cut all the pieces out of scraps I found in my scrap box.

The sentiment is from Papertey Ink.  It's stamped on a piece of scrapbook paper that was cut using a notebook die from Papertrey ink.

I enjoyed this project for many reasons.  

1. Because it used up many items that have been sitting around for years.
2.  Who doesn't love sunflowers??
3.  I wait on the promises of God

I Thank you so much for stopping by!  I hope you'll come back again in a couple of weeks for my next Mixed Media Monday offering.

Vintage Sunflowers ~ Double D Challenges

Hello friends~ There's a new challenge starting up over at Double D Challenges and the theme is "Sunflowers".  Is there anyone who doesn't love a beautiful sunflower?

I have many sunflower die cuts and stamps that I could have used but in the end, this is what I came up with, using a pre-made flower from The Paper Studio that I picked up at Hobby Lobby.  The papers are ages old, from Graphic 45.  

Here's the mood board to help inspire you:

And here's what you could win:

I do hope you'll stop by the Double D Challenges blog to see more beautiful cards from my talented team mates and join in on the fun!  

Thanks for stopping by!