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!

Flower Pots ~ Double D

Good day crafty friends!  Double D is back with a new challenge using Flower Pots.

 

 

 I knew right away that I needed to use these darling plant pots from The Greetery. 

 

 

Their Modern Planters and Planter Pets came out in June of 2023 and I think you can still find them at The Greetery. 

My daughter and I are both working on growing our green thumbs.  We love house plants!

 

 

We share cuttings from each others plants and if something needs to be cut back, we plop it in some water to see if it will grow roots, then we share them with friends.

The Planter Pets are all so cute when filled with house plants.  I sure wish I had some of these cute planters in my house.  

 

 

I mean, seriously???  So cute!

So come on over to the DD Challenge blog and join in on the fun!  Be inspired by the work of all my talented team mates and get your green thumb on.  

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

And here's a prize that you could win when you play along.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jewel Tone Sunshine

Hello friends!  I've been busy working outside in the gardens, enjoying all things spring, but I thought I'd pop in here and share a card I made using the beautiful colors from Beautiful Blossoms Challenge.

 

 The jewel tones are brilliant!  Don't you think?

 

I had this beautiful piece of water colored background paper in my stash. I had printed it on my home printer and it fit the color palette perfectly.

 

 

 The nest is from The Greetery and the bird is from Spellbinders.  The scale of the bird worked well with the nest, so there you go!  The flowers are die cut and then I stenciled the centers in through the holes before removing the die.  These super old flowers are from PTI.

 

 

The colors are quite brilliant, but I like it!

 

Sometimes I just need to make something really bold and beautiful.  Add in a feathered friend and it's a match made in heaven.
 

I'll also be entering this card into the following challenges:

Word Art Wednesday ~ Anything Goes

The Sisterhood of Crafters ~  Flowers

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge ~ Things With Wings 

Here is the printable I used.  It was a freebie I found on the internet.  You can click on the image to open it, right click and save it to your computer so you can use it too!

and here's a bonus image! 

 Happy spring and happy gardening!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Floral Gift Basket ~ CCS

Happy May friends!  I've got a new project up over at the CutCardstock blog.

  

If you'd like to see more details on how this project came together, I'd love for you to visit CutCardstock.  I ask a probing question at the end of the blog post, so please stop by and tell me your ideas.

Thanks for stopping by!

Spring Flowers ~ Double D

Hello friends~  It's time for a new challenge over at Double D Challenges.  The theme for the next two weeks is "Spring Flowers".  

Crocuses are the first flowers to emerge in my yard in the spring time, so I felt like The Greetery Crocus's were the right fit for the challenge. 

 

I combined a couple of different font die cuts from my stash to create the sentiment.  I also added a bit of hombre inking to the "wishes" die cut and then heat embossed it using clear embossing powder.  It a bit hard to see the shiny finish on the die cut, but trust me, it's there.

As most paper crafters do, I'll bet you have a ton of flowers in your crafty arsenal that you could use to join in on the fun over at Double D Challenges.  I sure hope to see your card in the linky!

Darlene has brought us a bit of inspiration:

And here's the prize you could win when you link up and play along.

 

ETA:  What perfect timing to discover that Color Hues is looking for lilac and aqua.  I'll be entering my card into this challenge.

 

I'll also be entering this card into Seize The Birthday, where the theme is layering.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Guest Designing for Cut It Up Challenge

Cheerio friends!  Today, I'm happy to be sharing a card as guest designer on the Cut It Up Challenge Blog.  My project was chosen as one of the "Top Cuts" back in September and thus gave me the opportunity to guest design for a future challenge.  So, here I am today, creating for the newest challenge #323, "This Makes Me Smile".  

 

 

 Well, the simple answer to "what makes me smile", is that I love working with dies!  Especially vintage-y ones!

This darling, retro looking Lovely Layers Vintage Reindeer from Honeybee Stamps most certainly brings a smile to my face.  I purchased the dies just before Christmas and made up a few of them, but they never made it to a card front until now.

The Greetery's Boxwood Heart framed this deer nicely, with some added flowers from Spellbinders.  A layered pair of hearts adds to the sentiment.

Thanks so much to Larelyn and the Cut It Up team for inviting me to guest design for them.  I enjoy playing along with your challenges!

I do hope you'll all stop by Cut It Up and join in on their challenge.  I'd love to know what makes you smile!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Reason To Celebrate ~ Double D Challenge

Happy New Year friends and happy 9th birthday to Darlene and Diane from DD Challenges!

Who knew that 9 years ago would be the start of all their amazing challenges?

 

 

To celebrate, their theme for this new challenge is "Anniversary / Birthday".  

I pulled out this fun Award Winning die set from The Greetery and stamped the sentiment from Inflated Sentiments to wish them both the greatest celebration.

 

There's plenty of room in this challenge to spark your creativity, but here's an inspiration panel to further inspire you.

 

 

 

Here's the prize you could win when you play along:

 

 

Visit the DD Challenge blog to see more amazing inspiration and join in on the fun!

Thanks for stopping by!