HONOR, TEAMWORK, RESPECT

Honor, teamwork and respect are three words that describe perfectly my experience as a Summer Gardener for The Greeting Farm. I have had so much fun and am so appreciative of the opportunity and all the wonderful comments and encouragement from Marie, Jessica, and all the design team members. What a fabulous group of women and I am so honored to have been a part of it. And while I am gushing I want to say thanks to the visitors to my blog too, you all are awesome and I can never tell you how much your comments mean to me. OK, enuff sappy stuff, on to my last official Summer Gardener project....



My daughter was in brownies when she was younger but gave it up when other things caught her interest. She had a lot of fun earning badges for her sash and I have kept it along with several other brownie mementos. When I saw the CUTE TROOP set I though it would be perfect for a keepsake box to hold my daughter's brownie memorabilia.

I got the box from Michaels for only $1.69. While I was there I found these great papers from K and Company that look like there is paper piecing, stitching and ribbon on it but it is all one flat sheet of paper. That made for a very quick and simple project.



If you have little brownies or even older girl scouts at home this would make a fun project. They could color the scout, decorate the box to their own taste, and have a place to store all their scouting treasures.

When my daughter grows up I hope she will take out the box and remember all the fun she had.

Thanks so much for stopping by, see you tomorrow for a Lindsay's Stamp Stuff Thursday!

WHAT A FEELING!

Oh Yeah, I had big hair, leg warmers, and a ripped t-shirt in the eighties, how about you?



This is Eighties Anya from The Greeting Farm and I used her to make a little box to hold - what else with all that hair - barrettes and pony tail holders.



I recycled this box that had little dividers inside which were perfect for separating small hair supplies.



This would be so cute as a gift for a little girl but I think I will keep this one for myself since I still wear barrettes occasionally. I know it dates me but one of the great things about getting older is that you don't much care what others think.




See you tomorrow with my last official TGF project.

A LONG GOOD BYE!

This is a first for me, a full week of blogging! I have a new project for each of my last three days as a Gardener for The Greeting Farm and today's card is a type of pop-up card that is really a fall down card.



My husband and I went on a little antiquing trip a while back and I got the
sweetest little German valentine at a shop called Leesburg Station Antiques. It had a simple hinge-type mechanism that folded down that I thought was really cool, the valentine was adorable and it even had a to/from signature (in English)on it.

Though I am sure others have done cards like this, I have never seen one so I used this "new-to-me" hinge technique to make a card using Savannah from The Greeting Farm.


Here is the original.
















And this is the inside hing which allows the small front edge to flip up, allowing it to lay flat for insertion into the envelope. How cute is that!




Here is how it works.



I made a back the size of an A-2 card and added about 2 inches on to the end to form a flap for the base. Make a thin strip about 1/4 inch wide and 2 inches in length and tape both ends leaving the middle without tape



Place the strip about 1.5 inches up from your fold line at the bottom side of the card.



Make another thin strip of about 1/4in. wide and 51/2in. long. Score at 2 3/4, 3 1/2, 4 1/4, and 5 in. Form a sort of loop with a long strip sticking up.


The long strip is going to slide up into the strip that was placed on the card back and the bottom will be attached to the bottom as shown.





I made the back strip of mine too short so I added a longer piece on top with the pattern showing so that it blended into the back.



Attach your image to the front and all done.






































This is the card folded up. It provides a nice area to place your sentiment which I haven't done yet.

See you tomorrow, have a super day!

S'MORE PLEASE!

My son loves everything about being a cub scout including camping. I, on the other hand think roughing it means not having a mini bar when we "camp out" in a hotel room. I love wildlife and enjoy hiking and out door activities but I NEED a comfy bed and heat. For the past few Octobers we have gone to Hawk Mountain, a bird watching place in Eastern PA that is on a migratory route for various raptors. It is a magnificent site to see a Golden Eagle soaring through this breathtakingly beautiful area. When we are done though, we head to our cabin by a lake that is heated and has a soft bed. We still cook our food on the campfire and finish off the evening with gooey, delicious S'mores but we then head INSIDE were the bears can't get us!



This is a S'more kit I made with my son's scout troop in mind and for the limited supply challenge at SCS today. I used the adorable new CUTE TROOP stamp from THE GREETING FARM, a plastic paint can from Michaels, a Digi kit for the scene and papers I got at the Boy Scout store when I went to get my son a new uniform. Can you believe they actually have a bunch of scrapbooking supplies there?






I made a couple layers for the fire and popped it up to give it some dimension and to allow Ian to roast his marshmallows. Aren't marshmallows a wondrous invention?



The scene goes all around the container except for a half inch space in the back that I am going to have to deal with. I will probably put the scouts name on it along the back when I am ready to give them out.

I think I will go sneak some of those marshmallows out of the can! See Ya!

LIFE'S MESSY - DON'T CLEAN IT UP!

Did you ever see that commercial that says "life's messy, clean it up"? With a husband, two kids a dog and two jobs (paying/non-paying) our house is in a perpetual state of chaos. It totally drives me nuts though because I can't stand messy. But I never have enough time to clean the way I like.



I made this card for ME. Partly because MY GUY IAN from THE GREETING FARM reminds me of my little guy but mostly to remind myself not to sweat the small stuff. And boy is there a ton of small stuff laying around our house to make me sweat!


The locker is a couple of layered rectangles with three, thin black strips. I sponged around the edges and along the upper third to make it look like it had two parts. The lock was made with punched, layered circles.




I wanted it to look like everything was falling out of his locker (like mine used to be) so I used spirals cut from circles pasted to opposite sides of the locker as the base. I saw the technique at SCS somewhere I will have to go find it to post the link, its lots of fun to use. I then attached different school supplies I cut out from a digi kit. I love how this turned out if I do say so myself.

This is a FARM FRESH FRIDAY so I followed this sketch provided by the super talented Farmer Cindy Haffner. If you love TGF (and who doesn't) go participate in the challenge, it's lot of fun and they have great prizes, like more TGF stamps!



Stop back later for S'more projects and have a great day!

BLINGIN' UP SOME SPOOKY PUMPKINS!

Happy Thursday everyone!

This is a little treat box I made super quick this morning. I am off today because of the G20 Summit being held in Pittsburgh (my work is closed) so i thought I would do a little tutorial which I don't normally have a lot of time for.



I was in Michaels the other day and saw some cute pumpkin embellishments layered with a shimmery gold background that were $3.99! No way was I going to pay that much and I save my precious coupons for the big stuff. So, I made my own. I used the SPOOKY PUMPKIN stamp from LINDSEY'S STAMP STUFF. You can get this stamp along with a bunch of others in a set for only $5.00. And Lindsey has a super freebie on her BLOG to go along with it so make sure you get that freebie!


I printed out the image at about 3X3 inches, colored them up with my new Inktense pencils (which I love and will discuss later), and cut them out. I also cut out the eyes, nose and mouth with my exacto knife.



I cut the background layer out of super shiny, starry, sparkly prismatic paper.





And put them together with pop-dots. I also added a couple of punched dots of black to the inside of the last pumpkins eyes. It looks so much better in person, someday I will learn how to use my camera better.






































For the treat box, I made a 5.5 inch square, scored it on all sides at 1.25 inches and cut into it as in the picture.



I added a little DP, some ribbon and filled it with some treats.



Check out the other DT's blogs for some great inspiration!

Lindsay
Janet
Lisa
Margie
Katt
Tracey
Tamara
Row
Melissa
Leanne
Diana
CINDY
Ellen Sept. Guest DT

See you tomorrow for a Farm Fresh Friday!

THE FRESH PRINCE OF THE FARM!

So happy it is Friday! For some reason this has been a loooong week. I have another toadally fun post under this one so please check it out!



I know this guy is just too sweet looking to be a graffiti drawing punk but do I see a paint can sticking out of his pocket? Noooo couldn't be! This is one of a new set My Guy Ian from THE GREETING FARM. I have a big family but I still make way more cards than I can possibly use so I often donate them to a local youth home. I always have tons of girl cards but very few for the guys. That's why I love this set, it is just perfect for the older boys.

This week's FARM FRESH FRIDAY CHALLENGE is to use embossing on your card. Dry, wet, whatever you like. I ran my navy and orange cs through my cb folders for my embossing.

I have wanted a cropadile for a while but went back and forth because I wasn't sure I would use it. Well, I found one at a flea market, brand new, for 10.00! I was so excited, it even came with eyelets and a pink case. I love it, I have been putting eyelets on everything including this card!

Oh yeah, if you are a fan of Twilight you have got to see Joseph!
Thanks for stopping by!

CARD STUFF
STAMPS - My Guy Ian, The Greeting Farm
PAPER - City Walls, Scrapbook Bytes; SU, Night of Navy, Dusty Durango
ETC., - Twine, metal charm, brads Joanns

ZEN AND THE ART OF.......

Who knows? I remember my friend Cindy extolling the virtues of the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Riding. I read the first couple sentences and gave up. Guess I am not much of a Zen person.



This week at SCRAPPY FROGS CHALLENGE BLOG, the card/project should have....SURPRISE.... a FROG on it.

I made this card for my boss's birthday. I am so fortunate to have the coolest job ever and my boss is just the greatest. I am not sucking up here, no one at work even knows I have a blog. At least I don't think so. I got this stamp a while ago and just love this guy, he is just too cool. Instead of clouds I used my DNA double helix stamp so that he could ponder the mysteries of molecular life (I know, I am such a science geek but our lab is a molecular one so it fits). The background is just a bunch of sponging and I actually did some masking (which I don't often do) with this one to get the bench, frog, and sponging to look right.



I usually stink at sentiments but I made this one up myself and I thought it was pretty funny. Hope he isn't offended LOL!

Jump on over and give the challenge a try, it should be toadally cool this week!

Have a great weekend!

CARD STUFF
STAMPS - Frog, Doggone Stamps; dna, unkown; bench,SU
PAPER - white cs

HAVIN' SOME FUN

HAPPY THURSDAY! I don't really have a finished project today. I was just playing with some of my neglected craft supplies and made some things that I can use at a later date for a card or maybe some kind of keepsake project.

I used the Flourished dragonfly from LINDAY'S STAMP STUFF again because it is just so pretty. As I mentioned before, my top favorite reason I like digi stamps is because they can be made to order as far as size is concerned.

I saw this idea at a stamp show several years ago and I will post some how-to pics soon. I just got a new camera and haven't gotten a memory stick yet so I can only take two pictures at a time which isn't very good for a picture tutorial.


Briefly, I had some 1.5X1.5 inch memory glass and some 2X2inch acrylic squares in my stash. For the pink one on the left I just printed the image on patterned paper, sandwiched it between 2 of the memory glass squares and sealed it with 1/4" red tape. Finally, I dipped the edges in some pink microbeads. For the two on the right, I hauled out my sad and lonely alcohol inks. I used glossy cardstock and applied my alcohol inks along with some gold and copper from my leafing pens. I let it dry and then printed my dragonflies in corresponding sizes. I ran the leafing pens around the edges and then used red tape to attach the picture.







































How cool are these cupcake wrappers that Lindsay has designed? How fun for a kids birthday party either decorated by you or by the kids themselves to keep their little bodies busy.

Check out the other design teams blogs for some inspiration and Lindsay's store to get your hands on some of those adorable wrappers.


Lindsay
Janet
Lisa
Margie
Katt
Tracey
Tamara
Row
Melissa
Leanne
Diana
Ellen Sept. Guest DT

IT'S A GIRL THING!

I don't usually post on the weekend but the dog woke me up a 5:00 AM barking at some creature outside so I made a card.






I had the image colored and the papers picked out yesterday but was waiting for something to come to me. I was checking out the SCS Sunday Challenge to case a card by Shannan Steubner and used one of her lovely cards for inspiration.















I decided to make it a gift card holder/pocket card. It didn't really turn out much like Shannon's beautiful card but what do you want for so early in the AM?

The Greeting Farm is growing and this image is a new release designed by a brand new artist Janet McDonnell. It will be available on September 15th along with a bunch of other newbies.

A FURRY GIFT!

Our sweet little cat is no longer with us but when she was, she was so very generous.






Our house is surrounded by woods and in the winter we often have tiny little furry visitors (field mice) who try to get warm in our duct work. Egypt, our cat, was very good at eliminating our house of these uninvited visitors. She would often bring them to me (usually at 2 AM) and would be very persistent in meowing loudly until I got up and acknowledged the "gift". I once found one in my shoe one morning when I refused to get out of bed in the middle of the night in response to her cries.

The GINGER BELL set from THE GREETING FARM reminded me of Egypt and her generosity and the beautiful paper is from the Happy Anyaversary paper pack. I used this wonderful sketch provided by Jessica.

You can use it too and maybe win some free stamps over at the FARM FRESH FRIDAY CHALLENGE!
Club Anya is previewing some fabulous new stamps that will be available on the 15th so jump over there and check out what the design team has created, they are an amazingly talented group and always have fun ideas.

My daughter is in marching band this year so we are off to the football game tonight, have a great weekend!

A BIT SUBDUED

With the holiday on Monday and the fact that I went back to work, this week is just zooming along. Since I have been speeding along at a frenzied pace and doing a lot of bright projects I thought I would tone it down a bit and try for a more subtle effect.


I used Cattails #2 and Filled Swallowtail Butterfly
from LINDSAY'S STAMP STUFF
I love the soft aqua and brown tones in the paper which went so well with the nature theme.

We are all finished with the find the freebie in the design team's blog but Lindsay has some really fun ones on her blog THE FRUGAL CRAFTER. ALSO, if you join Lindsay's new LSS Group at SNR Card Universe There is another freebie in it for you.

AND, this is a special week because you have a chance to win 10 stamps from Lindsay by playing along at INSPIRATIONAL CARD SKETCHES. All you have to do is make a card using this sketch (I flipped it on its side for my card). Then, go on over to ICS and link it to their blog.








The design team have all used the sketch in their projects this week.

Lindsay
Janet
Lisa
Margie
Katt
Tracey
Tamara
Row
Olena
Melissa
Leanne
Diana
Ellen Sept. Guest DT

CARD STUFF
STAMPS - LINDSAY'S STAMP STUFF, FILLED SWALLOWTAIL, CATTAILS #2
PAPER - SHABBY MISS JENN, FRENCH ATTIC
INK - SU, CREAMY CARAMEL; VERSAMAGIC, AQUATIC SPLASH
ETC., - PRISMA PENCILS, GAMSOL,

A 3D LAUNDRY DAY!

HAPPY FRIDAY!
Two posts today so please check them both out!

3D

Today's challenge at SCRAPPY FROG'S CHALENGE BLOG is to make a 3D project which is my favorite thing to do.

I made this box for my niece who just started college. I will fill it with goodies and send her a care package. I got the box template from The Digi Chick and the Manga Girl stamp from sugar nellie. She looks like my niece (minus the "tude" - she is a sweetheart) and she did have some pink in her hair at some point in high school. I haven't really been in to the other SN products but I love this new Manga line. They have some Christmas ones coming out next week that I just HAVE to have, so cute!

Make sure you hop on over and give the challenge a try. I always have so much fun doing 3D and it's great to have a gift when I need something special.



LAUNDRY DAY



Of course I just had to do it. There was no way I couldn't make a washing machine card with little Laundry from THE GREETING FARM.


This week's FARM FRESH FRIDAY CHALLENGE is to make a card focusing on the INSIDE, but I did a little on the outside too.

I see that SU has come out with a plastic bubble type thingy like the one I used today to make the front of the machine. I have been looking for something like this for a long time and can't wait to order some. However, in the mean time I have been hoarding the plastic from my son's Bakugan toys. He thinks I am the greatest mom ever because I like to buy him Bakugan while the reality is I just want the plastic, he he.



Isn't she just the sweetest ever? The Hope and Grace line just melts my heart. LAUNDRY is a new release from the farm and is available now along with the other newbies.

Have a great weekend!

DRAGONTALES

Hi everyone hope you're all having a great week so far!



The Flourished Dragonfly is definitely one of my favs from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff's wonderful collection. I pulled out my Color wash jewels from Stampzia for this project. I haven't used them in so long but I thought a sort of rainbow/stained glass effect would look nice on this stamp. The Stampzia product is water-based and comes in a spray bottle. Before printing the stamp I sprayed the six colors across a sheet of white cardstock making a rainbow and let it dry. Then, I printed the stamp onto the colored paper. So simple and I think it came out pretty well.


The corners seemed a little bare to me so I added a wire with some dragon fly beads to the edges. The dots along the black were made with a glitter gel pen.


Today there is a bonus FREEBIE hidden somewhere in one of the design team members blogs. This will be the last from the dt so make sure you check out all their blogs and get it before its gone! Happy hunting!

Lindsay
Melissa
Janet
Lisa
Margie
Katt
Tracey
Tamara
Row
Olena
Melissa
Leanne
Ellen Sept. Guest DT