WhoIsTracy? Blog

My first card is up on So Sketchy this morning! Ally cooked up a really wonderful sketch. And since I've been digging clean and simple lately, I decided to make a nice clean card.

My base is PTI white cardstock cut and folded to 4.25" square. The scalloped circle filled with hearts is from Unity's Love Grows kit. I stamped it in PTI Pure Poppy ink. The sentiment is from Birdie Inspiration. I stamped that in Palette noir ink for contrast.



To finish my card off, I pierced a border around the entire thing, then pleated some red satin ribbon from my stash. To do this, I just folded the ribbon from the center out, and secured each fold with a glue dot. Then I used glue dots to attach the entire pleated section to my card. I love how much this adds to the card. Next time, I'm determined to get my sewing machine out and try that instead!

Thanks for stopping by!

Family Love Recipe:
Cardstock: PTI white
Stamps: Unity Love Grows, Birdie Inspiration
Ink: Palette noir; PTI Pure Poppy
Accessories: paper piercer, red satin ribbon

Happy Wednesday! It's a short week so we're already almost to the long weekend. Can't wait!

I snapped a few photos of my garden this morning since we're between rain showers right now. We've been getting an awful lot of rain this past week. The garden is loving it, for now.

This is coreopsis Sunray. I grew this from seed a couple years back from a gardening friend. This will bloom non-stop from late June until fall for me, with deadheading. You will be hard to find a longer-blooming perennial than coreopsis! Best of all, she's drought tolerant once she's established.



Another golden beauty this morning. This is gaillardia Arizona Sun, also grown from seed. This started off as a tiny plant that I wasn't sure would make it another year. And now she covers a three-foot wide area of my garden, spilling over and in-between daylilies, asiatic lilies, strawberries, and others. Such a happy plant and the bees and butterflies just adore her. She is also drought-tolerant, although lately that hasn't been a problem for us. The red center becomes more pronounced as the season progresses.

I find it best to prepare for the future in my gardens. With the predictions of global warming and a drying trend for my region, I've been trying to pack my garden with drought-tolerant beauties. This helps me conserve water now, which not only saves me money on my water bill, but helps lessen my water footprint.

I'm a big proponent for responsible gardening. This means, not only planting a garden to attract wildlife and help counteract urban sprawl; but more importantly, being mindful of what goes into your garden and how it affects the environment. Too many people plant gardens and then spend the rest of the season watering them non-stop, even right after it rains. Or worse yet, pumping chemical after chemical into the soil to kill one type of insect or promote healthy foliage. There are so many wonderful, environmentally-safe, organic products out there. I think more people need to be educated about this!

So, you might hear me talk about this from time to time when I share my garden photos. I hope those of you who garden will consider switching to more environmentally safe practices; and I hope those of you that don't garden will be inspired to start!

Happy Tuesday! I hope it's sunny and warm where you are because it's raining and cold here!

This morning the i {heart} papers girls are sharing a challenge that was issued by our very own Lynn Mercurio to Bling it Up!

My card base is PTI white. The decorative paper all comes from Basic Grey's Wisteria collection. I thought these two patterns were gorgeous together and just had to use them. I faux-stitched around the outside edge using my paper piercer and my Copic Multiliner.



My butterfly is from the Martha Stewart butterfly punch. I punched two and layered them for a more realistic look. The blingy trail comes from these wonderful Crystal Flourishes from Zva Creative. Love them! I even added a couple self-adhesive gemstones to either side of my sentiment.

My sentiment is from Unity's May kit of the month. I stamped it in Palette Violete ink. It's an almost exact match for the deep purple in the paper!

Be sure to stop by the other IHP design team members' blogs to see what they came up with for this challenge. You can find links to their blogs in my sidebar. Thanks for stopping by!

Enjoy your Day Recipe:
Cardstock: PTI white
Decorative Paper: Basic Grey Wisteria
Stamps: Unity May kotm
Ink: Palette Violete
Accessories: paper piercer, Copic multiliner, Zva Creative Crystal Flourishes, MS butterfly punch, self-adhesive gemstones, Heidi Swapp edge distressor

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Ours was just perfect. Gorgeous weather to play a little tennis in, some gardening, and a barbecue.

Here's the card I made for this week's sketch over on Card Patterns. We were sponsored by Odd Bird Planet again and got to play with their Fairy Tale kit. I decided to do a nice clean and simple take of the sketch.

My card base is PTI Rasberry Fizz. This is the first time I've used this color and I thought it went perfectly with the sold green paper included in the kit. I used my Fiskars scallop scissors to create the decorative edge to a piece of scrap white cardstock, then used my paper piercer to pierce a hole in each tiny scallop.



To finish the card off, I added this cute little stamp image included in the kit, a strand of gold cord, and a little snippet of cord that I stapled together.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Ten Cents Recipe:
Cardstock: PTI Rasberry Fizz, white
Accessories: Odd Bird Planet Fairy Tale kit, paper piercer, Fiskars scallop scissors, staples

Good morning! Happy Friday!! The wonderful Suzy Haghighi is celebrating a birthday today! Be sure to stop by her blog and wish her a happy day today.

The Embellish-Online DT and guest DT decided to throw her a little party and make birthday cards for her today to celebrate. This is the card I came up with. It uses this week's sketch over on 2S4Y.

My card base is PTI vintage cream. The decorative paper is all from Basic Grey's Porcelain collection. Love those little polka dots! I faux-stitched the papers using my paper piercer and Inkssenstials white pen. My focal image is from Unity's March kit of the month. I colored it in with some wonderful Sakura Stardust Galaxy & Meteor pens. Tons of sparkle and shimmer there!



I used my circle nestabilities to cut out the main panels. My Crop-a-dile made the holes around the scalloped edge. And I finished the card off with a big white satin bow.

And now onto the winner of my blog candy giveaway! The random number generator picked #21 which is Terri S who said:

My 4th of July plans....... going to friends for their annual pool party. #21 Terri S

Congrats Terri! Email me your address so we can get your goodies out to you!

Thanks to everyone who played along. I loved reading about what your plans are for the 4th. {hugs} to you all! And a big {hug} to Kate for donating these goodies! Have a super weekend! I'm subbing over on Card Patterns for the next two weeks while the lovely Michelle is out on a well-deserved vacation. Be sure to stop by and say hi and play along with us.

Happy Birthday Recipe:
Cardstock: PTI Vintage Cream
Stamps: Unity March kotm
Ink: Palette Burnt Umber, Boudoir Blush
Accessories: paper piercer, Inkssentials white pen, prismacolor pencils, circle nestabilities, corner rounder punch, Sakura Stardust pen, white satin ribbon, Crop-a-dile

Just two quick garden photos to share with you today. I've been so busy I've hardly had time to get in my studio to craft!

This is Veronica Crater Lake Blue. A local gardening friend was kind enough to give me a small start a few years back and she's coming along well. I love her happy purplish-blue color.



My roses are still going strong. This is Carefree Wonder. And she is very carefree, as her name suggests. I don't have her staked or trellised, no fertilizers, no special care of any kind. And she's full of these wonderful bright pink blooms. I definitely need to get another!

Thanks for letting me share. I'll be back tomorrow with a card.