WhoIsTracy? Blog

Happy Thursday! Sorry for the lack of posting still. Work has been absolutely nuts. I've been working 12 hour days which is leaving me little time for much else other than eating and sleeping!

I did manage to sneak out into my garden this morning to take a couple shots of what's blooming. This is lilium tigrinum "Black Beauty". She's a species lily, and the parent of today's oriental hybrids. And she is gorgeous! She's spreading already for me and performing very well despite the drought we've been having this July.



This is actually Black Beauty's father, if you can believe it, Henryi. I moved him to a new spot in the garden last year to take center stage, and I'm happy he's flowering well and performing under the drought this summer.

He's not as tall as high daughter (she must get that trait from her mother!), but the orange petals and green stamens are real show-stoppers in the garden this time of year.



I just planted this rose, Glamis Castle back in late May. I'm happy to see her reblooming in her first year! She has some black spot but I'm hoping next year when she's established more that she'll be a bit happier in her new home and able to fight it off.

The buds are just slightly pink until they start to open, and then she's completely white with a touch of red right in the center there.



Lastly, as I was wandering around the gardens this morning I caught this monarch emerging from her chrysalis and was too enthralled to even move. Finally as she staggered out, stretched her wings, and walked up the length of this daylily leaf, I had to run inside and grab the camera! It's hard to tell in the photo, but her left wing hasn't fully unfolded yet. [All you see in this photo is her right wing.]

Thanks for indulging me!

Morning and happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Mine was busy as I was stuck at work trying to finish up this move.

Here's my card for this week's sketch over on Card Patterns. We're sponsored by Some Odd Girl this week and all got to play with their adorable digis.

My card base is PTI kraft. I made a little patchwork quilt out of Memory Box Spearmint and Basic Grey paper scraps in my stash. Love the blues, oranges, and greens- they make for a bright, sunny card, don't you think?



I faux-stitched around my little quilt using my paper piercer and Copic Multiliner. Then added a trio of Zva self-adhesive basic clear gems that I snipped apart using my scissors.

My image is this adorable rainbow from Some Odd Girl printed directly on kraft and colored in using my prismas. I left them unblended for a sketchy look. Then faux-stitched around the edge using my paper piercer and Inkssentials white pen.

I finished my card off with a trio of ribbon loops from my stash in orange, yellow, and green (to match my rainbow, of course!). Then added some sparkle to those clouds with my Copic Spica clear glitter pen.

We hope you'll play along with us this week on Card Patterns! As always, there's a great prize up for grabs and a chance to be our guest designer.

Patchwork Rainbow Recipe
Cardstock: PTI kraft
Decorative Paper: Memory Box Spearmint; Basic Grey
Stamps: Some Odd Girl Rainbow
Accessories: paper piercer, Inkssentials white pen, Copic Multiliner, Fiskars cloud decorative edge scissors, prismacolor pencils, orange/yellow/green ribbon scraps, Zva self-adhesive basic lines clear, Copic Spica clear glitter pen

It's time for another i {heart} papers design team challenge! This month, Deb challenged us to use some of the amazing 12x12 paper that Kate has in stock. And let me tell you that a lot of it is even on sale!

I decided I wanted to make something a little out-of-the-ordinary and fun this time around. So I got out my much neglected Silhouette and cut a little take out box out of this adorable My Mind's Eye "Chloe Lynn" paper. I only used about half of it in the process, so I could even make another box if I wanted to! [If you have a Silhouette, just search for take out box and you'll find the template to purchase.]



After assembling, I used some floral wire for the handle and topped it off with a snippet of May Arts silk ribbon. Since my garden is just bursting with flowers, I wanted to fill this little container with some to share. I put a tiny plastic container at the bottom filled with water, then put my flowers in. The flowers and leaves hide the container perfectly!

And since the entire thing is held together with i {stick} papers (red line) tape I know it won't fall apart! This tape is super sturdy, trust me!



I made a little notecard from a scrap of cardstock to go along with my take out box. The layout is from FTL #99. I used My Mind's Eye "Chloe Lynn" paper to coordinate with my blooms and box. I faux-stitched around the edge with my paper piercer and Inkssentials white pen.

My image is from my latest set Summer Garden stamped in Palette Charcoal ink. I colored it in with my prismacolor pencils, then used a sentiment from Happy Harvest to finish the card off.

This is exactly the type of project I had in mind when I created this set. So happy I could make it happen!

I hope you'll stop by the other design team members' blogs and see what they've created for the challenge:

Carolyn Mustopa
Cathleen Torina
Deb Felts
Gretchen Belknap
Kendra Wietstock
Loretta Lock
Lori Tecler
Lynn Mercurio
Megan Lock
Kate

And don't forget that Kate has over 800 amazing items on sale in the store! She's heading to CHA in another week, so get these goodies while they last.

Take Out Box & Card Recipe
Cardstock: PTI white
Decorative Paper: MME Penny Lane "Chloe Lynn" & "Jazz"
Stamps: The Petal Press Summer Garden, Happy Harvest
Accessories: paper piercer, Inkssentials white pen, corner rounder punch, Silhouette, floral wire, crop-a-dile, SU slit punch, May Arts silk ribbon

Good morning! Sorry about the lapse of posting here again. Work is super busy- we're expanding and moving into a second building and so it's taking up every hour of my day to prep for the big move which is happening later this week. I'm sure it'll be another week or so before things settle down.

But I did manage to make my card for this week's sketch over on Card Patterns!

My base is PTI kraft. That decorative paper is from Basic Grey's Basics Manilla collection. I distressed the edges and then used my Ecstasy Large Corners and Borders Template and vellum piercing tool to make the pierced designs in each corner.



That sweet little image is a Hero Arts cling. I stamped it in Palette Burnt Umber ink and colored it in with my prismacolor pencils. No blending though as I wanted a more rustic look to my card.

I finished her off with a few Zva self-adhesive basic gems that I snipped apart with my scissors and a loop of PTI twill ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by and for your sweet comments! I hope you'll stop over at Card Patterns and play along with us. I'll be back tomorrow with something crafty to share with you.

Shabby Thank You Recipe
Cardstock: PTI kraft
Decorative Paper: Basic Grey Basics Manilla
Stamps: Hero Arts
Accessories: prismacolor pencils, Heidi Swapp edge distressor, PTI spring moss twill ribbon, Zva self-adhesive Basic Lines Clear, Ecstasy Large Corners and Borders Template, Ornare vellum piercing tool

I thought I'd share a few photos from my garden with you this morning- I hope you don't mind! While I didn't manage to take any photos of her in her glory for the garden walk this weekend, I did snap some just a few days before the walk. And I thought I'd share a few of my favourite from that bunch.

This is Scabiosa Butterfly Blue. I guess they call her that for a reason! {wink} She is always attracting butterflies, moths, bees, and wasps to the garden. And she blooms freely all season for me. Just love her purple-blue color.

I snapped a series of photos of this little moth on one of the flowers happily feeding for at least ten minutes- used up a good chunk of my memory card, too! This was my favourite from the bunch. [I think my next major purchase is going to be a macro lens for my camera.]



I was so happy that my Asiatic lilies were blooming for the walk. I had a dozen different colors in bloom in different parts of the garden. I love how my Coreopsis Baby Sun is weaving itself through the lilies. I think this is my favourite part of cottage gardening- seeing the different unexpected combinations.



My potager is doing well this year. An unexpected delight are the sweet peas I planted from seed. They're finishing up now as they don't really do well in all this heat we've been getting. But just two weeks ago the flowers were absolutely beautiful!

Next year I have to remember to provide a much taller trellis. I provided a three-foot trellis this year and she towered over and beyond that! We have been feasting on sweet peas in salads and stir fries for weeks now. The pods are even sweeter than the peas themselves! Yum!

Morning! What a wonderful weekend I had. There were almost 400 people streaming in and out of my yard for the garden walk- a much bigger turnout than I had expected. I had a great time talking plants and gardening tidbits to the visitors. But I'm disappointed that I was too busy to snap a single photo!

I did manage to squeeze in some time Friday afternoon to make my card for this week's sketch over at Card Patterns. We're being sponsored by Lauretta's Digital Stamps and all got to play with her adorable digis on our cards this week.



My card base is PTI white. I made a little paper quilt out of scraps of Memory Box's Spearmint collection and a few other bits from Basic Grey laying in my scrap stash. I faux-stitched the edge of my quilt using my paper piercer and Copic Multiliner.

I colored this sweet little digital image in with my prismacolor pencils, then cut apart the two main pieces to pop them up on dimensionals. I added some shimmer with my Copic Spica lemon glitter pen.

We hope you'll play along with us! As always, we have a wonderful prize up for grabs, not to mention a chance to be our guest designer. And don't forget that Kate has an amazing sale going on over at i {heart} papers! Over 800 items are marked down to move out before CHA!

Boy's Room Recipe
Cardstock: PTI spring rain, white
Decorative Paper: Memory Box Spearmint; Basic Grey
Stamps: Lauretta DS Goodnight
Accessories: prismacolor pencils, paper piercer, Copic Multiliner, Copic Spica lemon glitter pen, blue satin ribbon