Paper Garden Projects | Catered Crop

I heard a bird sing in the dark of December
A magical thing and sweet to remember.
We are nearer to Spring than we were in September,'
I heard a bird sing in the dark of December."
~ Oliver Herford

Well, are you ready to snag some good Black Friday deals? For those of you outside the United States, Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving that marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Folks will line up and stores will open as early as 5:00 AM for what has become the busiest retail shopping day of the year. I may check out some of my favorite on-line stores but I don't think there's anything I want badly enough to brave the crowds.

Good thing for us it's also the fourth Friday of the month, and that means it's time for another Paper Garden Project Fourth Friday challenge. This go-round it's "Tag – You're It." Create a project that's a tag, contains a tag, or could be used as a tag – whatever rocks your world. After you make your rockin' tag, head over to the Paper Garden Project and link us up for a chance to win this adorable Kraftin Kimmie stamp – Clara and the Bird. The rules are simple, and you can find them all at the Paper Garden Project blog. Just be sure to link up your project by December 6. Good Luck.

Recipe

I took most of my inspiration from this Decoupage Ornament in one of the many Pottery Barn catalogs we get each week. I don't subscribe to a lot of magazines because I just digest all the Pottery Barn catalogs I get every week.

Fibers – Stampin' Up! (SU) Gold Cord, SU Ribbon Seam Binding
Glitter – German Glass Glitter, Melissa Frances Mica Flakes
Ink – Versamark
Paper – Prism Cardstock, SU Gold Waffle Paper, My Mind's Eye Holly Jolly
Stamp – Crafty Secret Clear Art Stamps, ""
Tools – Nestabilities, EK Success 1-3/4" Circle Punch, Tim Holtz Paper Rosette Die
Embellishments – SU Antique Brads, Bazzill Basics Mini Holly Leaves
Misc. – Black and Gold Embossing Powder, SU Sweet Treat Cups, Shimmer Mist (Pearl), Crystal Lacquer

Whether or not you're in the part of the world that celebrates Thanksgiving, here's my Thanksgiving wish for you. I hope you enjoyed the parades, the football and the turkey, but most especially, that you're surround this weekend by people you love and that they surround you with love. Among the many blessing I'll count this Thanksgiving will be you dear folks. Thanks for being so wonderfully supportive of me throughout these past years.

Happy Friday!

November 25, 2010 | Filed Under: Christmas, Paper Garden Projects Tagged With: Christmas, Crafty Secrets, Paper Garden Projects | 4 Comments

Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth,
for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.
~Edith Sitwell

As much as I love not having to own a winter coat in Texas, I still miss the Indiana white winters. This month the Paper Garden Project design team is taking us on a winter wonderland tour – you know, just to make me more homesick for a Hoosier Christmas. Whether you're cursing the white stuff while shoveling your walk, or, like me, wishing for a good snowball fight, I hope you enjoy our winterland walk. While you visit along the walk, be sure to take note of each designer's name and their special holiday treat in their blog post. For example, my name is Linda and my special treat is Pumpkin Pie – yum. Once you finish your tour, you can send an e-mail to custserv@papergardenprojects.com with the list of designers and their holiday treat for a chance to win any four digital stamp sets of your choice, including the gorgeous new Christmas Foliage set.

Here is the garden tour guide list.

Cathy
Amber
Tangii
Linda (You are here)
Andrea
Alyssa

And, of course, here is my winter wonderland project using the precious stamp, Winter Swing, by Penny Black.

Recipe

I've been a follower of Anna Wight for years. Anna is a fellow Texan, and an illustrator, rancher, seamstress, photographer, and incredible paper craft artist. I love her style. With two different sized paper punches, clear-drying adhesive like Crystal Lacquer, and glass glitter, you can follow her tutorial to make these luscious crystal snowflakes, here.

Anna says she likes to use a makeup wedge sponge (one of my favorite and cheapest tools) to dab matte finish gel medium onto the body of her project and then add some crystal glitter for sparkle. I didn't have a gel medium, so, I experimented with Tim Holtz crackle paint. I painted the entire surface of the paper with Tim's Rock Candy crackle paint and then added sprinkled fine glitter around the edges of the oval. I love how it antiqued the whole project.

As usual, I did a lot of paper piecing. I like to use a W1 Copic Marker to shade my paper pieced elements. You can get some other ideas for shading paper pieced pieces at the current challenge over at Copic Creations, Challenge #39. And, because this is a Penny Black image, you might want to also check out the challenge at the Penny Black Saturday Challenge, our favorite things (mine being, of course, glitter).

I found the birch bark wooden star in a gift shop as a close-out item. It was perfect for embellishing. Here's the rest of the recipe and the Copic markers I used. I provided links for the items you can find at Paper Garden Projects – everything at the store is 23% off during the 1-2-3 sale.

Fibers: Household twine
Glitter: Diamond Dust, Crystal Ultra Fine
Ink – Memento Tuxedo Black; Ranger Distress Ink in Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain and Fired Brick; Copic markers
Paper – Neenah, Prism Cardstock, The Girls' Paperie
Stamp: Penny Black Winter Swing Cling Set
Tools: Nestabilities, Sizzlets die cuts, EK Success Punch
Embellishments: Matte Button
Misc.: Ranger Distress Crackle Paint (Rock Candy), Crystal Lacquer

Enjoy the rest of the Winter Wonderland Garden Walk by heading over to Andrea. Stay warm and good luck.

siggy

November 19, 2010 | Filed Under: Anna Wight Designs, Christmas, Copic Markers, Paper Garden Projects, Penny Black Tagged With: Anna Wight Designs, Christmas, Copic Creations Challenge, Copic Markers, Paper Garden Projects, Penny Black | 14 Comments

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.
~ Dalai Lama

This past Friday night I was leaving work tired and frustrated (again) and I walked past someone who looked as tired and frustrated as I was. I realized after he passed that I didn't even offer a smile. Wow, I just made his day, well, if not any better, maybe even a little worse. That was when I realized I was letting my frustrations at work leak into my kindness outside of work. Basically, I was a grump and a grouch.

Well, that just wouldn't do. So, I sought some inspiration from my favorite philosopher, Winnie the Pooh:

"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."

Well, who can possibly argue with Pooh Bear? It doesn't look like things at work are going to get better any time soon, but, well, I'm just going to have to keep a spare smile or two in my hip pocket compliments of Pooh bear.

Recipe

Oh my . . . so many fun things to tell you about this card.

I love using the 6" x 6" paper pads Catherine sells at Paper Garden Projects because it makes it so easy to mix and match patterns and colors. This Kaiser Craft La Chateau paper is so much more luscious than my poor photography skills show. The dots on the blue background paper are flocked. The base of the bottom panel and my pull-out tab are die cuts that are included in the paper pack. I didn't use even 1/4 of the pack, so I still have a lot of ideas for it.

If you like this stamp set (Penny Black's Kindness), it's currently on sale. Paper Garden Projects is having a Tinsel and Tools sale. All Christmas stamps, tools, and Copic markers are 20% off.

As you know, I usually get a lot of inspiration from challenges, and no exception here.

My sketch is from Friday Sketchers, Sketch 126.

Since this is a Penny Black stamp, I peeked at this week's Penny Black Saturday Challenge, Week 125. There's lots of wonderful inspiration for Penny Black fans like me, and this week they're asking us to use zigzags or triangles. So, I pulled out my sewing machine and sewed the zigzag stitch around all the panels, even, if you look real close, the focal point panel.

Our Creative Corner's challenge this week was to draw inspiration from this Pottery Barn bedroom. Oh, I love Pottery Barn, so I took a stab at it. I really wanted my card to draw from it's soft colors.

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge #83, Hide and Seek, asked us to create a card with a hidden sentiment. So, if you pull on the pull-tab ribbon to the right, the sentiment comes out: "Kindness feeds the heart."

Here's the rest of the recipe along with the Copic markers I used.

Fibers: May Arts ribbon, Stampin' Up! clear tinsel trim
Ink – Memento Rich Cocoa, Copic markers (20% off, see below).
Paper – Neenah, Prism Cardstock, Kaiser Craft La Chateau.
Stamp: Penny Black Kindness Cling Set
Tools: Nestabilities (20% off)
Embellishments: A button from Mom's button jar, Stampin' Up! metallic eyelets
Misc.: Flower Soft Polar White and Citrus Crush

You know you kind readers always make me smile. So, I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from wonderful Winnie the Pooh:

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.
"Pooh," he whispered.
"Yes, Piglet?"
"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw, "I just wanted to be sure of you."

siggy