A “Friendly” Blog Hop

Posted on April 24, 2010 by Cathy

Welcome to the Paper Garden Projects Friendly Garden Walk

Take a stroll through the blogs of all the Paper Gardeners and enjoy some friendly inspiration. We’re introducing some new gardening buddies so be sure to say “hi” to our new design team members.

While you visit, subscribe to each Gardener’s blog and take note of each designer’s name and their Friendly Word in their blog post. Once you finish your garden tour, send an E-mail to custserv@papergardenprojects.com with the list of designers and their Friendly Word.

Everyone who sends the correct list of designers and words will be entered in a random drawing to win a prize. You need to send an e-mail to the address above; please don’t leave your list as a comment. You have until midnight (EST) on Tuesday, April 27 to send your list.

And the prize? How about a couple new little buddies (the OA Buddies cling set from The Greeting Farm)?

So enjoy the garden tour (feel free to bring along a friend!). Here is the garden tour guide list:

Cathy (You are here)
Amber
Tangii
Tricia
Linda
Erin
Andrea
Alyssa

For my “Friendly” project, I decided to make a gift box of “Tea for All Seasons” for a friend who loves tea.

To make the box, I decorated one of the clear 3″ square boxes (which fit tea bags perfectly).

I stamped and colored all 4 images from the Crafty Secrets Seasonal Friends setwith copics. I cut them out and made brown mattes. I also stamped, cut out and matted one of the sentiments to decorate the top of the box.

I covered the box with 2 overlapping pieces of Nautical blue light cardstock. I wanted to make the box a little taller, and decided the box needed cute little scalloped feet. So I cut the blue cardstock 8 1/2 long by 3 3/4″ wide – and then punched the bottom edge with the scalloped – scallop border punch. Here are all my box pieces:

Then I assembled the box by adhering the scalloped cardstock flush with the top edge of the box, adding the matted pictures and adhering the sentiment on the top. Only thing left to do – add some yummy tea!

Here are all the seasons:

Spring:

Summer:

Fall:

Winter:

So that is my friendly project.

I am Cathy and my special friend word is Pal.

I hope you enjoyed your visit. The next stop on the garden tour is Amber’s Blog.

This is the day…

Posted on April 14, 2010 by Cathy

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I needed a Christian themed thank you card for my husband to give to his sponsor. Here is what I came up with.

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I used the sketch over at Card Positioning Systems – changing it just a wee bit to add the verse.

The stamp set is Crafty Secrets Home Sweet Home. I really like the images in this set - I’d love to vacation at this house in the woods. I colored the image with copics and just double matted it.

The verse is a stamp that I got at a convention ages ago and I don’t know the manufacturer. The patterned paper is from the October Afternoon Farm Fresh pad. I’m hoping the lovely plaid paper looks a little like flannel. Flannel is manly right?

Guy cards are so tough for me!

Welcome to the new Paper Gardeners

Posted on April 7, 2010 by Cathy

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We have a few more talented artists to help us tend our little Paper Garden. I’m so excited to introduce our new Paper Gardeners!

(Sorry for the washed out photo – my usual picture spot is full of tomato seedlings!)

First I want to say thank you to each and every artist who applied. I know people say this all the time, but you can’t believe how incredibly difficult it is to narrow all those wonderful applications down to only 2. It is just agonizing. (If I were Bill Gates – I would have selected everyone!). It was so hard we couldn’t do it. So we ended up with 4 new Gardeners. So here they are in A-B-C order (as my dd’s would say).

It would be lovely if you could pop on over and say “hi”. They all have such wonderful blogs, you won’t be sorry.

And don’t forget about our current design team members: Amber at the Country Stamper, Tangii at the inking spot of Crain Creations, and Tricia at Simply Stamping.

And of course we hope the ever popular Mel from Mel Stampz will pop by every now and again!

So…. any interest in the card?

I thought I’d share my cheap, no air pollution, no compressor required method for creating colored backgrounds for images.

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First I stamped my image (from the Crafty Secrets Garden Girls clear set) and cut it out and embossed it with the Spellbinders Labels 3 die. I wanted an antique look, so I inked around the edges with Antique Linen Distress ink. (Ink a duster brush and tap off the excess on scrap paper. Then brush from off the edge of the paper toward the center – turning the image and re-inking as necessary).

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I colored my image with Copics (you are not going to believe this – but I nicely arranged all the Copics I used to share them with you. Then put them all back in their little stand – completely forgetting to actually take the picture of them!! Ugghh….)

I also stamped and cut out a mask using Eclipse paper. This looks like a pain, but I save the masks (stick it to the back of the stamp sheet). So next time I don’t have to cut it out again.

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I put the mask and the frame in place on the image. Then I used my trusty duster brushes and Distress Inks to add blue sky and green grass. To fill in the color, ink the duster brush and pounce it on scrap to get a good amount of the ink off (so you don’t get splotches). Then pounce on the image. You can keep re-inking and pouncing to build up the color to the darkness you want. I used Stormy Sky on top, Peeled Paint on the bottom – allowing them to blend together where they meet.

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Then just remove the mask (save it!) and the cutting die. I wipe the cutting die with a baby wipe to make sure I don’t leave any ink on it for next time.

So there is my cheap, no air gun, no pollution method. I have done this with many different inks, but Distress Ink is my favorite. I find it easier to work with and I can get nice even coverage (plus I love the colors – have you seem the new ones? - They are on sale right now too!)

I should be working in my real garden like this little girly. Its been so warm here ( 89 degrees today!) that the garden is way ahead of me. But my yellow magnolia tree is just beautiful.