Sketch Frenzy Friday 6/29/13

Hello to all my blogging friends, I hope this post finds you well and happy!

Boy it's hot outside! It's a different type of hot than I am used to in So. Cal. We have dry heat. For those of you who don't know what Dry Heat is think of it this way. Walk out to your card after it has sat in a parking lot of a while and get in... Thats Dry Heat. Humidity is a strange thing it can be hot outside and yet be overcast and your sweating???.
On a cooler note we have a baby deer just on the outskirts of our property he/she? Stays just on the edge of the woods eating all the wild berries. We can hear the mom but she never comes out of hiding (smart girl). I tried to get a picture of it through the window but all I got was a great picture of the screen lolol. Maybe if he comes out today I'll give it a try again.

Now on to the reason you are here. It's Sketch Frenzy Friday time!!!!! This weeks sketch was designed by Deb Currier. I love her sketch. It made me think of Vintage and Shabby Shik (sp?) I think that is how you spell it?

Here is Deb's sketch

This is what I came up with

I used Very Vanilla card stock for the base and the tag. Then I distressed both. I made a Early Espresso Doily for the background piece. I cut a scrap of Pool Party and ran it through the Big Shot with the Chevron Embossing Folder for the flag piece. The edge of the tag was made by first using the Delicate Design Edge Folder and then I cut around the scallop  part I think it gave the tag some added character. I added a few Pearls and a thin strip of Pumpkin Pie and the sentiment piece to make the tag. I wanted to coordinate with the thin strip of Pumpkin Pie that is on the tag, so I added another strip as well to the card front. I made a triple layer Daffodil Delight Seam Binding Ribbon Bow for the top of the tag The Sentiment is from the From My Heart Stamp Set. I used the Large Scallop Oval and the Scalloped Oval Punches which I popped up with Dimensionals.

I hope you like my card and this weeks sketch. We would love to see your creation so please add it to our homepage here. http://www.sketchfrenzyfriday.blogspot.com/

Chat soon and have a great week!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 6/21/13

Hello to all my blogging friends, I hope this post finds you well and very happy!

It's that time again for another amazing SFF sketch! This week Tammy F. came up with our sketch and boy oh boy is it a good one!

Here is her sketch;

and this is what I came up with;

When I first saw this sketch I thought of the By the Tide stamp set. I knew it had several single images that I could work with. I made a pretty ocean background with several of the images and highlighted two. I thought by sewing the Linen Thread in between the Dotted Scallop Border I would attempt to create a netted look. I fussy cut the seashell and the fish. and mounted them on Primrose Petals 1 3/8" circles.
I'll tell you something about this card. I tried about five different colored circles until I came up with the Primrose color. Nothing worked to make the focal images pop the way I wanted them to. Sometimes a idea just doesn't come out the way you want it to! Finally, I added a bit of bling to the lip of the shells and to the eye of the fish.

Here is a look at the inside;

Well I hope you like what I did with the sketch this week and you find some time to give it a try as well. Please add a photo of your card to our home page here. http://www.sketchfrenzyfriday.blogspot.com/

Chat soon,  I hope you find some time to create something fun this week!
Patrice

Sketch Frenzy Friday 6/14/13

Hello all, I hope you are well and happy!

This weeks SFF sketch is awesome and so very user friendly. Great job Sharon W. I say this because you can create so many different views with it (Like all sketches really!) but this one I think just made a really pretty card just as it is! It sort of has a oriental feel to it simple but very intriguing.

Here is her sketch you tell me what you think!

Here is what I came up with,

I'll start from the back to the front of the card

Images

Rich Razzleberry Circle- 2 1/2" from the Circle #2 Die and embossed it with the Fancy Fan Folder.
Real Red Strip- I used the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border.
Gumball Green Rectangle 3 1/2 x 2 1/8
Whisper White Focal image piece 3 1/8 x 1 1/8
Stamp Set  and Sentiment -Fabulous Florets
I colored the image with Stampn Write Markers in Garden Green and Pumpkin Pie. Sentiment stamped in Basic Black.
Designer Builder Brad with a Pumpkin Pie Itty Bitty Shape circle.
Too bad the Designer Brads are no longer in the new catty I won't be using them again :(.

Thats all there is to this card. Hope you were inspired and find some time to create something fun!
We would love to see what you come up with so please show it to us here http://www.sketchfrenzyfriday.blogspot.com/

Chat soon,
Patrice

Garden Photos

Hello to all my blogging friends, I hope this post finds you all well and happy!

Well it didn't rain today, but it looks like it is going to rain again tonight!
Here are the photos I promised you of the garden. I even had my first harvest of zucchini. Thank goodness I like zucchini because looks like we are going to have a ton of it lolol.
I have two more that should be ready in a few days too!

Now for a closer look

The Crooked neck squash is coming along nicely as well

I don't remember if I showed you a picture of the Mushrooms in bloom.  If so you get it again lolol

That's it for today, Thanks for stopping by. Create something fun!
Chat soon,
Patrice

What a view

Hello to all my blogging friends. I hope this post finds you all well and happy!

I am not used to all this rain! It is nothing like I have ever experienced before. I get it that in order to have green you need water! But I thought that was what the hose was for lolol . So this is Spring???? I am not sure what I think of this season??? My garden is really happy though and has doubled in just two weeks. I'll go down stairs and take some photos (Once it stops raining smile) and post them later.

As I was drinking my coffee yesterday morning and reading the internet, I looked out my double doors and it dawned on me how beautiful it looked from where I was sitting at my kitchen table. It looks so much better in person.

It reminded me of an Italian mural painting. In the backyard there are two bird feeders and I sit and watch the birds come and go. So far I have identified 36 different species. I sure didn't get that great of a view in my old Little Patch of Dirt.

Have a great day my friends. Come back on Friday I have a really cute card made up for SFF. This weeks sketch is really user friendly.
Chat soon Patrice

Sketch Frenzy Friday 6/7/13

Hello to all my blogging friends, I hope this post finds you well and happy!

It's another wonderful week here at Sketch Frenzy Friday. This weeks sketch was designed by our very talented Robbie Rubula. Look what she came up with. Isn't it fantastic!

I so almost went with a Star Spangled Banner card with Red, White and Blue colored card stock hehehe. I am so going to make that card for next month.

For the last few weeks we have been out in the garden a lot lately, rebuilding our New Little Patch of Dirt here in West Virginia. I get so much inspiration from Mother Nature in creating many of my cards and this week was no exception, Whether it be by the diversity of plants and flowers or seasonal landscapes, animals or insects Mother Nature is sure to delight the senses and inspire one to create. There are so many different  types of butterflies fluttering about the yard now and that is what inspired my card for this week (Lots of Butterflies). I am in awe of the variety of them here in the North East part of the US. There are so many different types than what I am used to in Calif.

Here is my card hope you like it.

This was very easy card to create. I was so glad the Bitty Banners, Little Leaves and the Beautiful Wings Big Shot items could still be purchased in our New Catalog. I chose a variety of colored card stock scraps for the banner, butterflies and the leaves. I used Basic Black ink for the sentiment and lot's and lots of glue dots.  That's all there was to it. Go outside get inspired and crate something fun. We would love to see what you come up with just go to our home page here http://www.sketchfrenzyfriday.blogspot.com/

There have been so many FIRSTS for us since we moved to WV  Lighting Bugs are another first.  We were outside on the swing the other night and we started seeing them. I was like a kid at a 4th of July picnic. Lots of oohs and aahs. I didn't know they had them here I thought they were found only in the South? Lucky us!

Have a great week,
Chat soon.
Patrice

New My Little Patch of Dirt Photos

Hello to all my blogging friends. I hope this post finds you all well and happy!

We have been up too. I love how it is all coming together.

I saw a picture of some yard art mushrooms on Pintrest the other night and thought I would make a few of my own. This is my take on them. The first photo has only mushrooms and the second one has a flowering plant growing in it.

They were really fun to make but took a bit of planning.

These are photos of our rain gutter vegetable garden, you can see that the 5 gal tub are sitting on the rain gutters. The buckets have things called wicks in the bottom and they drink up the water. The deck has a rain gutter herb garden strip too. We had to make a shade cover to go over the deck because it gets so hot in the evening. I was cooking while I was cooking lolol It sure does keep my kitchen and me cooler now.

We also built a little fence around the garden to keep rabbits and groundhogs out. We haven't seen any deer around lately because the dogs run them off (good and bad). If they do venture this close to the house in the future we will have to build a second fence 8 feet high. Time will tell.

We are growing, 3 varieties of tomatoes, corn, radishes, cabbage, carrots, brussel sprouts, beans, zucchini and yellow squash, eggplant, two types of water melon, cucumber, cantaloupe, honeydew and lots of jalapenos and other cooking chilies. On the deck I have basil, chives, strawberries, 3 different types of lettuce, thyme and parsley.

I may have to have Jeff make one more rain gutter row for the cantaloupe, honeydew and the watermelons because I would like to grow pumpkins too. I think I'll need more room for that.

Now for a look at the side of the backyard. We have two gazebos one is not completed yet as you can see by the frame. We need to finish the floor and get it some type of a roof. We have netting for it too.
The large gazebo needs a floor. I think we are going to recycle pallets for that. Right now I have 4 buckets with different flowers in them sitting in the corners. They are heavy and help keep it from blowing away.

Jeff , Marley and our neighbor Ernie getting some shade

The woods look more like a jungle now that all the leaves have grown in,

Now for the front yard

The front  planter now has a bird bath and lot of flowers.

A few nights ago we were sitting on the slider swing we saw our first lighting bugs. I was so tickles I felt like a kid on 4th of July with all my ooh's  and aah's going on.
I'll keep you posted on our gardens progress!

Chat soon,
Patrice