Recording the Garden

It happens every spring when Matt and I head for the nursery to buy plants. We stand there surrounded by flats of tomatoes, squash and beans arguing over how many pepper plants we had the year before or which variety of eggplant we really liked last year. The experience turns what should be an exciting day — one we both look forward to each year — into a stressful, tiring one.

So this year, I decided to take measures into my own hands by making a mini album to keep track of the varieties, number of plants and locations, as well as showing off some of the fruits, or should I say, “vegetables,” of our labors.

I love making mini albums … they are a great way to use up leftover embellishments, stickers and bulky items you love but don’t want in your scrapbook album. I used bits of everything from multiple product lines and things I found in my stash. The pages are made by simply adhering two sheets of printed papers together. Then I used my Crop-A-Dile to punch holes and rings to bind it.

This particular album is restrained from my usual style. Normally the rings would be covered in ribbons and each page would be thick and bulky. However, this album is intended to grow right along with our garden, so I kept it flat and simple so it is easy to write in and add pages as we go along.

Many of the pages are not finished, since I am still adding things about this year’s experience.

 

I included photos of the new flower beds and trees we planted this year.

 

In some cases, I kept the tags from the flowers and tucked them in a little bag for future reference …

The chicken garden is still waiting for a photo (I’ve been waiting for the sunflowers to bloom) … this is a special garden I planted for the chickens with things they like to eat, like corn, sunflowers and lettuce, along with plenty of space for digging and scratching.

 

The “Garden ’13” page lists all of the varieties and quantities of plants we placed in the vegetable garden this year.

These pages show how the garden has grown over the summer …

And this page shows a rough map of where everything is planted so we can easily rotate our crops next year.

I have other pages reserved for the flowers in full bloom so in the middle of winter we can look back and remember how beautiful the yard looks in the summer.

I hope I have inspired you to make your own mini album — for the garden or any special event.

This month’s challenge at Scrap It Girl is to create a mini album and you will find more inspiration on the site from other designers.

Give it a try, then hop over to Scrap It Girl to post your creation. You could win an amazing collection of prizes!

And, if a reader from my blog wins, I’ll post your album on my site, too!

 

Do dies get you crowing?

It’s June 1st and that means it is time for another challenge at Scrap It Girl.

This month, the theme is dies. I used an old Cottage Cutz die to create this adorable card …

 

I started by cutting the die multiple times with different colors of cardstock:

Then, I inked the edges with Distress Ink to give it a bit of depth. I completely covered the comb so it would be a different color red than the tail feathers. I then added a bit of color to the cuts in the dies with a gray pen. For the eyes, I attached a piece of brown cardstock to the back. Then I assembled the rooster Next, I assembled the card using cardstock and Best Creations paper. Glittered paper is sometimes hard to adhere to. So I used Art Glitter Designer Dries Clear Adhesive when attaching the pieces to the glittered portion of the paper. Then I thought the rooster needed a bit more definition, so I made country stitch marks with a black pen.

Finally, I added a stamp from Darcie’s. Didn’t it turn out cute?!

Now it is your turn.

Create something — a card, layout, mini album, altered art — using dies and post them on the Scrap It Girl website. The best entry will win an amazing prize package that includes Spellbinders dies!

You have until the end of June to enter … get cropping!