Monday Funday #5 - Halloween challenge

Happy Halloween!  It's another Monday Funday at TGF's Farm Fresh Challenge blog and we are, of course, celebrating Halloween!  Are you a creeper or too cute to spook? 
The base of this card is Old Olive with layers of sparkling spider web by Reminisce and Basic Black.  The grave yard is made by tearing brown cardstock to look like rough dirt.  The tombstones are curved by sliding a piece of cardstock into a curved punch to round the top.  The other stone is a cuttlebug die and emboss set.  The moon is punched with a circle in Very Vanilla, then embossed with Swiss Dots.  The clouds are torn vellum.  The gate is punched with Martha Stewarts spooky fence.  The sidewalk is drawn in with a gel pen.  The image is TGF's Hallo Bride digi colored with copic markers.  I also printed it in vellum, coloring some highlights on the back of the vellum, before tearing around the image to give it a ghostly glow.  The sentiment is printed using Twilight font, punched with a wide oval, and mounted on the decorative label punch.  I added a decorative staples on the corners.
Head on over to the FFC blog and play along!  Thanks for looking!  April

Friday Spyday with AbbyGrimaldi!

Happy Friday Spy-day!  Today's challenge features a card by Abby Grimaldi.  I am a super fan of the Oliver & Amelia line, so I pulled out my "Just for You" set and chose Oliver.  (She features the Amelia stamp.) 

abby's card

The base is Kraft with layers of Pumpkin Pie and Very Vanilla.  I hand stamped the background papers using Stampin' Up's Eat Chocolate set in Timber Brown Staz-On.  The base layer is wrapped in Early Espresso baker's twine then adhered to the card.  Oliver is colored in copic markers then cut out using the nestabilities die.  To make it narrower, I moved the image to the side, than ran it thorugh twice, then popped up on dimensionals.  The sentiment was stamped on a scrap piece of VV, then again on Whisper White.  The white one I cut and mounted on dimensionals to make the candy bar pop.  The layer behind the sentiment is cut using a lacy scalloped circle from nestabilities, the popped up on dimensionals.  Hop on over to the Farm Fresh Challenge blog and play along!  Thanks for looking!  April

Heart Journal - week 14

This week's Heart Journal is "Two-Toned."  Yea, not terribly inspired for this one...until...I was coloring some of my Wild Sprouts!  The Greeting Farm has the super cute, cheeky little guys and gals and some of them are Twilight inspired.  Of course, with the newest installment ready to head to the theaters, I couldn't resist!  These two are Summer and Paul and have been colored in copic markers.  Don't they make a cute Jessica Stanley and Michael Newton?  The base is watered down Sunny Yellow acryllic paint that has been spritzed with Gold Glow and Sea Breeze Blue Smooch Spritz.  The lettering is Cricut's Base Camp for the "Forks High".  The quotes for each character come directly for a copy of Twilight and I tried to give them signatures that seem like the character.  Thanks for looking!  April

Monday Funday Embossing Challenge

It's another Monday Fun-day at TGF Farm Fresh Challenge blog and I am this week's host!  Today's assignment....emboss it! 
The card is completely Whisper White cardstock.  The layers are embossed with cuttlebug polka dots 5x7 folder and nestabilities dies.  The corners are punched with a 3/4" and 1 3/8" squares that are cut in a diagonal.  The corners and image are mounted with dimensionals.  The image is TGF's Kissy Kissy digi, colored with copic markers and accents of clear Spica pen to give shimmer to the dress and flowers in her hair.  Pearls accent the corners and a scrap of white organze ribbon with a heart charm sewn to it finishes the card.  Inside, the sentiment says "And they lived happily ever after."  Head on over to the Farm Fresh Challenge blog and play along!  Thanks for looking!  April

Friday Spy-day with PaperCrafty

Hello again!  It's another Friday Spy-day at TGF's Farm Fresh Challenge blog!  And, for some extra fun, the Bugaboo crew is playing along with us today!  See the FFC DT's Bugaboo creations here, then hop over to the Bugaboo blog and check them out!  Today's challenge is to CASE this fantastic card by PaperCrafty! 

card by PaperCrafty

The card base is kraft with layers of lilac and basic black.  The lilac layer is embossed using the domino cuttlebug folder.  (Can you believe I found it on clearance at Hobby Lobby for just $2.38?)  I used a white gel pen to add the dots.  The upper pieces has Early Espresso baker's twine tied on.  Once the lilac layer was mounted on basic black, I used dimensionals to adhere to the kraft base.  The blue quote sheet is from the Quotes Smash Pad, mounted on Basic Black.  The image is TGF's Wild Sprout Audrey digi, colored in copic markers.  She is one of my fav digis because she is such a cheeky tomboy!  The two layers are mounted with dimensionals.  The sentiment is stamped in Whisper White using Studio g alphabet stamps from Michael's dollar bin, then punched with 1 1/4" circle and mounted on a 1 3/8" basic black circle.  The sentiment is mounted to the card with a dimensional. 
Be sure to head on over to the Farm Fresh Challenge blog and show us what you can do with PaperCrafty's card!  Thanks for looking!  April

Heart Journal - week 13

This week's Heart Journal assignment is "Lucky Number."  Create a spread featuring a specific number.  There are lots of numbers in my life, but the most important number right now is 13.  It is the day of the month I married my husband and we have been married 13 years this year.  My husband is my one and only love.  I have three kids, each born 3 years apart.  I have 2 best friends/sister of my heart.  So, I chose to use all black and white with lots of doodles around a 6x6 cut out I got at my LSS.  The number 13 is cut from Cricut's Don Juan font in Whisper White.  The diamonds are stamped with the patterned stamp from SU's Grunge Rock in Jet Black.  Thanks for looking!  April

Monday Funday Sketch Challenge

 

It's another TGF Farm Fresh Monday Funday!  This week's challenge is a sketch by our own team captain, Margie Cortina.  Be sure to head to the FFC blog to check out the other team member's awesome work and play along!

Margie's sketch

The base is Whisper White with layers of Cherry Cobbler and Basic Black.  The cherry paper is stamped with Stampabilities sheet music background stamp in Jet Black Staz-On and the guitar is from Stampin' Up's Grunge Rock, stamped in Whisper White craft ink.  Then the cherry paper was spritzed with Gold Glow Smooch Spritz.  The circle is cut in Basic Black with the nestabilities classic circle and stamped with the diamonds from Grunge Rock.  The image is TGF's Later Skater Ian and colored with copic markers.  The diamond satin ribbon is from Michael's and the sentiment is printed using Batik font.  The finishing touches are staples and the wax seal.  Be sure to click on the Farm Fresh Challenge icon in the right column of my blog to take you to the TGF blog!  Thanks for looking!  April

angled to show dimension

Third Grade

I needed a quick scrap fix, as well as clean out some of my odds and ends, so I figured I would catch up some of my kids school pages.  This is my middle child's 3rd Grade page.  Papers are from my LSS and the ribbon is from Michael's.  The sticker coordinates with the red background.  Nothing too fancy or over the top.  Thanks for looking!  April

Bugaboo Animal challenge

This month, the TGF Farm Fresh Challenge DT are doing an animal challenge with Bugaboo Stamps!  Head on over to Bugaboo to play their animal challenge.

 

The base is Whisper White with layers of Wisteria Wonder and designer paper from Paper Studio at Hobby Lobby.  The border is Martha Stewart.  The image is Jess Angel Bear Big Star from Bugaboo and is colored in copic markers.  I cut multiple layers and mounted with dimensionals.  The base image is sponged with Wisteria Wonder ink.  The ribbon is white grosgrain from Michael's.  The sentiment is from Word Play by Stampin' Up! in Wisteria Wonder with a little bling on the "i".  Hop on over to the FFC blog and play along!  Thanks for looking!  April

angled to show detail

Friday Spyday with Repary

It's another Friday Spy-day at TGF's Farm Fresh Challenge blog.  Today's challenge is with rapary.  You can use her design or take inspiration from elements of her card. 

rapary's card

My base is Very Vanilla with layers of Chocolate Chip and vintage paper from Graphic 45.  The punch is Stampin' Up's lacy scallop border wrapped with chocolate polka dot grosgrain from Michael's.  The image is TGF's Wild Spout Edward and Camille.  I used a masking technique then colored with warm gray copics.  Once colored, I used the classic square nestabilities to cut and emboss, then inked with Chestnut Roan cat's eye chalk.  I heat set the ink before inking with Versamark and using the deep impression embossing powder.  After the embossing cooled, I used the cracking technique before rubbing with ink along the cracks.  The last touch, adding Bella's rusted truck (SU's Loads of Love in Really Rust) and two black brads to the top right corner of the image.  Thanks for looking!  April

October's Retro Fresh Challenge at TGF!

Hop on over to TGF's Farm Fresh Challenge blog to play along with this month's Retro Fresh challenge.  This is the chance to give some older TGF stamps some extra TLC and rise to this month's challenge...animals!  No TGF animal stamps, no problem!  Dig out your paper, embellishments, etc. and go crazy! 
The card base is Chocolate Chip with layers of hand-stamped designer paper and bone paper from Paper Studio.  The border punch is EK Success paw print, wrapped with jute twine.  The image behind the stamped images is a Wolf Pack sticker from NECA.  The wolves are from Artful Inkables Into the Moonlight and the image is TGF's Wild Sprout Michael digi.  Images are colored in copic markers.  Michael is mounted on dimensionals.  Inside the easel card, the sentiment is printed in Almagro font (Jacob's handwriting) and punched with a wide oval and mounted on a punched decorative label.  The final touch is a Tim Holtz mini paperclip with a scrap piece of twine tied on.  Be sure to head to the Farm Fresh Challenge blog to get all the details of playing along.  Thanks for looking!  April

Monday Funday - black & white + one more

This is for our new Monday Funday challenge - black and white plus one more.  The base is Very Vanilla cardstock with layers of scrap brushed blue designer paper and DCWV Performance photo stack.  The image is Flirty Edward (digi or rubber) from The Greeting Farm and is colored in copic markers.  Check out Jen Schulz tutorial on how to color Edward's hair!  The sentiment is from Artful Inkables Fictionally Yours set, stamped in Jet Black Staz-On.  The music notes are punced from a Recollections punch found in the $1 bin at Michael's.  The ribbon is scrap and I sewed a straight stitch around the paper above the piano keys.  Check out the rest of the Design Team creations and play along!  Thanks for looking!  April

Heart Journal - week 12

This week's assignment is "Watercolor Wonder".  I spritzed the base paper with water, then used Crayola watercolor paints to color the base.  Next, I used a Tim Holtz mask with Silver Foil Smooch Spritz on opposite corners, and heat set.  I used an ultrafine multiliner to write song lyrics around the edge.  The die cut ballerina is from Cricut and cut in Basic Black.  The sentiment is stamped with CTMH's giggle lower case in Wisteria Wonder and Cricut's Ashlyn's Alphabet with Paper Studio designer paper.  Thanks for looking!  April

Friday Spy-day with dictionary

dictionary's card

Happy Friday!  Today begins our new "Friday Spy-day" challenge at The Greeting Farm's Farm Fresh Challenge blog.  This is a CASE of dictionary's card, using TGF's Hallo Shedevil digi, colored in copic markers with accents of red glitter. 
Paper is retired SU paper Lovely Lilac, Booville, and Moxxie.  The punched edge is Martha Stewart's drippy goo.  The sentiment was typed on the computer, printed, and punched with a 1 1/2" circle punch, mounted on a cuttlebug tombstone diecut in Basic Gray.  The finishing touch is SU's Early Espresso baker's twine.  Be sure to check out the rest of the DT's fabulous CASE (links are on the column to the right) and play along by linking to the challenge blog, uploading to the TGF Gallery, or the Splitcoast Gallery using keyword TGFF01.  Thanks for looking!  April
I am also entering this in Anyone for Anya's Halloween Inspiration challenge.

Heart Journal - week 11

This week's Heart Journal assignment is "Bloom & Grow."  We are asked to create a spread using the concept of growth.  I inked the base in Lucky Limeade, Pool Party, and Wisteria Wonder inks.  Next, I used the snow writer to sponge fluffy dandelion weeds, using a fine tip sharpie to draw stems and add detail to help them stand out.  The flowers are hand-cut hearts from scraps of DCWV Christmas paper.  I used a black multi-liner to add petal details and Red Riding Hood baker's twine to make the little bows, attached with glue dots.  The sentiment is stamped with CTMH's giggle lowercase in Blazing Red Staz-On and hand doodled with lilac sharpie.  Thanks for looking!  April

Monday Funday - scallops

This is for TGF's Monday Funday use scallops challenge.  Pop over to the Farm Fresh Challenge blog and play along!
The base is Wisteria Wonder with layers of Whisper White, Pool Party, and Island Indigo.  I used a scallop border punch and the scallop circle punch.  The heart stamp is stamped in Island Indigo ink.  The cups are stamped in Wisteria Wonder, Island Indigo, and Lucky Limeade.  The green cup is mounted with a dimensional.  I added some bling to the cups and postage.  The ribbon is from the dollar bin at Michael's and the sentiment is typed on cardstock and punched with the word window punch.  The LOVE tag is stamped on Whisper White with Momento Tuxedo Black ink.  Thanks for looking!  April

TGF October "All Clear" Release & Surprise!

This is a long post, so hang with me and I am sure you will be as excited as I am!  I have been patiently waiting to announce...I am a TGF Farm Fresh Challege Design Team Member!  Wooohooo!  It has been hard to keep mum, but here are my first new release cards.  Check the bottom of the post to find out the other surprise and a chance to meet the rest of the new TGF Design Team!
This is the new TGF acylic clear mount set called "Tea-rrific".  Head on over to The Greeting Farm site to see all five of the new sets!   I am so excited about this set!  The first thing that popped into my head was Alice in Wonderland and Mad Tea Party, so that was my first stop!

This card is made with Stampin' Up's Very Vanilla with layers of retired Pawsitively Prints designer paper and scrap from DCWV's Tattered Time photo stack.  I used my sewing machine to sew the edges, wrapping with Early Espresso baker's twine before mounting to the base.  The sentiment is printed on cardstock then punched with the 1 1/4" circle punch and layered with 1 3/8" circle and scalloped circle punches.  I used a scrap piece of twine to tie on the button.  The images are TGF's Wonderland digis and Tea-rific and colored in copic markers.  I used a craft knife to make a slit in the top cup to slide the Mad Hatter in.  The tea cups have three layers - top cup is a single layer, middle is two layers, bottom is three.  Inside, is some scrap and the white rabbit. 



close up of layers

I am also constantly looking for teacher gifts, so I wanted to make a card that is fast to reproduce.  (When you have three kids with a minimum of 5 teachers - more, if you count extra ciricular teachers - you need fast and reproduceable.)
The next card is two different designs of the same card I have seen all over the web.  The first card opens like a traditional top fold card.  The base is vanilla, with layers of sand, chocolate, whisper white and retired Pawsitively Prints from Stampin' Up.  The form is easy enough - measure in 1/2" on the open end, then cut diagonal to the top corner.  I cut the designer paper just a bit short to show some lip at the top and bottom of the "cup" front.  The lid, is cut slightly wider than the card top, corners rounded and a 1/4" score along the bottom for the bump where the lid fits the cup.  Right before I attached it to the card front, I used my SWAK that I got from Michael's dollar bin around Valentine's.  The cup hugger is a piece of sand colored paper run through a crimper then trimmed to fit the cup.  I used chocolate cardstock to punch the decorative label.  I stamped my image and overstamped the sentiment, then punched with a wide oval and mounted with dimensionals.  I added pearls for some bling.  Last, I stamped and punched the heart stamp with a 1" square, sandwiching a scrap of string between two layers and added a Tim Holtz tiny staple. 

For the gift card holder, I made the opening at the top of the card with the fold at the bottom.  I sealed the sides, leaving the top open, and making a chocolate colored insert to attach to the "lid".  A gift card can be tacked inside. 

With my own exciting announcement today comes another HUGE bit of news for TGF! The Greeting Farm is beyond thrilled and honored to have been invited as the newest Member Company at SPLITCOASTSTAMPERS!
For those of you NEW to Splitcoaststampers (SCS), it is the single largest online community for stampers and a wonderful place to access tutorials, a vast online gallery, and tons of ways to get involved with their awesome forums dedicated to stamping and much more!
As one of only ten Member Companies on SCS, The Greeting Farm now has our VERY OWN FORUM to encourage ALL of our customers, new and old to get out there and chat with us, while we keep you up to date on the latest TGF happenings :) With over 700,000 unique hits a month, we are excited about the potential to meet NEW Farm friends, but we are mostly SO, SO very excited about being able to have a 'home' to chat with you, get to know you better, and post fun and important information ALL in one place! We really look forward to this being a means of getting closer to our stamping community, welcoming new stampers and getting to spend more time with our cherished current customers, as well!
Splitcoaststampers also offers a wonderful Member gallery where you can upload ALL your photos, even non- TGF cards, to their gallery and use different keywords depending on what you're uploading. Please use this keyword for all SCS gallery posts: thegreetingfarm (no spaces :)
If you have ANY questions whatsoever, please contact Jess and she will be happy to answer them! With this announcement also brings GREAT news for Galleria users! While we love our galleria and still plan to keep it open for your use, we will now offer the option to post challenge cards, contest entries, etc. to SCS as well. We will be using the INLINKZ system from now on for ALL challenges. Again, we will still keep the Gallery open, but you now will have the option to upload there, to SPLITCOAST, or your personal blogs. All entries will be counted as LONG as they are posted to our INLINKZ below each challenge post. Splitcoasts offers a WONDERFUL gallery option and we can't WAIT to see your cards there!
There is a TON more info about this on the Farm Fresh Challenge Blog today...so be sure to check out my announcement there too! Thank you for reading!    April