Growing in Grace

Hello all you scrappy people.  Have you missed me? I know I have missed playing with you, although I did my best to keep up by lurking around the hops when I could.

The last scrappy post I made was the March 2016 kit reveal, Focus on Hope. Shortly after, I learned that the store location of my dreams was coming available. A whole year earlier than expected. So I had to move quickly. Putting the cart before the horse and working 10-12 hour days through the summer, Lolly Pop Thrift Shop is up and running smoothly in downtown Athabasca.

While I did get a bit of scrapping done in March and then dove in again in September, I will save those for another post.

What does a paper addict do when they can't afford the time to play with their passion? Well this addict compensates by shopping for more stash. Throughout July and August I spent many days in the city (Edmonton, Alberta) and worked in pit stops to all the LSSs.  And since I didn't have time to "build" a counterfeit kit each month, I began treating myself to the products of the kits that I found in the stores. Totally counterproductive to the purpose of Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog, I know. I realize bragging rights are off when you "buy" your kit. Oh but the pretties I get to pet!

This month, the kit (revealed on October 1 on the CKC blog) was actually a collection. Indigo Hills  by Pink Fresh Studios. I LOVE IT!! This girl is a sucker, has a weakness, for the watercolour look, I couldn't stop my self. I HAD TO HAVE IT!!! A quick click over to Scrapbook.com and the speedy check out left me heady with delight that my newest inspiration was on it's way to me.

Then on October 2, Lesley brought us "Just the Gist of It " In this monthly post, the kit is simmered down to a reduction of it's basic elements. Lesley also supplied a recipe for creating a quick kit.

Choose your 3 favourite papers
Add in a pack of alphas
Stir in some ephemera or stickers
Break open a set of rubber stamps
And stick it together with a roll of washi tape

So easy! So quick! So here goes!

Three papers

One specialty sheet of velum

A few off cuts and scraps to add some variety

Some boarder strips

Just like in real cooking........I CAN NOT follow a recipe to the letter. Speaking of which......

Alphas to splatter and distress

Partial packs and left over letters to use or lose

Mini alphas include epoxy letters on the right (CTMH)

Add in die cuts and stickers and kit is looking something like this now:

Then a handful of flowers, frames and assorted embellishments.

Stamp addition was a "Happy Place" stamp that whet AWOL while photographing, plus a garden set from CTMH. I have lots of summer flower pictures to work with which is making me lean towards a summery feel.

Then Washi Tape. Some ribbon. A punch. and two "new to me" embossing folders.
Let me introduce you to my first kit in over 6 months, "Growing in Grace."

 Playing with a vignette effect, here are some close ups.

Happy Place stamp showed up again!

And that's a wrap.

Next thing I did was counterfeit one of a papers. Used round punches, a xyron and a bit of patience. Also had to add some more paper scraps to get the colour variety. My colours are more saturated and I like it that way.

Counterfeit

Original

 

 

Then I worked on making clusters of the tags, stickers, flowers, frames, and die cuts. Resulting in this patch of pretty pickings.

 Each month I fall in love with the new kit, thinking I could never love another as much, and then on the first, I fall head over heals for the new one, all over again. I don't know what to make of that. And now here we are two days before the next kit is revealed. I guess "Growing in Grace" will join the others on the shelf as I start on a new crush. 

And that is my report for scrapping activity in our humble home this month. Thanks for stopping by. Double thanks for comments.

That's the way the tomato tumbles.

I'm BAA-AACK!!

Guess what I woke up to this morning?

awe, come on......at least one guess.

No, besides Sunday breakfast. Pancakes swimming in maple syrup. Eggs o/e, and a couple of rashers of thick bacon. Yes I agree, I am well spoiled.

Here's a hint:
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Did you get it? Did you???
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Pigs in snow. 

What does this mean? It means an end to outdoor work. Would you like to know how our summer went?  First, the lawn. Too much rain = too much grass. We cut back on the parameters of  previous years but still, it grew so much that we considered turning it into hay. I took to turning the mower on anytime I was driving the tractor. This resulted in criss-cross swathes of various lengths, but I figured at least some bits of grass were not breeding mosquitoes.

With the rather wet June-August. The weeds in the garden also kept ahead of me. It is my goal to keep weeds from going to seed each year, and thus, over time, reduce the weed "seed bank" . This year it looked like the weeds would win. And they did somewhat. But when a good gardening friend moved back to the area, I hired her immediately, and she saved us from total failure.

NE to SW view

 This is Northeast to Southwest view. Post weeding marathon.

Beginning a peony farm

On the west side of garden are three rows of peonies. Thirty plants in each row. Stay tuned for magnificent blooms in a couple of years.  The green tinge on the soil is moss. Usually it only shows up on a low lying spot on garden. This year is seemed the whole garden was growing a carpet.



And then there were the tomato wars. Robin started his plants too early. Didn't provide them optimum moisture and temperature. I started mine two months after his. Babied the seedlings. Results? Robin had MORE tomatoes. Unfortunately they were in fruit development during weeks of too much rain causing many of them to split which caused them to then spoil.

Robin's tomatoes

 And mine? Well, they were much prettier.

Sherrie's tomatoes

By the time they were picked and sorted, with spoiled ones going to the piggys, production was about even.  So Robin gets a first place for overall volume. And I get a ribbon for bench show worthy beauties. That's the way the tomato tumbles.