Challenge: Homegrown Summer

Design team member Michelle has a summer challenge for us this week! She says: So many things have grown in the Summer. Inspiration can be found in backyard gardens and jars of freshly canned veggies or maybe children who have grown like weeds. Or an idea that’s just taken root. There’s a lot of room for growth. (Pun intended)

So let’s see how a homegrown summer is inspiring you!

I (May) am keeping an eye on all those lovely fruit trees full of yummy treats.

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The Hero Arts layered tree stamps are fantastic for creating a variety of trees – including ones full of apples! The Lawn Fawn Lobster ink pad was the perfect choice of red, and I had a lot of fun playing with these colors and thinking back to being a kid and how summer meant hanging out in the orchard and eating fruit right off the tree.

Barbara thought of herself for this challenge!

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Today it is my birthday and I want to dedicate this project to me! My canvas is very vintage, like the photo that portrays me, dated 1963! For framing my picture I used Mini cabinet cards and Distress paints Cracked Pistachio to make it stand out! A large quantity of Idea-ology products helped me to add more details in vintage style. In my work couldn’t miss one of my favorite Frameworks die: Wave. Happy Birthday to me!

When Nicole thinks home grown, she thinks of her garden.

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I love to be in my garden and fresh cut flowers. I wanted to create a market vibe with the Mini Mason Jars and a bushel of Jumbo Tattered Pinecone rosettes. Perfect to brighten up any room.

Cheiron was inspired to use some of her ever “growing” stash.

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I have been working on cleaning out and de-stashing my home all summer. I decided to put all those items I haven’t used a lot since I bought them right out on my table including my Dylusions paints. I had so much fun playing with my paints, Dina Wakley woodcut stamps and stencils to make this art journal page.

Michelle is going green with her paper terrarium tag.

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I might not have a green thumb, but I do have inky fingers! This paper terrarium is bursting with Waffle Flower Crafts Leafy Stamps and Distress Glitter Soil. A sweet little tag from the new Crate Paper Wonder collection, tops it all off.

Suzz loves this time of the year when all the flowers, fruits and vegetables are flourishing.

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I love seeing the beautiful flowers, the fresh fruit and vegetables in the garden. The best part is my hubby is doing most of the work and I get to enjoy the results. My garden is created on paper mostly where I am much more successful at creating it. With supplies on hand like Twisted Citron, Wild Honey, and Mustard Seed Paint Dabbers creating a summery backdrop creating my fanciful garden is easy.

Andrea made a storage binder for her yarns and scraps, which have been growing this summer.

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It would seem that I like to buy yarn…and ribbon…and fabric and apparently I’ve upped my “collection” this summer. There’s a fabric store in the heart of my favorite vacation destination and let’s just say I didn’t pull any punches when I went there last month! But not to worry. I made this storage binder to house some of that yarny goodness and made it using a Tim Holtz worn cover, the Sizzix picture wheel die, and several yummy shades of Distress Stain.

Meihsia created an art journal page to document her favorite flowers in her craft room.

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These sunflowers were new addition to my craft room this summer. I created the watercolor effect on the page with Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stain and water mixture. The sentiment was stamped using Tim Holtz Stamp. I glued some Tim Holtz metal embellishments to decorate the photo, and added some random Tim Holtz Rub-On to finish off this project.

Sandra was feeling for some mason jar flowers

When I was little I loved to pick wild flowers and give them to my mom, and she would put them in a mason jar or other jar she had on hand. The Mason Jar Florals stamp set is perfect for this card. I masked off the jar with Masking Tape and the flowers with Liquid Frisket. I masked off the bottom and top of the card too. And stamped the Floral Petites stencil with Squeezed Limonade and Shabby Shutter.

Maura thought of all of the beautiful blooms in her garden.

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We have gardens at my house, lots of gardens. We have vegetables, we have herbs, we have fruit trees, but I always love my bright colorful flowers the best! Side note: I am not so good at weeding them, I would rather be crafting, but that’s another story. I love the new Tim Holtz Garden Stamps bloom and stem which are just perfect for my jumbo note clothespins. Remnant Rubs add a strong graphic background to the flowers.

This week’s theme prompted some nostalgia in Ashli

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I recently came across some old photos of my mother while she was expecting me. I just love the one of her tending the garden and this week was perfect to scrapbook about this! Using my Pitt Pens, watercolors, and White Signo Pen, I doodled some large flowers, complete with houses. With some fun patterned paper layered up and a few embellishments, my home grown story is told!

Emma‘s garden is her pride and joy

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I”ve taken so many photos of my garden as it burst into life this summer and decided it was sacrilege to hide them all away in a box! So, with this in mind I created a 3D photo display holder and used a trophy cup altered with alcohol ink and a memo pin to hold my pictures securely in place. To complete the project, I created a little “crate base” from kraft card and added a die cut butterfly and flowers as decoration.

The challenge made Anna-Karin think of growing a home.

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I was inspired by the process of turning a house into a home and built a fun mixed media home using Hero Arts wooden blocks. It was fun painting and stamping the blocks. Windows were added with a stencil and Texture Paste. Finally I gave the house a bird family and a bike (which is mine).

For more inspiration click on our design team’s blog links so you can see more photos (and full supply lists) for their projects. Leave them a little comment love while you’re there so they know how they’ve inspired you too, if you’re so inclined.

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As always, Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $50 gift voucher that will go to a random entry chosen by random generator. To qualify all you need to do is create a new project that ties in (in any way!) with our theme and post it, along with a link back to this challenge, and add a link here. This challenge will end at 11:59pm on Sunday August 16th Eastern time. We will also be choosing some of our entries to put in the spotlight – a special honor where we talk about why we loved that entry in particular and award a special badge too! For the full rules, read the “challenge rules” posted in the side-bar here on our blog.

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  1. Great inspiration to complement this summer afternoon, the wind blowing the hosta leaves outside my window, and a nice selection of my favorite music. Now, it is time to get inky. cheers!

  2. Happy birthday Barbara! Ashli, your layout is so very lovely. Nice inspiration everyone.

    1. Melissa as always, as you create we ask that you keep the challenge in mind. If your mind wanders as you’re making a project for us you’re welcome to explain so we understand how you make the leap from one idea to another. So often you will see us making odd choices (haha!) and explaining how we got there. That’s a big part of the fun.

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