Sunday 11 May 2014

12 X 12 Layout - Of Flowers and Zukes

Good morning all and welcome !!!  Happy Mother's Day :).  Well, it looks like we have turned a corner and are headed for a few days of sunshine and .... oh my!!  20 deg C weather.  I can hardly believe it.  The buds are budding, the birds are chirping and Chopin is very busy taking it all in.  He is going from window to window, chatting up the birds, smelling the smells and generally have a fun spring fever time :).

I am off to visit my mom and will walk to her house to enjoy the weather a bit myself.  She lives about 3 km from me so just a perfect Sunday morning walk.  We will be watching the final of the Madrid Open Tennis tournament, and brunching with the gang !  Hope you all have a fabulous day wherever you are :).

I did a quick layout (well for me anyway) - I think this one only took me about 1 hour, or a little over.  Since Tuesdae and Roni have inspired me to scrap about my passions and their stories, it seems I can't stop LOL.  So it would seem we are in for a series!

This time, I chose gardening.  My sister, BIL and I have a garden together at their place in the country.  They live about an hour away from me, in Ontario.  We all love gardening and more specifically, growing our own fruit and veg.  So we started a garden about 5 years ago, with the goal of eventually being self-sufficient in vegetables. Our climate does not permit us to do so with fruit, but at least we can still get quite a few - currants, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and apples.  We have not planted strawberries yet.  Our garden has grown to about 2000 sq ft; we will have to add at least another 1000 sq feet to achieve our goal.  We have given ourselves another 3 years, our approximate retirement date, to get there. In the meantime, we are having a blast.

I am in charge of planning the garden, the companion planting and buying the plants (or seeds).  We love zucchini so last year, I bought a few more plants than usual (6 actually)!  I did not, however, notice that what I bought was actually the summer yellow squash LOL.  And, boy did they like our soil.  We were certainly self-sufficient in summer squash, as were many of the family, friends and neighbours around us LOL...  But you have to admit, they are beautiful and really added some lovely colour to the garden :


And, I have found a great recipe for yellow summer squash pickle to boot !

The supplies:

  • The background paper is from the Amy Tangerine Cut and Paste collection and the wood grain strip is from Fancy pants.  For layering, I used the reverse side of the Fancy Pants paper and some scraps that were on my table.
  • The washi tape is from Stampin' Up as are the stamps I used on this layout, namely the hearts and hexagons.
  • I used four different alphas for the title:  October Afternoon Sticky keys in Honey, the Daily Flash from October afternoon as well as some SN@P alphas.
  • The wood veneer are from Studio Calico and I coloured them using Distress inks, the flowers are from my stash, and left over from the layout I did for Sue's challenge. The enamel dots are from My Mind's Eye. 
Well, there you have it.  As always, thanks so much for joining me and for leaving such sweet comments.  Have a wonderful Sunday.

I'll be back soon with my layout for Roni's challenge :)

6 comments:

  1. Good morning Moira. I always am impressed when people can grow such beautiful things. I am not a gardner, but I bought my grandparents house and they use to have a small farm on this property with a garden that had everything from potatoes to corn and strawberries to a beautiful rose garden. In my basement there is a door in the wall that goes to a space under my front steps where they would store the veggies. It's dark and all dirt. I find it a bit scary and I have the door covered up with a big shelving unit so no one will open it. This year for the first time my daughter and my cousins who live next door are starting their own vegetable garden in my back yard. It's only about 12' by 10', but the perfect size to start with. I hope they do well with it and thank you for bringing back so many memories of my grandmothers garden with your photo and layout. Enjoy your time with you mother today.

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    1. What a lovely, lovely comment Susan !!! That my layout and story could spark a fun and happy memory for you is the highest compliment I could be paid. Thank-you for sharing that with me :). We still have one of those scary dirt spaces. Neither my sister, nor I go down there. My BIL got the short straw LOL. My sister's house is over 100 years old and we call it the crooked little house. There were quite a few add-ons done to the house but in a very amateurish way. We have been renovating for 5 years and are slowly getting there LOL. The veggie storage is actually the basement (oh my). We started the garden with a 20' by 10' plot, so be careful. If your daughters and cousins enjoy the experience, they may take over your land. Hope you had a lovely Mother's Day and that you were spoiled by your children :) xx

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  2. Hihi I think it so fun to have a little garden to grow some plants! :).
    I think you make awesome thigs with paper and glue, really! I love every single one of them, I'm so wanting to scrapbook with you in reallife lol :)

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    1. Awww, thanks so much sweet Ellen, You always write such nice comments. i would love to be able to scrappbook with you in real life as well.. Need to work on that teleporting thing heehee... xx Hugs

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  3. Hi Moira! Love your layout, and that picture turned out awesome. I don't think I have a green thumb. I do have a plant that I have had for 30 years, I rescued it, or rather my kids did, and said it needed a home. Somehow it makes it through every winter, and then thrives when I put it on the deck when warmer weather gets here. It is huge! It has grown a lot over the years. I have thought about giving it away because I think someone else would do better with it, but then I think, it must like me, to stick it out so long with me, lol. I have given cuttings of it away and my friends have grown their own. But I am always impressed when anyone grows their own garden. Your plants look beautiful. Love your layout too. That wood grain was a great idea, it reminds me of something you would find outside or on a porch. Cute layering and embellishments too. ~ Roni

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    1. Thanks so much for your comment Roni and sharing that story... I actually admire someone who can grow indoor plants. As good as I am with the outdoor garden - fruit, veg and flowers, I am not allowed to touch the plants that need to be brought in to overwinter LOL. My BIL is in charge of that. It appears that when the plants get indoors, I can kill them just by looking at them (sigh!)...

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