The Wild Gardener

DSO Color Challenge Oct 2010

2010-10-04T16:40:00.000-07:00

Here's my kit for October. Join us at the color challenge here for some really great scrapping kits!Download here

DSO Color Challenge for Aug 2010

2010-08-24T20:37:00.000-07:00

It's that time again. Here's my offering.

Find it here & find the DSO Color Challenge here

DSO Color Challenge for July 2010

2010-07-21T18:26:00.000-07:00

Here's my July offering.

Find the WONDERFUL challenge here & join in!

Download the zip file here

April Kit

2010-04-28T15:54:00.001-07:00

It's that time once again & once again I'm in just under the wire! Here's the swatch
Find my kit here. It looks like this.
Come join the fun here!

March DSO Color Challenge Kit

2010-03-09T19:28:00.000-08:00

Here's Kim's March swatch

Here's my contribution that you can find HERE
Come on over to DSO Color Challenge & join in the fun!!

And this was MY birthday month--but NO pics from me! Refer to the post below to see some BEEEAUTIFUL family pics! Baby's mama says they are going to start trying for #2 in June & since mama will have a C-Section, she asked if I'd mind if the next one has MY birthday---how COOL is that??

Feb DSO Kit

2010-02-05T12:18:00.000-08:00

I guess these colors really inspired me--or maybe it's the daffodils poking through the ground & about ready to bloom! At any rate, my kit is DONE!
Here's Kim's swatch for this monthAnd find the challenge here: http://www.digital-scrapbooking.org/challenges/category/color-challenge/
Gotta run! VERY important day today--the birth of my beautiful daughter & her daughter--our 1 YO Sophia Brianna--house full of company coming for the weekend to celebrate!
Aren't they beautiful??
Oh! My kit
which can be found here: http://www.4shared.com/file/215816442/1db25f5a/JKF_Kims_Feb_2010_Challenge.html

DSO Color Challenge for January 2010

2010-01-25T14:15:00.000-08:00

How is it that January is almost over already?? Absolutely amazing.
Once again I'm barely in under the wire, but here's my Kim's Kit, as Teapot Lady & I call our kits, for January. Darleen keeps me on my toes to get something done each month so I can keep up with her in learning Photoshop.
Here's what it looks like:

Here's the color swatch Kim had us use: You can get my kit here

December DSO Color Challenge

2009-12-13T18:38:00.000-08:00

It's time once again to post a kit for Kim's Color Challenge over at DSO. These are always such fun challenges & there are so MANY wonderful free kits created. Take a look & join right in. My good friend, Teapot Lady, took over posting my last month's kit so I figured I needed to be a little bit more responsible this month! Such a busy time of the year.
We always have our Christmas early so our kids can spend the day with their significant other families. In addition to trying to get ready for the big arrival day, we set a record for cold up here in way northern California, so one of our pipes burst. It was outside so the only inconvenience was in not having water for about 24 hours.
I started out thinking art deco when I saw the colors. Sue Chastain, from About.com, hosted a "No Clip Art" Swap lots of years ago in which I participated. The funny looking lady that you see in the elements is what I created & was my inspiration for this kit. Then I started thinking New Year's & the ballroom dance that we'll be attending----so the kit got all scrambled!! Just hope there's something usable in there! Enjoy. Here are the links.
Papers
Elements

2009-10-11T13:54:00.001-07:00

My kit for Kim's Oct 09 Color Challenge at DSO. Find it here

Kim's Sept 09 Challenge at DSO

2009-09-11T13:55:00.000-07:00

Taking a break from the garden review to do a kit for Kim's challenge. Still learning PS but having fun doing it! And can we PLEASE have a break from these triple digit temps!
Here's the preview; click on it to get the kit:

PS to today's post

2009-08-27T18:28:00.001-07:00

When I mentioned the other day that it was either water the "lawn" or fill the pool, THIS is the reason we chose the pool!!

Butterfly Bushes

2009-08-27T18:06:00.000-07:00

I dug out my Garden Journal & found out I bought 3 of these in Nov 05. They were gallon size & so nice & small when I bought them--who knew! I love these things, but oh my, the work! Every mid winter I prune them to 1/3 the size they are now. That's not a huge job, but because we recycle all my pruning, I cut everything in small pieces. Each of these bushes takes about 2-3 hours to completely prune. These bushes truly live up to their name---I see all kinds of varieties of butterflies all during the blooming season enjoying these bushes. Last year there was a butterfly migration through California. I didn't think much about it & didn't really read the article in the paper. One day I looked out my window & saw at least 100 butterflies flying by. It was spectacular---so once again, well worth the work.

The Circle-Part B

2009-08-26T12:18:00.000-07:00

Well-I didn't get all my pics posted yesterday. Just flat out ran out of time. Here's the rest of them. Wow! AMBER! How exciting to see a comment on my blog---lol! Thnx, sweet DIL!

The Circle in parts-A

2009-08-25T18:53:00.000-07:00

Today I just want to post several pics of different areas of The Circle. That's it!

Block & Dirt Project

2009-08-24T19:12:00.000-07:00

Two years ago I decided our front yard needed "something" so I went out with my chalk & string & made a circle. It seemed like it would be a simple project. By the time I finished enlarging the circle & adding a smaller inner circle---wellllll, as the way of most things I do, the visual is different from what I had in mind! Here's what it looks like today
In the 2 years that this has been completed it has undergone several changes. A wonderful dance friend gave me lots & lots of day lilies from her yard which I planted along the inside of the larger circle. The first year, they were beautiful!! This year they were taking over so out they came & FOUR barrels full went to my next door neighbor. During THIS project I managed to get my first bee sting---but that's another story. I'm still wanting to put some kind of a path out to The Circle, but that's for another time.
So why is this called the Block & Dirt Project? My husband teaches Algebra & Geometry & gave his students the assignment to figure out how much weight he & I hauled in doing this project. I'll get the figures from him & post those in the next post.
My friend in Los Angeles, Lisa, says her husband can't understand how I can possibly let that poor "lawn" look the way it does. We live in California about 100 miles south of the Oregon border & have high triple digit temps for several weeks in the summer so it's either the pool or the "lawn" that gets the water!
Tomorrow I'm going to post pictures of the specific parts of The Circle, as I call it, because I know the cold weather is soon going to take many of those plants to bed for the winter.

Makin' this blog WORK for me!

2009-08-22T22:20:00.000-07:00

I've decided, as I look around my yard, that this blog needs to work for me. Every year I wonder if all the weeds I'm pulling are actually some stray flowers that I've forgotten I've planted. When I first started landscaping the front yard 3 years ago, I was good to keep a Garden Journal with all the necessary information. Then I just got WILD & couldn't be bothered keeping up the Journal. I figure if I start taking some pictures, then I won't have to worry about any of the rest. So I'm hoping to become a REAL blogger & add some information once in awhile. Stay tuned!

Kim's Color Challenge at DSO

2009-08-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

It's that time again. Those missing months just slipped away but here's August!

Kim's May Challenge

2009-05-26T20:15:00.000-07:00

Here it is! Click on the preview. And head over to Kim's challenge to find the most amazing kits!

Kim's March Challenge at DSO

2009-03-17T16:29:00.000-07:00

The best laid plans & all that! I was determined to do a monthly kit for Kim's Color Challenge--but life happens! My daughter had a baby that was late. Then 3 weeks later we were moving her, the husband & new baby in to our house while they look for a house in our end of the state. So the days just fly by now. Oh & of course the gophers are back, now that the weather is warming up. Lots of Spring cleanup to do too. Annnnyway, enough babbling---here's the preview.
And here's the link to get the kit. Be sure to head to Kim's Challenge & get all the beautiful kits to go with this color challenge.

Another Challenge Finished

2008-11-11T15:40:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I'm probably not meant to be a blogger as noted by the frequency of my posts! But I guess it's nice to have a blog so I can at least put my DSO Color Challenge here. I always enjoy the challenge of learning a bit more in Photoshop by doing these challenges. Kim has such wonderful color schemes & there are so many WONderful kits & layouts posted.
And the gophers?? Omigoodness, they're back & have brought the whole party with them. I went out one morning, & there laying by a gopher mound, was my pretty bright orange pepper! I told my husband that I KNEW those guys were down there making salsa.
Anyway, here's the preview to my kit. Click the image to download.

Taking another plunge

2008-09-05T15:14:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to learn PhotoShop--the journey has been a long one. First it was Print Artist, then along came Paint Shop Pro, with a bit of Corel Draw thrown in. Then I discovered Photo Impact & really fell in love. PI was my program of choice for a long time, although a few peeks at PhotoShop were certainly intriguing! My good friend, Teapot Lady, took the plunge & drug me & our other partner is all things computer, What's Up With Danna, into the fray---so here I am!

I've been grabbing all the wonderful goodies from Kim's Color Challenge at DSO for several months, & now it's time to try to give back a little. Please notice I said "a little"! I hope to continue learning & creating & scrapping! What a rush this digi scrapping is! Gone are all the hundreds & hundreds of little pieces of paper, embellishments & equipment. Now it's just me & my computer---oh & all the external hard drives I now need to save & backup all these wonderful graphics!!
We're still in a heat wave up here in TRUE northern CA, so I'm not out in my garden much---just trying to get all the beauties through the heat with my morning watering. Oh, & scouting out those STINKIN' gophers & moles!! We had a "gopher man" but paying him was getting a bit over the top, so somebody said those hot, hot pretty orange peppers would drive them away. I look for fresh dirt mounds & poke a couple down the tunnel. We'll see! Even if I can save myself the cost of 2 of those suckers, I'm WAY ahead of that game.
Oh yeah! ha! Back to Kim's Color Challenge. Here's my contribution. Click on the preview--I hope! Another first for me.

I DID IT!

2008-08-23T14:31:00.000-07:00

Spent 4 days recently getting together with 2 girlfriends (see TeapotLady's blog in my friends' blogs listing for more). What a time we had--wellllll, we always DO when we get together! Darleen has been bugging us forever to get going on a blog so here it is.