CASology Week #8 - Relax Already!

And we're back around to Friday!  (And, geez, the last day of August!)

I had a great time visiting my friend's cabin yesterday.  It was a beautiful day and it was a beautiful, cozy cabin.  I wish I had pictures to show you, but my friend is in the Witness Protection Program and I didn't want to blow her cover.  Also, I forgot to bring my camera.

I still got in some crafty card time last night.  I do adore Melissa's CASology challenges. The premises are surrounded by an electrical ... no, wait, I mean the premise is a single "cue card" word and you then run with it.  Each week the winner gets to be the guest designer for the next week. 

At first glance, you might think, what the heck am I going to do with that?  But that's exactly the fun of it.  The possibilities are only limited by your imagination!  Well, and don't forget the "ology" part:  Clean And Simple.

This week there is a sponsor: the outstanding Cindy from Cindy Coutts Designs!  Check it.  And this week the guest designer is the wonderful Karen from Karen's Nuts.  I know you think I made up that name, but I did not neither!  Karen is brand new to Blogland, so please pay her a visit.  How cool for her to be recognized right from the start! 

Here is this week's cue word:

Cindy covered drinking, so my card tells the story of another of my favorite relaxing activities:

Not the best photo because the skies here are cast over today.  Fun card, though, huh?  One of my little sisters loves puzzles even more than I do, so I will send this card to her, along with the rest of the beautiful puzzle.

 

~~~

I mentioned the other day that my DDIL, Rachel, was away visiting her sick auntie. She flew home via United and emailed me this:

"I wanted to mention that the pilot of the flight from Chicago to SFO was a lady who sounded exactly like you over the speaker. She was funny and even made up words to better describe situations. I was dumbfounded and actually thought to myself: does Mom have a secret life?"

How fun is that?! Do you think I might have a twin gerbil out there?
 

~~~

 

Enjoy!  It's a long holiday weekend here in the States, the last hoo-haa of summer, so please be safe wherever you are!  As always, thank you for stopping by to visit.   Special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower or leave a comment!

 

Paper:  PTI rustic white

Stamp:  Hero Arts

Ink:  Marvy jungle green;

  Gelly Roll pen

Puzzle:  Susan Bourdet 2009,

  Karmin Int., "Spring Garden"

Dynamic Duos #17 and Retrosketches #26

Hi there!

I am getting this card posted in the nick of time.  Sometime round about the 1580s the phrase in the nick or in the very nick began to be used for the critical moment, the exact instant, at which something has to take place. Of course, since then, the words "of time" have been added and depending on which country you're in, nick has taken on new meanings.  But back in 1587, when I was a girl, the idea was that a nick was a narrow and precise marker, so that if something was in the nick, it was precisely where it should be. 

 

Such is my card for the Mono Chrome challenge over at the fab Dynamic Duos where the colors this week are wisteria wonder and concord grape.

So pretty together!

I used the sketch by the darling Danielle over at the Retrosketches challenge:

>>>

I love the CASness of the sketch and made a simple CAS monopurples card.

~~~

I had to stop for groceries yesterday in a neighborhood store that I don't usually shop in.  I didn't have totes with me, so I asked the young girl bagging the groceries for a paper bag (as opposed to plastic).  I proceeded to focus on the transaction and it wasn't until I had wheeled my cart out of the store that I noticed the girl child had placed all my items in one bag.

 

Items that were large and bulky and heavy and included melons and apples and bread. Seriously?  Already my mind was computing the various places I could set the bag in the car for the ride home.  All of them involved the bag tipping over and me down on my hands and knees in my driveway with my head pinched under the seat, muscles pulling as I stretched ancient arms into dark gooey recesses to gather up rolling and bruised apples.  Really, where are people's heads these days?

 

I'll tell you where mine was by the time I got to my car.  Squarely, wisely, on my shoulders. Yes, sir, age does have its advantage.  And having car seats for grandchildren always on hand in the back seat of the car has its advantage, too!

I was so proud of myself on that one!

 

Enjoy your day!   I'm off to the mountains to see my friend's cabin.  She's been talking about taking me along on a day-trip with her for over 17 years.  Today is the day!

As always, thank you for stopping by to visit.  Special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower or leave a comment!

 

 

Paper:  SU concord graph, PTI white

Stamp:  PTI Birthday Bash Sentiments

Ink:  PTI black, SU wisteria wonder

Ribbon:  Wright's Prestige Iris

Nesties die; bling unknown

WOYWW #169; Repeat Impressions DCC829 ~ Pressed Flower Card

Howdy Readers!

 

If you're a regular reader, you know that Wednesday is the day for What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday (WOYWW), whereby I post a picture of my workdesk in the Playhouse to let you see what I'm working on right this very minute.  Then, after you look at my desk ~ and please comment, of course ~ you go back over to the Host S. Julia's site and hop on or hop up or hop down the bloglist and visit another desk and so on.  That's a lot of hopping (Mary, take it easy!), so it's air robotic, too!  Settle down.

Walla:

 

 

Before Myrtha came to visit for a few days, I was showing you the lovely pressed flowers I inherited from my friend and neighbor, Rae.  In the meantime, my blogfriend, Redanne, sent me a few pages from a book she has with instructions for making a card with pressed flowers.  What a generous and thoughtful friend she is!

 

So with the help of the pages Redanne sent, I worked today and made a card.  I'd like to enter it into a challenge, but I can't find one that's fitting.  I did find a challenge called "Joanna Sheen Challenge," which is cool because I understand that she is the prom queen when it comes to pressed flowers, but my card doesn't fit the current challenge there either.

I could just tease you with it and wait for a challenge, but I would more than likely put my card in a "safe place" and then forget where that was.  And by the time I found it, you would have forgotten I ever talked about pressed flowers and been confuzzled, so here it is!  Live!

 

  

You guys, seriously, I hadn't been drinking or anything, but this is what I stupidly did.  I made the card, right, which wasn't all that easy.  Still, it turned out well for my very first effort at this sort of thing and I liked it very much.  Except it wasn't quite right without a sentiiment or more layers of pressies.  Now you know I lean towards gravit CAS, so I didn't want to do more layers.  But who, I ask you, WHO would make that fragile pressed flower arrangement and THEN add a sentiment?  A fool, that's who!  I am one lucky, lucky ducky!!  That could have gone so wrong!

 

Okay, off you go then.  Enjoy your visits!  Link up while you're at it and let us see what's up your workdesk!  As always, thank you for stopping by to visit.   Special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower or leave a comment!

Edit: 

Another blogging friend, Allisa suggested that I take a look at the challenge list located at Felineplayful.blogspot.com.  I did and I found "Repeat Impressions Designer's Choice Challenge 829 ~ Flowers" from The House That Stamps Built and so I am linking my card there.  Thank you, Allisa!!
 

Paper:  PTI fine linen, white
Stamp:  Miscellaneous stash
Ink:  Marvy plum
Pressies:  Rae

CR84FN61 ~ Color; Mojo Monday 256 ~ Sketch; Pixie's Crafty Snippets Challenge 35

Greetings Earthlings!

May we start today with a moment of silence to honor Neil Armstrong, 1930-2012.

Source

 

I made a wee card today for the following delicious challenges, which I hope you will get a chance to play in, if you haven't already:

The CR84FN61 challenge this week is a color challenge of aqua, tan, and cream:

Photos courtesy of Embracelifephoto.com

 

And the Mojo Monday challenge this week is round or square.  The wonderful sketch is designed by the awesome Julee Tilman.

Shockingly, I climbed out of my box and made my shape OVAL!  (Is that even legal?)  It is a note card, but it still maintains the integrity of the sketch.

I made the background paper strips using a stamp I received in a grab bag with other stamps several years ago at a store swap meet.  It's a Celtic knot and it had its first inking!  It just perfectly fit the paper strips.  Which reminds me, snippets were harmed in the making of this card, so I can also go to the snippet playground and give my card to teacher Di!  If you use snippets, come and join us at the Pixie's Crafty Workshop!

 

I almost had a cat apostrophe with this card.  I was walking across the grass over to the glider to take my pictures where the sun was shining.  I dropped my card.  Face down.  In the grass wet with dew.  Phew! 

Seems like there was something else I was going to say, but I've got a list of chores that need doing that is stubbornly sitting right behind my eyeballs so, at this moment, I can't see anything else.  I hate it when that happens.  I might as well go get 'em done.

 

Enjoy your day!  (BTW, sister Diana made it safely to Orlando yesterday. That's a bigger "Phew!")  As always, thank you for stopping by to visit.  Special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower or leave a comment!

 

Paper:  PTI vintage cream, aqua mist,
  and fine linen
Stamps:  Celtic knot, unmarked; "With
  Love" 1994 Annette Allen Watkins,
  A1305
Ink:  PTI aqua mist; SU crumb cake
  Sakura pens
Brads: unknown
Nesties scallop oval die

LIM Week 82 ~ Recipe; ATS #2 ~ Gold

Mahoosive Monday Greetings!

 

For my card today I'm playing in two challenges.

 

 

First, the challenge at this week's Less Is More, hosted by the delightful Chrissie and Mandie, is "Recipe."  They want us to incorporate the following into our recipe (fold gently, do not stir): 

 

Three of something

Two of something

One of something

 

What a fun challenge!  Head's up if you play, it's not meant to be a game show, no no, it's a card show, so the answer sheet should be supplied with the card.

 

(Aside:  Which reminds me, the OLW favorite subject card answer was shorthand, and the shorthand in red above the short hand is the shorthand character for the word "shorthand."  Congrats to all of you who guessed correctly!  Send me your snail mail, and I'll send off my undying love and admiration!)

 

Refocus pocus, the second challenge is this week's Addicted to Stamps, which is to incorporate gold in your card.

 

 

~~~

 

Here is my card:

 

Here are the answers:

Three = three layers, three words

Two = two leaves, two squares

One = one square brad embellie

 

 

As usual, sadly, the photo fails to capture all the sheeny shine of the embossing.  The end of today's featured card.

 

~~~

 

Here are a couple of fun pictures I just downloaded of our spin around the lake on Sunday in a little rental motor boat.  Which died on us twice.  I was very impressed at how the big boys kept their language child-appropriate!

 

Dan, Henry, Bama

 

Adam and Papa

 

~~~

 

Mommy has been away a few days visiting her ill Auntie Sandra and Henry decided to make her a card.  I had shown him my blog earlier in the day, so he wanted me to take a picture of this card to post.  (Adam was out front helping Papa wash his dirty motorcycle and trailer.)

 

 

Henry was so proud when I photographed his card, but he wanted no part of standing next to it.  That's okay, I got him in the background, loading up his squirt gun to go around and ambush his brother!

 

~~~

 

Before I go, I would like to say my thoughts and prayers are with those affected by Isaac. My sister, Diana, is one of them.  I'm assuming her scheduled flight and meetings in Florida have been postponed.  Speaking of Diana, I have to show you this.  She had a birthday party for a friend and made the cutest cake for the honoree!

 

 

You might think it's too pretty to eat, but after a second of oohing and aahing, I just want to lick off that luscious frosting which looks like a huge scoop of soft serve ice cream on a plate!!  Diana would have to be okay with that because I've seen her pick up her plate after eating cake and ice cream and lick every last morself off.  Morself?  Well, you know what I mean.  Anyway, if a person eats too much of that sort of thing, they end up with morself.

 

Okay, I'm going.

 

Enjoy your day!  As always, thank you for stopping by to visit. Special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower or leave a comment!

Paper:  PTI rustic white, gold unknown
Stamps:  Stamps Happen #90294 "Fall Leaves"
  and Penny Black 00106 E "happy, happy"
Ink:  embossing powder, Prisma pencils
Brad:  unknown

CFC57 ~ Banners And Flags; PDCC146 ~ Color Splash

A Sunday Morning Howdy!

It's a new week, a fresh start, a moving forward, a clean slate.  Aaaah.  It was good to see my dear friend, it was good to see the twins and their daddy, and now it's good to have Mister home, and be back creating in the Playhouse!

The CAS-ual Fridays challenge this week is to use banners and flags.

and over at The Play Date Cafe, we are to make a color splash using black, white, and lime.

As it happens, I cut some dill from my garden the other day and noticed that some of it had started to flower. Such pretty little flowers, I took a picture as inspiration for a future card. 

And how fun it was to have that opportunity today.  I hope it's okay that I only used one banner:

  

~~~

I wish I didn't have to blow my nose. 

Then I wouldn't put tissues in my pockets. 

Then, even though I check every item of clothing like a TSA agent, tissues wouldn't end up going through the washing machine. 

Then I wouldn't have 216 individual tiny whisps and whiskers of fluff clinging to all the wet clothes. 

Then I wouldn't have to shake out each item of wet clothes like a mad cat after being caught in a sudden rain shower. 

Then I wouldn't end up with tissue snow all over the floor. 

Then I wouldn't have to sweep up all the little fluffs, which rise and twirl and dance around, mocking me. 

Then I wouldn't lose the rest of my cool and start cussing loudly like a dock worker with mud in his Wellies, causing the neighbors to hussle their small children back inside, hands over their tender ears. 

Then I wouldn't start smacking at the fliffs and fluffs with the broom, splat, splat, which, of course, doesn't corral them, but rather, sends them higher into the air. 

Then I wouldn't lose my balance and tip over like a great cow, my wrist pulservating from one end of its car pool tunnel to the other.

I wish I didn't have to blow my nose.

~~~

Enjoy your sun day, wherever you are!  As always, thank you for stopping by to visit.  Special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower or leave a comment!

Paper:  PTI white, Bazzill black,
  SU green galore
Stamp and banner: Lil Inker Designs
Ink:  PTI black
Die:  Memory Box Chloe Stem
Various punches
Corner chomper

OLW #7 ~ While We're On The Subject

And we're back around to Friday!

 

Busyness aside, I hated to see a week go by without playing along with the One Layer Wednesday (OLW) challenge.  The originator and the hostesses are all incredibly talented and inspirational.  And kind.  Although the topics can be challenging, if you are put off by the onelayerness of it all, don't be.  Jump on in.  No alligators in these waters, promise. 

 

This week the hostess is Ardyth of MASKerade.  She came up with the diabolical fun idea, thus:

Make a one layer card inspired by your favourite school subject.

 

So.  Right off the bat, Susan Goetter brilliantly made a card using my favorite subject, recess.  Dang. 

 

Then, Deanna of Up The Creative Creek left me up the dang creek by making a clever card using my second favorite subject, typing. 

 

(Of course, I hope you know me well enough to know I'm not really whining about being beaten to the punch.  It happens all the time in card challenges, and I could certainly make a card of my own using the same subject, topic, image.  I'm just teasing them  ~ their cards are delightful!)

 

So.  What to do?  There is no easy way to protract another favorite of mine, homeroom . . .

 

Ah ha!  I did have another fave!  Can you guess what it is?

 

 

I had to use clipart for the hands, which I really don't like to do, but if I didn't do that, then I couldn't make this card, so I did it.  The handwritten scribble in red is mine and is not really scribble, if you get what my subject is.

 

I gave myself a red star bling (OLWers don't mind if you use a tiny bit of bling), not because of my extraordinary card, or how extraordinary I was in this subject, but because I needed to cover up some splooge of ink I got on there on accident.

 

If you correctly guess what it is, you get, um, my undying love and admiration!

 

Enjoy!  I hope to be back on Sunday.  As always, thank you for stopping by to visit.  Special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower or leave a comment!

 

Paper:  Michael's white

Clipart:  Microsoft Word

Ink:  Marvy marker

Bling star:  unknown

Corner chomper

 

CASology #7 ~ GREEN!

Welcome, friends, to whatever day this is!  I haven't a clue!

 

I've been as busy as a beaver after a windstorm.  A bee after honey.  A fly in a barnyard.  A babysitter hearing the parents' car pull into the driver.

 

Oh what fun it was to laugh and sing with Myrtha Sue!  Highlights below.  First, I want to share my card for this week's CASology challenge, which is simply:

 

GREEN!

 

How free can you be?!  So many options are available, so many great design team inspirations, and so many wonderful entries so far.  Come and play, hey?

 

My thought (notice it's singular, we don't want to put too much pressure on that remaining cell), when I thought of green, was frog.  Of course.  Thinking, howsoever, that there might be lots of other frogs, I went with a lovely green pear:

 

Thanks, ladies, that was fun.  I may play again in this one. 

*Edit:  I just looked at the entries again after posting and see that now there is one other pear (beautifully done), but NO frogs!  LOL!  I had that wrong!

~~~

I imagine some of you thought me and my friend might just be lie-abouts as we partayed, but you would be wrong!

 

Myrtha is the baker of the two of us, able to toss entire pie crusts into the pan without so much as dirtying a measuring implement.  Mm-mmm, one of those! 

 

She thinks I just so happened to have a box of peaches that didn't taste very good, nor were very juicy, simply eaten out of hand, and that I just so happened to have a pint of blueberries doing nothing in the fridge, and so, "Gee, M, dya suppose you could whip us up a cobble?" 

 

"Why sure," said she, limping as she climbed down off her bar stool.  "But I think, Dough-Dough Bird," she added, "that you meant to say cobbler."

 

Here she is rocking one of my aprons, which, yes, that's right, are only holiday-themed.

 



She's a little living baking angel.  Wait until the Mister finds out he missed out on this!

~~~

Well, then it was time for lunch so off we went to one of the local wineries. 

Look closely at Myrtha's eyeballs.  Check out how she's checking out to make sure that I didn't get more wine in my flight, then she got in hers.  I can't take her anywhere.

~~~

After that, naturally, off we went to the local department store for make-overs.  Honey, those young girls earned their commissions today, but we came out of there HOT!

 

And that's the end of the Ethel Mae and Myrtha Sue adventures for this visit.  You'll have to use your imaginations from here on.  We're not in jail this time, and that's all that matters.

 

~~~

 

In Garden News, we went out to pick tomatoes for her to take to brother, and we saw this amazing web.  It's hard to tell, but that structure is HUGE!

 

And where, pray tell, was the web builder?  We found him in dogged pursuit of the missus:

Later, he was back on his throne.  I love how the photo background came out looking like stained glass. 

 

 

Now you know why I wear a shower cap when I go out there and pick tomatoes!!

 

~~~

 

Last, but certainly not least, it is my pleasure to welcome Bobby of Bits and Pieces as a new follower!  Thank you, Bobby!  We are happy to have you and we'll come and visit you, too!

 

 

Enjoy your evening!  The weekend is almost upon us.  I may be helping out the kids at their house for a time, but if I do, I'll be thumbsily trying to keep up with you on my laptop   As always, thank you for stopping by to visit.   Special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower or leave a comment!

 

Paper:  PTI white

Stamps:  SU pear, unknown set,

  sentiment unknown tiny stamp

Ink:  PTI pinefeather and Prisma

  pencils

 

WOYWW #168

Hey, Wow, It's Wednesday!

Time again, ladies and germs, for the Julia Dunnit show:  WHAT'S ON YOUR WORKDESK? WEDNESDAY!!  Put the kids out in the yard, send hubby off, period, put the pets on the schoolbus, and gather round with a cuppa or a mug or tall cool one.  Hop along the WOWYER link, peek along the doorway, window, or porthole ~ gwon, step in.  That's the whole idea, sister!

Here's mine!

That's my BFF, Cheryl Ann, but, of course, I call her Mrytha Sue.  We've known each other for 39 years when she came to work at the law firm where I worked!  Although I've stayed put over the years, she's been back and forth from the western U.S. to the eastern U.S. and vice and versa and versa and vice.  Now she's settled back in Denver, closer again to me, woo-hoho!!

Now we didn't really drink up all those libatitations (yet), but we thought it would be funnier than anything to bring the bar out and put it on the desk for today's WOYWW!  What's on my workdesk with Mrytha here?  Par Tay!

Enjoy your hopping along the WOYWWny Trail!  As always, thank you for stopping by to visit.  Special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower or leave a comment!

PDCC #145; LIM WEEK #81; PCSC #34

Hi Everyone!

This is going to be a hit-and-miss card-making and blogging week, so I have a few minutes this morning to jot a few things down that are happening.  Can I get you a coffee?  No, goodness, it's not that it's too early for the other, it's just that we have to go to the store and buy some more.

I'll play cards, first, in case you have to run along about your business.  I've got three challenges I'm playing along with.

My color choices for my card come from this week's The Play Date Cafe challenge:

 Burnt Sienna, Mustard, Slate

My theme choice for my card comes from this week's Less Is More challenge, which is "tearing." 

My friend Carmia thought they meant "crying" and emailed me a picture of her card of a beautiful woman's face with a few tiny rhinestone tears coming down her cheek.  Well, shoot, that got me to crying because I didn't want to tell her that's not what they meant, so I phoned another friend, who started to RALPH. 

I mean, no, that's not right.  What is the term?  ROLF?  ROFL?  I don't like using that acronym for "rolling on the floor laughing" because to me it reads like throw up, which is the exact opposite of laughing.  Even if you laugh really hard and roll on the floor, three things might happen:  you might start crying from laughing so hard, you might start peeing, and you might pick up pet hairs on your clothes.  But not rolfing, I hope.

Now, let's see.  Is it still my deal?

The next challenge is Pixie's Crafty Snippets, which I get to play in because I used, ta da, snippets!  Large snippets.

I remembered I had gotten some really awesome brads that I wanted to use on a card during these last Hal C. Awn days of summer and, so, here you go:

Isn't that the coolest brad?  It's a miracle I didn't forget all about it until December!  (Sorry, my slate paper cardstock looks very pale and unslatey in the bright sunshine.) 

That's the end of playing cards for today.  For those of you who have to leave, please roll down to leave a comment, and don't forget to grab your sweater on your way out, if you left one in the guest room.

~~~

In other news, I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge the passing of the comic pioneer, Phyllis Diller, at age 95.  She's been out of the business a very long time, so a lot of you may not know who she is, but for those of us who remember her, she was like nobody else!  An example of her machine gun wit:  "I once wore a peek-a-boo blouse.  People peeked and then booed!"

~~~

I know you're sick of my tomato bragging, but seriously, you have to see what happened when I didn't pick for three days!  There were so many that Mister helped me and we had to quit when we were stooped out, leaving more on the vines!

You can see straight through from the kitchen sink, through the family room, to the door of my Playhouse.  Mister sits on that couch and we can wave at each other when I look up from my desk and out the window in the Playhouse door.  Aw shucks.

We take a lot of tomatoes and basil to work and the Mister eats plate after plate of them with feta or mozerella cheese.

I promise, no matter what, no more tomato pictures this year month!

~~~

Real quick, I thought you might also like to see this photo of one of my ferns popping beautiful new babies way up above the window sill. 

 ~~~

I'd like you all to welcome Kym Keeley as our 125th follower!! I can't click on your site, Kym, if you have one, to share with everyone.  Let me know if you do have one to share and thank you very much for joining!

Did you ever notice that follower contains the word "flower"?!  Cool, huh?  If you live in the southern region of the U.S., you could use all the letters in an Anna Gram, something like,  "That ol' flower sure looks purdy."  Leastwise, that's how my Auntie Clara Bell would say it.

Enjoy your day and make it special!   One of my besties is arriving from Denver in a couple of hours for a visit for a few days.  You may see her here, live, tomorrow!  As always, thank you for stopping by to visit.   Special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower or leave a comment!

Paper:  Bazzill slate; SU mustard, and
  really rust
Stamp:  Hero Arts
Ink:  SU really rust
Brad:  Christine Adolph