Birthday Cruise! ATCAS #20; CCIC; LID; MFWTT; NBUS #38

Happy Sunday!  Happy Monday already to some of you!

Today our imaginary couple Wilfred and Verneta are enjoying mimosas on their patio as the first act in a day-long celebration of Vern's 58th birthday.  Willie reaches between the folds of his newspaper and slides a card across the glass-top table while Verneta is looking down, petting Tops. 

 

[Aside:  Verneta had picked the sweet pound dog because his assorted brown spots against his creamy coat where the exact opposite of the normal coloring of his breed.  Usually the coat is brown and the spots are cream colored.  Being a wry lady known for her somewhat sarcastic wit, Vern decided to flip the traditional name of "Spot" to "Tops."  It amused her no end to see the dawn make its way across the faces of those who fingered it out.] 

 

As Verneta lifted her auburn head, her gaze fell upon Willie's card in its ivory linen envelope with her name scrawled across the front in his illegal handwriting.  She picked up the card and for several minutes held it lovingly, running her hands across the silken finish and, finally, against her cheek which had become flush from the morning sun and the mimosa.

 

Using her clean croissant knife, she slit open the envelope to find:

 

A small ladylike gasp of delight and pleasure escaped her lips.  Can it be?  A cruise for her birthday?  But this IS a surprise!  They had talked about it, perhaps a few years from now when Willie retired, but now?  Inside she found:

[The photo has been cropped to omit the private message Wilfred wrote to his beloved.]

"Oh, Wilf," sighed Vern.  Wilfred had never been happier than he was at that moment, watching the joy light up Verneta's continence.  He made a mental note to give his housekeeper a little something extra in her next check.  What a bonus that she not only did windows, she made delightful little homemade cards designed to his exact personal specifelicitations.

 

~~~

 

Challenges:

 

Addicted to CAS (ATCAS) #20 "Holiday."  My card reflects the "on vacation" definition of the code word.

 

Curtain Call Inspiration Challege "Carnival Craze."  My card focuses on the "Keep Sailing" verse.  Willie and Vern will be sailing off on a Carnival cruise! 

Lil' Inker Designs 3rd Birthday Challenge and Celebration.  Congratulations to Lil' Inker!!  I've used their wonderful products on my cards before, but this is my first time joining in one the challenges!

Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger Challenge: "I'm Craving Navy."

 

As always, many of the challenges I enter have awesome sponsors and prizes, so I hope you will click on the links for the details, meet the fab Design Teams and Guest Designers, be amazed by their inspiration cards, and join in these fun challenges! 

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NBUS #38 ~  In my own ongoing challenge to use up my "never-before-used schtuff," today's NBUS are the image and sediments from the Technique Tuesday stamp set "R&R."  I don't think I've used the summer starfruit paper before, but I'm not sure.  I have seen negative comments about the color, but it's quite striking IRL against the midnight muse and white.

 

I originally had the image framed in the navy and starfruit mats against the white card base, but in one of those moments we have, I started playing with putting the cutout back into the negative frame and I really liked how it looked.  The card itself is an example of how you can use a colored card base and still have a CAS card with lots of "white space."  (Thanks, Chrissie.)  I colored the wooden anchor charm with a SU! midnight muse marker.

 

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Enjoy your day!  No, seriously, enjoy.  LITS*  

 

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and special thanks to you if you take the time to leave a comment and/or join as a follower! 

 

*Life Is Too Short!  

 

Paper:  PTI white; SU! midnight muse,

  summer starfruit

Stamps:  Technique Tuesday "R&R"

Ink:  SU! midnight muse, summer starfruit marker 

Dies:  Li'l Inker "Stitched Rectangles"

Embellie:  Studio Calico