Papertrey Ink March 2014 Blog Hop Challenge ~ NBUS #118

Hey! I hope the brand new week is going well for you!

I am popping in today to play in the Papertrey Ink (PTI) blog hop challenge, hosted on Nichole Heady's awesome {capture the moment} website. This month's beautiful inspiration board is:

Lots of fun images! I see that rainbows are still on-trend in Blogland and I decided to focus on that. To participate in the March blog hop, we need to use one PTI product and we are encouraged to let it shine, baby, in high gloss drama!

For my card I used my NBUS cover plate from PTI called "Mighty Oak." I spent a LOT of time trying various card designs with it. Some days you simply have to kiss a lot of frogs before your love-sick hamster decides to stop taking selfies to send to Ms. Thing. A little help here, Hammy?!

Bless him, he still comes to my rescue and in the end, I went with a CAS softly-colored rainbow of oak leaves:

After impressing my paper (and her parents) with my Big Shot, I outlined each leaf with my SU watercolor pencils. Then I used a tiny brush and water to drag the color from the outline over each leaf. Next, I painted on glossy Mod Podge Dimensional Magic. And finally, I stamped the sediment from PTI's Birthday Bash Sentiments in Kaleidacolor ink. Shazambam!

The above photo is okay, but looks rather flat. Ah, not so! In order for you to see it better, I flipped my card on its side and slouched it a little so that the sun could catch the high gloss drama. (After which he had to put a cloud over his face to recover.) 

As we like to say, it sure is pretty IRL.

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I'm entering my card in The Card Concept Challenge which is to create a birthday card. This will be my second entry for this birthday challenge. I believe my card this time is "Clean and Graphic," if I'm reading the style descriptions correctly. This is really a fun challenge for stepping outside your standard style, sister, and learning and seeing first-hand what the different styles are!

I also think my card fits Arielle's current Retro Sketches sketch.

I haven't played at CAS on Sunday for a while, so I was happy to see that I could enter the current challenge of "One Layer Wonder."

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Please click on any challenge link to find the details regarding rules, sponsors, and prizes, check out all the DT inspirations, and then join in the fun!!

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New Friends Corner

I'm delighted to introduce you to Linby of Crafty Linby. Lynn's smiling face is in the dictionary next to the word exuberant! To quote her: "Over the years I have always made things and tried new crafty hobbies. I've done macrame (in the 70s when it was all the rage!), crochet, knitting, dressmaking, quilling, pergamano, fimo, stencilling, my own chocolate Easter eggs!, x-stitching, scrapbooking and cards."

And if that weren't enough, she also works full time and has been blogging since 2009! It makes me want a lie down just thinking about being that energetic! But, oh my, it's all to our benefit, as you will see when you go for an inspired visit to meet her! Take your comfiest chair! You might even get a choccie bunny!

Thank you for joining us, Lynn, and welcome to the Playhouse!!

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We enjoyed family time on the weekend, including the opening day of Little League. Here are Adam and Henry with Dan offering encouragement from the outfield:

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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! Please let me know you came by, so I can be sure and return the flavor! 

 

*Life Is Too Short!

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