Happy Birthday Ardyth and Mary (DJKASE#19)

Hello Stampers!

Two of my dear bloggy friends are having birthdays today, so I would like to show them your card! Wait. No. I would like to show you their cards. 

ARDYTH

In Alpha Betty order, first up is Blogland's outstanding graphic card artist, Ardyth Percy-Robb. You can link to her wonderful Maskerade blog for amazing inspiration. I did a birthday card surprise hop for Ardyth's birthday last year, and I honored her with a DJKASE on Valentine's Day this year, so here is my latest card for her:

I know it is very similar to last year's birthday card and it is also like a card I once made using my Spirograph set, but Ardyth loves this style of card and I love the opportunity to make one for her.

When I see this card I think "ferris wheel," which is a little bit close to what I originally had in mind because of the fact ferris wheel rides go up in the air. You see, originally I was thinking of making a card using kites or hot air balloons, but then I saw this image in my container which houses flying objects:

It turns out it is from this Papertrey Ink set called "Baby Button Bits."

 

Hey, don't look at me! You know I separate my stamp sets and at some point I forgot this little booger was sposed to be a pea pod to hold three peas signalfying two parents and a new baby. I mean, it looked like a blimp to me (even though I did wonder why a blimp would have vines around the fin tail?!) Whatever, I filed it with my flying things. She says, shrugging her shoulders.

ANYway, I used it to make an Ardythesque graphic rainbow-colored ferris-wheel birthday card! I thought the addition of a sediment would ruin the design, so I left it alone.

Happy Birthday, Ardy, and many, many more!!

~~~~~~~

Over at Shopping Our Stash #153 we are to stamp our own background and I sure did that so I'm linking my card in this fun challenge!

MARY

My second bloggy friend celebrating a birthday today is Mary of the bright and beautiful Carolina Cards by Mary H. Mary's special occasion today gives me the opportunity to copyliment her and make her a DJKASE of one of her cards as a tribute and a thank you to her for following me and supporting me!

Darnell's card

(I don't know why the "happy" looks kinda green. It's colored with a pretty yellow Wink of Stella pen.)

Actually, the main focus pocus of Mary's card came about because of a RAK that I received from her a while back. She very kindly gifted me with some incredible images from Nicecrane Designs, so I used one of the images to make her card!

If you know Mary, or you visit her blog, you will see she makes stunning cards with her images ornately framed and often flourished. I made the mistake of matting the print image for Mary's card in a plain rectangle mat before I thought to find a specific card of Mary's to DJKASE. Oopsles! (You might say I sorta got the card in front of the horse!) So I had to look a ways back on Mary's blog to find a card she had made with a simple matting. You can find it here.

Mary's card

Mary, I wish you a Happy Birthday and many, many more!! Thank you for your friendship, for following me, and for your encouraging comments on my posts! I hope you like my DJKASE birthday card!

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I used snippets for my matting so I'm popping over to join the girls at Pixie's Snippets Playground. I didn't use an impressive amount of snippets, but the girls at Pixie's know Mary and I know they would like to know or be reminded that her birthday is today!

~~~

My sister, Diana, is arriving tomorrow for a few days! I have a scheduled post on Sunday, so you'll see me then, but just so you know I may not be able to visit with you until sometime next week. 

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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WOYWW Happy Fifth Anniversary ATC SWAPeroo!

Hi There!!

Happy Hump Day and Happy 5th Anniversary to What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday (WOYWW)!

The above link will tell you all about the details of WOYWW and since this is a hop, I'll get right to it. It's been five years since the genius behind WOYWW (Ms. Julia Dunnit) thought it would be fun to start a linky hop whereby we would post a picture of our desks once a week only on Wednesdays and share a little something about what's going on in our crafty lives. The hop grew and grew and grew until now there are close to a hunnert participants weekly, sometimes lots more.

To celebrate the anniversaries, Julia decided to add a twist to the desk-hopping by having the deskers voluntarily exchange Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). Three years ago was my very first time making an ATC and I only made one. Last year, I made five. This year I made twenty.

So here is my desk laden with all things ATC:

Here is a close-up of my ATCs:

Of course, I had to figure out a way to incorporate my byline of LITS ~ life is too short! Before you go thinking I'm the cleverest artist ever, I'll let you know that K and his Company made those fab purses, not me!

Thank you Julia for hosting this fun swap again this year! Happy Anniversary to you and to all my fellow WOYWW hoppers who have become friends over the years!

Oh, dratcicle, I should have put the date on the sign, but that's okay, our posts are dated. I will happily swap ATCs with the person immediately below me in the link who has astrickersized his/her name. If anyone else would like to swap with me, please let me know at darnell dot knauss at gmail dot com. I have five left unspoken for, first-come, first served.

I'm already looking forward to next week and more when I and others will post photos of the ATCs  received from around the world!

~~~

Real quick, you guys, I just had to share these photos with you because many of you have come to know about our "pet" hummingbird Hitler through my WOYWW posts. About a year and a half ago, I bought the little spoiled bratbird this fancy-schmancy swing so that he could sit comfortably and regally while keeping an evil eye on "his" feeder. Well, he totally ignored it until yesterday! I almost fell over when I saw him through the window, sitting there like the little miniature king he is!

Naturally I took 150 photos, but I narrowed it down to two for you:

Hitler on the left, feeder on the right.

~~~

Enjoy your day and the Anniversary Swap Hop! 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 (and leave your WOYWW number), so I can be sure and return the flavor! 

 

*Life Is Too Short!

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PTI May 2014 Blog Hop ~ NBUS #133

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Happy Funday Every Body!

It's a nice long weekend here in the States. Monday is Memorial Day, a day for us to celebrate and appreciate the men and women who currently serve and have served our country in the military!

I had a great time yesterday with my crafty friends Kim and Harriet, making coin purses using the PTI dies (photo below). It wasn't until I woke up this morning that I remembered about the May PTI blog hop.

Here is this month's photo perspiration:

Fortunately, I had visited my girlfriend Joanne recently and part of my clearance-rack purchases included a two-pack of Washi tape. The design of one of the rolls just happened to be aqua and melon triangles. Oh, snap my peas!

So, I made this QACAS and graphic card:

I used the PTI sketched shapes die (NBUS) for the triangles and the sediment is from PTI's "Think Big Favorites #24." The little glass embellies are from Lynn.

~~~

I am also entering my card in Seize the Birthday (no toppings):

and in Addicted to Stamps and More where the theme is the ever-popular "Anthing Goes!" The prize is digis from Rick St. Dennis (zibbet).

~~~

New Friends Corner

I'm delighted to introduce you to two more new friends! Please welcome:

Dottie Jo of Just a Dotty Pudding. You know you are going to love her already with that blog name! Dottie Jo has been blogging since 2009 and she has an impressive number of awards to show for it! Her blog is inspirational, personal, and full of fun, just like her cards!

Helen Finlay. Helen, your name was not clickable and I couldn't find a blog for you when I asked Mr. Google. Please let me know if you have one, so I can edit this and include a link for others to find you. Of course, if you don't have a blog, you are very welcome here, too!

Thank you for joining the Playhouse, ladies!

~~~

Okay, short and sweet as you have hopping to do! I will leave you with a small collage of Harriet, me, and Kim having fun at my house making little felt coin purses. We spent so much time talking and laughing, mine isn't finished yet to show you. I hope you are having as much fun at your house!

~~~

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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Texturize it!

Happy Saturday Salutay!

I am back with my second post as the May Guest Designer for Addicted to CAS. I am so appreciative of the honor and the confidence the members of the Design Team have in me. They are all so talented and supportive! Thank you, again, ladies!

The theme for this challenge is TEXtuRe. Rough it up, soften it down, do your thing with those wonderful crafty items that allow you to add texture to your card. How about embossing paste, Gesso, or Parmesan cheese? Or you can try burlap, string, or butterfly wings. Glitter and Brad and ~ no, wait, those are movie stars, aren't they? I can't wait to see how you texturize your card!

Here's what I used:

I used real dried flowers. It's been a while since I've made a card using the dried flowers that were so lovingly pressed by my long-time neighbor and friend, Rae. I received them from one of her daughters after she passed away. Some of you may remember the first cards I made with Rae's dried flowers and those that I framed to give to Rae's husband Jerry, in memory of her. (He has since passed away, too.) Dried flowers are surprisingly easy to work with; I think getting the minibits out of intricate dies is more dizzicult.

For this card I used a die from the Cuttlebug Heirloom Ornaments set. I trimmed the top and the bottom from the die cut in order to make it look like a vase and then I just positioned and glued the sweet flowers and ferns in place. The sediment line was drawn using a ruler and the word "celebrate" is from a PTI "celebrate today" stamp.

And just for fun I thought you might like to see a picture of the beige botanical chair cushion on one of our outdoor deck chairs that I used for my card inspiration:

Please join us in this challenge! It's a wonderful opportunity for you to jump clean out of your comfort zone or stay cozily inside it, depending on how much texture you normally add to your cards. Our wonderful sponsor for this challenge is Scribbles Designs.

~~~

My card is also entering the following challenges:

CASology, where the code word is "flowers." I went a little off course last week with my lack of white space, but I think this one will pass mustard. This week's sponsor is Serendipity Stamps.

Simon Says Stamps Monday Challenge where the theme is "Botanicals." As always, Simon awards the winner with a $50 gift certificate!

~~~

New Friends Corner:

I've called the catering truck for today's introductions so you can have a little snackipoo while you're visiting. Help yourself to the drinks trolley while you're at it. Please help me warmly welcome:

Marina of My Perfect Life. Marina has been blogging since 2011. I love that she says her life isn't actually perfect, but if she squints at it in a certain light, she can make it seem so! I think that's true for all of us! Marina has won many awards for her beautiful cards.

Mette of My Little Corner of Heaven. Mette has been blogging since 2008! Her designs are the epitome of CASliciousness! The coloring is divine on her brilliant works of art. When she isn't crafting or busy as a mom, she loves walking in the countryside.

Victoria Swanson of Victoria Lavender. Victoria has also been blogging since 2008! All those years amount to a TON of card inspiration made for you by Victoria as an award-winner and design team member. You will also be inspired by how she brilliantly photographs her cards!

Georgia Horn of Puddin n Pie. Georgia has been blogging since 2011 and she's a firecracker! You will find a humorous assortment of cards and layouts and recipes and goodnatured sassiness happening over at PnP. I think you'll like all things Georgia!

Thank you very much for following me, ladies, and welcome to the Playhouse!

~~~

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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WOYWW #259

Happy Day to you!

It is Wednesday and time for another What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday (WOYWW), a weekly hop from desk to desk to see whazzup in each other's world of blogging and creating. The hostess making sure this happens every week is the wonderful and talented Ms. Julia.

Next week is the 5th anniversary of this blog hop and there will be an Artist Trading Card (ATC) swap for those who want to participate. That is quite a milestone! I mean, c'mon, can we get a round of applause for Julia? Thank you, Julia!

Here is my desk this week:

I am continuing to enjoy watercoloring and my visit with Flat Susan, which is ending. I'll be posting her off to Australia this week so she can continue her marvelous journey. It has been a year since her exciting adventure began! You can read all about her visit with me by clicking on the tab at the top of my blog. To read her entire journey, click here.

Flat Susan is so cute alongside the F.U.N. wooden letters I received from my sister, Diana. The lush red box is a Christmas gift to me from the twins and during her visit, FS used it as her little one-room apartment. Also shown are her passport and some of her things that I need to get together and pack up. I have yet to make a tag to send with her to her next hostess, a copy of which will go to Neet to put in the brilliant tag book that Annette made for her, so that's next on my to-do list.

I also wanted to share this with you:

Isn't it interesting? Such a unique design around the watercoloring. A sort of fleur-de-lis, perhaps? Oh, heck no! More like a "floor-de-lay!"

So over the weekend I was doing some homework for the online watercolor course I am taking. I did more of the inking/spritzing technique and since I was on a roll, I finished the page and tossed it behind me on the floor to dry.

Oh, hahaha, "on a roll!" Yes, that's right, ladies and gentlemen, I rolled my desk chair right over the top of my pretty little vases of watercolored tulips, back and forth, and forth and back. You know how we always say things look better IRL? Trust me, this looks worse IRL!!

What a goober I am!!

~~~

As you may have heard from Flat Susan, I'm getting a late start on making my ATCs, but I am determined to participate next week. It was so much fun last year! Let me know if you would like to swap with me. I imagine I'll have enough, but if I run out by the time I get your request, I'll let you know. For more information on the ATC swap, click here.

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 (with your WOYWW number, if you are hopping), so I can be sure and return the flavor! 

  

 

*Life Is Too Short!

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Springtime Birthday Splash

Hey there! How zit goin'?

I have a QACAS post for you. We have had a super fun, but super busy weekend. I only had a few minutes in the Playhouse to make a card for a youngster person, so I decided to bring out The Three Frogs for your card listening pleasure. Seeing as how it's springtime, they are croaking for all they're worth, trying to attract them lady froggers. If you open the card, you'll find one of those advanced doohinkies which plays Hoppy Birthday, croaked by The Three Frogs. The Mister heard it and said it sounds just like when I sing Happy Birthday.

I said, "What did you just say?" and shot him a look.

I love doing that. I'm always surprised by how fast he can still run at his age.

Here are The Three Frogs doing what they do best:

I have way more than three frogs, of course, but these are the only ones who are tenors. They are lovingly made by Penny Black. The splashes are made by a PSX stamp. The coloring and watercoloring and winking of Stella was done by me. The flowers were made by K and Company.

Besides my need for a birthday card, I made this card to remind you that there is still time to play in the Addicted to CAS (ATCAS) challenge where I am honored to be Guest Designer for May. The current challenge is Off the Edge and I'd love to see your card in the gallery! Here is the link.

 

And the idea for my card came from the current challenge at CASology, which is another favorite challenge of mine. This week the code word word is SPLASH!

Both of these challenges are really fun and even if you don't participate, you would be doing yourself a favor if you hop over and check out the sensational DT cards each week!

~~~

New Friends Corner

Janie Printz of Janie's Creative Corner. Janie has been blogging since 2009! She has more product than she knows what to do with, but she still keeps doing her best to keep the crafting businesses in business. We can relate! (See below!) Besides her beautiful cards, Janie makes other sensational creative projects!

Kathy King. Kathy, your name is not underlined in my followers thumbnails, so I have no link to a blog. If you have a blog, please email me and let me know so I can provide the link in a post. My email address is on my profile page.

Thank you both for following and welcome to the Playhouse!

~~~

The Ink Pad

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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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Mwah!