End of July, Beginning of Christmas ~ NBUS #143

Hello, my wunnerful friends!

Thank you for whooshing through your week to arrive here today where we are celebrating Christmas in July! If we look over our shoulders, we'll see August crouched in a "GOTCHA!" pose, so we have got to get on it, people! I usually precipitate in the PTI blog hops that happen on the 25th of each month, but this month I am happily taking part in a Christmas in July blog hop brought to you by The Inspiration Crew.

I made two cards for this fun event:

The Inspiration Crew is a group of online card artists who love being creative. The ladies taking part in today's hop are listed below. I hope you will click on the links and check out the inspiration which these talented card artists have in store for you today!

Donna Bowman 

Rachel Kleinman

Lalo Ik

Jen Cuthbertson

Lynn Kopas

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Susie Craft Happy

Darnell Knauss -  you are here

Ceal Pritchett

A number of the designers in today's hop are awarding prizes!! My prize today is the Darice embossing folder called "Brick Pattern." I will select a winner on Friday, August 1, 2014, from the comments on today's post.

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Here is a close-up of my cards which were inspired by a number of challenges.

The buttons on the garland are all from my huge button stash. I'm happy to be using some of them! The brick embossing folder is NBUS and so is that cute NOEL with a button in place of the "o!" It is part of a stamp set from My Favorite Things called "Stitched Stockings."

The stockings are buttons which have been shafted. They and the burlap are from my stash. The sediment is from the PTI set "Holiday Button Bits."

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Between the two cards, lots of challenges came together:

Festive Friday

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday
Challenge ~ Emboss It

SOSS ~ B is for Brads or Buttons

Merry Monday 

Rudolph Day

City Crafter ~
Christmas in July

Please feel free to click on any of the challenge links for details regarding rules, sponsors, and prizes. I hope you get a chance to join in the fun or at least stop in to see the wonderful works of art provided by the design teams and guest designers!

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New Friends Corner

It's been so wonderful to have carload after carload of new friends joining us this month! Here are five more introductions for you!

Helen Gullett of Creating Joyfully and Living My Given Life. Helen started scrapbooking in 2008 and then in 2010 her supportive husband gave her a Silhouette and she also started making beautiful cards and card embellishments. Helen is well-recognized and published and she is happy to share both her faith and her crafting talents with you!

Rachel of Inky Fingers Are Me. Rachel gets the prize as the newest blogger in our community, having just started her blog this month! PLEASE go visit Rachel to make her feel at home! Rachel, please feel free to ask me or any blogger any questions you may have. We all love helping out each other. I have a tab at the top of my blog with a list of challenges that are my favorites. Challenges are a great way to meet new friends and get your cards out there so they can inspire others!

Donna Ellis of Creative Smiles. On the other end of the blogging spectrum is Donna, who has been blogging since 2010 and working and playing the stamping life since 2004. You are going to need a full weekend and a picnic basket just to get an overview of all the tips, tutorials, recipes, and card art that Donna shares! Her enthusiasm and sheer talent will inspire and amaze you!

Tammy Whitley. Tammy, after searching on Google, I was able to find your Google+ profile, but I did not see a blog listed. I don't belong to Google+, so I couldn't find any further information. If you have a blog, please let me know so I can pass on the information to everyone and follow you, too. Thank you so much for joining me!

Elizabeth Harms of Queenartoypia. I met Eliza through WOYWW and always enjoy visiting her blog where she shares what's happening in her world of art and with her rescue cat Yoda. She brought Yoda back from the brink of death and it has been a marvelous journey of love and recovery which she continues to share with us. Now healthy, Yoda is often the star of her posts!

Thank you for joining, ladies, and welcome to the Playhouse!

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

Happy Christmas in July

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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