Sending a Little Holiday SPARKLE!

Hello, Happy Monday!

There is something extra special about the fresh clean smell of a brand-new Monday this time of year, don't you think? We have the additional scents of evergreen and pine cones, cinnamon in candles or in cooking, peppermint stuck in the cat's fur. 

And visually we have lots of stars and sparkles and sequints, like this:

 

It looks positively edible, doesn't it? Or am I just hankering for a Christmas sugar cookie? I resisted this PTI shaker kit for several months and finally had a cave-in. I'm glad I did. Some trends I steer clear of, but I have to say shaker cards really amuse and please me. And I love the idea of the recipient reciping an interactive card!

The paper for the card base and sparkle are from SU. The patterned paper, the sequints, the sediment, and the star and word dies are all from Papertrey Ink. You can see that I layered several of the sparkle die cuts for depth and interest. 

But what's most interesting about the card is the lack of any obvious Wink of Stella on the word sparkle, which, I mean, just cries out for sparkle, does it not? I winked it, but it doesn't show. I blamed it on the photography, as one does, and the cloudy day, but the truth is, my WOS has been rather anemic for a while now.

I've been refusing to think perhaps my Stella was running dry because I can still hear sparkle in there when I shake it. But this time I couldn't stand the lack of sparkle on sparkle, so I opened a new WOS (after I took my other photos) and this happened.

WOWZA, I'd forgotten how awesome fresh Stella is! I'm rather miserly with my WOS because I resent how retailers outrageously upped the price of it 30-40% immediately it became all the rage in Blogland. (When was the last time you got a 30-40% raise in your salary in one fell swoop?!) I hope someone is working on a competing product which will bring the price back down to a more reasonable amount for everyone.

[ETA: Yes, I did add a drop or two of water to my old one, but I only got a couple of so-so winks from it. You should definitely do that, however, to get every last bit out of it!]

Challenges:

I made this card at the Lake House standing at the kitchen island with my friend, BABE Kim. She was a huge help to me in between fits of laughter. And now, cornveniently, it fits these challenges. Yipyup!

• Just Us Girls, "Word Week" and the word is "Sparkle!"
• Pixie's Snippets Playground, where the brief is always simply to use up those scraps, people. Which we all do, so why not come to the Playground with your card?
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, where the theme is "Christmas/Holidays."
• The Challenge, which has both sketch and color components (see below). I used the sketch.

The links will take you to the challenges where you can find information on the rules, sponsors, and prizes. I hope you can join in!

~~~

And that's me signing off. I have a job today in the Playhouse helping Hammy, who is a card-making machine!

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!

  

 

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