NBUS Challenge #9!

Greetings, NBUSers!

Today is the start of the second week of my three-week blog birthaversary NBUS celebration!! As I am wont to do in my talkative way, this is a novelette, so grab yourself a large drinkie-poo and a boxed lunch!

The basic idea of this challenge is evident in the name. You are to use schtuff never before used (virginal) on your creation. It can be something you've had for years or something you got yesterday. For the history of NBUS and to see prior challenges, please see the tab above or click HERE. 

If you would like to see last week's challenge information and gallery, click HERE.

January 23, 2017 ~ January 29, 2017

🔹Please use a NBUS item and share what it is.

🔹Please follow using the blue "Follow" button on the side bar.

🔹Please only enter this challenge three times with new work only.

🔹Please only enter four other challenges, for a total of five, including this one.

🔹Please mention the NBUS Challenge and link your post back here.

🔹Please leave encouraging comments on each other's creations.

🔹Please click HERE for how you enter if you don't have a blog.

🔹Please enjoy!

Note: These are all NEW prizes for this week's challenge!

1. $25 gift card. Winner's choice to any American company. [GC]
2. $25 gift card. Winner's choice to any American company. [GC]
3. Adhesive Tape Glider and three tape refills. [ATG]
4. Mini MISTI Stamping Tool. [M]
5. Chameleon Pens [CP]

I will hold three separate drawings for each of the three NBUS Challenges. Winners of ALL THREE challenges will be published on February 13, 2017. These prizes are open to participants from all over the world who enter their creation in the gallery. (The ATG is gently used.)

Important: In your comment (or after your name in the gallery when you link up), please indicate which of the prizes you would like to win by including the alpha letter(s) shown above after the name of the prize. If you have no preference, please indicate [ANY]. To be fair, for the non-gift certificate items, please don't request them if you already own them or something substantially similar. If you do not make an indication of your preference, I will assume that you do not want to be included in the drawing for a prize. 

Contact Information:  Also, if you and I have not communicated via email in the past five years, please make sure you use the secure "contact me" form on the right to provide me with your email address! Commenting doesn't always provide me with your email information if you are a No-Reply blogger. If I can't contact you, you can't win!  💙

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OPTIONAL THEME?

Thank you so much to all of you who tackled the optional theme last week of using colored pencils on kraft! I was so glad to see all the enthusiasm and find out I wasn't the only one who had never tried that technique!

Even though I mentioned several times in my post last week that the theme was optional, there was still some confusion. So this week I'm going to put the optional theme(s) further down in the post to differentiate the required from the optional. 

Feel free to stop here if you just want to make a creation using something NBUS. That's perfectly fine and I can't wait to see what you make!

🔹🔹🔹

If you'd like to check out the Optional Theme(s), read on!

My inspiration card:

I used a heart e/f from Sizzix for SU on the top and bottom of the card base and I added score lines with my Scor-Buddy. For the hidden word panel of the card, I used an ancient heart stamp from SU. You can't really see it, but it is heat-embossed with red e/p. 

Then I cut out the "hello" from the panel using a NBUS die by WPlus9. To give the hidden word dimension, I cut another hello from a piece of adhesive white fun foam, glued it to the top die cut and inserted the word back into the negative opening. A few splatters and baby pearls and wallah!

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OPTIONAL Theme Elements

1.  The first optional theme I used this week is a NBUS Technique called "Hidden Word" or "Camouflaged Word" or, if you want to get technical "Steganography."

Steganography is the practice of concealing a file, message, image, or video within another file, message, image, or video. The word combines the Greek words steganos, meaning "covered, concealed, or protected", and graphein meaning "writing."

This practice goes all the way back to 1499, so you see how ridiculously tardy I feel finally getting around to trying this technique!

2.  The second optional element I used this week is CASEing. I am going to try and do more CASEing (copy and share everything) this year. I originally wrote a whole section on what CASEing means, how I interpret it, etc., but this post got too long (even for me!), so if you are new to this hobby or would like more information about CASEing, please use the Contact Form on the side bar to let me know.

Note: The most essential element to CASEing is that you give the original artist credit. If you don't know the artist because you found the card you are CASEing on Pinterest, etc., then include a link to your source.

Now let me show you the friend I CASEd this week and her card. She is Chrissie Stokes of Simply One of a Kind and here is HER card:

I think Chrissie's card is just gorgeous and so perfect as inspiration for the upcoming Valentine's Day holiday! Note: Chrissie made her hidden word card by making two stamped images of the heart and superimposing her die-cut word over the other one on the base, rather than die-cutting directly from her card base as I did. Either way is fine. You can see Chrissie's original post here.

It was fun CASEing a friend and finally making a stegosauri whatchacallit card! I've always thought this technique looked so neat when I've seen it done. 

I look forward to seeing you try either (or both) optional themes for NBUS Challenge #9, but remember, it's strictly voluntary!

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Enjoy your day! Enjoy the surprise NBUS Challenges! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!*

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse. Thank you very much for participating and for being incredible friends and followers and supporters! Your friendship and your encouraging comments keep me going! MWAH!

Remember, if you have any questions, please use the contact form on the right or email darnell dot knauss at gmail dot com. Also, if you want to be in the drawing for a prize, please make sure to let me know which prize you want and your email address!! 

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Edited to add:

I wanted you to know that I was recently scheduled for abdominal surgery this coming Friday, January 27th to repair a prolapsed bladder. 👵 

First my face fell into lovely pouches called jowls, 

then my boobs fell into size 44 extra-extra long, 

and now my bladder is trying to fall out my hoohaw!

Surely, fallen arches will be next! 

I decided not to cancel the NBUS celebrations because I've been planning this for months, the posts were scheduled already, and I know you look forward to them. So do I! I just didn't want you to worry if you don't see much of me in Comment Land for a while and let you know that even if I'm not up to commenting, I promise I will be visiting all who enter and pinning your cards to my special NBUS Pinterest Boards! Thank you for understanding! 💗

(And please be careful, ladies. The medical literature online indicates that a leading cause of prolapsed bladders is repeatedly jumping up and down when NBUS goodies arrive!)

*Life is too short!

To open the pop-up comment box that let's you jump to the end w/o scrolling:

Click CTL + Home. 
Click the Home tab under my blog banner which resets the post.
Click Page Down to reach the end of the post.
Click Comments and a pop-up box opens.
Click "Jump to Comment Form" and wallah, no more car pool tunnel!
Mwah!
If you ask me a question in your comment, please remember to leave me
your email address so I can respond. Thank you!

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