Frogs and Hydrangeas

Hi there!

Thank you for whooshing through your week to get here today ~ the very last day of March already!

I'm popping in to remind you that the Tag You're It challenge is still going on! I'm honored to be the Guest Designer for this challenge and this is my second inspiration tag for you:

I cut my tag from PTI's colorful sequin DSP using an MFT Die-namics stitched tag. The adorable fat-headed frog is from Purple Onion. The lily pad is from SU and the "ribbet" is from Inky Antics. The NBUS Happy Birthday stamp and die is from the Concord & 9th set, "Eat Cake and Celebrate." I added a few sequins and colored hearts. The ribbon is from PTI.

Those googly eyes are such fun to add and you never know until you download your photos what kind of personality the plastic eyeballs have given your critter. Seeing my frog on the big screen, I think he looks like he might have just put a jelly bean up his nose. I mean, if he had a nose. Now that you mention he doesn't, then I'm guessing he did potty somewhere he shouldn't have.

The featured artist for this TYI challenge is the talented Gayatri Murali and here is her tag for you to CASE:

Gayatri's tag is so darn cute and there are so many ways you can interpret it. Plus, don't forget cards are welcome at Tag You're It!! Here are the rules of the challenge:

If you LOVE creating Clean and Simple TAGS or CARDS, this challenge is for YOU! Every two weeks we'll feature a designer's project for inspiration. You'll link up your creation, then come back to see if IT was TAGGED as the winner! Our focus will be tags but a card, scrapbook layout and journaling card with a tag, even if it's teeny tiny, is acceptable. Even bookmarks and scraplings can take the form of a tag. Just have fun and be creative with TAGS!

Hop over to Tag You're It to get more DT inspiration and join in the fun with your take on Gayatri's card! You have until next Wednesday, April 5, at 9:00 AM EST to play along.

Other Challenges

• Moving Along With The Times: Into the woods.
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything goes.

Twofer

I also have a card to share today. I made this for the current Muse Challenge:

I don't often find my timestars lining up so I can play in this challenge, but I MADE time for this one because I adore hydrangeas. It's very hard for me to walk by a hydrangea challenge without going inside!

I used an embossed panel from a Recollections pad to cut my stitched MFT oval and attached that to a splattered card base. I die cut the Essentials by Ellen Mondo Hydrangea and stamped the companion image on a scrap of Brusho panel I made last summer. The sediment from Hero Arts is heat-embossed in platinum on vellum.

And here is the beautiful inspiration MUSE card made by Sonja K: 

You can see that I CASEd Sonja's card layout with my kraft-colored stitched-oval panel, hydrangea die and stamp, and embossed vellum sediment.

I used to have blue hydrangeas like that in the yard but they couldn't take the summer heat here, so this year I am trying out a hydrangea in a large pot that I can move into the deep shade if need be. It came in this happy neon fuchsia color!

Other Challenges

• City Crafter: In bloom.
• Simon Says Stamp National Crafting Month.
• Watercooler Wednesday: Anything goes. (A new-to-me challenge!)

~~~

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

I'll see you tomorrow! 

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower!  Please let me know you came by so I can be sure to return the flavor!

*Life is too short!
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Babies, Easter, Christmas, Fourth of ... Wait. What?

Greetings, Stamplings!

Don't forget the April Boo-Boo Hop/NBUS Challenge #11 is coming soon!➠

Coming Saturday, April 1st!

Not only is spring in the air, but Easter is almost in the air, and not only that, there's a new baby in the air! Well, I mean, not right now. This baby girl isn't even born yet and, of course, one should never throw a newborn baby up in the air, for goodness sake. But after a few months, she'll love it! 

The new baby girl I'm talking about belongs to my friend Lesley Croghan and her husband Corey! Many of you know Lesley because of her own blog (Always Playing With Paper) and as the owner of several of the challenge blogs that we all participate in week-after-week. In order to celebrate the upcoming birth, the thoughtful Lori is holding a Welcome Little Miss Croghan Blog Hop on her blog. There are still a coupla days left if you'd like to join in!

I made this:

This beautiful NBUS "Bunny" image is from Stacy Stamps. I colored the image with my SU markers directly to the stamp and then stamped it on the cream card. I used my colored pencils to give the bunny a pink hue. The heat-embossed fussy-cut sediment is from Hero Arts, "Hey Dey Sentiments." The panel was attached to a burlap panel and I added a pink heart for punctuation.

Of course, Hammy insisted that Miss Bunny needed a bit of twinkle in her eye and shine on her nose! 

This was so cute and easy, I made a few extras for Easter cards.

Challenges/Hop

• Inspired by All the Little Things: Featuring the talented Nancy Penir and bunny photo.
• Uniko: Spring with an optional twist of Easter.
• Welcome Little Miss Croghan Blog Hop.

Twofer.

Speaking of Easter Christmas, who hasn't made very many Christmas cards in spite of the fact we are fast approaching the Fourth Month of the year already? That's right, you and me. Well, me, fershur. So I took a few minutes to play with Christmas:

Poinsettias are such a classic Christmas image and, for me, they never get old. I had a lot of fun watercoloring two cards using this poinsettia from Waltzingmouse Stamps with my KGT watercolor paints after heat-embossing them in white. The NBUS sediment is from Skipping Stones. You can't see it, but Hammy blinged the poinsettia with Stella.

In spite of using my MISTI, you can see that the sediment is WAAAY up under the skirt of the poinsettia. What happened was I put the first stamped image on the tool to stamp it, removed it, put the second one in and stamped it without even looking. Well, hellooooo?!! Seeing as how I used my old-fashioned acrylic block to stamp the poinsettia image with Versamark for the embossing, I didn't stamp the image prezackly the same way both times ... well, you get the picture. 

So there's a lesson for you: the MISTI is not the most incredible stamping tool invented if the operator is an idiot!

Challenges

• Jingle Belles: Bling on the holidays. 
• Make My Monday: White embossing.
• Merry Monday Christmas Challenge: Red, green, and white.
• Rudolph Days

~~~

Reminder!!

My boo-boo card above is a smooth way to seque into this reminder! (I didn't plan it that way, but there you go!)

COMING SATURDAY!!

APRIL FOOL'S DAY HOP AND NBUS CHALLENGE #11
(Never-Before-Used-Schtuff)

The deets:

• The challenge will run from April 1 to April 11.
• Enter any new creation that:
• is made from something NBUS, or
• has a boo-boo on it, or
• BOTH!
• There will be no prizes other than: 
• The self-satisfied sense of well-being you'll feel having used some schtuff that you have ignored until now. 
• The self-effacing sense of amusement you'll feel having shared your big fat boo-boo with us! 
• The self-congratulatory sense of accomplishment you'll feel having done BOTH!!
• Because there will be no tangible prizes, there will be no other customary rules! I know you all know how to play well with others.

I can't wait to see what you share!! Mwah!

~~~

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

On a personal note, I want to again thank you for all your kind thoughts and prayers for the Mister. He is continuing to improve by leaps and bounds! Well, okay, by small steps, but they feel like leaps and bounds compared to being flat on his back!

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower.  Please let me know you came by so I can be sure to return the flavor!

*Life is too short!

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Mwah!

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Tag You're It! Guest Designer

Greetings, Stamplings!

Don't forget the April Boo-Boo Hop/NBUS Challenge #11 is coming soon!➠

Only 8 more days!!

I hope you are doing well! I'm sorry I've been away for a week. I've missed you. The Mister's back is slowly, ever so slooooowly getting better and we are hoping to put off surgery if he takes it easy, does his exercises, and is careful. And if he's a patient patient, she says, patiently. Thank you all for your good wishes and prayers!

I'm happy to be here today as the Guest Designer for the current Tag You're It! challenge! Thanks to this fun challenge, I have to say that I am really starting to enjoy making tags. They remind me of Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) that are very popular with my British friends. 

This week the featured artist we are CASEing is the uber-talented Gayatri Murali and here is my CASE of her tag to inspire you!

And here is Gayatri's tag:

Isn't that just the cutest tag?! You can see that I was inspired by Gayatri's critter, big love, and sideways sediment.

For my card, I used a snippet of SU DSP and my MFT Die-namics stitched tags die. The karazy bunny and big love are by Paper Smooches. The Happy Easter is from SU and the "with" label word is from MFT.

Now you may think to yourself, "Well, that's cute and all, but isn't Mr. Bunny sorta floating in the air like a bunnyloon?" 

Indeed. But, ahaha, I did that on porpoise so I could put a score line under him like this,

so I could fold him to fit in this tiny pink envie that Hammy found in my stash!

Ba-bye

I was SO inspired I made a whole line-up of cute Easter tags and in the process, I used a lotta pp snippets!

I actually made more than this but I already sealed a few ready for mailing. For these I put Mr. Bunny on the bottom portion to make him more athletically pleasing and grounded. I mean, as much as that's possible considering the face he made for the camera!

Here's one of them attached to a card front. I'm telling you, these bunnies are everywhere!

I hope I have inspired you to join in the fun for this two-week long challenge! Even if you're not a tag-maker, just look at Gayatri's cute tag again! You can do this! A simple tag, a critter, and a sediment and you can rest assured you will bring a smile to the recipient!

I can't wait to see what you make!! YOU could be the next Guest Designer!! Click here for all the details and to see what the Design Team has made to inspire you!

~~~

Challenges

• HLS March Anything Goes With Dies.
• Pixie's Snippets Playground: Use those snippets!
• Retro Rubber: Anything goes. (Paper Smooches bunny set from 2014. SU "Happy Easter" is from one of the first SU sets I purchased, so maybe 2001?)
• Shopping Our Stash: Forest friends.
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: Use more than one die or punch.
• Uniko: Spring with optional twist of Easter.

~~~

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 join as a follower!  Please let me know you came by, so I can be sure to return the flavor!

*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 the 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!

An Irish Smile

Hey! How's it going?

Don't forget the April Boo-Boo Hop/NBUS Challenge #11 is coming soon!➠

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you, whether Irish or not! I'm Irish by marriage and have a blessing for you below, but first I made you a smile, surrounded by a leaf wreaf:

For this simple OLC, I lightly traced an oval die with a pencil and then stamped the leaves around it. The leaves and the sediment are from a NBUS Concord & 9th set called, "Love You. Mean It." The sweet trio of rasp berries is from Rubber Stamp Tapestry, all glossied up. A Crop-a-Dile chomped the corners for me.

Challenges

• CASology: Foliage
• Less Is More: One-Layer Card. Theme: Leaves.
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: A Bit O' Green.

~~~

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I actually posted this card a coupla years ago. I think it might have been one of my first attempts at smooching. I hope you enjoy this reshared Irish blessing!

I also like this sweet, compassionate, and tender blessing:

😄 I actually have a stamp that says that. I'm sorry I didn't have time to make you a card with it, but I know you'll enjoy the blessing anyway.

Wait. What?

Speaking of limping, it appears the Mister and I have such a compatible marriage that we take turns being incapabilitated. I'm six weeks out from my surgery, feeling spry and dry and back to jumping up and down when the UPS truck stops out front. So guess what happened? 

Two days ago the Mister's back went out. He nearly collapsed from the pain and he has been pretty much flat on his back in bed waiting until we can see the doctor this morning. Poor guy. He has been faithfully doing exercises every single day for two years so this wouldn't happen, so he's very frustrated. Your prayers and positive vibes are very much appreciated. 

~~~

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 join as a follower!  Please let me know you came by so I can be sure to return the flavor! Under the circumstances, it might be a while ...

*Life is too short!

To open the pop-up comment box that let's you jump to the end w/o scrolling:
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Mwah!
If you ask me a question in your comment, please remember to leave me
your email address so I can respond.  Thank you!

Smooching Pears

Hello, Stamplings!

Back again already. Hammy and I are experiencing an after-purge surge and having lots of fun, but our hearts go out to those of you being buried in a spring blizzard. Please stay cozy and warm and I hope the power doesn't go out so you can hunker down and get crafty until it blows over.

We come to you today bearing fruit! 

I've come across a treasure trove of die cuts that bloggie friends have kindly sent to me over the years. I'm sorry I misremember who gave me what, but I'm pretty sure they came from either Andrea, Greta, Susan, Barb, Cat, or maybe you. Thank you, again, whoever you are! 

In the trove were two sets of three pears, die cut in white. So I did what anyone with white pears would do ~ I smooched them. Onto my craft mat went schmears of Distress Inks in pretty pear colors, which I doused with water via my mister (no capital). The pears were then put face down in the pool where I smooched them around until they looked less like bleached eggplants and more like pears. As one does. After a gentle splatter of dots, I dried them with a paper towel and sent them across the room where Hammy lathered them with Stella until all six of them schparkled in the sunshine.

For the first card above, I started with a cream colored card base splattered with some diluted old olives. I got down my grandma's antique mixing bowl, made by Judith. I stamped and polished it with a bit of canyon clay, fussy-cut it, and arranged the pears in and around it on a place mat of SU ribbon. You can just see the scored edge of the kitchen counter. The sediment is a NBUS stamp from SU's "Tin of Cards," also stamped in canyon clay. Thazit, done.

Challenges

• CAS Mix Up: First Birthday ~ congratulations!! Stamping, smooching, die-cutting, fussy-cutting, scoring, and splattering.
• City Crafter: Tutti-Frutti.
• HLS March Watercolor Challenge: Optional twist: Smooch.
• Inkspirational: Watercolor Smooching.
• Pixie's Snippets Playground: Use your snippets.

~~~

And here is the card I made with the second set of pears:

I kept the second card very QACAS. I took a piece of pp, outlined it with my black marker, and scored three lines along the bottom to make little stairsteps for the pears. I then took Hammy's bedazzled fruit and scattered them placed them artistically on the stairs. I see that I have a pair of pears on the stairs. Stop that. The stamped NBUS sediment is from Hero Arts. I attached the panel to a rustic cream card base and went to the grocery store. 

For some reason, I had such a craving.

~~~

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 join as a follower!  Please let me know you came by so I can be sure to return the flavor!

*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 the 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!