My Pretty New Truck!

Hello, Stamplings!

Thank you for all your good wishes and Queries about my second cataract surgery. Everything went well! My vision will be a bit blurry for the next few weeks until I can get my new glasses so be prepared for a few new typos Darnellphemisms. Also, I've been warned that when I do get my new glasses, I will see even MORE "laugh lines" on my face and dust in my foyer!

Doesn't that sound posh? I always wanted a foyer. And it doesn't seem right to have a foyer and not have a butler, right? Golly, as far as that goes, being a butler is lonely business, so it would be heartless not to have a maid and a housekeeper. You know, so he has a choice. But, hold on, it's 2018, so my imaginary butler is a woman and the housekeeper and maid are men. Don't tell the Mister.

I can feel a whole novel starting, so I'd better get to my cards!

Here we have a cute OLC featuring my pretty new truck colored with my Ziggies. This NBUS stamp is from Taylored Expressions (artist Doug Applegate). Isn't it fine?! It comes with hearts, a rising sun, and a cupcake. Oh, and it comes with dies, but for this one-layer card the truck is stamped. The potholes in the road are heart-shaped from a heart embossing folder (debossed). I added the tree of friendship stamp from Hero Arts set "Hello Tree and Friends," so I can use this card for a number of occasions.

Here's a closeup of the usual schparkle:

Challenges

• Addicted to Stamps and More: Anything Goes.
• HLS January CAS: Friendship
• Less Is More: OLC "Cute." (Thank you for changing to a two-week format!)

Twofer.

In keeping with my efforts to make at least two cards every time I make one, and to build my Christmas card stash all year long, I made this second card. To start, a snowy e/f ran over a linen card base. City workers came by and added a snippet of blue and green plaid pavement for my pretty pickup to park on. This time I used the die that came with the set. Everything is, of course, winked and glossed.

The little reindeer is also NBUS. I saw this set used a lot by you folks over the holidays and I finally crossed it off my wish list. It's from Mama Elephant's "Christmas Reindeer" set. This little guy was colored with my Ziggies. (Mind you, Hammy thinks that's a hamster wearing an antler headband!) I think the sediment is PTI. 

Challenges

• Merry Monday Christmas Challenge: Let It Snow!
• Pixie's Snippets Playground: Use those snippets!
• Rudolph Days: Anything Goes Christmas.
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Layer It Up.
• The Daily Marker: 30-Day Coloring Challenge.

 

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

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and a 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 favor!

*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 pens. 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!

Every Day is a NEW Sunrise!

Hello, Stamplings!

Happy Happy Hum Day! I've decided to call it hum day rather than hump day. Wouldn't it be lovely if we all went around humming all day on Wednesdays?! I hope you'll join me!

Now keep in mind some people might not be in the mood for it until it catches on. Don't be surprised if the guy in front of you at the grocery checkout whips around and hisses, "Waderu so happy 'bout. eh?!" The first time it happened to me, I withered like a petunia in the desert heat. Now I just smile sweetly and say, "Cuz I'm irritating you!" No. Stop it. That's not what I say! That would defeat the whole porpoise.

In that spirit of cheerfulness I have two hopeful cards today:

Both of these cards were made with my NBUS STAMPloration stamps from the "New Beginning" set designed by my talented artist friend, Deepti Malik. I'm so glad I found this forgotten set as it stamps and colors like a dream and the messages are all uplifting!

I painted the top kraft card using my Wink of Stella colored brushes and the bottom card was colored with my Ziggies and then winked. There are five sediment verses with the two sun stamps, all of them beautiful and encouraging!

Challenges

• Moving Along With the Times: Clean and Simple. (CAS)
• TIME OUT Challenges: Inspired By Words.
• The Daily Marker: 30-Day Coloring Challenge.
• Words 2 Craft By: The Magic of Beginnings.

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As the first challenge comes to a close today over on the Twofer blog, I would like to thank all of you who have entered with your awesome feather cards! The participation and response have far surpassed even my wildest hopes and I appreciate your support so very much!! I also want to thank my wonderful Design Team: Anita, Bev, Carol, Kara, Loll, and Susanne, all of whom are a huge part of the success of our first challenge! The Winners will be announced on the 30th!

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

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and a 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 favor!

*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!

 

Unconventional Valentine and Pillowy Pussy Willow Hello

Hello, Stamplings!

Welcome to the weekend already!! Most of us just slid on in, but I did notice a few of you had your heels dug in and sparks were flying out the back. It's a shame it didn't work and now you've ruined those shoes!

Did you know that St. Marher coined the phrase, "time nor tide wait for no man" in 1225? Think about that! 1225! And still we fight against it! (I sort of love that undying optimism!)

I've got another twofer for you today. Not a Twofer Card Challenge twofer, just two cards. I had planned to have a threefer for you, but a certain little varmint went to sleep on top of his wheel, fell off into his water bowl, which splashed water all over the card I was working on. That could be a good thing, but the water bowl itself tipped on its side and crashed into an open bottle of black ink refill. Not a good thing.

My onefer today is an unconventional Valentine!

Can Valentines be blue and green? Well, why not?  The pretty stained-glassish panel was made with Brushos and cling wrap. I love this technique! If you want to try it, you can find several videos on Loll's CAS Mix Up Challenge site. The cool NBUS heart die is one of three "Highlight Frames" from Simon Says Stamp. The sediment is from "Oh Happy Day" by Avery Elle.

Challenges

• CAS Mix Up Challenge: Cling wrap, stamping, Brushos, and die-cutting.
• CAS on Friday: Love/Valentine's Day.
• Calling All Sistahs: Clean and Simple.
• CAS(E) this Sketch!
• Stamping Sensations: Cold and frosty colours.

 

Twofer.

This card is inspiration for you for the current Inspired By All the Little Things challenge where I am hostess and my friend Linda is joining me again as Guest Designer. Thank you, Lin! Here is the photo inspiration:

Isn't that a delicious photo?! I hope I haven't made you go off the new year diet wagon! I was inspired by the quatrefoil 3D frosting, the colors, and the wee bird. The 3D embossing folder I used is from We R Memory Keepers. Of course I had to do some winking:

Challenges

• Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Birds of a feather.
• The Daily Marker: 30-day coloring challenge.

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

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse! I'm having my second cataract surgery this coming Tuesday. Thank you for your patience with me as I neglect your blogs because I'm not able to spend as much time on the computer. Mwah!

*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! p.s. If you ask me a question in your comment, please remember to leave me your email address so I can respond.  Thank you!

Flowers in Winter

Hello, Stamplings!

Welcome to the crest of the week! Now all you have to do is ride it on into the weekend!

I'm very happy to say that my first cataract surgery went off without a hitch yesterday! I wrote most of this post earlier in case my eye was blurry, which it still is, but all is well. Thank you all so much for your well wishes!

Up first today is a simple one-layer card:

I don't buy many wooden stamps any more, but when I was at Mike's recently, the stamp I used for this card jumped out at me from the display. I do love an image where the artist does 90% of the work by carving natural shading into the artwork. All I had to do was color the rubber directly with my Ziggies markers, give it a spritz, and stamp it on watercolor paper! Scrumplicious!

The NBUS stamp is from Inkadinkado. It's liberally winked, which you can see better below. The sentiment is from Penny Black's "Sweet Wishes."

Challenges

• CAS Watercolour January Challenge: Birthday.
• HLS January Watercolour Challenge: AG with option of sequins.

Evolution

Sometimes I'm not sure how far I want to go with a design, even with a clean-and-simple-one-layer card like the above. I'm sure you've had that feeling, right? I've always set up my card across the room when I think it might be done. It helps me get the "big picture" better than having it under my nose. Then last year it occurred to Hammy that I could use my point-and-shoot camera to help me better "evolve" my card design because when it is up on the computer screen, I can see it the way you will see it.

In other words, I can take a photo of my card at the very CASest stage, see it up on the big monitor and stop ... or add a little sumpin' sumpin', take another photo, ... etc., etc. It takes a bit more time, but it is very freeing to indulge in experimenting with design this way and it helps me know when I've arrived at that "AHA" moment when I'm happy with my card! (And even if I go too far, I still have a perfectly fine card for donating or giving away.)

So, for instance, Stage One:

Above is how my card today started out. Very very CAS. Just the image colored, spritzed, and stamped, and the sediment stamped in black ink. Which I'm good with. I like very minimalist CAS, but if I cock my head, I start to wonder, hmmm ...?

Stage Two.

,

Above is the same card, but with the addition of winking and splattering and sequints. You will notice that the green colors of the bottle have spread a bit, which winking will do. It's okay (only I wish Hammy hadn't added quite so many splatters), but hmmm, something is still missing ... 

Stage Three.

AHA!! Above is the same card, but it needed some dementia, so I added a bit of a marker line to show the inside bottle bottom and I added a shadow. Wallah! NOW I'm done!

Here is a closeup of the winkle which refused to show in any of the other photos:

Twofer.

In a slew of flowers, I have a spotlight single flower to share:

This is SU's Corner Garden stamp. It's a delight to color, but coloring it can take a while, so if you don't have time, it lends itself nicely to spotlighting. I spotlit one blossom by stamping it on a Brusho background snippet and fussy-cutting it. QACAS!

Challenges

• CASology: Glimmer.
• The Flower Challenge: Spotlight stamping.
• HLS CAS Challenge: Friendship.
• Pixie's Snippets Playground: Use those snippets!

 

Reminder

Since this is such a short post 😇, I'll remind you that we are halfway through the first Twofer Card Challenge! The challenge ends January 24, 2018, at 10:00 AM (PST).

Thank you so much to everyone who has played! I couldn't be more thrilled by your enthusiastic response and the number of you who have already joined in! The gallery is just bursting with inspiration! My awesome Design Team and I can feel the love and support and it means the world to us. More importantly, it's obvious you are having fun and we love that! Mwah!

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

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and a 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 favor!

*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! p.s. If you ask me a question in your comment, please remember to leave me your email address so I can respond.  Thank you!

Happy Snail Mail!

Hello, Stamplings!

How are you this fine Saturday? I hope you have a lovely weekend ahead of you and that part of it includes settling down in your comfy clothes and getting all crafty!

I have to say it is nice to be pulling out some of my non-Christmas goodies, although I'm not quite ready to tackle Valentine's yet. I should be, cuz it'll be roaring in here soon, but I'm heading towards it at a snail's pace!

For today's card I embossed the base with a woodgrain e/f and then bordered it on one side with a piece of woodgrain pp. Next I added a stitched aquamarine circle from MFT and a matching stitched smidget over top of the border to bring out the blue-green of the pp pattern. 

The star of the show is a NBUS "Forest Snail" from Memory Box, cut from a piece of the same pp. I am unclear on how one determines a "forest" snail from a "city" snail or a "backyard" snail or a ... well, they're just everywhere, aren't they? And notice I didn't say "edible" snail and I won't say it. You can't make me.

Whatever his neighborhood living conditions, I can tell you that this snail is VERY talented. Look here at this closeup:

Can you see that this guy comes genuflected (or is it spiralated), with the ability to coil his shell and carry messages!! Taking advantage of this special skill, I attached a matchy-matchy piece of twine and a happy mail banner! Of course, he needed a googly eye to see his way out of the circle launch pad and on his way to the recipient!

The inspiration for my card is the Fusion Card Challenge. Happy 4th Anniversary to Fusion! To celebrate the Design Team have asked special guest designers to help them inspire us. Several of these talented ladies are friends of mine so I wanted to make sure and join in! Here is the challenge graphic:

I fused both the sketch and the photo, concentrating on the elements of the wood grain home command center, the colors, and the mail slot!

I'm also playing at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the challenge is "Use Patterned Paper," and at Die-Cut Divas, where they want us to do or use something new. My snail and stitched line border are new dies.

And more happy mail!

This is actually a design I  made before Christmas and didn't post. Sorry for the wonky photo! The 4-square silhouette stamp set is one I've had since ... oh, my, it says it was made in 2012 and it's never been inked! It's from Technique Tuesday and it's called "Woodland Inspirations." The sediment is from WPlus9.

I'm playing at: Little Red Wagon for their Boy Oh Boy challenge (men like happy mail, too!); and at Shopping Our Stash: Out with the old and in with the new! My silhouette stamps are both old and new.

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

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and a 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 favor!

Don't forget that a really cute woodland critter challenge is still going on over at Inspired By All the Little Things!

p.s. I want to let you know that I am having cataract surgery, one eye next week and the other eye the week after. I understand I might get blurry vision for a day or two, so please forgive me if I don't get around to 'see' you some days. Hammy will be here to read your posts to me, but sadly, he still hasn't learned how to type!

*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! p.s. If you ask me a question in your comment, please remember to leave me your email address so I can respond. Thank you!