WC With No Lines

Hello Stamplings!

No, not WC for "water closet," although it's always nice when there are no lines there! Rather, there are no lines on my watercoloring today! This is one of the many things I learned and played with while crafting with the ESCR gals in British Columbia!

For my first effort, I chose a Penny Black stamp. This card was watercolored with DIs.

I was quite pickled tink with how this turned out. The hamster winked it, as he is wont to do, which really brightened it, but you'll have to take my word for it. This would be a beautiful card for Christmas, but I am giving it to a friend for her birthday along with a baby honeysuckle plant with red berries for her newly built front porch.

Challenges

• AAA Cards: Celebrating their 4th birthday with a bash! Congratulations!!
• CAS on Friday: Birthday card.
• CAS-ual Fridays: Celebrating their 8th birthday! Congratulations!!
• City Crafter: Watercolor flowers.
• Seize the Birthday: Birthday card. (No toppings.)

Twofer

This is a wedding card, watercolored with my Ziggies. This time I took a closeup photo of Hammy's winking:

Here you can see that the inspiration for my card was the wedding invitation itself. 

My blossoms are a little pinker than I wanted, but I think the young couple will see how I was attempting to CASE their invitation. The florals are from a couple of Concord & 9th sets, the bells are from Memory Box, and the sediment is NBUS from "Give Thanks" by Concord & 9th.

Challenges

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: Use more than one stamp. 
• Simon Says Work It Wednesday: Summer. My card is for a July 14 summer wedding.
• Where Creativity Meets C9: Floral.

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I don't have any photos of us practicing the no-line watercoloring, but I do have a photo of Hammy at the Retreat, all ready to sign autographs!

Hammy was accompanied on this retreat by his friend, an appaloosa stuffie I purchased at one of the prior Lake House retreats. Pretty quickly after I unpacked, we discovered that Christine's dog Tika had claimed "Apple" as his own!!

So adorable! I didn't have the heart to take it away from her. (We were all just enormously relieved that Tika hadn't spied a certain hamster first! Ssshhh, don't mention it.)

~~~

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 and 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 a 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!)

GDPR Compliance

Hello Stamplings!

In between travels, I wanted to stop in and let you know that I have added a privacy policy tab to the top of my blog in an attempt to comply with the European General Date Protection Regulation (GDPR).  Well, actually, make that "Data" protection. You're on your own when it comes to dating.

My limited understanding is that this GDPR is a good thing for the security of cyberspace. So don't panic. Unfortunately, it appears that even wee hobby bloggers around the rest of the world also need to take heed, even though it's the big corporations they are after for privacy abuses. But, I mean, I'm not a lawyer, so don't quote me. 

So that's all well and good with one VERY major hiccup, so far. I'm not sure why, but as of May 25th when GDPR took effect, I am no longer receiving your lovely comments via my gmail inbox. According to the Google Forum threads, there are many of us in the same boat. Google has not responded to explain what has happened, why it's happened, and what we can do, if anything, to rectify the situation.

Which is about as helpful as a screen door on a submarine.

In the meantime, if this has happened to you, please note that you can also read comments from your readers under the "design" feature of your blog. You just click on "comments" on the left side. Still, I do hope Google/ Blogger/ Feedburner fixes this soon because it's so nice and easy to simply open my inbox and see you there with your lovely messages!

And that's all I know. If you know more and can help the rest of us better comply with GDPR and the comment issue, please let us know. Thank you!

ETA: My friend Alice noticed this in the comment box: Under your name there is a box and it says "Email follow-up comments to ... (your name)." So you publish a post and then immediately leave yourself a comment and check the box and then every comment you get after that will appear in your gmail inbox! Thank you so much Alice!

I assume we will have to do this every time we publish a post. Sigh. And I'm hearing that now all the commenters are "no reply," so you can't click on the name and respond to anybody. Sigh.

I also noticed that after you leave a comment, the top of the comment box changes where it says "your comment has been saved." You'll notice that it now also has the word "unsubscribe" which  I don't believe was there before.

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

*Life is too short!

Eat Sleep Craft Repeated 2018

Hello Stamplings!

How's it going? Busy, busy? Me, too! I hope you've had as much fun being busy as I have. I've been out-of-the-country-busy with these pretty ladies!

Nancy Littrell, Trina Pham, Susan Bridgman, 

Lolly Thompson, Christine Alexander, and me!

After the Mister and I had a sensational week-long getaway on one of the Gulf Islands in British Columbia, he went home and I was very fortunate to be invited to stay on in Vancouver for a crafty play with these ladies at their second annual Eat Sleep Craft Retreat! The beautiful photo was taken for us by Lolly's photographer SIL, Alex. 

We all met at Christine's house (an amazing hostess!) and several times we were able to Skype in with two more talented friends, Bonnie Klass and Nance Salkeld.

I learned SO much from these very talented card artists! I will have more photos to share in another post, but this gives you an example of the fun we've been having! This technique is called "dirty pour."

It's been super thrilling for me to step out of my very CAS style and I have enjoyed every single minute! And do you notice who else is in the photo? Yes, that's right, Hammy came, too, of course! Thank you, ladies, for including us this year!!

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I also have a card to share because the challenge is ending tomorrow. One card? Yes, only a onefer, but it's a schparkle fest of a doozemobile!

For this card, I decided to go a little wild and schplattery with my Gelatos and use them as sprays. But first I stamped the Merry Christmas sediment with Versamark and heat-embossed it using green glitter e/p from Stampendous. I was amazed it did so well, considering it's at least 15 years old.

To make the Gelato sprays, I cut off a bit from the end of three Gelato tubes into individual bowls and added a little warm water. Then I smooched each color with a palette knife until it fully dissolved. I made three colors and poured them into three empty little misters. (Containers for spraying, not miniature versions of my husband, The Mister.)

Then I went to town misting the Gelatos onto a watercolor panel. The photo doesn't do the schparkle and pretty colors justice. I cut the MFT frame from schparkly paper and added three schparkly red enamel dots to finish off the design.

I'm linking to CAS Mixup: Gelatos or Crayons. I used Gelatos sprays to schplatter my card, stamped and heat-embossed my sediment, and die-cut the frame.

~~~

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 and 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 a 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!)

A Snowman and a Butterfly Two Ways

Hello Stamplings!

Happy Friday! We've whooshed our way quickly through another week! I decided this week that I'm not going to have my hair done at the salon any more. With the way time is flying, my hair just ends up being blown straight up in the air and out from my face anyway, so I'll save the expense. I always wondered why great-grandmas wore scarves and now I know!

First up

I wanted to play in the CAS Christmas May Challenge which calls for a snowman so I made this cute scenic card. This is quite a busy card for me but you-know-who had to add a critter! The snowman is NBUS from Marianne Designs and the little doggie and Christmas tree are NBUS from Penny Black. The sediment is from GKW. The snowflakes were cut from an MFT die out of glitter paper; if you look close, I think you can make out the schparkle.

Two more butterfly Twofers

I made these cards for a reminder post over on the TWOFER challenge blog. For these conventional card designs, I used a smaller butterfly stamp and die from the same Clearly Besotted set I used on the original post. They were also die cut from the same Brusho panel.

Here the butterfly goes beautifully with a Penny Black Stickeroo. A simple matting and a sweet sediment from Mama Elephant and another QACAS card for the stasheroo. BTW, you'll be seeing a lot more Stickeroo cards in the coming weeks. I ran across my Stickeroo stash a couple of months ago and decided this time I really needed to turn them ALL into cards. (Until I buy more!) In the end I had enough to make 60 cards! If you're a card pen pal, you will no doubt find one in your happy mailbox at some point soon. They really are stunning little works of art and they make easy beautiful cards. I'm linking to Penny Black and More May: Anything Goes.

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Here my twofer butterfly has landed on a jungle-inspired pp panel by Bo Bunny. The leaf fronds are NBUS from Concord & 9th. I made a border on the left side to balance the design. The sediment is from Penny Black (I think). This card is being linked to the Butterfly Challenge. Congratulations on 100 challenges, Mrs. A., and cheers to many more! I only have a widdly bit of hunter green and harvest gold (on butterfly wing), but I DO have a butterfly, so I am playing along!

***

Both of the above cards are being donated to Layton's Legacy Card Drive which is a drive initiated by Lea Lawson in honor of her son Layton to provide Starbucks gift cards to Minnesota parents who spending long hours in NICUs with their newborns. You can read Lea's moving story here. 

~~~

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 and 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 a 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!)

You Are Awesome, Wherever You Travel!

Hello Stamplings!

How are you? I hope you had a lovely Mother's Day if you celebrated yesterday! I am so blessed with my little family, but I know it can be a hard day for some, so I am sending you a big hug if it was sad for you.

We're having lots of blue skies and sunshine, so today I have a bright and bold creation for you, backed by my pretty Azalea bushes.

Using a small piece of acetate, I "painted" my watercolor panel by dabbing spritzed color from my craft mat onto the acetate and then dabbing it onto the watercolor paper in a rainbow design until I was happy with it. The "you" die from Winnie & Walter is popped up and backed by black fun foam. The "are" and "awesome" and the scalloped border die are all from Your Next Stamp.

Challenges

• CAS Watercolor Card: Rainbow.
• Mix It Up: AG, optional emboss resist.
• Moving Along With the Times: Sentiment only, no images.

Speaking of awesome, check out this cool driftwood sculpture our grandson Henry made at school!

Henry's sculpture was chosen to be showcased in the city art gallery! I'm sorry the gallery lighting made getting a good photo nearly impossible, but you can see that proud smile and rightly so!

Twofer

I told you in my Twofer Card Challenge post the other day that I would show you what my sweet "fairy" girl looks like on the actual wooden stamp from Penny Black! She is packed up, travel guide in hand, and raring to go!

Isn't that a fun stamp? I'm sending this to a friend who has been on some great adventures with me with the hope that we'll enjoy many more! You know, before the dementia gets too far advanced! The fun and cheeky sediment is NBUS from Cheeky Monkey.

Challenges

• Addicted to Stamps and More: AG.
• CAS on Friday: Use a cute stamp on your card.
• Penny Black and More: AG.

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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 and 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 a 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!)

My Twofer Cards for May's Twofer Card Challenge!

Hello Stamplings!

It's always fun to share my twofer cards with you a coupla times a week, but it's especially fun to share my "official" TWOFER cards with you on the 10th of every month! This month the Prompt is BUTTERFLIES!

Here we go!

My butterfly is a Clearly Besotted butterfly from "Everything Changes." It was borrowed at the Lake House and stamped and die cut from a Brusho panel for both my Love and Encouragement cards.

My Onefer:

The stem of the flower is from an old daffodil stamp. The flower is from "Fabulous Florets" by SU, colored with Ziggies. Naturally, the butterfly and flower are winked to within an inch of their lives. The NBUS sediment is from Mama Elephant's "Everyday Greetings." The embossed frame is "Stately" from Craft Concepts.

My Twofer:

I have to say I had fun with this card. I thought a cluster of these cute Clearly Besotted butterflies would make a stunning bouquet, but Hammy made me wait while he scampered all around the room and opened all the drawers to see if there was a stamp in the Playhouse that we might use in some other unconventional way. I don't know who squealed louder when we both saw the NBUS Penny Black stamp called "Jet Setter" at the same time! We realized that she could be turned into a modern day fairy with the addition of my Twofer butterfly as wings!

I started by stamping and watercoloring the awesome toadstool from Purple Onion. On a separate panel, I stamped Ms. Jet Setter and fussy cut her. (The actual stamp image, which you'll see in the next post, has her sitting on a suitcase, hence the "jet setter" name.) I gave her a haircut, colored her, plopped her on top of the toadstool, and added the perfect sediment. A few sequints finished the design.

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I hope you'll find time to play along this month with your beautiful butterflies! Remember, you don't need to go unconventional with either of your two designs. Our Guest Designers, Linda and Mac, and the talented ladies on the Design Team will inspire you with their incredible cards over at TWOFER!

Don't forget to use sediments reflecting two different occasions. If your card front is blank, please tell us in your post what occasion you had in mind. Thank you!

 ~~~

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 and 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 a 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!)

A QACAS Sunday

Hello Stamplings!

I went to a bridal shower yesterday. It's been ages since I've been to one and I was curious what modern-day bridal showers were like. We had a balanced mix of ladies over the hill and ladies just starting the climb and I was delighted to discover that some traditions live on. We played a coupla games to get acquainted, told stories of how we knew the beloved couple, had a delicious lunch, and watched the bride open her pretty gifts. It was a terrific time celebrating young love!

I've got company for a few days, so I better zip my lip and share the super easy cards I have for you today!

I think this little number is more QACASier than any of my other QACAS (quick and clean and simple) cards over the years. What you see is a pink card base overlaid with a tent of designer floral acetate from SU. In order to attach the acetate to the card, I added glue under the flower centers and covered the gloo-schmoo with pearl embellies. Oh, before I did that, of course, I stamped the sediment.

I've had these beautiful printed acetate sheets for ages and it felt good to finally use some of them. Hammy was quick to point out that it was also quite, um, 'silly' to keep something for three years and then spend three minutes making a card with it! I have to admit, he does have a point. I'm pretty sure I can find a hat to cover it up.

Challenges

• Double D: May flowers.
• The Flower Challenge: Acetate/Vellum.
• Stinkin' Inkers: April showers bring May flowers.

Twofer

You gotta love a die-cut only card! I went all out copper metallica for this shiny Christmas card. The double heat-embossed filigreed star is from Skipping Stones Designs and the NBUS JOY is from Concord & 9th. A little somethin-somethin more seemed to be needed, so I simply cut two thin strips of the copper paper and added them to the sides. As you can see from all the high gloss, this card was NOT a joy to photograph.

Challenges

• ABC Christmas: "J" for Joy, "K" for Keep it simple.
• HLS May Christmas: A/G, optional stars.
• Merry Monday Christmas: No stamping!

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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 and return the flavor! It's going to be a busy rest of the month around here between company and comings and goings, but I'll be round to see you when I can!

*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! (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!)