Happy Halloween!!

Hello Stamplings!

I wish all of you who celebrate a very Happy Halloween! May you enjoy all the sweet and scary little Trick 'or Treat darlings who come to your door! And may you enjoy all the leftover candy!!

I have a special card to share.

My dilemma is which one of my BFFs to give this snarky card to!! If you look closely, you can see many mini-mes reflected in the hologram sticker so that makes me the most petrified bat of all!!

Challenges

• 4 Crafty Chicks: Black/white and one other color.
• CAS on Friday: Fall or Halloween.
• Moving Along With the Times: Halloween.
• Shopping Our Stash: Halloween.
• Stamp, Ink, Paper: Trick or Treat.

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A MODERN DAY HORROR STORY
by Darnell J. Knauss

Jean and her husband Frank had been to Florida to visit her elderly parents. They had a few minutes layover between flights home and Jean had to pee like a big dog, so she hiked her giant tote high on her shoulder and started walking. Finding the restroom, Jean turned the corner to go in, only to come to a screeching halt because of the line wrapping around the entry and back into the area with the stalls.

Jean stood with the weight of her bag first on one hip and then on the other. She inched forward, aware of the time. Finally, she was at the head of the line. Feeling like a pervert, she heaved her shoulder bag onto her back and leaned way over to peer down the line of stalls and under the doors to see if one was empty. As Jean leaned over, she could feel the contents of her tote shifting forward, so she stood up abruptly, adjusted her bag, and leaned over again to peer under the doors. She did this exercise four times when suddenly a door opened! Jean lurched towards it as if towards the promised land.

As she got close to the stall, Jean pulled down the sleeve of her sweater so she didn't have to touch the door handle with her bare hand. Because of her tote, she squeezed through the door sideways, scraping her knee on the toilet paper holder as she turned around to face the door. Once again pulling the sleeve of her sweater over her hand, she latched the door. It popped back open. With a heavy sigh, Jean calmed herself and using a crumpled tissue from the pocket of her sweater, she finally got the door to stay closed.

Jean gleefully removed the tote from her shoulder and using both hands, she hoisted it forward to hang it on the hook on the back of the door. Wait. There was no hook! How can there be no hook? She turned all the way around, gripping the bag, scanning the sides of the stall for a hook somewhere, anywhere. No where. Well, there was no way in hell Jean was going to put her bag on that filthy floor, so she slung the straps over the toilet paper holder leaving the bag to hang a scant half inch off the floor.

By now toilets were flushing all around and water was running in the sinks, all noises that make someone with a full bladder have to GO. Now! With renewed adrenaline, Jean quickly reached into the box containing the toilet seat covers and placed one on the seat. As Jean finished setting the paper in place and turned around to step in front of the toilet so she could sit down, the automatic toilet thought she was finished and it flushed, flushing the seat cover down the drain. Oh, for ...

Okay, okay. Taking a deep breath and squeezing harder, Jean grabbed another seat cover, punched out the opening and hurriedly placed the wispy thing on the edges of the seat. Once it settled, Jean moved with the speed an athlete, bending at the waist, swiveling her right ankle, whipping down her panties, and sitting down in one fluid movement before the automatic eye could flush the toilet again.

Aaaaahhh! That was way too close for comfort, but now Jean was okay.

Unwinding her tote and putting it on her lap, Jean leaned down to look under the black container holding a giant roll of toilet paper to see where the roll started. No paper was hanging outside the opening so poor Jean nearly toppled off the seat from leaning so far forward. She put her hand inside the dark opening and used her fingernails to send the roll turning, frantically scratching at the paper as the roll turned, trying to find the end. Jean knew from experience that one of the great mysteries of the universe is why it takes a full five rotations before the torn end of the paper reveals itself.

Jean pulled the very thin paper, but the more she pulled, the narrower it seemed to become. She could feel herself losing the will to live. The more she pulled, the more the paper coiled snake-like in her hand like a mountain of dental floss. Jean could only wonder what kind of engineering maniacism this was. Finally gathering 38 feet of paper that barely covered her hand, Jean dried her lady bits and stood up.

The toilet flushed immediately with such force that it sucked the tissue and one dollar bill out of her pants pocket. It did not, however, flush the toilet seat cover which by now was firmly stuck to her back side. Peeling it off, Jean pulled up her pants and straightened her clothes. Relieved physically and happy to have finally accomplished her task, Jean tossed her tote over her shoulder and reached for the latch. AACCKK! In her haste, she touched the latch with her bare hand!

Rushing to the sink, Jean held her hands under the automatic soap dispenser ... nothing happened! Grrr. She put her head down and weaved between the other women to another empty sink where the dispenser was working. It dispensed a dime-size plop of air soap. Placing her hands under the automatic water faucet, the foam evaporated as soon as the cold water hit it. In order to get her hands clean, Jean feverishly shot her hands back and forth between the soap and water a dozen times.

Crossing the room to the racks of paper towels, Jean discovered that only one of the dispensers had paper towels and there was a line. Sick of the whole business by now and how long it had taken, Jean grabbed her tote and dried her hands on the armpits of her sweater as she ran out of the restroom to her gate.

The last of the passengers were loading and Frank was pacing, looking at his watch. Not seeing the warning signs in Jean's eyes, Frank growled, "What took you so long?!"

At their destination, Jean and Frank were the last to leave the plane. Frank left in a body bag. Jean, her right eye twitching, left in handcuffs.

~~~

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 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!

Edited to add: Hopefully, it's just me, but FYI Google decided to play a Blogger Halloween Trick on me today. I woke up with none of your comments going in my email inbox again! When I went to Layout, Comments, sure enough, my email address was no longer in the box!! What in heaven's name?! Goblins? So flustruating!

*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!)

Critters and Cards

Hello Stamplings!

Happy Sunday! I hope this finds you well and your little dog, too! Or cat. Or hamster. Or bag of Halloween candy. Whatever makes you smile your inner smile no matter how crazy insane this world gets.

What's making me smile here (besides the resident hamster) are a coupla squirrels who are loving the little squirrel candy that our Japanese Maple is covered with this time of year. I wish you could see these guys outside my Playhouse window doing unbelievable gymnastics as they reach the farthest kernel on the wimpiest branch. Yesterday the fat one literally fell to the ground when he reached too far and lost his little squirrel grip.

I have to admit I laughed my head off, but not until after he shook himself off and literally leaped back onto the tree for another go at whatever crack that tree is providing. In between watching the squirrel antics, I managed some cards:

When I saw Pink Fresh Studio's newest release, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this NBUS "Lush Greenery" set. I die-cut and stamped the two images from one of my stencil monoprint backgrounds made with Lindy Magicals. You can't see the shimmer, but it's there. I also schplattered a few Lindy's in the background. Very QACAS. The sediment is from Neat & Tangled.

Challenges

• Creative With Stamps: Halloween or Leaves.
• Mod Squad: Fall thank you card.
• TIME OUT: Grateful.

 

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While the first card was very QACAS (quick and clean and simple), was it really clean enough to be suitable for the current Less Is More challenge? I didn't think so, so I whipped up this Twofer with one set of leaves, popped up for dementia:

Challenges

• Less Is More: Dimension.
• Words 2 Craft By: October eves.

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And because it's past time to be working on Christmas cards:

This is a schparkly QACAS die-cut-only card. The silvery watercolor background pp is from Momenta, the NBUS cover plate is from Reverse Confetti, and the stained glass center image is NBUS from Avery Elle. I silver-embossed it, painted the bow and bell with Ziggies, and Hammy added a schparkly layer of winking.

Here's a better view:

Challenges

• City Crafter Challenge: Silver bells.
• Rudolph Days Challenge (from the 25th to the last day of the month).
• The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge: Anything goes.

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Real quick, I have to show you another critter that came around while I was photographing my cards:

It's a wee baby fence lizard no bigger than my pinkie finger, but it's so hard to tell scale. Just know that those little flowers are teeny-tiny! He sat there for five minutes while I talked to him. The Mister shakes his head when he sees me outside talking to the hummingbirds and lizards. He is sure the neighbors are going to turn me into the Loony Bin peeps!

Here's a closeup:

Actually I've refrained from showing you the lizzies for ages even though I have lots of pics. We've had a large crop of babies this year and it's really amazing to see them when they're about an inch long. Although he won't admit it, the Mister likes it when any of them come out for a shower when he's watering the plants!

~~~

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!)

Smooched Acetate Bird. (That just sounds wrong.)

Hello Stamplings!

How are you this fine fresh morning of, um, what day is it? It's so odd to come back from vacation and not know what day of the week it is. Actually, once you're retired you have trouble knowing the day, too, so you can imagine what it's like for a retired person to come back from vacation! I know, I should just look at my phone, right? But it's white and it hangs on the wall and I can't find the date on it anywhere!

That reminds me. Oh my gosh, you guys, have you all seen the skit from SNL about Echo for Seniors? It is so funny, I promise you, tears WILL run down your legs! Just Google "Alexa for Seniors" and the first thing that pops up will be the skit which is now on You Too. I mean, You Tube.

But first, I have a card to share:

Have you ever smooched inks with a piece of acetate which dries into this beautiful sheet that you don't know what to do with? I thought this one from my stash looked so beautiful in the negative of the die-cut bird, which is NBUS from Poppystamps. The purple embossed sediment is from GKW and the stitched scalloped panel is a die from Mama Elephant.

Challenges

• CAS Christmas: Birds.
• Cards In Envy: Favorite holiday.
• The Merry Christmas Challenge: Anything goes.

   

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Now if you look at the card, it looks like I just slapped a bit of the colored acetate behind the bird opening, doesn't it? Sigh. I wish that's what I'd done. Instead I used the bird die to cut the acetate and then Hammy and I inlaid each piece into the bird's bits! And since the die didn't want to cut through the acetate very well, I had to trim some of those itty-bitty pieces ... 

... and after all that, it doesn't even show unless you look at it just so:

It is very shiny! We did have fun making it and while Hammy finished up, I put together a coupla three collages for you and we reminisced about the our fun vacation!

Hammy was a handsome part of the table decorations for the Open House. Kelly finally felt sorry for him, fed him a grape, and gave him a cuddle. The last photo shows the pretty daisy hat that Bev made for him! I wish I had a dollar for every time he's asked since we've been home when my friends are coming to play!

Here are some nature shots and the Open House brunch table. I love the photo of the ducks butts in the air as they fished right outside the window!

And here are the peoples:

Yes, that's right, I might have tackled a fish-bowl sized Margarita on my last night in Indy! Num-Nums!

~~~

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!)

For Melissa

Hello Stamplings!

I'm slowly getting back to my routine after dealing with unpacking two suitcases and climbing Mt. Laundry. Unloading my "craft suitcase" and putting everything away took the longest, especially since I stopped with most items and enjoyed the memory of my time at the lake house.

I'll have more photos and fun to share another time, but today I wanted to share a card I made in honor of my friend, Melissa Lane, who passed away suddenly on October 2nd at the age of 47. You can read a very beautiful tribute to her by Shery on the STAMPlorations blog. Thank you, Shery, for putting this link up for us to contribute in memory of Melissa.

Here is my card.

The flowers are "Fancy Flowers" from MFT and the sediment is from "You're My Person" by Concord & 9th. I used my Clarity Brushes to color a stencil by Kaiser Craft (a gift from Lolly) for the background panel, which I stitched with a Paper Smooches die and backed with an aqua panel. I used my Ziggies to color the pretty flowers and Hammy wanted to join in, too, with his winking speshceeality!

I first met Melissa online in January 2015 when she joined in one of my NBUS challenges and then I had the absolute pleasure of meeting her, her husband Chris, and their four wonderful children in person at the Swindon Retreat in the UK in 2016. Of course, I had to make an entrance the first night by coming into the hotel dining room decked out in a Miss USA sash, white gloves, and a tiara! All the ladies took turns wearing the tiara for photos, but Melissa wore the whole package because she was a fellow American who loved having fun!

Rest in peace, my friend. You will be greatly missed. You have a lot of Blogland keeping your grieving family in their thoughts and prayers. 💖

~~~

Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!* Tell your family and friends how much they are loved.

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!

Challenges

• Back to Basics and Beyond: Stencils or Masks.
• Butterfly Challenge: Spin the wheel with the letter "B." Butterfly, burnt orange, border.
• Double D: Stripes and dots. The straws inspired me.
• STAMPlorations: A tribute to Melissa and a celebration of her life.
• The Flower Challenge: Add schparkle.

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!)

Reminder ~ Twofer Card Challenge #10 ~ HARVEST

Hello Stamplings!

I'm coming to you today from the beautiful green state of Indiana USA where I've been staying with my friend Brenda and having a ball! In a little bit Hammy and I'll be flying home to a very lonely Mister. In spite of the fun I've been having, I've missed him, too, and it will be nice to be back home!

Before I left on my adventure, I made reminder cards for you for Twofer Card Challenge #10 where the prompt is HARVEST! 

The stamp I am featuring on my reminder cards is the "Tall Wheat" stamp from Hero Arts.

Onefer

I used a pretty textured paper from my friend Barb as my card base and attached a copper-embossed and copper-matted panel, tied in a coppery ribbon. The PTI (?) sediment is also copper-embossed. 

Challenges

• CAS Mix Up: Metal, plus stamping, plus wet embossing.
• Retro Rubber: Tic-Tac-Toe. Row one across. The tall wheat stamp is from 2010, and the paper, sediment, and ribbon are all a few years old, too!
• STAMPlorations: Theme and Sketch: Stamps and autumn.

Twofer

This QACAS OLC (quick and clean and simple one-layer card) is pretty self-exploratory. I used my Clarity Brushes and Oxies to make a sun. Or is it a moon? Was I driving?*

Challenges

• Seize the Birthday: Anything goes!
• Simon Says Work It Wednesday: STAMPtember!

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I am looking forward to seeing what you create for this month's Twofer Card Challenge! It's wonderful to see you so enthusiastically supporting my little challenging challenge. Mwah!!

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I'll leave you with this photo from the last leg of my journey!

From left to right: Brenda (Inkspired to Stamp), Sharyn (My Crafty Place), Sharon (Brenda's SIL), me, and Donna (Design by Donna). Thank you, ladies, for meeting me and Brenda for a fun day shopping and lunching and getting to know each other!

~~~

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!

~~~

*When we were at the lake house in Wisconsin, Michele told a joke that still has me in stitches. I have used the punch line repeatedly ever since she told it and I hope she doesn't mind if I tell you:

Two mature ladies were going out shopping. As they were driving along, Ruth turned to Eleanor and said, "You know you blew through that stop sign." Eleanor looked over at Ruth and replied, "Was I driving?"

*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!)