A Salty Get Well

Hello Stamplings!

I have a very quick post toasty for you. I used the word "toasty" on porpoise to make those of you in the Polar Vortex feel warmer. I wish I could do more as records freeze, drop off the roof, and shatter. Thank goodness the temps will be warmer starting tomorrow for a lot of you.

I went all full-bodied and inkylicious today!

I saw Betsy Veldman's post about doing watercolor and salt backgrounds, with stunning results. I liked how she colored the salt using reinkers, so I did the same and made up four small containers of different colors. 

Using the wet-on-wet technique and my Gansai Tambi set, I laid down my watercolor paints. While the paint was still wet, Hammy and I sprinkled the colored salt over the wet watercolored panel and set it aside to dry. We then flipped to see who would go to the spa while we waited for the panel to dry and, of course, he won. Why do I keep falling for that time after time? The last time I successfully did a flip, I was in the womb for crying out loud!

Once the panel was dry, I white heat-embossed the pretty lily from Papertrey Ink's Botanical Blocks III stamp set. Then I stamped and die-cut the get well sediment from PTI's Bold & Beautiful Sentiments. To finish the design, I added three clear blinglets and, for exercise, I walked a white ink pad all along the outside of the plum card base.

Challenges

• Paper, Scissors, and Superheroes: Salt technique and give-away.
• Back to Basics and Beyond: Also a salt challenge with a video link.
• Little Red Wagon: Winter blues.
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything goes.

~~~

Thank you!

Thank you for commenting on my last post and for playing in the Thank You Hop for Di, the beloved leader of Pixie's Snippets Playground! The Hop is open until the end of day February 10th for you to join in. 

Over the years, it's been wonderful to see many of my stateside friends join Pixie's and I have a feeling even more friends from around the world will be joining as a result of the Hop! 

The more the merrier, but ladies, it looks like we'll need to set up another moonshine distillery behind ol' man Jensen's raspberry bushes down the path from the bike shed. Or, if you're sober, that's fine, too. We'll set up a raspberry distillery behind his moonshine bushes. hic.

~~~

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!)

Thank You DI Blog Hop!

Hello Stamplings,

Today is a very special day! But first, the back story.

Back when I started blogging, one of the first challenges that welcomed me with open arms and taught me how to have fun and not take any of it too seriously was Pixie's Snippets Playground. As the name suggests, if you want to go to the Playground and join in this challenge, all you need to do is bring your creation with at least one element made with a snippet ~ or scrap, left-over, remnant, or whatever you want to call it!

The Headmistress of Pixie's Snippet Playground is affectionately known as "Di." She is beloved by all the playmates who come through the gates! Like my NBUS challenge encouraged you to use your new schtuff, Di's challenge encourages you to be mindful of your snippets and use them, rather than reach for another virginal piece of paper or ribbon.

Di tries to keep us in order as much as possible because, you see, we tend to be a rather unruly bunch when we get together on the Playground equipment, in the Treehouse, over at the Duck Pond, and if we're very naughty, behind the Bike Shed sharing a wee flask of tiddly tonic! (Thank goodness Di now has the help of both Parsnip and Dudley to keep us all in line!)

AND NOW WHY WE'RE HERE!

Di recently celebrated her SEVENTH anniversary as Headmistress of Pixie's, having taken over the beginning of 2012 from the lovely Jules! That's an enormous accomplishment! Not only that, but in addition to the linky for each challenge, Di also offers a generous prize out-of-pocket!

So today I have set up this Linky Party for all of Di's friends to get together en mass to thank her for all she has done for us all these years! To play along, please post a card and thank Di on your blog, and then come back here to link your card below. The linky will be open until end of day February 10.

I tried to locate every playmates email address, but there were some I couldn't find. Please spread the word to others about this Hop, so we will touch base with those I couldn't find and those where my email might have gone into their spam folder. Thank you!

Here are my cards.

Onefer:

This sassy silhouette is NBUS from Stampers Anonymous, stamped over a bed of watercolored splotches. (You can tell some were made by Hammy!) It was given to me by my friend Annie a few (cough)s ago and this occasion was perfect for its first inking. I made and Ziggified the little snippet party hat for her. I think the NBUS sediment, from Crackerbox & Suzy Stamps, fits Di perfectly ~ and all of us for that matter! 

Twofer.

You don't have to use a lot of snippets on your creation in order to play in Di's challenge, but I mean, that little party hat above is ridiculously small, so I made another card:

The cool front panel is a snippet of DSP from my hoard stash. The stitched oval from PTI was cut from a mixed media snippet and outlined in the same ink from CP that I used for the sediment which is NBUS from Creative Vision Stamps. A bit of shiny bling and a few splotches by Hammy and you have a funny QACAS card perfect for the playmates' amusement!

In closing.

I'm delighted to share that I had the privilege of meeting Di in person during my England Tour of 2016. She is just as sweet, generous, and kind as you imagine her to be! Thank you, Di, for all you do to keep the Playground running, welcoming, and fun ~ and for your treasured friendship!

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

I want you to know I'm thinking of you if you are in regions where the temperatures are breaking freezing cold records and Down Under where scalding hot temperatures are breaking heat records and starting fires. 

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! Be safe out there.

*Life is too short!

The linky will be open until 11:55 p.m. PST on February 10th for you to join us! The idea is for everyone to HOP through the links in the gallery below and enjoy the personal tributes everyone is writing about Di on their blogs, adding comments as you go. It's a massive love fest, ladies!

An InLinkz Link-up

Have A Heart and Enjoy the Ride!

Hello Stamplings!

In the middle of winter with bone-deep cold, rain, sleet, snow, and gray skies for a lot of people on this side of the world, I just love seeing all the hearts and flowers beginning to pop up all over Blogland. It's very uplifting at a time when we need it!

So thank you St. Valentine for being the next holiday to distract us with all kinds of heart art! Here's my first of 2019:

The star of this QACAS Valentine design is a relatively new NBUS from Poppystamps (Embossed Love). I usually like to keep my stamps and dies for two or three years in order for them to become atmospherically tolerant of the Playhouse thermodynamic conditions before I subject their tender surfaces and edges to abuse. Wait. What? It sounds good though, right? You may borrow that as your own excuse for having lots of NBUS (never-before-used-schtuff).

But I digest. The beautiful paper is another vo piece from my stash which I'm determined to stop hoarding. The little heart was cut from red fun foam and glossified. 

Challenges

• Cards in Envy: Love me, love my pet. I'm sad to hear that this challenge will be closing with its post on February 4. Thank you to Sandy and all the past and present Design Team members for their work and dedication over the last six years! (p.s. The little heart on my card is not flat, but it is foamy and squishable for easy mailing.)
• Mix It Up Challenge: Anything goes + sentiment as main focus.
• Moving Along With the Times: Have a heart.
• Simon Says Stamp Monday: Have a heart.
• Stamp Ink Paper: All my love.
• Watercooler Wednesday: All about holidays.

~~~

Twofer

Another QACAS design, this time using a really old (but still fun) stamp and die set from PTI called Road Trip. Obviously the rather well-built and possibly scary person I put behind the wheel has gone over the hill and it's all downhill from here! I stenciled the cobblestone road with a TH stencil and Hammy did his special winking trick all over the Bug.

Challenges

• AAA Cards: Up to one-third + optional masking.
• Color Throwdown: navy, gray, lime.
• Less Is More: Sketch based on a card entered once by my friend Kathy!

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ETA: Hammy picked a name out of the hat and the winner of the butterfly die from this post is JoAnn. Congratulations, JoAnn!

 JoAnn said...

Your cards are beautiful. Love the butterflies on both cards. And why not have a butterfly on a Christmas card, it looks lovely with the silver embossed tree.
Thanks for sharing about the thyroid.
Have a wonderful day. Hugs, JoAnn

January 21, 2019 at 5:51 AM

Enjoy your day! Enjoy the ride! 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!)

Thyroid Awareness Month Blog Hop

And Give Away!

Hello Stamplings! Happy Funday Sunday and I hope this finds you feeling well!

I have a very special post for you today. You may not be aware that January is Thyroid Awareness Month. My friend Crafty Milka has gathered 26 card artists from around the world to support this cause and to raise public awareness of how important your thyroid is and the problems it can cause when it is not working properly.

Onefer

Source

In 2012, a blue paisley ribbon was launched by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists as an icon for thyroid awareness to emphasis the silent epidemic of thyroid disease. That's why I used an ancient snippet of paisley paper as my background panel for the W Plus 9 butterfly frame. The base card is a lovely textured paper from my stash and the NBUS sediment is from MFT, probably also from 2012 (cough). Bits of bling were added by you-know-who. I am entering this card in the Butterfly Challenge.

I was first diagnosed with thyroid disease in 1995 and had half my thyroid removed. This surgery is known as a "lobectomy" and you can imagine the fun I have with that word since it is so close to "lobotomy!" But in all seriousness, I suffered for years from the very long list of symptoms caused by an improperly working thyroid. They are no fun, but fortunately there is synthetic thyroid that's easy to take which brings your body back into balance. Milka has put together a very in-depth blog post detailing the symptoms. She provides numerous important links for you to check out so I won't repeat them here, but I do encourage you to take the time to read her informative post. Thank you, Milka!

Twofer

Because the thyroid is shaped like a butterfly, a butterfly is also a recognizable symbol for campaigns about thyroid health awareness, so I made a second card.

 Here you can see the shine of the silver embossing.

Wait. What? A butterfly on a Christmas card? Well, why not? That's the fun of making our own cards! I wanted to play in the CAS Christmas challenge and I had started my card for that by silver embossing the tree on linen paper. I also wanted to make a butterfly card for this post and I had that pretty blue Brusho butterfly from my Bits Box on my desk to make a second Thyroid Hop card. Hammy waddled over and looked from one to the other and up at me. Down at them, up at me, down at them, up at me, and finally I went Shazambam and there you have it!

I used my ancient and gorgeous Blue Moire embossing powder for the sediment from The Ton. A little something something needed to be added to that right side, so I added a strip of Washi tape and a strip of textured bold blue paper from The Ol' Stasheroo. Please don't Google that, it's not a real thing, although I definitely have enough stash to open a shop called that!

Challenges

• CAS Christmas Card Challenge: Blue and silver.
• City Crafter: Clean and simple.
• Fusion Card Challenge: Challenge graphic. Happy 5th Anniversary!!

Give Away

To thank you for stopping and making it through this post about how important your thyroid is and how important it is to have it checked, I am giving away a Dream Butterfly die. On January 24, 2019, I will choose the winner from my followers who leave a comment. Please make sure I have your email address, either in your comment or via the Contact Form on the side bar, just below where you can double-check you are a follower. Thank you.

Poppystamps "Dream Butterfly"

BLOG HOP LIST

The Hop is running from January 5th to January 30th and all the very talented card artists are listed below. Some of the other designers are also having giveaways on their blogs, so be sure and visit each artist.

• Milka Gubo (January 5th)
• Imke Ludwig (January 6th)
• Jane Taylor (January 7th)
• Kaja Vezenšek (January 8th)
• Samantha Mann (January 9th)
• Andreja Lampe (January 10th)
• Анна Коссаковская (Anna Kossakovskaya) (January 11th)
• Ksenija Rizova (January 12th)
• ValentinaBizjak (January 13th)
• Alexandra (aka Ale) Suta (January 14th)
• Kristina Pavlović (January 15th)
• Tanja Kabel (January 16th)
• Željka Jurkovic-Grizic (January 17th)
• Donna Mikasa (January 18th)
• Sabrina Lamarina (January 19th)
• Darnell Knauss (January 20th) ~ you are here
• Nonni Niskanen (January 21st)
• Larissa Walgemoed (January 22nd)
• Dunja Trautmann (January 23rd)
• Neha Bhatt (January 24th)
• Beverley Brown (January 25th)
• Ishani (January 26th)
• Maja Macura Sakač (January 27th)
• Naz Sasayakiglitter (January 28th)
• Sue Hastead (January 29th)
• Preeti Datta (aka Dutt Preety) (January 30th)

~~~

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

*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. Mwah! 

Owl You Doing?

Hello Stamplings!

You know how much I love birds and you've seen my photos ranging from tiny hummingbirds to massive hawks. I have a drawer full of every kind of bird stamps, but for some reason, I rarely make a card with one of my owl images on it. What the owl?!

I remedied that and had such fun playing with these owls from Paper Smooches Chubby Chums set.

For this anniversary card, I used a panel of gold-embossed DSP for the background. The stitched heart is cut from a gold-striped Bazzill snippet and filled with a soft green center. The owls were cut from an alcoholic Yupo snippet, and the beautiful gold-embossed "love" sediment is from GKW.

Speaking of anniversaries, yesterday the Mister and I celebrated our 48th wedding anniversary! We can't figure out how that's possible since up in our heads we are only 32 years old (and sometimes 12!)! We met 50 years ago this coming September! You know, when I was six.

Challenges

• The Card Concept: Pink party in lovely pink and green and gold.
• Love to Craft Challenge Blog: Anything goes.
• Shopping Our Stash: Hearts on fire.

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Here is my twofer graduation card:

The sediment is from Endless Creations. Hammy rightly suggested we give this very smart owl some googly eyes and a glittery tassel on his mortarboard.

I am really proud of myself because I thouAgHhEtAD when making this card and realized that in May the twins will be celebrating their 8th grade graduation. So I made another one for the other one!

That's Henry's card on the left and Adam's card on the right. How do I know? Because Henry's favorite color is yellow and Adam's is blue! (It's the tassels.)

Challenges

• The Creative Crafters: Anything goes.
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: Clean and simple.
• Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers: B is for Book. (Snark optional.)
• Watercooler Wednesday: Masculine anything goes.

~~~

This post is a reminder about the current Twofer Card Challenge, so here is a photo of both my Twofer cards together. 

The prompt this month is BIRDS! The Twofer Card Challenge is open until January 24th, so you still have lots of time to play along! Thank you!

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The New InLinkz Sign-in Requirement

If you play in challenges, you are familiar with the InLinkz button you click to enter your card. You may have noticed that InLinkz is transitioning to a new sign-in process, which you will eventually see on all challenges that use InLinkz. The new InLinkz sign-in requires you to enter challenges either via Facebook, Google, or your email account/password. I was being asked questions about the process, so I wrote a letter to Maria at InLinkz to ask her about the situation and let her know that many challenge players are wary of entering challenges because of the new requirement.

According to Maria:

The sign in requirements we have instituted, it is not an actual sign in but rather a verification of emails and it is a needed change due to the GDPR.

The GDPR states that email and IP address is personal data. As such, we, as a processor, cannot provide data to a controller (you) without getting the consent of the owner, which is done through email or facebook/ google accounts. In simple words, we cannot gather emails without making sure they come from whom they say they come from (hope this makes sense).

The confirmation process is something that entrants need to do it only the first time they enter a link in a new linkup. After that, they will not need to re-confirm for any subsequent linkup they participate.

I hope that makes you feel more comfortable about signing in to continue playing in your favorite challenges!

~~~

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!)