It's Christmas Day!

Hello Stamplings!

We had about ten minutes of sun after days of clouds and rain (yay!) so I grabbed the critters and the camera. Pardon the squinting ~ it was really bright! Nellie and Hammy are all decked out to wish you the happiest of holidays! I made the bow Nellie is wearing from ribbon gifted to me by Greta when we were together in Indiana. Thank you, Greta!

And here's a little cyber card for all of you!

Finally, a fun poem from my friend Barbara:

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

Twas the night before Christmas and I'm glued to the tree,

Wondering what Santa had brought just for me.

Could it be cardstock, or chipboard, or lace?

Or a Cricut, I thought, with a smile on my face.

And that's when I heard him,

"Hi, Santa," I said.

"You know," he replied, "good little girls

should be tucked up in bed."

"I know I should, Santa, 

and now I've been caught.

But I was just so excited

to see what you brought!"

"Well, let's take a look

at this room where you work."

Then he should his head quickly

and left with a jerk.

I heard him exclaim

as he put it in gear.

"You've got enough crap!

I'll see you next year!"

~~~

Enjoy your Christmas day, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year! No, seriously, enjoy! Life is too short! And special hugs to all of you who are not well or who sadly know firsthand just how short life is and how sad the holidays can be.

Hammy and I thank you for another year of great fun and friendship and creative inspiration! Cheers to 2020 where we have a 5050 chance of getting everything we dream of! Whoo-Hoo!!

Oops! One more ...

Hello Stamplings!

Sorry! That was a very short break, wasn't it?! 💫 I forgot to add this card to my post yesterday, and it's my favorite.

(Waltzingmouse Poinsettias)

Just like we did with the watercolored cards I showed yesterday, I used my Ziggies to watercolor the poinsettias and then Hammy did his schplattering best all over! The sediment is from Avery Elle.

Actually, I'm glad I forgot this one because now I can enter it in the Craft Stamper Magazine Take It Make It challenge for December, where my friend Bonnie is the Guest Designer! (They ask that you only showcase one card in your post when you enter their challenge.)

Here's a side view of the card, showing the gleam of the embossing, gold schplatters, and die-cut sediment:

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

If you find you aren't enjoying the holiday prep, then maybe you're overdoing it? Tell your relatives they will just have to get along because this year you are NOT hosting two dinners! 

With all seriousness, if the holidays are a time of great sadness or loneliness for you, Hammy and I send extra love and an extra-special hug!

*Life is too short!

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Inspiration III ~ Poinsettias

Hello Stamplings!

How about some poinsettia inspiration today? As you will see, I've never met a poinsettia stamp or stencil I don't like. There are several poinspirations below, so I'll hush up. I think they are all pretty self-exploratory as most of them are simple one-layer cards, but let me know if you have any questions about any of them. I love that there is no right or wrong way to color or design with a poinsettia!

Altenew "Festive Poinsettia." 1 and 2

(Just for fun I did a purple one, too, but I can't find that photo.)

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Impression Obsession "Poinsettia Sketch." 3 and 4

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A poinsettia stencil (a gift from Lolly) was masked and inked as a full page DSP. Then it was cut in half to make two cards. 5 and 6

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Waltzingmouse Poinsettias. 7 and 8

Challenges

• #1: The Color Throwdown: red, green, and white.
• #3: HLS December Watercolor Challenge: AG, optional Christmas.
• #4: Day of the Month Card Club: Poinsettia!
• #5 and #6: Pixie's Snippets Playground: Use those snippets!
• #7: SSS Christmas Card Day.
• #8: AAA Cards: Along the Edge (optional twist: time travel).

 

I have more poinsettia stamps from Magenta and Stamplorations and Poppystamps and The Ton, but I didn't get to them this year. Because we see them only at Christmas, poinsettias are a beautiful floral symbol of the holiday!

~~~

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!

This will be it for me now until January, except for a Christmas card on Christmas Day. You may see me around Blogland because I hope to spend some of my time visiting friends who haven't heard from me in far too long! Try to stay on Santa's nice list while I'm gone!😉

*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!)

Inspiration II

Hello Stamplings!

I'm like a well-oiled machine at this point with the finish line just ahead. I hope you feel the same way! Next is baking ~ yummo! 

I have a few more cards to share before I take a bit of a break until the new year and I'm going to zing them out to you over the next few days. I thought about putting them all in one post, but if you're like me, you start to get gorfetful if you look at a blog post with too many photos.

Without further a dew let's start with a coupla no-line watercolor cards.

Onefer

This NBUS "Flambeau" stamp from Penny Black was colored with Memento markers directly onto the stamp, spritzed with water, and stamped onto mixed media paper. I filled in a few spots with Ziggies where the color didn't stamp completely. (So, hmm, now that I think about it, it isn't technically no-line watercoloring, but rather, the direct-to-stamp technique gives the look of no-line watercoloring.) I added a border of black glossy paper to the left-hand side of the card to balance out the design. 

I wanted Hammy to glossify the berries, but he's already in the kitchen testing the rum for the fruit cake. I haven't used it since last year and he was afraid it might have gone bad. Uh huh. Actually, I'm a great one to talk. I waz obviously init earlier or I wunta fagott'n to ground my shimage.

Challenges

• Sunday Stamps: Feeling festive.
• Sweet Stampers: Anything goes.
• Watercooler Wednesday: Dawn's All About Occasions.

Twofer

This Stampendous stamp is called "Winter Birds" and I painted and stamped it using the same technique as my first card. After it was dry, I added the sediment and, again to balance the design, I added an embossed pine bough in the upper left corner. I added a plaid mat before attaching it to the card base.

Challenges

• A Place To Start: Happy Holidays.
• Cardz 4 Galz: Cute Christmas.
• Uniko: Christmas. Optional: Tree.

Threefer

I used the same stamp in a different design for this card. Here it is heat-embossed in white on gold glossy paper. I added a vellum sediment banner, also heat-embossed in gold. To add more interest, I added dots of snow using a white pen, scored three lines, and added some gold and white stars that Hammy glued together for me. Before he went to the kitchen.

Challenges

• Alphabet Challenge: S is for snow.
• TIME OUT: Merry and cheerful.
• Words 2 Craft By: It is in giving we receive. Thank you to the ladies for the giving they did in preparing 72 wonderful challenges for us over the years!

~~~

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!)

Inspiration

Hello Stamplings!

Thank you for taking a break from making/signing all those cards to visit me. It's a chance to rest your fingers. You needed to get up anyway to relieve things, stretch your legs, pour a wodka cup of tea.

That's how these cards came about. Hammy and I took a break and then, of course, we saw a coupla challenges that squirreled inspired us! So, in turn, we thought we would inspire you, real quick like.

Onefer

This card is QACAS all the way and the sediment makes it a bit non-traditional for a Christmas card. All you need is a pretty colored card base and die cuts and you're done. The Poinsettia Ribbon die is from Memory Box and the Hello die-cut was a gift from a friend, so I don't know who makes it.

Challenges

• The Flower Challenge: Use a die.
• Freshly Made Sketches.
• Memory Box: Holiday cards.

Twofer

This design was easy, too, just a little more time-consuming with the layers of pp, but it always feels good to use it. The sediment from Technique Tuesday was stamped in red and heat-embossed in clear for some schparkle. A stocking brad was added for punctuation and shazambam, doners!

Challenges

• The Card Concept: Photo Inspiration. I was inspired by the red and white and by the plaid black and white pillows. My style is Clean and Layered.
• Just Us Girls: Anything goes.
• Shopping Our Stash: Happy Holidays.

~~~

Okay, back you go! 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!)

Foxy Noel

Hello Stamplings!

I finally feel like I've shaken off the last of the tryptophan coma I've been in. Oh, my, I'm not gonna lie, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! That big ol' bacon-covered turkey just sits there and bakes itself and then feeds us for days. How could you not love that?

And I'm happy to report that I was able to get through the door of the Playhouse (barely) and get back to Christmas card making which has now become an emergency situation, so let's get toit.

Onefer

This simple card was hard to photograph under cloudy skies in between drops of blessed rain. I masked off a triangle and blended icy blue ink and then I stamped a few tiny snowflakes and a sediment from GKW. The NBUS red fox mesmerized by the flakes is from Gerda Steiner, colored with Ziggies.

Challenges

• 52 Card Christmas Card Throwdown: November technique: watercolor.
• Cardz 4 Guyz: Christmas critters.
• Less is More: Pick a triangle.

Twofer (x several)

As you can tell by the blue sky, these cards were made before the rains came, but they are equally simple. The beautiful NBUS Noel die is from Poppystamps. I adhered a glitter paper panel to the card base, added a stitched frame from MFT, and glued on the die cut. QACAS! Hammy finished each one with perfectly-sized clear enamel dots over the holes. 

Challenges

• Just Us Girls: Wild Card: Anything goes.
• Poppystamps: Merry Craftmas.
• Sparkles: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Turkey Day Wrap Up

The funnest thing from Thanksgiving to share with you is a photo story.

1. First, here is Miss Nellie in her little bed: (Awwwwwww.)

2. As we were all sitting around munching hors d' ovaries, we noticed that Duke decided Nellie's bed would suit him just fine, too: (Hahahahahaha.)

3. But wait ... later on ...

by golly, he was right, lol! I know Nellie thinks she is a Rottweiler, but I had no idea that great big dogs think they are little wee ones! By the way, he deserves a round of applause for being so limber at his age!

~~~

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!)