Keeping Crafty

Hello, Stamplings!

First off, we're doing fine. We feel very blessed that the Mister recovered enough to start driving again just as it became very important for me to isolate due to being high risk. California has shut down except for essentials and we are still able to get local groceries, except for paper products. Don't get me started on that tissue!

I hope you are all keepin' on keepin' on and finding ways to not watch too much news on the telly. I had to finally limit myself to one hour a day and only ten minutes at a time, here and there, throughout the day. I'm glad you're visiting me to get away from all that, so let's go. (Since I don't post as often as I used to and you have plenty of time, I've made this extra long.😇)

And I have a special request, so if you're a scroll-through-quickly-friend, please stop and read the last section. Mwah!

Onefer

I wanted to play in some wonderful challenges, so I created this card. For the platinum grid, I made myself a stencil using my NBUS Birch Press Design, "Prism Triangle Collage." I applied Versamark liberally through the stencil and heat-embossed with platinum.

The flower flourish and sediment are from GKW. I colored the flower with my Ziggies using the JUGS color scheme and Hammy went to town with the winking.

Challenges

• CAS March Stencil: Heat embossing.
• HLS March Watercolour: Anything goes; optional Flowers.
• Just Us Girls: Color week.

The Demise of BOB!

Amidst all the scary news and glums about the nasty Coronavirus making its way around the globe, I'm pleased to report I've had a fatality here in the Playhouse, but it's a good one! I'm referring to my Box O' Bits, otherwise affectionately known as BOB. He will NOT be missed!

With clearance from the CDC, here is a photo of dead BOB. You'll note that Hammy is playing with his new malachite Easter egg inside BOB's skeletal remains:

Yes, that's one of my boxes of NBUS (never-before-used-schtuff) off to the right. We won't talk about that just now. Let me relish in the afterglow of BOB's demise for a little bit longer!

And here, ladies, is a photo of the 73 cards* I made from what BOB has been greedily hanging on to for years!

Don't get too becited. Most of them are very simple designs and (embarrassingly) took ten minutes or less to complete, but still, pretty good, eh? I will be posting some of them (God willing and the creek don't rise) over time, so I hid their faces. That way they can't be accused of being backlinked later on.

I wanted to share my success with you because, if you're like me, you are feeling unsettled right now. You plan to start this, but you find yourself looking at that; what you were becited about yesterday, you couldn't care less about today; and/or, card-making once brought you a lot of satisfaction, but now most of your satisfaction comes from either food (chocolate) or online shopping. 

If that's happening to you, turn to your BOB, or your UFO, or whatever you call your half-finished cards and let the process take you away for a few minutes or a few hours. It's not only a distraction, it's productive. And if your significant other happens to be named Bob, lucky you ~ you can turn to him for other reasons, as well!😉

Twofer

Here is one of the finished cards I made:

I made this topper while at last year's ESCR and it's languished since. Silly, since all it needed was a card base and sediment, but that's what happens sometimes. The phone rings, the Mister stops by to let me know the mail came, Hammy wants help with his juggling lessons, or Nellie wants a cuddle. Or maybe I've just seen a mental squirrel and off I go. The technique was direct-to-stamp coloring with markers, then spritzing, and then stamping. The image is Penny Black's "Pure Iris."

Challenges

• AAA Birthday Game #11: Flowers.
• The Flower Challenge: Anything goes.
• HLS March CAS: Your favorite technique. (Direct-to-stamp coloring.)
• Penny Black Saturday : March anything goes ~ think spring!
• TIME OUT: 6th Birthday celebration! Congratulations TO!

💟Something Positive

I have so many emotions and so many things I'd like to say about the current crisis, but this post is long enough. ONE of my concerns is the thought of all the thousands of elderly people in care homes around the globe who are suffering from loneliness because of our need for isolating ourselves. Perhaps they don't even understand why suddenly no one is visiting them. 

Thankfully, I feel like this is one concern where I can be proactive and do something, especially now that I've killed BOB and I have all these cards* in my stash. I'm making cards to drop off at our local care homes, but if you have an elderly loved one who feels lonely, I'd love to send a card to them, too. I'll mail to anywhere on earth where postal service is still occurring. And if you're feeling that way yourself, let me know. Please email their (or your) name and address to darnell dot knauss at gmail dot com and I will send off a card ~ or more, depending on the duration.

Now more than ever, my closing is appropriate. Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy! Life is too short! As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse! Take extra care and be safe!

Lots of hugs,

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!)