Out Like a Lamb ~ Happy Easter!

Hello Stamplings!

I hope you are well! 

Don't tell March since she still has a coupla days to wreck havoc on us, but it's looking like (if she's not aggravated) she might tiptoe quietly out like a lamb and allow April to bestow us with her abundant blue skies, budding bulbs, green trees, and the smell of fresh-mown grass. Sssh.

I've got just the hushed design for the occasion:

This design came as a surprise, but not really a surprise, because what happens is, every time I get in the area of my pp drawers (😆) that contain my handmade and mulberry papers, I HAVE to pull them all out and swear an oath that I will make cards from every last slip of them until they are gone.

Of course, because I'm a big fat liar, I don't keep my promises, even to myself, and so back they went into my drawers, but not before I made this fresh spring number. It is QACAS to the max. All I needed was a colored card base for the background, a ribbon to tie it down, a simple sediment from PTI, and a NBUS unmarked pair of die-cut sweet tulips as a focus-pocus. (Although if you're like me, you're eyeing every inch of that beautiful paper!)

Challenges

• Just Us Girls: Photo inspiration (Spring Time) hosted by Vicki.
  
• Simon Says ~ Wednesday: Easter/spring mood board.
  
• TIME OUT: April gardens.

Twofer

I won't be back with a post on Sunday, so I want to wish those who celebrate a very Happy Easter! 

This black and white CAS design is unusual for an Easter card, but I made it last week when working on other b/w designs and I like the look of it. The beautiful cross stamp has built-in shading. It's a NBUS stamp called Easter Blessings from Fun Stamps Journey. Both the cross and the sediment were stamped with Color Box white ink and then heat-embossed.

Challenges

• Less Is More: CAS inking.
  
• Simon Says ~ Monday: Easter/spring.
  
• Watercooler Wednesday: Helen's All About Occasions.

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We went for a visit with Nellie to see the grandtwins over the weekend. Having both vaccines made it possible and it was great fun being just the four of us for the first time since Christmas of 2019!

Henry is on the left, Adam on the right. Or is it the other way around?! And when I say "just the four of us," I mean just the seven of us ~ Duke and Jack are just out of sight.

And Hammy? Hammy has been away since last week with his friend Fitzwilliam. Cruises are dirt-cheap right now, so they booked a spontaneous trip sailing from Greece to Dubai through the Suez Canal. Oops. There's been a considerable delay, so I'll have to do all my own work for a while. I miss him!😢

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Enjoy your day and have a blessed weekend! 

More mirth from Mamie:

• Chocolate is God's way of telling us he likes us a little bit chubby.
• It's probably my age that tricks people into thinking I'm an adult.
• Marriage counselor to husband: "Your wife says you never buy her flowers. Is that true?" Husband: "To be honest, I never knew she sold flowers."

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Succulent Evergreen and Naughty Bunny

Hello Stamplings!

How are you? I hope you are doing well and I'm here for hugs if you're not. 

I had to hustle my bustle to get this loaded up after I realized a coupla challenges are about to close. That happens when you get your days of the week missed up. 

So here we go ~

Is it just me or are more of us keepin' on keepin' on with making Christmas cards as 2021 drops her pages like a loose girl dropping her hanky? Haha, how many of you have even heard the expression "loose girl" or remember what a "hanky" is? Sometimes I love being old and speaking a secret language known only to my peers.

Anywaffle, I recently purchased a gorgeous stamp called Glorious Gatherings from the Tim Collection at Stampers Anonymous. When it arrived in the mail, I was surprised to find out it's as big as a dinner plate. I normally make cards the size of appetizer napkins, so I was a bit stumped what to do with it until I remembered last year's technique of making four cards from one stamp. (Split Four Technique) 

Here is the whole stamp on a single sheet of 8.5 x 11 kraft paper before I cut it into fours. Isn't it a cool Christmas centerpiece image using succulents instead of the usual poinsettias?

I'm linking to:

• CAS Christmas Card Challenge where the host is Loll and they are celebrating their 3rd birthday! Congratulations! The theme is kraft, red, and white.
  
• HLS Christmas: Anything goes.
  
• Jingle Belles: Festive foliage.

Just FYI, I also stamped the image on white paper and made four cards. Sorry for the bad photo.

They were stamped totally in red, uber QACAS, and this time the sediment was heat-embossed in clear.

Twofer

Another QACAS design, this time an OLC. This funny bunny has long been a favorite. Sadly, it's from an OOB company. Usually I stamp a jar of jelly beans (nearly empty) next to him. As you can see from his tummy, he clearly over-indulged! Or sometimes I stamp him with a drinkie poo, but I used a drinkie poo last post, so this time I used a fun sediment that stuck me as a perfect fit. (It's unmarked, but it might be from River City Rubber Stamps.) Both stamps were heat-embossed in white.

I'm linking this to:

• Color Hues: Black and white.
  
• Little Red Wagon: One layer.
  
• Stinkin' Inkers: Hop to it.
  

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😄😄😄 My friend Mamie sent me a list of funnies to share with you. I'll just leave you with a couple three today:

• Having plans sounds like a good idea until you have to put on clothes and leave the house. 
• It’s weird being the same age as old people.
• Life is like a helicopter. I don’t know how to operate a helicopter.

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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! (Hammy says HI! He is still resting from the last post when he got too much of a head rush from all that glossifying!)

As for me, I'm still having ups and downs as the meds do their thing, but during the ups I'm grabbing crafty time. Thank you for your patience and your beautiful and thoughtful cards!

*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!)

Fruit Cocktail, Anyone?

Hello Stamplings!

How are you? Happy St. Patrick's Day! Mother Nature is putting on her usual March theatrical productions across the universe. I hope she sits down and has a Guinness so everyone can get a break!

I was hoping to start posting more often, but now that I'm fully vaccinated, I am catching up on appointments that I have had to put off for a year. Doctors and dentists are going to be swarmed with appointments.

Swarm is one of those words that sounds like what it does, huh? Still, you can't help but think it might have been used for a situation like a fierce workout where you end up all sweaty and warm. "How are you?" asks your friend. "Swarm!" you reply. 

In my case, I'd be all sweaty and HOT, so I guess my reply would be "Shot!"

Okay, okay, moving on, I've got two fruity cards for you today:

There is only one week left in the current Twofer Card Challenge where the prompt is YOUR CHOICE! I know, right? So if you are making a card for something else, you can make two and play in Twofer! Win-win! You can use any stamp, stencil, or die you want; you just have to use it on both cards and make them distinctly different design layouts for different occasions. 

For my Twofer reminder inspiration for you, I am using an awesome NBUS set of stamps called, "Layered Citrus." They were designed for STAMPlorations by my friend Shirley Bee. I had to have the set the minute I saw it, but then you know how it goes ... it got put away and ingored.

Onefer

Slurp! For this birthday card, I used an old cocktail glass from a company no longer in business. While Hammy glossified the drinkie poo and the juicy slab of lemon, I die cut the enjoy die from Penny Black several times and glued the stack together. Passing that to his nibs to be glossified, I stamped a shadow and adhered the linen panel (embossed with wonky stitches from MFT) onto a shiny gold mat. The design was finished by attaching the glass, wedge of lemon, and sediment.

Challenges

• Alphabet Challenge: Y is for Yellow.
  
• Retro Rubber: Anything goes. The layered slices set is from 2018.
  
• Simply Create Too: Wet or Dry Embossing.

Twofer

Doesn't this look refreshing? I think this will bring a smile and much-needed hugs to a dear friend. The shadowed hugs die is from PTI. I used the remaining slices in Shirley's set for this design. I stamped the outline, then overstamped the insides in various citrus colors and then fussy-cut them. After they were dry from Hammy's glossifying, I adhered them to a scored snippet of linen card to make the second design cohesivate with the first design. 

Hic. Sorry, my typing is slurring from just looking at card number one!

Challenges

• Addicted to Stamps and More: Make your mark.
  
• Happy House: The color orange.
  
• HLS Anything Goes With Dies: March A/G.

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I can't wait to see which stamp, die, or stencil you choose for your prompt and the two distinctly different designs you create with it for two different occasions. You can find a list of occasions on the challenge side bar.

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Enjoy your day! 
No, seriously, enjoy and stay safe! 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!)

Dragonfly Celebration!

Hello Stamplings!

How are you on this fine hump day? I want to thank you for your well wishes about my struggle to adjust to new medicines. I just keep telling myself how blessed I am that there are medicines created to fix me up and low engerny is a small price to pay in the short run.🛏

Wake up! It's the Twofer day of the month, otherwise known as the 10th! I know I usually do a twofer in my posts anyway, but once a month it becomes Oh-fficial and this month I'm becited to have thought of a new and fun way to challenge you to stretch those design skills, expecially if you've been running low on those mojo juices . . .

This month the prompt is ... drum🥁roll ... UP TO YOU! 

That's right, it's Your Choice! 

Angel, bunny, cat, dog, elephant, flower, gnome, ... the options are only limited by your stash and your imagination. Please note that only the prompt is "anything goes" ~ all the other rules of the challenge apply.

Just start by picking the stamp, die, or stencil you want to play with and make a card in any style whatsoever! One card done. 🗹

Then, move that same stamp, die, or stencil around on another panel to form a different design for your second card. (The more different your two layouts are, the better.) Don't forget to also put your sediment in a different area on your card front and make it for a different occasion. Two cards done. 🗹

Take a photo of both cards together and link up! That's it! 🗹

It's so easy, but yet it's challenging enough that you feel like a designer rock star when you're done!

My Prompt: Dragonfly

I know a lot of folks aren't crazy about dragon flies, but I love the mystical little beings that suddenly appear in the yard in all different colors after the temperatures climb to 90°+. And then just as quickly as they appear, they disappear. Thankfully, rubber stamp companies create them so they last forever!

The dragonfly I used on both my designs is a very old stamp from SU.

Onefer

Don't you just love that spotlight background in pretty pastel colors? It is a straight-line blending technique that Loll introduced us to at a recent Zoom session. We followed the fabulous Eileen Godwin's YouTube video here. It's super easy and super fun. (Ever notice how that's my favorite type of card-making style?😄) You basically hold a ruler or straight-edge of some kind and then blend on the ink by sliding your blending tool off the edge.

After making the background, Hammy chose the lacy-winged dragonfly. He glossified the body while I dotted the eyes. Haha, you see what I did there?

Twofer 

For my second design, I fussy-cut three of the stamped dragonflies and Hammy glossified their entire everythings this time, although it doesn't show very well. The background pp also has a lovely shine. The celebrate die cut was a sweet gift from a friend. It's one intact die that makes a frame around the word. I used a marker to color the word to make it mwah.

Challenges

• AAA Birthday: Patterned paper.
  
• Pixie's Snippets Playground: A/G using your snippets.
  
• Seize the Birthday: A/G birthday - no option.

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No excuse this month for not having the prompt! I can't wait to see which stamp, die, or stencil you choose for your prompt and the two designs you create with it!

Nancy and Klara are the two incredible Guest Designers who are joining the Design Team this month to help inspire you. Click over to the Twofer Card Challenge and see what prompts everyone has chosen and the amazing card designs they made!

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Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy, but keep safe! 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!)

Cool Botanical Handmade PP

Hello Stamplings!

Happy March! I'm sorry to be so late popping in to welcome you to the third month of the first quarter of 2021, but I'm having a tough time leaving my hibernation in this new year. Actually, the truth is, my heart meds have been quadrupled in the last month and it's knocking me on my butt. It's all good, just tiring until I get used to the new levels. I appreciate you sticking with me!

It hasn't stopped me from making cards when I can. On the menu today:

This month's CAS Mix Up Card Challenge is being hosted by Bonnie and the ladies are celebrating their 5th Birthday! Happy Birthday and many more! Bonnie wants us to play with print-making to create our own PP! 

I used a very old stamp from SU for my focus pocus, which I stamped and fussy-cut to make my own die-cut. Following the technique on Kathy Racoosin's blog here, I made the subtle hydrangea background. This technique is super easy and fun. It's so easy that I let Hammy do it, too, and now he has new pretty wallpaper in his cage! (You can guess what image he used, lol!)

The scored frames are NBUS from "Picture Frames Die" by Waffle Flower, so I'll be sharing over at the NBUS Challenge. I used two frames to make more white space, which reduces the busyness of the background and makes the card more CAS. 

I'm also linking to SSS Wednesday (beautiful blossoms), and The Flower Challenge (shades of purple: I used Memento markers Lulu Lavender and Grape Jelly, with a pinch of Summer Sky).

Twofer

This leafy panel has been in the vault for a very long time waiting to be made into a card and posted. It shows another fun way to make your own PP, this time using leaves from your backyard! We had fun doing this at one of the ESCR retreats in Vancouver. 

Christine led a technique of crushing botanicals through a Cuttlebug. You can use leaves or flowers. I didn't have much luck with the flowers, but I loved imprinting the leaves. 

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Senior Commandments

I saw these on FB and had to share!

#1 – Talk to yourself. There are times you need expert advice.

#2 – “In Style” are the clothes that still fit.

#3 – You don’t need anger management. You need people to stop pissing you off.

#4 – Your people skills are just fine. It’s your tolerance for idiots that needs work.

#5 – The biggest lie you tell yourself is, “I don’t need to write that down. I’ll remember it.”

#6 – “On time” is when you get there.

#7 – Even duct tape can’t fix stupid – but it sure does muffle the sound.

#8 – It would be wonderful if we could put ourselves in the dryer for ten minutes, then come out wrinkle-free and three sizes smaller.

#9 – Lately, you’ve noticed people your age are so much older than you.

#10 – Growing old should have taken longer.

#11 – Aging has slowed you down, but it hasn’t shut you up.

#12 – You still haven’t learned to act your age, and hope you never will.

I can relate to ALL of these, especially #11, but I really had a chucklier chuckle at #9. So true! Especially when it comes to celebrities. We will be watching a movie and comment about how old some actor or actress looks. Then we will look them up online ... only to discover they are younger than we are! Ouch!!😂😂😂

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Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!* Please keep being safe and sensible and considerate. We're getting there! 

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!)