Colorful Thursday!

Hello Stamplings!

How was your week? Did you see the Super Flower Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse? Easy for me to say. It was awe-mazing! 

In this country, we are whooshing headlong into a holiday weekend. I hope you stay safe out there on the roads if you go out adventuring. No matter what, enjoy this last weekend in May because that's June standing over there on the Tuesday calendar square!

I've missed a few of my favorite challenges recently, so I'm pickled tink to be able to join today with these cards.

Onefer

It all started with the current Color Hues challenge where the colors are purple and teal. Teal is one of my all-time favorite colors. Purple not so much, but they do look cool together, especially with a touch of green. This card features a NBUS stamp from Cottage Cutz called, "Chrysanthemum Flower November" which I colored with Ziggies and Hammy winked. The scalloped die is from PTI.

The above card has too much green for the Color Hues challenge so I am entering this card instead:

For this QACAS design, I used ancient Bissell paper for the card base and the inset panel is a scrap of Brusho background in purple and teal, with a hint of lemon, which I hope is okay. The die is "Garden Poppy Stitched Frame" from poppystamps and the sediment is from SSS. 

Challenges

• Addicted to Stamps and More: Make your mark. #1
  
• Color Hues: Purple and teal. #2
• Double D: Flower of the month of November: Chrysanthemum. #1

Twofer

And this card started out being for the Rudolph Days challenge which runs from the 25th to the last day of the month. It's a wonderful way to build your stash throughout the year. The design spark came from a scrap of rainbow foil I wanted to use up. I paired it with the black framed evergreen trees ("Sloping Hillside" from poppystamps) and I love the nighttime Northern Lights feel that happened.  

The Joy sediment die is from Winnie & Walter and although the photo doesn't show it, even the bling gems are rainbow-colored.

Challenges

• Christmas 24: Christmas night #034.
  
• Jingle Belles: Bling on the holidays.
  
• Rudolph Days: Anything Christmas goes.
  
• Simon Says Stamp Monday: Frame it.
  
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: Anything goes.

~~~

The Hamster Wheel of Life

My friend Susan shared this quote with me and I wanted to share it with you. It was written by her friend Gerry Trentham:

"June last year was pushed to this year, this year it's pushed to next year, next year may never come, what never comes might show up tomorrow, and tomorrow is, of course, only an idea and never a reality until it is today and then it's too late to do anything about it other than that which you are already doing."

I couldn't have said it better!

~~~

So live in the moment and 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. I'm still having pain when I type, so it will be slow-going on the return visits for a while longer. It means a lot that you keep coming by and leaving me love even when I can't make it by your place. Mwah!

*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!)

I Like to Party!

Hello Stamplings,

Happy Friday! I hope you had a great week! I just heard on the news this morning that hotels, airlines, and rental cars are all booking up through Labor Day weekend in September because people are so excited to be able to travel again. They don't even care where they go, they just want to go! 

I'm not quite confident enough to be traveling yet, nor partying for that matter. So why did I title my post, "I Like to Party?"  

Because this:

Haha, that fits most of us gals, doesn't it? I've had that NBUS sediment stamp on my desk for weeks, waiting for the right moment and when I saw the sketch challenge over at Less Is More, the ol' mojo started lighting up. I looked at Hammy and we both ran to the drawer where I keep the stamp of the becited stamping lady and wallah! Well, okay, he ran, and I rolled my chair two feet.

That crazy happy lady is called "Mad Stamper" from The Uptown Design Company and the sediment is from Impression Obsession (B13958). I made several of these as birthday cards for stamping friends.

Challenges

• AAA Cards: 7th Birthday Blog Hop!
  
• Less Is More: Sketch.
  
• Seize the Birthday: Make it a bouquet. (No toppings.)

Twofer

This card was prompted by the current CAS Christmas challenge hosted by Christine. She has chosen Foliage and Berries for her prompt. I used a favorite wooden stamp (60-00343) from Inkadinkado. The fancy bordered panel was a gift from a friend. I colored the stamp with the direct-to-stamp technique using markers and Hammy glossified the berries.

That pp with the hollies is prolly a hunnert years old. Okay, not really, but I have had it forever and that little two-inch piece under the card is all I have left. I know there are new beautiful holly pps out there, but I'm sad to see the last of this one. The name in red says The Paper Patch and I googled it to see if it was still around, only to discover that it was a brick and mortar store in Portland, Maine that closed in July 2020 after being open for 51 years. Talk about sad.

Challenges

• CAS Christmas: Foliage and Berries.
  
• Pixie's Snippets Playground: A/G using your snippets.
  
• SSS Wednesday: Use dies and/or punches.

~~~

I'll leave you with something that will bring your smile back!

This was taken through the Playhouse window, so pardon the reflection. This time every year the succulents in the window box bloom with their trumpet flowers and the wee birds prefer them over their feeder which hangs just above. This little female has been at it a lot, so I'm guessing (I hope) she has babies nearby.

~~~

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

Oooh, Yummo! More Cake!

Hello Stamplings!

Aaaaand we've whooshed back around to another Monday! I hope you've all had a lovely weekend wherever you are!

Did I tell you we are having a bathroom reno done due to a coupla leaks? It was just remodeled fourteen years ago, but apparently the people I hired cut a few corners and I learned another 'you get what you pay for' lesson.😒This new bathroom will outlive us and never leak!

But that's not why you called. You came to see my reminder inspiration cards for the Twofer Card Challenge where the prompt is 🎂CAKE/CUPCAKE🧁!

Last week I featured cake and today I am featuring cupcakes. The stamp my two designs have in common is a fun and silly caterpillar carrying cupcakes. It's an old wooden stamp from Penny Black.

Onefer

I stamped the cupcake-carrying caterpillar in the center and then off the ends because if one cute caterpillar makes you smile, why not have a choo-choo-train of them? I colored the cupcakes with my Ziggies and did a background wash. Hammy winked the cupcakes and also added dots to the segments on the caterpillar which were blank. The Hooray die is cut from an old glossy alcoholic snippet. This is going to my niece who is taking her medical boards as you read this.🤞

Challenges

• Addicted to CAS: Bugs.
  
• HLS CAS: Fun and games.
• Sweet Stampers: Animals or critters or birds.
  

Twofer

And this old girl is one of my all-time fav stamps. She is from Stampendous. You can't tell, but her tutu and shoes and the cupcakes are all winked. After stamping and coloring another caterpillar, I fussy-cut the cupcakes off her back and then piled them up for the frog to hold in her outstretched arms. You can just make out some light stenciling on the olive green card base. The vertical sediment is from Stamps by Judith, also ancient. Not Judith, the stamp.

No NBUS was used for my card designs this time.

Instead I used OWLS (Old Well-Loved Schtuff)!🤣🦉🤣

Challenges

• AAA Cards: Happy 7th Birthday!!!
  
• HLS Watercolor: Anything goes.
  
• Watercooler Wednesday: Marsha's all things feminine.

Come Play!

I hope you are able to play along this month. Remember cakes and cupcakes are not just for birthdays ... stretch that imagination of yours! I'd love to see what you make and I'd love to know about your favorite cake or cupcake recipe if you want to share!

Recipe

Because I used cupcakes this week, I will share one of my sisters' favorite cupcake recipes. It's called Mini Cherry Cheesecake Cupcakes. It's super easy and uses a vanilla wafer cookie in the bottom for the crust. You can find an online version of it here at Plowing Through Life. Enjoy!

~~~

And enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy and 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! 

*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!)

Party Party

Hello Stamplings!

How's every little thing? 

I've got more party designs on the ol' blog today! (I have a lot of June birthday cards to make.)

Onefer

Over on the CAS Mix Up challenge this month, it's all about using rainbows with a stencil. I opened up my Stencil Binder and this Tim Holtz stencil was the first one I saw ... perfick! I masked and blended my rainbow using CP inks and added a snarky sediment because, again, perfick with all those numbers! Wait. What? You want more numbers? Well then we will add foam tape to the rainbow panel and pop it up over the top of a number e/f!

Challenges

• AAA Birthday: Happy 2nd Birthday! Anything birthday goes.
  
• Addicted to Stamps and More: Die cuts and/or stencils.
  
• CAS MIX UP: Rainbow stenciling with blended inks using makeup brushes, plus masking, and embossing. 

Twofer

Now this card just fell into place and here's how it went.

A few months ago I had a white PARTY die cut which I wanted to be purple so I blended purple ink over it. I don't even remember where it came from because it has been in my Bits Binder forever. After wards, I saw Hammy admiring the fun pattern that developed on the scratch paper from the blending, so I set it aside in the Set It Aside Binder. 

Then last week, my dear friend Sandie, who owns and has run the fantastic TIME OUT challenge for seven years, announced that she was having to leave her challenge for health reasons. I know this is heart-breaking for her so there was no way I was going to miss joining in this month. But the brief was a real challenging one for me: MOVE.  

Hmmm ...

I've been thinking on it for a few days and yesterday I was leafing through Container 281 in the Mt. NBUS Chamber of Caves and I came across a cute set from Craft Emotions called "Savanne 1" and as soon as I saw that leopard moving hell bent for leather, I knew I had found the perfect stamp for the MOVE prompt!

And since this is intended as a celebration party card for Sandie to thank her for all she's done and since Sandie's favorite color is purple, what better focus pocus for the leopard to be running towards than a pretty piece of purple patterned party paper?! So I put two and two together. Then I thought the top half of the scrap paper was pretty meh, so I added the two-toned die-cut party sediment from Winnie & Walter to complete the composition.

I wish you all the best with your health, Sandie, and I appreciate all the hard work and love you have put into TIME OUT for seven years! Mwah! It is my prayer that your health will improve and you will be able to retake the reins down the road.

~~~

I haven't shared a photo of my motorcycling Mister for you ladies in a while:

He was dreamy before, but look at him back from a ride and greeting his beloved little Nellie!

Hello, hi, remember me, your wifey over here taking the photo? Do I get a hug, too? Oh, never mind, she has stolen his heart.

~~~

Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy and 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! 

*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!)

Oooh, Yummo! Cakes! Cupcakes! Recipes!

Hello Stamplings!

How are you? I hope those who celebrated Mother's Day yesterday had a wonderful time! Big hugs of comfort to those of you for whom this holiday is painful. 

Speaking of hugs, it's a blessing to have my family and friends vaccinated which allow us to share special holidays in person again without masks, but with lots and lots of hugs! Don't those feel amazing? I don't see how we will ever take hugs for granted after this pandemic.

And second best to hugs is what? That's right! Cake! Well, maybe cookies and pies, too, but for this month's Twofer Card Challenge, it's all about 🎂Cakes and Cupcakes🧁!

I chose CAKE so here is my cakey inspiration for you:

The hysterically funny stamp my Twofer has in common is NBUS from Art Impressions called "Birthday Cake Set" by Barbara Krebs.

Onefer

For this QACAS card, I used a very old snippet of SU DSP with birthday cakes all over it. On a white snippet, I stamped, paper-pieced, and fussy-cut the birthday cake and then hid it among the cakes on the pp. Can you see it? That angled sediment is from PTI. You can't tell, but Hammy had a time glossifying those candles.

Twofer

Another QACAS card! This design is really pretty self-exploratory. The photo frame is from PTI. This card will need to go to a dear friend with a wicked sense of humor! Fortunately, that pretty much describes all my friends! The droopy candles, much like my bahzooms, have been duly winked by HRH. No, no, bad English. 

TCC #38

I hope you'll be able to join in with your 🎂CAKE/CUPCAKE🧁creations! We are delighted to have Guest Designer Janet with us this month! You will be inspired by her designs, as well as the designs of the entire talented Design Team! I do appreciate all your support of the Twofer Card Challenge and I hope you have fun while increasing your stash!

BONUS ~ RECIPE EXCHANGE!

Wait. What? 

Well, as long as we are thinking about and talking about cakes and cupcakes, how would you like to take part in a recipe exchange? Remember those? It is strictly optional and strictly for fun, but if you'd like to share your favorite cake or cupcake recipe on your post when you play, we'd love to read about it! I may even compile them all and put them on a page here on the blog!

Long-time readers will know my favorite:

We always called it Crazy Cake, but it is also known as Wacky Cake or Depression-Era* Cake because it has no eggs or dairy.

Lots of online recipes show this cake frosted, but we always had it straight from the oven, naked, or with a simple dusting of powdered sugar. It's so easy that I would sometimes run home from the law firm where I worked, make the cake, and take it back to work while it was still warm, moist, and incredible! What's that? Why, yes, it was often made around the time bonuses were handed out.😉

Rather than type up the recipe, I've found a great website which has it (The Good Hearted Woman), as well as lots of pictures to explain the process. Click: Chocolate Wacky (or Crazy) Cake and dig in! By the way, it is a super fun cake to make with kids!

~~~

*Overheard in the grocery store in 2021:

Grandma: "I also need some cocoa to make my Depression Era cake."

Granddaughter: "Oh, that's sad. Why were people, like, all depressed?"

~~~

Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy, and 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! 

*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!)