Hello Stamplings!
I hope this finds you well or on your way there!
We saw the grandtwins yesterday and heard all about their college tours, so that was fun! In between doing summery things and a newly discovered project, I made a coupla four cards for challenges. During the summer, the participation in challenges is naturally lower because people are off stuck in airports on vacation, so I like to make a point of playing when I can. Grab a drinkiepoo. ☕🍹
Onefer and Twofer
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You can prolly tell that these two cards were created from one large poinsettia stamped image from Waltzingmouse. I white heat-embossed it which created an emboss-resist, so I could paint it with watercolor brushes and stay within the pretty lines. After wards, I cut the image in half to make two cards. Hammy had a blast creating matching red and gold schplatters on each.
Challenges
- CAS Mix Up: My friend Brenda is the Guest Designer this month and my friend Nancy is the hostess. The prompt is Emboss Resist. Besides embossing, my designs included stamping, die-cutting, watercoloring, and splattering.
- SSS Monday: Spritz and Splatter.
- SSS Wednesday: Emboss It.
Threefer
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This W-O-W design is pretty self-exploratory, although I don't know why one pine cone looks yellowish. The background evergreen embossing folder is from Sizzix. The die cut branches and pine cones were in my bits box so I'm not sure who makes them. The sediment is from Winnie & Walter.
Challenges
- CAS Christmas: The prompt is Pine, hosted by Trina
- Addicted to Stamps and More: Die Cuts and/or Stencils.
Fourfer
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This QACAS design features an old NBUS butterfly from Butterfly Trio by Penny Black. You can't tell, but the card base is glossy. I wanted to see if it would work if I colored the butterfly directly with markers and stamped it. I liked how ethereal it turned out. I added the sediment from Concord & 9th and a thin black frame.
Challenges
- Just Us Girls: Butterflies.
- Less Is More: Butterflies.
- Krafty Chicks: Stamp Act.
- NBUS: Never-Before-Used-Schtuff.
~~~
My New Project
Remember back in the spring of 2021 when the word went out that Feedburner was closing and they would no longer be handling blog subscriptions? A lot of us added Bloglovin' or Follow It or other third-parties to our side bars to replace Feedburner. But in reality, I continued to receive notices when people published their posts. Life went on pretty much as usual.
That all changed on August 1, 2022, when I opened my laptop and crickets jumped out. Instead of waking up to a daily average of between 50-100 emails, there were less than a dozen! Where did everybody go? I was shocked and I am continuing to be shocked every day since then. It's like most of the neighborhood moved out in the middle of the night and left me.
Because I was very good about following blogs and making friends over the last ten plus years, my Reading List contains 2,262 blogs!! I had no idea! Of course, a bunch of those blogs are prolly inactive now, so the list needs to be cleaned out. I really miss not getting your posts, so this is going to be a priority for me now. It will no doubt take me quite a while. BTW, I need to clean my list up regardless, but if there is something else going on, please let me know.
I'll be back and until then, enjoy your days! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!*
*Life is too short!
64 comments:
Four gorgeous cards! Love how you made two with the striking white embossed and beautifully coloured poinsettia. Really elegant all white card and the butterfly card is beautiful! I get confused with all this blog stuff - I pootle along and hope for the best! I am off to Sarah's Thursday for a few days. First outing since before covid. Daunting to be mixing but neeeeeed to spend some time with them. Take care. Hugs xxxxxxxxxxxx
Gosh Darnell you have been busy! 4 fab cards but I must say I have a soft spot for your poinsettias.
Why do these tech companies feel the need to 'improve' things? I noticed one morning that Gmail had 'updated' their look, why, will it encourage more takers or is it just something to do for the sake of it?!
Don't even get me started on the FB algorithm, all they are interested in is pushing ads for items my OH has been browsing!!
Rant over, I feel I'm always letting off steam here so I apologise, must be my age. ;)
Keep sane and healthy! :)
Goodness you have been busy and these cards are all lovely - great idea to let the large poinsettia spread into two cards. Not sure I ever had anything to do with feedburner but I do know that my reading list doesn't always update to bring a post to the top when someone puts up something new although this seems to be quite random. To be fair it mostly works OK with an occasional exception.
Lovely cards Darnell, especially the fabulous poinsettia cards.
Kath x
Beautiful cards Darnell! I don’t know about you or anyone else but I have not been able to get on Bloglovin over a week. Yesterday was the first time I was able to get back on. Every time I went to the Bloglovin site I get a message that says Will get bac shortly or something like that . Like you, I have a list of blogs I have to clean out also. Just time consuming for me right now
Have a great day!
Marilyn ❤️
The fab four Darnell! Love the poinsettias with their gold and red bling, and cutting one big stamp in half to give that off the edge look is great, plus two for one as they say. I like white on white so joy is joy! and your butterfly is very arty on the shiny card.
I have to use my reading list to find new posts Darnell but then I always have...I no longer receive emails to say there is a comment now until I have been in the comments box and published any! |As I am not getting many views or comments on my blog I think I have disappeared from blogland so to speak , or....no one likes what they see anymore!..lol xx
Four beautiful cards, Darnell! So simple and elegant! Take care!
love Mags B x
Beautiful cards, Darnell. That poinsettia is just so lovely in those colors. I always like white on white cards. Interesting trick of the light there on the one pinecone. I have no idea about any of what you said about a reading list. When all that went down, I started using Feedly. It seems like I'm getting the same number of posts. Of course, don't always click on each blog I follow which is many more than I get posts for. I hope you are able to cull your Reading List and get back to enjoying blog posts! Crafty hugs!
Those poinsettias are spectacular. And large enough to get two cards from each. Tell Hammy his splatters add a nice touch. I love the elegance of the white on white designs. The butterfly is so very pretty.
That poinsettia is watercolored so beautifully. I'm so jealous of the splatters since I can't seem to do them. Tell Hammy great job. The pine card looks great in white and the butterfly has a lovely water color look. I hope you don't lose me with the way blogger acts. I'm still here, somewhere.
I ended up quitting my blog as I could not get in to make a post and I did not feel like starting a new one. Also now I find that I can’t always leave a comment. As for your cards I love your Christmas designs. Beautiful poinsettias ones and the white on white is gorgeous too. I was surprised when the fourth one appeared and delighted to see another wonderful card creation. You have been busy. What? College already! The twins can’t be that old(? But I guess that proves how fast the years fly by. Anyway I was delighted to see your post.
Four really gorgeous cards, Darnell! I love how you watercolored your Poinsettia and created 2 cards...so clever! Your embossed background on your third card is perfect with your pine branches and I love how you popped up the pinecones...Beautiful card! The butterfly on your last card is absolutely stunning, my friend! Thanks so much for playing along with us at CAS Christmas!
The boys are looking at colleges already? My goodness...where does the time go? xx
OMG. You follow over 2,000 blogs? Wow, I guess you would need some sort of way to keep up with them. I've always used Bloggers' reading list and it's been fine, but I'm a much more casual blogger and blog reader.
But, what I really came to do was to tell you how much I love your cards. That poinsettia is a gorgeous stamp, and the white embossing with the colored leaves is a real show stopper. Secondly, the butterfly. I've colored directly on the stamp, spritzed with water and stamped on regular card stock a zillion times (It's a favorite technique), but I've never tried it on glossy. Love how it looks.
I've noticed that I haven't been receiving any notifications too. I wondered if I was just being absent minded. Now I know I can relax and figure out another way to keep up with special friends' blogs. I guess I could update my reading list while I'm at it.
Love, love, love your poinsettia cards! Cutting the image in two gives twice as many ohhs and aahs! The white on white is so elegant and the butterfly is one of my favorites. Love how you colored her!
Oh, and thanks so much for sharing this with us at CAS Mix Up!
There is a gremlin at blogger that sits and thinks how can I piss people off! I know the service is free...but they are data mining and getting something out of it so leave it be!
Okay enough of the rant....
Your poinsettia cards are fabulous I love the color variations. I like the white pine and I don't see a difference between the pine cone colors. Your butterfly is gorgeous and the sentiment is sweet.
Hugs!
Wonderful cards Dolly!
Hammy is the Splatterer King as your two Christmas cards are so beautiful... is Hammy red and gold now too?
Great makes all of them -
Oh and thanks for sharing with us at CAS Mix Up! x
Four beautiful cards Dolly!! LOVE the gorgeous large poinsettia. Watercolouring over your white embossing really makes the veins stand out ... awesome! And what a great way to make two card fronts from the one, very large, image. :) Your white-on-white pine card is so pretty and delicate. And finally, that butterfly is gorgeous. I love the way the watercolouring dried on the glossy paper. That's a win! Great experiment. Love, Lolly
Oops ... forgot to thank you for joining our CAS Mix Up and CAS Christmas challenges!! L.L.
You have been busy, Darnell - love all four cards but especially your CAS pines all in white - so elegant!!
I love your super large poinsettia making it's appearance on the first two cards Darnell, and so beautifully coloured and lots of shparkle from the gold and holographic card. The white on white is so pretty and love the embossed branches in the background, and lastly that wonderful markers straight to stamp looks has worked brilliantly on the glossy card. I have noticed that things have been much quieter but put it down to holidays and the present hot weather, not so conjusive to cardmaking, but also Bloglovin' has not been working for a week or two or maybe a little longer, and there was a message to the effect that they were working on it, and it came back a day or two ago. I don't know if this may have effected your list, also maybe you are already aware of this problem with Bloglovin'. x
All Beautiful cards.
It seems like EVERYTHING is changing these days...
I get up in the morning and think to myself well what's going to change today...
and it's not All for the good. But I just try my best to go with the flow...
Not always easy.
Hope you are having a good week.
Ooooh what a pretty poinsettia! All of your cards are fabulous, Darnell! I'm so happy to have you joining us at CAS Christmas and Just Us Girls! So many have been having the same blog issues. Why can't blogger just leave well enough alone, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!
You just made a giant leap towards Christmas with your holiday cards. Those poinsettias are spectacular! I get some of my blogs via email and some via Bloglovin', although Bloglovin' has been going offline lately, sometimes for longer than a week! Drives me mad.
A fabulous selection of cards Darnell! I used Bloglovin as a reader for all the blogs I follow but for the last few months I have only been able to access it sporadically, and their app is no longer available. It’s really annoying . Fortunately the app on my phone still works so I’ve managed to pick up all the blogs I followed and put them into Feedly. That is OK but the free version is limited to how many you can follow. xx
Hi Darnell...love how you've used your poinsettia stamp stamping off the card its really effective and love the plattered background.
stunning beautiful white on white pine cone card, white on white is always eyecatching..love your gorgeous butterfly card too.... I've never had anything to do with Feedburner but my blog following list seems to work fine most of the time!
Anne
All your cards are beautiful, Darnell xoxo
Crickets is truly what I'm hearing from my own inbox, D! What to do, what to do ... I've never been good at remembering to read that reading list! Bloglovin' let me down. Blogger continues to disappoint. I can't imagine starting over at Wordpress but it may have to come to that.
I've added you to my reading list! I'd better start reading it!
=] M
Your cards deserved their own comments:
Onefer, twofer, threefer, four!! All things gorgeous - give us more!
xx
Oh wow, Darnell - four super-awesome cards!! Good luck with your blog work.
Fabulous cards, great use of the poinsettia, it is beautifully colored and the others are lovely too, as always.
It's odd how you kept receiving Feedburner emails until August 2022. Maybe from folks who did not delete their feed when they switched. Or maybe never switched at all. Who knows? Always something! Darnell, your two-from-one poinsettia cards are on fire! Seriously, I love the ember glow of your watercolor and the two-tone splatters to go with it. W-O-W always has its special beauty. You have layers, texture, and dimension but still CAS. So pretty! Last, but far from least, I'm simply in love with your butterfly! It looks like an original hand-painted creation and not a stamp at all. Exquisite in the soft colors. Good luck with your project. I know it will be time consuming.
Love all 4 of these cards Darnell and what fantastic splatters on the first 2. Just perfect. Yes, I noticed the number of emails was suddenly less and then it dawned on me that they must have finally turned off the email function. I get by with a mixture of email, reading list, bloglovin and also bookmarks for those I visit regularly. Bit of a hodge podge but it works for me, mostly. The emails are a good reminder though. Bloglovin has been playing up recently. Pages wouldn't open and just got error messages. Hey ho... good luck with your project xx
I'm jumping to the last part of your post first, Darnell. Feedburner sure did screw up things. I opted to send my post by email myself and put a subscribe gadget on my sidebar. I have 35 people who subscribed and only know 6 of them, you included. The rest must be stalkers because they never leave a comment. I have been getting emails from follow.it users, and some from WordPress but I never did get this one from you. And now that I think of it, the only ones I've been getting lately are from Bonnie and Loll, who also self send. I definitely do not want to have to wade through my reading list and I hate to unfollow people there to make the list more managable. If you come up with a good solution, please let me know. Otherwise I may have to bookmark myself a follow list like I have for challenges.
Now on to your cards. I saw that gorgeous poinsettia on CAS Mix-Up and was flabbergasted. The fact that it's a twofer is a big bonus. The all white card is so elegant and that butterfly so serene. Having received a card on glossy paper I can imagine how it looks and feels.
Me again. I should have thanked you for sending the butterfly to Just Us Girls.
Hmmm - your post may explain my lack of comments.... maybe not, as blogging seems to have gone very quiet since things got changed up and lots of folk are now not blogging.
Loving your cards, and good to see Hammy is still a pro at schplattering ink around ...The one that really sings to me is that butterfly one - that is stunning!
Blessings
Maxine
I am just commenting on your Gorgeous, Gorgeous 2 for 1 Large Poinsettia cards and your pine cone and butterfly cards...Enough said about Blogger..I totally agree!
I Love how you were able to get two beautiful CAS poinsettia cards out of one stamped poinsettia, Dolly. Your choice of colors are so beautiful and I love your CAS design. So pleased you joined us at CAS Mix Up. Emboss resist is always so fun no matter, which technique you use:-) Love your die cut CAS pine cone card with the dry embossed background. How awesome to have 3 Christmas cards for your stash! Love your beautiful butterfly that I agree with Leslie..it looks hand painted!
BTW...the twins will start college this Fall? Not possible!
BTW..we are not getting any smoke, but the Summer is not over...Thankful for our ocean West Wind that keeps the smoke away:-) How about you...are you managing your HOT days? We have had a lot of days up the river in the mid to high 80's. We prefer 70's, but are not complaining. Our Veggie Garden and Flower Gardens are Loving the weather:-)
Nice chatting...my dear sweet friend...good luck with your time consuming and annoying project...I know you would rather be creating or chatting with friends. Hi to Kevin and Hammy:-)
Love and Hugs, dear friend....Nancy
The fabulous four is what I shall call your amazing array of art all of them are stunners, especially love the poinsettias as the colours are so lush. So sorry to hear about Feedburner and hope you manage to catch up and clear out soon.Thank you so much for popping by and leaving your5 lovely comment.
Marie
Four stunning CAS cards, everyone better than the others! Wow!! Fabulous poinsettias ones, love the vibrancy and the sparkling! The white on white looks really elegant and impressive and LOVE the butterfly one!! Your talent always shine!
Hugs
FAB-u-LOUS makes as always, Darnell
I've had a few blogs for which I no longer receive notifications too - it's vexing isn't it? Good luck
Kathyk
Darnell, I love your "fourfer" watercolor-y butterfly and couldn't wait to learn your technique! It looks like a very involved watercolor process and you described a simple one. I love it!!! All of your cards here are beautiful and I'm so glad you shared them all! Thanks for joining our challenge this week at Just Us Girls!
Mm I noticed that re blogger too Darnell we were told it would happen that’s why I changed all my subscriptions over to Follow it and put the link at the top of my blog so you can subscribe there.
.. and Loll has managed it herself but I looked into that, was thinking maybe do it - and then a fellow Aussie Beccy pointed me to follow it and it’s really very helpful.
I’d like it if you added one to your blog, think I’ve mentioned it before too.
I don’t use bloglovin so will just have to depend on.my memory I’m like you with a very long reading list too… however I did see you’d posted because I’ve added you into my favourite blogs on my sidebar so you came up there when you posted but I’m not often looking at my sidebar but check emails al the time of course.
Now I’m love that poinsettia image idea I might have to CASE it … though mine is not as big as yours. Love the site emboss with schpaltters by Hammy. Pretty other cards too.. busy you are.
Thanks for popping over to my NBUS and leaving you’re always wonderful uplifting encouragement.
Thanks for Sharing, God bless and keep you safe, and all those you love, hugs Shaz in Oz.x
{Wonderful Words of Life - Shaz in Oz}
{Calligraphy Cards - Shaz in Oz}
Wow what a fab set of cards - your butterfly one is beautifully simple and the watercolour effect you've achieved with the pens onto stamp is wonderful. Thanks for joining us at Less is More.
Neil
Four fabulous creations Darnell, every one a stunner! I’ve always used the reading list for seeing new posts. It usually works quite well, but sometimes new posts don’t appear for some random reason. Blogger seems happiest when I produces little glitches to frustrate us all! 🤣 xx
What a treat to come visit and see all these lovely cards Sis! The watercoloring on the poinsettia is beautiful and how fun to get two cards out of it! and your butterfly looks so light and airy with the techniques you used! And lastly but not leastly - your white on white pine and cones is so pretty and perfect for the CAS Christmas challenge - thanks for playing along! xx
Hi Darnell! Oh such beautiful cards you have made here! I LOVE those poinsettia cards and those incredible colors. I am always a love of white on white, and yours is fantastic. I love the technique you tried on that gorgeous butterfly. What a great idea to try that on shiny paper! It is so CASly perfect for the butterfly challenge at Less Is More. Thanks so much for playing with us!!!
Fantastic fourfers! Love your white-on-white pine cone Christmas card. Perfect for my challenge, so thank you for joining in at CAS Christmas.
Can’t believe the grand twins are going off to college already. Time sure flies.
Beautiful, beautiful cards! Wow, am really LOVING those poinsettia duos and their gorgeous colors. Your WoW is pretty too, as the all white usually looks so classy and classic. Your butterfly is quite fun, and the sentiment oh so true!
As for blogger, I didn't want to risk it so started Follow.It. It did start changing over those others who went "personal senders", as well as others on Follow It and even some on BlogLovin' though I didn't ever post there, just received others' posts. However after awhile, I noticed I wasn't getting those posts anymore either! So frustrating! I'm hoping Follow It sticks around because it takes forever to make changes to new systems. For a hint, I was able to "back-up" my followers from blogger (don't remember the process but I might be able to figure it back out), and import them directly into Follow It - it was not simple, but also not as hard as some of the other changes we've endured...
I am rather slow to get around and comment these days. Love the cards and reading the blog. I have noticed the same thing with inactive sites especially. Have fun cleaning up.
Hugs,
Jim
Well I haven't been around for ages so I haven't a clue what is going on. Thank you so much for your card Darnell... Can't remember if I already thanked you or not? I hope you are well? great array of cards here and waltzing mouse, that's a blast from the past - I loved their stamps. Sending hugs
Four beautiful cards, Darnell, especially the pretty butterflies. Also love the white-on-white pines for CAS Christmas. Thanks for joining us this month.
Wow, lover your cards Darnell. The first two are really striking with that big beautiful and colorful poinsettia. Your all white joy card looks fabulous and the last one is pretty the way you colored the butterfly before stamping, TFS
Have a wonderful week my friend.
So many wonderful cards Darnell, Love that big poinsettia so perfect for making 2 cards and your pine cone is so elegant with white on white. You final card is stunningly simple ♥
I'm not happy with Follow it- people keep telling me they don't get my email notification but I don't know which is option is better :(
P.S sorry I've been a little slow saying thank you for the beautiful birthday card ♥
oops sorry I forgot to say thanks for joining us at CAS Christmas :)
Lots of fun reading your notes and looking at the cards tonight, Darnell. Love the poinsettia ones and the butterfly coloring is cool. Hope you're getting plenty of refreshments and fun times with your grand twins!
Amazing monochromatic JOY card. I'm loving the texture achieved with the embossing folder and of course, the dimension and texture of the die cuts. Lovely card. Thanks for joining us at Addicted to Stamps and More!
sue n.
Hi Darnell. So lovely to see all your beautiful makes. I cannot believe that I STILL haven't tried this two-cards-from-one technique despite lots of you inspiring the heck out of me!! *puts it on to-do list where it promptly gets buried by a series of urgent to-dos* I love the white on white number too - lots of lovely texture! But my favourite card this time is that stunning butterfly one - and you're right the inking up with markers has created the most beautiful fragile look that is emphasised by the touches of black. I spent a good week of so of doddery old ladyness, wondering why I didn't seem to have any bloggy friends any more, before understanding that the old alert system has disappeared. My favourite challenges don't turn up to inspire me either and I hadn't realised how much I rely on it. Le sigh. Will try to sort it out in September... Your crossed out comment about hanging out in airports made me laugh out loud, although of course it isn't funny :/ Sending hugs, Vicky x
What a handsome foursome! Each card has it's own special, beautiful look. I love the white on white, the gold touches and also that gorgeous butterfly! I was about to write to you to see if you've heard from Verna, and I spotted a comment here from her that she quit her blog. So many of our dear crafters are trailing off and giving up this hobby and it's sad. There are so many changes within this digital world that I don't understand (I still don't own a cellphone) so I'm usually left in a cloud of dust when it comes to problem-solving on the internet. I cannot believe the twins are on college tours already, but then so is my DGD so time flies by faster than I could have ever imagined! wishing you great weekend!
Darnell you cards are all fabulous! I love your two fer with the poinsettias! And thank you for joining us at CAS Christmas with your pines and all that magnificent white on white! Heart Hugs friend!
So many amazing cards in one post, Darnell. I love the view of your poinsettias, they look like flames. What a stunning color selection and mixing.
I have the same problem, I stopped getting notifications from some blogs and I know some of my friends are not getting notifications from me. It's so frustrating because I haven't changed anything and everything has changed. Fortunately, I have a habit of visiting my friends' blogs and then I can see how many new posts I have lost.
hugs, BożenA xx
So many amazing cards in one post, Darnell. I love the view of your poinsettias, they look like flames. What a stunning color selection and mixing.
I have the same problem, I stopped getting notifications from some blogs and I know some of my friends are not getting notifications from me. It's so frustrating because I haven't changed anything and everything has changed. Fortunately, I have a habit of visiting my friends' blogs and then I can see how many new posts I have lost.
xx
Just saying Hi Darnell, been distracted with mum visiting lately so it's nice to find time to add some comments.... as always you've surprised everyone with your gorgeous cards.. love the twofer poinsettia, that's a fab large stamp and beautifully coloured, lovely white on white Pine & Cone card and lovely butterfly one too... all inspiring, have a wonderful day Robyn
Sorry for the late visit ...... we're away in the van again, and the internet is not playing nicely!!
Just spotted your gorgeous poinsettia card in the CAS Mix Up gallery. WOW! what a stunner ...... I do love a nice poinsettia.
Thank you for playing along with this month's challenge xx
Absolutely love the poinsettia card, Darnell! I seldom do WOW cards, but yours shows how effective they can be with the various textures like dry embossing & layered diecuts!
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