Seasonal III

Hello Stamplings!

How the heck are you doing? I hope all is well in your little corner of the world! 

Please be careful as you join me in getting down on your knees or up on a chair to bring your holiday dishes out from their 11-month hidey-hole hibernation. Actually, I don't have holiday dishes, but I do have my big roaster back up in there where the the light doesn't shine. I suspect it's where the dust bunnies meet for Friday night tipples.

Wish I had a pool boy for times like this. Then again, that might be odd since I don't have a pool. But I do have a Twofer of "Anything Goes" seasonal cards for the last-week-of-November I.D.E.A.S. schedule.

Onefer

The leafy background is a NBUS stamp and die from Altenew called, "Climbing Leaves." I stamped and white heat-embossed the leaves and then I painted them using my old beloved Ziggies. Once dry, the lads put on their daubers and blended over the whole thing with DI Antique Linen to bring out the autumnness and polish the white lines of the embossing. I attached the panel to a black background panel. The sediment is from Altenew's "Autumn Bounty" set.

Twofer

This QACAS and NBUS design stands alone and I couldn't think of a way to add a sediment without marring the pure delight of the ornaments and snowfall of this 3D e/f from SSS called, "Verdant Ornaments." I thought the gold foil background gave it a nice frame to focus the eyeballs on the gorgeous details.

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Where's Stanley?

I will be taking a break to finish Christmas cards and we will doing some traveling over the holidays, so I wish you well until mid-January. Please enjoy yourself as you celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, or whatever brings you joy! 

No, seriously, enjoy! Life is too short! And special hugs to all of you who are not well or who sadly know firsthand how hard the holidays can be.🫂

As we wrap up our 13th year, Hammy, Stanley, and I thank you for another year of great fun, friendship, and creative inspiration! Thank you for your visits, comments, and your participation in I.D.E.A.S. and NBUS this year! Mwah!

Happy New Year!!

Challenges:

Addicted to CAS: Ornaments. (2)

Alphabet Challenge: Q is for quick and easy. (2)

Addicted to Stamps and More: Make your mark. (1)

Four Seasons: Fall (1)

NBUS: Never-Before-Used-Schtuff (1)

Rudolph Days: A/G Christmas.

Simply Clean and Simple: Christmas is coming. (2)

Seasonal II

Hello Stamplings!

How are you doing? I hope you've had a great week. Thank you for your good wishes regarding my dental work. I'm happy to say it all went well, thanks to nitrous oxide!😁 It was my first time and I love that stuff! 

I have been up and down with emotions this week. Thankfully, I can always withdraw to my happy place with my three cuddlers ~ not counting my main cuddler. For week two of November's I.D.E.A.S., we had a good time getting jiggy with the Gemini!

Onefer ~ Fall, Thanksgiving

This fall blessings card is like a prequel to a layered Thanksgiving turkey sandwich. (Sorry if that started you drooling.) I began with a white bread card base and building upwards, I added a piece of finely textured beige pp. On top of that I spread a layer of NBUS Sugar Peas Leaf Cover Plate. 

For color and flavor, I added a layer of Poppystamps Feather Tree Frame, cut from pretty patterned paper (ppp). I topped it all with a double dollop layer of Blessings from Hero Arts, cut from shiny copper. Very filling, just as a Thanksgiving sanditch should be!

Linking to: Cardz 4 Galz: Showcase Your PP; Poppystamps: Leaves Are Falling ...; Cut It Up: Grateful and/or Thankful; SSS Monday: Thanks/Thanksgiving

Twofer ~ Winter, Christmas

In a quest for QACAS Christmas designs this late in the year, and in an effort to use up more of my ppp, I made this using a hammered card panel and an old-timey ornament die from Spellbinders Nestabilities called 2011 Heirloom Ornaments. To bring out the gold in the ornament paper, I gold heat-embossed the sediment from SSS called, "Holiday Greetings Mix 1."

This ppp comes in different colors and Hammy and Stanley found great matching papers to use for matting. All I had to do was get on with the batch making. It all went well until the idea of batches made me stop and make a few batches of Amish Sugar Cookies. Someone told me they freeze well. Oh, hahahaha, as if there were any around to freeze!!

Linking to Addicted to Stamps and More: Die Cuts and Stencils; Allsorts: Christmas; and Die Cut Divas: Christmas.

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

Thank you to the families of all the service men and women who have died for our country and to those who are currently serving.🙏

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!

Thoughts

I haven't mentioned politics here because this is a card blog. These are just my thoughts about one thing in particular. Please don't read this if you aren't interested and please don't feel like you need to comment.

I'm an Independent and more of a long-range thinker in terms of the effects politics has on society and our beleaguered earth. We are at a definite crossroads when it comes to the established system of checks and balances we rely on in order to preserve democracy, but as a democratic nation, we accept the results of our elections, wish the new president well, and move on. 

For his part, I hope that President-Elect Trump begins to build a bridge over the deep divide that exists in America ~ a divide stoked by fear and anger. I wish him success with that because, honestly, I'm exhausted by the last four years, sick of the nastiness, and appalled at the media hyping the negativity nonstop. It is a relief to finally see for ourselves that the 2020 election was not stolen or rigged. Common sense tells us that if it had been, then the deep state Democrats would have rigged this election, too, in order to make sure Harris won. Not only that, but if you think about it, they surely would have rigged the 2016 election, too. It's too bad we had to deal with the terrible fall-out from this lie for four very long years, but now we know the truth firsthand. And now the new leadership can concentrate on healing the nation with words that unite us rather than divide us. I pray.

I realize that there are Bible verses for every situation, no matter your viewpoint. I'd like to share this one, which I hope will become a hallmark going forward:

1 Peter 2:1: So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, all hypocrisy, jealousy, and unkind speech.

Amen.🫂🙏 

And Just Like That ... 🗓️🗓️

Hello Stamplings!

I hope you are doing well! We finally turned our backs, er, our clocks back, so I should start waking up in with more engery. I have such a hard time getting going when my brain tells me, "It is the pitch of night, go back to bed." Today I have to get through the first of a series of yucky dental appointments and the election is tomorrow. Anxiety is high, so thank you, Lord, for potatoes, from which wodka flows.

But that's not why you called in. Let's talk about pretty things. Like cards. Christmas cards, to be exact. And it's week one of November's I.D.E.A.S., so I had a play with Ink.

Onefer

The trends of using die-cut images and embossing folders continues in delightful ways with this hobby, but for this QACAS design, I really enjoyed just using stamps.

I have to say this was a treat to photograph. She said, snarkcastically. I finally got an angle to show both the embossed shine of the sediment and the glossification of the berries, compliments of Hammy and Stanley. The sediment and the double-stamped NBUS mistletoe are from, "The Magic of Christmas" by Simon Says. 

Twofer

Back in February, the Group of Seven Cardmakers did a technique called, "Masked Stenciling" and I made this pair using that technique. I especially love the die cut deer and trees with their unexpected stencil lines and lavender color.

~~~

Lunch With Girlfriends

By Kathy O’Malley

Elaine’s vertigo has never been worse.

Kay can’t recall where she left her purse.

Rhonda’s about to replace her knees.

Linda’s breathing is tinged with a wheeze.

Donna's left boob has a troublesome lump.

Diane’s on her third trip to take a dump.

Lorraine’s husband can’t remember a thing.

Nine years a widow, Marge still wears her ring.

Marlene is dealing with another UTI.

Sally’s giving hearing aids another try.

Marie has decided she can’t drive at night.

Sharon still wears clothes two sizes too tight.

They’ve been through divorces and babies and wakes.

They do for each other whatever it takes.

They’ve already buried Marcia and Kate.

And truthfully, Lizzie’s not looking so great.

So whenever they can, they get out to eat.

Open bottles of wine and forget their sore feet.

There’s laughing and crying and letting down guards.

And when the bill comes, there’s ten credit cards.

So here’s to the waiters who keep orders straight,

And the places that let lunches run three hours late.

And here’s to the girlfriends, those near and those far.

Here's to the girlfriends, you know who you are!

🥰🥰🥰

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! 

*Life is too short!

Challenges:

Addicted to Stamps and More: 2: Die Cuts and Stencils.

Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round: 2: Reindeer, Deer, or Moose.

Color Hues: 1: Red and Black.

Jingle Belles: 2: Christmas animals.

Peace on Earth: 1: Christmas.

We Love Stamping: 1: Christmas.

The Group of Seven Get Glittery and Happy Halloween!

Hello Stamplings!

It's good to see you again! I hope everyone has been keeping well and enjoying some crafty time! 

Has the panic of Christmas card-making hit you square in the face yet? Me, too. It's such a shock every year, in spite of our wonderful all-year-round Christmas card challenges. Does that mean we're not the brightest ornaments in the box or are we eternal optimists, thinking somehow another month will be wedged in there to give us more time?

Fortunately this month's technique at Group of Seven Cardmakers lent itself to Christmas card designs for me and because this is the fourth week of the month, my I.D.E.A.S. schedule is "Anything Goes!" Woot!

Our technique this month is Glitter Painting on Acetate. Wait. Wait. Don't run screaming at the mere mention of the word herpes glitter. It is messy, sure, but what's the big deal if you go to the grocer's with glitter in your hair or down your shirt front? Even a schparkle or two over tonight's spaghetti and meatballs could be fun, right?!

Onefer

It is a bear trying to photograph glitter AND acetate! For both my cards, I reached for an old favorite stamp set from PTI called, "Botanical Blocks IV." After stamping the image with StazOn ink onto acetate, I painted the poinsettias with glue and glitter. Once dry, I backed the image with a watercolored pink pp from my stash, and finished with a stitched gray frame.

Twofer

For the holly, once the glitter was dry, I glued a small red panel behind the acetate to back the image. Then I glued that to a panel of SU emboss-resist pp. Finally, to bring the eye to the center, I glued a narrow dotted frame to the acetate. On the advice of my two whiskered helpers, no sediments were added to either card.

You might wonder why I only used white glitter on my cards. It's because when I moved everything out of the Playhouse for repainting and purging last December, I purged my collection of glitter. Fortunately, Hammy spoke up as I putting all my vials in a box and he reminded me that I should hang onto the white glitter for snow and such on Christmas cards. Thank you, Hammy!

If you still have lots of glitter in white or in colors and you want to paint with it on acetate (which is totally fun and very addictive), you will see lots of colorful examples on the Group of Seven Cardmakers website! And you'll also find a linky tool where we hope you will share any schparkly cards you make!

Happy Halloween!

A coupla weeks ago, I posted a wreath with a big black spider from a Memory Box die. I thought I would try using the negative spider as a stencil and it worked great! After stenciling with orange CP ink, I embossed the panel with a 3D Tim Holtz folder that looked a bit webby. Before running it through the Gemini, I used a gray ink pad to lightly ink the pointy bits.

Another Fun Visit

Last week my friend Bev visited me from Wisconsin and this week I visited my friend Brenda in Indiana! Brenda's blog is Inkspired to Stamp.

It's not the best photo, but we are novices when it comes to selfies! It had been five years since we were together and I thoroughly enjoyed my visit! And it was wonderful to meet Daisy, The Wonder Dog ...

... who was sad to see me go.😒I felt the same way, Daisy, but I'll be back!

~~~

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! I hope your tricks and treats are lots of fun!

*Life is too short!

Challenges

Just Us Girls: Use a stencil.

Little Red Wagon: Embossing.

Rudolph Days: A/G Christmas.

SSS Wednesday: Christmas.

Holiday Gold and Silver

Hello Stamplings!

How are you? I hope all is well where you are. If not, I hope it gets better soon. xoxo 

I had a fun and very busy week! Before my friend arrived, I managed to make a couple of QACAS Christmas cards for today's post.

At times like this, my I.D.E.A.S. schedule helps tremendously because I don't have to think about where to start. This week is D=Dies and because I'm way behind on my holiday cards, Christmas was the obvious theme. And because I'm also trying to use up my bits and pieces and my pp, that's where I started.

Onefer

I found the gold heat-embossed evergreen sprig and the mug in BOB. I wish now I had taken a couple of minutes and heat-embossed the mug in gold instead of just rubbing the edges with a gold ink pad, but never mind. 

The joy die is from Memory Box. Going through my pp for a background, my little helpers didn't have to search long once they saw this beautiful blue paper shot-through with gold. I brought the corner chomper out of retirement to give my card design that extra "oh yeah" feeling.

Twofer

This is so simple for the big impact it makes. Even though it doesn't show clearly, the front panel is hammered card. The tree aperture die is from poppystamps, called, "Sloping Hillside." I chose this pretty pp because it also has a hammered look. It comes in many colors and has patches of gold- or silver-embossing. The sediment from GKW nestles in there perfectly and depending on the pp I used, I heat-embossed it in either gold or silver.

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Some of you may remember the very lovely Bev from her blog Happy Dance. 

Bev and I met online in December 2012 and it was such a pleasure having her visit for a few days! We have been on many craft retreats over the years and I have been to her beautiful home in Wisconsin a few times, but this was her first trip to California! 

The Mister gladly went off on a motorcycle ride to allow us some "girlie" time and needless to say, we had a blast! (He did, too!)

~~~

I hope you enjoy the coming days! 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! I'm going to be with another friend this week and the week after, so I prolly won't post next Monday. 

*Life is too short!

Challenges

Krafty Chicks: Christmas

Love Those Pretty Papers

Peace on Earth