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?!

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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.

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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!

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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! 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.

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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.

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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!)

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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

Getting All Seasonal I

Hello Stamplings!

I hope you are doing well and enjoying your crafty self! 

We are entering the Frenzy Zone of card-making, especially in the u. s. of a. where we celebrate Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas in a matter of days. And Thanksgiving is late this year, arriving on November 28. But we get 'er done every year.👻🦃🎄

This week my I.D.E.A.S. schedule features Ink/Color Mediums:

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First up is a fall sunflower birthday card I made for a very special friend. My little helpers winked the entire flower and leaves, but this time they let me add the schplatters in dark brown to match the sediment from GKW. The sunflower is from Technique Tuesday.

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Next, we switched over to Halloween. The creepy spider die is from Memory Box. The leaf wreath is a NBUS stencil from Altenew which I thought would be fun colored in Halloween colors. I think the sediment is from SU.

I used my watercolor pencils to color through the stencil and then, after removing the stencil, I lightly brushed the leaves with my water brush and added the veins with a micro black pen. I used my gray Ziggie to add outline dementia. The card was embossed with the Subtle e/f from SU and lightly sprinkled with some diluted black gouache.

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To finish the seasons, and because it's addicting, I made another wreath with the Altenew stencils, this time for Christmas. I blended with my Catherine Pooler inks in one of my favorite color combos. The leaf veins were added with a stamp from the companion stamp set. After coloring, I again used the Subtle e/f. The layered Joy sediment is from Memory Box.

Cheeky Humor

A couple goes to an art gallery and come upon a painting of a nearly nude woman with her private bits covered with leaves.

The wife doesn't like it and moves on, but the husband keeps looking.

"What are you waiting for?" the wife asks.

The husband replies, "Autumn."

~~~

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: Birthday. (sunflower)

Color Hues: Purple and orange. (spider)

Four Seasons: A/G Fall. (sunflower)

Memory Box: Happy Haunting. (spider)

NBUS: Wreath stencil.

Stencil Fun: Anything Halloween. (spider)