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.

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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.