Pages

January 28, 2016

Hearts and Flowers

Hey, there! I hope your week is rolling along smoothly for you!

I wonder why roller blades went out of fashion so quickly. I've said before how I used to love roller skating as a kid. I was too old for roller blades when they became popular, but I would think the young'ns would love them and still use them. Instead, they have hoverboards that don't even hover except when they're bursting into flames.

Okay, then.

I have two items on the menu to share today.

First up is a card for this week's "Adore" challenge at CASology:
The stitched rectangle is by Lil' Inker. The clear heart bling is from SU. The NBUS sediment is unmarked. The stitched capital I is from my alphabet stash, which container is as big and as unused as my heart container was, sooo ... anyone in need of some alphabet letters?

Gosh, I spose you could say I adore you so much that my hearts bleed for you. Eu! No! That's a bit violent, Shirley. How about instead we describe it as hearts flowing down a river of watercolored cotton candy punctuated with sugary splatters? Yummo!

I'm also playing with:
SIP Tic Tac Toe 32 800

~~~

The other challenge that spoke to me yesterday was the Muse Challenge. Not only is it challenge #150, but my sweet Scottish friend Jenni Murray has joined the Design Team, which means her card is up for CASEing this week.
The e/f is Cross-Stitch Frame Borders by Memory Box. The silver embossed French script stamp is En Francois by SU. The NBUS sediment is Inkadinkado from my friend Brenda. The flower stamp and die are Vintage Linens by PTI. The flower centers are Liquid Pearls, which are partially smashed because the card fell over on its face during the windy photoshoot. Oops.

Here is Jenni's beautiful card:
I loved Jenni's design so much that I pretty much did a complete DJKASE copy of it using different products. I followed Jenni's panel design, watercolor washing my embossed script panel, and I topped that off with a floral sprig and white-on-black sediment layer. I would recommend a crisp chardonnay with that.

Congratulations on the DT appointment, Jenni!

I'm also playing in the "Anything Goes" challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.
In other news ~~

RE: REfollowing

I spoke too soon about the loss of followers not being too bad. After several days of up and down ticks of only four-five followers, I lost 33 overnight! (Wish that were pounds!) You can read about what's happening here.

Please NOTE something I forgot to tell you when we talked about this last time. There is a second action you must take in order to make it go back to how it was. In addition to signing up for a free Google account, you also have to REclick to join as a follower because you have been dropped by Blogger. You can rejoin using the blue button on the side bar that says "Join This Site." Thank you! Every time I visit a blog by Blogger now, I click the "Join" blue button to double-check that I'm still hooked up with you. It's a bit of a nuisance, but there you have it.

Great Minds

You know how sometimes we feel like we are so unique artistically, but then we hear that it's hard to put a copyright on creativity because what we might think up could just as easily be thought up by someone else's hamster?

And you know how I posted just such a cool and unusual card in my last post with the double-die-cityscape cut-out? Well, you have to check out this card by my friend Ros of Mikey's Mom! On the very same day, she also posted a card using a double-die-cityscape cut-out on her card!!

You have to admit, that's goose-pimply.

A Discount!

I'm so happy to announce that my friend and teacher, Deepti Malik, is offering all of my followers a 50% discount off the price of her excellent watercolor class! To sign up, click Watercolor Cards Class at Craftsy.com. Thank you for your generosity, Dee!!

Giveaways!

Don't forget the GIVEAWAYS page at the top of my blog home page! 
This one closes at noon PST tomorrow, FRIDAY the 29th!

~~~

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!

*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 the pop-up box opens.
Click Jump to Comment Form; no more car pool tunnel! Mwah!
If you ask me a question in your comment, please remember to leave
me your email address so I can respond. Thank you!

102 comments:

  1. Two fabulous cards - love the techniques you have used in both.
    Kath x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Darnell! Lovely cards there! I especially like the second one with the stitching effect. The followers business is a real mess. I've always used a Google account yet appear to be being kicked off some blogs. Like you am now checking each blog I visit :-(

    Hugs

    Di xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. I found this morning that Mr Google had unilaterally unfollowed me from several blogs, yours seems to be an exception as you were still there in my Blobber feed, looking very lonely. I sooooo much prefer Bloglovin, it doesn't boss us around like Google does.
    Jane

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wonderful cards, Darnell! So sorry you didn't catch the photo BEFORE the topple on the second one...

    ReplyDelete
  5. so lovely cards and great techniques with lovely colours ...
    yes, it's a mess about refollowing - I've always used my google account but I lost some blogs that I followed ... so I am doing the same as you - checking every blog if I am still following it ...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Both your cards are beautiful and yes the loss of followers has been huge the past two days...I lost nearly 80 since yesterday and the numbers are decreasing by the hour...sad since we craft bloggers treasure each follower so much

    ReplyDelete
  7. Absolutely gorgeous cards. Thank you for the link and the discount opportunity - it may just go on my never ending to do list.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Two love;y card and techniques Darnell...

    Anne

    ReplyDelete
  9. Both lovely cards. Love the soft watercolour feel to your hearts x Lindsey Uniko DT

    ReplyDelete
  10. Both lovely cards.

    Hope you are having a good day. Sue

    ReplyDelete
  11. Well...you didn't lose me :) Love love love your cards as always!

    ReplyDelete
  12. These are both such beautiful cards Darnell. Just checked and I'm still a follower xx

    ReplyDelete
  13. Stunning! Both cards are simply stunning!! I so am wanting to play along with CASE-ing Jenni's card and now your sweet card is even more inspiration. Love both of these!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I lost 40 followers this past week! Yikes! I love love love your cards ... I think the hearts one is so fun!!!! And I had to laugh at your Hoverboard comment ... I work for a credit card company, the chargeback/dispute department... and oh man! have we had SO MANY disputes on the hoverboards ... lol! It is crazy!!!!!!!!!!1

    ReplyDelete
  15. Two beautiful cards Darnell and I adore your watercolour highlighted hearts flowing down the card in that pretty way, and then the lovely flowers lying on the inked script and those gorgeous cross stitched mats which show the flowers off so perfectly which is a great CASEing of Jenni's elegant Muse creation. Mr Blogger seems to have left me intact so far!! x

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wonderful cards, Darnell. Your descriptions are so funny! Thanks for the giggle. I'm sorry that you are having issues with Blogger. I hope things work out in the end. Why do people have to mess with stuff and make things more difficult?? Hope it gets squared away quickly. Thanks for sharing your great cards!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Both are gorgeous, yikes, I thought did I say something about violet? ha ha.. Love the hearts, the white backgrounds, the inkiness on the top and layers on the 2nd (great CASE). I hope you are doing well, it's been rather hectic here, hope life slows down a little. Hugs, Shirleyxx

    ReplyDelete
  18. Fab cards this week Darnell!! Thought maybe you'd cut your finger, ya know, nasty paper cut or such, and you were going to artfully use the smear. So glad that's not what it was. :) Hugs

    ReplyDelete
  19. Very pretty cards. That river of hearts is a great look. I especially like all the textures, layers, and the pretty pink on that flower card.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Both stunning creations Darnell my friend!! Your second description of that first beauty was so much more apt! ;) Have a lovely day! Hazel xx

    ReplyDelete
  21. Gorgeous cards. Loving the hearts running through the water coloured space.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Oh Darnell, this cards are beautiful, when I saw the first one, I imagined a pretty and colorful smoke stack created by burning LOVE, it's so creative.
    The second one is truly lovely, every time I see this set of dies I want them, I think I like this cross stitch design better than the simple stitch. Beautiful colored blooms, love the details of the pearl centers.
    Thank you for sharing, see you at the galleries.
    Hugs,
    Maria Rodriguez.

    ReplyDelete
  23. A couple of beauties today Darnell. I loved roller skating as a girl and encouraged my boys too when they were small, they each had a pair of Fisher Price skates!! xx

    ReplyDelete
  24. Wonderful cards.
    Have a nice day!
    Valerija xx

    ReplyDelete
  25. FABULOUS makes missus, love that torrent of hearts!

    Hope you got my e-mail regarding your travel plans!

    I lost eight followers overnight myself, Darnell ... or should that read DARN IT!

    All the best

    Kathyk

    ReplyDelete
  26. BEAUTIFUL Darnell!!
    I like the technique of the floating hearts. With the hearts being clear makes it quite eye catching.

    I had seen your CASE card, but yours is truly just as lovely.

    So far I've only lost about 6 followers, but I don't have nearly the amount of followers you have.....but time will tell.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Two sweet and pretty cards, Darnell!!
    And you had me laughing about those hoverboards! lol Yeah, none of those things for my kids. And memories of good old fashion roller skates...the skate rink was the ultimate hang out on Fridays/Saturdays when I was a kid. Good times. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  28. Beautiful watercoloring swooshing around your hearts Darnell - at first I thought they were cut outs! and your flower is just lovely on your 2nd creation!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Wonderful cards, as always! Love the stitching on your 3 panels and the pretty soft pink! So great to see you at Muse this week, my friend!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Your tumbling hearts are gorgeous Darnell but your case of Jenni's card is wonderful!
    Val x

    ReplyDelete
  31. Fabulous cards again today Darnell. Interesting coincidence about the double cut left overs. It does make a stunning color shape for cards...just wait someone will create the die to do just that!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Oh Dung! I had to re-re-re-refollow you again today and I show up with the cat stamp picture. That isn't the photo related to my Google account but it didn't give me options. It is all too weird. So is my reading your sentence and then stopping before it was over: "the stitched capital I is from my alphabet stash, which container is as big and as unused as my heart"

    Ummmm what? Your heart isn't unused! Oh! Keep reading, Judy!

    I like that heart card. I have a line of pawprints like that and now I know what to do with it! Your DJKased card is mucho awesome-o too. That's PJ Spanglish for way cool.

    Maybe I should follow you with my work Google. They wouldn't dare kick off something work related would they??!!!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Nope, won't let me join with my work Google. It actually said "unauthorized" so probably I'm gonna get sent to the principal's office now.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Today's cards are both so pretty! Love them, so different but both very impressive!

    ReplyDelete
  35. #1 Beauty - Your 'hearts flowing down a river of watercolored cotton candy punctuated with sugary splatters' is definitely YUMMY! 'Sweet' SU hearts.

    #2 Beauty - Love the texture, love the cross stitched borders and ADORE your images and colors! Soooooo elegant and sooooo pretty!

    Thanks for the update on Blogger (haven't been over to visit my own blog for ages so don't even know if it was affected!)

    I see that you have listed the sweet 'heart of hearts' die so thinkin' that I might throw my name into the hat!

    ReplyDelete
  36. Two utterly wonderful cards here Darnell. I smiled at your description of the river of blood vs cotton candy (which we call Candy Floss in New Zealand). If someone forced me to name a favourite would be the second one but it would impossible to choose between yours and the original. They are both SUPERB.

    ReplyDelete
  37. I love the adore card with those colorful hearts seeping sugary sweetness! (Howzat for a description? LOL I lost 30 followers overnight too, and I'm soon gonna call Rhonda Rousey to contend with Google if this keeps up! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  38. Two fantastic cards and love both of them. As to my followers, I best check my blog and see if I lost more. I don't have that many to begin with so I would be in trouble if I did. I see I am still connected to yours though.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Gorgeous cards, as always, Darnell! And yep, Google is being a right pain in the butt! Grr! I'll reactivate here now.
    Hugs,
    Em

    ReplyDelete
  40. Goodness, two fabulous card Auntie! I love the hearts/adore you card. Simple watercoloring and splatters then the perfect sentiment-just gorgeous! Oh my then look at this CASE card, Wow! It is simple stunning! Love the way you added just a touch of coloring on the flower, the panels with the X's are so cool and of course I am just loving the linen paper. The sentiment is nice in black and white, goes so well ont his card. Brenda is such a sweetie! I thought the squished pearls only happen to me when my card fell over trying to photograph it. lol Glad to know it happens to you too at times! Anyway a great CASE on Jenni's beautiful card. Hugs, Brenda

    ReplyDelete
  41. Oh I love those cascaded hearts, what a romantic card, beautifully crafted - love, love, love it - lots! Your second card is beautiful too, the flowers are so pretty!

    It's official, I don't like Blogger!!! Hugs, Anne xx

    ReplyDelete
  42. There you go...doppelganger creativity. Find folks doing the same stuff as I am, frequently. So believe both your's and Ros' cards are so different that they do now resemble each other, though. These new cards are real eye candy...those tumbling hearts made me smile. And your CASE of Jenni's card is amazing. Don't know how you managed it, but I get a softer, more vintage feel from it. Truly gorgeous. Thanks, by the way, for the blogger bloop update.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Hi Darnell, Two beautiful cards. Your colour work is amazing and I love your hearts card design with that wonderful inky background.
    Sue...xxx

    ReplyDelete
  44. Your cards are both beautiful, but I especially like the cascading hearts with the watercolor splash. What a great way to use that stitched alphabet letter!

    ReplyDelete
  45. What fun cards. I love the cascading hearts and the watercolor look on your first card and those flowers are just beautiful on your second card.

    ReplyDelete
  46. oh darnell I just adore these from the tumbling hearts to your Muse one which is just gorgeous!.... thank you my friend for joining in this week.this card is a winner in my eyes!x

    ReplyDelete
  47. Two brat cards, very novel idea with the water coloured, waterfall of heart and I love the design and images on your second card.

    Kath x

    ReplyDelete
  48. A duo of beauty and awesomeness Darnell and I like the idea of a river of hearts! Great to see you play along at Uniko with this one and it's RED at ATCAS this week if you fancy popping it in there too! Thanks so much. Sarah x

    ReplyDelete
  49. I'm amazed about your card with hearts. I like your water colouring and little drops of colour around. Also wonderful CASEing of Jennis card. :-)
    Hugs, Sonja

    ReplyDelete
  50. Hi Darnell I just popped in to say I think your cards are simply amazing, love the one with the hearts but for me I just adore the one with the flowers absolutely gorgeous..x

    ReplyDelete
  51. Great cards, Darnell! I especially love the heart one.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Wasn't sure how you could follow up the bleeding hearts card (haha, i love it), but your CASE'd card rocks, too! Booyah, you got the mojo flow going!

    ReplyDelete
  53. I love both of your cards, but hat second one is just stunning! I love the flowers and the soft colors. Thank you so much for sharing. Good luck with the blogging glitches!

    ReplyDelete
  54. Well your cards make me goose-bumply too! They are all so lovely!!!

    ReplyDelete
  55. Thanks for the tip -- I just rejoined. Pretty cards, as always!

    ReplyDelete
  56. Two more lovely cards! The watercolor around your hearts is so awesome & your second card is just gorgeous. I'm still getting email notifications, so I think I'm okay.

    ReplyDelete
  57. Hearts and flowers, two of my favorite things :) Love the touch of water colouring with the cascading hearts - like a flowing river of hearts - and the flower card is gorgeous!! Thanks for the info re: blogger. I dropped 15 overnight and was wondering what the heck was up!

    ReplyDelete
  58. Your cotton candy cloud sprinkled with hearts is adorable and your take on the Muse fabulous! No matter what kind of style you use for your cards, they always look pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  59. Beautiful cards Darnell. I just love your water coloring.

    My theory - nobody could figure out how to stop :)

    ReplyDelete
  60. Another fabulous pari of cards Darnell! Love the pretty flowers and soft pink on your second!

    ReplyDelete
  61. I love the Muse inspiration & yours is just as fabulous, Darnell! I say winner!! The heart card is fun, too!

    ReplyDelete
  62. Your cards today are fab, as usual. I especially loved your CASE card. So pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  63. Love your hearts in the river card Darnell - the clear bling hearts look like cut outs. The floral card is gorgeous too.
    My followers have been dropping too - never mind, I am not defined by who may, or may not, follow me. Good for the ego though :-)
    Blessings
    Maxine

    ReplyDelete
  64. I'm still here hun ...... Blogger's playing around with my followers too, they're disappearing as we speak!
    Two fabulous cards ..... love the watercolouring. Enjoy your weekend xx

    ReplyDelete
  65. Two beauties - the cotton candy cascade of hearts looks fabulous and you have done a great DJKASE of Jenni's Muse inspiration. Lovely designs and a blog post that made me smile....who could ask for more?!

    ReplyDelete
  66. Fantastic !! What super awesome cards :-D xxxxxxxxxxxxx

    ReplyDelete
  67. What a delicious cascade of delightful hearts, Darnell ... like your second description of them best ... sounds so yummy! Beautiful take on Jenni's Muse ... lovely layers, beautiful blooms ... and of course that elegant French script ... magnifique, mon amie! Miss you! Hugs & bisous, Anita :)

    ReplyDelete
  68. Wow, your casecard is so elegant and beautiful! And the hearts look great grungy-artsy; good to see something else as the standard hearts!! Hope you have a fun weekend planned!

    ReplyDelete
  69. These are gorgeous, Darnell! I especially love the second card - so pretty! Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  70. Your Valentine card is so pretty, no matter what you call it! The cas of Jenni's card is just beautiful. I love the stitched frames and the flowers with their sparkly centers. I must tell you I tried to see if I was still a follower and got the message "This webpage has a redirect loop" with an err too many-redirects. I also got the same message when I tried to join this site. I deleted my cookies, although I was really in the mood for the chocolate chips ones, and that still did not work so I'm at a loss. I tried on two different days and also on some other blogs and got the same message. Duh!

    ReplyDelete
  71. Nicely done on all the challenges! Since I'm looking at a couple of them myself, I thought I'd stop in and say how beautiful these two cards are.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Love the the watercolor plume of hearts, Darnell! I'm pretty sure the "adore you" is from SSS Always :) Thanks for joining us at the CASology challenge this week!

    ReplyDelete
  73. Beautiful cards. The beautiful die cut hearts with the watercolor wash is so artsy and pretty! The flowers are gorgeous. Thanks for playing along with us in the "Love is in the Air" challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge this week!

    ReplyDelete
  74. Two beautiful cards Dippy. Love the negative hearts on the first one and you did a brilliant CASe of the second card - that's really effective.

    Hugs.

    Karendipity xxx

    ReplyDelete
  75. Darnell, I was totally enjoying your hearts until you pointed out that the background MAY look a bit like blood. Now I can't unsee it, haha! Your flowers are GORGEOUS! I had wondered about my followers. I'd forgotten the changes. I only lost about 10 followers in total and my numbers have been wildly going up and down for a week. I think some people have chosen to unfollow, some unwillingly unfollowed and came back, and others started following. I'm completely confused. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  76. Darnell, love these two cards and techniques. The second one is a lovely CASE and I adore the hearts flowing down a river of watercolored cotton candy punctuated with sugary splatters ;-)
    PS: I double checked to be sure I'm still a happy follower~I've got enough problems with my computer crash and 2 printers biting the dust in the last couple of weeks and trying to maneuver around a NEW computer with Windows 10 :( Don't need Google messing with me!

    ReplyDelete
  77. Thank you for joining us at Stamp, Ink, Paper this week!! Love your card!! It is just so FUN!! And now I want cotton candy!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  78. Haha! I'm laughing at your comment about the hover boards ... so true!
    Adorable cards here my friend - Gorgeous CASing there for the Muse.
    There are times when great minds should not think alike ... Times like friday evening when I somehow managed to throw my cell phone into the washing up... I kid you not! By time it was discovered it was useless... Thankfully the government here awarded me my pension and gave me back pay ... A new phone was thus purchased... Gotta be more in the "now"
    Have a beautiful day and thanks so much for the shout!

    ReplyDelete
  79. I was definitely thinking hearts rolling down a waterfall of watercoloured cotton candy, Darnell! How could it possibly be anything else? It has such a playful, adorable feel. Your MUSE card is LOVE-ly too! Love those cross-stitched mats! I must admit, as much as I tried to embrace the rollerblading era, they left me with a painful coccyx. Sometimes persistence can be painful! Love that you joined us over at CASology this week!

    ReplyDelete
  80. I am arriving here from your post for CASology. I thought the hearts were punched, interesting. I posted a card but dang I forgot how "the mind is a terrible thing to waste." Hugs

    ReplyDelete
  81. What a wonderful card you made for our Adore challenge. Love the combination of stitching, water colors and die cuts. Also, love your MUSE--a stunner as well. Thanks so much for playing along at CASology this week.

    ReplyDelete
  82. Woweeeeeeeeeeee! All your cards are wonderful...I spotted one at Muse and had to come by...to my delight I found all the others! Love your talent!!

    Hugs and Happy Crafting...
    ~ Lisa

    ReplyDelete
  83. Those clear hearts on the top card a way kewl! Thanks for link and discounted watercolor card class! Cant' wait to dig in.

    ReplyDelete
  84. I LOVE the tumbling hearts Darnell! Fab take on the muse too!
    Thanks for joining us at CASology !

    ReplyDelete
  85. Your cards are wonderful! I especially like your second one!

    ReplyDelete
  86. I love your cards so much! as usual you are very inspiring! xoxo Olga

    ReplyDelete
  87. Both cards are gorgeous! I love the watercolor open hearts,that is beautiful! Oh my gosh your second card is simply gorgeous my friend,wow!
    If I would have read your blog sooner I could have saved myself from wondering why I lost 4 bloggers in one day,I was wondering what I did or said that would make 4 leave at the same time:) hope it's a blogger thing.
    You always keep us informed,thanks ! I wish it was lbs too

    ReplyDelete
  88. Ok... These two cards are just the best. I love them, Darnell. Can't say more than that. X

    ReplyDelete
  89. Two gorgeous cards, Darnell! I really love your take on Jenni's Muse card...your flowers are so pretty!
    I re-signed up to follow you on Google, so I'm all set :)

    ReplyDelete
  90. Beautiful take and CASE on Jenni's card, Darnell. Gorgeous flowers.
    Many years ago, I used to like Roller Blades ... until I broke my ankle. Now, I want my feet to be planted so I can play lots of golf!!

    ReplyDelete
  91. Congrats on the HM at Muse, my friend! My prediction was almost right & I still say I was right!

    ReplyDelete
  92. Your 'hearts flowing down a river of watercolored cotton candy punctuated with sugary splatters': delicious! Craving something sweet right now! Your Muse card is class and elegance...the flowers, the colours, the layers. Eye-candy treats, both!
    hugs~c

    ReplyDelete
  93. Gorgeous cards Darnell! So elegant & I love your water colouring.
    Thanks for joining us at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge
    Mandy xx

    ReplyDelete
  94. I've never seen anything like that heart bling, Darnell. It looks grat with the fountain of cotton candy. Your Muse card is gorgeous and worthy of the HM. I love that PTI stamp set

    ReplyDelete
  95. Lovely cards, Darnell! Congrats on the HM over at Muse! :)

    ReplyDelete
  96. Love your first card with the lovely hearts, Darnell, but the second is my fave!!!! What a stunning CASE of the inspiration card and for sure a winner!!! So beautiful!!!!
    Hugz

    ReplyDelete
  97. Two beauties, love your watercoloured hearts--I adore it--lol Your take on Muse is perfect too, such a pretty flower! Thank you for sharing with us at Muse!

    ReplyDelete
  98. This is fab! I do like the hearts cascading down the page. Great work. Thanks so much for playing along with the Uniko Challenge this month! Deborah, DT

    ReplyDelete
  99. I adore YOU and your cards, simply stunning and inspiring. Thanks so much for sharing and joining in on the Uniko Challenge. Hugs Bev x

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for commenting on my blog post! I read and appreciate every one! Mwah! (Sorry I've had to set comments to moderate because of excessive spam.) Darnell