A site for my handmade cards, accompanied by my photos and written meanderings which are occasionally witty, often tongue-in-cheek, and rarely profound. Beginning in June 2013, you'll also see lots of NBUS, which is an acronym I coined for Never-Before-Used-Schtuff. Note: my Privacy Policy can be found at a tab below and you can find my NBUS Challenge online. I hope you'll join in the fun there! Thanks for coming by! Have a beverage and enjoy!

June 16, 2025

Delicate Flowers

Hello Stamplings!

Welcome to the beginning of a new week! There's lots going on in the world and not all of it good, so thank you for coming to a safe space for a little ray of silliness and card fart.

This is week three of the June I.D.E.A.S. Calendar which means E = embossing, wet or dry. I had a spree doing both on my creations. I started by stamping and then heat-embossing these flowers and leaves in clear e/p and painting them with my Ziggies.
This stamp set was part of the Simon Says Stamp card kit in May 2019. Yes, that's right 2019. I'm among friends. The SSS kits are very popular and many of you may have seen this, if not own it. One of the stamps was stained, but I can't find that I posted it and the other stamps were all NBUS. 

What happened was (as near as I can figure), back in June 2019, there was a small 3.2 earthquake along the Hayward fault near here. There was no damage, but it was enough to cause everything on Mt. NBUS to shift and this set slipped into a deep crevasse.
 

And there it remained until last week when Hammy and Stanley were crev-assing around and things shifted again. Never a dull moment here! I decided to use the whole set in one sitting before it disappeared again. The only funny thing that happened was realizing halfway through painting that I didn't have dies for this set. Not sure if SSS ever made them.

So I sent the lads off on another excavation, this time into the box under my desk that contains antique crafting tools ~ in this case, scissors. Remember scissors, or skizzers as we like to call them? That was a lot of fussy-cutting, but the old tool still worked fine. As did the skizzers.
Embossing folder is Sizzix 662765. Sediment strip from Memory Box. The pp is from Craft Consortium.

Alphabet Challenge: Embossing, wet or dry.
The Flower Challenge: Add embossing, wet or dry.
Seize the Birthday: A/G (no toppings).
The embossed oval and foiled sediment were gifts, so maker unknown.

Allsorts Challenge: What makes you happy (crafting and painting) or A/G.
Embossed panel was a gift, so folder unknown.

SSS Wednesday Challenge: Fur, feathers, and/or flowers.
We Love Stamping: June: Nature or A/G.
Embossing folder by Darice. Sediment (v.o.) might be from PTI.

~~~

That was a fun spree! As you might be able to see in some of the photos, the stinkers had their winkers running overtime! Even though you may not have this set or be able to purchase it, there are many sets out there with similar images, so I hope these designs inspire you.

If so, you will find a linky tool below for you to share your creations using your wet and/or dry embossing! Your card, in turn, may help motivate others out of their creative schlumps or give someone a step-off for their own design! 

I love seeing what you create, visiting you, and 
pinning your designs! 

Enjoy your week! 
No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!* As always, thank you for coming by to visit and leaving a comment!

Hang in there!
*Life is too short!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

June 9, 2025

Best. Day. Ever.

Hello Stamplings!

Welcome to the show! I hope you had a good week! I've been alternating between card-making and spring-summer-cleaning, both of which give me joy. I'm weird that way. I've killed a lot of dust bunnies in my day, but I still haven't solved the mystery of how the junk drawer gets messy in only five minutes!

This is week two of the June I.D.E.A.S. Calendar which means D = Dies.

Onefer
I broke out my NBUS Postage Collage Cover die from SSS for this design, using the cute playing card images from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps. The sediment is from another oldie-but-goodie: Taylored Expressions "Pawsome" set. My red ink pad needs reinking, but I can't find the reinker, nor, it turns out, the dark green reinker. Smart little Hammy wondered if I put the bottles with my Christmas schtuff~but no. (I can hear you shouting, check the junk drawer!😂)

Challenges:

Cut It Up: Anything goes.
NBUSFYI, there's a celebration this month!
Twofer
One could say this design is from the Playhouse "junk drawer," otherwise known as BOB. BOB contains beloved bits I love too much to discard. And when those bits come together as if by magic, it's a thing to behold.🪄

I wanted to use the base panel pp which was left over from a recent make. The lads and I had a rumble with BOB and every snippet we needed was right there, from the schparkly plum paper to the bold sediment to the pretty leafy branch I cut a coupla years ago from a die owned by my friend Bev.

Challenges:

Just Us Girls: Die week ~ layers.
Snippets Playground: Anything goes with snippets and bits.
~~~
This is a napkin my sister Diana sent me. It's so funny in a few ways, but I kracked up at the hairdos! These ladies are not getting their hairdos wet, so they don't need to worry about drowning!🌊

~~~


You will find a linky tool below for you to share your creations using your dies! Your card may help motivate others out of their creative schlumps or give someone a step-off for their own design! 

I love seeing what you create, visiting you, and 
pinning your designs! 

Enjoy your week! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!* As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse! 

*Life is too short!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

June 2, 2025

Wonderful Memories

Hello Stamplings!

Happy June, buds! I hope you are well! I have to start my post today by sending best wishes to the firefighters in Canada fighting the terrible fires and to all those being impacted by the smoke flowing over several states. It's frightening to see such huge fires when summer hasn't even begun.😞

We are just back from a wonderful visit to British Columbia and the Gulf Islands and I have photos below, but, first, a card to share:
This is the first week of the month, so the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar is I = Ink. For this QACAS card, I used my Ziggies to watercolor the flower-only part of the vase-and-flower bouquet slapstick stamp from Penny Black. The lads (retrieved from a friend's home) were tickled to be winking again! The sediment is ancient from PTI, but the pretty font of this set will never be outdated to me ... even as outdated as I am.😂 

Vacation Photos

The Mister and I love Vancouver, Vancouver Island, and the Gulf Islands. On this vacation, we spent a couple of days in the city of Vancouver and then took the ferry over to Salt Spring Island where we stayed in a beautiful VRBO rental for several days. We enjoyed flowers, trees, plush greenery, hiking, restaurants, water views, deer, eagles, shell beaches, etc. No whales this time, but that's okay.

Once back on the mainland, The Mister flew home and I spent a few days with my dear friend Lolly (Stamping With Loll). On the weekend, our friends Susan (Cardmaker's Garret) and Christine (It's a Card Days Night) joined us. We haven't been together for six years, so it was a pleasure to see them again and catch up! And, as you can see, Lolly spoiled us with her delicious homemade goodies!
Lolly is holding her dog, Jessie; Susan's dog Tessa is in between Christine and Susan on the sofa, and in the bottom photo, Jessie warmed up to me as Lolly hugs Violeta. "V" belongs to Lolly's son Jeremy and his husband, Alejandro, both of whom I also got to spend some time with, as well as Lolly's hubby, Gordon. Thank you for your hospitality, friendship, and yummy food! It was a memorable and restorative trip all the way around!

~~~

I.D.E.A.S. Calendar: I = Ink/Color Mediums

You will find a linky tool below for you to share your creations using some form of coloring, inking, painting, etc. Your card may help motivate others out of their creative schlumps or give someone a step-off for their own design! 

I love seeing what you create, visiting you, and 
pinning your designs! 
Thank you so much to everyone who shared their designs last week! 

Enjoy your week! 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 leave a comment and/or join as a follower!

*Life is too short!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter