So long, August!

Hello Stamplings!

Well, that's summer. I hope you closed the door behind you because a lot of folks don't want to see any more of 2026 summer! I know it's not official for another few weeks, but I am hoping Lady September puts on her fall hat right from the first!

When I think of fall I think of leaves, and since it is a rare 5th Monday of the month, that means this is S = Stencils on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar. After that opening, I know you were expecting a card done in fall colors, but, no, I copied the example on the leafy stencil packaging because I love these spring and summer colors. I'm just trying to keep your brains confused. I don't want to be the only one confused around here!

Onefer

I actually have two Onefers. The NBUS stencil I used is "Leafy Background" from Pinkfresh Studio, designed by Inna Moreva. The sediment is NBUS from Gina K. 

Then I saw the AAA Colourful challenge which had similar colors, but with the addition of blues, so I had another play:

The die-cut sediment is from Simon Says Stamp, attached to a panel to which I stenciled random leaves and added score lines and pop bling that was popular a few years back. Hammy has gotten quite adept as picking colors to match the cards. My collection of dots are so old, the gluey backing is failing, so I remove it and glue them on, rather than have them fall off during mailing. 

I tried the Nuvo drops and still have (cough) little bottles of them, mostly brand new because I could never get them to perform for me. Not even Hammy could make them work. I suppose it's like making pancakes ~ you'd think, in time, you'd get good at forming them, but not us. Does anyone want several bottles of Nuvo drops?

But I digest. I have a feeling I will be using this pretty stencil a lot, next in fall colors, and perhaps even for Christmas cards?!

Playing in AAA Colourful (Colourboard #31); Just Us Girls (Stencil Week); and Seize the Birthday (A/G).

Twofer

For this week's Christmas card, I started with the sketch from the talented Michele F. for Freshly Made Sketches. Some of you might recognize the background striped paper as being from PTI back in the last century. I love the linen look and feel and how the bright colors make me happy. 

I used a rounded corner stitched die from MFT as the angled element of the sketch and for the middle focus pocus I used a peppermint candy stencil from SSS. After masking and blending the two shades of pink, I die-cut the candy using a circle stitched die from MFT. The Ho Ho Ho sediment is from Impression Obsession. A few silver sequints were picked out by Stanley for the finishing touché.

Playing in Freshly Made Sketches; The Paper Players (Tic Tac Toe: diagonally top right to bottom left); and Rudolph Days (AG Christmas).

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

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse!

*Life is too short!

Et Wallah, Anything Goes!

Hello Stamplings!

Welcome to a new week! I hope it's a great one! We've been busier than ticks on a deer with appointments and lunches and seeing long-time friends. In spite of it, I managed to tuck in some relaxing crafty time. I hope you've had some, too!

It is A=Anything Goes on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar, which is always a fan favorite here! 

Onefer

Fortunately, last week my updated Artistic License arrived by post, so I was able to take an old favorite hydrangea stamp (Mondo Hydrangea from Essentials by Ellen) and color it in unusual colors. Normally hydrangeas grow in hues of pink, blue, purple, and I think white, but I thought this beauty would be a perfect candidate for the current Color Hues challenge of yellow and orange. Besides, I haven't painted with my Ziggies in ages and I so enjoyed it! 

Then a funny thing happened, which seems to be happening every time I create, which is fine since funny things are good. I stamped the hydrangea in Versafine black onto watercolor paper. When it was dry, I stamped it again using Versamark and clear embossing powder. I already had my embossing stuff out, so the image was powdered and dried with the heat gun. 

But as the powder was heated, it started turning a sort of funny white/gray color. "Ern?," I thought, laying my right ear on my right shoulder, "what's happened to my clear powder?" I was committed at that point, but a good attorney got me out. Wait. No. Different story. I finished the embossing and then I saw that the embossing powder I had out on my desk was white, not clear. Now that I think about it, since clear e/p and white e/p are both white powder, it's a wonder I haven't done that several times before! 

After I finished painting the hydrangea, I stamped the sediment from Gina K. and blended yellow ink around the rim to frame the image, bring your eyeballs into focus, and keep the card one-layer.

Beside's Marcia's Color Hues challenge, I'm playing in AAA Birthday (Flowers); Inkspirational (Word Prompt: Garden); and We Love Stamping (Summer Blooms).

Twofer 

For this quick Christmas card, I die-cut some pretty red cardstock using a NBUS die from Scrapbook.com called, "Nested Swiss Dot Rectangles." For the center, I used one of my favorite stamps from Simon Says Stamps set called, "Holiday Greetings Mix 1." I stamped it in Versamark and heat-embossed it in white. (After checking the label!) 

Sorry you can't see the shine from the embossing or the white gel pen I used to fill in the berries and leaves, or the white acrylic paint schplattered about by Hammy. I attached the finished panel to a snowy embossed background panel.

Stanley's job for this card was to punch out the red swiss dots. Needless to say, the little darling went about it with reckless abandon!

Playing in: ABC Christmas (R is for Rectangle); Addicted to Stamps and More (Any Occasion); and Allsorts (Embossing: Heat or Dry - both used).

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

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse! Stay safe!

Mwah!

*Life is too short!

ESPP!

Hello Stamplings!

I hope this finds you doing well and not impacted by all the terrible weather-related suffering that's happening around the world. There seem to be more catastrophes than ever happening all at once.

The post title today stands for Embossing and Stenciling on Patterned Paper. It all started because the brief this month at CAS Mix Up is Stenciling Over Patterned Paper. I wanted to try it and then once I got started . . .

Onefer

I went through my patterned paper and I found a half-sheet of this pretty wave pp. I knew I had an cute whale die from PTI, so I die-cut one and then used the negative space to stencil the whale onto the paper. I ended up accidentally stenciling the whale over the pattern in such a way that she ended up with a smile! 

In order to keep my design CAS and use the Freshly Made Sketches sketch (turned horizontally), I cut the pretty pp into a diagonal panel. It is E = Embossing week on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar, but after going horizontal, I realized that all my wave e/fs are vertical.😮 Hammy to the rescue! He reminded me that I have a horizontal wave die, so I used a rubber embossing mat and turned the die into an e/f! The NBUS sediment is from the same PTI whale set.

Besides CAS Mix Up, I'm playing in: 

Addicted to CAS (Water); Allsorts (Embossing); Freshly Made Sketches (sketch turned sideways); Seize the Birthday (Funny/Punny); and Just Us Girls (Water).

Twofer

For my Christmas twofer design, I used a JoAnn's Park Lane e/f called Holly Berry using a pretty raspberry cardstock. 

Here's a photo of the old SU DSP I used. The poinsettia stencil is from Tim Holtz, blended with raspberry ink. I cut the poinsettia stencil panel down to a banner and added a simple sediment from SSS's Holiday Greetings Mix I.

I made a few more simple cards while I was on a roll and Stanley has a pile of pp for me to match with stencils tomorrow. I'm enjoying that part as much as the stenciling ... pairing the stencils with the pp to make the best designs gets my 'ol grey matter working! 

Playing in: Krafty Chicks (Christmas); and Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round (P is for Poinsettia).

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

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse! Stay safe!

*Life is too short!

Floral Display and Santa's Sleigh

Hello Stamplings!

I hope that you are doing well! Welcome to the 2nd Monday of September ... haha, just seeing if you were paying attention! 

It's bad enough it's already August 10th! Which is D=Die Cut week on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar and in an attempt to recognize the days are getting shorter, I put a little fall color in my Onefer.

This is a NBUS Hero Arts stamp and die set aptly called, "Flowers in Vase Bundle." I stamped the image in black and heat-embossed it in clear onto watercolor paper. I used my Ziggies to color everything and Hammy and Stanley softly blended the corners. I die-cut the image a second time to give it some lift and finished it off with a frame and sediment.

Playing in: A Cut Above (Die-cut with the Fall Flowers twist); AAA Birthday Flowers; and Addicted to Stamps and More! (Birthday).

Twofer

T'was the night before Christmas and the toys were all made.

Santa waved goodbye to his dear elf brigade.

The sky was all twinkly with bright stars overhead   

As Rudolph pranced forward, his nose oh so red.

All of a sudden there arose such a clatter!

Santa pulled on the reins to see what was the matter.

As the sleigh landed softly, masked men did appear!

Santa declared, "Now what have we here?"

One of them yelled, "Our horses are lame and we need your rig!

Get down from that sleigh now and don't flip your wig!"

Santa cried, "You must see that's not right!

The sleigh's filled with toys for delivery tonight!"

The robbers cared not and tossed Santa aside. 

Seeing them do this chaffed poor Rudolph's hide!

He broke free of the bridle and ran to his master.

Sitting beside him, the world seemed so much vaster.

Santa puffed on his pipe, as the wind tickled his beard.

"Well, Rudy," he mused, "That was certainly weird."

"It will all work out," he added, still jolly,

"But before we start walking, I've a message for Lolly.

I'm sorry CAS Christmas that I cannot play!

I was robbed very rudely of my beautiful sleigh!"

With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore.

This is just in fun. You know Santa could conjure up

 a replacement sleigh so the children get their toys!

Supplies: NBUS Cottage Cutz, "Santa & Reindeer Resting." Poppystamps, "Stitched Landscape." Night sky schplattered by Hammy and Stanley.

Playing in: Snippets Playground Challenge 538 (Die was cut five times using red, white, black, brown, and gray snippets.); Just Us Girls (Die week); and Christmas Kickstart (Friendship).

I still can't believe I don't have a sleigh in all my schtuff, but if you do, CAS Christmas is a challenge for you!

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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!

*Life is too short!

Inky Dinky

Hello Stamplings!

I hope this finds you as happy as I am! The laddies are back! Hammy and Stanley weren't due back until next weekend, but they had to cut their tour short because too many roads were closed due to fires and smoke. The bus company wisely decided to call it a day.

It is the first Monday in August 😮which means I got inky per my I.D.E.A.S. Calendar. And since I wanted to enjoy the wee critters and their tall tales, I quickly inked some dinky bits!

Onefer

You might recognize Kim's fun sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. I immediately thought of these summertime pinwheels from Gina K's "Sunny Days and Breezy Nights" kit. I colored them using my forgotten SAI markers. The NBUS sediment is also from the kit and the embossing folder is from Lifestyle Crafts.

The timing was great because the lads were itching to wink again and I was delighted to have them do it! I think you might even be able to see the schparkle in the photo.

In addition to FMS, I'm playing in Krafty Chicks where the brief is A/G with an optional Summer Mood Board.

Twofer

Next the boys went to work in the Christmas drawers ... they know that once August rolls around, they spend a lot of time in these drawers!

For a QACAS design, they came up with a NBUS die from Penny Black called, "Winter Sprig.

I die-cut the sprig and did a light watercolor wash. Then I simply attached the sprig to a green panel embossed with a folder from Open Studio called, "Gracious Leaves." The gold sediment is from Memory Box.

I'm playing in: Jingle Belles (Tic Tac Toe. Diagonal left to right: die cut or punch ~ red or green ~ and dry or heat embossing); Little Red Wagon (One Thing); and Merry Little Christmas Challenge (A/G Christmas).

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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! 

Today is National Watermelon Day! Stay safe and cool.🫶 

*Life is too short!