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!

August 3, 2026

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).

~~~

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!

36 comments:

Em Louise Fairley said...

Darnell, they are beautiful xoxo

Karen said...

Stoppping here is always a great way to start my week. Absolutely love everything about your pinwheel cards--such a bright, happy, and fresh design and the colors are terrific! Aside from a few one-offs there hasn't been much action here with Christmas cards. Yours is lovely. Happy to see the boys are home and back in action!

Jeanne said...

Happy to hear the boys are home safe and sound and ready to get sparkly! Your cards are wonderful as always! Have a happy day!

Donna said...

Two beautiful cards, like the pinwheel card with the sparkle and embossed background and your Christmas card with the embossed background and matching die is striking! Glad Hammy and Stanley are back!

Bonnie said...

I'm glad the boys are back safe and sound and ready to add schparkle to your delightful pinwheels, Dolly! And they chose a perfect winter sprig for your Christmas card! Super quick and it looks like a perfect match for the embossed background! I hope I can get inky today! Wish we could get inky together.

Cat Craig said...

Excellent take on the FMS challenge. Love the bright colors and the sentiment. Your embossing folder is the perfect foil for the die cut.

TK said...

Your sweet pinwheel are so fun! I love the colors and can see them spinning in the warm breeze. Your second card is a quick CAS win for your stash in all its fun dimension. Yes, fires are bad, smoke is in the 300s just north of us, where a daughter headed to camp with foster kids!

Lisa T said...

As always I enjoy seeing your posts pop into my inbox Darnell! Love your two cards and am happy Stanley and Hammy are back in one piece. Hope the Mister is doing well xx

Lisa T said...

As always I enjoy seeing your posts pop into my inbox Darnell! Love your two cards and am happy Stanley and Hammy are back in one piece. Hope the Mister is doing well xx

JanR said...

Fabulous cards! I especially like the colours on the second one. Thanks for joining us at Little Red Wagon.

Brenda in IN said...

Love those colorful pinwheels and bright yellow card base. Bet the boys couldn't wait once they got home to get back to winking. They did a great job on this pretty Christmas card. That is a great embossing folder for the Winter Sprig.

Kim S said...

What a fabulous use of the sketch! I love those pinwheels!! And such wonderful summery colors. Thank you for playing along with us at Freshly Made Sketches.

donna mikasa said...

What a fun take on the sketch with those colorful windmills! Such a nostalgic element that looks great against the embossed background! Thanks so much for linking up to Freshly Made Sketches this week!

I Card Everyone said...

Hey! Didn't our dads use those whirly gigs to keep the moles out of the yard?? I might need to go look for about a dozen - yours are just fabulous standing in for Kim's circles, D!
Thanks for joining us, my friend!
[love your Christmas card, too!]

JoAnn said...

Love your schparkly pinwheels. The boys did great and I love their play in the Christmas drawer. They picked the perfect sprig to match the lovely embossed background.
I always enjoy reading your posts. Have a great week my friend.

Amy O said...

These fun pinwheels work perfectly with the sketch! Thanks for joining us at Freshly Made Sketches this week!

Aquarius said...

Loving the colourful pinwheels and also the elegant Christmas card. Welcome back to the boys

kiwimeskreations said...

So glad the boys are home and safe - you certainly are having some terrible fires over there - we are having crispy frosts - accompanying the frequent (thankfully relatively small) earthquakes and volcanic rumblings... nothing like variety to keep life interesting :)
Your cards are fabulous Darnell - a real team effort on both, and great to hear the boys were keen to get back to their winking.
Blessings
Maxine

Jean said...

How fdun to have them back and you put themr ight to work:) Love the pinwheels. Love the simplicity of the winter card.

Pat said...

I love your fun pinwheel cluster Darnell, and glad the boys enjoyed winking them, and the embossed background is so pretty and a lovely sentiment. The EF on the second looks great too using that wonderful green card, and the die cut leaves and berries go so well over the top...a wonderful Christmas make. x

Lynette said...

It's great to see you using the Gina K kit. :-) Awesome card! The Christmas card is wonderful, also. How nice to have the boys back to help you out.

Cheryl W. said...

The pinwheels are perfect for a summer card. I remember making them as a kid. Mine never seemed to twirl in the wind like they should--they were probably wonky. And I've been making wonky crafts ever since. Pretty holiday card, too. I always love the richness of dry embossing on a card.

Faith A at Daffodil Cards said...

Love your take on the sketch, what a fun and wonderful card. The Christmas card is so lovely, simple with big impact, love it. x

Bobby said...

Welcome back, guys. You did a great job winking those pinwheels that are the perfect image for the FMS sketch. I hope your rummaging through the Christmas drawers finds more beautiful things like that PB Sprig and lovely embossing folder.

brandco2450@gmail.com said...

Two fabulos cards, Darnell!

Lisa Elton said...

So happy the boys are back safely and getting their crafting hats back on! Two fabulous cards, my friend!

Leslie Miller said...

Clever use of the sketch, Darnell! Those pinwheels speak summer and warmth and good vibes to me! Then in preparation for the chilly Christmas month you've got another card under your belt, and a pretty one it is! I'm a nut for embossing, so love that. I do not have the QACAS gene, but I admire it so much. Such a darling pic of Hammy and Stanley in the Christmas drawer! I'm sorry they had to cut their trip short, but glad they got home safely.

Liz said...

Two super cards, Darnell. I love the cute little pinwheels on your first card. Your second card is striking with the bright colours you’ve used.
Liz xx

Kathyk said...

Two smashing cards, loving the pinwheel card and the embossing folder/images you used. A lovely showcase of your own NBUS to encourage the rest of us too

Stay safe with fires around you, Darnell

Kathyk

Sandra H said...

Wow Darnell your twofer cards are amazing l absolutely admire your pinwheels card we call them windmills gorgeous colour and background also Christmas card equally as pretty xx

Robyn Oliver said...

Hello there Darnell for this week.... wonderful to see your furry friends home and helping out with your cards... they're both fabulous and I especially love the Christmas card.. very eye catching and quick and easy... have a fantastic week, hugs Robyn

Susan B said...

Glad to hear the boys got home safe! Good to have them back in the craft room helping you. Love seeing them get busy in the Chrismtas drawers. Great card they pulled together with the leafy embossing folder! And the first card is so much fun - I used to love getting one of those toy windmills.

Trina P. said...

Congrats on the well deserved Princess Honours at FMS! 🎉🎉🎉 Fabulous take in the sketch with the pinwheels... I like the fresh cool colours. Wonderful Christmas card. Love the embossed background... one of my favourite EFs. Good to see the boys are back at it... they haven't skipped a beat.

Loll said...

Good to hear Hammy and Stanley are back. I see you put them right to work with lots of winking on those fun pinwheels. :) Love how you've used the sketch and the colours are so bright and summery. Lots of texture from the embossed background on both cards. The deep green really shows off you lovely berry branches. xx

lauren bergold said...

What a beautiful, elegant card and you've used the Tic-Tac-Toe board brilliantly! So happy you could join the fun at Jingle Belles this fortnight!

Linda W. (ScrappinBari) said...

Both bright and cheery cards, Darnell - so I didn't get over here last week - I had company!!