Daisies and Tufts

Hello Stamplings!

How are you? I hope you had a good week and that you were able to see the remarkable night sky over the weekend when five planets were visible with the naked eye! There were three in the west just after sunset (Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury) and then hours later, two in the east just before sunrise (Saturn and Mars!) 

The amazing event fell on the night of a new moon when the sky was the darkest, so if you were really lucky, you even saw the Milky Way! We only saw Venus, Jupiter, and (maybe?) Mercury, but then we had to put pajamas back on our eyes and go to bed!

Onefer

It is E = Embossing week on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar and the NBUS embossing folder featured here is called, "Quilted Daisies" from Scrapbook.com. 

The floral spray die cut is NBUS from Concord & 9th, designed by Kristina Werner and called, "Daphne's Flowers Inlay." The nice thing about this flower die is that Kristina has numbered the bits to make it easy to make the leaves and flowers any colors or patterns you want. Mwah!

And, yup, I used more of the gorgeous pp from Craft Consortium, all swirly and shot with gold. It loses a bit of its gob-smacki-ness when it's used for teeny blossoms, but I like how it turned out and I do enjoy inlaying. That's different laying than napping-laying, but I do enjoy that, too.

Entering: Allsorts ~ Anything Grows From the Garden; Seize the Birthday ~ Anything Goes option; and Snippets Playground (I used lots of pp scraps to die-cut the flowers).

Twofer

As we speed towards July, I hope to make my Twofers as Christmas designs from now on.🤞   

I also used a NBUS e/f for this card. This one is from Simon Says Stamp called, "Tiny Tufts." The thing is, what kind of tufts are they? Olives? Carnations? I pulled out my Artistic License and decided to make them Christmas berries.

I used my brayer and red ink on the bumpy embossed side and, as usual, it looked like leftover pizza, so I turned the panel over and brayered the debossed side. It sort of looks like fabric because of the textured watercolor paper.

To give it more pan ache, Stanley suggested we scallop the edges with a die from PTI. Then it was a matter of finding dies that I could use for stems and berries to decorate the sediment while not obscuring the background. Yay for "Up Goes the Tree" from Penny Black! I painted the berries and stems with my Ziggies and then Hammy carefully glossified the berries, et Violet! The sediment (also from SSS) is called, "Elegantly Modern Christmas."

(If you're wondering, the scalloped borders are up-lifted because I accidentally trapped a piece of Timothy hay under the panel. When I turned back to my desk after looking through my dies, I found Stanley madly nosing his way all around the edges of the card, trying to find a way to get under the panel! I had to distract him with a strawberry to get him to stop, but after all that, I decided to leave it and call it a design feature! Never a dull mo!)

Entering: The Card Concept ~ Christmas in July. I was inspired by the colors and the white and red balls on the Christmas tree in the photo. (Love the little beagle!) Also entering: Krafty Chicks ~ Christmas, and The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up ~ Anything Goes.

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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 join as a follower! 

*Life is too short!

Pink Lilies and a Christmas Cardinal

Hello Stamplings!

How are you this fine day? I do hope Mother Nature is treating you to some beautiful weather, wherever you are! 

Onefer

It's D = Dies week on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar and I was inspired by a few challenges to bring out my "Lovely Lily of the Valley" die by Lawn Fawn. The Beautiful Blossoms Challenge Mood Board features lilies and the Color Hues Challenge colors are pink and turkoice. For the base and frame, I used some hoarded paper which has a soft fiber texture and the pretty paper I used for the flowers and leaves is from Craft Consortium. 

The NBUS frame die is "Embossed Skinny Frame" by Ink to Paper and the sediment strip is from Memory Box.

Twofer

I'm sure you've all heard the wonderful news that my dear friend Loll has relaunched her CAS Christmas Challenge! I love this challenge and I definitely need the nudge to keep rolling on my Christmas cards. 2026 is rapidly whooshing by, so thank you, Lolly!

For the first challenge, the brief is BIRDS. The furballs and I went through the Bird Drawer and suddenly Stanley got to giggling over an old wooden stamp called, "Bluebird," by Stamps Happen. The artist is Caroline Shores Wright and I love her images. 

We never have cardinals in this part of the country, but Hammy suggested I paint the bluebird red and turn her into a cardinal. Well, why not? After painting her with my Ziggies, I remembered there was black somewhere on a cardinal's head, so I used the Googler to look at photos. Eep! I forgot they also have spiked hairdos! By now I was committed, so I used a fine point pen and did the best I could with that! 

After wards, I noticed her hooded eyeballs disappeared in all the red and black, so I added some tiny googlie eyes so she could see to fly. And I didn't have a small poinsettia die to cover the flower, so I simply fussy-cut the image and snipped the flower off and gave it to Stanley to decorate his cage. 

For the layout, I used the sketch from the current 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Challenge, using snowy vellum for the stripey background and then the boys went to town schplattering snow on the image to play in the current Christmas Kickstart Challenge. 

We had a blast with this one!

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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 join as a follower! 

Mwah!

*Life is too short!

Hovering By ...

Hello Stamplings!

How are you this fine day? This year has created quite a pile-up on my desk. A new month starts up so quickly, the prior month is still stopped at the intersection and now there are six of them in a heap on the corner!🚨

My friends around the world tell me it is happening where they are, too, so an investigation has begun with a Special Inquiry Commission, manned by fourteen sub-Committees, three Budget Advisors, and a bar in the basement. You may expect a report soon. Hahaha!

Where I live, the arrival of June means the burgeoning of flora and fauna to the neighborhood. Happily, that includes honey bees!

Onefer

This is I = Ink/Color Mediums week on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar and the inky background of the hive was created by smooching Lindy Magicals in honey colors. The giant ancient bee from Hero Arts was stamped hither, thither, and yon, matted with black, then white, and then embossed with a Darice honeycomb e/f. The black card base was also embossed. The hello sediment is from The Greetery.

Playing in Allsorts (A/G), Little Red Wagon (Create Your Own Background), and SSS Wednesday Challenge (A/G).

Twofer

For this simples design, I used the sketch from AAA Cards and the colors from CAS Colours & Sketches. The Hot Air Balloon and Mini Hot Air Balloon are from Memory Box.

I colored them with colored pencils and the lads had a merry time winking them. I was very patient as Hammy took his time retraining Stanley with the winker. I should have put them in the schplatter box first, but what's a bit of schparkle on the them ... and the floor ... and my shoe ...

I used a light gray card and stamped the sediment from Taylored Expressions in gray ink. I then embossed the panel and the baboons (separately) using the SU "Subtle" e/f before attaching them to each other.

And the inside:

The sediment here is from WPlus9, called "Birthday Wishes." I thought this design would work for the manly sort, so I'm also playing in Inkspirational (Word Prompt ~ For the Guys) and Krafty Chicks (Masculine week).

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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 join as a follower! 

If you're celebrating with me, today is "Say Something Nice Day," which, I mean, shouldn't that be every day? It's also "National Pen Pal Day," so to all my card pen pals out there, MWAH!

*Life is too short!

Roses Are Any Color!

Hello Stamplings!

O jp[e upir javomg ... oops, right fingers, wrong keys! I hope you are enjoying the long Memorial Day weekend here in America! We will always remember and be forever grateful to all the men and women who have bravely given their lives in service to our country.♡

During the week I did some spring cleaning which I find weirdly enjoyable, but I also made a few cards because, you know, I'm not completely nuts. Did you snicker or was that a hairball in your throat?

Onefer

You might recognize both Jen's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and the colors from Color Hues. My friend Lynette made pretty cards recently using one of my favorite techniques. It is known by many names, but I've always referred to it as 'direct-to-stamp' because you apply color directly to your stamp with markers, spritz the stamp with water, and then stamp the image onto paper. 

I happen to have a NBUS stamp which I thought would be perfect for the technique. It's called "Rose" and it's from Art Stamp (carabelle-studio.fr). I had success using classic red and pink markers for the rose and I was mulling over design ideas for those images when, by some miracle, I remembered the Color Hues colors and wallah! Did you know purple roses symbolize enchantment, love at first sight, royalty, mystery, and spiritual growth? (I think AI got a little carried away there.)

You can't see it, but Hammy gently winked the rose, being careful not to let the colors run. Hammy has very short legs which work great on the wheel, but when it comes to chasing running colors, he just sits and watches. Ask us how we know! The frame is from Papertrey Ink and the sediment is from My Favorite Things. 

I'm also playing in the Allsorts Challenge (Anything Goes). Allsorts is celebrating their 17th birthday! Congratulations!!

Twofer

I used a NBUS book die from Pinkfresh Studio called "Floral Tale" for this design. It comes with lots of stencils and flower dies, but for this inaugural outing, I made a Christmas card design using evergreens. The NBUS 3D e/f is from SSS, called "Delicate Pine Branches." The tiny evergreen stamp and sediment are from GKW.

Today is the 25th, which means it's the start of this month's Rudolph's Day Challenge and the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar is A = Anything Goes. I'm also playing in Addicted to Stamps and More (Christmas).

Stanley Redux

Just as a reminder Hammy and Stanley went to stay with our neighbors last year while The Mister was laid up. During that time, their little girl Daphne fell in love with Stanley, so he continued living with her and we walked back and forth often to let the lads have time together. 

Last week we learned from Daphne that her Dad had been transferred and the family was moving to Sydney. Sadly for her, hamsters are not allowed in Australia. We had quite an emotional goodbye with lots of stories, hugs, and tears. 

We will miss Daphne, but happily for us, Stanley is back home and the two critters are elastic to be back together again! And Hammy and I can use the young 'un around here to keep us on our toes!

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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 join as a follower! 

*Life is too short!

Take A Hike! Eat Some Cake!

Hello Stamplings!

For all who celebrated yesterday, I hope you had a lovely Mother's Day whether you spent the day with family, friends, or memories.🫶💐

In addition to Mother's Day with the family, I had a great time with my dear friend last week! Now it is good to be back with you during D=Die week on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar!

Onefer

"Take a Hike" is truly an official holiday, but it isn't until November 17th. That date happens to be son Dan's birthday and he grew up to be a big hiker, but this card is not for him. Instead ...

... I'm borrowing the holiday for grandson Adam who is studying for finals. College is very stressful, so when he can, Adam gets out in nature to hike and fish. When I saw these hiking boots ("Wander Boots" from Spellbinders), I immediately got them to surprise Adam with a card! 

The boots die was a bit fiddly for me, but I love how realistic and detailed they are. (Next time I'm going to scruff them up a bit!) The white heat-embossed sediment is from PTI and the e/f is, "Textured Impressions Square Lattice" from SU. 

I'm playing in Allsorts (Monochromatic or A/G), Snippets Playground (A/G with snippets ~ I used snippets for all the boot and sediment bits), and 613 Avenue Create (A/G w/ option of May flowers).

Twofer

AAA Birthday is celebrating their 7th blog birthday, so naturally, I made a cake! 

I decided to make a blue velvet cake, topped with a thin blueberry glaze, which I lined with my Wilton Tip No. 26 [fine-line]. I framed the border using my NBUS "Double Frames" from PB, but I only added one frame. The scalloped edge and score lines give the fondant visual interest, which Hammy elevated by bringing out the schprayer! The light dusting of spring colored baking ink was perfect against the deep blue-violet glaze.

But then! Poor thing! Just as he was finishing up, Hammy's foot caught in the tubing and down he went schplat on his face! Oh, my, how we laughed and laughed! (He is still on a sugar high from cleaning himself!) Wiping up the mess and the tears that were running down my leg, I suddenly realized that the client was on her way over to pick up the cake, so I quickly added a second frame layer, which nicely covered the schplat. Phew!

Next, I pulled the whipped cream greeting from the fridge, so glad I had made it earlier! To create the layers of solid and fine lines, I used my NBUS die from poppystamps, called, "Birthday Wishes Moonlight Script," using an off-set spatula and Wilton Tip No. 103 [ultra].

Happy Birthday and many, many more!

I'm playing in: AAA Birthday (A/G 7th birthday!🎂), Just Us Girls (Die Week: Sentiments), and Krafty Chicks (Birthday).

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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 join as a follower! 

*Life is too short!