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.

Addicted to Stamps and More: Any occasion.

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.

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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

March 25: A is for Anything Goes

Hello Stamplings!

I hope this finds you skipping the light fantastic! Not sure whatever that means, but it sounds fun! There will be no skipping for those of you in states where Mr. Snowman decided he wanted to show up and play with the Easter Bunny, especially after you've been enjoying warm summery weather! Sorry.😒

Welcome to the fourth week of the month where the brief is "anything goes" on my I.D.E.A.S. calendar (see side bar). My focus this week has continued to be Easter cards. I'm scurrying to prepare for Easter hosting this year and I'll also be back on Thursday with my usual monthly Group of Seven cards, so this post will be a quick runway show. I'm sure you're busy, too, so start the music ...

My frog bunny was very popular on the last post, so he stayed on for another week! (There will be a lady in the lobby after the show to take orders for those of you who need those tenny shoes!)

All the pretties in the show today followed the famous MacGyver Method of Design, j.f., products were primarily used from my box o' bits, aka BOB. For the above card, the blended background, glossified flowers, leaves, and winked bunny were all found in BOB. I stamped and fussy-cut the clay posts and sliced openings for the inserts. The sediment was stamped and embossed in shiny copper. I actually die-cut and added the frame.

Of course, you can't see any of the shine and I'm sorry I forgot to take a closeup for you. Thankfully, you have a great imaginarium. 

And a few other simple designs:

I was especially happy to find a way to stitch together these vintage floral fabric sprays with the sweet bunny on a linen background (dry clean only), surrounded by a bold cardigan in matching colors. Please note in the the catalog photo below that this design comes in several bright colors which will take you right through the summer months:

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I will leave you with some delightful baby chick photos, although not the baby chicks you might be expecting for Easter!

Longtime readers will know I love to check out the nesting eagles via live cams this time of year. The website which has several live cameras watching the eagle nests can be found here: Explore.org. The above collage was made by viewer janntonne and it captures the adorable triplets at the West End Overlook of the Channel Islands in California. 

BTW, if you go and check out the cameras, you will be amused to see that a pair of Canadian Geese have taken over one of the old eagle nests in Decorah, Iowa! They are nesting on six eggs! 

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

Stanley is saying hello from his first Easter basket! (Hammy is in there under the grass, grabbing a nap!) I wish you all a Happy Easter/Happy Spring!⛄

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! See you on Thursday!

*Life is too short!

Challenges: SSS Wednesday, Krafty Chicks, Allsorts Challenge

Plaid Poinsettia and Sad Times

Hello Stamplings!

How are you? I hope you are all doing well. It was a sad and moving weekend for this country as we marked the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

I'm still rootling around and uncovering things I wish I had finished and never did and starting new things, without finishing them, so years from now I will discover them and oh, man, it really is a mess up in here. 

I'm trying to filter and come up with a plan and there will be more on that in time, but once again, I stopped to enjoy the pleasant distraction of a coupla challenges. I'm hoping to make a few more fall cards, but because I make a lot of Christmas cards, I'm putting my emphasis there ~ seeing as how this year is rocketing by like a firecracker shot from a cannon.

Onefer

For my cards I used a NBUS "From the Vault Poinsettia" wooden stamp from Hero Arts. I'm sorry that I seem to be in a rut with my direct-to-stamp inking lately, but I love how simple, easy, and effective it is. I attached the watercolor paper panel to a plaid background and then added a narrow strip of the plaid pp to delineate the image from the sediment. The sediment is also from Hero Arts, stamped in CP ink and then clear heat-embossed. I added metallic gold to the flower center with a pen.

Challenges

• CAS Christmas Card: Plaid, chosen by Colleen.
  
• Holly and Ivy Christmas: A/G. Congratulations on their 100th Challenge!
  
• Krafty Chicks: Christmas.

Twofer

Hammy wanted to wink the first image, but I wasn't sure how much the ink would schmear when winked, so I stamped a second image and let him have a play with his winker. It gives it a lovely watercolored look, as well as being schparkly. Good job, Hammy, as always! I added more schparkle to the center with a gold metallic pen. I used my MFT stitch dies to cut the panels and I gold heat-embossed the sediment.

Allsorts Challenge ~ Tribute to Kath.

I was sad to hear recently that a wonderful bloggie friend, Kathleen (Kath) Scholefield (Plain & Simple) passed away suddenly after a very short battle with cancer. It was a shock to her family and all who knew her in Blogland. Kath and I got to know each other through commenting and then I had the privilege of meeting her in person on my grand tour of England in 2016.

Kath had a wicked sense of humor, so you can imagine our emails back and forth! She was a talented card artist and beloved DT member and she will be greatly missed. Over at the Allsorts Challenge, Brenda is dedicating this week to Kath's memory and I am entering my card. This would have been Kath's week to host and she had chosen favorite stamp with the option of paper-pieced flowers. 

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And here at home, it was a sad weekend for our family as we said goodbye to our beloved granddog, Duke. Many of you have watched Duke grow up via photos I've shared over the years.

RIP Duke

May 9, 2010-September 10, 2021

Duke became the owner of the grandtwinks when they were five years old. They are devastated.

We are all going to miss him very much.

And little Jack is going to miss his "Dad."

Losing a beloved pet is heart-breaking, but we were so blessed to have Duke in our lives.

~~~

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

*Life is too short!