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!

Showing posts with label Always Fun Challenges. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Always Fun Challenges. Show all posts

July 13, 2018

Flying Gnats and a Coupla Cards

Hello Stamplings! I hope this finds you feeling terrific!

I'm dealing with a bad case of random thinking. I've told you before that at my age, I'm finding my thoughts have become word gnats. They flit in and out of my consciousness in such a way that I can't form a complete sentence, find the right words, or remember what it was I was going to tell you.

When I compare my thoughts to gnats, do you know the bug I'm talking about, or is gnat a regional word? You might call them chiggers, or midges, or fruit flies, or no-see-ums. They are pesky minuscule flying critters that sometimes fly around your left eyebrow, your ear, or the base of your nostrils. The phrase that something "bugs you" comes from being harassed by one or more of these guys!

You start by just waving your hand in front of your face. That doesn't work. You do it a few times anyway.

Now you're getting slightly agitated so you try to kill the dang thing by clapping your hands. As an external optimist, each time you clap, you are positive you caught it and you open your hands expectantly, only to find them empty. Before you can even go back to typing or coloring, it's back again!

By the fourth or fifth time, you completely lose your mind and just start clapping the air all around your face like a woman possessed, elbows flying, until you get too close to your own fool face and knock your glasses off your nose which sends them flying across the desk and onto the floor where they skid to a halt under the legs of your (dog)(hamster)(cat). Because, you know, by now you've woke the critter, who stands there ears up and eyes wide, ready to save you. He's not sure from what, because he can't see anything and, by the way, is that you? He isn't sure, given your disheveled hair and clothes, your red face, and that wild and crazy look in your eyes. And why are you panting? Play ball?

Well, there you go. I was telling you all this to explain how I was having trouble corralling my thoughts to open my post today and now you've prolly clicked off because the opening is too long!

Tomorrow's word of the day will be "irony."

~~~

If you stayed (or scrolled) through all that, real quick here are my cards:
An uber QACAS card, this sweet thing was made with PB Stickeroos. I matted the image to a colored card base and added a simple sediment punctuated by a trio of flat sequints.

Challenges
Grab our button
Twofer
It's Christmas in July throughout Blogland and I used a "Stitched Poinsettia" die from Poppystamps to make this bright red and juicy card. I cut the image from the card base and left the cut in the opening. Then I cut it twice more, once again in red, and once in green for the leaves, which I plumped with my stylist. The "merry" die is also from Poppystamps, cut from white foam.

Challenges
  • AAA Cards: Christmas in July.
  • CAS Mix Up July Challenge: Coloured die cut, stamping, and more die-cutting. (Oops. I went to link my card and I misread the brief. Please note YOU are to color your die cuts, not cut your dies from color paper!) Alternatively, I will enter this in the CAS Christmas Challenge as my second entry for "Poinsettia."
  • Stamp Ink Paper: Christmas in July.



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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! Please let me know you came by so I can be sure and return the flavor!

*Life is too short!

To open the pop-up comment box that let's you jump to the end w/o scrollingClick CTL + Home. Click the Home tab under my blog banner which resets the post. Click Page Down to reach the end of the post. Click Comments and a pop-up box opens. Click "Jump to Comment Form" and wallah, no more car pool tunnel! Mwah! (p.s. If you ask me a question in your comment, please remember to leave me your email address so I can respond. Thank you!)

April 7, 2018

Flowers at the Window

Hello Stamplings!

I feel like it's been so long since I was here, but it's not even been a week. It's because we had several days of rain so I spent the time signing and addressing birthday cards from my stash for the upcoming weeks rather than making new ones. That always a great accomplishment, but it wasn't all fun and games because there were taxes to be done. Oomph. That takes the Zwah D. Veeve right out of a girl!

And suddenly the week whooshed by! Whatever you did this week, I hope it was excellent!

Today I have this pretty dried flower window box card for you:
If you're a long-time friend here, you know I inherited dried flowers from my friend and neighbor many years ago. She picked the flowers and pressed them herself and I treasure them. I've made cards with them before, but it's been quite a while since I had a play so it was fun to work with them again. The window frame and window box are from Poppystamps. I slid a piece of blue vellum behind the window to add a little skyish interest. The flower stems slid easily into the window box and a dot of glue holds them in place. The sediment is from MFT.

You'll see where my inspiration came from when I tell you it is my month to host Inspired By All the Little Things. This is the photo I chose for the first bi-weekly challenge:
Isn't that a great photo for spring?! It's also a great photo for those of you LONGING for spring and still seeing snow outside your window instead! Don't look! Instead, cast your eyeballs on the photo and notice all the many little ways you can be inspired by the sweet lineup of flowers! Hmmm? Feel a spark of a card idea? I'm pretty sure you have a stamp that looks just like that one right there, or maybe the one on the end? Or several?

I hope you'll be inspired by the photo and join us in the challenge! My talented friend Cat Craig of Cat Luvs Paper is joining us for both challenges this month as our Featured Artist. You will find Cat's beautiful card and the gorgeous cards of the talented Design Team over on the blog!

Other Challenges
Grab our button
04-18 copy
~~~

I'm going to leave you with just the Onefer today! Wait. What? Feel my forehead. Am I okay?! Yes, never fear, I'll be back on Tuesday with my Twofer Twofer!

Enjoy your weekend! 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! Please let me know you came by so I can be sure and return the flavor!

*Life is too short!

To open the pop-up comment box that let's you jump to the end w/o scrollingClick CTL + Home. Click the Home tab under my blog banner which resets the post. Click Page Down to reach the end of the post. Click Comments and a pop-up box opens. Click "Jump to Comment Form" and wallah, no more car pool tunnel! Mwah! (p.s. If you ask me a question in your comment, please remember to leave me your email address so I can respond. Thank you!)

January 10, 2018

Here We Go! Twofer!

Hello, Stamplings!

I'm all atwitter and becited to launch my Twofer Card Challenge today! All of you have been so encouraging and supportive here and over on the Twofer challenge blog where we already have over a hunnert followers! I appreciate you all so much! 

Here we go!
I made a sympathy card
and a Christmas card
using the same feather stamp.
Onefer.
My feather choice is a NBUS (Never-Before-Used-Schtuff) stamp from the "Fancy Feathers" set by Lil Inkers. I stamped and heat-embossed the feather in both white e/p and plantinum e/p. Then using just the Watermark inkpad, I off-set stamped the image to create a shadow. The drops are from PTI and the white heat-embossed sediment is from "Oh Happy Day" by Avery Elle.

Here is a closeup of the feather, but the photo doesn't really do justice to the metallic shimmer from the embossing powders and drops.
I love taking photos of leaves and feathers covered in morning dew drops or rain drops. Here are two photos I took last summer on our trip to the lake with the boys. You can see how they inspired my card.
Challenges
Grab our button
Twofer.
Do you recognize that I used the same feather stamp for my Christmas wreath? I got such a kick out of stretching my stamp to make my second occasion card! 

In addition to the feather, I used evergreen stamps from SU, a snowfall e/f, a little bow from Paper Smooches cut from red schparkly fun foam, and a teeny tiny tag from My Creative Time.

Challenges
Come and Play!

I can't wait to see what two different designs you create for two different occasions using the same feather stamp or die! Remember, don't be afraid to use your stamp or die in an unexpected way for one of your cards!

And if you have questions about using other stamps along with your feather, or about using positive/negative dies, etc., please click the FAQ tab at the top of the Twofer Card Challenge blog. Please also use the Contact form on the side bar if you have questions that are not already answered.
Have FUN with this!! 

I certainly did and so did my talented friends on the Design Team!
I am so thankful for them and really WOWED by their Twofer creations!
Bonus: double the inspiration and double the stash!
~~~

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

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and a special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower!  Please let me know you came by so I can be sure to return the favor!








*Life is too short!

To open the pop-up comment box that let's you jump to the end w/o scrollingClick CTL +  Home. Click the Home tab under my blog banner which resets the post. Click page down to reach the end of the post. Click Comments and the pop-up box opens. Click "Jump to Comment Form" and wallah, no more car pool tunnel! Mwah! If you ask me a question in your comment, please remember to leave me your email address so I can respond.  Thank you!

September 29, 2017

NBUS Challenge #12 ~ Day Six!

Hello, Stamplings!

Welcome to Day Six of our ten-day challenge to USE NBUS! For all the details on the history, rules, and prizes, please go here. If you have a card to enter today, the linky tool is below!

Are you sick of seeing me every day? Hee-hee, I told you I had a LOT of cheeky sediments to amuse you! On tap for today:
This gorgeous young thang is from Art Impressions and she's called "Rhonda With Hat." You've met her before, but the sediment is NBUS from Verses Rubber Stamp Co. She was colored with Ziggies and bordered with Washi.

And then we have her twin sister, also called Rhonda:
I know, so bad! But I have to say I'm now at an age where this actually happens!! So does the bad flush I get from a tiny bit of exertion!
I'm going to be serious for a minute. That's a fun boob sediment, but breast cancer is not funny, so it's a timely card to remind us that next month is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Time to make those yearly donations and set that appointment for your mammogram squishing!
Challenges
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Off you go now! Use that NBUS!! You're doing GREAT!! I know a lot of bloggers have moved from Blogland to Instaland. We miss them, but there is still a ton of terrific inspiration in the gallery! And as before, I've also set up a Pinterest page for your awesome creations! I'm very proud of all of you!!

Enjoy the challengeNo, seriously, enjoy!








To open the pop-up comment box that let's you jump to the end w/o scrolling:
Click CTL +  Home.
Click the Home tab under my blog banner which resets the post.
Click page down to reach the end of the post.
Click Comments and the pop-up box opens.
Click "Jump to Comment Form" and wallah, no more car pool tunnel! Mwah!
p.s. If you ask me a question in your comment, please remember to leave me
your email address so I can respond.  Thank you!