February 5: I is for Ink/ ...

Hello Stamplings!

Goodness, we've gone through one tunnel already on the 2024 Train to the Future. Welcome aboard as we switch tracks to February and begin our journey through tunnel two! Wait. What? I think that imagery is too dark and there's enough dark, so we don't need to be going through tunnels. But it's definitely a bullet train again!

Speaking of journeys, if you read my last post, you know I'm on a journey to rekindle my joyful routine with this hobby. This is Week One of the month, so the letter is "I" for "Ink/Color Mediums," and I am featuring my crayon and chalk pastels:

Onefer in Pink

Twofer in Blue

(I can't get over how closely the blue chalk color matches the sky!)

These are the NBUS pastel crayons/chalk:

I bought the chalks on the right sometime around 2003. Ahem. Not realizing they are very similar, I bought the Jane Davenport aquapasteles a coupla years ago. They both work like watercolor pencils, which I also have. Ahem. 

The NBUS flower and die are from "Bonny Blooms" from The Ton. The pink flowers were watercolored using My Favorite Things no-line watercolor paper. It has a smooth finish, but doesn't pill. At least it didn't for me, but I was economical when using my waterbrush. 

The blue flowers were painted using Art Philosophy cold press watercolor paper. Although his little legs were a bit rusty and although you can't see it, Hammy was in his glory winking everything on both cards! After die-cutting the flower spray, I popped them up using dimensional tape and added the simple sediments.

I enjoyed using these products, but between these two and my two sets of watercolor pencils, it feels like excess, so I have started a new donation box. 

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Phew! I followed through! Go me! Allow me to pat myself on the back! And if you join in, pat yourself on the back, too! I have created a Pinterest Board, so if you let me know in the comments that you are joining me, I can come see what you made and add your card(s) to the Board. Go you!

See you next Monday where I will feature dies/die cuts. That's redundant, isn't it?😂 Thank you all for your encouragement!📣

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

And, as always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and for taking the time to join as a follower! 

*Life is too short!

Challenges

• Colorful Options; Krafty Chicks; Triple B (pink)
  
• Beautiful Blooms; NBUS; ATS&M  (blue)

Sunflower Season

Hello Stamplings!

Good day or good evening wherever you are! I hope you had/will have a sunny day! If not, I'm bringing the sunshine to you with my card. (Sorry if you are about to turn in and my card keeps you awake!)

Onefer

This sunny sunflower and sweet bees image is NBUS from Whimsy Stamps, called "Sunflower Buggies." I had great fun coloring it with my Ziggies and, of course, Hammy followed behind with his winker. 

It was a head-scratcher trying to figure out how to add a sediment and do something to the sides which were begging for some kind of something. The next time I stamp it, I will stamp it off to the side. I stamped it in the middle because I was planning on stamping two more, one on each side. Then I decided against that idea and after a bit of scratching and cocking my head, the sunny striped Washi Tape saved the day!

Challenges

• Beautiful Blooms: A/G with mood board.
  
• Colorful Options: Yellow and green.
  
• Double D: Sunflowers.
  
• The Flower Challenge: Add spots or stripes.
  
• Let's Craft and Create: A/G + polka dots and/or stripes.
  
• Triple B: Sunflowers (and bees!).

 

  

Twofer

Here are a few more Christmas makes. I used regular embossing folders (not 3D). I know the trick of lightly spritzing the paper on both sides before embossing a 3D e/f, so I thought I would do the same with a regular e/f and I was surprised and pleased with the resulting dementia. The e/fs are from Sizzix and the sediment is from Winnie & Walter.

Challenges

• ABC Christmas: P-Q-R. Mine is Q is for Quick for the white-on-white card on the left.
  
• Christmas Craft Creations: Clean and simple (CAS).
  
• Jingle Belles: Oh Christmas Tree (or pine branches).

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The Mister stopped at the Farmer's Market and brought home fresh peaches and blueberries. He handed them to me with a knowing smile and a question in his eyes. He's irresistible.

Ina Garten's Peach and Blueberry Crisp

It is delicious with vanilla ice cream. 

And it was fun to use "knowing smile" in a sentence.

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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!

Happy Easter!

Hello Stamplings!

Best wishes to you and yours for a Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy Everything! I hope that Mother Nature gives all of us a beautiful day!

I have a few nosegays of croquets for you today. I'm not sure if croquet is the plural of crocus, but I like the sounds of it.

This sweet crocus die is a BotaniCut from The Greetery which you saw recently here. Sometimes fiddly dies are therapeutic and sometimes they get on your last nerve, but I found this die to be a pleasure to fiddle. Mostly because The Greetery very kindly puts a diagram in color on the back of the die so you don't lose the will to live after only doing two flowers. In fact, it was so much fun, I ended up batch-making 25 flowers.

The rest of the design was simples. I used a scalloped and stitched panel from Mama Elephant, an oval scalloped and stitched mat from Cottage Cutz, and a sediment sticker. Hammy was a huge help. His little tiny claws were perfect for removing the dainty sediment sticker from the backing sheet. At first. And then I turned around and there he was with Happy Easter stickers all up in his fur! Bless.

Challenges

• Beautiful Blossoms.
  
• Snippets Playground: I used lots of snippets to make my croci for my Easter cards in pinks, yellows, and greens. Snippets of white or cream were used for the oval scallop mats.
  
• Triple B: April birds, butterflies & blooms. 

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I'll leave you with a couple of photos from our walks this week:

What do you make of the flowers popping straight out from the tree trunk? Perhaps the tree is dying? There are a few flower buds up higher in the branches, but not many. It is beautiful, but odd.

And speaking of odd, how about an odd, but adorable, bunny rabbit fire plug?

People are so clever!

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Thank you all for your good wishes regarding The Mister's back. I'm happy to report it was not as bad as he first thought. After several days of taking it easy and wearing his core brace, he is almost good as new!

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! And so you don't worry, it turns out we have quite a bit of company visiting and appointments coming up, so I may be scarce the rest of the month. 

Mwah!💕

*Life is too short!

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 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!)

Two Lips and a Holly

Hello Stamplings!

How's it going? Did you have a good week? I hope you enjoyed some crafty time!

My crafty time was inspired by the little pink flowers that come to life every year in the garden. It's a welcome sight and to celebrate, I broke out my NBUS Hero Arts "Floral Tulips" stamp and die set.

Onefer

This is a CASE of a card I received (cough) years ago from my friend Lisa Tilson (My Card Trip). I'm sorry I can't direct you to her blog ATM; not sure the reason. I'm proud of myself for finally CASEing her beautiful card. After blending and schplattering, the tulips were stamped and clear heat-embossed before coloring with my Ziggies. The sediment is from a Penny Black set by the same name.

Challenges

• Beautiful Blooms: A/G Floral, with Mood Board.
  
• Cut It Up: CAS (clean and simple).
  
• Four Seasons: Spring.
  
• The Flower Challenge: Floral Main Focus with Die Cuts or Stencils.
  
• Triple B: Birds Blooms Butterflies.
  
• We Love Stamping: A/G, with option of Spring Is in the Air.

***

You might remember that Hammy wanted to try a bit of blending so I asked our local cobbler to make him special shoes. It turns out not to be possible because of his weak ankles (Hammy, not the cobbler), but I think I've come up with a workable solution. 🠊

It turns out my little triangle-shaped foam blenders fit him perfikly! There will be ink and schplatters up and down the Playhouse now, but I don't mind. It's better than having him bored. When he's bored, he waits until I am deeply engrossed in some fine detail work and then he either leaps onto my head or runs up my pant leg. The obituary writes itself ... Elderly woman found . . . 

Twofer

For today's Christmas card, I returned to my fave faux watercoloring technique of direct-to stamp coloring and spritzing of this favorite Penny Black holly.

Challenges

• Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round: Three of something. (Holly leaves.)
  
• Krafty Chicks: Stamp Act.
  
• Peace on Earth: A/G Christmas with Mood Board.

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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 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 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!)