A Pocketful of Rainbow Hearts ~ NBUS #101

I'm so happ  to see you!

Well, gosh,  ou are all so sweet and  ou felt so sorr  for the letter "Y" in m  post  esterda  that I've decided to give him the da  off toda . I'm sure you will all be very happ  for him!

I'm back toda  because I wanted to pla  in a challenge that is closing soon. Sometimes I get together with Mr. Mojo and Pinterest and  our blogs and, of course, m  hamster, to come up with a card design. (It can take a village.) But sometimes I'm just standing at the sink rinsing the breakfast dishes and a whole card just blossoms in m  mind. Shazambam!

A few challenge seeds had been planted as I explored the Intertube in the last couple of da s and then m  hamster imagination just ran with it! Here's what I made:  a card with a rainbow hankie exploding out of a pocket!!!!

While I hope this brings a smile to  our face no matter what season of weather  ou are living in, I'm thinking the shock of these summer  colors will be especiall  welcoming to those of  ou experiencing the cold and drear  gra  and rain  (or snow ) da s of winter!

The cute pocket is made from a NBUS die and stamp set made b  M  Favorite Things. I wrote the sediment "I {heart} U" on the pocket tab. The rainbow hankie is made from NBUS rainbow heart tissue paper that I picked up at Target the first of the year. This week a lot of the challenge stars lined up perfectly for me to use m  adorable tissue paper! 

I have to sa  this is a cheerful card!

It started with Less Is More, which is celebrating its THIRD birthda ! Happ  Birthda  and man , man  more!  ou all know how much I love this challenge and the hosts Chrissie and Jen. And this week we are honored to have a visit from Chrissie's original cohost, Mandi! That was a treat! There are also wonderful Guest Designers showcasing their talents this week with the theme of rainbows!

And, of course, I had to make m  card a birthda  card in their honor, so this is what the inside looks like:

The tag birthda  sediment stamp is an ancient Hampton Art Stamps (RS 1443) stamp that I colored with my markers directl  onto the stamp.

Since I made m  card a birthda  card I'm pla ing in the current Seize the Birthda  challenge where the dessert option is chevrons! Lemme see, rainbows and chevrons? Someone over at Freckled Fawn was trending big time when the  designed this Washi tape!

Back to rainbows, there is a new-to-me challenge at Stampin' Celebration which is also in a rainbow-and-heart kind of mood with their sensational photo inspiration board:

And since I used that adorable little pocket die from M  Favorite Things (MFT), I used their current sketch:

I believe this is m  first time pla ing in an MFT sketch challenge! I did not cop  it ezackl , but I think m  card meets the written criterium:  ". . . This week we have a sketch that includes a perfect centerpiece for showcasing something really spectacular. Front and center is the idea here!  . . ."

Finall , while my pocket hankie isn't much over the edge, it is over the edge, so I'm going to see if Michele will let me in the door at the current and fun CAS-ual Frida s challenge.

~~~

Believe it or not, there are other star-aligned challenges I could have linked to, but I think that's enough. I hope  ou can join in before these challenges end! Just click on the links for all the details about rules, sponsors, and prizes. 

~~~

Enjo   our da !  No, seriousl , enjo .  LITS!* 

As alwa s, thank  ou for coming b  to visit the Pla house and special thanks to  ou if  ou take the time to leave a comment and/or join as a follower!  Please let me know  ou came b , so I can be sure and return the flavor!

So, was it hard to read, or did  our mind automaticall  insert the missing letter? I got tired of it after a while, but felt like I should stick it out coz I'm a finish-what-I-start gal. I promise the missing letter will return for the next post! Thank  ou for putting up with me and m  sill  ideas!

  

 

*Life Is Too Short!

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Mwah!

PARTY! CASOS #24; CASology; CFC #124; LIM #151; Pixie's #103/#104

Well, hello there!

My friends, we have whooshed all the way around to the very last Friday of 2013!  I've not been kidding about how life is too short!  I hope you and I are able to take a few more deep-and-in-the-moment breaths to help 2014 pass more slowly and delishushly.

 

To close out 2013, a lot of my favorite challenges are celebrating Happy New Year's by partaying for all it's worth!  Even though we have had the twins since Christmas Day, I couldn't miss the party!  I slipped off to the Playhouse last night after they went to bed and made a card.

 

First, the challenges:

• CAS on Sunday where the theme is HAPPY NEW YEAR!
• CASology where the cue card word is PARTY!

• CAS-ual Fridays where the theme is HAPPY NEW YEAR!
• Less Is More - Pick-A-Challenge.  I picked Week 44, Dec. 3rd Colour GREEN!
• Pixie's Snippets Playground ~ just use a snippet on your card!  I think the playmates will snigger over my party frog!

A lot of these challenges run several more days so I hope you will get a chance to play along!  Please click the links for all the details on rules, sponsors, and prizes.

 

~~~

 

My card: 

Poor old bull frog looks like he is only half-heartedly into partaying, but it's just a façade.  Up inside his head he is dancing to The Swim!  Doesn't he remind you of Uncle Sims who would sit in the corner, in his favorite chair, holding a drink, but otherwise not moving, like an old bull frog?  But up inside his head, Uncle Dear was twisting and shouting.  Just like in life, it takes all kinda folk to make a party!

 

I photographed my card outside in the morning light and you'll have to pardon that gray circular splotch which has suddenly started to appear.  For some reason it doesn't appear in my indoor photos.  I think my cheapo point-and-shoot camera has seen better days.  Look out after-Christmas sales, here I come! 

 

~~~

In spite of the rush of the holiday season, I'm delighted to introduce you to a new friend!

 

Please meet Jasleen of Happily Ever Crafter! ~ another fantastic blog name!  Jasleen's whole blog is fanstastic!  She has only been blogging since August, but she is very passionate about her crafty talents and she has much to share with you about all her creative endeavors.  As always, I would love it if you dropped in and left Jasleen some encouragement!

 

Thank you, Jasleen!  We are so happy you joined the Playhouse partay!

~~~

 

I must dash.  Fun awaits in the form of gangling arms and legs and giggles! 

 

I will leave you with a wee bit of family fun which you so generously allow me to share.

 

Lots of remote-control presents were under the tree.  Besides these rock crawlers, they received helicopters and things I'm not sure what the names are.  I just wish I was Ms. Eve Ready or Ms. Dura Cell or Mrs. Ray O. Vac, or Mrs. N. R. Gizer! 

Which twin made which gummy bear army formation?

~~~

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 leave a comment and/or join as a follower!  Please let me know you came by, so I can be sure and return the flavor! 
 

  

 

*Life Is Too Short!

Project Details
Paper	SU tempting turquoise; Stampland glossy; unknown PP from stash
Stamps	Mostly Animals "Party Frog"; unmarked sediment stamp
Ink	Versifine onyx black; SU markers; Wink of Stella pens
Accessories	Cuttlebug EF; Corner Chomper

 

 

Fireworks, Chloe in Black ~ CASology; CFC #119; LIM #144; MIM #138; NBUS #68; PSP #97

Hi There!

I'm popping in (no pun intended) with another quickie post because the gates are closing on a couple of challenges.

 

This card was created in one of those unexpected enchanting moments that happens in the Playhouse and, I'm sure, wherever you create.  I was flipping through my dies looking for something else entirely when I passed by my Memory Box Chloe Stem and it flashed through the air filter that used to be my brain that it might be awesome to have it explode with bits of rainbow colors in the circles.  Not my brain, the die.  Thus:

 

I die cut the Chloe die in the black card base and then inlaid it with a scrap of green for the stem and enamel dots for the bursts of color.  The bright blue dots were beige dots that I colored with a blue Sharpie because I didn't have any dots in that color.  The sediment is NBUS and it was inlaid with red after being die cut into the black card base.

 

The enamel dots reminded me of Skittles and M&Ms which I happen to have left over from Halloween, so at the end is a photo with candies in the foreground.   For fun.

~~~

I am entering my card in the following challenges:

• CASology where the cue card word is BLACK.  ETA:  Ooops, too late.

• CASual Fridays where the challenge is "embossing."

• Less is More, sponsored generously by Pink Petticoat, where the challenge is to use black with a splash of colours:

• Make It Monday, where the challenge is Inlaid Dies.
• I might as well enter one more time in Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge (Anything Goes) since I used an SSS die.
• My green and red inlaid bits were made from snippets, so I'm also hopping over to Pixie's Snippets Playground in my willies.  When you type wellies, the spell checker dude automatically changes it to willies.  That karacks me up every time!

~~~

 

That's it for me.  It's cocktail time and I also still have lots of cake and cards to enjoy from Tracey's party.  Whatever you are doing, enjoy!  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 leave a comment and/or join as a follower!  Please let me know you came by, so I can be sure and return the flavor! 

 

*Life Is Too Short! 

 

Paper:  PTI true black; SU! garden green, real red

Dies:  Memory Box Chloe Stem; Simon Says

  Stamp "Oh Happy Day"

Enamel dots:  My Mind's Eye

Papertrey October Blog Hop Challenge; CFC #118; NBUS #65; Rudolph Day

Greetings, Crafty Friends!

Today is the 25th day of the 10th month of the 2,013th year and that means it is another blog hop challenge at Nichole's Papertrey Ink (PTI) glorious website, as well as Rudolph Day at Stamping For Pleasure.  And we can't forget we've also whooshed around to another Friday, drawing ever more perilously close to Christmas!!

 

My friend Sandra hosts Rudolph Day where the rule is that you have to make something festive ~  and for this month's PTI blog hop challenge we are to make festive tags.  Here is our photag inspiration:

As fun would have it, there is also a "tags and bags" challenge going on at CAS-ual Fridays, so I'm linking up there, as well.

Frank Lee, I prefer making cards to making tags, so this was a challenge for me that turned out to be happily successful once I decided that I wanted to make my tags in the shape of a Ball jar.  I used a die from Paper Smooches for my jar, but you can also find fine jar dies at other companies, including PTI.

 

With one exception of pine needles (from SU!), the little jar tags are filled with PTI images, most of which are NBUS, and all of the tags are made from either PTI white or kraft paper.  The other ingredients I'll list at the end.  Almost all of the images were enhanced with either Wink of Stella pens or my white gel pen.  Unfortunately, even taking the pictures in the sunlight did not show off the winking and sparking that you can see IRL. 

 

I made seven tags.  Actually I made ten of them, but three didn't quite get finished in time.  

 

Enjoy~



  

 

  

  

~~~

 

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 or leave a comment.  I'm very blessed to hear from so many of you and I treasure each and every one!

 

*Life Is Too Short! 

 

Images:  PTI "Holiday Button Bits" and
"Friendship Jar Holiday Fillers"
Dies:  PTI "Holly Jolly"
Paper Smooches "Crystal Clear" jar
Ink:  PTI spring moss, new leaf, pinefeather
Doodle Twine
Rain Dots by Cloud 9
Wink of Stella and Sakura gel pen
Miscellaneous silver thread, hemp, eyeballs, jingle bells, and felt
Cropadile, SU! rivets

Fall Is In The Air! CFC #115; NBUS #53; Pixie's #91; and Simon

Hey!  How's it goin'?

 

I found lots of wonderful fall papers while cleaning and it's gotten me further in the mood for autumn colors and cards.  Today I was toying around with smackin' acetate again.  I first tried it here with cool colors, so it was fun trying it with warm colors.

 

Which took me straight to the current CAS-ual Fridays challenge, sponsored by Simon Says Stamp.  We are to use fall colors and a leaf on our project.

 

I'm linking again to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.  During Stamptember, we are to use any product that Simon Says Stamp sells in the store. 

 

Since I used snippets, I'm also taking my card over to show my friends at Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground!

 

And since I've made a card of thanksgiving, I'm linking again to Susan Raihala's 2013 Thanksgiving Crusade on her blog, Simplicity.

 

~~~

Here's what I made:

I scribbled fall-colored markers onto a sheet of acetate, spritzed it with a fine mist of water, and overlaid a piece of glossy paper to pick up the colors.  I die-cut my leaves from that and then stamped on the matching image.

My NBUS today is that fantastic "air vent" border.  It's made from a die from Simon Says Stamp.  I loved that thing when I saw it on other blogs and I'm very happy to finally have a chance to own it and use it!

 

~~~

 

I'm also happy to welcome a new friend today, both to my blog and to the Land of Blog itself!  Please meet Brenda of Inkspired to Stamp!  I hope you can find a little time to go over and make her feel welcome in this huge new world she has entered.  With your help she will find what I have found: a close-knit, generous, and supportive community!  Mwah!

:( :( :(

On a more sobering note, yesterday I came across some disturbing information related to my blog and a whole other community that exists out there.  I've mentioned before that occasionally I would have "unsavory" links in my audience stats, which karacked me up because I'm not ezackly babe material!  Well, it turns out they weren't here checking me out, the crudballs were keying in on the term of endearment that I've used for my grandsons since they were first born. I won't use the word again now that I know.  I wanted you to also know since you've all come to call them by that term, too, and you might wonder why I've stopped.  It really fries my turnips, but there's nothing I can do about it. 

 

:) :) :)

{source}

What I can do is turn that frown I gave you upside down!  We've come to the end of blueberry season around here.  We love to eat them fresh, but I decided to use these last ones in something baked.  Being busy and lazy (yes, you can be both of those things simultaneously!), I hunted around for a recipe that was QAE.  I found a lovely crisp that fit the ticket. 

 

After tucking it in the oven, I tidied up and got quite a start when I returned the sugar jar to the pantry.  Sugar?  Ernh?  I don't remember scooping any of that!  Oops.  Another flusterating sign of aging, I'm sure.  I understand how I can be both busy AND lazy, but I don't usually like to use the words "healthy" and "dessert" in the same sentence!

 

(It tasted pretty much as you would expect!)

 

~~~

 

Enjoy your day ~ don't forget the sugar!  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 leave a comment and/or join as a follower!

 

 

*Life Is Too Short!  

 

Paper:  PTI rustic cream; SU! tangerine tango

Stamps:  Memory Box "Fall Leaf Trio" F1776

  Hero Arts "Fall Leaf Thanksgiving" F294

Ink:  Kaleidacolor "Autumn Leaves"; SU! markers

Dies:  Memory Box "Fall Leaf Trio" and SSS "Air Vent"

Bow is embroidery floss

Golden Delicious ~ CASology #60; CFC #114; MUSE #33; NBUS #49; PIXIE'S #89

Al O. There!

It's lovely to be back.  It seems like it's been ages.  I'm feeling well enough to get back to reorganizing the Pigpen Playhouse, which is quite time-consuming when you are making gingerly movements.  Wouldn't you think that gingerly would be a more exaggerated version of ginger?

 

Ah, not so.  Here is gingerly, just as you suspected:

 

1 in a careful or cautious manner; 2 showing great care or caution.

 

And here is ginger:  2 stimulate; enliven.  "she slapped his hand lightly to ginger him up."

 

Indeed.

 

Today I've made another QACAS card.  I sure seem to have the "simple" part of "clean and simple" (CAS) down pat, don't I?  I resemble that remark! 

The challenges for today's card are CASology where the cue card is "apple,"

CAS-ual Fridays where the theme is "back to school,"

Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground where the theme is always "use those snippets," (here are mine for today)

and MUSE Card Club where the inspiration artist this week is the outstanding Laurie Willison.  Here is her fun Muse Inspiration Card for us:

 

Please click on the links for these fun challenges for any sponsor information, rules, etc., and please join in the fun!!



~~~
Here is my take on Laurie's card:

I literally followed Laurie's design sketch, which I'll be using again.  I fussy-cut the apple and the pencil out of some designer paper scraps.  Since none of my oodles of bling seemed right, I just made my own using a snippet of blue and two different-sized hole punches.  I don't often get the chance to use that notebook paper edge punch, but it's sure fun when I get the opportunity.  Today's NBUS is the sediment.  

 

~~~

 

I was in the middle of doing a bit of paper sorting today,

Could I be a paper ho, d'ya spose?

when I was pleasantly distracted by two things. 

 

The first was a for real squirrel (not just the one that shares space in my head with a hamster).  We are still having summer here with the temperature rising to a hunnert degrees.  Mister had just watered everything and gone back inside.  A few minutes later, I looked out and saw this little guy, cooling off his hot unders! 

 

~~~

 

Secondly, a lovely new friend came to play!  Her name is Karren J and her wonderful website is Stamping Stuff.  Please take some time to visit Karren and introduce yourself.  Karren has loads of awesome cards for your inspiration!  Welcome, Karren, and thank you for joining us!

~~~

Enjoy your day!  No, seriously, enjoy.  LITS!*  We are off to spend part of the day with the twinklets, who have just moved into separate rooms and want to show them off to us!

 

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and special thanks to you if you take the time to leave a comment and/or join as a follower!   

*Life Is Too Short!  

Paper:  unknown card base; DP is either DCWV
  or K&Company
Stamp:  SU! "Loving Thoughts"
Ink:  Versafine onyx black
Punch:  SU! notebook paper edge; small dots

I'm Here ~ CFC #110; DD #63; FMS #96; NBUS #29; Pixie's #83

Happy New Week Peeps!

 

This is photo-heavy with weekend twin shots, so I'll get right to my card.

 

At CAS-ual Fridays the challenge is:

and at Dynamic Duos the color challenge is:

For my layout, I used the current sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches, which is this beauty by Amy:

 ~~~

The first thing that came to mind when I saw "count me in" was that it's another way to say, "count on me."  So this is my card:

The shiny green paper from DCWV comes with a woodgrain design, perfect for a sign, and since I used a  snippet of it, it provides me with an ant tray into this week's challenge at Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground where lotsa girls are already in full attendance! 

My NBUS is the adorable Paper Smooches giraffe from the "Zoo Crew" set.  I heat embossed the sediments.  The "I'm here for you" is from PTI "Think Big Favorites #4."  I masked the "for" and replaced it with the number "4" (also NBUS) from the Hero Arts "Illustrator's Alphabet" set.  Further deets are below. 

 

~~~
 

New Friend

 

I'm so happy to welcome our newest friend, Lindsey from Occasional Crafting!  Lindsey is fairly new to blogging and she makes adorable and clever card art!  I know you will very much enjoy your visit to her.  Thank you so much, Lindsey, for joining our party! 

BTW, Lindsey created her blog on a whim and I'm so glad she did!  When was the last time you went out on a whim?

 

~~~

 

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 leave a comment and/or join as a follower!

 

*Life Is Too Short!   

Paper:  PTI white; DCWV DSP
Stamps:  Hero Arts "Illustrator's Alphabet";
  PTI "Think Big Favorites #4"; Paper Smooches
  "Zoo Crew"
Ink:  Black EP; SU! pear pizzaz, garden green
Twine:  Sew easy fancy floss
Eyeball:  Darice

~~~
 

I leave you with random photos of our contented weekend with our favorite 8-year-old twin grandsons!!

Henry's super cute card to the family ~ this is just the envelope!

 

The Grand Reopening of the Rock Shoppe

Wherein two handsome and savvy businessmen sell rocks belonging to their grandparents to their grandparents.



Discussing the business model



Preparing the merchandise

Price negotiations



Upon discovering the grandparents aren't as dumb as they look when told that
the rocks were purchased with money from a certain couple of piggy banks.
(Just kidding!)

Traditional Sunday hike



There are tadpoles!



Contemplation

~~~

At the end of the day, they still like to be swaddled.

 

Mwah!