Hanging Round the Christmas Tree

Hello, Stamplings!

What a grand Thanksgiving holiday weekend we had! It's always so nice to see family and friends and carry on timeless traditions!

Now it is full-steam ahead with getting those holiday cards made. Today I'm honored to be the Guest Designer for this week's CASology Challenge #277! This week the cue card word is ROUND and here's my inspiration for you, starring you-know-who:

Nothing says Christmas like a hamster in an ornament!

I watercolored my NBUS ornament from "Hammie Holiday Fun" by Your Next Stamp after heat-embossing it in black. The evergreens were die-cut from blended paper snippets using my NBUS die, also from Your Next Stamp. You can faintly see that I used the negative die cut to stencil a few fronds directly on the card panel for extra depth.

Here is your cue card badge:

I hope you get a chance to play along this week! You can find the linky tool and lots of outstanding inspiration from the Design Team over at CASology!

Challenges

• Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge: Color Combo.
• Pixie's Snippets Playground: AG using your snippets!
• Your Next Stamp: Color inspiration.

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Another "round" design idea using jingle bells:

The background paper is a shiny gold glossy paper and if you look closely, you can see that it is made up of row after row of teeny-tiny jingle bells! The banner is from Simon Says Stamp, the sediment is from The Ton, and the jingle bells are from Lil Inker, cut from gold metallic paper.

Challenges

• Cards In Envy: It's only paper.
• INKspirational: Christmas card using neutral colors.
• Rudolph Days: AG Christmas.

  

I had similar DSP in glossy red, so I made a few more like this:

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Real quick. I forgot to show you this photo last week. 

It was taken on our walk through the park. As I held up the pretty leaf rimmed with ice, the rising sun lit it from behind. I had The Mister take a photo over my shoulder to share with you.

And, of course, I had to share the grandtwins!

You haven't seen them for a while, so that's Henry on the left, Adam on the right. They were not happy to be stopped in their tracks as they were about to dive into a box of See's candy! Check out Adam's itchy finger, primed and ready to pounce!

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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 to 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 the pop-up box opens. Click "Jump to Comment Form" and wallah, no more car pool tunnel! P.S. If you ask me a question in your comment, please remember to leave me your email address so I can respond. Mwah! 

Just Chatting About Anniversaries and NBUS and New Friends and Schtuff

If you're looking for NBUS Challenge #3, please click HERE. Challenge ends at noon PST, Thursday, January 22, 2015.

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Welcome to Monday!

We love Monday! She arrives fresh from the bath, innocent and unmarred by what the week will hold. She greets it with optimism and interest!

Anniversary

So the Mister says to me, "Do your Card Ladies (that's what he calls you) know that I make cards, too?" Well, if that's not permission to show you the sweet anniversary card I got from him, I don't know what is!!

Isn't that adorable? He's found a signature design that he uses year after year as the numbers roll on. I treasure them all and know that I'm a lucky girl! Does your husband shop at the xerox paper card shop, too?!

BTW, the nicknames? Yes, he does call me Toots or Tootsarino, but I don't really call him K2. He just always signs his name that way because his first and last initials both start with K and he's a science guy, so he writes K Squared. I don't call him Mister either, I call him Hon. 

It reminds me of when the twins were just learning to be conversant. We were babysitting and we were all four in the family room. The boys were playing on the floor, and we were reading. I looked up and saw that the Mister was gone. I caught Adam's eye and asked, "Where did he go?" Adam got up and toddled over to the hallway and yelled, "HON?" as loud as he could. It was so darn funny!

Thank you all very much for your sincere anniversary wishes to us! I'm sorry that because of the NBUS commenting, I didn't get a chance to visit and thank you all individually for your wonderful messages, but they mean the world to us.

THIRD BLOG BIRTHAVERSARY!

I completely forgot to tell you on Friday that I've decided to also make January 16th the anniversary of my blog. It's my blog, so I can do that, right?

Some bloggers call it the birthday of their blog; some call it the anniversary of their blog. Hence and fourtooth, mine  is a birthaversary! Feel free to use my new word if you like it!

So what happened was, I started my blog in October of 2011. Nothing happened. Ditto for November. Ditto for December. It wasn't until the middle of January 2012, after I started entering challenges and making an effort to communicate and make friends with other bloggers, that people started visiting.

The light dawned, so to speak. So now I'm just going to combine the two. From now on, January 16th will be celebrated as both our wedding anniversary and my blog birthaversary. Honestly, it's just because I need a way to make it easier to remember! As I have aged, my head has gotten pretty full of dates. Although sometimes I eat raisins just to be different.

NBUS Challenges

I want to again thank Melissa for the privilege of being Guest Designer for CASology Week 129 and for the compliment of having NBUS as the cue card word of the week! It was wonderful having CAS card artists linking to both our challenges with one card!

YouCanMakeThis.Com

I haven't quite made it around to visit everyone in the CASology gallery, so if you only linked to CASology, make sure you also link to the NBUS Challenge #3 before it closes at noon PST on Thursday, January 22, 2015. There are prizes to be won!

For those of you who are new to this blog and the NBUS Challenge, there were two reasons why I started my NBUS challenge. One reason, of course, was to encourage you to use those virginal products.

The second reason was that it provided me with a way to say thank you to all the followers of my blog by giving them a chance to win a $25 gift card. It's my uniQ and interactive way to give you blog candy. 

The prize winners will be announced at noon PST on Sunday, January 25, 2015.

I know there are a lot of you who are playing just for fun and who tell me you would play even if there weren't prizes and I really I appreciate that. It tells me that my little NBUS movement is here to stay! Give yourselves a pat on the back!!

Even though the challenge isn't over, I want you to know that I'm feeling very humbled by the enthusiasm and love and support you are all giving to my third NBUS Challenge! I truly am overwhelmed!

When the entries reached 400 over the weekend, I scooted back from my desk, tucked Hammy in my pocket so he wouldn't fly off my shoulder, and twirled around in my chair like a 10-year-old! I gotta say, that was hella fun! Seriously, I'm very, very thankful!!

CARD/CHALLENGE BREAK  ~ New Friends Corner

Now, as the entries are reaching 500 (Wait. WHAT??!) and there are still over two days left, I'm going to be taking a bit of a break from card-making and challenges this week so I can concentrate on visiting the entries and leaving thankful comments.

I do, however, want to continue to introduce you to the new friends who have arrived at the Playhouse, so when I can, I will be posting introductions for you in my New Friends Corner and I hope that you will visit them and introduce yourselves!

And just for eye candy, coz we gotta have a little eye candy, and because this is a card blog, I may include a vintage card of mine.

~~~

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!

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; 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!

All You Need Is Love!

Love
Love is all you need.

If you're gonna have an ear worm, that's not a bad song for it.

Or how about, "We've Only Just Begun" by The Carpenters. That was our wedding song forty-four years ago. Can you sing the lyrics to, "Say It Isn't So," by Waredid Timego?

Happy Anniversary, Mister! I love you and I made you this card.

As a paper addict, I have to say that Stampin Up makes some pretty cool designer papers. I had some of this gorgeous fluffy paper left from a year or two ago, so I let it be the star of my card. It's just one layer of the pretty paper and a couple of stamps. That's it. QACAS.

I scored the back side every which way to give it some interest. It was bored otherwise.

Okay, that's a rightout lie. What happened was that Hammy scored it in the wrong place and my card was just too big for my design athletics. I trimmed the card down, which meant I had to move my score line, which left this runnel in the behind of my card. So then I purposely hoovered a few more  runnels every few so oftens to make it look like I meant to do that. I mean, just between us to be honest.

My man and lady stamps are from GKW. They were covered in Wink of Stella after the lady stamp went to the beauty salon to get a hair flip. The glossy heart of electricity between them comes from Stamps by Judith and the NBUS sediment is from SU.

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Over at One Layer Simplicity, my friend and fellow BABE Ardyth is the hostess of the January challenge and her brief is "Opposites Attract." So I'm entering my one-layer card upon which there are two items which couldn't be more opposite: a man and a woman. 

Also celebrating an anniversary (their first) ~ and celebrating it in pink ~ is a fun challenge called The Card Concept and I'm happy to be linking there as I am wont to do. My card is "clean and simple." I think. Although it is clean, being just a piece of paper, it is busy. So maybe it's just S for simple because it doesn't get much simpler than the five minutes it took me to make this card. Okay, ten with all that extra runneling. Happy Anniversary to Lesley and the fantastic design team!!

Following a sweet reminder from Sandie, I'm also linking up to Uniko Studio's January challenge which is "Love and Friendship."

Please click on the links for details regarding rules, sponsors, and prizes.

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Reminders for NBUS Card Challenges:

• For clean and simple cards, please click here to join in the CASology challenge, where I am thrilled to be the Guest Designer this week! The CASology challenge ends at noon CST on Monday 1/19/15. Please remember to link with both CASology and NBUS challenges!
• In addition to clean and simple cards, all other styles/creations can be linked to my NBUS Challenge #3, which ends at noon PST on Thursday 1/22/15. Click here to join in. Thank you for all the amazing entries so far!!

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New Friends Corner

I'm delighted to introduce you to five new friends for you to visit!

Dawn of Designs by Dragonfly. Dawn has been blogging since 2013 and she is a very active blogger! I'm sure you have seen her very pretty cards around Blogland as Dawn loves to play in challenges and she has won many awards as a result. Her passion for cardmaking is contagious!

Lynn Antill of Lynn's Crafty Corner. Lynn is from the UK and she has been blogging since 2011.Our mutual friend Di of Pixie's Snippets Playground introduced Lynn to the NBUS Challenge and I often see Lynn in other challenges around Blogland.  She makes wonderful cards and is so inspirational with her use of snippets and patterned papers!

Niki of Pawsitively Creative Crafts. I love Niki's clever blog name, chosen because she is a Veterinary Technician. Niki has only been blogging since June of last year, so please make a special effort to visit Niki and welcome her to our caring community! She is an absolute wonder with her mixed media creations!

Georgie of Little Blue Craft Box. Georgie has been blogging since 2013. I met Georgie through her friendship with my MACS cofounder, Becca. Georgie is another mixed media artist whose 3D works of art literally blow the top of my head off. I learned after my first visit never to approach her blog without a chin strap and a helmet! You've been warned!

Neha Bhatt of Periwinkle Creations. Neha has only been blogging since October of last year, so again, please do make a special effort to visit her and welcome her! You won't be sorry as her talent is incredible and her card art is beautiful and flawless! I predict she will be in demand as a designer, if she chooses to do so!

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Throwback Poem

When I was looking back through my blog to find my post from my first time serving as a guest designer for CASology, I found this poem that I had written. I thought the occasion of our 44th anniversary today would be a fun time to repost it for those of you who weren't here back then. I hope you enjoy!

The Poem of the Stamping Playhouse

There was an old woman who stamped just for fun,
Stuck in the garage where she never saw sun.
Ten years she collected, she stamped, and she dreamed,
Patience and longing were virtues it seemed.
Then Mister appeared through the cobwebs and grime,
His motorcycle, deftly, he stopped on a dime.
"Look out!" she did cry, as she reached out her hand,
"I'm saving those dimes to bulldoze our land."
Her Mister could see the desire in her eyes
and he wanted the garage for his own tools and dies.
"My lady," he bowed, his helmet so bright,
"I'll build you a Playhouse, t'will bring me delight."
Fairytales do happen, it's true, don't you see?
It can happen for you,  'cause it happened for me!

~~~

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!

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.
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If you ask me a question in your comment, please remember to leave
me your email address so I can respond. Thank you!

NBUS / CASOLOGY!

Normally, I would start with a line about where to click if you are looking for my NBUS Challenge #3, but wait a second! I've got a little surprise for you for the coming week!

Oh, boyoboyoboy!! Melissa, owner of the sensational CASology challenge asked me if I would be Guest Designer and collaborate my NBUS Challenge with this week's cue card challenge! Um, yeah! Honored! Thrilled! Hamsterated!

I've been a fan and consistent participant in the CASology challenge since the very first cue card. In fact, I was a guest designer there almost exactly two years ago when it was only week 30! It's wonderful to see it still going strong and if you haven't had the pleasure of playing there, I hope you'll join in!

And now, it is my utmost pleasure to bring you this week's cue card!

NBUS = Never-Before-Used Schtuff

I'm sure you are pickled tink right along with me that my little coined aackronym is the CASology cue card challenge word and I hope you will join us in both challenges this week!

Basics

• Make a creation using any schtuff (old or new) that has never been used before.
• Link it up here to join in the CASology Challenge #129 (ends Monday 1/19/15).
• Link it up here to join in the NBUS Challenge #3 (ends Thursday 1/22/15).

 Remember, if you are linking to both challenges, 

please keep it clean and simple 

coz that's how CASology rolls!

~~~

My CAS / NBUS Inspiration Card

The NBUS poppy and sediment used on my one-layer card are from the "Pretty Poppies" stamp set by My Favorite Things. There are sparkles galore with glitter gold in the flower center and Wink of Stella all over. You can't really see it, but even the little bling has bling! It's meant to be an uplifting card after all!

I thought this design would also work as a sympathy card. Here is one I made using a Spica gold pen for the flower center to keep the card more somber. 

This stamp set is so lovely. There are even matching poppy dies available, which I have and which are NBUS, but I really liked this design using just the stamps.

I'm partial to poppies because we are fortunate to have poppies growing wild in California. In fact, they are our state flower. Here's a picture I took last May of California poppies growing wild along the coastline.

Thank you to Melissa and the entire Design Team of talented card artists for letting me play along this week, thereby promoting each other's challenges (how cool is that?!), and encouraging the obliteration of NBUS all over the world, one creation at a time!!

Please make sure you click over to CASology for the details on rules, etc., and to see the other sensational creations the Design Team has made for you using their own Never-Before-Used Schtuff (NBUS)!!

~~~

New Friends Corner

Please give a warm welcome to these five new Playhouse friends!

Lisa of A Mermaid's Crafts. Lisa has been blogging since 2011 and she leaves such wonderful and encouraging comments around Blogland. On her own blog, Lisa offers tutorials and her blog hops, guest design gigs, challenge wins, blog awards, and design team. You won't be left wanting for anything crafty after visiting Lisa's blog.

Diane Cramer of fionna51 at Splitcoast Stampers. Diane has a full gallery of remarkable cards for you to marvel over. She has been at SCS since 2005 and, to date, there are 871 cards in her gallery! What a fountain of inspiration for all of us!

Samantha of Samantha Designs. Whenever she has been able, Samantha has blogged since 2008. She just received a brand new Cricut for Christmas and has started 2015 off with a bang with her wonderful creations. Your visit and encouragement would be much appreciated!

Tracey Mallaghan of Chronically Crafting. Tracey has only been blogging since May of last year. Like several of us, Tracey suffers from fibromyagony and being crafty helps to take her to her happy place. She is joining challenges and trying new techniques and I love her enthusiasm. Please take a few minutes to visit Tracey and show her what a caring and supportive community we are!

Keltika of Magic with Small Farms (Carovnijezmalekmetije). Keltika started blogging two years ago, so happy blogaversary to her! I'm not sure about the translation at times, but this is a blog that has everything. Wonderful cards, of course, but you'll scroll on and on just to keep seeing the most luscious photographs of extraordinary nature, the farm, critters, and fabulous cooking processi!

Thank you for joining, ladies, and welcome to the Playhouse!

~~~

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!

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; 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!