Happy, Happy, Hopeful!

Hello Stamplings!

Happy New Year! I hope this finds you doing well and avoiding Omicron and I hope you enjoyed your holiday! I was so optimistic that 2021 would find us completely back to normal with good times and good health and no more stress and depression. Wrong. My heart goes out to you if you've had illness or death of a loved one this past year.

So now I am heaping even more optimism onto the back of 2022 ~ The Year of High Expectations! I hope it is strong enough to bring us to a place of sanity and a return of human kindness and common sense, which, in turn, will lead to an end to the pandemic and political infighting. Well, I don't know about that last bit, but a girl can dream.

And make you a card:

For the base, you'll see a layer of handmade paper, shot through with gold tinsel. Over the top is a platinum circle of stars which was a gift from a friend; I think it's made by Papertrey. The inner circle is adorned with a NBUS bottle of champagne (vad elsk?) from Cottage Cutz (which I paper-pieced in different appropopo colors of glossy paper) and a NBUS sediment from Hero Arts which was heat-embossed in gold.

Here's a better angle of the schparkliness and color!

Challenges

• Cardz 4 Galz: In with the new year/new stash.
  
• Double D: Lots of white.
  
• Krafty Chicks: AG.
  
• Simon Says Monday: Party
  
• Simon Says Wednesday: It's time to party.
  
• Watercooler Wednesday: Marsha's AG.

Thank you to ALL the wonderful card challenges in Blogland and their dedicated Design Teams who work to inspire us and schpark our creativity month-after-month!

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In other happy news, this is my 10th blogging anniversary! I actually published my first post in October of 2011, but it was just a coupla practice posts. I didn't really get my feet wet until January of 2012. It's a pretty big deal to have maintained a blog for ten years, especially in the era of Instagram and with all the changes Blogger has made over the years, not all of them good ones. 

The readers play a huge part in the longevity of a blog and I am so thankful for all of you! After all, without you leaving me wonderful comments, I'm not sure I would still be blogging. More importantly, many of your comments have developed into real friendships, both inside the computer and outside in the real world. We blog because we want to share our creations and have a diary of them ~ it's an incredible magical bonus when strong bonds and friendships also develop!

In celebration of my ten years of blogging, I'm hoping to do a sort of restart this year. This pandemic has taken some of the stuffing out of the ol' blog sofa, as it were, and I want to see if I can rekindle my joy of blogging, visiting, and commenting. Know what I mean? I also want to spread more joy around the world cuz the world could use more joy.

So in louie of a blogaversary give-away, here is my plan, complete with preamble:

If you've been a friend for a while now, you've heard me talk about my dear friend Verna. I became friends with Verna in 1978 when we both worked in the same small law firm. That's a long-time friendship. Verna is 97 now and confined to a bed after breaking her neck seven years ago in an accident with her walker and an automatic door. She is an inspiration to me in terms of her stoicism and her spunk. Mentally, she is sharp as a tack in spite of the pain her body is in.

I asked a few years ago if friends would send her cards and many of you do. The joy that Verna feels from getting these cards is hard to put into words. I stand on the porch and visit with her and she shows the cards to me through the window. And her face just lights up! Thank you for that gift for her!

Rubberstamps.com

In turn, I would like to offer that gift to a senior you may know. There are wonderful people who do annual card drives and I have enjoyed taking part in them and also donating cards for seniors in my own community, but I'd like to do more. Two years of off-again/on-again isolation has been hard for everyone, but it is especially hard for seniors.

So if you, or someone you know, would love to receive some old-fashioned love in card form, please use the Contact Me form on the right to let me know and I will get the details from you. (Using the form is more reliable because comments are often un-reply-able.) 

Thank you, everyone! Mwah! And RIP dear Betty White.😇

 

 Enjoy your day and Happy New Year! 
No, seriously, enjoy! Life is too short!

p.s. I was just searching for something on my blog and ran across an old post at the beginning of 2016 that I found both humorous and depressing in that I've not yet reached any of the goals I had high hopes for SIX years ago. Slap! Time doesn't speed up for old people. Old people slow down and resolutions stay the same!😄

Holiday Branches

Hello Stamplings!

I hope you're having a great week! I'm knee-deep in all products Christmas and am shocked (as I am every year) by how much of it is NBUS. Do you think Hammy has figured out how to get on the computer in the middle of the night and order things?! I'm not complaining because it's like Christmas when the mail comes, but he needs to finger out a way to give me more hours in the day to USE everything!

Anyhoozle, we're all busy this time of year, so I'll prolly do more posts, but quick ones, just to share the cards I'm making which may spark ideas for you. Today I have cards I made using a NBUS full-size Holiday Branches stamp from Echo Park. The design itself is a CASE of a card made by Jenny Mullens, which  I saved from a Craft Stamper magazine ages ago. Thank you, Jenny!

The great thing about using a full-size stamp is that you can cut it in half and make two cards using the same design, as I've done here, or you can cut it into even smaller pieces for borders, small panels, etc. Wait. What? Clumsy me. What I meant to say was you can cut the stamped panel in half, not the actual stamp! (Is it bedtime yet?)

To begin the card, I did a watercolor smooch panel on mixed media paper using shades of green Distress Ink. (It's Evergreen Spruce that takes on a bluish tint.) For the first card above, the white heat-embossed sediment is from The Ton. The die-cut sediment on the second card is from Creative Expressions. The white paint lines on both cards were made with a Pen-Touch paint pen, a gift from Lolly, and the schplatters are watered down gouache paint.

Challenges for card one:

• Addicted to Stamps and More: Make your mark.
• CAS Watercolor: Monochrome.
• CAS Christmas: Warm and cozy.

Challenges for card two:

• Country View: Hand-stamped.
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas: Anything Christmas goes.
• Krafty Chicks: {Winter.}

 

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Here's one of another Twofer I made using the same stamp heat-embossed in white. I wanted to show you how pretty it looks on gold paper. The yummy-textured snow paper is from my friend Chrissie. I'm don't know the manufacturer of the Be Merry die. I used an American Crafts gold metallic pen for the transition line.

Challenges

• Addicted to Stamps: Anything goes.
• Cards for Galz: Let it snow.
• Christmas Kickstart: Snow.

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Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!* Please keep the residents and fire fighters in New South Wales Oz, in your prayers as they deal with the catastrophic fires.

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!

Note to Bette: I don't have your email address, so I hope you see this. Chester's card was made by Cornelia. The stamps used for Chester are from Cats on Appletrees. In the future, if you ever have any questions about the card illustrations on The Back Stories, you can always click on Cornelia's name at the bottom of the story and that will take you to her blog for details about her amazing cards. Thank you for asking!

*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!)

Sunglasses, please, folks!

Hello Stamplings!

When I woke up last Sunday morning, there was a whole new week laid out in front of me, like my outfit on the first day of the new year of school. Then I turned my back to go find my shoes and when I turned around again, my clothes had been worn, laundered, and put back in the drawer before I knew what happened. 

That's my metaphor for how fast this week went by. And now, since Christmas will be here before we turn around again, let's get after it.

Onefer

I painted this card with metallic watercolors while at Brenda's retreat in Indiana. I think I borrowed them from Kara? The stamp is Mondo Holly by Julie Ebersole (Ellen Hutson), which I also borrowed from someone. You can't really appreciate the awesome glimmery glimmerness of the paints unless you tilt the card towards the light and then it looks like a magnificent stained glass design:

Back home at the Playhouse, I added a platinum-embossed sediment from GKW. I attached the art to a glittery pale green panel, which glitter you maaay be able to see if you click to enlarge. And that's it. I could have made it an OLC, but I have all this beautiful glittery and glimmery paper that is crying out to be used this year.

Hammy? Remember he was busy with Cassie Kitty at the retreat so no hard labor from him for today's cards!

Challenges

• The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge: Anything Christmas Goes.
• Rudolph Days: Anything Christmas Goes.
• Watercooler Wednesday: Helen's All About Occasions.

Twofer

This card was also made at the retreat. Colleen taught us this technique of scribbling color onto a snippets panel in an ombre' fashion. Once dry, you swipe Nuvo Glimmer Paste (or some other brand) over the colors with your spatula. 

Once that is completely dry, you can die cut it, or use a negative die-cut overlay ~ as I did here with this mondo snowflake die. The snowflake die was also borrowed, along with the sediment. (We were one big happy family using each other's things and I wasn't good about making notes.) I added the bling and glittery matching aqua panel at home. Thank you, Colleen! That was fun!

Challenges

• Cards for Galz: Something beginning with an "S." In this case, it's Snowflake.
• Crafty Cardmakers: Sparkle.
• Just Add Ink: Add a technique.

The Guys

While looking at photos of Miss Nellie in my camera, I came across this handsome photo of the Mister and the grandtwins taken in September on the Mister's birthday. They and their big dogs are here entertaining us again this weekend. I'm going to try and get a photo of the big dogs with the little dog.

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You may have heard that once again we are dealing with devastating fires in our area and in other parts of California. It's heart-wrenching to watch the news and it's unpleasant to smell and breathe in the smoke, but thankfully, we are safe where we are. Please keep those who have been impacted by the fires in your thoughts and prayers. ❤

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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!)

Random Act of Kindness for W2CB and Happy Valentine's Day!

Hello Stamplings!

My sympathy to all of you who are having to celebrate Valentine's Day in the middle of raging snowstorms and dangerous ice storms. I mean, on the other hand, it could be very romantic if you're snowed in and have a fireplace, maybe a hot toddy, or a little bubbly ... 💓

Today's post is all about kindness, friendship, and love. You know, like normal.

I'm delighted to be this month's Guest Designer for Words 2 Craft By (W2CB). The current challenge words are inspired by "Random Act of Kindness Day," which is celebrated annually on February 17th. They come from A. A. Milne:

   Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh," he whispered.

   "Yes, Piglet?" Pooh replied.

   "Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw. "I just wanted to be sure of you."

When I want to make a card about friendship, I often reach for my vintage stamp, "Belinda and Bernadette the Bench Buddies" (EB224) from Stamping Bella. For the sediment, I used my NBUS stamp set, "Kind Words" from Altenew. I think both the image and the sediment are beautiful. I watercolored the card with my Ziggies.

What part did Hammy play, you ask? Sometimes he has the day off from helping with a card, but even then he is my proofreader. In this case, I turned the blog over for his review and in about one second, he piped up and asked me why I hadn't colored the butterfly? Oops. By then it was pouring down rain so I couldn't retake the photo, but I was able to color in the butterfly before I mailed it off. Thank you, Ham.

I hope you have a chance to play in this month's W2CB challenge! There are lots of options for creations that evoke kindness and/or friendship! The challenge is open from February 13 to March 6. I'll be back with a mid-challenge reminder on February 23rd.

Challenges

• Happy Little Stampers: Friends
• Just Us Girls: Trend Week: Wood.

Twofer

Here's my VD card for you! A plain white base with a schparkly silver panel topped with another white panel with Happy Valentine's Day embossed in silver. The focus pocus is a scalloped heart from PTI cut from an alcoholic Yupo paper which has been shot through with silver foil. Harriet and I made a bunch of these delicious backgrounds in different colored AIs on a recent play date. You'll be seeing the rest of them showcased in a future post.

Challenges

• Cards for Galz: Hearts: red, pink, and white.
• Double D: Hearts.
• Use Your Stuff: Hearts: pink or red.

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Here are some other QACAS VD cards I made. I made still more, but I sent them off without photographing them.

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Update on the Mister: After taking an ambulance to the emergency room yesterday and spending all day there, Kevin is doing much, much better! They pumped him full of pain medication and steroids to the point where the sharp agonizing pain was diminished and he could stand and take steps with the aid of a walker. Hurray! That means the surgery can be postponed yet again, but we will be following up with a specialist. Thank you all for your kind comments, prayers, and positive thoughts! They mean so much to us!

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!)