Smooches for CAS Watercolour!

Hello Stamplings!

It's football fever in this country because the Super Bowl is tomorrow! Did you know that more corn chips and avocados are consumed on this one day than in the entire rest of the year?! I just made that up, but I wouldn't be surprised. Based just on our household.

But that's tomorrow and today I'm having a crafty good time coming to you as the Guest Designer for the very fun CAS Watercolour Challenge! The brief this month is the timely color challenge of Red & Pink!

Here is my card to inspire you!

I talk a lot about smooching on this blog because I think the world can always use more smooching! I brought out some old faithfuls for this card: an old Penny Black stamp, an old Paper Smooches (more smooching!) sediment, and some ancient heart pp! The rectangle frame is popped up for some dementia.

Of course, the little critters in the image were drawn by the stamp artist as mice, but I had to quick do some snipping so you-know-who would think they are hamsters. I don't know if you think I succeeded, but I fooled Hammy, so mums the word, 'k? Everything was colored with my Ziggies, winked by Hammy, and for some extra interest, I finished by glossifying the Os in SmOOches.

I hope you'll bring out your romantic reds and passionate pinks, or your rollicking reds and playful pinks, and join in the CAS Watercolour Challenge! The challenge is open until February 24, 2019. The talented DT have lots of amazing inspiration waiting for you on the CASWC blog!

I'm also playing in these challenges:

• Love to Craft: Anything goes.
• Penny Black Saturday Challenge: Anything goes or Flowers.
• Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Love is in the air.

~~~

Twofer

As long as I had my various heart pp on my desk, I decided to make a Twofer using a NBUS set of dog dies from Impression Obsession. Using my Clarity Brushes and spun sugar DI, I first added a heart to the front linen panel using a stencil. The terrier is standing on a heart cut from fun foam (unglossified) and both dogs were also cut from a dark brown card and the two papers were layered to form a shadow. I believe the LOVE sediment is from Paper Smooches. 

Challenges

• Cards in Envy: Love me, love my pet.
• CAS Mix Up Card Challenge: Dimensional die-cuts, plus stamping and stenciling.
• Inkspirational: Sweet Things photo inspiration.
• Just Us Girls: Word week: Love.
• TIME OUT: Home Sweet Home photo inspiration.

 

~~~

Turner Syndrome

Have you ever heard of it? I hadn't until yesterday when I saw that a Turner Syndrome Awareness Blog Hop is being held from February 1-7, 2019, hosted by Lori Kobular. Turner Syndrome is a genetic disorder where females are born with only one X chromosome, instead of two, leaving them with medical issues and life-long learning disabilities. If you have a few minutes, please check out the Hop where you can find more information and, in turn, you can help spread the word on your blog! Prizes are being drawn from among those who leave comments on the Hop designer's blogs.

~~~

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!

Have a fun weekend and I hope your favorite team wins!

*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!)

Have A Heart and Enjoy the Ride!

Hello Stamplings!

In the middle of winter with bone-deep cold, rain, sleet, snow, and gray skies for a lot of people on this side of the world, I just love seeing all the hearts and flowers beginning to pop up all over Blogland. It's very uplifting at a time when we need it!

So thank you St. Valentine for being the next holiday to distract us with all kinds of heart art! Here's my first of 2019:

The star of this QACAS Valentine design is a relatively new NBUS from Poppystamps (Embossed Love). I usually like to keep my stamps and dies for two or three years in order for them to become atmospherically tolerant of the Playhouse thermodynamic conditions before I subject their tender surfaces and edges to abuse. Wait. What? It sounds good though, right? You may borrow that as your own excuse for having lots of NBUS (never-before-used-schtuff).

But I digest. The beautiful paper is another vo piece from my stash which I'm determined to stop hoarding. The little heart was cut from red fun foam and glossified. 

Challenges

• Cards in Envy: Love me, love my pet. I'm sad to hear that this challenge will be closing with its post on February 4. Thank you to Sandy and all the past and present Design Team members for their work and dedication over the last six years! (p.s. The little heart on my card is not flat, but it is foamy and squishable for easy mailing.)
• Mix It Up Challenge: Anything goes + sentiment as main focus.
• Moving Along With the Times: Have a heart.
• Simon Says Stamp Monday: Have a heart.
• Stamp Ink Paper: All my love.
• Watercooler Wednesday: All about holidays.

~~~

Twofer

Another QACAS design, this time using a really old (but still fun) stamp and die set from PTI called Road Trip. Obviously the rather well-built and possibly scary person I put behind the wheel has gone over the hill and it's all downhill from here! I stenciled the cobblestone road with a TH stencil and Hammy did his special winking trick all over the Bug.

Challenges

• AAA Cards: Up to one-third + optional masking.
• Color Throwdown: navy, gray, lime.
• Less Is More: Sketch based on a card entered once by my friend Kathy!

~~~

ETA: Hammy picked a name out of the hat and the winner of the butterfly die from this post is JoAnn. Congratulations, JoAnn!

 JoAnn said...

Your cards are beautiful. Love the butterflies on both cards. And why not have a butterfly on a Christmas card, it looks lovely with the silver embossed tree.
Thanks for sharing about the thyroid.
Have a wonderful day. Hugs, JoAnn

January 21, 2019 at 5:51 AM

Enjoy your day! Enjoy the ride! 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!)

Schparkly Stars and a Spiffy Schnowman!

Hello Stamplings!

I hope you are doing well with your holiday preps. The kids will be out of school soon, so you don't have long to finish up your secret shopping and wrapping. It's the hiding of the gifts that's the hardest part of all. Children suddenly develop bloodhound noses for locating presents this time of year. Have you ever hidden gifts so well, you still haven't found that Magic Card Game you hid back in 1988?! You should look again in the back of your sock drawer.

Things are calming down in Chez Playhouse. Thank you for all your good wishes following my torquing of the torso business. I'm fine. I mean, generally speaking, in the very broadest of general terms not counting psychic logically.

Today I'm playing in a few challenges as the year is wrapping up with a bow. You can read that bow as in ribbon or bow as in curtsy. You have to love a language that's so versatile. Anyway, it's nice to have a head-start on next year's cards or have a few in Abeyance in case I forgot someone this year.

My friend Barb sent me this awesome NBUS "Shooting star" die from My Favorite Things for my birthday last summer.  I paired it with some pretty pink paper cut with an Avery Elle "Dotted Die" and a silver heat-embossed sediment from PTI. The silver lamé panel is from Christmas Dior. QACAS!

Challenges

• ABC Christmas: Y and Z. Z for zero embellishments.
• CAS Christmas Card: Stars.
• SSS Work It Wednesday: Ho Ho Ho.

~~~

The companion gold lamé panel (both gifts from my friend Lottie) was used as a backdrop for this adorable NBUS wooden stamp from Stampendus that I purchased on my trip to Indiana in October. The sediment is from Stampabilities. Both were gold heat-embossed and the coloring was done by Ziggies. Hammy winked the gold star as he is wont to do.

Challenges

• Cards in Envy: The spirit of Christmas.
• Simon Says Stamp Monday: Warm winter wishes.
• TIME OUT: Joyful.

~~~

And here we have a super cute and preppily dressed little NBUS snowman! He was stamped and die-cut and Ziggified. The snowflake stencil, brushed with Salty Ocean Oxie, is from my friend Lolly. The snowman, birds, and sentiment are all NBUS from My Favorite Things's "Cooler With You" set. I thought it would make a sweet holiday thank you card.

Challenges

• City Crafter: Snowflakes.
• Just Add Ink: Just add "I." As in ink.
• MFT Sketch: below.
• Paper Players: Color challenge: red, green, and my choice of blue.

 

~~~

NOTE: There will be no Twofer Card Challenge this month as we take time off for the holidays, but I did do a comprehensive post over on the blog explaining the concept of the challenge and giving examples. I wanted to let you know Justin Case you're interested and would like to check it out: Illuminating Definitions. Thank you!

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!)

We Have Deer, But Where Is Santa?

Hello Stamplings!

And we have RAIN!!! Thank you all for your prayers! The rain will help the weary firefighters put out the remaining fires, but it will make things difficult in many ways for the search teams and the evacuees, so people still need your prayers. On the other hand, the rain will clean the horribly unhealthy air we've had for two weeks, and it will give the poor parched and dusty plants and trees a drink and a bath. Who doesn't love that?

That's what I'll be doing later on today after prepping for Thanksgiving tomorrow, but first I wanted to write this post before the day gets away.

I used a NBUS "Playful Deer Stitched Frame" from Poppystamps for these cards. Behind the deer die are snippets of Yupo paper smooched with alcoholic inks. The whole shebang was popped up on a colored card base embossed with a dotty (read snowy) embossing folder.

Challenges

• CAS Mix Up: Embossing folder, stamping, die-cutting, alcohol inks.
• Sweet Stampers: Christmas.

Here are a few more zamples: (Sorry, I might have had a wodka and orange juice for breakfast, purely for medicinal porpoises, you understand. One must gird one's loins for cleaning and baking!)

Note: Instead of AI Yupo smooched paper, the gold card has a snippet of pp behind the deer.

Challenges

• Cards for Guyz: Christmas critters. (Dark blue.)
• Moving Along With the Times: Winter animals.
• Simon Says Wednesday: All that glitters is gold.

 

~~~

I also have a Santa card. It's interactive in that it requires you to use your imagination!

This QACAS card karacks me up. Do you ever wish you had a dollar for every time you've said to your husband or kids, "I feel like I'm invisible!" Well, look, even Santa has days like that!

The Stampendus winked hat, boots, and sediment are all NBUS from a cute little stamp store in Indiana. The belt is Washi tape.

Challenges

• Cards in Envy: Santa Baby.
• CAS Christmas Card: Santa
• CAS on Friday: Use Washi tape on your card.

 

~~~

Happy Thanksgiving!

And, finally, to you my friends and faithful supporters and commenters, Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow to all who are celebrating and Happy Thursday to all who are not! And, as always, if you don't feel like celebrating either one, extra hugs to you.

I'm thankful for all the times we've shared this year and all the inspiration you have given me. I'm also thankful for all the challenges and their design teams for all the work they put into bringing us fun places to share our creativity! Mwah!

The bold sediment from Altenew is another NBUS. I was wishing I had backed and offset it with black, but the more I look at it, the more I like that it is camouflaged without being camouflaged, if you know what I mean. I cut it from a snippet of the same stencil monoprinting you have seen me use on other cards recently. The ribbon is from SU.

~~~

Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!* Now where did I hide the potato chips so the Mister wouldn't eat them all before tomorrow ...

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!)