Happy Holloween and LIM 300!

Good day, my stamplings!

I wish you a bewitching day of good health, good weather, and lots of candy in your bag of tricks! And I wish you that whether you live in a country that celebrates Halloween, or not!

As usual this time of year I hate Costco for being evil and putting out 35-pound trick-or-treat bags of chocolate candy bars the end of September. I tell myself that I'm only buying the bag to be a good neighbor for the kids who come 'round. Even though it's a.month.away. Then I have to taste a few to make sure they aren't poison, as one does. You know, for the sake of the children.

Then suddenly it's Halloween and the Mister has to make an emergency run to Costco to buy another bag so we don't have to hide in the back bedroom with the lights off when the liddle children in their adorable costumes come to the door looking for a tiny candy bar.

Darn you, Costco.

Speaking of purchases, a while back, like a year ago, I bought a package or pre-emboss-resist paper from Stampin' Up and in the package there were two Halloween designs. Anita and I colored the pumpkin one with Brushos at the Lake House, but I forgot to take a photo. Here is the other design "witch" I also Brusho'd.

Pretty fun, I must say. I'm not hugely into Halloween (well, okay, I can hear you thinking, not counting the candy) so it's nice to have this decoration.

Challenges

• City Crafter Challenge: Hallo-ween.
• ColourQ: Halloween palette.
• Make My Monday: I put a spell on you.

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A Celebration

I was going to get back to my Christmas cards when Hammy, bless him, saw the new Less Is More post celebrating their 300th challenge! Well, we had to play along!

I used a NBUS "Watercolor Wine Bottle" stamp from Rubbernecker. The sediment is also NBUS from SU and perfectly suited for Chrissie and the ladies of LIM. I added some score lines, a shadow, and a strip of glitter paper to round out the festive design. I drinked winked the wine so it's glittery, too. I used my red WOS so it's quite bloody bright, isn't it? Well, it is Halloween, after all!

Challenges

• Less Is More: Time to celebrate! Congratulations on 300 challenges!
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything goes.

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Sights of Autumn

I'm sharing some fall color we are enjoying now, in addition to the lovely maple trees on our street:

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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!

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Hammy's Birthday!

Hello and welcome to Monday!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend and you are becited to see what this fresh new week has in store for you! I have special company arriving tomorrow so this will be another awesome week in the Playhouse!

It started on Sunday when we celebrated Hammy's birthday! I thought you might enjoy this photo of the happy event:

Joining the celebration is Hammy's old girlfriend ... oh, sorry, that word gets people in trouble! I should say Hammy's former girlfriend/baby mama. You all remember Ms. Thing! Well, some of you won't remember her, but you can go back and meet her if you have time. The whole shebang is liberally awash with Stella, but natchrally, it doesn't show.

[Both stamps are NBUS: "Birthday Hamster" from Stampingbella and "Hamster" from Deep Red (thank you again, Sam!). The sediment is a sticker from SRM.]

Here is another photo of Hammy, this time with Freckles and Sofia.

Wait. What? Who is Sofia?

Well, Sofia is a lady mouse my friend Ros sent to me following my trip to England. It was lovingly and meticulously made and hand-stitched by Ros's 89-year-young Aunt! Thank you again, Ros!

So with the addition of little Cisco, The Real-Life Dog, we had a festivas time celebrating Hammy's birthday! In his famous words, "May all your cupcakes be crumby!"

Challenges

• ColourQ: Below.
• {PIN}spirational Challenge: Hammy!! (My first time here! How could I not play?!)
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Clean and simple.
• Virginia's View Challenge: Splatter.

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New Friends Corner

Please join me in welcoming these lovely new friends to the Playhouse!

Gwendolyn of Desperate Housewife Craft. Gwendolyn is another blogger brand new to our community! She only started her blog in February of this year, but you may have already seen her exceptional work recognized in some of the challenges you enjoy. Originally from Singapore, Gwendolyn has lived in New Zealand, France, and now Germany. Retired from the corporate world, Gwendolyn is enjoying being at home with her children and exploring her creative side. In addition to her love of paper craft, she also loves to paint, crochet, and make soy candles. I know you will enjoy sharing Gwendolyn's journey!

Brenda of Floral Fantasies. Brenda started her blog in 2009! She really needs no introduction as she is a well-known and well-loved lady in Blogland! Even though Brenda suffers from MS, she creates the most extraordinary card art imaginable and she is a source of great inspiration to those of us with health challenges! (And I love her doggie profile photo which reminds me of our Salty who was with us for 16 years.)

Isabelle Siry of Izzy Scrap. Izzy is from France and she just started her blog in May of this year at the encouragement of her supportive husband and children. She has been scrapping since 2010, but she bought her very first stamping supplies about 20 years ago in order to make her own Christmas cards. I think a lot of card artists did that! In addition to paper craft, Izzy enjoys traveling, reading, and spending time with her family and friends. I know when you pop in to welcome Izzy to our fantastic community, you will be enchanted and inspired by her beautiful work!

Cathy Cates of Cathy's Creative Corner. Cathy is from Adelaide, Australia and she also started blogging in 2009! In addition to paper craft, Cathy loves photography, quilting, beading, knitting, crocheting, and cross-stitch. She is one busy lady, so she hasn't been blogging as much this past year, but there is still plenty of beautiful card art and inspiration for you to enjoy on her blog!

Sam of Whispers Cards. Sam is from the UK and she has been blogging since 2010. Sam is a huge Penny Black devotee and you will see that represented throughout her blog as you scroll through and see how she makes those images sing. Adorable, colorful, cheerful, and expertly made are words that best describe Sam's delightful card art and I know you'll agree once you've seen them for yourself!

Thank you for joining, ladies, and welcome to the Playhouse! It's nice to have three bloggie experts and two bloggie newbies!

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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:

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Pressies and Cake!

Hey! How's it goin'? Happy Sunday Funday!

I wasn't going to post this weekend, but then what happened was I was visiting other blogs and I saw a coupla three challenges that I just HAD to play in. I mean, I just HAD to play in them in that stop-the-presses-and-never-mind-about-whatever-it-was-you-were-doing sort of way. I wonder now what it was that I was doing? It can't have been important. She says, hoping.

So here's my first:

This card was inspired by the Muse: Christmas Visions card. This week the Muse is the extraordinary card artist Marika Rahtu of Me and Minime Crafting. Here is Marika's adorable card:

 

Now, seriously, doesn't that make you want to drop everything and play along?! It did me. 

My miniature Rudolph with the goofy doofus smile that makes you smile back is from Your Next Stamp, "Believe in the Magic." The presents (some of which were popped up) were paper-pieced and then fussy-cut using two vo SU stamps. The quizzical little birdie on top is a NBUS stamp from Purple Onion Designs, "Stacey Yacula Studio Winter Bird Sitting" and the sediment is from Stampabilities. Appropriate winking, a Rudolph red nose, and googly eyes were applied!

Challenges

• ColourQ: See graphic below.
• Muse: Christmas Visions. Marika Rahtu.
• Rudolph Days: July.

 

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Today's Twofer

Over at Less Is More there is a happy celebration going on as Fearless Leader Chrissie turns 70 years young! Chrissie is a card hero of mine who has become a good friend. She was a huge help to me in my early days in Blogland and LIM remains one of my favorite challenges, so I couldn't pass up the celebration party for Chrissie! 

AND, yet another good friend and card hero just happens to be guest designing at the LIM birthday party challenge! Her name is Di and she is the Fearless Leader of another challenge you see me entering often: Pixie's Snippets Playground! At Pixie's the only rule is that you use some snippets (or scraps as we Americans call them) on your creation. 

Here you go:

 

The sweet cake is from Stamps by Judith and the sediment stamp is from PTI. The cake plate is NBUS from Avery Elle's "Fanfare" set. The sweet balloon border was cut from a snippet of SU DSP using a NBUS die from Lil Inkers called "Fanfare Scalloped Border Die." Honestly, I forgot I had it, but Hammy remembered and pointed out that it matched the swirly fanfare scallops on the cake plate perfectly! The corner was chomped and the cake and candle were winked to finish it off.

Happy Birthday, Chrissie, and many more!!

Challenges

• Less Is More. Use snippets.
• Pixie's Snippet Playground: Use snippets

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New Friends Corner

I'm delighted to welcome more new friends to the Playhouse!

Valery of My Joy. Valery is from Slovenia and she has been blogging since 2014. Like so many of us, Valery started blogging as an outlet to enter her cards in some of the many wonderful challenges available to us. She has since won honors for her cards and I know you'll find her designs to be fantastic and inspirational!

Marybeth Lopez of Marybeth's Time for Paper. Marybeth has been blogging since 2010, which means you prolly already know her! She is on several design teams and plays in many challenges with her stunning works of card art. I often find Marybeth's designs to be pure magic and her work is always impeccably executed!

Alice P. of Scrap & C. Alice is from Italy and she has been blogging since 2012. She is an elementary school teacher who has always enjoyed creativity and playing with paper, glue, and colors. Alice is also a big proponent of recycling, something she learned from her grandmother. I think you will enjoy your visit to see all the ways that Alice gets creative with her cards and 3D projects!

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 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:

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June 2015 PTI Blog Hop and Rudolph Day

Happy 25th of the Month of June in 2015!

In my creative world, if I have my batter in the pan, the 25th of each month means it's time for another fun hop celebrating Papertrey Ink over at Nichole Heady's website and it's time for entering a Christmas card in the Rudolph Day Challenge.

First up is my PTI Hop card:

I covered a white PTI card base with a piece of charcoal gray and white striped vellum from a DCWV foiled vellum pack. Over that I attached another narrower piece of white card. The NBUS flowers, which I've had for well over a year and never used [slap], are from the PTI "Cutting Garden" stamp and die set. I colored them direct to the stamps with my DI markers. The leaves were stamped with PTI pine feather green ink cube. The sediment is from the PTI "Birthday Bash Sentiments" set.

Everything was bewinked and bejewelled.

Here is the darling inspiration photo:

I'm also entering my card in the Freshly Made Sketches challenge and in Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, "Anything Goes."

If you are hopping off here, please let me know you were here, enjoy the day, and enjoy the hop! Thank you for stopping by!

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For my Christmas card for the Rudolph Day Challenge, I made this guy:

I sponged the ColourQ blues onto the card base from light to dark. Percival Penguin is made from a Stamps of Life penguin die and a stamp set called, "More Penguins to Love." The warm knit hat is from a Technique Tuesday set called, "Winter" and the sediment is from a Paper Smooches set called, "Swanky Snowdudes." Every item is NBUS. Goodness, me. The frame was made by cutting out a rectangle mat and then embossing the frame with a Sizzix snowfall e/f.

BTW, here in the States today is the Hallmark holiday, "Leon Day," celebrating that we are prezackly half-way through the year until Christmas! (Leon is Noel spelled backwards.) You're welcome!

The only criteria for Rudolph Day is that you make a Christmas creation, so I used these challenges as my inspiration:

• Merry Monday:  Funky Hat. 
• ColourQ: See below.

 

And, yes ... since the larger photo doesn't show it, Percival would like for you to see his schparkle:

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Here are some other handsome guys whose Father's Day photo I forgot to show you last time! 

Papa, Adam, Henry, Dan

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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. 
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Click Page Down to reach the end of the post.
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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!