Happy California Poppy Day!

Hello Stamplings!

I hope you are doing great! We had a lovely Easter and I'm writing this on Sunday night, stuffed to the gills! I don't actually have gills, so I don't know why people say that, but I'm stuffed to there, so this will be a quickie. 

The carrot cake for dessert did it. Next year I'm having dessert first!

Onefer

Today really is California Poppy Day. It is one of my favorite springtime flowers here. They pop up everywhere along roadsides and in yards and by the thousands at the California Poppy Reserve. 

This poppy is from "Creative Chaos" by Visible Image. It is the first Monday of the month which means I = Ink on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar. I used one of my favorite mediums ~ my Ziggies. I had my little helper add the schparkle with his winking and a simple black card base and Memory Box black and gold sediment finished it off.

Playing in: Allsorts Challenge (Springtime or A/G), CAS on Friday (Botanicals), Dragonfly Dreams April Challenge (CAS).

And there are two challenges where the theme includes "E" is for ?. I think the poppy is "E"nchanting" so I'm also playing in: AAA Card (It starts with E) and Inkspirational (CAS with option of E).

Twofer 

The toadstools are from The Greetery called, "BotaniCuts Toadstool Garden" stamp and die set. I'm not sure who makes the postage stamp die; I think I might have borrowed a friend's die at one of my past craft retreats. 

The border uses some ancient dotted swiss paper which I cut with my old pinking shears. That's right ~ those huge pinking shears for cutting fabric! They haven't been used for that since the dark ages, but I pulled them out of the dusty sewing box because years ago I donated my 50 pairs of little colored skizzors that we all had with different teeth designs. Ah, the memories of the early craft days before die-cutting and dies and embossing folders.

Gee, boomer, you ask, just how old are you?!

Playing in: Addicted to Stamps and More (Any Occasion), Freshly Made Sketches, Krafty Chicks (Birthday), and Die-Cut Divas.

~~~

Enjoy your week! 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! 

*Life is too short!

Seasonal II

Hello Stamplings!

How are you doing? I hope you've had a great week. Thank you for your good wishes regarding my dental work. I'm happy to say it all went well, thanks to nitrous oxide!😁 It was my first time and I love that stuff! 

I have been up and down with emotions this week. Thankfully, I can always withdraw to my happy place with my three cuddlers ~ not counting my main cuddler. For week two of November's I.D.E.A.S., we had a good time getting jiggy with the Gemini!

Onefer ~ Fall, Thanksgiving

This fall blessings card is like a prequel to a layered Thanksgiving turkey sandwich. (Sorry if that started you drooling.) I began with a white bread card base and building upwards, I added a piece of finely textured beige pp. On top of that I spread a layer of NBUS Sugar Peas Leaf Cover Plate. 

For color and flavor, I added a layer of Poppystamps Feather Tree Frame, cut from pretty patterned paper (ppp). I topped it all with a double dollop layer of Blessings from Hero Arts, cut from shiny copper. Very filling, just as a Thanksgiving sanditch should be!

Linking to: Cardz 4 Galz: Showcase Your PP; Poppystamps: Leaves Are Falling ...; Cut It Up: Grateful and/or Thankful; SSS Monday: Thanks/Thanksgiving

Twofer ~ Winter, Christmas

In a quest for QACAS Christmas designs this late in the year, and in an effort to use up more of my ppp, I made this using a hammered card panel and an old-timey ornament die from Spellbinders Nestabilities called 2011 Heirloom Ornaments. To bring out the gold in the ornament paper, I gold heat-embossed the sediment from SSS called, "Holiday Greetings Mix 1."

This ppp comes in different colors and Hammy and Stanley found great matching papers to use for matting. All I had to do was get on with the batch making. It all went well until the idea of batches made me stop and make a few batches of Amish Sugar Cookies. Someone told me they freeze well. Oh, hahahaha, as if there were any around to freeze!!

Linking to Addicted to Stamps and More: Die Cuts and Stencils; Allsorts: Christmas; and Die Cut Divas: Christmas.

~~~

Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!*

Thank you to the families of all the service men and women who have died for our country and to those who are currently serving.🙏

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! 

*Life is too short!

Thoughts

I haven't mentioned politics here because this is a card blog. These are just my thoughts about one thing in particular. Please don't read this if you aren't interested and please don't feel like you need to comment.

I'm an Independent and more of a long-range thinker in terms of the effects politics has on society and our beleaguered earth. We are at a definite crossroads when it comes to the established system of checks and balances we rely on in order to preserve democracy, but as a democratic nation, we accept the results of our elections, wish the new president well, and move on. 

For his part, I hope that President-Elect Trump begins to build a bridge over the deep divide that exists in America ~ a divide stoked by fear and anger. I wish him success with that because, honestly, I'm exhausted by the last four years, sick of the nastiness, and appalled at the media hyping the negativity nonstop. It is a relief to finally see for ourselves that the 2020 election was not stolen or rigged. Common sense tells us that if it had been, then the deep state Democrats would have rigged this election, too, in order to make sure Harris won. Not only that, but if you think about it, they surely would have rigged the 2016 election, too. It's too bad we had to deal with the terrible fall-out from this lie for four very long years, but now we know the truth firsthand. And now the new leadership can concentrate on healing the nation with words that unite us rather than divide us. I pray.

I realize that there are Bible verses for every situation, no matter your viewpoint. I'd like to share this one, which I hope will become a hallmark going forward:

1 Peter 2:1: So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, all hypocrisy, jealousy, and unkind speech.

Amen.🫂🙏 

More Cute Critters!

Hello Stamplings!

How ya doin'? September is such a beautiful month, but the weather can still be unpredictable. I hope you are somewhere clement and having fun!

I'm featuring dies on this second Monday of the month.

Onefer

I love the way this little Colorado Craft hamster fits so perfectly into the sensational NBUS Scripted Sediment from The Greetery! (I'm glad the guys are at the neighbors so they won't think I'm showing favoritism by only using one of the hamster die-cuts. Ssh!🙊)

The NBUS coverplate die is called, "Aida Cloth Texture Plate," also from The Greetery. I added a little heart for punctuation and then blended a corner border on opposite corners to draw your eyes into the focus-pocus center.

Twofer

This creation has a bit of this and that and a schplash of ah ha. It started with a simple white die-cut circle I found in my stash. The circle had a light inner rim of pink all around the inside edge. I have no idea why, but there it was. Over the course of several days, I tried arranging /filling the circle with flowers or words and nothing was happening until I realized the white circle fit perfectly into a larger black circle panel, which I found lounging about in another corner of my stash.

After putting the circle panel and card base together, I went back to figuring out what to put in the circle. Recently, my friend Karen used her NBUS Harvest Mouse set from My Favorite Things on a darling card, which reminded me that I also have that set ~ neglected and unloved since 2015. (It's so nice that our products don't have expiration dates!) I thought this little guy from the set fit perfectly in the circle and from his sweet expression, a get-well sediment seemed appropopo!

~~~

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! 

*Life is too short!

Challenges

Die Cut Divas: Sympathy

Inky Gilding Flakes and New Year I.D.E.A.S.

Hello Stamplings!

I hope you are well wherever you are! Things are perking along here and I'm slowly getting used to my new Playhouse fluxation. It's like teaching an old dog new tricks, but I'm getting the hang of it. I've been thinking of ideas for getting myself into a routine, but more on that further down.

First, it's the 28th and that means it's time to show you what the ladies of the Group of Seven Cardmakers played with this month. We got out the alcohol again ~ inks that is! After making designs on Yupo or glossy paper, we stopped breathing,  corralled our gilding flakes, and put them over the sticky bits.

This is my example:

I should have warned you to put on your sunglasses, sorry. Even as bright as it is, it's hard to capture the full shine of the gilding flakes. 

You know that technique where you brayer or otherwise press foil over the sticky bits on your finished AI panel? (quick video) The technique above is similar, except you use gilding flakes instead of foil. If, like mine, your sticky bits aren't very sticky (say what now?), then you apply a thin line of glue where you want your shiny flakes. I was surprised how thick my flake lines were after I brushed off the excess, but I ended up liking how they stood up to all the different bright colors. (If you want a thinner line of flakes, don't press them down flat.)

To find how-to video links and see lots of wonderful and inspiring examples of this technique, please click over to the Group of Seven Cardmakers. And if you try it, please add your design to the linky there!

The greeting on my card is NBUS, so I will link to the NBUS challenge; a few other challenges this month are using NBUS for their briefs, so I will link to Die Cut Divas and Little Red Wagon. And because it's a birthday card, I am linking to Anything Goes at Seize the Birthday.

~~~

Looking Forward, cont.   

Following my last post, Hammy and I mulled both our thoughts and some wine and came up with a plan of action to hopefully fix my broken routine. I'm sharing the plan with you because it is my fond hope that by doing so, I will be held accountable to follow through!🤞

In a nutshell, my plan of action is a schedule. Now some people might think a schedule sounds too much like work, but I have tried everything else the last couple of years and relying on self-discipline clearly hasn't worked! This might not work either, but it can't hurt to try, and I'm excited about the fun I am going to have actually using all my schtuffs!

You can't have a schedule without bullet points and, you know me, you can't have bullet points without an aaaackronym!

I'm sure you can imagine with amusement all the various letters Hammy and I came up with, some of which were inappropriate for a family blog.😉 In the end, "I.D.E.A.S." seemed to hit the nail on the head.

P for paper of any sort and another S for stamps are not bulleted, purr say, because they are generally used, although I do hope I will be better at using my patterned, colored, and specialty papers. Of course, as often as possible, I will focus on NBUS and I'm hoping to add a silent V and C to this schedule, so I'll be better at visiting and commenting, which I always enjoyed as much as any other aspect of this hobby!

How it will work: Barring the usual life caveats of illness or company or travels, I am going to post a card or twofer every Monday. (Right there will be more than I've been doing lately!) Each week will feature a letter in the acronym. Because January is almost over, I will start on the first Monday in February and my calendar will look like this:

For the months that have a fifth Monday, I will feature S = stencil. 

~~~

Wish me luck! Feel free to use my I.D.E.A.S graphic and join me on this productive journey!🙋 Just let me know if you do, so we can cheerlead each other along the way! 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!

Mwah!

*Life is too short!

Twofer Trees!

Hello Stamplings!

How are you? I'm sorry to have been gone for a coupla weeks. We took the charter up to Alaska for a few days just to get away from the triple digit temps and smoky air. 

Then I woke up and realized I had been dreaming. And then I couldn't find my mojo. I know a lot of you have been struggling with loss of mojo since the damnepic started. When you're dealing with Covid, isolation from your family and friends, mad wildfires, unhealthy air, politics, and new blogger, it's a struggle. Then I think about what I would be doing with my time if I didn't have this hobby and my gratitude returns and my mojo juices start flowing again.

Thank goodness, considering I needed to make my Twofer cards to share today because it's the 10th of the month and time for the September Twofer Card Challenge! This month our fun prompt is T🌲R🌳E🌴E🎄S!

Together

The NBUS stamp my two QACAS (quick and clean and simple) designs have in common is "Snow Dust" by Penny Black.

Onefer

For this Thanksgiving card design, I used my favorite direct-to-stamp technique in fall colors. I added a sediment from Stampin Up and then I cut the panel with a fishtail tag from PTI. And I used ribbon! It's also from Stampin Up. Lastly, I adhered the panel to a festive orange card base.

Challenges

• Die Cut Divas: All Kind of Holiday Time.
• Friendship Challenge: Autumn.
• NBUS #18: Anything virginal goes.
• Try Stampin' ~ or Not ~ on Tuesday: The photo only.

Twofer

My second design is an OLC winter birthday card and it uses the entire wooden stamp in all its beautiful snowy glory. I heat-embossed the trees and sediment (from PTI) in platinum and then Hammy suggested I platinumize a border all the way around the card to keep his eyes focused. Thank you, Hammy. It's a feature I love to see on a card, but I forget about doing.

Challenges

• ABC Christmas: S is for Snow.
• Love to Craft: Anything goes.
• Merry Little Christmas: September anything goes.

~~~

I hope you'll get the opportunity to play along this month! The challenge is open until the end of day on September 24th. Remember you can simply use the same tree as a conventional tree on both your cards as I have done today, or you can make one conventional and one unconventional design. Just enjoy and have fun with it!

Please click over to the Twofer Card Challenge to see the amazing and inspiring Twofer cards our talented Team and our Guest Designers Helen and Lisa have made for you!! Thank you for your continued enthusiasm and support! Mwah!

~~~

Backyard Wildlife Habitat

In other news, I captured a coupla Opposites photos for you this week. We have lots of yellow finches nesting in our Oleander trees and they fly down several times a day for a refuel of water, especially on these hot and smoky days. 

(Pardon the quality of the photos which were zoomed with my phone through the Playhouse window.)

Then imagine my surprise (and the surprise of the finches!) when I looked out later and saw this!

We believe it's a Coopers hawk. She stayed there for almost a half hour, long enough for us to worry that she might be injured or fell from a nest too early. But then she gracefully lifted off, flew to the fence, stayed there for several minutes waiting for her tail feathers to dry and then off she went. It was really cool considering we don't live in the country! (I'm sure Lizzy and the scads of other fence lizards we've seen this summer don't think it's all that cool!)

~~~

Enjoy your day, take care, and keep safe! But still, 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!)