Let Your Heart Be Your Umbrella! CCC #2; DD #87; LIM #156; Paper Smooches; Pixie's #109; SCT #53

Greetings! It's a wonderful new week, untraveled!

I wonder, is there a song entitled, "Let Your Heart Be Your Umbrella?" It would be rather silly, I suppose, in a litter real sense. What next? "Let Your Toes Be Your Foundation?" Well, actually, that one does make sense. I realize it's spose to be all about letting a smile be your umbrella, like that's going to keep you dry, but today let's be equally silly and use hearts as our umbrellas. 

It all started with my desire to participate in the current color challenge at Dynamic Duos. 

I haven't been able to play with their colors in a while and this week's melon mambo and black are favorites of mine, so I really wanted to play.  The dessert option is umbrellas.

I also wanted to play in the current challenge at Less Is More which is a sketch. I missed last week and this is one challenge that I do hate to miss. Chrissie and Jen are so talented and are such wonderful hostesses. Their cards, and the cards in the gallery, are always inspiring!

Because my card is another Valentine and it uses hearts, I'm linking again with the fun Simply Create Too challenge.

And, I'm linking again to The Card Concept Challenge (texture) after Ardyth suggested it would fit in the Clean and Graphic category. That's beciting since that's outside the box for me!

I used snippets of card stock on my die cuts, so I am trumpeting off to play with the other talented crafters at Pixie's Snippets Playground. Di, the lovely headmistress keeps promising to make a challenge logo, but she doesn't do it. She's forgiven because of her tender back and blown-down fences, but that doesn't keep me for pasting her lovely counterspace as the Pixie logo every once in a while to nudge her about it. (Thank you for all you do, hun. Ya know I love ya!)

Finally, I see that I've missed the Anything Goes Paper Smooches Stamps SPARKS challenge, but the new Designer Drafts challenge is a very similar sketch, so I hope it's all right to play along.

Remember, for all these challenges you just need to click on the links for all the details on rules, spoonsors, and prizes. I hope you can join in!

~~~

Wake up!  Here is my make and take:

Now, I realize that my heart umbrella is not down on the panel like it should be ala mode the sketches, but it's not my fault that the wind came up just as I was taking the photo! Thank goodness my heartbrella hooked itself on the letter ell or it would have been blown right off my card!

This card is a simple-dimple, EZPZ, QACAS, Joe's-your-sister kinda card. Okay, that's a lie. It only has three ingredients, but it did take a bit of time cutting the dies and layering and gluing. That sort of thing. It was very satisfying to me in the end and worth the time it took to get this CASlicious result. 

~~~

In Our New Friends Corner, I'm happy to introduce you to:

Susie Lessard of Summerwalk Designs. Susie has been blogging since 2010 and as the wife of a retired naval officer, she has lived all over the world. You will love her wonderful writing as well as her talented works of card art!

Kristine Porter of Merry Heart Creations. Kristine is a Kindergarten teacher and CTMH consultant who has been blogging since 2012. Like a lot of us, Kristine is addicted to pretty paper, which is soon obvious when your see her beautiful patterned paper card art!

Welcome, Susie and Kristine, and thank you so much for joining!!

~~~

I'm a story teller, which means I'm often economical with the truth ... wait, what? Okay, fine. Which means I often lie, so I thought you might appreciate this cartoon illuminating what might happen to 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!

Project Details
Paper	PTI white and true black; SU melon mambo
Stamps	None
Ink	None
Accessories	Die: Paper Smooches "Love Word" FBD021 Die: Memory Box Petite Umbrella (handle) Punch: SU heart; Simply Scored

Showman Snowman ~ DD#77; MM#82; NBUS#69; PP&M

Welcome and Good Day!

 

It's just so much fun this time of year with all the challenges I want to play in, especially when I'm making autumn, Thanksgiving, and Christmas cards anyway.  Why not, right? 

If our lives were sandwiches, our card making is the bonus slice we sneak in whenever we possibly can. 

So here we go.  Like a lot of you, I took advantage of two challenges with similar schemes this week.  First, over at Dynamic Duos (which I've missed for way too long), the two colors are real red and Bermuda bay.

And, second, over at Merry Monday Christmas Card Club, we are to use red and aqua and white and circles:

 

Also, over at Penny Black and More there is an "Anything Goes" challenge going on, which I get to play in because I used a Penny Black Stickeroo on my card . . .

 

. . . and I made this:

 

I just love aqua and red together.  And snowmen.  Would you just look at the happy face on that guy?  I just want to pinch those fat cheeks!  He is two circles and his hat ball is one circle and there are five circles in the circle, if anyone's counting.  BOTH of the embossing folders I used are NBUS!

 

~~~

 

Our newest friend is Monika P.  Welcome, Monika!  Unfortunately, when I click on your name, I just get an empty Google+ profile (other than your name), so please email me your blog link and I'll be happy to pass it on to everyone.  Thank you for joining us!

 

~~~

 

I keep forgetting to ask all of you, do you tweet your posts after you add your photo via the linky tool pop-up page that pops up?  I always click on "skip this step."  Should I be clicking on the twitter button instead? 

I'm personally not a tweeter, but I have been called a twit more than twice.  I save my tweeting for my visits with my backyard bird friends.  Actually, in truth, they do most of the tweeting, I just try to mimic them back.  Then they fly into the next yard and double over with laughter at my pathetic attempts. 

 

Plus, anyway, as you know, I'm already too easily distracted by squirrels and hamsters.  I can't imagine how little I would get done if I was hearing little tweet beeps ~ beep tweets? ~ coming in every few seconds. 

Plus, further, I don't totally understand about the hashtag.  Something to do with threads.  If I do start tweeting, I would want you to use "hashbag" for my threads, okay?  Bag, not tag.  Coz the sound of that makes me snigger.  Okay, thanks.

 

~~~

 

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! 

 

Paper:  SU! Bermuda bay, real red; PTI white

Penny Black Stickeroo: "Joyous Season"

Stamp:  SU! unknown set

Ink:  SU! Bermuda bay

Embossing Folders:  Lifestyle Crafts and Tim Holtz

Punch:  SU! circles

Ribbon:  SU! Mistletoe

 

BLAST OFF! ~ DD #66; LIM #133; PIXIE'S #86; SWOYWW #220

Hope this finds you well!  Grabba cuppa.

 

I've made a card for the current Less Is More challenge of "Round and Round" using the colors of the current Dynamic Duos challenge of "Pool Party and Black," whiff a dessert option of embossing.  Since I used scraps for part of the card, I am also taking my card to show my friends at Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground, where we are all becited to have a new mascot named Parsnips! 

 

If you are popping in from the hop at Seriously, What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday (SWOYWW) (formerly known as WOYWW), you'll want to see what my desk looks like at the mo:

Sorry to say that I didn't make any forward motion in the Playhouse revamp since you were last here.  The way I organize, which would be in an organized fashion,  I need a few uninterrupted days in a row.  I'm hoping that will happen this coming week. 

 

Here's a close-up view of my card, sitting on the sill above:

When I was ruminating about the stamps I had with wheels, or things that go round and round, I thought of this old stamp I got for the twins (blue-handled item in the desk photo) with an image of a rocket.  Rockets go round and round.  You might say they orbit.  They sometimes even go to the moon, so it seemed only right to have Mr. Moon waiting there! 

 

The twins have used the rocket stamp on cards before, but I never have, so it is today's NBUS (never-before-used schtuff).  I accomplished the dessert option of the DD challenge by heat embossing both the moon and the rocket images in black.

~~~

 

We like to show our critters, too, on our WOYWW hops, if we have 'em.  As some of you have shared, hummingbirds seem to be growing in population everywhere.  For several years we have had a confirmed bachelor at our feeder affectionately called "Hitler" because no other hummers were ever allowed to drink from HIS feeder. 

 

Until recently.  He now appears to have a wife and a young'n or twin young'ns out of wedlock, we can't tell.  It's extremely difficult to get in close enough to see if there is a wedding ring.  All we know is, there are now three mouths to feed and we have gone from filling the feeder every two weeks to filling the feeder every two days! 

 

I was able to capture this picture of Hitler:

He has the classic bright red neck of an Anna's hummingbird.  And here are a couple of pictures of one of the new family members.

(Robin, notice how orange his downy underfeathers are!)

I think this is a male youngster.  You can just make out the beginnings of the red neck feathers.  (Ha!  Never thought you'd find "red neck" on my blog!) 

 

They are a blast to watch and they are even making polka dot patterns on the deck!  Here look:

You can't do all that drinkin' without doing a lot of peeing!

 

~~~

 

Wish me luck with the revamp.  I'm having outpatient surgery on Thursday morning to replace my defibrillator/pacemaker.  It is six years old and the battery has run its course.  I will be housebound and on limited activity for a week, so I'm thinking it will be the perfect opportunity to TDK my schtuff.  Yay!  I'll take breaks for blog visits, so please let me know you came by and I will return the flavor! 

 

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

 

*Life Is Too Short!  

 

Paper:  SU! pool party and black

Stamps: moon by Inkadinkado 8907M;

  rocket unmarked

Ink:  Silhouette black EP; Sakura

  clear star glitter pen

Corner Chomper

I'm Here ~ CFC #110; DD #63; FMS #96; NBUS #29; Pixie's #83

Happy New Week Peeps!

 

This is photo-heavy with weekend twin shots, so I'll get right to my card.

 

At CAS-ual Fridays the challenge is:

and at Dynamic Duos the color challenge is:

For my layout, I used the current sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches, which is this beauty by Amy:

 ~~~

The first thing that came to mind when I saw "count me in" was that it's another way to say, "count on me."  So this is my card:

The shiny green paper from DCWV comes with a woodgrain design, perfect for a sign, and since I used a  snippet of it, it provides me with an ant tray into this week's challenge at Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground where lotsa girls are already in full attendance! 

My NBUS is the adorable Paper Smooches giraffe from the "Zoo Crew" set.  I heat embossed the sediments.  The "I'm here for you" is from PTI "Think Big Favorites #4."  I masked the "for" and replaced it with the number "4" (also NBUS) from the Hero Arts "Illustrator's Alphabet" set.  Further deets are below. 

 

~~~
 

New Friend

 

I'm so happy to welcome our newest friend, Lindsey from Occasional Crafting!  Lindsey is fairly new to blogging and she makes adorable and clever card art!  I know you will very much enjoy your visit to her.  Thank you so much, Lindsey, for joining our party! 

BTW, Lindsey created her blog on a whim and I'm so glad she did!  When was the last time you went out on a whim?

 

~~~

 

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!

 

*Life Is Too Short!   

Paper:  PTI white; DCWV DSP
Stamps:  Hero Arts "Illustrator's Alphabet";
  PTI "Think Big Favorites #4"; Paper Smooches
  "Zoo Crew"
Ink:  Black EP; SU! pear pizzaz, garden green
Twine:  Sew easy fancy floss
Eyeball:  Darice

~~~
 

I leave you with random photos of our contented weekend with our favorite 8-year-old twin grandsons!!

Henry's super cute card to the family ~ this is just the envelope!

 

The Grand Reopening of the Rock Shoppe

Wherein two handsome and savvy businessmen sell rocks belonging to their grandparents to their grandparents.



Discussing the business model



Preparing the merchandise

Price negotiations



Upon discovering the grandparents aren't as dumb as they look when told that
the rocks were purchased with money from a certain couple of piggy banks.
(Just kidding!)

Traditional Sunday hike



There are tadpoles!



Contemplation

~~~

At the end of the day, they still like to be swaddled.

 

Mwah!



Beat the Heat ~ PBBC; DD #62; NBUS #26

Morning Doves!

I'm not sure how many of my British friends will be joining in What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday today, what with all the partying that went on yesterday following the arrival of the Royal Baby Prince!  Congratulations to William and Kate on their healthy baby boy!

 

I'm not joining the hop today because darn work is taking up too much of my visiting time, but if you stopped in, you might as well see my desk in all it's horror able glory! 

I'm sorry if you got whiplash just then, whipping around to make sure you were in the Playhouse.  I know it is very unusual to see me in such disarray.  I need a mahoosive clean out and clean up.  Or at the very least, a clean top.

 

~~~

 

My card today is for the Dynamic Duos (DD) challenge, where the colors are calypso coral and black with a butterfly option:

 

~~~

 

I'm also playing in the Penny Black Blog Challenge (PBBC) where the theme is "Beat the Heat." Three lucky winners will receive a prize package from Penny Black, each valued at $25.

~~~

 

Here is my card:

The sediment is from Penny Black.  The NBUS are the cute pair of sandals/thongs/flip flops from K&Company.  I popped off the little flowers that were adorning them and put on butterflies, also from K&Company.  I think the background woodgrain paper looks like the pattern the ocean makes on the sand.

 

~~~

 

New Friends

 

I'd like to introduce you to our new friends!  First up is a fun Mystery Guest "choc312002!"  I love your choccie name!  If you have a blog that you would like me to share with everyone, please let me know the name.

 

Next, please welcome Heather Jensen of Simply Handmade by Heather.  Heather comes from my old stomping ground, Iowa.  She has been blogging since 2009!  I know!  I missed so many years of bloggy goodness on the Intertube, but it's never too late to catch up.  Pull up a beverage and enjoy all the years' worth of inspiration Heather has in store for you!

 

Next, please welcome Laura of Send a Joyful Card.  Laura has also been blogging since 2009, so she, too, has lots of inspiring eye candy for you!

 

It's so wonderful that we can all meet each other like this and share our inspiring craft.  Thank you, ladies, and welcome to the party!

 

~~~

 

Wow

 

I have no words to describe how appreciative and complimented I am to have 325 followers, unknown subscribers, and all of you nonfollowers and nonsubscribers who loyally stop in to read my blitherings.  I offer you my humble thanks!  I've been wanting to hold a behind-the-scenes random draw for some time to send a little surprise gift to followers now and then, so that's what I'm going to do.  It's past time I share some of this wonderful NBUS overflowing in the Playhouse as a little token of my appreciation for you!  Mwah!!

 

~~~

 

Okee Pokee, gotta go.  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!

 

 

*Life Is Too Short!  

 

Paper:  SU! calypso coral and black;

  PTI white; unknown DSP

Stamp:  Penny Black 2673H, "This Day"

Ink:  Versafine onyx black

Ribbon:  Cheap'O organza in black and

  white; SU! calypso coral

Embellies: K&Company