Autumn Strawberries

Hello Stamplings!

I hope this brand new Monday finds you doing well! I had a busy week enjoying company as we sight-saw and shopped . . . two activities that are never boring, especially with friends!

So a quick post today with a couple more examples of the blackout technique, which is the current brief at CAS Mix Up Card Challenge, where I'm delighted to be the October Guest Designer. The technique also happily correspondence to the E = Embossing week on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar!

Onefer

For this fall/autumn card, I used Simon Says 3D gingko leaf e/f. After running it through the machine, I blended autumnal colors into the shapes on the debossed side, ran it through again, and then applied black ink over the whole panel using my brayer. 

To make the design CAS (clean and simple), I cut down the full panel using my Stitched Dome Frames from MFT. (The inner dome is popped up on 3D foam.) I hope you have time to give this cool technique a try and join the linky party at the CAS Mix Up Card Challenge! Don't forget to include stamping.

The sediment is from PTI. I love that I can use this card for birthday or thinking of you, anniversary, etc.

I'm playing in CAS Colours & Sketches (Colours); Crafty Calendar Challenge (Autumn/Halloween); and The Paper Players (Happy Autumn).

Twofer

Now, let me say first that this is not CAS per the CAS Mix Up rules. When trying out this fun technique, this was one of the first embossing folders I used. It is from Gina K's Sunny Days kit and I fell in love with how it looked as a full panel, so I left it. 

I'm showing it, however, to let you see another example of the blackout embossing technique and how gorgeous the results are. I plan to use this e/f and do it again ~ cutting it down to get at least two summer cards made. I want to see how it turns out making the strawberries red and using a different color for the braying. That's another thing, you don't need to use black ink for the blackout technique. You can use any dark color for the background contrast!

I'm playing in Addicted to Stamps and More (Birthdays); Freshly Made Sketches (Sketch); and 613 Avenue Create (A/G with option of pink).

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Enjoy your week! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!* As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse!

The past coupla weeks the lads have been having a blast "volunteering" at the local pet pumpkin patch in the mall! (EEK! It looks like that pumpkin is trying to chomp down on Stanley!)😄

*Life is too short!

CASlicious Seasons

Hello Stamplings!

Thank you for stopping by today! Last week went by very slowly, which is something you rarely hear me say. I think it is the changing of the seasons that does me in. I'm an early riser and I have a hard time getting up when it's dark outside. 

While I adjust, I'm thankful I can use this wonderful hobby to combat the darkness by making light and bright cards to lift my spirits. This is A = Anything Goes week on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar and I went uber CAS = clean and super.🤭Ha, that was a slip of the ginfers, but I might be onto something. Very few cards we make are really simple, are they? Even if they don't have a lot of elements, they can take time or be difficult. So how about CAS = Clean and Super?!

Onefer

For my Onefer, I used Donna's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and brought out one of my favorite fall stamp sets. This rake and the autumn sediment are from the "Fall" set (2012) by Technique Tuesday. I stamped the autumn using a Kaleidoscope ink pad. The rake was stamped, clear heat-embossed, painted, and fussy cut. Oh, and, of course, winked by Hammy and Stanley! I add some rusticity by lightly inking the border. The circle sediment is from Memory Box.

Playing in: Allsorts (Anything Autumn); CAS on Friday (Autumn/Fall); Freshly Made Sketches; and Seize the Birthday (Use Fall Colors).

Twofer

For my Twofer, I was inspired by the September challenge at Pinkfresh Studio. Both the beautiful wreath and the gold-embossed sediment are from my NBUS Pinkfresh Studio set called, "Seasonal Sprigs." I painted the wreath using my Ziggies and, as with my Onefer, the lads were delighted to have lots of tiny areas to wink!

The Pinkfresh Monthly Challenge also has a theme and you are welcome to link your design using just the theme, or just the colors, or either/neither. They just want to see you have fun and link your new creations using their products. I used just the colors and I loved painting these hues on a Christmas wreath where you might not expect to see them!

Playing in Addicted to CAS (Circles); Pinkfresh Studio; Rudolph Days; and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Christmas in September).

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

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse!

*Life is too short!

Majestic Sunflower and Stag

Hello Stamplings!

I hope you had a great week and you are doing well! This week begins with Labor Day here in America, so cheers to all those who labor and to those who are retired from laboring! [The holiday was rushed into law and signed by President Grover Cleveland in 1894 to mend relations with workers.] Cheers also to those of you who labor unpaid keeping house and family together, clean, and feed. In fact, triple 🍷🍷🍷 to you!

On a sad note, the week ends with our remembrance of 9/11. This year is the 25th anniversary of this horrific event. It is a time to remember those lost and how we came together as a nation to grieve and to support the heroic first responders.

It is fitting that I start today with a sunflower. Sunflowers always turn their faces to the sun and they symbolize love, loyalty, and resilience.

Onefer

It is I = Ink Week on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar. This sunflower is an old-timer from Technique Tuesday. I'm not sure when the stamp came out, but I first blogged a card using it in 2017. This design represents a rare hybrid sunflower which has a rainbow center that you can only see once the seeds have fallen. 

The sediment is from GKW, simply matted and attached to a textured card base. I watercolored the image with my Ziggies and Hammy and Stanley, who love sunflower seeds, patiently took turns winking their favorite flower, one petal at a time!

Playing in Beautiful Blossoms (Anything Floral Goes); CAS Mix Up (Sunflower); and Freshly Made Sketches.

Twofer

Here we have another QACAS design. This reindeer is also an old-timer. It's from Stampin' Up and I painted it direct-to-stamp using SU markers. More winking from the lads and this time you can see a few of the schparkles. Maybe. The sediment is from Simon Says Stamp. The dusty blue textured border is cut from a Papertrey Ink die set called, "Reflections: November Dies."

Playing in: CAS Christmas (Woodland Critters); Christmas Kickstart (Reindeer Games); and Color Hues (Dusty Blue and Brown).

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😡Blogger has been buggering with commenting, so I haven't been able to leave comments on NBUS or return comments. Someone told me it is working again, but the format is odd. I hope I'm able to catch up soon and I thank you for your patience!

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Chris Dring FB

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

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse! Just FYI, I'm not sure if I'll be able to post next Monday. We have someone house-sitting and taking care of Nellie and the lads while we take a few days off to spend time at the coast!

p.s. Don't go googling hybrid rainbow sunflower seeds. I just made that bit up.🙃

*Life is too short!

So long, August!

Hello Stamplings!

Well, that's summer. I hope you closed the door behind you because a lot of folks don't want to see any more of 2026 summer! I know it's not official for another few weeks, but I am hoping Lady September puts on her fall hat right from the first!

When I think of fall I think of leaves, and since it is a rare 5th Monday of the month, that means this is S = Stencils on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar. After that opening, I know you were expecting a card done in fall colors, but, no, I copied the example on the leafy stencil packaging because I love these spring and summer colors. I'm just trying to keep your brains confused. I don't want to be the only one confused around here!

Onefer

I actually have two Onefers. The NBUS stencil I used is "Leafy Background" from Pinkfresh Studio, designed by Inna Moreva. The sediment is NBUS from Gina K. 

Then I saw the AAA Colourful challenge which had similar colors, but with the addition of blues, so I had another play:

The die-cut sediment is from Simon Says Stamp, attached to a panel to which I stenciled random leaves and added score lines and pop bling that was popular a few years back. Hammy has gotten quite adept as picking colors to match the cards. My collection of dots are so old, the gluey backing is failing, so I remove it and glue them on, rather than have them fall off during mailing. 

I tried the Nuvo drops and still have (cough) little bottles of them, mostly brand new because I could never get them to perform for me. Not even Hammy could make them work. I suppose it's like making pancakes ~ you'd think, in time, you'd get good at forming them, but not us. Does anyone want several bottles of Nuvo drops?

But I digest. I have a feeling I will be using this pretty stencil a lot, next in fall colors, and perhaps even for Christmas cards?!

Playing in AAA Colourful (Colourboard #31); Just Us Girls (Stencil Week); and Seize the Birthday (A/G).

Twofer

For this week's Christmas card, I started with the sketch from the talented Michele F. for Freshly Made Sketches. Some of you might recognize the background striped paper as being from PTI back in the last century. I love the linen look and feel and how the bright colors make me happy. 

I used a rounded corner stitched die from MFT as the angled element of the sketch and for the middle focus pocus I used a peppermint candy stencil from SSS. After masking and blending the two shades of pink, I die-cut the candy using a circle stitched die from MFT. The Ho Ho Ho sediment is from Impression Obsession. A few silver sequints were picked out by Stanley for the finishing touché.

Playing in Freshly Made Sketches; The Paper Players (Tic Tac Toe: diagonally top right to bottom left); and Rudolph Days (AG Christmas).

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

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse!

*Life is too short!

ESPP!

Hello Stamplings!

I hope this finds you doing well and not impacted by all the terrible weather-related suffering that's happening around the world. There seem to be more catastrophes than ever happening all at once.

The post title today stands for Embossing and Stenciling on Patterned Paper. It all started because the brief this month at CAS Mix Up is Stenciling Over Patterned Paper. I wanted to try it and then once I got started . . .

Onefer

I went through my patterned paper and I found a half-sheet of this pretty wave pp. I knew I had an cute whale die from PTI, so I die-cut one and then used the negative space to stencil the whale onto the paper. I ended up accidentally stenciling the whale over the pattern in such a way that she ended up with a smile! 

In order to keep my design CAS and use the Freshly Made Sketches sketch (turned horizontally), I cut the pretty pp into a diagonal panel. It is E = Embossing week on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar, but after going horizontal, I realized that all my wave e/fs are vertical.😮 Hammy to the rescue! He reminded me that I have a horizontal wave die, so I used a rubber embossing mat and turned the die into an e/f! The NBUS sediment is from the same PTI whale set.

Besides CAS Mix Up, I'm playing in: 

Addicted to CAS (Water); Allsorts (Embossing); Freshly Made Sketches (sketch turned sideways); Seize the Birthday (Funny/Punny); and Just Us Girls (Water).

Twofer

For my Christmas twofer design, I used a JoAnn's Park Lane e/f called Holly Berry using a pretty raspberry cardstock. 

Here's a photo of the old SU DSP I used. The poinsettia stencil is from Tim Holtz, blended with raspberry ink. I cut the poinsettia stencil panel down to a banner and added a simple sediment from SSS's Holiday Greetings Mix I.

I made a few more simple cards while I was on a roll and Stanley has a pile of pp for me to match with stencils tomorrow. I'm enjoying that part as much as the stenciling ... pairing the stencils with the pp to make the best designs gets my 'ol grey matter working! 

Playing in: Krafty Chicks (Christmas); and Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round (P is for Poinsettia).

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

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse! Stay safe!

*Life is too short!