. . . Bring May Flowers II

Hello Stamplings! 

I hope you're having a good day! I've decided to start each post during the pandemic with something I'm grateful for. It's just too easy to list all the things I'm missing, which is depressing, so I'm going to turn that on its head. I want to think of the little everyday things you don't usually give a second thought to, you know, rather than the big things like dishwashers, friends, and being alive. 

I'll think of one tiny noncraft item and one tiny craft item. It really does take a minute. So today I'm grateful for corn tortillas. (Of course, my mind went straight to food.) And Connect Glue by Gina K. (She didn't pay me to say that.) What two little things are you grateful for?

While you think about that, I'll share my reminder cards for this month's Twofer Card Challenge where the prompt is FLOWERS. One is a birthday card, the other is a get well card.

The NBUS stamp that both my cards have in common is Spring Flowers by Simon Says Stamp.

Onefer

I used three of the four blooms from the stamp and die set for this design. First, the card base was sprayed with gold shimmer spray. Then I colored the flowers with my Ziggies and Hammy winked them. Lastly, we planted them in a striped Washi tape planter box and added a sediment from SSS. Easy as cake. I say that because I think making pie is hard.

Challenges

• Cardz 4 Galz: Birthday.
• Just Us Girls: Color challenge.
• Pixie's Snippets Playground: Use your snippets! My flowers were all cut from scraps.

Twofer

Because of the way the stamps from this set are laid out on the acetate backing, this particular bloom reminded me of a winged insect. So, what the heck, thought I, why not make it a bug and put it in a jar from PTI cut from vellum and adhered to a bit of bespeckled navy card you've been hoarding in your stash? (I think to myself in run-on sentences.) So, being a good listener of myself, that's what I did. Then I used white ink from Color Box to add the NBUS sediment from "Call the Doctor" by Your Next Stamp. Do you see a bug? No, I mean there. On your shoulder!

Challenges

• CAS on Friday: Use a die.
• HLS CAS Challenge: Smile.
• NBUS Challenge #14
• Sparkles Monthly Challenges: Use a real stamp.

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I hope my cards have inspired you to share your two floral designs at Twofer Card Challenge #27!

Please remember that even though Hammy and I get a big kick out of using the prompt element in an unconventional way on one of our designs, you don't have to, as the brilliant Guest Designer and Design Team show you on the main post for Twofer Card Challenge #27!

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Speaking of inspirational, I was inspired by my friend Brenda to make the grandtwins these fun mask Miss Your Face cards. Brenda was inspired by the Card Cut Ups video on You Tube.

I made the sediment with my tiny alphabet stamps and freehanded the whimsical border.

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Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy ~  and remember to stay in whenever possible! LITS!*

• I finally got eight hours of sleep. It took me three days, but whatever.
• I hate when a couple argues in public, and I missed the beginning so I don’t know whose side I’m on.
• Don’t bother walking a mile in my shoes. That would be boring. Spend 30 seconds in my head. That’ll freak you right out.

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!)

Keeping Crafty

Hello, Stamplings!

First off, we're doing fine. We feel very blessed that the Mister recovered enough to start driving again just as it became very important for me to isolate due to being high risk. California has shut down except for essentials and we are still able to get local groceries, except for paper products. Don't get me started on that tissue!

I hope you are all keepin' on keepin' on and finding ways to not watch too much news on the telly. I had to finally limit myself to one hour a day and only ten minutes at a time, here and there, throughout the day. I'm glad you're visiting me to get away from all that, so let's go. (Since I don't post as often as I used to and you have plenty of time, I've made this extra long.😇)

And I have a special request, so if you're a scroll-through-quickly-friend, please stop and read the last section. Mwah!

Onefer

I wanted to play in some wonderful challenges, so I created this card. For the platinum grid, I made myself a stencil using my NBUS Birch Press Design, "Prism Triangle Collage." I applied Versamark liberally through the stencil and heat-embossed with platinum.

The flower flourish and sediment are from GKW. I colored the flower with my Ziggies using the JUGS color scheme and Hammy went to town with the winking.

Challenges

• CAS March Stencil: Heat embossing.
• HLS March Watercolour: Anything goes; optional Flowers.
• Just Us Girls: Color week.

The Demise of BOB!

Amidst all the scary news and glums about the nasty Coronavirus making its way around the globe, I'm pleased to report I've had a fatality here in the Playhouse, but it's a good one! I'm referring to my Box O' Bits, otherwise affectionately known as BOB. He will NOT be missed!

With clearance from the CDC, here is a photo of dead BOB. You'll note that Hammy is playing with his new malachite Easter egg inside BOB's skeletal remains:

Yes, that's one of my boxes of NBUS (never-before-used-schtuff) off to the right. We won't talk about that just now. Let me relish in the afterglow of BOB's demise for a little bit longer!

And here, ladies, is a photo of the 73 cards* I made from what BOB has been greedily hanging on to for years!

Don't get too becited. Most of them are very simple designs and (embarrassingly) took ten minutes or less to complete, but still, pretty good, eh? I will be posting some of them (God willing and the creek don't rise) over time, so I hid their faces. That way they can't be accused of being backlinked later on.

I wanted to share my success with you because, if you're like me, you are feeling unsettled right now. You plan to start this, but you find yourself looking at that; what you were becited about yesterday, you couldn't care less about today; and/or, card-making once brought you a lot of satisfaction, but now most of your satisfaction comes from either food (chocolate) or online shopping. 

If that's happening to you, turn to your BOB, or your UFO, or whatever you call your half-finished cards and let the process take you away for a few minutes or a few hours. It's not only a distraction, it's productive. And if your significant other happens to be named Bob, lucky you ~ you can turn to him for other reasons, as well!😉

Twofer

Here is one of the finished cards I made:

I made this topper while at last year's ESCR and it's languished since. Silly, since all it needed was a card base and sediment, but that's what happens sometimes. The phone rings, the Mister stops by to let me know the mail came, Hammy wants help with his juggling lessons, or Nellie wants a cuddle. Or maybe I've just seen a mental squirrel and off I go. The technique was direct-to-stamp coloring with markers, then spritzing, and then stamping. The image is Penny Black's "Pure Iris."

Challenges

• AAA Birthday Game #11: Flowers.
• The Flower Challenge: Anything goes.
• HLS March CAS: Your favorite technique. (Direct-to-stamp coloring.)
• Penny Black Saturday : March anything goes ~ think spring!
• TIME OUT: 6th Birthday celebration! Congratulations TO!

💟Something Positive

I have so many emotions and so many things I'd like to say about the current crisis, but this post is long enough. ONE of my concerns is the thought of all the thousands of elderly people in care homes around the globe who are suffering from loneliness because of our need for isolating ourselves. Perhaps they don't even understand why suddenly no one is visiting them. 

Thankfully, I feel like this is one concern where I can be proactive and do something, especially now that I've killed BOB and I have all these cards* in my stash. I'm making cards to drop off at our local care homes, but if you have an elderly loved one who feels lonely, I'd love to send a card to them, too. I'll mail to anywhere on earth where postal service is still occurring. And if you're feeling that way yourself, let me know. Please email their (or your) name and address to darnell dot knauss at gmail dot com and I will send off a card ~ or more, depending on the duration.

Now more than ever, my closing is appropriate. Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy! Life is too short! As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse! Take extra care and be safe!

Lots of hugs,

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!)

Simple Card and Other Schtuff

Hello Stamplings!

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you are feeling loved today and I especially hope you love yourself! Which you should do all the time!

My speed is on DASH today and lemme tell you, when I flipped it on, it was so rusty, I had to pump it a few times! I don't normally do anything faster than my favorite setting: SD! WTF! (Slow Down! Where's The Fire?!😂) 

But more on that later. First we'll do a card for those who stopped by just for a card:

I made this card a coupla days ago and I'm so glad I am getting it posted before the Less Is More challenge closes. The card is cut using an MFT "Stitched Rounded Rectangle" die. I made the sediment on my computer and I do feel like your giddy aunt having thought up the punny design. The ancient little stamps you see there are from Rubber Stamp Tapestry. Hammy really enjoyed winking the card symbols because they are tiny and he didn't have to work so hard going back and forth a thousand times like he does for my bigger images.

Challenges

• AAA Cards: CAS Game: Up to 1/3 + optional twist of hearts.
• Addicted to Stamps and More: AG.
• HLS February CAS Challenge: Positive. Lending a hand to help someone is a very positive selfless thing to do.
• Less Is More. Less (tiny and few). Congratulations on your 9th blogaversary with sincere thanks for all the amazing challenge briefs and DT inspiration over the years! This challenge is being generously sponsored by Uniko where Bev is celebrating her 8th blogaversary! Congratulations and thank you, too, Bev!

 

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Hold On!

My poor Mister had a major setback this week. I thought we were going to have to get an ambulance again to get him to the ER. Fortunately, the doctor prescribed some medications that knocked back the inflammation pressing on his nerves. He is an overachiever and when he was told to walk, he overdid it. They will do further imaging next week to make sure all is well.

I haven't been spending as much time on my computer, but what time I have spent has made me aware of some strange new thing Blogger is doing to disrupt Blogland. What's happening is that when I click on some of our favorite challenges in my Challenge tab or click on some of your post notifications in my email, I get this pop-up box:

(I've redacted the name of the blog)

And I've heard from a friend that it's happening to her when clicking on my blog. Naturally it is off-putting, if not downright scary, to see such a message. Sometimes when you click "Proceed Anyway," it takes you to the site and sometimes it won't let you go there no matter how many times you click it. Then you have to go to Goggle and type in the URL of the site to get around it. Please, child, ain't nobody got time for that!!

I know years ago there was a kaffuffle about how Blogger thought any blogs that had "too many" links were dangerous blogs. "Too many" being a subjective term; they never said how many too many was! Those of us who play in challenges are going to have a lot of links. And, of course, the challenges themselves have dozens of links from the entries who link up!! We might as well all close down our blogs and go to Instagram if they take away our ability to have links or access each other's blogs. Grrr.

I mean, I don't know, I'm just guessing this is the reason. I don't know what else to think. Is it happening to you? It's plain silly because my blog and the blogs I visit are certainly not blogs that have anything dangerous about them. I'm going to complain to Blogger (and it would be great if we all did that), but if you know of anything else I can be doing - or not doing - I would appreciate knowing what it is. And if I get any answers, I will follow-up this post with more information.

Thank you all!! Mwah! (By the way, I'm getting this message even on blogs that are https!)

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The Last Laugh

After all that we need a funny "Zits" cartoon drawn by Jim Borgman and Jerry Scott. It should all cheer us up that these two gentlemen have drawn a popular cartoon which shows the world just how hard it is to make a handmade greeting card!! Bravo Jim and Jerry and 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!)

Random Act of Kindness for W2CB and Happy Valentine's Day!

Hello Stamplings!

My sympathy to all of you who are having to celebrate Valentine's Day in the middle of raging snowstorms and dangerous ice storms. I mean, on the other hand, it could be very romantic if you're snowed in and have a fireplace, maybe a hot toddy, or a little bubbly ... 💓

Today's post is all about kindness, friendship, and love. You know, like normal.

I'm delighted to be this month's Guest Designer for Words 2 Craft By (W2CB). The current challenge words are inspired by "Random Act of Kindness Day," which is celebrated annually on February 17th. They come from A. A. Milne:

   Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh," he whispered.

   "Yes, Piglet?" Pooh replied.

   "Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw. "I just wanted to be sure of you."

When I want to make a card about friendship, I often reach for my vintage stamp, "Belinda and Bernadette the Bench Buddies" (EB224) from Stamping Bella. For the sediment, I used my NBUS stamp set, "Kind Words" from Altenew. I think both the image and the sediment are beautiful. I watercolored the card with my Ziggies.

What part did Hammy play, you ask? Sometimes he has the day off from helping with a card, but even then he is my proofreader. In this case, I turned the blog over for his review and in about one second, he piped up and asked me why I hadn't colored the butterfly? Oops. By then it was pouring down rain so I couldn't retake the photo, but I was able to color in the butterfly before I mailed it off. Thank you, Ham.

I hope you have a chance to play in this month's W2CB challenge! There are lots of options for creations that evoke kindness and/or friendship! The challenge is open from February 13 to March 6. I'll be back with a mid-challenge reminder on February 23rd.

Challenges

• Happy Little Stampers: Friends
• Just Us Girls: Trend Week: Wood.

Twofer

Here's my VD card for you! A plain white base with a schparkly silver panel topped with another white panel with Happy Valentine's Day embossed in silver. The focus pocus is a scalloped heart from PTI cut from an alcoholic Yupo paper which has been shot through with silver foil. Harriet and I made a bunch of these delicious backgrounds in different colored AIs on a recent play date. You'll be seeing the rest of them showcased in a future post.

Challenges

• Cards for Galz: Hearts: red, pink, and white.
• Double D: Hearts.
• Use Your Stuff: Hearts: pink or red.

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Here are some other QACAS VD cards I made. I made still more, but I sent them off without photographing them.

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Update on the Mister: After taking an ambulance to the emergency room yesterday and spending all day there, Kevin is doing much, much better! They pumped him full of pain medication and steroids to the point where the sharp agonizing pain was diminished and he could stand and take steps with the aid of a walker. Hurray! That means the surgery can be postponed yet again, but we will be following up with a specialist. Thank you all for your kind comments, prayers, and positive thoughts! They mean so much to us!

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!)

Lots of Love!

Hello, Stamplings!

How are you? I don't know about where you are, but here in America, we are having the weirdest winter of bitter cold one day and summery hot the next day! It's really no wonder there is so much sickness going around when our immune systems don't know whether to wear sandals or snow boots!

We are settling back in after our fun long weekend adventure with the boys. Hammy was chafing at the bit to get on the computer and see what challenges were beckoning. (Warning: this is a Big Mug o' Beverage post.)

We started with this number:

Here we have an OLC that fits the bill for a coupla three favorite challenges. I paper-pieced the doodled flower stamp, watercolored the hills and the little doggie with his heart, added the sediment, and added the score lines at the top. Of course, the heart is winked, but doesn't show. That doggie is an old wooden stamp and the sediment is modern, but aren't the two of them perfect for each other?!

(I know my watercoloring looks a little puddly, but that wasn't from my paints, that was from a certain little doggie getting piddly, as dogs do.)

Challenges

• CAS Watercolour Card Challenge: Heart.
• The Flower Challenge: Paper-piecing.

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Twinfers

Wait. What? Yes, that's right. Please don't confuse these next two cards as the kind of twofers we like to see in the Twofer Challenge, because these twofers are identical designs ~ that makes them Twinfers!

First, a birthday card:

I wondered how the fabulous Heartstrings die from Concord & 9th would look cut from this red and white foil and vellum paper from SU. The paper is in a candy cane pattern, so I've only ever used it for Christmas, but why limit it to that? Above is the heart cut from the textured paper and then painstakingly inlaid with all those pieces of vellum. 

BTW, that beautifully textured white paper was a gift from my friend Sue after I complimented her one day on the paper she used. Did I mention she sent it from the UK to America?! Card artists are such kind and generous folk!

Challenges

• HLS February CAS Challenge: Hearts.
• Pixie's Snippets Playground: Use your snippets!
• Seize the Birthday: AG, no toppings.

Below is the outline part of the die-cut heart, made into a Hello card:

That makes your eyes go a little bonkers though, doesn't it?! Sorry. I'm not loving the flag sentiment banners on these two cards. I mean, I love them, as such, but I wish I'd gone with something smaller that didn't compete with the heart for focus pocus. We live and learn. Sadly, sometimes that happens after the foam tape has stuck to the card!

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I'll leave you with some photos of our weekend with Adam and Henry.

They are hardy young men! That is me in the upper right photo all bundled up at the bottom of the rock. It was about 52 degrees and blowing a gale, but those imps are in shorts! We had a great time!

~~~

Enjoy your day! (Me, not so much cuz I'm off to the dentist to get another crown!) But, seriously, you enjoy yours! 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! If you ask me a question in your comment, please remember to leave me your email address so I can respond. Thank you!