Happy, Happy, Hopeful!

Hello Stamplings!

Happy New Year! I hope this finds you doing well and avoiding Omicron and I hope you enjoyed your holiday! I was so optimistic that 2021 would find us completely back to normal with good times and good health and no more stress and depression. Wrong. My heart goes out to you if you've had illness or death of a loved one this past year.

So now I am heaping even more optimism onto the back of 2022 ~ The Year of High Expectations! I hope it is strong enough to bring us to a place of sanity and a return of human kindness and common sense, which, in turn, will lead to an end to the pandemic and political infighting. Well, I don't know about that last bit, but a girl can dream.

And make you a card:

For the base, you'll see a layer of handmade paper, shot through with gold tinsel. Over the top is a platinum circle of stars which was a gift from a friend; I think it's made by Papertrey. The inner circle is adorned with a NBUS bottle of champagne (vad elsk?) from Cottage Cutz (which I paper-pieced in different appropopo colors of glossy paper) and a NBUS sediment from Hero Arts which was heat-embossed in gold.

Here's a better angle of the schparkliness and color!

Challenges

• Cardz 4 Galz: In with the new year/new stash.
  
• Double D: Lots of white.
  
• Krafty Chicks: AG.
  
• Simon Says Monday: Party
  
• Simon Says Wednesday: It's time to party.
  
• Watercooler Wednesday: Marsha's AG.

Thank you to ALL the wonderful card challenges in Blogland and their dedicated Design Teams who work to inspire us and schpark our creativity month-after-month!

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In other happy news, this is my 10th blogging anniversary! I actually published my first post in October of 2011, but it was just a coupla practice posts. I didn't really get my feet wet until January of 2012. It's a pretty big deal to have maintained a blog for ten years, especially in the era of Instagram and with all the changes Blogger has made over the years, not all of them good ones. 

The readers play a huge part in the longevity of a blog and I am so thankful for all of you! After all, without you leaving me wonderful comments, I'm not sure I would still be blogging. More importantly, many of your comments have developed into real friendships, both inside the computer and outside in the real world. We blog because we want to share our creations and have a diary of them ~ it's an incredible magical bonus when strong bonds and friendships also develop!

In celebration of my ten years of blogging, I'm hoping to do a sort of restart this year. This pandemic has taken some of the stuffing out of the ol' blog sofa, as it were, and I want to see if I can rekindle my joy of blogging, visiting, and commenting. Know what I mean? I also want to spread more joy around the world cuz the world could use more joy.

So in louie of a blogaversary give-away, here is my plan, complete with preamble:

If you've been a friend for a while now, you've heard me talk about my dear friend Verna. I became friends with Verna in 1978 when we both worked in the same small law firm. That's a long-time friendship. Verna is 97 now and confined to a bed after breaking her neck seven years ago in an accident with her walker and an automatic door. She is an inspiration to me in terms of her stoicism and her spunk. Mentally, she is sharp as a tack in spite of the pain her body is in.

I asked a few years ago if friends would send her cards and many of you do. The joy that Verna feels from getting these cards is hard to put into words. I stand on the porch and visit with her and she shows the cards to me through the window. And her face just lights up! Thank you for that gift for her!

Rubberstamps.com

In turn, I would like to offer that gift to a senior you may know. There are wonderful people who do annual card drives and I have enjoyed taking part in them and also donating cards for seniors in my own community, but I'd like to do more. Two years of off-again/on-again isolation has been hard for everyone, but it is especially hard for seniors.

So if you, or someone you know, would love to receive some old-fashioned love in card form, please use the Contact Me form on the right to let me know and I will get the details from you. (Using the form is more reliable because comments are often un-reply-able.) 

Thank you, everyone! Mwah! And RIP dear Betty White.😇

 

 Enjoy your day and Happy New Year! 
No, seriously, enjoy! Life is too short!

p.s. I was just searching for something on my blog and ran across an old post at the beginning of 2016 that I found both humorous and depressing in that I've not yet reached any of the goals I had high hopes for SIX years ago. Slap! Time doesn't speed up for old people. Old people slow down and resolutions stay the same!😄

Happy New Year With New Friends!

Greetings, Stamplings!

Js[[u Mre Urst@

Oops!

Happy New Year!

I appear to have started celebrating early and have my ginfers on the wrong qwerty keys! The Mister took my picher:

You might notice the size of my tipply, but I'm a big girl and I han candle it! Here, look how glossy and beschparkled I got for the occasion!

Sediment by Happy Little Stampers, fun lady by Art Impressions, drink by Inkadinkado, and Stately e/f by Craft Concepts.

Challenges

• Cards in Envy: Celebrate the Season.
• CASology: Toast.
• Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Party Time.
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes.

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New Friends Corner / Followers Update

With my various travels and the holidays, I've not allowed space on my posts for my New Friends Corner in quite some time. In order to bring myself up-to-date before the year ends and not to keep these lovely ladies waiting any longer, I'm going to introduce all of them to you today.

I'm hoping that during this sort of lull between Christmas and the first week of January, you will take the time to visit these talented crafters and introduce yourself! Why not end the year by making new friends!

Francesca Ferrari of A Rainbow of Colors. Francesca is from Italy and she has been blogging since 2014. She started her blog to share her talent for making paper creations of tags, cards, and other projects. Francesca has a wonderful talent for layering and embellishing her beautiful works of art which will enchant you!

Fikreta Posavec ("Fiki") of Bad Kitty's Craftroom. Fiki has been blogging since 2012 and fortunately, she blogs her wonderful card art often. And not just plain cards either! Fiki is a well-rounded crafter who makes shaped cards, gift tags, gift bags, and many other delightful projects to inspire you!

Seemaa of Paper Passions. Seemaa has only been blogging since February of this year! She has a 7-year-old child and works full-time. Seemaa started sewing about three years ago and then moved on to paper crafting where she found her true passion. She is another well-rounded crafter who doesn't limit herself to just making cards. You will enjoy how Seemaa provides a photo tutorial of her artistic process. I hope you will make a special effort to welcome Seemaa to Blogland!

Sue of Sue's Card Craft. Sue has been blogging since 2012. I'm sure you have seen some of Sue's incredible card art at some of the challenges around Blogland. Her cards and tags are really exquisite between the design, the colors, and the clean execution. You might want to sharpen your Pinterest Pin before you step inside Sue's blog, if you know what I mean!

Elisabeth M. of Auf's Papiergebracht. Elisabeth tells me that is loosely translated to mean, "To Bring Something On Paper." Elisabeth started blogging in 2013. Fortunately for us, she often posts her extraordinary art pieces. I say "pieces" because I think of Elisabeth's cards as little sculptures that should be framed in a gallery. You'll see what I mean when you go have an amazing journey back through the creations on her blog!

Christine Alexander of It's a Card Days Night. Christine just started blogging last month!! She came over from Splitcoaststampers where she is known as Calex. Christine has been making her wonderful cards for nine years now and her passion is for both CAS and Mixed Media. It takes talent to combine those two styles and Christine does it perfectly! Please make a special effort to visit Christine and welcome her to our supportive community in Blogland.

Rhonda of Wheelie Crafty Designs. Rhonda is from Australia and she has been blogging since 2014. You may have seen her beautiful creations either as a design team member or a guest designer. Her card are amazing, but her layouts will knocks your socks off as she thoughtfully pays tribute to those she loves!

Tina H. of Tina's Creative Studio. Tina is from Australia and she has been blogging since 2006! What?! Granted, some of those years were lean years when it came to posting, but goodness, Tina was one of the early pioneers in Blogland! As a Stampin' Up demonstrator, Tina excels at showcasing SU products whether it be on standard cards, shaped cards, or fantastic scrapbook layouts!

Tee of The Altered Paper. Tee has only been blogging since April of this year! Like so many of us, Tee started her blog to share her creations in challenges. As her blog name attests, Tee loves mixed media and altered crafts and she does it well. In the few months since she has been entering challenges, she has won well-deserved recognition! Please make a special effort to welcome Tee to Blogland!

Thank you for joining, ladies, and welcome to the Playhouse!

As a reminder, if you don't see yourself introduced, it's because I couldn't find you. Please contact me to give me your blog URL and I'll be happy to introduce you!

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Follower Following Issues

Speaking of followers, there are again issues with blogger inexpischplibly dropping us and with our ability to follow.

• Check the side bar. I have noticed lately when I visit my bloggie friends that there have been several instances where the button on their side bar says "Follow" when I know, for a fact, that I have already followed them! This has also happened on challenge blogs!
  
  I have also had several friends say my blog (and others) have stopped showing up in their reader. It didn't occur to them that Blogger might have dropped them from someone's blog. So, please glance over at the side bar follower thumbnail here and on other sites you visit to make sure it says "Unfollow" indicating that you have not been dropped. If you have been dropped, please refollow.
  
• Double-click to follow. If you do need to refollow and you get the "Oops" error popup window stating that you cannot follow, just ignore it and double-click the "Follow" button again. Sometimes it takes more tries, but twice usually works. You will then get another window on top of the Oops window that gives text information and if you scroll down a bit, you will see a "Follow" button. Click that and then refresh the home page of the blog you are trying to follow.
  
  If you don't see your face as the first photo in the line-up after following, never fear, you should find yourself in the first of the "no-face" followers. I haven't figured out yet why the face thing is happening, but at least double-clicking "Follow" is allowing us to follow blogs again, which it hadn't been doing for many months.

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Enjoy your day and your New Year's Weekend! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!*

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse! We are tickled that the boys will be spending the weekend with us so I'll see you in 2017!! I wish you all the very best for a happy and healthy new year filled with lots of love and giggles!

*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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Mwah!
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