Septimus Alredius!

Hello Stamplings!

I hope this finds you feeling well!

Following last Monday's post, I did call in Scour and Reorg. The timing turned out to be good because the busyness helped take my mind off yet another senseless school shooting in this country which left two children dead, many injured, and anyone there mentally troubled for the rest of their lives. I want to rant on about it, but that's not why you're here. 

We've turned the calendar today for the ninth time in 2025! Happy Labor Day to those celebrating! There are only three more turns to go and the yuletide will be coming in! This week's I.D.E.A.S. Calendar is I = Ink/Color Medium. With the Playhouse turned topsy-turvy by my crew, not to mention my mental state, I consorted with B.O.B. and I found two inky panels previously made with Brusho powders. And, thus:

Onefer

Some of my bloggie friends made cards a coupla weeks ago using the Northern Lights technique. This isn't that, but a shoutout to them for the inspiration to see this panel as very Northern-Light-ish, so I simply used an old wooded SU silhouette tree stamp in the foreground. (I meant to say wooden stamp, but you have to love the English language because ha-ha, it's also wooded!)

This left me with turkoyce hills, so I covered them with snow using my NBUS Simon Hurley Astro Paste. It's crazy how impossible (especially in the sun) it is to photograph the stunning schparkle of this paste when it dries. In real life the whole bottom area is covered like in the lower left-hand corner. 

I'm playing in Jingle Belles where the brief is "Cardstock Christmas." I used black and watercolor cardstock only.

Twofer

For this design ... wait. Where's the rest of this Brusho panel? Wheeeel, what happened was, I went to CASE my friend Susan's card because her design reminded me that I have the same Santa and his sleigh silhouette stamp which I thought would be perfect for a Northern Lights sky. Using my MISTI, my first stamping of the sleigh in black with a heavy hand still wasn't enough coverage, so I reinked the stamp and stamped it a second time. When I lifted the lid of my MISTI, I saw that the Brusho panel had moved in spite of a grip pad and magnets. Wah. Wah.

My cursing made Stanley dive under his blankets, but Hammy calmly suggested that I just cut off Santa and his sleigh and use the partial panel on a card. B.O.B. provided the die-cut sediment and Pinkfresh Studio Washi butterfly which led to the Sizzix cloud e/f and, well, B.O.B.'s your uncle! And now I'm on Santa's naughty list. (Like I wasn't already!)

I'm playing in Addicted to Stamps and More where they are celebrating Challenge 500! Congratulations!! This time the brief is Die Cuts / Stencils. Also, Simon Says Stamp Wednesday where the brief is Anything Goes featuring Pinkfresh Studio.

Bonus!

After I stamped the trees for my Onefer above, I put a white folded card in my MISTI and stamped off the heavy black ink. Bonus! It gave me another perfectly useable card for my Christmas stash. I've always had a fondness for black and white evergreen trees and simple sediment for a Christmas card design. For this card, I used a sediment from SSS "Holiday Greetings Mix 1." I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to add a period to that sediment.

I'm playing again at ABC Christmas Challenge under Q is for Quick! It doesn't get much more QACAS than this!

Lesson

And then what happened was, bless my heart, I thought why not run it through my Gemini using an embossing plate to add falling snow for, you know, interest. Only I didn't ask my little rompers, so I grabbed my 3D snow when I should have grabbed my 1D snow and now here's a lesson for all of us on how sometimes cards don't need more interest!

That poor little bird is about to be knocked out of the sky by that snowfall those snowballs!😆

~~~

I.D.E.A.S. Calendar: I = Ink/Color Mediums

You will find a linky tool below for you to share your colorful/inky art! Your creation may help motivate someone out of their mojo schlump! 

I love seeing what you create, visiting you, and pinning your designs! Thank you so much to everyone who shared their designs last week! Mwah!

~~~

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

No, seriously, enjoy! Life is too short!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Mirrored Ovals

Hello Stamplings!

I hope you all enjoyed last week and you're ready to bust this new week wide open! Things slow down a little online this time of the year as we spend more time outdoors when the weather is fine. As much as we love paper flowers, there is nothing like the real thing!

If you do have time to garden and craft, this is the first full week of July, which means the motivation I.D.E.A.S. Calendar is I = Ink/Color Mediums.

Onefer

I was also busy last week with my birthday and America's birthday, so I turned to Freshly Made Sketches for inspiration and this is my take on the sketch. The "Lush Greenery" is from Pinkfresh. It comes with two halves, but I only used one-half and stamped it as a mirror image.*

*Edited: I can't change the title after publishing, but I wanted to edit the wording here so it's not confusing. I did not stamp the above in the traditional sense of the "mirror technique." Using my MISTI, I stamped the image once, cleaned the stamp, and removed it from the MISTI. Then I repositioned the stamp on the paper, so that it was "upside down" and butting up against the first image. I inked the stamp, closed the MISTI, and stamped a second image. In that way, they mirrored each other. I hope that makes sense! If not, let me know.

I used my Ziggies to color the greenery and the lads very carefully winked the wee leaves. I used Poppystamps NBUS pointed oval die for the sediment and their pointed rectangle die to add a frame. I used the "aloha" die from Your Next Stamp because it's perfect for a birthday card for my friend who spends half the year in Hawaii! Poor dear.😂🌴🥥

Other Challenges

CAS on Friday: Botanical.

Tic Tac Toe: Diagonal, top left to bottom right: foliage/free/any sediment.

TIME OUT: Travel.

Twofer

I liked how my first card turned out so much that I used the sketch and dies again to make a Christmas design. Like with the first card, I stamped the Magenta poinsettia trio, cleaned the stamp, turned it (the stamp) upside down and stamped it again. Then we painted, winked, and framed them using a sediment from Simon Says Stamp.

Challenges

Holly & Ivy: Anything Christmas Goes.

Jingle Belles: Poinsettia Perfection.

Merry Little Christmas: Anything Christmas Goes.

~~~

I.D.E.A.S. Calendar:  I = Ink/Color Mediums

You will find a linky tool below for you to share your creation using some form of coloring, inking, painting, etc. which might help lift someone out of their creative schlump!

I love seeing what you create, visiting you, and pinning your design! Thank you to everyone who visited and linked to the gallery last week. Mwah!

~~~

Enjoy your week! No seriously, enjoy! LITS!

Here's an example from my little friend on enjoying life, taken from the Playhouse window. As always, thank you for visiting and commenting!

*Life is too short!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Anything Goes!

Hello Stamplings!

Happy Monday! I hope this find you well! As you read this, I will be having fun in Las Vegas ~ or as some people call it, Lost Wages! I'm meeting a friend from my early work days in the 70s for some getaway girl time!🎰🍹

Before I left Nellie in charge of The Mister, the lads and I were inspired by a few challenges to create these designs.

Onefer

This week is A = Anything Goes on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar, so there are no curt tails when it comes to designing! Just for fun, I went all out and stamped, inked, die cut, and stenciled! I also CASED my friend Linda, with an emphasis on "copy!" Thank you, Lin!

The blossoms are NBUS from Pinkfresh called "Delicate Floral Print," blended with lilac and aqua CP inks using the stencils. The embossing folder is v.o., but still NBUS, from the Paper Studio. The sediment is from PTI. The nice thing about this simple layout is you get two cards out of the deal! I used a shiny platinum piece of Washi Tape from Altenew to separate the panels and Hammy and Stanley winked the flowers.

Challenges

Addicted to Stamps and More: Make your mark.

Color Hues: Lilac and aqua.

Just Us Girls: Stencil week.

SSS Wednesday: Make it girly.

Twofer

This design is in the running for QACAS-iest design of 2025! I love it and what a great way to use pretty pp! If you like CAS (clean and simple) designs and you aren't familiar with Freshly Made Sketches, you should check them out. (They very kindly have a tab listing all their prior sketches!) 

At first, the textured aqua panel on the left had no design. I set it aside, but I kept looking back at it and my right leg started twitching. It stopped as soon as I lightly stenciled a leafy pattern. When you know, you know. 

Challenges

Alphabet Challenge: L is for leaves.

Freshly Made Sketches: A sketch by Jen T.

Seize the Birthday: Use a stencil.

Threefer

I like to play in the Rudolph Days Challenge when I can. It only runs at the end of each month from the 25th to the last day of the month. It's always Anything Goes as long as it is a Christmas design.

For this card I stamped the Pink Fresh wreath on mixed media paper with Versamark and heat-embossed it with gold. I then painted the poinsettia with my Ohuhu markers and sent it down the line to the winkers. (Pink Fresh has beautiful Washi Tape you can use for the wreath, but I was in the mood for painting.) 

I added a wee sediment and popped the wreath onto a black panel embossed with a NBUS e/f from SU called "Petals-a-Plenty." It's really a generic flower, but I thought they looked like little poinsettias. To add a little extra schparkle, I heat-embossed the rim all around in gold.

Other challenges

52 Christmas Card Throwdown: Embossing.

Christmas Kickstart: Positively poinsettias.

Jingle Belles: Color challenge. I used red, green, white, and black.

~~~

I.D.E.A.S. Calendar: A = Anything Goes

You will find a linky tool below for you to share your creations with no restrictions! Your card may help motivate others out of their creative schlumps or give someone a step-off for their own design! 

I love seeing what you create, visiting you, and pinning your designs! 

Thank you so much to everyone who shared their designs last week! Mwah! 

Enjoy your week! I may miss next week or be late depending on, you know, how much sleep I need to catch up on or if I'm off buying an island somewhere with the millions I'm just sure I'm going to win on the penny slots!

*Life is too short!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Aqua Amour!

Hello Stamplings!

And here we are again, almost whooshed through another month! I hope you're doing well and you had a great week! Mine could have been better, what with doctor visits, a trip to the ER, a UTI, and migraines. When it rains, it pours!

In light of all that, I have simple designs for you today. Because this month has five Mondays, it's S = Stencils week on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar. I don't use my stencils often enough, so this is good for me. 

Onefer

After I'd made my cards for today and had them on my desk ready to be photographed, I realized how the C.P. Skylight aqua ink matched this little box of notes I have. A little styling for my photos and a great opportunity for Hammy and Stanley to steal the show say hello!

This QACAS design is another in my goal to use my silhouette dies. The little gal and NBUS sediment are from Flourishes. I used my plain geometric stencils from back in the 1900s. Maybe even from the 70s when I made artwork to hang on the son's nursery walls. After stamping and stenciling, I added some dementia by using a dandelion e/f and a bit of matching bling finished it off.

Challenges

Addicted to Stamps and More: Any occasion.

CAS on Friday: Spring.

Cardz 4 Galz: Springtime.

Twofer

Yes, Christmas. But wait. The great thing about card designs is that you can cock your head to the side and visualize how you might use the design for a completely different occasion. So what stencils do you have that would work as a side (or top or bottom) border? Pick your colors and away you go!

For this card I used my NBUS "Snowflake Soirèe" from The Greetery. I used CP inks in Skylight, Daydream, and Twilight. The sediment is stamped in Daydream. I removed it from its packaging years ago, so I don't know the company, but I'm guessing My Favorite Things. For punctuation, I used the stencil to add a wee snowflake.

Challenges

Christmas Kickstart: Color challenge: no red, green, or gold.

Jingle Bells: Flat OLC.

Just Us Girls: A/G Stencils.

Rudolph Days: A/G Christmas.

~~~

I have to share this with you.

You might remember that I authored this silly (but perhaps profound?) saying a few weeks ago and my sister Diana made found it calligraphed and flowery in an antique store!

Thank you, sis!❤️

~~~

I.D.E.A.S. Calendar:  S = Stencils

You will find a linky tool below for you to share your stencil creations this week to help lift others out of their creative schlump! I love seeing what you create, visiting you, and pinning your design! 

Thank you so much to everyone who visited and linked last week! Mwah! 

Happy April Fool's Day! Enjoy your week! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!*

*Life is too short!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

And Just Like That ... 🗓️🗓️

Hello Stamplings!

I hope you are doing well! We finally turned our backs, er, our clocks back, so I should start waking up in with more engery. I have such a hard time getting going when my brain tells me, "It is the pitch of night, go back to bed." Today I have to get through the first of a series of yucky dental appointments and the election is tomorrow. Anxiety is high, so thank you, Lord, for potatoes, from which wodka flows.

But that's not why you called in. Let's talk about pretty things. Like cards. Christmas cards, to be exact. And it's week one of November's I.D.E.A.S., so I had a play with Ink.

Onefer

The trends of using die-cut images and embossing folders continues in delightful ways with this hobby, but for this QACAS design, I really enjoyed just using stamps.

I have to say this was a treat to photograph. She said, snarkcastically. I finally got an angle to show both the embossed shine of the sediment and the glossification of the berries, compliments of Hammy and Stanley. The sediment and the double-stamped NBUS mistletoe are from, "The Magic of Christmas" by Simon Says. 

Twofer

Back in February, the Group of Seven Cardmakers did a technique called, "Masked Stenciling" and I made this pair using that technique. I especially love the die cut deer and trees with their unexpected stencil lines and lavender color.

~~~

Lunch With Girlfriends

By Kathy O’Malley

Elaine’s vertigo has never been worse.

Kay can’t recall where she left her purse.

Rhonda’s about to replace her knees.

Linda’s breathing is tinged with a wheeze.

Donna's left boob has a troublesome lump.

Diane’s on her third trip to take a dump.

Lorraine’s husband can’t remember a thing.

Nine years a widow, Marge still wears her ring.

Marlene is dealing with another UTI.

Sally’s giving hearing aids another try.

Marie has decided she can’t drive at night.

Sharon still wears clothes two sizes too tight.

They’ve been through divorces and babies and wakes.

They do for each other whatever it takes.

They’ve already buried Marcia and Kate.

And truthfully, Lizzie’s not looking so great.

So whenever they can, they get out to eat.

Open bottles of wine and forget their sore feet.

There’s laughing and crying and letting down guards.

And when the bill comes, there’s ten credit cards.

So here’s to the waiters who keep orders straight,

And the places that let lunches run three hours late.

And here’s to the girlfriends, those near and those far.

Here's to the girlfriends, you know who you are!

🥰🥰🥰

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:

Addicted to Stamps and More: 2: Die Cuts and Stencils.

Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round: 2: Reindeer, Deer, or Moose.

Color Hues: 1: Red and Black.

Jingle Belles: 2: Christmas animals.

Peace on Earth: 1: Christmas.

We Love Stamping: 1: Christmas.