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!

Floral Display and Santa's Sleigh

Hello Stamplings!

I hope that you are doing well! Welcome to the 2nd Monday of September ... haha, just seeing if you were paying attention! 

It's bad enough it's already August 10th! Which is D=Die Cut week on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar and in an attempt to recognize the days are getting shorter, I put a little fall color in my Onefer.

This is a NBUS Hero Arts stamp and die set aptly called, "Flowers in Vase Bundle." I stamped the image in black and heat-embossed it in clear onto watercolor paper. I used my Ziggies to color everything and Hammy and Stanley softly blended the corners. I die-cut the image a second time to give it some lift and finished it off with a frame and sediment.

Playing in: A Cut Above (Die-cut with the Fall Flowers twist); AAA Birthday Flowers; and Addicted to Stamps and More! (Birthday).

Twofer

T'was the night before Christmas and the toys were all made.

Santa waved goodbye to his dear elf brigade.

The sky was all twinkly with bright stars overhead   

As Rudolph pranced forward, his nose oh so red.

All of a sudden there arose such a clatter!

Santa pulled on the reins to see what was the matter.

As the sleigh landed softly, masked men did appear!

Santa declared, "Now what have we here?"

One of them yelled, "Our horses are lame and we need your rig!

Get down from that sleigh now and don't flip your wig!"

Santa cried, "You must see that's not right!

The sleigh's filled with toys for delivery tonight!"

The robbers cared not and tossed Santa aside. 

Seeing them do this chaffed poor Rudolph's hide!

He broke free of the bridle and ran to his master.

Sitting beside him, the world seemed so much vaster.

Santa puffed on his pipe, as the wind tickled his beard.

"Well, Rudy," he mused, "That was certainly weird."

"It will all work out," he added, still jolly,

"But before we start walking, I've a message for Lolly.

I'm sorry CAS Christmas that I cannot play!

I was robbed very rudely of my beautiful sleigh!"

With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore.

This is just in fun. You know Santa could conjure up

 a replacement sleigh so the children get their toys!

Supplies: NBUS Cottage Cutz, "Santa & Reindeer Resting." Poppystamps, "Stitched Landscape." Night sky schplattered by Hammy and Stanley.

Playing in: Snippets Playground Challenge 538 (Die was cut five times using red, white, black, brown, and gray snippets.); Just Us Girls (Die week); and Christmas Kickstart (Friendship).

I still can't believe I don't have a sleigh in all my schtuff, but if you do, CAS Christmas is a challenge for you!

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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!

Eclipse It!

Hello Stamplings!

I hope this finds you well wherever you are! So many storms, floods, and fires. 

We had a grass fire only two miles from us last week that scorched a thousand acres. It was scary, smoky, and the acrid smell is still in the air days later. Considering it was such a small fire, I cannot imagine how terrifying and awful it is near the huge wildfires in France, Spain, Italy, and in many America states. Keep safe, my friends. Praying for those impacted and for all the brave firefighters, farmers, and individuals helping in ways large and small.🙏🫶

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This week is A = Anything Goes on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar. Whoop! I wanted to play with the Eclipse technique at the newly reopened CAS Mix-Up Challenge. It's also known as Hidden Words, or as I like to call it, Camel Flodged.🐪I haven't done this technique for quite a while and it was great fun!

Onefer

This sweet NBUS image is called, "Birthday Presents Wrapping Paper" from Your Next Stamp. The NBUS happy script word die is from The Greetery. I stamped the image in black and colored the presents in red in order to play in the Color Hues Challenge.

I liked the idea that this could be an all-purpose card, but after wards, I decided it needed a second word. I looked through all my word dies, and now I have car pool tunnel but nothing fit the area, so I made another card instead! Go me!

This script die is from Simon Says Stamp. In addition to the above challenges, I am playing in the Anything Goes category at Seize the Birthday

Twofer

This image is NBUS from Spellbinders called, "Christmas Florals and Sentiments." It consists of five stencils and made me question again why I don't stencil more often? I find it very relaxing. The word die is from GKW. The berry nipples are blobs of Lawn Fawn schparkle glaze. (Have I said how much I miss Hammy and Stanley!)

The Eclipsing technique works perfectly for those large pretty images you have which you hate to cover over with a greeting.

To give the design a little extra nubbiness, I popped the tripled image over a panel embossed with a Park Lane e/f called, "Holly Berry." I also miss having a Jo-Ann Store. Actually I miss all of the stamping stores that used to be in my community. And the sweet ladies who ran them. I sound old. Well, duh.

Playing in: 52 Christmas Card Throwdown (Stencilling); Rudolph Days (A/G Christmas); Jingle Belles (Colors: Unicorn Holiday); Inkspirational (Word Prompt: Christmas in July); and Just Us Girls (A/G Stencil Week). This Eclipse card won't go in the CAS Mix-Up Challenge because there is no stamping. However, because there is no stamping, it can go in "N = No Stamping" challenge over at the ABC Christmas!

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Enjoy your week! 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! Mwah!

*Life is too short!

Sending Love From Our House to Yours!

Hello Stamplings!

Happy Monday from the Playhouse! I hope you are doing well! What a day for watching sports yesterday!

This is E = Embossing week on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar. Recently, my friend Hilary posted beautiful embossed cards covered with vellum on her blog, Fiddling About. She had gotten the idea from another friend of ours, Leslie, of Running With Scissors. I couldn't wait to CASE their cards!

Onefer

For my summery card, I used a NBUS e/f from Gina K.'s kit called, "Sunny Days & Breezy Nights." I chose a pretty pink color for the strawberry design and I covered it with thin vellum using a double-stick adhesive sheet. I've embossed with vellum before and sometimes it cuts right through in places if the vellum is thin. But I have never thought of adding the vellum to an adhesive sheet first, which not only gives it weight, it is easy to stick to the colored card without any adhesive showing or vellum flapping.

However, then I had my usual comedy of errors with basic embossing. For some reason, I am embossing-folder challenged. I look at a folder and decide which side is the embossed side and which side is the debossed side, run it through and more often than not, it comes out backwards. I do wish all manufacturers would put their company name on the front. Or maybe, "this side up." I wouldn't even mind if they added the word, "dummy." 

I'm not sure why, but some of my embossing folders looked better debossed in vellum and some looked better embossed in vellum, but either way, no loss. If the vellum gave me a bit of a blurry image, I just made a card using the other side of the panel face up, even though it does waste a piece of vellum and adhesive sheet. (I think of the person who decides to upcycle one of my cards and finds a pretty white slip underneath the front panel! Erf?)

Speaking of slips, I still have a full-slip and a half-slip in my "You Never Know" drawer. Styles change, history repeats itself. There are also old swimsuits, bras, and pantyhose. And knee socks for the day when I stop getting flushed and I'm cold all the time. Don't tell The Mister about this drawer or I'll never get him to clean the garage!

Where was I? Sorry. Anyway, that's why the above card is debossed. This one happened to be prettier debossed than embossed. I chose a simple NBUS sediment from Simon Says Stamp called, "Simple Sending Love" to finish it off without covering up too many juicy strawberries.

Playing in: Little Red Wagon (Pretty in Pink); Just Us Girls (Mood Board Week: Strawberries in pink = Summertime); and Allsorts (A/G).

Twofer

Using the same process for my Christmas card, I chose a NBUS e/f from Simon Says Stamp called, "Poinsettia Oval." The sediment is from Creative Expressions by Sue Wilson. This card is much prettier in person, but looking at it now, I'm thinking I might run off another one in just vellum or in white to match the sediment and then fussy-cut the poinsettia to pop it on top. Mmm?

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This vellum embossing process was so fun and addicting! As Hilary told me, "You will love the thrill you get when you open the embossing folder." (Even if it is accidentally debossed!🙃)

Playing in: Inkspirational (Christmas in July); ABC Christmas (N is for "No Stamping"); and 613 Avenue Create (A/G, option of "Any Holiday").

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Enjoy your week! 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! Mwah!

*Life is too short!