Cheers! Joy!

Hello Stamplings!

Quick! Come in! Welcome inside from the triple digit temps we are having for a week! I'm not complaining because I know many of my European and American friends suffered with extreme heat for a lot longer this past summer.🫠And we are blessed to have air conditioning.

And, hey, it's October! We've made our way through ten cars on this twelve-car train called 2026! As it's the first Monday of this month's journey, the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar is I=Ink, so I revisited a couple of my favorite inky techniques.

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The leafy panel was made by smooching a NBUS Watercolor Resist Paper from Spellbinders into a pool of fall colored Lindy Magicals watercolor powders. Hammy and Stanley took turns manning (?) the spritzer pump to create just the right pool consistency for smooching the leafy resist paper. 

Then the fun continued when they donned their fluffy slippers and polished the panel after it was dry, which made the glossy leaves shine. You can see in the upper portion where it looks like the ink didn't cover well, but that's actually the schparkle magic that happens when you use Lindy's Magicals! 

I added die-cut leaves from SSS ("Lush Leaves") cut from glossy paper to keep the shine going and the die-cut sediment is from The Ton ("Easy Expressions Birthday").

Playing in: Color Hues (Amber and Burnt Red [two Clairol colors I tried out back in the '70s!👱🦰]); AAA Birthday (Big and Bold); and Little Red Wagon (Autumn Colors).

Twofer

I'm panicking a bit realizing that I have to mail my overseas Christmas cards in November and this train isn't stopping because I'm way behind. Gulp. But you do what you can and everyone is in the same boat. Erm, train. (I can't keep up with my own Ana Logies.)

The pretty pine cone image is from a NBUS red rubber stamp from Prickly Pear ("Pinecone ATC"). I colored it direct-to-stamp with markers, spritzed, and then stamped it on watercolor paper. There is a lined rectangle frame that's part of the image, but it didn't ink well. Then I biffed it further when I tried to draw it with my ruler and a marker, so I covered all that mess with a dark green pierced frame from Papertrey Ink. Then I added a mat of corduroy dusty coral paper to add even more dementia and interest. After flipping a carrot, Stanley had the pleasure of adding the heart punctuation.

Playing in: Addicted to Stamps and More (Christmas); and Snippets Playground (all snippets were used for the image, frame, and mat).

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

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

I'm sorry I haven't been around to visit and comment very often. I've been dealing with pain down my left leg since March. First, we checked the hip, next we checked the knee, and next I also developed something unpleasant called 'drop foot' on my right side. (At least now I list to both sides evenly, lol!) It turns out to be a compressed nerve in my back and I'm waiting for a date to start physical therapy, so hopefully things can decompress soon. 

I'm thankful I can still manage to make a couple of cards and a post once a week and I'm thankful for your kind visits to me even when I don't reciprocate as often as I'd like.❤️

Mwah!

*Life is too short!

Inky Dinky

Hello Stamplings!

I hope this finds you as happy as I am! The laddies are back! Hammy and Stanley weren't due back until next weekend, but they had to cut their tour short because too many roads were closed due to fires and smoke. The bus company wisely decided to call it a day.

It is the first Monday in August 😮which means I got inky per my I.D.E.A.S. Calendar. And since I wanted to enjoy the wee critters and their tall tales, I quickly inked some dinky bits!

Onefer

You might recognize Kim's fun sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. I immediately thought of these summertime pinwheels from Gina K's "Sunny Days and Breezy Nights" kit. I colored them using my forgotten SAI markers. The NBUS sediment is also from the kit and the embossing folder is from Lifestyle Crafts.

The timing was great because the lads were itching to wink again and I was delighted to have them do it! I think you might even be able to see the schparkle in the photo.

In addition to FMS, I'm playing in Krafty Chicks where the brief is A/G with an optional Summer Mood Board.

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Next the boys went to work in the Christmas drawers ... they know that once August rolls around, they spend a lot of time in these drawers!

For a QACAS design, they came up with a NBUS die from Penny Black called, "Winter Sprig.

I die-cut the sprig and did a light watercolor wash. Then I simply attached the sprig to a green panel embossed with a folder from Open Studio called, "Gracious Leaves." The gold sediment is from Memory Box.

I'm playing in: Jingle Belles (Tic Tac Toe. Diagonal left to right: die cut or punch ~ red or green ~ and dry or heat embossing); Little Red Wagon (One Thing); and Merry Little Christmas Challenge (A/G Christmas).

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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! 

Today is National Watermelon Day! Stay safe and cool.🫶 

*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!

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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!

Hovering By ...

Hello Stamplings!

How are you this fine day? This year has created quite a pile-up on my desk. A new month starts up so quickly, the prior month is still stopped at the intersection and now there are six of them in a heap on the corner!🚨

My friends around the world tell me it is happening where they are, too, so an investigation has begun with a Special Inquiry Commission, manned by fourteen sub-Committees, three Budget Advisors, and a bar in the basement. You may expect a report soon. Hahaha!

Where I live, the arrival of June means the burgeoning of flora and fauna to the neighborhood. Happily, that includes honey bees!

Onefer

This is I = Ink/Color Mediums week on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar and the inky background of the hive was created by smooching Lindy Magicals in honey colors. The giant ancient bee from Hero Arts was stamped hither, thither, and yon, matted with black, then white, and then embossed with a Darice honeycomb e/f. The black card base was also embossed. The hello sediment is from The Greetery.

Playing in Allsorts (A/G), Little Red Wagon (Create Your Own Background), and SSS Wednesday Challenge (A/G).

Twofer

For this simples design, I used the sketch from AAA Cards and the colors from CAS Colours & Sketches. The Hot Air Balloon and Mini Hot Air Balloon are from Memory Box.

I colored them with colored pencils and the lads had a merry time winking them. I was very patient as Hammy took his time retraining Stanley with the winker. I should have put them in the schplatter box first, but what's a bit of schparkle on the them ... and the floor ... and my shoe ...

I used a light gray card and stamped the sediment from Taylored Expressions in gray ink. I then embossed the panel and the baboons (separately) using the SU "Subtle" e/f before attaching them to each other.

And the inside:

The sediment here is from WPlus9, called "Birthday Wishes." I thought this design would work for the manly sort, so I'm also playing in Inkspirational (Word Prompt ~ For the Guys) and Krafty Chicks (Masculine week).

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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! 

If you're celebrating with me, today is "Say Something Nice Day," which, I mean, shouldn't that be every day? It's also "National Pen Pal Day," so to all my card pen pals out there, MWAH!

*Life is too short!

Forward! Spring!

Hello Stamplings!

I hope this finds you well as we enter our first full week of spring in this part of the world! It is also "Happy National Puppy Day!," but more on that later.

This week is A = Anything Goes on the I.D.E.A.S. calendar, which is everyone's idea of a good time! Let's start with springtime in the meadow . . .

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And how about two joyful bunnies from MFT (liberally winked by Hammy) to welcome you? I found the banner in my Easter/Spring stash ~ it looks like it might be from Paper Smooches. I blended the background and then stamped rocks and grass and made the rocks look like tiny dyed eggs or maybe jelly beans. The pointy frame is from Poppystamps.

Playing in: CAS on Friday (Spring) and Little Red Wagon (Signs of Spring).

Twofer

Next up are painted tulips using a NBUS trio of tulips embossing folder from Penny Black. I forgot to use a piece of watercolor paper, so it's not my best painting, but hey ho. I usually biff it when I try to paint over a 3D embossed image, so that part makes me happy and Hammy's expert winking polished it off nicely. I diecut it with a stitched oval from MFT. 

Threefer ~ in celebration of National Puppy Day!

I think this is one of my favoritest cards. The very definition of QACAS, yet bursting with emotion. I used a NBUS die from Cottage Cutz. (It comes with a cat, too, which I'll save for National Kitty Day.) I didn't want to disturb the image with a sediment, especially since this sweet card can be used for so many occasions.

It's brilliant in person when it comes to the texture. On a whim, I used a piece of this thick black handmade paper with nurbles on it, which I've had in my stash since the last century:

When I ran it through the die-cutter it flattened the nurbles, but in just-the-right-kind-of-way because it left a wonderful thick head of hair on the wee pup.

Playing in: Alphabet Challenge (X -Ray - Black and White Only), AAA Cards (A/G w/ option zoo or animals), and Krafty Chicks (CAS).

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Some of you may remember we had a black lab once. We actually started out with a yellow lab named Salty. When Salty was eight years old and slowing down, we thought it would be a good idea to get a second lab and we happened to get a black one. Because of the circumstances, the only choice for his name was Blackie ... no, just kidding! Of course, we called him Shadow!

Shadow remained Salty's shadow for the next seven years! Yes, that's right, it turned out that Shadow gave Salty a new lease on life! He lived until he was 16 and Shadow lived to be 15. And everyone said smoking and martinis would be bad for them! 

I managed to dig up a windy picture of me with them (cough) years ago on one of our Sunday hike/picnics:

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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!