Maybe I Got Carried Away ...

Greetings, Stamplings!

I hope this finds you well! 

If you celebrate Easter, you are no doubt walking around the grocery store with fingers that are purple blue green and yellow from dying Easter eggs with the kidlings! If not, and your fingers are normally multi-colored from inks, this is the one time of year no one will look at you funny!

No Easter-egg dying is going on here, but I am preparing for the grandsons to arrive with their parents and dogs on Saturday. Which means I'm knee-deep in candy wrappers as I am obligated to taste-test every other nuglet for quality assurance porpoises prior to placing candy in the plastic Easter eggs to be hidden.

The things grandmothers are forced to do!

I'm also knee-deep and hell-bent on using my SU succulent die and stamp set for all its worth before I put it away. If I put extra bits and bobs in The Box, I never go back in there and use any of it. Slap! So 'using schtuff while I'm using schtuff' is another new leaf I'm trying to turn over this year. 

Let's start with these. To save you a bunch of scrolling, I've collaged them for you:

Sorry about the exposure and shadowing in some of the photos today. I had to contend with intersmitten April showers, sunshine, and clouds. (Since this is a photo-heavy post, I'm leaving off the ingredients of my cards, but please feel free to ask for any details.)

~~~

Then what happened was Hammy and I saw this fun tag Joyce made for the current Tag You're It! challenge:

We thought one of our plump succulents would work for that:

Besides the large pompom, I was inspired by Joyce's kitkat and the encouraging sediment!

I'm also joining in the CASology Challenge where the cue card is "strong." The message conveyed here is for the recipient to stay strong and remain hopeful!

~~~

While I started a new design, Hammy stuck the tag to a cream-colored card base and later I added a ribbon from the stash. 

(Hammy, bless, gets upset every now and then because he can't tie bows so he went off to sulk for a bit.)

~~~

These are the cards I made with the smaller succulents in the set:

I don't normally do a lot of layering on cards, but I really had fun filling these window boxes.

Challenges

• CAS Mix Up: Stamping, inlaid die-cutting, and dry embossing.
• Shopping Our Stash: Use punches and/or dies.

~~~

And the last bits:

I'll leave you with this photo and then I think I'm done with succulents for a minute.

This froggie birdbath is right outside my Playhouse door and yesterday I noticed this! Smell test or taste test?

~~~

Thank you!!

April Fool's Boo Boo Hop and NBUS Challenge #11

Last, but certainly not least, I want to let you know how much I appreciate all of your entries in the challenge, especially considering it is spring break time for a lot of you! 

There were 159 entries and I enjoyed every one of them! 

Kudos to you for sharing your boo boos ~ which were a hoot! ~ and/or sharing the NBUS you are using! Pat yourself on the back! 

Of course now I've ordered all kinda new NBUS thanks to you, so my own Mt. NBUS has gotten even higher! And so it grows! Remember you don't need my challenge to use your NBUS! I love seeing it all over Blogland all the time!! Mwah!!

~~~

Enjoy your day!  No, seriously, enjoy!  LITS!*  And if I don't make it back before Sunday because I'm in a chocolate coma, Happy Easter!!

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 to 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 the pop-up box opens.

Click "Jump to Comment Form" and wallah, no more car pool tunnel!

If you ask me a question in your comment, please remember to leave me

your email address so I can respond.  Thank you!

Succulent City / Reminder NBUS #11 Ends Tuesday

Hi there! Happy Sunday Funday!

I hope you're in the middle of a happy happy weekend! I'm going to get right to it because this is a heavy pitcher post. Go get your glass and I'll wait a sec.

Those of you who have seen my garden art wall know that my son and DIL have passed their love of succulents on to me. It took me a while to understand that (at least in this climate) succulents are not the same as cacti and they do not like full sun for hours every day. Once I cottoned on to the idea, I had very good luck with them.

Hence, I bought the Stampin' Up "Oh So Succulent" stamps and dies and DSP when they came out. Of course, then they sat on Mt. NBUS, but no judgment.

I used a sketch for the layout which gave me the opportunity to send Hammy over to excavate Mt. Ribbon, further down the range. Don't worry, he had a backpack with wodka and sunscreen. The ribbon is from SU from years ago. The fishtail banner is from MFT and the sediment is from PTI, stamped in Raspberry Ripple. (I tried Raspberry Ripple once at a picnic, but thankfully there are no photos from the ensuing May hem.)

There are several different patterns in the DSP package so I decided to die cut a few succulents in different colors while I had everything out. These will keep me busy for a bit. 

There are smaller succulents in the set, too, so I plan to have another card design using those soon.

Challenges

• Addicted to Stamps and More: Anything goes.
• Shopping Our Stash: Tie one on.
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Happy Birthday.
• Watercooler Wednesday: A sketch by Libby.

~~~

I hope you'll indulge me while I share some photos of springtime among my succulents. 

Below is a time-elapse of a succulent "flower" that has been growing for just a few weeks:

Below is another one with three flowers going off in different directions. It used to be full and tight with clusters until a naughty squirrel broke some off checking for his nuts. The nut.

We had a wild rainstorm yesterday followed by sunshine, so I quickly got my camera. Enjoy!

~~~

2nd Annual April Fool's Boo Boo Hop and NBUS Challenge #11 Reminder

The challenge ends on Tuesday at 11:55 PM PST so dump out that NBUS basket and lemme see what you make with it!

Wait. What? No, silly, I don't mean the basket, I mean the NBUS!

Thank you, my friends! I'm loving all the entries, both boo-boos or NBUS ~ or both!

~~~

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 to 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 the 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!

Cute Bunny Butts

Greetings, Stamplings!

Thank you, as always, for whooshing through another week to stop by the Playhouse!

If you're here for the Boobie Boo Hoo Boo-Boo Hop and/or NBUS Challenge #11, you've come to the right spot, the linky is below. 

If you don't know what I'm talkin' about, Willis, you can find all the details here. I hope you can join in and thank you if you've already played once or twice!

(Some of you have mentioned you didn't know there was a First Annual Boo Boo Hop, so here's a link to that if you want to check it out. Naughty bunnies.)

Today I have a coupla QACAS bunny cards, PG Rated.

"Does this card make my bunny butt look big?"

For some reason I am into using my cream-colored card stock right now. But I've kept my bunnies white because that's the classic Easter bunny color. 

Okay, stop it, that's just a lie. I'm not really that deep. They're white simply because I ran them off a month ago not even thinking about it. And then I cut and scored the cream card for the bases this week without thinking about it. I'm shallow like that.

I also used my MFT stitched rectangle dies, snippets of colored paper and pp (YAY!), my PTI bunny, and my sediment from Waltzingmouse's "Compact Sentiments."

~~~

This design is the same, but different. Here I used my MFT Peek-a-Boo die which I thought was appropopo for the boo boo celebration even though no boo boos were harmed in the making of this no-boo-boo card.

Challenges

• Cuttlebug Mania: Easter bunny.
• The Paper Players: Easter bunny.
• Pixie's Snippets Playground: Use your snippets.
• Simon Says Work It Wednesday: Spring has sprung.

~~~

I thought I might also reshare one of my favorite OLC Easter bunny cards. I made this card back in 2012, which means some of you haven't seen it.

A VERY QACAS card. And, no, I'm not left-handed even though the shading goes from left to right. I just like to keep you on your toes. Inside I stamped this thoughtful and sincere verse:

Bwahahaha!😇

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 and join in the Second Annual Boo-Boo Hop and NBUS Challenge #11!

*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 the 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!

Sending Big Ranunculi Hugs

Greetings, Stamplings!

I hope your week is starting out well! If not, I have some hugs for you! Even if you're doing great, I have some hugs for you!

Can you believe my Mt. NBUS excavations have taken me all the way back to Papertrey Ink's 2013 release?! I love ranunculus flowers, so I have no idea why these plump blossoms were still in my never-been-used-schtuff! 

The sediment is from "Big Scripty Greetings" by Simon Says Stamp. I think I will make a few more of these pretty flowers in different colors while I have all the goodies out. For the leaves, I sprinkled on three different colors of e/p from two different companies which I've never tried before. I don't mean I've never tried the companies before, I mean I've never tried that technique before and I have to say I like the variegation.

But I do have a question about embossing powder for you: what makes the coverage "bubble" sometimes? Is my Versamark getting old (I cover the image very well) or is it the quality of the e/p?

~~~

Check out these ranunculi from the garden right now! 

You can see where I got my color inspiration, but Mother Nature did a way better job with hers! Those layers are just exquisite.

~~~

Thank you to everyone who is joining in my April Boo-Boo Hop and NBUS Challenge #11 just for fun! Linky below until April 11!

April Fool's Day has passed, but you can still share your boo-boos if you want, or just show us your NBUS! Hammy and I are enjoying all your entries!

Enjoy your day!  No, seriously, enjoy! 

*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 the 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!

2nd Annual April Fool's Boo-Boo Hop and NBUS Challenge #11

Hello, Fools!

Welcome to April the 1st, the day for celebrating Fools

and, in this case, NBUS! 

I have written prior posts on the origin of April Fool's Day, the origin of the April Fool's Day Big Fat Boo-Boo Hop and the origin of my NBUS ("never-before-used-schtuff") challenges, so this time, let's just get right to it!

Let's think of this event as a three-legged stool. I'm using a stool analogy because of the whole fool thing, fools being dunces, and dunces being made to sit on stools after they've engaged in something duncery.

Date: April 1 - 11, 2017.

Rules:

You can enter previously unpublished creations:

• showing us a boo-boo! ~or~
• using something NBUS! ~or~
• using something NBUS that also has a boo-boo on it!!

That's it. EZPZ! 

No prizes this time except the satisfaction you'll feel and the fun we will all have, so there are no other rules!

No other rules means no limit on the number of entries you can link, no limit on the other challenges you can also play in, and no limit on the number of calories you can ingest in sugar or wodka as a result of your boo-boo or from the shock of seeing the size of your NBUS mountain!!

Feel free to ask questions using the contact form on the right or to: darnell dot knauss at gee mail dot com.

~~~

It wouldn't be fair if I didn't give you a coupla zamples now wood it?

Here's my first one:

It might take a sec. Look again. This is the most common boo-boo I think we all do. Or at least I do it pretty often, especially as I've gotten older. Cough.

What killed me about the above boo-boo was that I actually cut three of these papers upside down, made three cards, and mailed two of them before I even noticed! Gah! My sweet friends never said a word about me being Past My Prime!

Here's my second boo-boo card to share, obviously made last Halloween:

I don't think there's too much that can be said that isn't self-oblivious about this one. Except that, no, it didn't take me all the way until I was done before I noticed the boo-boo! I did notice it before I matted it, but I went ahead and made the card up for you, knowing I would be sharing it today!

Oh, wait, there's one more boo-boo on the above card. You see that inner black circle? I glued it down upside down which you can see if you look closely at the stitches. I'm for always doing that with those stitched dies for some daft reason. I mean, it's not a big deal, but I do prefer them the right way!

Okay, off you go. I'm sure you've started your spring cleaning!

And you've uncovered forgotten never-before-used-schtuff which you will now use and share!

Have fun! Enjoy!! I look forward to seeing your entries! Thank you!!

Mwah!

You can also find the gallery entries on a Board at Pinterest and on Instagram if folks want to make hashtags for over there: #nbusdarnell. (I had to add my name because a lovely young woman already had #nbus for her gorgeous wedding photos, etc. How about that?!) 

An InLinkz Link-up