NBUS Winners/Thank You/Announcement

Greetings!

I'll get right to the recap of the NBUS (never-before-used schtuff) Challenges #8, #9, and #10. You ladies blew me away! The total number of entries for the three weeks was 606! I know, WOW, right?!

I left comments on all but a few of the second and third entries, because after a while I was spending a lot of time proving I wasn't a robot and answering picture puzzles. (BTW, there were a couple of blogs that required I log-in, which I didn't understand and didn't do. I have enough log-ins and passwords! I hope this isn't something we have to start doing before we can leave comments on each other's blogs?)

I have to say, it was such a pleasure seeing your enthusiasm for using your NBUS! It was also a ton of fun to see the cards of those of you who were able to join in my somewhat off-the-wall optional themes! 

And it's a great honor to have added three new Pinterest boards to showcase your cards for people from all over the world to be inspired by! You can find all TEN prior NBUS boards here.

Of course, I had to make you a thank you card!

I used a NBUS stamp from Winnie & Walter called, "From the Bottom of My Heart." I prefer to say thank you from the heart of my bottom, cuz it is SO much bigger, but I love this sweet thank you heart with the traditional message carved right into it. I added vertical score lines and strips of colorful heart rick-rack Washi tape on each side to add more interest. A little heart bling for the final punctuation and thazit.

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Okay, I'll stop pancaking so we can get to what you came for!! Even though I use Random Number Generator to chose the winners, I always get requests from folks who want to see the "winning" cards. I made these collages to show the RNG selection and the card entered at that number. Whoop!

Winners for NBUS Challenge #8 (Total entries 180)

1. $25 Gift Certificate:

#19 Verna of VA's Creative Clutter

2. $25 Gift Certificate:

#94 JoAnn of Crafty Nana's Blog

3. Faber Castell Polychromos:

#72 Maxine of Kiwime's Kreations

4. Mini MISTI:

#54 Andrea of KandA Creative Moments

5. Clarity Stencil Brushes:

#70 Christine of It's a Card Day's Night

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Winners of NBUS Challenge #9 (Total entries 196)

1. $25 Gift Certificate:

#83 Mary Ann K. of Lakeside Stamping

2. $25 Gift Certificate:

#129 Sybrina of Chapter Three

3. ATG and three tape refills:

#156 Greta of GG Creations

4. Mini MISTI:

#76 Kitty of KT Fit Kitty

5. Chameleon Pens:

#152 Carol of Crafting By Carol

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Winners of NBUS Challenge #10 (Total entries 230)

1. $25 Gift Certificate:

#106 Marianne of Marianne's Cards 'n Stuff

2. $25 Gift Certificate:

#199 Donna of Lakefront Stamping Creations

3. Scor-Buddy Scoring Tool:

#164 Nonni of Nonni's Handmade Cards

4. Mini MISTI:

#215 Barb of Barb's Studio Creations

5. Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens:

#124 Bozena of Art Card Box

Congratulations to all the winners! (If I have messed up your choice of prize, please feel free to let me know and I will fix it.) To see all prior winners, you can click here. 

I hope that ALL of you who participated feel like winners because you put to use some goodies that have been neglected! Well done, everyone!!

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NBUS #11 ANNOUNCEMENT!

Normally, I hold my NBUS challenges in March and September each year. Because of the special celebration this year, I surprised you with a three-week, three-part NBUS party. Since it is (already!!) the middle of February, I'm sorry to say that I won't be up for another challenge the first of March.

But I hate to have you wait all the way until September, so here's my plan:

You may remember that last year I ran a blooper April Fool's Day hop and my intent was to make it an annual event. It was a one-day linky party that let you link any card with a big fat boo boo. Obviously, being April Fool's Day, I was looking for the funniest bloopers!

[As an example, I made an Easter card last year with bunnies and I thought it was fine. It wasn't until after I took a photo of it that I realized two of the bunnies looked like they were gettin' busy! Bloops!]

I've decided that this year I will combine my Second Annual April Fool's Day Hop with NBUS Challenge #11 and have it run for ten days from April 1 to April 11. Mark your calendars!

You will be able to enter any creation using NBUS, as always, but if you have any blooper photos, or if you happen to make a blooper card between now and then, take a photo of it before you bin it, cuz we want to see it!! 

In short, you will be able to enter:

• a NBUS card with no bloopers;
• a blooper card with no NBUS (yes, that's right!); and/or
• a blooper card with NBUS.

If that made sense to you, then you have been a friend of this blog for a very long time and I've left word with the guard to give you access to me in the Loony Bin on Visitor's Day! 😇 Please remember to bring a radish for Hammy!

Feel free to ask questions if that didn't make sense!

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Enjoy your day! Enjoy your Valentine's Day! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!* If it isn't a great day for you, I hope you will find your own way to enjoy it!

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 and return the flavor!

*Life is too short!

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If you ask me a question in your comment, please remember to leave me
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Blog Birthaversary SURPRISE! NBUS Challenge #8!

Greetings, my friends!

Today is a day of many celebrations for me and I'm becited to share them with you! You're gonna wanna grab a jumbo beverage and maybe a large sammich.

First, and most importantly, it is the 46th wedding anniversary of me and the Mister! Trust me when I say it seems like 146 years! No. Stop it! It truly does feel like we've only just begun, which just happened to be our wedding song! Happy Anniversary, K2, and cheers to many more loving years together!!

Second, today is the 5th anniversary or birthday or, as I like to say, birthaversary of this little ol' blog! I'm delighted to have become friends with over 1,000 like-minded card artists in that time and written over 1,000 posts! I'm very passionate about this hobby and hope I'll be able to continue for many more years.

Third, as you can see, I've had a face-lift for the special event thanks to my friend Loll! She took a piece of Brusho art that I had created to make a custom background, which I love. And since so many of you use my first name rather than my blog name when you mention me, I decided to change the header design with Loll's help. I hope you like it! Thank you so much, Loll! 

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I couldn't let my blog birthaversary go by without throwing a giant NBUS PARTY now could I? No way! So here we go!

For this event (and this event only) I am running three NBUS Challenges back-to-back for three weeks, with a different challenge running each of the three weeks. Each week there will be different prizes and themes. 

• So today is NBUS Challenge #8, which will run for a week. There is an optional theme and five prizes, and you can enter three times;
• Next Monday, January 23rd, will be NBUS Challenge #9 which will run for a week. It will have a new optional theme(s), and five new prizes, and a chance to enter three more cards; and 
• Then the next Monday, January 30th, will be NBUS Challenge #10 which will run for a week. It will have a new optional theme, five new prizes, and a chance to enter three more cards.
• Winners for all three challenges will be published in one post on February 13, 2017. 

Squee!! Let's have fun with our bad selves and our NBUS!

The basic idea of this challenge is evident in the name. You are to use schtuff never before used (virginal) on your creation. It can be something you've had for years or something you got yesterday. For the history of NBUS and to see prior challenges, please see the tab above or click HERE.

January 16, 2017 ~ January 22, 2017

🔹Please use a NBUS item and share what it is.

🔹Please follow using the blue "Follow" button on the side bar.

🔹Please only enter this challenge three times with new work only.

🔹Please only enter four other challenges, for a total of five, including this one.

🔹Please mention the NBUS Challenge and link your post back here.

🔹Please leave encouraging comments on each other's creations.

🔹Please click HERE for how you enter if you don't have a blog.

🔹Please enjoy!

In the past, other than the requirement that you use NBUS, I've run Anything Goes challenges. For this NBUStival, however, there will be fun specific optional themes. 

Personally, in addition to using NBUS this year, I'm challenging myself to start using those NBUS techniques that I've been meaning to try for ages. (These techniques are old ones that many of you have done before and I'm just late to the party.) 

So for this challenge I would like you to join me and

Note: If your thing is using colored pencils on kraft and you've done it a million times, or you don't own any colored pencils, or you don't own any kraft paper, I would love it if you could instead try some other NBUS technique, something you've been meaning to try. Please share with us what it is. Of course, you still must use some NBUS product. I do hope a lot of you will be able to use colored pencils on kraft if at all possebley, because it will look really cool in the gallery, but remember, this theme is entire optional!

For the September NBUS Challenge #7, there were no prizes, just to see if you were entering because of the prizes or because I encouraged you to use your NBUS. You proved you played whether there were prizes or not (thank you!), but this milestone calls for PRIZES!

These prizes are open to everyone worldwide, provided the rules are followed.

1. $25 gift card. Winner's choice to any American company. [GC]
2. $25 gift card. Winner's choice to any American company. [GC]
3. Faber Castell Polychromos. [P]
4. Mini MISTI Stamping Tool. [M]
5. Clarity Stencil Brushes. [C]

Important: In your comment (or after your name in the gallery when you link up), please indicate which of the prizes you would like to win by including the alpha letter(s) shown after the name of the prize. To be fair, for the non-gift certificate items, please don't request them if you already own them or something substantially similar. If you want to participate in the drawing and would be happy with any of the prizes, please type [ANY] in your comment. 

If you do not make an indication of your preference, I will assume that you do not want to be included in the drawing for a prize! Thank you!

Also, if you and I have not communicated via email in the past five years, please make sure you use the secure "contact me" form on the right to provide me with your email address! Commenting doesn't always provide me with your email information if you are a No-Reply Blogger. If I can't contact you, you can't win! 💙

I will hold three separate drawings for each of the three NBUS Challenges, but winners of ALL THREE challenges will be published on February 13, 2017.

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Here is my entry as inspiration for you.

The swooning lady is Madge from Art Impressions. I just found via Google that Art Impressions has a challenge and the current challenge is about trying new techniques, so I'm going to enter Madge over there!

For the sediment, I did a little creative and unauthorized manipulation of a "You Make Me Smile" stamp from CFS. You can see it here:

I just masked the "mile" and handwrote "woon" instead. I mean, don't get me wrong, the Mister still makes me smile, too, but with the fabulous posturating of the theatrical Madge, I had to acknowledge that he still makes me swoon, too!

Then I thought, well, maybe I can kick it up a notchlet, so I did this to it:

Funner.

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And then what happened was, right after I finished the above card, I got my Happy Mail and in it was a NBUS stamp from Penny Black ("Kisses For My Sweet"), which I've been loving for quite a while and finally bought. How could I not make another card for this special day? It isn't colored pencils on kraft, but it is NBUS!

I used my Zig KGT paints to watercolor the sweet couple. I embossed the side with a heart e/f from Sizzix for SU and offset the panel onto a matchy-matchy card base. The sediment is from Papertrey Ink. A crop-o-dile chomped the corner.

Here is the most recent picture of the Mister and me at Christmas at the Mister's sister's house holding the Mister's sister's dog Cisco. (Sorry I made you spit with all those esthes.) We're not looking too bad for being 78-years-old and married for 46 years, huh?! Well, oookay, we're not that old, but you did think we were looking especially good there for a second, dincha?! 

~~~

Enjoy your day! Enjoy the surprise NBUS Challenges! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!*

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse. Thank you very much for participating and for being incredible friends and followers and supporters! Your friendship and your encouraging comments keep me going! MWAH! 

If you have any questions, please use the contact form on the right or email darnell dot knauss at gmail dot com. And, remember, if you want to be in the drawing for a prize, please make sure to let me know which prize you want and how I can contact you!!

*Life is too short!

Let's also celebrate Dr. King today!

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