A Bubble Gum Kiss!

Hi there!

Thank you for whooshing your way through the week to Friday and coming to see me! Golly gee, folks, do I have a cutie-patootie card for you today! 

I haven't paper-pieced for quite a while and this card, which is perfect for this time of year, gave me an opporturnity to piece to my heart's content! This card is going to my dear friend Lolly, who I consider to be one of the world's experts at paper piecing. I hope she approves of her grasshopper's skills and it brings her a smile. She recently fell and went boom big-time, so she could use a smile.

Didn't the stamp artist do a sensational job drawing these tykes with their little bellies sticking out? The stamp is NBUS by Penny Black ("bubble heart"). The entire image was paper-pieced except for the bubble, which was colored with colored pencils and then painted with WOS. I know it's a lot more rosy-red than normal bubble-gum, but that's cuz it is special Valentine-hued bubble gum! What do you think it tastes like?

The sediment stamp is an old wooden stamp by The Rubbernecker Stamp Company. It's a tad too big for the location on this card, but I wanted to employ it because of the "xoxoxo" feature so I could enter it in the Addicted to CAS and Addicted to Stamps and More (photo inspiration) challenges, both of which are "Hugs and Kisses."

I'm also entering:

• Less Is More Lucky Dip: "Little Ones."
• Penny Black and More: "Anything Goes."
• Pixie's Snippets Playground: Use your snippets.

Please click on the links for information on sponsors, prizes, rules, and to play along!

~~~

I have to share a fabulous card I saw recently, made by my friend Anne of Stamps and Paper:

Isn't that funny?! It really struck a chord with me right now. I'm afraid all those chocolate kisses I have been keeping in my desk drawer and enjoying with Reckless Abandon have caught up with me. At first the calories settled in my behind, which made me on-trend. And since I can't see it back there, it didn't really bother me. But then the calories creeped around to form a front butt and that is harder to rational eyes. So I've had to give up my beloved choccie. However, please, sir, a mouth wash made of chocolate would be low in calories, Shirley?

~~~

New Friends Corner

Here are five more new friends for your enjoyment and inspiration!

Sonia Claveria of I Am a Washi Scrap Addict. I think a lot of us can relate to being Washi tape addicts! Sonia is from Spain and she has only been blogging for just one year! Happy Birthaversary of your blog, Sonia! Sonia started her blog to share her wonderful works of art and those of her two daughters, who also share her love of this hobby. It also gives her a way to enter challenges and win recognition for her work. Please stop by Sonia's blog and welcome her to our friendly and supportive community!

Monica Taylor of Taylor Made Cards 4U. Monica has been blogging since July 2013. She is a card artist with a wide range from clean and simple to mixed media and 3D. She makes Tim's Tags, so that will give you an idea of her talent! She is on several design teams, loves to play in challenges, and has lots of inspiration to share with you!

Sue W. aka Tilly of a consuming passion. Another fabulous and relatable blog banner name! Sue is from Australia and she has been blogging since 2009, which means noodles of incredible ideas and inspiration are available to you! I've actually followed Sue since almost the beginning of my blogging journey and I love her works of art. Her card execution and her photography are stellar and she has a very enjoyable and positive personality!

Shari Trumbull of Ain't That Artsy Fartsy. Speaking of positive personalities, Shari is a delight as you can tell from her blog banner name! I wish I'd thought of it first! Shari has been blogging since June 2013, but she started her crafting addiction back in 1998 after helping someone make homemade wedding invitations. She does a marvelous job with mixed media, but you'll find a full range of card art from Shari!

Lisa Petrella of Bellalistona. Lisa is a mountain girl with a passion for paper crafting. She has also been blogging since 2009 and loves designing everything from card art to 3D gift bags/boxes and stationery. It is quite impressive to see the recognition that Lisa has received over the years as you scroll through the side bar on her blog, including World Card Making Day winner in 2011! Lisa serves on many design teams so you'll see amazing card art on her blog and on challenge blogs! 

~~~

Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy.  LITS!* 

I'm sorry to be apologizing again for being behind in my visits. I'm spending every free minute making Walentines. Then things should settle back to normal! (She said, as Life laughed hysterically!)

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and special thanks to you if you take the time to leave a comment and/or 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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Christmas From a Repurposed Stamp, Part A

Hello, Stampers!

Welcome! This date brings us to a point on the calendar where we are literally down to a month of Sundays before Christmas!  

I have been itching to make this card since I saw my friend Shirley post about the Craft Stamper magazine's "Make It Take It" November challenge, which is to use a "non-Christmas stamp to create a Christmas-themed image."

This is my entry:

I'll bet there are a lot of you SU fans who instantly recognized where my sweet filigree "ornaments" came from, yes? Without further a dew, here is the non-Christmas stamp I used:

This Allium flower stamp came as part of a three-stamp set, whose name I've forgotten. I have to say I'm quite pickled at how well it doubled as a Christmas stamp! I found the little ribbon in my "Bows" stamp container. It is unmarked, but I think it might have started life as a SU image, as well.

The awesome sediment is a NBUS Penny Black stamp which made a perfect shelf for hanging my "ornaments." Every part of the design was heat embossed and the bows were given an additional coating of Wink of Stella sparkle.

There are a couple of days left in this challenge, if you want to join in the fun! The link will take you to the post with all the details. The sponsor is The Artistic Stamper.

I had fun repurposing another stamp, too, so I'll be back with Part B in a separate post in a couple of days. As you all know, I never seem to have enough time to use up my stamps for what they are intended, let alone for what they aren't intended, but I recommend trying this exercise. I think you'll have fun looking around to see how you might stretch your stamps this way!

Craft Stamper is allowing participants to enter other challenges, so I'm also linking with:

• Penny Black and More Challenge, where the theme is "Anything Goes."
• STAMPlorations Blog, where the theme is "Stamps & Layers."
• TIME OUT Challenges, where the theme is "Embossing, with the optional twist of sparkle."
• Uniko Studio Challenge, where the theme is "Christmas, Anything Goes" with an optional sketch. 

If you would like more information on rules, sponsors, and prizes, please click on the links!

~~~

New Friends Corner

Here are three more new friends for you to meet! They are happy to provide you with lots of inspiration!

Louise van Vuren of Cats, Cards, and Cupcakes. Louise, mother of three and wife of Tom, has been blogging since 2012. Not surprisingly, she is on several design teams and has won many awards. Louise loves the clean and simple card style and is always enthusiastic about trying her hand at new techniques!

Pat of Stamp, Paper, and Ink. Pat has been blogging since 2008! Needless to say, Pat has won many, many awards and served on numerous design teams. Her cards are uniquely designed, often whimsical, and always impeccably made!

Ellie of My Creative Moments. Ellie is another long-time stamper and blogger. She started stamping over a decade ago and started blogging in 2008! Like Pat and Louise, Ellie has won many awards and often served as a guest designer and design team member. Her talents with layering and coloring will awe you!

Thank you for joining, ladies, and welcome to the Playhouse!

~~~

Critter Update

When the Mister was raking yesterday, he reached for some stray leaves along the window ledge and almost gathered up this praying mantis:

It was incredible watching her swivel that E.T.-like head and have those two wide-set pinpoint eyes look right into mine. The design is just fascinating. I took a piece of paper and moved her over to a tree so she wouldn't get scooped up in the leaf cleanup.

Now I wonder if maybe that was a bad place to put her considering birds live up there. Out of the frying pan and into the fire? Shucks. It's not easy being a bug.

~~~

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 leave a comment and/or join as a follower! Please let me know you came by, so I can be sure and 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:

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Mwah!

Really Quick Christmas Dooet

Happy Fresh-Faced Monday! Take a deep breath of that sucker and let's get this week started!

Before I forget, I want to let you know that we were not impacted by the earthquake that struck in Napa, about an hour north of us. In fact, we all slept right through it, although it was definitely felt in this region. My thoughts and prayers are with all the families that have been devastated by the quake damage. Once again, life changing in the blink of an eye. Thank you to all of you who emailed with concern.

We had the twins this weekend while their mom and dad went off to a wedding in Chicago. I didn't have a whole lot of crafting time, but I did whip up a couple of QACAS Christmas cards, working a little each night after the boys went to bed. First up is this card:

This card started with a PTI white card base onto which I laid strips of black glittery Washi tape from American Crafts. The tree is a die from PTI which I cut from kraft card and then inlaid back into the opening and outlined with a dark brown SU marker. The sediment is also from PTI. 

Here's a close-up of the thick and glossy "icing."

I doodled it on freehand straight from a small bottle of Inkssentials white enamel accents. Then, once the enamel accents was dry, I went to town with the enamel dots for ormanents. Other than waiting for the enamel to dry, this was a really quick card.

The color scheme is not one I would have thought up on my own and, no, even Hammy is not that inovating. The black and white stripes and the tree icing and the colors of kraft, black, and white were inspired from this fun Festive Friday photo:

The current challenge at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers is "K is for Kraft" so I'm also linking there.

And, I wanted to enter the August Rudolph Day challenge. The Rudolph Day challenge takes place from the 25th day of each month to the last day of each month and only Christmas cards can be entered. This year our delightful hosteeto, Sarn, has asked that we enter TWO cards each month at the same time.

That meant I needed to make another Christmas card this weekend. To inspire me, I used the current sketch from the fabulishious Less Is More challenge.

I turned to my dwindling stash o' stickers for this quick Christmas card and found two that would work. I'm really silly happy at how striking this looks.

You can't beat the beautiful Penny Black Stickeroos for their pure art, nor can you beat how quickly you can make an elegant card with them. (And Penny isn't even paying me to say that.) In addition to this card being my second card for the Rudolph challenge, I am also entering it in the Penny Black and More August challenge of "Anything Goes."

Here are my two cards together. Sorry about the lighting ~ I forgot about that requirement for Rudolph until the sun was low and setting.

I hope to see you in the galleries! For details regarding rules, sponsors, and prizes, please click on any of the challenge links.

~~~

I will leave you with a photo collage of the weekend. We had a grand time, from a peaceful tour of a California Mission to demolishing Bama and Papa's backyard for bases from which to play War! They tried on several pots to wear as helmets, but once they determined that being able to see was a criteria, they decided on wire planter helmets held on with some of Bama's ribbons. It's such a joy to just sit back and observe imagination in its purest form. And the simple pleasure of a fudgesicle ceasefire.

~~~

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 leave a comment and/or join as a follower! Please let me know you came by, so I can be sure and 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:

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Watercolor Birthday Surprise!

Hello Friday Fans!

The only thing good about how fast the week whooshes by is that it's the weekend! Course then the weekend whooshes by, too, so there you go. Or rather, there it went.

I want to start by saying that my heart goes out to everyone in southern California impacted by the terrible fires. Our entire state is suffering from a severe drought and we worry that wildfires may become commonplace throughout the state with the heat of summer. We don't normally get rain in the summertime, but prayers for no wildfires would be most welcome.

My card today is brought to you by the fact that it is the birthday of my little friend Sandie of Purple London Days! Happy Birthday, Sandie, and many, many more!! Sandie's other friends are linking up their birthday cards over at the blog of the delightful party hostess, Nonni. Her blog is Korttikarkuri - Runaway Cards. Nonni's cohost is the also delightful and well-loved Lynn of The Mango Boys and Me.

The linky button will be open for two weeks over at Nonni's blog, so if you would like to join the party and make a card to link up for Sandie, we would love to have you!

I've had a super busy week what with lunches and whatnots so I'm still stuck way behind with my homework for the watercolor course I'm taking. Oops. Suffrice to say, you'll be seeing watercoloring on this blog for days and days to come, weeks even, depending on schtuff happening like tomorrow we are gone all day.

At last, here is my watercolor birthday card for Sandie:

I colored the beautiful Penny Black flower stamp with my Marvy markers, spritzed it with water, stamped it on the paper, and art happened. Seriously, you can do this! I scored the card to correspond with the sketch seen below, added a sticker birthday sediment, and adheesed the watercolor panel to a gold card.

I hope you like it, Sandie!

~~~

I am entering Sandie's card in these challenges:

Penny Black and More Challenge ~ Anything Goes!

Seize the Birthday challenge ~ Anything Goes with a topping of May flowers.

Seize the Sketch challenge sketch by Lesley, which I turned on its side.

The Paper Players ~ color challenge chosen by Sandy. A different, but no-less superb Sandy.

The links provided will take you to the challenges where you will find all the details regarding rules, sponsors, and prizes and where you will be inspired by the wonderful works of art by the Design Teams. Do join in!!

Online Card Classes

~~~

In honor of the birthday sock hop, I'd like to share this birthday fairy tale which I recently saw on a friend's store-bought card:

A Birthday Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, there was a

Princess who was like a size four or 

something. She could eat and drink

whatever she wanted and always

stayed really skinny and had

flat, firm abs even though she

never went to the gym.

Every time she tried on jeans, the

very first pair fit perfectly and

made her butt look amazing. She lived

in a great big beautiful castle with

her handsome, multimillionaire husband,

who was busy all the time buying her

giant diamonds, taking her to

Hawaii, giving her foot massages, and

telling her how beautiful she was.

One day she was eaten by a 

dragon and no one cared.

The End.

 ~~~

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 leave a comment and/or join as a follower! Please let me know you came by, so I can be sure and 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:

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Mwah!