Guest Designer ~ September 12 Kits of Occasions (ColourQ #208; Pixie's #92; NBUS #57)

BOOO!  EEEK!  The first day of October is TOMORROW!!

 

Now that I have you properly scared you out of your shoes, let's have some fun with HALLOWEEN!

 

It is my absolute pleasure to be posting today as the Guest Designer for the September month of the fabulous card blog, The 12 Kits of Occasions. 

Twelve bloggie friends got together and formed this monthly kit challenge where they take turns putting together kits which they send to the others.  Everyone then makes whatever they would like from the kit.  Everything doesn't have to be used from the kit and your own supplies can be used to supplement the kit.

 

For September, the sensational hostess is none other than my friend, Kim Heggins of Cupcakes, Cards and Kim.  She paid me a huge compliment when she asked me to guest design for this month! 

Here is the fun kit that Kim put together for us:

Kim LOVES orange and black!  Kim LOVES the San Francisco Giants!  And Kim LOVES Halloween.  So, of course, her kit is all about the spooky October holiday.  Now I freely admit that this is not a holiday I am keen on or make many cards for, which turned this kit into a challenge for me.  Suffice to say, Kim has succeeded in turning me into a Halloween convert!!  There were way more items in her amazing kit than I had time to use, so you will prolly be seeing these products in future posts.  (You can find a detailed ingredients list on Kim's blog.) 

~~~

Let's get started!
 

I noticed that the "trick" medallion that Kim provided fit just perfectly inside the sunshine impression plate from PTI (NBUS), so I ran it through the BS using the striped paper.  Then I thought it might look kinda cool if I ran the plate again using black paper and then cut out every other impression to make it look like rays from the sun . . . a scary bah-lack sun, of course!  [Insert diabolical laughter.]  It ended up like this:

You might just be able to make out the impression plate creases in the striped paper:

~~~

For the next card I used some fabulous ribbon that came to me as a gift from my friend Lynn.  I love how it perfectly matched Kim's color palette!  (Thank you, again, Lynn!)

 

~~~

I think all my other creations below are self-explanatory, but let me know if you have any questions. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(**)

  ~~~

 

Kim, thank you again for this huge honor!!  I hope I did you proud!

 

Please take the time to hop along to the uber-talented Ladies of the Twelve Kits who are listed below.  You will want to follow this group, if you don't already, and let the artists know how much you appreciate their efforts to delight us every month with TONS of inspiration!

 

• Kim: Cupcakes Cards and Kim (hostess)
• Kelly S.: Gingham Girl
• Tracey: In My Creative Opinion
• Renee: Its A Patchwork Life
• Christina: Sea Glass Papercrafts
• Jessica: The Paper Parade

• Sharron: On Papillion Wings
• Kara: K and R Designs
• Amy: Stamp-n-Paradise

• Joyce: Cards-by-the-Sea
• Marybeth: Marybeth's Time for Paper
• Cathy Weber: The Empty Nest Crafter

~~~

Enjoy your day!  No, seriously, enjoy.  LITS*  I'll see you next month! 

 

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!

 

*Life Is Too Short!

(**)Card also being entered in:
     ColourQ
     Pixie's Playground

 

 

 

Fall Is In The Air! CFC #115; NBUS #53; Pixie's #91; and Simon

Hey!  How's it goin'?

 

I found lots of wonderful fall papers while cleaning and it's gotten me further in the mood for autumn colors and cards.  Today I was toying around with smackin' acetate again.  I first tried it here with cool colors, so it was fun trying it with warm colors.

 

Which took me straight to the current CAS-ual Fridays challenge, sponsored by Simon Says Stamp.  We are to use fall colors and a leaf on our project.

 

I'm linking again to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.  During Stamptember, we are to use any product that Simon Says Stamp sells in the store. 

 

Since I used snippets, I'm also taking my card over to show my friends at Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground!

 

And since I've made a card of thanksgiving, I'm linking again to Susan Raihala's 2013 Thanksgiving Crusade on her blog, Simplicity.

 

~~~

Here's what I made:

I scribbled fall-colored markers onto a sheet of acetate, spritzed it with a fine mist of water, and overlaid a piece of glossy paper to pick up the colors.  I die-cut my leaves from that and then stamped on the matching image.

My NBUS today is that fantastic "air vent" border.  It's made from a die from Simon Says Stamp.  I loved that thing when I saw it on other blogs and I'm very happy to finally have a chance to own it and use it!

 

~~~

 

I'm also happy to welcome a new friend today, both to my blog and to the Land of Blog itself!  Please meet Brenda of Inkspired to Stamp!  I hope you can find a little time to go over and make her feel welcome in this huge new world she has entered.  With your help she will find what I have found: a close-knit, generous, and supportive community!  Mwah!

:( :( :(

On a more sobering note, yesterday I came across some disturbing information related to my blog and a whole other community that exists out there.  I've mentioned before that occasionally I would have "unsavory" links in my audience stats, which karacked me up because I'm not ezackly babe material!  Well, it turns out they weren't here checking me out, the crudballs were keying in on the term of endearment that I've used for my grandsons since they were first born. I won't use the word again now that I know.  I wanted you to also know since you've all come to call them by that term, too, and you might wonder why I've stopped.  It really fries my turnips, but there's nothing I can do about it. 

 

:) :) :)

{source}

What I can do is turn that frown I gave you upside down!  We've come to the end of blueberry season around here.  We love to eat them fresh, but I decided to use these last ones in something baked.  Being busy and lazy (yes, you can be both of those things simultaneously!), I hunted around for a recipe that was QAE.  I found a lovely crisp that fit the ticket. 

 

After tucking it in the oven, I tidied up and got quite a start when I returned the sugar jar to the pantry.  Sugar?  Ernh?  I don't remember scooping any of that!  Oops.  Another flusterating sign of aging, I'm sure.  I understand how I can be both busy AND lazy, but I don't usually like to use the words "healthy" and "dessert" in the same sentence!

 

(It tasted pretty much as you would expect!)

 

~~~

 

Enjoy your day ~ don't forget the sugar!  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!

 

 

*Life Is Too Short!  

 

Paper:  PTI rustic cream; SU! tangerine tango

Stamps:  Memory Box "Fall Leaf Trio" F1776

  Hero Arts "Fall Leaf Thanksgiving" F294

Ink:  Kaleidacolor "Autumn Leaves"; SU! markers

Dies:  Memory Box "Fall Leaf Trio" and SSS "Air Vent"

Bow is embroidery floss

Golden Delicious ~ CASology #60; CFC #114; MUSE #33; NBUS #49; PIXIE'S #89

Al O. There!

It's lovely to be back.  It seems like it's been ages.  I'm feeling well enough to get back to reorganizing the Pigpen Playhouse, which is quite time-consuming when you are making gingerly movements.  Wouldn't you think that gingerly would be a more exaggerated version of ginger?

 

Ah, not so.  Here is gingerly, just as you suspected:

 

1 in a careful or cautious manner; 2 showing great care or caution.

 

And here is ginger:  2 stimulate; enliven.  "she slapped his hand lightly to ginger him up."

 

Indeed.

 

Today I've made another QACAS card.  I sure seem to have the "simple" part of "clean and simple" (CAS) down pat, don't I?  I resemble that remark! 

The challenges for today's card are CASology where the cue card is "apple,"

CAS-ual Fridays where the theme is "back to school,"

Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground where the theme is always "use those snippets," (here are mine for today)

and MUSE Card Club where the inspiration artist this week is the outstanding Laurie Willison.  Here is her fun Muse Inspiration Card for us:

 

Please click on the links for these fun challenges for any sponsor information, rules, etc., and please join in the fun!!



~~~
Here is my take on Laurie's card:

I literally followed Laurie's design sketch, which I'll be using again.  I fussy-cut the apple and the pencil out of some designer paper scraps.  Since none of my oodles of bling seemed right, I just made my own using a snippet of blue and two different-sized hole punches.  I don't often get the chance to use that notebook paper edge punch, but it's sure fun when I get the opportunity.  Today's NBUS is the sediment.  

 

~~~

 

I was in the middle of doing a bit of paper sorting today,

Could I be a paper ho, d'ya spose?

when I was pleasantly distracted by two things. 

 

The first was a for real squirrel (not just the one that shares space in my head with a hamster).  We are still having summer here with the temperature rising to a hunnert degrees.  Mister had just watered everything and gone back inside.  A few minutes later, I looked out and saw this little guy, cooling off his hot unders! 

 

~~~

 

Secondly, a lovely new friend came to play!  Her name is Karren J and her wonderful website is Stamping Stuff.  Please take some time to visit Karren and introduce yourself.  Karren has loads of awesome cards for your inspiration!  Welcome, Karren, and thank you for joining us!

~~~

Enjoy your day!  No, seriously, enjoy.  LITS!*  We are off to spend part of the day with the twinklets, who have just moved into separate rooms and want to show them off to us!

 

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!   

*Life Is Too Short!  

Paper:  unknown card base; DP is either DCWV
  or K&Company
Stamp:  SU! "Loving Thoughts"
Ink:  Versafine onyx black
Punch:  SU! notebook paper edge; small dots

BLAST OFF! ~ DD #66; LIM #133; PIXIE'S #86; SWOYWW #220

Hope this finds you well!  Grabba cuppa.

 

I've made a card for the current Less Is More challenge of "Round and Round" using the colors of the current Dynamic Duos challenge of "Pool Party and Black," whiff a dessert option of embossing.  Since I used scraps for part of the card, I am also taking my card to show my friends at Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground, where we are all becited to have a new mascot named Parsnips! 

 

If you are popping in from the hop at Seriously, What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday (SWOYWW) (formerly known as WOYWW), you'll want to see what my desk looks like at the mo:

Sorry to say that I didn't make any forward motion in the Playhouse revamp since you were last here.  The way I organize, which would be in an organized fashion,  I need a few uninterrupted days in a row.  I'm hoping that will happen this coming week. 

 

Here's a close-up view of my card, sitting on the sill above:

When I was ruminating about the stamps I had with wheels, or things that go round and round, I thought of this old stamp I got for the twins (blue-handled item in the desk photo) with an image of a rocket.  Rockets go round and round.  You might say they orbit.  They sometimes even go to the moon, so it seemed only right to have Mr. Moon waiting there! 

 

The twins have used the rocket stamp on cards before, but I never have, so it is today's NBUS (never-before-used schtuff).  I accomplished the dessert option of the DD challenge by heat embossing both the moon and the rocket images in black.

~~~

 

We like to show our critters, too, on our WOYWW hops, if we have 'em.  As some of you have shared, hummingbirds seem to be growing in population everywhere.  For several years we have had a confirmed bachelor at our feeder affectionately called "Hitler" because no other hummers were ever allowed to drink from HIS feeder. 

 

Until recently.  He now appears to have a wife and a young'n or twin young'ns out of wedlock, we can't tell.  It's extremely difficult to get in close enough to see if there is a wedding ring.  All we know is, there are now three mouths to feed and we have gone from filling the feeder every two weeks to filling the feeder every two days! 

 

I was able to capture this picture of Hitler:

He has the classic bright red neck of an Anna's hummingbird.  And here are a couple of pictures of one of the new family members.

(Robin, notice how orange his downy underfeathers are!)

I think this is a male youngster.  You can just make out the beginnings of the red neck feathers.  (Ha!  Never thought you'd find "red neck" on my blog!) 

 

They are a blast to watch and they are even making polka dot patterns on the deck!  Here look:

You can't do all that drinkin' without doing a lot of peeing!

 

~~~

 

Wish me luck with the revamp.  I'm having outpatient surgery on Thursday morning to replace my defibrillator/pacemaker.  It is six years old and the battery has run its course.  I will be housebound and on limited activity for a week, so I'm thinking it will be the perfect opportunity to TDK my schtuff.  Yay!  I'll take breaks for blog visits, so please let me know you came by and I will return the flavor! 

 

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

 

*Life Is Too Short!  

 

Paper:  SU! pool party and black

Stamps: moon by Inkadinkado 8907M;

  rocket unmarked

Ink:  Silhouette black EP; Sakura

  clear star glitter pen

Corner Chomper

Smackdown! ATCAS #19; NBUS #36; Pixie's #85; and Technique Time Tuesday

Yo Dee Oh Hoo Hoo!

You didn't know I could yodel, did you?!

 

So it turned out I had to work yesterday to finish up my project and it was a very long day.  The good news is I did get some cards made over the weekend using a brand-new-to-me technique.  Oh, man was it ever fun!  I think this technique goes back a ways, so you'll just have to forgive me if it's all old-hat to you!

 

The technique is called "Smackin' Acetate" and Mynnette has a wonderful video showing how to do the technique on her Technique Time Tuesday challenge site.  This is my first time playing in this particular challenge of the ever-inventive Mynnette!

I'm also reentering Addicted to CAS (ATCAS) where the code word is "Summer,"

and the snippets challenge over at Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground. Playmate Sam involuntarily provided the Playground with a teddy bear mascot:

Him's so cute.  I'm going to consider him our temporary "badge" until our sweet hostess Di has a chance to make one. 

 

As always, many of the challenges I enter have awesome sponsors and prizes, so I hope you will click on the links for the details, meet the fab Design Teams and Guest Designers, be amazed by their inspiration cards, and join in these fun challenges! 

 

~~~

 

Okay, let's get toit.  As you will see from Mynn's great video, you start with a sheet of acetate that you can find at office supply stores and, no doubt, online.  Then you use your markers or reinkers to squabble on a pattern.  Honestly, the variations for design with this technique are endless!  So here is a collage of my process using Stampin' Up! markers in some of my favorite colors:

For specifics, please click on Mynn's video.  I used both glossy paper and matte paper and my personal preference is glossy paper.  In the above photos, I was using glossy.  Bonus when you are finished is that you can just wipe off your sheet of acetate with a paper towel or baby wipe and the sheet can then be reused.  (I also love the designs you have left over on your dried baby wipe!)

 

I made three cards with this technique and if I didn't have a workshop to prepare for and a Playhouse to revamp, I think I would still be making cards.  It is incredibly addicting!

 

~~~

 

Using matte paper, for my first card I marked and smacked a large area so I could use it as a background:

I then stamped my image and sediment directly over the background design.  To give the card a little texture, I embossed the bottom edge with a heart border EF.

~~~

 

In both cards below, the acetate was smacked onto glossy paper. 

For the card above, I used a snippet of glossy paper, trimmed it, stamped on it, tied it with a bow snippet, and then adhered it to my white mat with pop dots.  (As usual, it is much prettier and shinier IRL.)

 

~~~

 

For the card below, I masked a wrecked angle using post-it notes and then laid the prepared acetate over it for the background.  The awesome Adirondack chair and sediment are NBUS images from a Technique Tuesday stamp set called "Summer."

In addition to Christmas cards (which I'm doing, too), I am beginning to see Halloween and autumn cards in Bloggervania, so I'm delighted I got a chance to use these awesome summer images before it's too weird to do so.

 

~~~

Arriving at the Playhouse in adorable summer dresses are two new friends!  Please meet Roberta B. of The White Witches Cottage and Brenda of Disney Girl Crafts!  I just love the imaginations of all you crafters and card artists out there!  Welcome, ladies, and thank you for joining our party!!

 

~~~

 

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!

 

 

*Life Is Too Short!  

Paper:  PTI white; SU! whisper white, Bermuda bay;
  Stampland glossy
Stamps:  Technique Tuesday "Summer";
  SU! "Summer by the Sea" and "Long-Stemmed" (?)
  Hero Arts "Smiles & Laughter" F2361;
Ink:  Versafine onyx black; SU! markers
Dies:  Cuttlebug "Dotted Swiss"
  SU! dotted oval and heart strip
Ribbon:  SU! Celery organza, Bermuda bay dotted,
   and Mistletoe
Acetate sheets

Summer Seashells ~ ATCAS #19; FUSION #14; PIXIE'S #84; SSWC; NBUS #33

Yo!  How are you?  I'm sorry I wasn't here this morning to welcome you to a new week.  Welcome to a whole new week!  It's a happy week for me as it is my last week of work for a couple of months.  Can I get an amen?

I only had time and energy to make a QACAS card.  Mercy, children, I used to be able to task so many multiples at one time.  And the squirrels, wow, I used to be able to keep them at bay, but now I'm distracted so easily and there are so many of them!  My sister recently reminded me that when I went back to help her stage her house a few months ago, we jumped around from project to project, so unlike us.  It got to the point where we wet ourselves laughing when one or the other of us would say, "Oh, look!  A squirrel!"

Where was I?

~~~

I'm linking my card with these four challenges:

Addicted to CAS (ATCAS) has a new challenge where the code word is "summer."

With such a broad-ranging word for this challenge, I'm sure you can link up a summery card!  Of course, we don't use the word "broad" anymore, let along ranging broads.

 

The Fusion Card Challenge has a brand-new look and a brand-new hippo the sis for us:

 

I did a fusion of the photo and the sketch.

 

The patterned vellum on my card is a snippet so I can happily skip across the pond and join in the hooliganisms at Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground!

 

Finally, ever a big hit with card bloggers worldwide, the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge is "Anything Goes!"

 

As always, many of the challenges I enter have awesome sponsors and prizes, so I hope you will click on the links for the details, meet the fab Design Teams and Guest Designers, and join in these fun challenges!  The DT cards are always awe-mazing!

 

~~~

 

My simple QACAS/NBUS card:

You can see by the refractation of light that the gold paper is metallic.  The snippet of patterned vellum was a left-over part of a page of several small square scenes.  In order to follow the sketch, I used an oval die to cut the square into an oval.  This left an oval with square ends, so I hid that little fact with my blue vellum strips.  The strips were folded over the gold paper and taped to the back and the gold paper was stuck to a white card base.

 

The flying bird is from a NBUS trinket pack.  My friend Sam would also call it VOS (very old schtuff)!  We are going to imagine the bird is Jonathan Living Seagull, as would be fit the shell-filled beach scene. 

 

And there you go, a beach at sunset.  Or sunrise.  In the summer.

 

~~~

 

Enjoy your summer 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!

 

 

*Life Is Too Short!  

 

Paper:  PTI white; unknown gold;
  Grafix vellum
Stamps:  Exactly none
Ink:  None neither
Die:  Sizzix Framelit Ovals
Embellie:  "Everyday Moments Trinkets" EM3126