Seasonal II

Hello Stamplings!

How are you doing? I hope you've had a great week. Thank you for your good wishes regarding my dental work. I'm happy to say it all went well, thanks to nitrous oxide!😁 It was my first time and I love that stuff! 

I have been up and down with emotions this week. Thankfully, I can always withdraw to my happy place with my three cuddlers ~ not counting my main cuddler. For week two of November's I.D.E.A.S., we had a good time getting jiggy with the Gemini!

Onefer ~ Fall, Thanksgiving

This fall blessings card is like a prequel to a layered Thanksgiving turkey sandwich. (Sorry if that started you drooling.) I began with a white bread card base and building upwards, I added a piece of finely textured beige pp. On top of that I spread a layer of NBUS Sugar Peas Leaf Cover Plate. 

For color and flavor, I added a layer of Poppystamps Feather Tree Frame, cut from pretty patterned paper (ppp). I topped it all with a double dollop layer of Blessings from Hero Arts, cut from shiny copper. Very filling, just as a Thanksgiving sanditch should be!

Linking to: Cardz 4 Galz: Showcase Your PP; Poppystamps: Leaves Are Falling ...; Cut It Up: Grateful and/or Thankful; SSS Monday: Thanks/Thanksgiving

Twofer ~ Winter, Christmas

In a quest for QACAS Christmas designs this late in the year, and in an effort to use up more of my ppp, I made this using a hammered card panel and an old-timey ornament die from Spellbinders Nestabilities called 2011 Heirloom Ornaments. To bring out the gold in the ornament paper, I gold heat-embossed the sediment from SSS called, "Holiday Greetings Mix 1."

This ppp comes in different colors and Hammy and Stanley found great matching papers to use for matting. All I had to do was get on with the batch making. It all went well until the idea of batches made me stop and make a few batches of Amish Sugar Cookies. Someone told me they freeze well. Oh, hahahaha, as if there were any around to freeze!!

Linking to Addicted to Stamps and More: Die Cuts and Stencils; Allsorts: Christmas; and Die Cut Divas: Christmas.

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

Thank you to the families of all the service men and women who have died for our country and to those who are currently serving.🙏

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!

Thoughts

I haven't mentioned politics here because this is a card blog. These are just my thoughts about one thing in particular. Please don't read this if you aren't interested and please don't feel like you need to comment.

I'm an Independent and more of a long-range thinker in terms of the effects politics has on society and our beleaguered earth. We are at a definite crossroads when it comes to the established system of checks and balances we rely on in order to preserve democracy, but as a democratic nation, we accept the results of our elections, wish the new president well, and move on. 

For his part, I hope that President-Elect Trump begins to build a bridge over the deep divide that exists in America ~ a divide stoked by fear and anger. I wish him success with that because, honestly, I'm exhausted by the last four years, sick of the nastiness, and appalled at the media hyping the negativity nonstop. It is a relief to finally see for ourselves that the 2020 election was not stolen or rigged. Common sense tells us that if it had been, then the deep state Democrats would have rigged this election, too, in order to make sure Harris won. Not only that, but if you think about it, they surely would have rigged the 2016 election, too. It's too bad we had to deal with the terrible fall-out from this lie for four very long years, but now we know the truth firsthand. And now the new leadership can concentrate on healing the nation with words that unite us rather than divide us. I pray.

I realize that there are Bible verses for every situation, no matter your viewpoint. I'd like to share this one, which I hope will become a hallmark going forward:

1 Peter 2:1: So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, all hypocrisy, jealousy, and unkind speech.

Amen.🫂🙏 

Happy Heart Day!

Hello Stamplings!

How are you doing? Are you looking forward to a mandatory day of chocolate and lovey-dovey? Oh, hee hee, I guess I've got my priorities wrong! Don't tell The Mister! I hope you have a Happy -entine's Day today or tomorrow, depending on where you live. Whether it's with a Val, Gal, Pal, Sal, Cal, Hal, or even a Youentine's Day, have a good one!

I've had a coupla busy weeks helping out friends and making a few Entine's Day cards myself, some of which I even forgot to photograph. That's a new step in my aging journey. I'm just sorry that you didn't get to see them because they were the best designs I've ever made. No they weren't. That's a total lie. But I do have two to share.

Onefer

How many heart dies do you have? I ask that to make myself feel better as I look down at my enormous adequate pile of them. I must have purchased this NBUS heart die on sale sometime since the last VD. It's from poppystamps and it's called, "Floral Lace Heart Split Border." Yep, I think that about covers it.

Depending on how your eyeballs look at it, and in spite of the name, you might not be sure what the die cuts, so I've added a photo. I've had the love sediment for years and I still love it. It's from My Creative Time. 

Hammy did a good job placing the bling, considering it's all a crapshoot when you blow hearts through a straw while standing on the wire bars at the top of your cage. 

Challenges

• Cut It Up: Have a Heart.
  
• Poppystamps: Me and You. Where my friend Colleen is Guest Designer!
  
• Little Red Wagon: Somebody to Love.
  
• SSS Wednesday: Fun With Dies.

 

Twofer

These colors make me think of the American Southwest. The stitched die is from My Favorite Things. I've had it forever and think this is the first time I've used it. 

The heart embossing folder is by Gemini. I colored it in coral CP ink using a brayer. The sediment die-cuts were in my stash. I don't know if you can see that Hammy winked some of the hearts to add a touch of schparkle.

Challenges

• Allsorts: A/G with option of All About Hearts.
  
• Can You Handle the Pressure? A/G with a twist of hearts. Must use e/f.
  
• Color Hues: Coral and sage.
  
• Just Us Girls: Sparkle.

   

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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! 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: 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 a pop-up box opens. Click "Jump to Comment Form" and wallah, no more car pool tunnel! Mwah! (p.s. If you ask me a question in your comment, please remember to leave me your email address so I can respond. Thank you!)

Golden Threads and Rainbow Colors

Hello Stamplings,

I hope this finds you doing well and you aren't being blown away by the wind. I'm a very fortunate lady to have friends all around the world and talking about the fierceness of the wind is one thing (besides crafting) that has been consistent in our correspondence the last few years. Batten down your hatches! And if you don't have a hatch, have a drinkie-poo!

I had to jump in and play with Ina's Trend Week challenge at Just Us Girls where she wants us to use foil on our alcohol ink panels. Here's a portion of the panel Hammy and I created.

I decided to make an Easter card for those of you who celebrate, so I used a PTI oval to cut eggs from the panel to use on my card:

Very simples. The grass is a die from Poppystamps cut in three different colors for some dementia. Also playing in:

Double D: Easter.

Pixie's Snippets Playground: A/G, but must use snippets, which I did for pieces of Yupo and grass.

Poppystamps: Add texture.

Twofer

I made this simples card a while back using some of that gorgeous gold-outlined pp pad that I received from a dear friend. I was chuffed to find a piece of colored card that matched the beautiful shade of green in the pattern. The beautiful font sediment die is also from Poppystamps.

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Then This Happened

A botched visit to a plastic surgeon for lip fillers? Haha, no, thank you! This young woman is unnamed in an article I found on the interwebs about angioedema. I wanted you to see what the lips did and not be distracted by all the age spots and winkles I have. But my lips do look like that. I woke up that way this morning. Spider bite maybe? I hadn't eaten anything out of the ordinary.

I took a couple of Benadryl, but my upper lip did not diminish in size so we headed to the emergency room at noon. The doctor recognized it as a symptom of an Ace Inhibitor type of medication I take for heart disease and he took me off it immediately. Then he gave me a cocktail in my arm (what's the fun in that?) of all magical things that would make my lips return to normal size. Five hours later and nothing had happened so he sent me home.

Hopefully, it will just take another coupla days to get better and it won't get worse in terms of my tongue and throat swelling, too, which can happen. We don't want that. That would be very bad.

Gee, so far 2022 has blanked the blank and blank. But it will get better! It always does! Hold on and Happy Easter!

Mwah!

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 a pop-up box opens. Click "Jump to Comment Form" and wallah, no more car pool tunnel! Mwah! (p.s. If you ask me a question in your comment, please remember to leave me your email address so I can respond. Thank you!)

Playing With Circles and Bubbles!

Hello Stamplings,

I hope you are having a great week! Did it escape anyone else's notice that May quietly slipped into June as we've been distracted by world events? At this rate, I'm going to turn around and it will be October, so I need to get going on my Christmas cards!

But not today. Today, I have a coupla bright and summery cards. It's the tenth of the month and the start of the June Twofer Card Challenge where the prompt is "Circles/Bubbles!" I set this prompt up months ago, but I think it turned out to be timely because we can all use some playtime with circles or bubbles!

The stamp my Twofers have in common is the PTI "Dot Spots" stamp set.

I know, you're surprised that I didn't choose bubbles and have them floating out of a champagne glass, aren't you? Obviously I need to stop allowing Hammy to have any vacation time!

Onefer

This very CAS card was made by stamping the medium dot spot circle across the card front in rainbow colors using CP inks. A hello die was added over the top. It is from Uniquely Creative and was a gift from a friend. QACAS at its best!

Challenges

• HLS June AGWD: Anything goes with dies.
• The Paper Players: Sunshine & Rainbows.
• Uniko: Anything goes with optional twist of bright and happy.

Twofer

To make my second distinctly different design, I used the same dot spots circle stamp as a sun setting behind the hills with a weeping willow in the foreground. The weeping willow is a NBUS die from Poppystamps (cut from schparkly black paper) and the sediment is NBUS from Penny Black's "Good Wishes" set. The gentle hills were blended using a curved mask and CP ink.

I was fascinated by weeping willow trees when I was growing up. You could get under those long leafy branches and be unseen inside a magic quiet world with nothing but your imagination. As you might expect, I could happily be under there for hours. 😌

Challenges

• Country View: Summer Fields.
• Just Us Girls: Sunshine.
• Poppystamps: Clean and simple.
• Seize the Birthday: All about summer.
• Little Red Wagon: Sunshine!

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I hope you'll be excited about the circles/bubbles prompt and come play in the June Twofer Card Challenge #28! Talented Guest Designers Jenny and Linda and the entire Design Team have exceptional inspiration waiting for you there! 

You can't play with circles or bubbles and not feel like you're having fun and who doesn't need that?!

If you do play, you might want to also link up to another fun challenge called Happy House where they are honoring TCC by having their own "Double Challenge!" I'll be linking my cards there and over at the June NBUS. ETA: And I've just gotten word from my friend Ike that she is running an "R is for Round or Dots" challenge at Ike's World Challenges, so please join me in linking there, as well!

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I'll leave you with some chuckles. Here are the new names of songs that have been revised to make them appropriate for those of us who are now enjoying our rusty golden years:

• "Splish, Splash, I Was Having a Flash," by Bobby Darin.
• "Mrs. Brown You Have a Lovely Walker," by Herman's Hermits.
• "I Get By With a Little Help From Depends," by Ringo Starr.
• "Fifty Ways To Lose Your Liver," by Paul Simon.
• "On The Commode Again," by Willie Nelson.

And I stole this from my friend Susan who posted it on FB:

Haha, I just realized the way I wrote that could be interpreted as Susan reporting on Facebook that I stole her sign! 😂😂😂

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Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!* Keep yourself safe and well!

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!

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 a pop-up box opens. Click "Jump to Comment Form" and wallah, no more car pool tunnel! Mwah! (p.s. If you ask me a question in your comment, please remember to leave me your email address so I can respond. Thank you!)