Roses Are Any Color!

Hello Stamplings!

O jp[e upir javomg ... oops, right fingers, wrong keys! I hope you are enjoying the long Memorial Day weekend here in America! We will always remember and be forever grateful to all the men and women who have bravely given their lives in service to our country.♡

During the week I did some spring cleaning which I find weirdly enjoyable, but I also made a few cards because, you know, I'm not completely nuts. Did you snicker or was that a hairball in your throat?

Onefer

You might recognize both Jen's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and the colors from Color Hues. My friend Lynette made pretty cards recently using one of my favorite techniques. It is known by many names, but I've always referred to it as 'direct-to-stamp' because you apply color directly to your stamp with markers, spritz the stamp with water, and then stamp the image onto paper. 

I happen to have a NBUS stamp which I thought would be perfect for the technique. It's called "Rose" and it's from Art Stamp (carabelle-studio.fr). I had success using classic red and pink markers for the rose and I was mulling over design ideas for those images when, by some miracle, I remembered the Color Hues colors and wallah! Did you know purple roses symbolize enchantment, love at first sight, royalty, mystery, and spiritual growth? (I think AI got a little carried away there.)

You can't see it, but Hammy gently winked the rose, being careful not to let the colors run. Hammy has very short legs which work great on the wheel, but when it comes to chasing running colors, he just sits and watches. Ask us how we know! The frame is from Papertrey Ink and the sediment is from My Favorite Things. 

I'm also playing in the Allsorts Challenge (Anything Goes). Allsorts is celebrating their 17th birthday! Congratulations!!

Twofer

I used a NBUS book die from Pinkfresh Studio called "Floral Tale" for this design. It comes with lots of stencils and flower dies, but for this inaugural outing, I made a Christmas card design using evergreens. The NBUS 3D e/f is from SSS, called "Delicate Pine Branches." The tiny evergreen stamp and sediment are from GKW.

Today is the 25th, which means it's the start of this month's Rudolph's Day Challenge and the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar is A = Anything Goes. I'm also playing in Addicted to Stamps and More (Christmas).

Stanley Redux

Just as a reminder Hammy and Stanley went to stay with our neighbors last year while The Mister was laid up. During that time, their little girl Daphne fell in love with Stanley, so he continued living with her and we walked back and forth often to let the lads have time together. 

Last week we learned from Daphne that her Dad had been transferred and the family was moving to Sydney. Sadly for her, hamsters are not allowed in Australia. We had quite an emotional goodbye with lots of stories, hugs, and tears. 

We will miss Daphne, but happily for us, Stanley is back home and the two critters are elastic to be back together again! And Hammy and I can use the young 'un around here to keep us on our toes!

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Enjoy your week! 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! 

*Life is too short!

Half-Year Stenciling

Hello Stamplings!

O jp[e tjos fomds upi we;;! Oops. In other words, I hope you are doing well! So many of you around the world have been dealing with terrible long heat spells and/or days to weeks of rain and I hope you find relief soon.  

Today we wrap up June with an illusive fifth Monday. That means we get to play with S = Stencils on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar. I forget about using them, but when I do have a play, then I want to play with ALL of them!

Onefer

Nothing original here as far as design, but I'm delighted with this NBUS balloon stencil from Waffle Flowers which I got on sale not too long ago. I chose three CP ink pads next to each other in the drawer and I love how summer-y and ice-cream-y they turned out. 

Hammy and Stanley added schplatters by clapping water all over the panel from their perch on the window sill. I added a black card base and sediment banner heat-embossed in white because I thought the black made the colors bop. (🎶Bop with me baby allll night long ...🎶) I say "bop," because, like, you know, you don't want to use the word pop around balloons. Duh.

Challenges

Addicted to Stamps and More: Die cuts or stencils.

Just Us Girls: Stencil week.

Seize the Birthday: Add a silhouette or anything goes.

Twofer

This week marks the half-way point in the year, so it's not too early to get serious about Christmas cards, even if it is summer. I mail my cards in November, so that gives me four months to make a coupla hunnert cards. Great, now I'm sitting here in a full-on flop sweat! Why'd I have to bring it up?!

This heart tree stencil is NBUS from 2021. It's called "Heart of Christmas." I blended ink through the stencil and then the lads used their winkers, but that schplotched the blended ink around, so then I went over the hearts with colored pencils to reblend. Happily, that did not remove the schparkle, but you'll have to take my word for it.😊

I'm playing in the June Rudolph Days Challenge where the brief is Anything Christmas Goes.

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I.D.E.A.S. Calendar:  S = Stencils

You will find a linky tool below for you to share your stencil creations this week which might help lift someone out of their creative schlump!

I love seeing what you create, visiting you, and pinning your design! Thank you so much to everyone who visited and linked last week! Mwah! 

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To my American friends, Happy 4th of July! May our hard-fought democracy and our precious constitution stand for another 249 years! 🎆🌭🍦

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

 

*Life is too short!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Bumps, Dots, and Flakes

Hello Stamplings!

I hope you are doing well. You know, under the circumstances. I know it goes without saying, but I'm gonna say it often anyway: thank goodness for this hobby as a feel-good distraction because making and sending a handmade card to someone is a guaranteed way to make two people smile.

Or maybe three. I've got a Threefer for you today, so here we go.

Onefer

At a recent Zoom craft session, we used 3D embossing folders with metallic paper and then we sanded the raised bits. In this case, the bumpy bits. This cool Cobblestone e/f is NBUS from Sizzix. The scalloped cover frame is from Reverse Confetti. The geezer tourist ("Golden Oldies") is NBUS from Art Impressions. The artist of these AI oldster stamps sure knows how to draw geezers and I love the little details like the title of the magazine and the smiley face button on his baseball cap!

The sediment, which is heat-embossed in copper, is from Rubber Dance Stamps. I decided not to color the dude so as not to compete with all that beautiful copper. 

You'll be seeing more examples of my play with my 3D folders and metallic paper as I make my panels into cards. Bonnie is right: it is wonderfully addicting and fun!

I am playing in The Male Room Challenge were they are celebrating their 8th birthday! Congratulations!

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During an earlier Zoom session we had a play with embossing pastes and I finally used a NBUS product called "Stone Effect Concrete" (which has been in residence for ages) to make the next two uber CAS cards. The texture is amazing and the paste is literally hard as concrete once dry so I think it might even make it through the mail with a liner. If not, contrary to my first paragraph, the recipients are going to be unhappy to have crushed concrete in their laps!

Twofer 

The seahorse stencil I used is a Dreamweaver Stencil from Stampendous. The bubble/dot/circle stencil I used is unmarked and the sediment is from SSS. Hammy added a black marker to the seahorse eye which really brought him to life. The seahorse, not Hammy. Hammy is already full of spunkilicious life.

Challenges

• Addicted to CAS: Fishy.
  
• HLS Stencil: Anything goes.
  
• Seize the Birthday: Optional: By the sea.

Threefer

The snowflakes stencil is from Memory Box and the sediment is from Creative Expression. You can faintly see that Hammy added tiny drops of snow with his winker here and there on the snowflake panel.

I'm playing in AAA Cards (one inch strip and colored card), Little Red Wagon (stencil), and the Rudolph Days (anything goes Christmas).

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You may not get this until Friday, but as I write this, it is Thursday, National Dog Day, so I thought I should send you off with a photo of sweet baby Nellie sound asleep in her doggie divan in the Playhouse. Enjoy!

And enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy, but keep safe! 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!)

I Dirty Poured a Christmas Card

Hello Stamplings,

Our minds were taken off the Coronavirus this week when our hot water heater went belly up. The bad news is we weren't able to take hot showers, the good news is we weren't seen by any other people! Let me tell you, when you can't get hot water out of the faucet and have to go back to heating it on the stove, you realize how much you take it for granted!

But that's behind us now and I'm here to take your mind off C-19 for a bit as I share a Christmas-in-springtime card with you today. Now that I look at it, the colors are Christmas-in-springtime, too! 

The snowmen are from Paper Smooches "Snow Dudes" set. I was hoping to get this made before the CAS Mix Up challenge ended. They called for the use of acrylic paints and said if we were really feeling adventurous, we could use cards made from a "Dirty Pour." That reminded me that I still had remnants of the dirty pours we did two years ago at the Eat, Sleep, Craft, Repeat (ESCR) retreat. We used canvas paper:

You can see that a few of them will end up on awesome ocean-related cards, but I chose one that I thought might work for Christmas to make my tag card. I missed the CAS Mix Up challenge, but I can link up to Rudolph Days where the brief is "Anything Christmas Goes."

Beware the Crumble

I have a funny story to share of something I did a few days ago. I told you that the Mister can drive now, thankfully, since I can't be out and about. He went to the grocery store and was able to get some staples we needed. I was working away in the Playhouse when he came home.

He walked out from the house carrying something, pleased as punch. It looked like he was holding something very precious. It turned out to be a crumble-topped coffee cake, baked in the shape of a small loaf. I was delighted! I brought it to my nose, as one does, inhaling the heady aroma of cinnamon right through the plastic wrap. "Aaaah," I sighed. He carried it back in the house to be served later.

I sat back down in my chair and suddenly I had this visual: 

Five minutes before the Mister walked over to the specialty loaf section, another person had been there. If you had watched, you would have seen her picking up each loaf, bringing it to her nose and inhaling deeply before she put one down and picked up another. She was riddled with Covid-19 and I had just put my nose right where her nose had been!

Well, of course, that was in my imagination, but then again, it could have happened! How could I have been so stupid?! It just shows that no matter how careful we've been - and we have been very careful - something can happen to throw a wrench in. All I could do was laugh out loud. 

I told the Mister of my thoughts and then, still laughing, I told him that when the CDC came calling after my death to ask where I'd traveled and who I'd been around, I wanted him to tell them very firmly to write this in their reports: "She's been absolutely self-isolating since March 10th. She died because she buried her nose in a crumble topping."

And another laugh ...

~~~

Take care and stay safe. And enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!*

*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!)

Air-Blown Thanks and Two Oddballs

Hello Stamplings!

What DAY is it?! Have you ever had one of those weeks with unexpected events that make the week seem like it's two weeks long? I'm having one of those weeks. But it sure started out nice as we wrapped up a terrific long weekend with Adam and Henry and Duke and Jack. The weekend's photo, however, features the Mister in all his glory*!

But first, I want to share these alcoholic backgrounds I made recently using a can of air.

There are talented artists out there who make the most sensational flowers and other art using their cans of air! I am not going to be one of them. It requires much, much, much practice, but I had fun playing and loved the results.

I used several of them to make thank you cards using vellum and a thank you sediment embossed in platinum and simply stapled to the panels. 

I still have a couple of the backgrounds I haven't used and Hammy spends hours staring at the imaginary critters he sees in the colors!

Twofer

I recently saw this Stampingbella "Oddball Boy Elf" on someone's blog (sorry, I can't remember whose it was) and I had to immediately open a new window and order it. Haha, that conjures up a funny image, doesn't it? The day will prolly come when I can just open my Playhouse window and a drone will pull up, take my order, zoom off, and return a half hour later with my item!

Anyways, normally my NBUS sits on Mt. NBUS for a few months or years before it sees ink, but not this goofy elf! I used my Ziggies and Artezas to color him. Hammy winked his shoes and knit cap and I added a piece of Washi tape to ground him. Please don't mention his eye condition. He's very sensitive. And the odd color of the candy cane which is normally red/white or green/white? Why, i's chocolate!

The sediment comes with the elf. I may or may not have partaken of some spirits of my own before stamping it a schmidge too close to the edge. Hic.

Challenges

• Moving Along With the Times: CAS.
• Rudolph Days: Anything Christmas goes.
• Simon Say Stamp Wednesday: Anything goes.
• TIME OUT: Funny.

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*Another Oddball!

Fact: Guys who go to county fairs turn into adolescents and eat all the garbage food they can get their hands on! This particular treat is a foot-long hot dog wrapped in a corkscrewed raw potato and then the whole thing is deep-fried. Disgusting. Even the twins were disgusted. The man has an iron stomach. And before you ask, yes, he had a sore jaw for three days. If we were on the Tweeter platform, I'll bet he would go viral. #viralspiral!

~~~

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!)

Classic B/W and Red for Christmas

Hello, Stamplings!

Thank you for stopping by today, seeing as how you're exhausted after all that post-Thanksgiving shopping you did over the weekend. When you weren't eating leftovers. Or is that just me?

I won't keep you cuz you know I have tons to do. I mean, I know you have tons to do.

You can count on me for mostly uber-doober QACAS inspiration as it gets closer to Christmas. My cards today took minutes to make. The beautiful image above is NBUS from Unity. I had to buy it (cough) months ago after seeing it on my friend Shelly's blog and I finally got around to inking it up for Christmas. It was stamped onto a corner-chomped OLC base and clear-embossed. The Christmas flower was colored and shaded with Ziggies and the sediment is from Penny Black. Hammy winked the heck out of that flower. Hmm, maybe that's why the colors all blended. Bless his heart.

Challenges

• Less Is More: OLC Holiday.
• Rudolph Days: A/G Christmas.
• TIME OUT: Black, white, and one colour.

Twofer.

Another uber festive card. This full-front text image is an old wooden stamp from Stampendous. I inked it in black and embossed it in clear ep, which you can just make out in the shine here and there. I found a NBUS roll of pretty SU ribbon to tie around the card front. Tip: This is a cheater's bow you tie after you've tried twelveteen times to tie a bow. It's less bulky to mail, too.👏

Challenges

• 52 Christmas Card Throwdown: Ribbon & glitter.
• Fusion: Photo inspiration.
• The Holly and Ivy Christmas: Anything goes.

~~~

Enjoy this busy time of year for us card arteests! 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!)