Vellum and Washi Gold

Whoot, whoot, we've whooshed around to almost the weekend! It may actually BE the weekend where you are!

In my last post, I talked about voluptuous vellum. What can be better, right? Well, how about GOLD voluptuous vellum?!

I embossed my square card using my stitched die from Lil' Inker. (It's really hard for me not to call them Lil' Stinker!) The striped gold vellum is from SU. The butterfly layer is cut using the Lil' Inker stitched butterfly die.

The negative butterfly opening is covered on the back with black polka dotty vellum from a DCWV foiled vellum stack, gifted to me by my friend Greta. The NBUS sediment is from a Your Next Stamp set called, "Whatnot Sentiments Set Four." The gold adhesive balls are from Studio 112.

I had some old-timey fun making my butterfly antennae out of gold wire. Remember those cute little spools of colored wire? Oh, yeah, yet another thing you acquired in every color, but rarely, if ever, use. In fact, some of you paused just then to stare off into space for a minute, thinking hard about where the heck you put those little spools ... .

~~~

Still. No matter how kickyfun it was to make the above card, being ever the practical Midwest gal, I knew that it would be a bleep to mail, so I had Ginger Lee remove the antennae and I replaced it with an elegant black number complete with gown and slippers designed by Memory Box for Chloe:

 

Much better for mailing.

Challenges

• Addicted to CAS: Black, white, and gold.
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes.
• City Crafter Challenge Blog: CASE the card (below) by designer Stella.
• Cuttlebug Mania: We Love to Stamp.

~~~

I stayed with black, white, and gold for my second card, this time turning to my stashes of Washi tape, patterned vellum, and ribbon:

As you can see, this was super EZPZ. I made the background by simply layering strips of Washi tape. The stitched tag is from Paper Smooches. The sediment is from an old wooden stamp which is unmarked, but I'm guessing it is from one of those Hero Art 4-stamp sets. The patterned vellum is such a glorious embossed gold which I topped with v.o. ribbons.

Challenges

• CAS(E) This Sketch. (below)
• Pixie's Snippets Playground: Use Those Snippets.
• Retro Rubber Challenge Blog: Anything Goes.
• Runway Inspired Challenge: Naeem Khan designer gown (below).

Just click on the challenge links for inspiration and details on rules, sponsors, and prizes.

~~~

New Friends Corner

I hope you will enjoy meeting these new friends of the Playhouse:

Renata of Renata's Creations. Renata is from Slovenia and she has been blogging since 2011. Renata makes such beautiful backgrounds for her cards. She loves clean and simple cards and has such talent for using die cuts effectively. You will enjoy visiting to see her wonderful talent!

Asmah of Qinaahana Arts And Crafts. Asmah is from Malaysia and she has been blogging since 2011. She is a mother of four and very passionate about everything related to arts and crafts. Her favorite card style is mixed media and shabby/vintage. Asmah also loves needlework, home decorating, gardening, photography, and outdoor activities. As you can imagine, Asmah's energy level is high and engaging!

Sue D is singer21 at Splitcoast Stampers. You can also find her on Flickr as suedflickr. Sue has been a contributor to Splitcoast since 2009! I think her cards are so pristine and so well-made. It's really fun and inspiring to see them as a full-page snapshot on Flickr. At a glance, you can see her fabulous eye for design!

Sarah Mabery of Craft Nerd Creates. Yup, you read that right. Sarah is a self-proclaimed nerd in every since of the word. She holds several degrees, but Sarah also knows how to use the artistic side of her brain. She has been in love with crafting since her grandma gave her a counted cross-stitch in the fifth grade! Sarah only began blogging her wonderful cards a year ago, so please stop in to introduce yourself!

Gail Townsend of Gail's Place. Gail has been blogging since 2013. She started papercrafting about eight years ago when she made a scrapbook for her granddaughter. That lead to stamping and cards and like so many of us, she was hooked! Also like so many of us, Gail loves challenges and has won many awards for her creations, which you will find to be CAS and crisp and inspirational!

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

Reminder: I believe I am caught up now on welcoming my new followers. If you have joined lately and not been introduced, it's because I couldn't find you. If you have never left a comment or sent me an email, it makes it almost impossible for me and the Google team to find you. So, please do remember to contact me via a comment or email when you follow me. Thank you!

~~~

Conundrum of the Day

If an orange is called an orange, 

why isn't a lime called a green, and 

why isn't a lemon called a yellow?

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

Tweet Birthday ~ ATSM #77; CTS #59; NBUS #91; RIC #51; SSMC; Stamplorations; TAWS

Good Day! I hope this finds you all well! There is terrible flu and upper rasperator illness going on, so please do be careful. Wash your hands often and if there was ever a time when picking your nose or your teeth was not a good idea, now is the time!

"What is up with Blogger?!"  

Sorry to yell, but I just couldn't hold it in. First there were / are problems trying to post (BTW, no matter which operating system you are using) and now a lot of us are having problems with margins, line formatting, and leaving comments. 

Yesterday I finally got to spend some time catching up on my visiting, only to have my comments wiped out when I hit publish!  Grrr! As you know, I am not one to say things in two words if twenty-two will suffice, so having my comments wiped out did not make me very happy. I resorted to copying so I could paste if need be, but then I would forget and lose it and then, well, then I would lose it! 

I'm saying this to get it off my chest and also on the off-chance that Blogger might randomly spot check the blogs they publish and see this and fix it. Oh, hahahaha, I do karack myself up!

~~~

Okay, let's get on with the fun!  The challenges being showcased today are:

Addicted to Stamps and More (ATSM)

"Make Your Mark"

CAS(E) This Sketch
(I flipped it for my card.)

Runway Inspired Challenge

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

"Blues"

Stamplorations
Cornelia put a bug in my ear that I should also play with
the "Stamps and Feathers" January challenge.
It's my first time playing here!


The Alley Way Stamps Challenge
They are celebrating their third birthday! 
Congratulations!
We are to create a birthday card.

Here is my card:

The goofy bird is just fun, but the feathers are really quite classy and cool, so the two of them together really make me giggle. I put those two word stamps together to look like one sediment. The bird and the words are all NBUS from The Alley Way Stamps.  The feathers are die cut using the "Feathers and Arrow" die from My Favorite Stamps, also NBUS. I'm so glad feathers made it into 2014 card art since I have had this die for months and never got around to using it.

To make my "bokeh" (boh-kay)^ dots on the feathers, I used Marvy ink and a sponge dauber. I'm not sure if you can make a bokeh design using one color. I did find this example of a single color bokeh when I searched Mr. Google,

so I think so. If my feathers are not bo-kay, then they certainly are om-bray, so go me for being trendy one way or tother!

^See this post of Loll's.

~~~

In Our New Friend Corner today, I am presenting two new friends!

First, we have Jim Conklin of Love the Details.  Jim is a multi-talented man, who is brand-spanking new to blogging.  He describes himself better than I could: "I am a birder, photographer, artist, poet, woodworker, gardener, amateur astronomer, computer geek, better than average cook, archaeology fan ...  ." His coloring of images is outstanding!  Jim also happens to be married to a good bloggie buddy of mine, Jill of Ribbon Challenged.

Next, please meet Janeen Thompson of A Little Bit of This and That. Janeen is also fairly new to blogging.  Her cards are really well done.  I think you will enjoy visiting both of these new friends, making them feel welcome, and showing them what a caring and supportive community we are!

Welcome, Jim and Janeen, and thank you for joining us!!

I'm thrilled to be getting close to 400 followers and thank you all so much! I'm thinking of ways I can celebrate all of you when that happens . . .

~~~

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!

Project Details
Paper	Bazzill textured blue; PTI white
Stamps	The Ally Way Stamps "Priceless Joy" and "Jibber Jabber"
Ink	Marvy blue & orange pads and markers
Accessories	Dies: MFT Accent It - "Feathers and Arrow" Sponge dauber

Atwirl ~ RIC #41; NBUS #37

Happy Day Hello!

I forgot that I started this card a few days ago.  It's for the current Runway Inspired Challenge (RIC).

When I first saw this dress, I thought, "Seriously, Zac?" 

 

How would you go to the bathroom?  Then, again, isn't that true for most gowns?  The good thing about this gown is that if you pulled it up wrong-way backwards when you were done peeing, who would know?  The material does looks like it would be scrumplicious, though, doesn't it?  I want a bed covering made from it so I could just lay down and roll up in it.

 

Anyway, that's not why you called.  I have a set of paper lantern stamps and I was hoping that one of them was a spiral twirly shape.  Sometimes you see wind chimes like that, too, you know what I mean?  But none of them were shaped like that. 

 

In my search, however, I ran across this funny and ancient little stamp that has been lingering in my miscellaneous NBUS for like seven years since I bought it at a garage sale from someone with the initials E. H.  I think it is interesting that it has survived several purges, like it was just waiting for this challenge.  Wouldn't it be a small world if E.H. were reading this right now?! 

Here's my card:

 

 

I wanted to use a Penny Black sediment because PB is playing along with the RIC challenge.  I was really happy that the Friendship portion of this beautiful  stamp was perfectly looped in all the right places!

~~~

 

Our newest friend waiting to meet you is none other than Kirsty Vittletoe of Handmade Little Things!  Kirsty has been blogging since 2009 which means you have a ton of card art magic waiting to inspire you at her wonderful site!  Thank you, Kirsty, and welcome!

 

~~~

 

I'm off to play in a card workshop today.  There will be eight ladies attending.  Well, seven ladies and me.  I hope you 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! elegant eggplant

Stamps:  SU! set unknown; Penny Black 4176H

Ink:  SU! elegant eggplant; PTI raspberry fizz

Sequints:  Cartwright's

Happy Birthday, Big Sis!

Hi Everyone!  If you are peeking in here, that makes me happy because it means you are getting some crafty time for yourself!  I have a card today for four challenges:

 

~~~

CFC #99 ~ CAS-ual Fridays "Birthday Bash."  The prize is sponsored by the fabulous:

 ~~~

LIM Week 116 ~ Less Is More "Case It"

 

We can CASE Jen's card or Chrissie's card or both.  I chose Jen's, which you can see via the linkie. 

~~~

Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground Week 69  ~ Just use scraps or snippets! 

 

 

I keep telling Di that she needs a logo for her challenge, so until she comes up with one, I think I'll put her picture as the logo!!

 

~~~

 

RIC #34 Reem Acra ~ Runway Inspired Challenge,

 

 

where the sponsor is the wonderful company, Ellen Hutson!

~~~

 

That's the challenge line-up.  Sorry it's long today.  By the time I get this written, prolly two of them will have closed!  But last night after dinner out at a Scottish Gastro Pub*, with our extraordinary twin grandsons and their parents, I was too jazzed to sleep, which means the little cray-cray hamster in my head had to take over and she's a bit of an overconceiver! 

 

(Lucky for you, RIC only allows you to combine your card with three other challenges.)

 

~~~

 

Finally my card:

 

 

I was inspired by the stitched layers in Jen's card and by the label she has in the bottom right with the flags below.  I hope will see the same design element in my card.

This card is not only for the challenges, it's a cyber Happy Birthday to my only older sister, Diana.  Happy Birthday, Sis!  I hope you have a great time today at the alligator reserve!  Please don't fall into the water in your enthusiasm to take a stunning photo!

 

~~~

 

The other day I mentioned that I had a tool to remove the shanks on buttons and several of you wanted to know more.  Here is a picture of mine.  I have no idea where I purchased it, but you can find many options when you ask the ever-amazing Mr. Google.

 

 

You may find wire snips work just fine.  All I know is I had a whole container of buttons, so I found it was worth it.  You can see the side view here; it slices through the thickest shank like butter. 

 

 

~~~

 

*So, BTW, the pub listed "hedgehogs" as an ingredient on the menu!  I'm not kidding, look:

 

Chicken:  pressed thigh, cabbage, mustard, hedghogs, carrot butter

  

I was outraged on behalf of all the hedgehogs world-famous in the card-making community and I so informed Kristoph our waiter.  He said he gets that comment second after, "What is 'bubble and squeak'?"  He assured me their hedghogs are a type of mushroom and not an adorable critter. Phew!  Now about the "pressed thigh," . . .  Stop it.

 

~~~

 

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

 

Thank you so much for stopping by the Playhouse. Special thanks to you if you take the time to leave a comment or join as a follower! 

 

Life Is Too Short!

Paper:  PTI white and true black; Stampland glossy;
  SU! real red, basic grey
Dies:  Memory Box:  "Perched Reed Bird" and "Twigs
  and Berries"; Lil' Inker "Stitched Rectangles"
Mrs. Grossman's stickers
Glossy Accents