Summer Blooms

Hello Stamplings!

I hope you are doing well and for those who celebrate it, I hope you had a wonderful Father's Day in the Age of Covid 2020! The prodigal and family returned for a great picnic lunch in the backyard. It was wonderful to see them again, even at a bit of a distance!

I got a bit melon collie after they left, so I distracted myself with this:

It's as QACAS as can be. The image is "Banners and Blooms" from Concord & 9th. I watercolored with my Ziggies and Hammy finished up with a new winker.

The sediment is ancient. I want to say it's from MFT, but I'm not sure. (ETA: Thank you Lindsey and Bev for letting me know it is from Neat & Tangled!) It comes with the long thin lines attached equally on either side of the block sediment (I offset it) and there were other sediments in the set. 

BTW, how did the words, "I want to say ..." became a thing? What was wrong with, "I think ... ?" 

Do you find yourself having deep thoughts like that now that you're in the fourth month of isolation? Lots of heavy stuff is happening before our eyes and sometimes we just need to look away for a few minutes and think about fluffy things.

For instance, why does it really matter if our socks match? And why aren't men's and women's colognes made out of real smells that we love, like chocolate, apple pie, and bbq ribs? Okay, your turn.

Challenges

• Addicted to CAS: One-layer.
• Alphabet Challenge: F is for flora and fauna.
• Less is More: Solid and Outline.
• Seize the Birthday: Option: Watercoloring.

Twofer

Real quick, here's another design from my recent round of making paper hug cards. The oval frame die is from PTI, cleverly turned on its side. The sediment is from Penny Black and the iris is from my dwindling stash of store-bought die cuts.

Challenges

• Addicted to Stamps and More: Clean and simple.
• Krafty Chicks: Clean and simple.
• STAMPlorations June CAS: Any shade of purple.

Happy Father's Day

Three generations with The Mister keeping socially distant. ltr: Adam, Henry, Kevin, and Dan. It was very hot so everyone was a bit flushed and schweaty.

To close, a little fun play-on-words signage from my friend Brenda:

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

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!)

Hey There, With Loving Thoughts

Hello Stamplings!

Welcome! I hope you are holding up okay as you marched up and over another hump day! Remember when weekends were so beciting? What's happening to me is that I keep waking up on Tuesdays thinking it's Saturday. It's happened three weeks in a row. What can it mean? I put in a full week's work on Mondays? Or I'm ready to drink again?🍹

My two gratitudes today are laundry soup pods and the Misti. How disgusting would laundry soup be? You gotta love typos.

My cards today:

Onefer

My card was inspired by Lolly's card. When I saw it, I was reminded of this adorable NBUS stamp. These birds are from Cottage Cutz, but ornithetically they can only be found off the island of Ithaca. Because it is the smallest of the Greek Isles, these wee birds are also teeny, not much bigger than a hummingbird. They are bright yellow from all the sunshine and they always travel in threes, in order to have eyeballs on their predators at all times. Scientists presume they also have eyes in the back of their heads, you know, to watch that side, but that's never been proven.

I colored the image with my Ziggies and Hammy winked the birdies and glossified the berries. The embossing folder doesn't have a manufacturer's name on it. 

It was windy when I was taking the photo, so this happened:

This was too fun not to share because their faces make me giggle. It's as if they are looking down in terror at the table as they are falling! Aack!

Challenges

• CAS Christmas May: Winter Berries hosted by Loll.
• HLS May Christmas: Anything goes. (Optional ornaments.)
• Merry Little Christmas: May anything goes.

Twofer

For this QACAS note card I white heat-embossed an ancient wooden stamp from Rubber Stampede called "Large Feather" which has not been stamped since Y2K. The sediment die is from Concord & 9th and the scalloped frame is from PTI. That's it. Wonderfully simples.

Challenges

• Less Is More: White and cream.
• Sparkles: Use a real stamp.
• STAMPlorations: May CAS challenge: Anything goes.

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Nellie

I feel like you haven't seen our Nellie in a while.

She loves to burrow into her blankie. We walked into the room and she'd gotten herself all wrapped up! Doesn't she look a bit like Paddington Bear?

And how scruffy is she?! We couldn't care less about our own hair, but we sure missed the dog groomer during the quarantine. Praise be, they just opened and today Nellie is getting a long overdue haircut after missing two appointments! More photos to follow ...

I also wanted to share this:

This little African violet is blooming for the first time in five or six years! I've never changed the location or watering schedule. That's the definition of hope and never giving up!

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Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy ~  and remember to stay in whenever possible! 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!)

A Coupla CAS EKGs

Hello Stamplings!

Is anybody else having trouble putting the MO in their JO this week? My mojo juices are running low. Is this like my hormones or does it happen to you young ladies, too? With a sidekick like Hammy, with the emphasis on KICK, I'm usually good, but I guess even the little guy is slowing down now that we aren't eating copious amounts of holiday sugar in one form or nother.

Then yesterday at lunch we were watching giraffe videos when we decided to look at the weather forecast. We have more rain coming and because I like to take my card photos outside (especially sheeny-shiny cards like these), we got busy!

Onefer

I love this NBUS Reverse Confetti "Falling Hearts" frame and decided to go white-on-white with it. I used some beautifully textured cardstock with a lovely sheen that I've had since the last century. (Did I say that right? Does it sound like the paper has a lovely sheen or I do?) I'm down to only a couple of sheets because it's so delicious, but why hoard it any longer?! I die-cut it once and then used less dear paper under it in four layers to create lots of dementia. 

Then what happened was what usually happens when I try to do a W-O-W card: Hammy wants to add some color and I always agree with him! Instead of a sediment, I used an ancient but awesome heartbeat die from does-anyone-know? I don't have the packaging and it must be so old that Dr. Google nor Pinterest can find it. It's meant to cut through paper, as in the Twofer below, but I made it into a sort of ribbon by cutting it once and then taping it back down just above the first cut and running it through again. 

ETA: Thanks to Michele, I can tell you that the manufacturer is Paper Smooches and the die is called Borders 1 and it IS still available!

Challenges

• Challenge Up Your Life: A/G.
• HLS Anything Goes Dies. A/G.
• Just Us Girls: Create Dimension.

Twofer

For this design, I first attached a panel of red glossy paper to the bottom of a card base. Then, using the same pretty paper, I made the die cut. I separated the two halves a bit so the shiny red could, well, shine through and then I attached the sediment from Winnie & Walter, also cut from the same glossy red. QACAS and sexy, just as a Valentine should be. I mean, unless you make one for your neighbor or the local vicar. Be careful there.

Challenges

• Cardz 4 Guyz: CAS (clean and simple).
• STAMPlorations January CAS Cards. Optional twist: anything metallic.
• TIME OUT: Photo inspiration.

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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!)

I {Heart} Stamping and New Digs

Greetings!

I have a quirky and quicky post for you today to share a coupla cards. I think you'll be able to relate to this first one!

My cards today combine very old stamps with NBUS. I have had that wee little rubber stamp stamp for 15 years. It is an unmarked stamp, but the shape of the wood makes me think it might be from Close To My Heart. The embossed stitched rectangle is a NBUS Die-Namics "LJD Peek-a-Boo Window" die. The paper, alphabet sticker, and heart stamp are all from my stash. The "ing" is from a vo Hero Arts alphabet stamp set.

Challenges

• Less Is More: Alphabet.
• STAMPlorations CAS Challenge: Optional color of hot pink.
• The Paper Players: Use a sentiment as your focal point.

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My twofer is an OLC which was made for one of my sisters who recently moved into new digs of her own. I liked it so much that I made two more to send to friends who have also moved recently.

The NBUS stamps from this "Vogue Abode" stamp set by Paper Smooches date back to 2012. The "congratulations" is from "Whatnot Sentiments Four" by Your Next Stamp. I used a simple pop of coral color befitting the mid-century style (and to match a chair my sister has) and added lots and lots of score lines for interest. And just because they are fun and easy to do with my Scor-Buddy. I am linking this to the CASology challenge, "Score."

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Thank you for your inquiries about our safety with the rains that are drenching and flooding much of California. We are fortunate to be fine, but there are many who could use your positive thoughts and prayers.

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!
If you ask me a question in your comment, please remember to leave me
your email address so I can respond. Thank you!

Baubles of Joy

Hello, my friends!

If there was ever a time when the world needs Baubles of Joy, it's now! So let's all rally and choose to keep having baubles of joy in our hearts and kindness in our actions and everything will be all right. Right?

I mean, right?!

Yes, I'm one of those perky obnoxious people. (Perky, not pesky, but I can see how you could misread that.) Until the world actually comes to an end, let's do the the thing that bring us joy.

Here is a closeup of that beautiful purple-embossed bauble:

The bauble and Joy are NBUS stamps from Skipping Stones Design. I used my gold Stella to jeuss it up. The panel is a lavender shimmer paper from PTI.

Did you notice a little hitchhiker on my card above? Here is another view:

Sometimes it's not only lizards who visit me when I'm taking my photos.

With Thanks

Soooo, have you been seeing a lot of purple and gold in Blogland this week? There has been a flurry of cards being made for the current Less Is More challenge as a tribute to LIM's fearless leader, Chrissie Stokes. Chrissie is taking a break from LIM due to all the fun she is having playing with her grandchildren and traveling with her husband.

I've mentioned before that Less Is More was one of the first challenges I entered when I first started my blog. I really had no idea what I was doing nor what all the crazy aaaackronyms meant and this hobby uses a TON (just meaning ton, the amount) of them. I was a bit lost to say the least.

I would enter LIM and then get very direct comments from Chrissie about my entries because I either wasn't playing by the LIM rules or I was unclear about what "CAS" and "white space" meant. I took the comments as the constructive criticism they were meant to be and I would email Chrissie with questions. She very kindly answered my many, many questions over several months and mentored me about the ways of Blogland, the ins and outs of challenges, and what all those aaaackronyms meant.

I am forever grateful for Chrissie's help and I have since tried to pay it forward by helping other new bloggers. Chrissie and I have become close friends, have visited each other's homes, and I have discovered how kind and fun and funny Chrissie is IRL. I will miss her at LIM, but I look forward to seeing her return there now and then and on her own excellent blog, Simply One of a Kind.

Thank you, Chrissie! I'm sure Sarah and the talented Design Team will keep everything running like clockwork while you enjoy your break!

~~~

I liked my first card so much I made another one using my vo blue moire e/p.

The metallic in the blue moire powder appears either coppery or gold depending on the light. For this card, I chose to enhance the coppery tones by adding shimmery blue and copper matting. I don't have a copper Stella so I left off any further enhansation.

Challenges

• Addicted to Stamps and More: CAS (clean and simple).
• Less Is More: Colour brief: purple and gold.
• Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Shine Like a Diamond.
• STAMPlorations CAS Card Challenge: AG with the option of purple.

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I'll leave with a chuckle, possibly even a snort!

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Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy! Maybe even smile at someone unexpectedly. 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 walla, 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!