CASlicious Seasons

Hello Stamplings!

Thank you for stopping by today! Last week went by very slowly, which is something you rarely hear me say. I think it is the changing of the seasons that does me in. I'm an early riser and I have a hard time getting up when it's dark outside. 

While I adjust, I'm thankful I can use this wonderful hobby to combat the darkness by making light and bright cards to lift my spirits. This is A = Anything Goes week on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar and I went uber CAS = clean and super.🤭Ha, that was a slip of the ginfers, but I might be onto something. Very few cards we make are really simple, are they? Even if they don't have a lot of elements, they can take time or be difficult. So how about CAS = Clean and Super?!

Onefer

For my Onefer, I used Donna's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and brought out one of my favorite fall stamp sets. This rake and the autumn sediment are from the "Fall" set (2012) by Technique Tuesday. I stamped the autumn using a Kaleidoscope ink pad. The rake was stamped, clear heat-embossed, painted, and fussy cut. Oh, and, of course, winked by Hammy and Stanley! I add some rusticity by lightly inking the border. The circle sediment is from Memory Box.

Playing in: Allsorts (Anything Autumn); CAS on Friday (Autumn/Fall); Freshly Made Sketches; and Seize the Birthday (Use Fall Colors).

Twofer

For my Twofer, I was inspired by the September challenge at Pinkfresh Studio. Both the beautiful wreath and the gold-embossed sediment are from my NBUS Pinkfresh Studio set called, "Seasonal Sprigs." I painted the wreath using my Ziggies and, as with my Onefer, the lads were delighted to have lots of tiny areas to wink!

The Pinkfresh Monthly Challenge also has a theme and you are welcome to link your design using just the theme, or just the colors, or either/neither. They just want to see you have fun and link your new creations using their products. I used just the colors and I loved painting these hues on a Christmas wreath where you might not expect to see them!

Playing in Addicted to CAS (Circles); Pinkfresh Studio; Rudolph Days; and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Christmas in September).

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

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse!

*Life is too short!

Sunshine and Snowtime

Hello Stamplings!

I hope you've had a wonderful two weeks! It's been busy here, but a very productive and fun kind of busy.

I missed die cut week on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar, so today is all about E = Embossing. But, of course, die cuts and ink like to be included whenever possible.

Onefer

I went with another sunflower this week. I have several of them, but this one is NBUS from Scrapbook.com called, "Sunflowers."  I'm actually using it pretty quickly after buying it on sale. (I'm afraid if I turn around, I'll see all the old virginal items on Mt. NBUS glaring at me!)

The background embossed flowers aren't sunflowers. I could tell because Altenew put "Daisy Bed" on the 3D folder. But what the heck, I think they do a fairly good job of impersonating sunflowers. A simple sediment, a black frame, and, of course, lots of winking by the lads finished it off. 

Playing in Krafty Chicks (CAS); Seize the Birthday (Add a Sediment Strip); and The Card Concept (Sunflower Delight; I was inspired by the sunflowers for my CAS design style.).

Twofer

This delightfully sketchy Christmas tree is NBUS from the Tim Holtz's set, "Season of Magic," in collab with Simon Says STAMPtember. Something about the set really grabbed me and I starting using it right away. It's versatile and so far I've made some cards in simple black and white, some gold heat-embossed, and some watercolored with the Distress Stains. 

Tim is having a video demo on Saturday, which I can certainly use, but I couldn't wait to have a play.

For the tree background panel, I used a snowy e/f and then backed that with a v.o. piece of bumpy green paper I found. To make the texture even bumpier, I embossed it with a pebbly Sizzix 3D e/f (662825). That was a bit much for the thin pp, so some of the bumps popped, showing the white core. That was a happy accident because now it looks like colored bubble wrap. 

I think you can just make out that Hammy and Stanley sprinkled the tree with some snowflakes that came with the kit. This was their first time flaking together, so it was a bit of a blizzard. You don't know until you try and now they will be finding snowflakes in their cornflakes for months to come!

I'm delivering my card to the Snippets Playground, along with a thermos of hot toddies and a blankie now that the evenings are drawing in and getting cooler. I used snippets for all three layers. (Not the sediment, which is premade from Memory Box.)

Getaway

It was perfect! And that handsome man you see is celebrating his 77th birthday today by heading off on a motorcycle tour in Europe, one year since his bad accident. I'm so proud of him for all his hard work to make it happen and I thank you for all your prayers this past year. (We would appreciate a few more to keep him safe until he is home again.❤️)

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Enjoy your week! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!* As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse! Mwah!

*Life is too short

So long, August!

Hello Stamplings!

Well, that's summer. I hope you closed the door behind you because a lot of folks don't want to see any more of 2026 summer! I know it's not official for another few weeks, but I am hoping Lady September puts on her fall hat right from the first!

When I think of fall I think of leaves, and since it is a rare 5th Monday of the month, that means this is S = Stencils on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar. After that opening, I know you were expecting a card done in fall colors, but, no, I copied the example on the leafy stencil packaging because I love these spring and summer colors. I'm just trying to keep your brains confused. I don't want to be the only one confused around here!

Onefer

I actually have two Onefers. The NBUS stencil I used is "Leafy Background" from Pinkfresh Studio, designed by Inna Moreva. The sediment is NBUS from Gina K. 

Then I saw the AAA Colourful challenge which had similar colors, but with the addition of blues, so I had another play:

The die-cut sediment is from Simon Says Stamp, attached to a panel to which I stenciled random leaves and added score lines and pop bling that was popular a few years back. Hammy has gotten quite adept as picking colors to match the cards. My collection of dots are so old, the gluey backing is failing, so I remove it and glue them on, rather than have them fall off during mailing. 

I tried the Nuvo drops and still have (cough) little bottles of them, mostly brand new because I could never get them to perform for me. Not even Hammy could make them work. I suppose it's like making pancakes ~ you'd think, in time, you'd get good at forming them, but not us. Does anyone want several bottles of Nuvo drops?

But I digest. I have a feeling I will be using this pretty stencil a lot, next in fall colors, and perhaps even for Christmas cards?!

Playing in AAA Colourful (Colourboard #31); Just Us Girls (Stencil Week); and Seize the Birthday (A/G).

Twofer

For this week's Christmas card, I started with the sketch from the talented Michele F. for Freshly Made Sketches. Some of you might recognize the background striped paper as being from PTI back in the last century. I love the linen look and feel and how the bright colors make me happy. 

I used a rounded corner stitched die from MFT as the angled element of the sketch and for the middle focus pocus I used a peppermint candy stencil from SSS. After masking and blending the two shades of pink, I die-cut the candy using a circle stitched die from MFT. The Ho Ho Ho sediment is from Impression Obsession. A few silver sequints were picked out by Stanley for the finishing touché.

Playing in Freshly Made Sketches; The Paper Players (Tic Tac Toe: diagonally top right to bottom left); and Rudolph Days (AG Christmas).

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

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse!

*Life is too short!

ESPP!

Hello Stamplings!

I hope this finds you doing well and not impacted by all the terrible weather-related suffering that's happening around the world. There seem to be more catastrophes than ever happening all at once.

The post title today stands for Embossing and Stenciling on Patterned Paper. It all started because the brief this month at CAS Mix Up is Stenciling Over Patterned Paper. I wanted to try it and then once I got started . . .

Onefer

I went through my patterned paper and I found a half-sheet of this pretty wave pp. I knew I had an cute whale die from PTI, so I die-cut one and then used the negative space to stencil the whale onto the paper. I ended up accidentally stenciling the whale over the pattern in such a way that she ended up with a smile! 

In order to keep my design CAS and use the Freshly Made Sketches sketch (turned horizontally), I cut the pretty pp into a diagonal panel. It is E = Embossing week on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar, but after going horizontal, I realized that all my wave e/fs are vertical.😮 Hammy to the rescue! He reminded me that I have a horizontal wave die, so I used a rubber embossing mat and turned the die into an e/f! The NBUS sediment is from the same PTI whale set.

Besides CAS Mix Up, I'm playing in: 

Addicted to CAS (Water); Allsorts (Embossing); Freshly Made Sketches (sketch turned sideways); Seize the Birthday (Funny/Punny); and Just Us Girls (Water).

Twofer

For my Christmas twofer design, I used a JoAnn's Park Lane e/f called Holly Berry using a pretty raspberry cardstock. 

Here's a photo of the old SU DSP I used. The poinsettia stencil is from Tim Holtz, blended with raspberry ink. I cut the poinsettia stencil panel down to a banner and added a simple sediment from SSS's Holiday Greetings Mix I.

I made a few more simple cards while I was on a roll and Stanley has a pile of pp for me to match with stencils tomorrow. I'm enjoying that part as much as the stenciling ... pairing the stencils with the pp to make the best designs gets my 'ol grey matter working! 

Playing in: Krafty Chicks (Christmas); and Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round (P is for Poinsettia).

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

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse! Stay safe!

*Life is too short!

Eclipse It!

Hello Stamplings!

I hope this finds you well wherever you are! So many storms, floods, and fires. 

We had a grass fire only two miles from us last week that scorched a thousand acres. It was scary, smoky, and the acrid smell is still in the air days later. Considering it was such a small fire, I cannot imagine how terrifying and awful it is near the huge wildfires in France, Spain, Italy, and in many America states. Keep safe, my friends. Praying for those impacted and for all the brave firefighters, farmers, and individuals helping in ways large and small.🙏🫶

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This week is A = Anything Goes on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar. Whoop! I wanted to play with the Eclipse technique at the newly reopened CAS Mix-Up Challenge. It's also known as Hidden Words, or as I like to call it, Camel Flodged.🐪I haven't done this technique for quite a while and it was great fun!

Onefer

This sweet NBUS image is called, "Birthday Presents Wrapping Paper" from Your Next Stamp. The NBUS happy script word die is from The Greetery. I stamped the image in black and colored the presents in red in order to play in the Color Hues Challenge.

I liked the idea that this could be an all-purpose card, but after wards, I decided it needed a second word. I looked through all my word dies, and now I have car pool tunnel but nothing fit the area, so I made another card instead! Go me!

This script die is from Simon Says Stamp. In addition to the above challenges, I am playing in the Anything Goes category at Seize the Birthday

Twofer

This image is NBUS from Spellbinders called, "Christmas Florals and Sentiments." It consists of five stencils and made me question again why I don't stencil more often? I find it very relaxing. The word die is from GKW. The berry nipples are blobs of Lawn Fawn schparkle glaze. (Have I said how much I miss Hammy and Stanley!)

The Eclipsing technique works perfectly for those large pretty images you have which you hate to cover over with a greeting.

To give the design a little extra nubbiness, I popped the tripled image over a panel embossed with a Park Lane e/f called, "Holly Berry." I also miss having a Jo-Ann Store. Actually I miss all of the stamping stores that used to be in my community. And the sweet ladies who ran them. I sound old. Well, duh.

Playing in: 52 Christmas Card Throwdown (Stencilling); Rudolph Days (A/G Christmas); Jingle Belles (Colors: Unicorn Holiday); Inkspirational (Word Prompt: Christmas in July); and Just Us Girls (A/G Stencil Week). This Eclipse card won't go in the CAS Mix-Up Challenge because there is no stamping. However, because there is no stamping, it can go in "N = No Stamping" challenge over at the ABC Christmas!

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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! Mwah!

*Life is too short!