City Crafter Challenge Guest Star ~ A Parade of Washi

Hello there! I hope your week is starting off well!

I'm thrilled to be coming to you today as the March Guest Star for the fun City Crafter Challenge Blog! I'd like to thank Kirsty and the talented team for this honor! Every Tuesday this month I will be joining them to inspire you to play along.

For this challenge, our prompt is "Washi Tape." Here is one of my designs with colors to remind you that spring is on its way.

The lime green tape is from Doodlebug and the middle multi-dotted tape is from JoAnn. The wave cut was made using a Paper Smooches "stitched" die. It makes the stitched line and then I used an old-fashioned tool called a "scissors" to cut the card. The sediment is from PTI "Happy Day" that I curved to fit the curve of the stitched opening.

The next four I made earlier for friends and the twins, but this is their first time on the blog.

 

I love the QACAS aspect of using Washi tape on cards. There are many ways you can make the design your own by the placement and patterns of your Washi tape and by the elements you add. You can even layer rows of Washi tape and then die cut an image. There are so MANY options!

I hope I have inspired you to use some of that Washi that you just had to have! I'd love to see your design! Just click on the City Crafter Challenge Blog and link up your Washi tape work of art!

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I'm also linking to:

• House of Cards: Enamel Dots
• Seize the Birthday: Masculine
• ShowCASE Your Style: Birthday
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes
• Virginia's View Challenge: Embossing

The challenge links will provide you with details on rules, sponsors, and prizes.

~~~

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!

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DJKASEing Kleenex

Hi there!

Thank you for whooshing through another week to get here ~ whoops, don't look now, but you also whooshed through the second month of the new year already! Gulp.

I have a card for you today that I've been wanting to make since Kleenex brought out this pattern in several colors. Yesterday Comcast, our cable company, had a major malruption of my computer and phone services, so with all that time on my hands, I finally did this:

I mean, I just HAD to make a DJKASE of that Kleenex box pattern in one of my favorite color ranges.

The papers are SU and GKW and PTI. The angles that look black are really navy. The little flag banner is a Framelits die from SU and the sediment is by Waltzingmouse. The die I used to cut all the patterns is this one by Lil' Inker. It's called "Cover Up Die: Pieced Chevron."

I even remembered to do the inside. The sediment is an ancient stamp by Penguin Parade and the bricks are by Lawn Fawn called "Interlocking Backdrops."

And this is how my desk looked after wards:

As you can see from the large pile, I will be making LOTS of pieced cards, which my empty stash desperately needs. And, yes, don't judge, there are still items under the pile from the cards I made in my prior post. I gave Hammy the day off clean-up duty after he helped me come up with that idea to heat emboss my cover plates and dies.

Challenges

• Seize the Birthday: Anything Goes (no toppings? Is this masculine?)
• ShowCASE Your Style: Birthday
• Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: No Rules.
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes.
• The Sisterhood of Crafters: Paper Piecing and/or Piercing. (Thanks, Diane. This is my first time here.)
• Uniko Studio Challenge: Birthdays.

 

Click on the links for details on rules, sponsors, and prizes and to find tons of inspiration!

~~~

New Friends Corner

I am so pleased for you to meet these new friends:

Lili Sulastri of One More Take. Lili started blogging in 2012. In addition to being a wife and mother, Lili works in an office. Lili loves photography as a major hobby and she uses her beautiful photographs to make outstanding scrapbook layouts. Her attention to details and bright and vivid colors and patterns really accentuate her photography talent!

Kamila Routsis of Life in Moments. Kamila lives in Denmark, where she moved from the UK, but she was born and raised in Poland. She started blogging in 2013 when she discovered the art of card making and card-making blogs while checking out You Tube videos. Kamila now makes her own card-making videos on You Tube, participates in challenges, and serves on design teams! Her colorful card art will inspire you!

Tracy of Small Smackerells (love that name!). Tracy started blogging in - are you sitting down? 2005!! That makes her a founding member of The Online Stamping Community! (I just made that up, so don't go Googling it.) Tracy's cards are CAS, delightful, and impeccably made. Needless to say, you will find enormous inspiration so take a six-pack of something along and get comfortable!

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

~~~

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!

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Just A Note

Hello on this fine upstanding Sunday Funday!

If you're looking for NBUS Challenge #3, please click HERE.

I've just a note for you today.

Why do we say, "just a note"? Don't we all love to get a little note in the mail, same as a card?!

Today's card features the Roy G. Biv family of birds. Even in the world of the rare Rainbow (Eritiacus nuzidula) family of birds, it is unusual for the brightly colored red male and the violet-hued female to throw a hatch of completely separate tinted offspring which encompass every element of the color wheel. [And they say blogs are inane. Where else have you seen this phenomenanon?]

As you can see, the five young'ns are almost fully grown, so they are having a fun evening sing-a-long to the music from "Bye Bye Birdie."

Ingredients

• NBUS birds on a branch (Hero Arts) which I die cut into the white card base (Bazzill) and then inlaid with a scrap of woodgrain patterned paper for the limb and multi-colored scraps for the birds.
• Music by Memory Box ("Virtuoso Music") cut from a gold SU envelope liner.
• Sediment is an unmarked wooden stamp.

Challenges

• AAA Cards ~ "Use a Little Gold."
• Inkspirational ~ "Note."
• Pixie's Snippets Playground ~ "Use Your Snippets."
• ShowCASE Your Style ~ "Use at Least One Die Cut."
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge ~ "Anything Goes."
• Virginia's View Challenge ~ "Clean Slate."

Please click on the links for all the details on rules, sponsors, and prizes! Playing in challenges is the best way to meet others in our stamping community in Blogland. Thank you so much to all the owners, design teams, and guest designers who work tirelessly bringing us fun challenges!!

~~~

New Friends Corner

I'd like to welcome and introduce these five new friends who would love to meet you!

Teresa Godines of Purple Bunny Paper Crafts. Teresa has been blogging since 2012. She makes fantastic cards and mixed media works of art. She also generously donates to the Caring Hearts Card Drive. Teresa doesn't blog often, but when she does, her creations are great. I know she would love a visit and encouragement from you!

Karen of Kaleidoscopic Sparkles. Karen has been blogging since 2011. Her cards are outstanding and her 3D projects and creations are truly remarkable. And, as if that weren't enough, you'll find a bonus tab for delicious recipes on her blog! Karen has a a sparkly joy for crafting and for meeting new friends which is lovely and contagious!

Barbara Cleggett of BJ Crafty. Barbara has been blogging since 2013 and baking, sewing, and crafting in some capacity for years. Now that she is fully retired, she is focusing on paper-crafting and enjoying the unlimited time being retired gives her. Barbara also demonstrates at her local craft group and tutors workshops. Her range as a card artist is spectacular!

Lori Kobular of Lori's Kreations. Lori has been blogging since August 2013. She is a challenge winner and design team member who began scrapbooking 15 years ago and back then was a Creative Memories Consultant. Lori actively donates her terrific cards to Operation Write Home. The cards she makes for them and shares on her blog will delight and inspire you! 

Tracey Kelly of Trace-Elementz. Tracey is from Australia, married to a Canadian, and a SAHM to four kids. She has been blogging since 2010 and is an award-winning challenge player and designer who loves her Cricut. In addition to creating gorgeous scrapbook layouts, Tracey makes beautiful cards and amazing 3D creations!

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

~~~

Finally, thank you so much for all your support, encouragement, and enthusiastic participation in my NBUS Challenge #3! 

Keep 'em coming! MWAH!!

~~~

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!

To open the pop-up comment box that let's you jump to the end w/o scrolling:

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Christmas Candies and Stars

Greetings, everyone, and happy Sunday Funday!

Thank you for stopping by today. I know you've got a million other things you need to be doing, so I'll get right toit.

I've got a couple of Christmas card designs to share which were inspired, as usual, by fun challenges. First up, let's have a snack of candy cane stripes and peppermints!

I received these lovely glossy candy-cane-striped stickers from Cindy, my local SU demonstrator:

Using the waste from between the large stripes, I laid my diagonal stripes on my card. In between those stripes I drew lines using a red pen to make them look more like candy canes. Then I ran the card through my BS using a snowflake e/f from Sissix. The attached peppermint candies are embellies I bought years ago, made by GKW. EZPZ QACAS card!

Challenges

The main inspiration for my cards came from the current Curtain Call challenge, where the theme is "Candy Canes."

Over at TIME OUT Challenges, the brief is all about Christmas and love. Who doesn't love candy?

And there are two new-to-me challenges for this post! For this card, I am playing in Showcase Your Style, where there is a sketch (see below). 

~~~

Next, I have a couple of cards using a design which was inspired by the current Fusion Card Challenge {Merry Christmas}, where you have your choice of using the photo or using the sketch or fusing them both. I did a true fuse for one of my cards and only used the sketch for the other. Here is the photo/sketch:

Here is my fusion using both:

And here is the same design using just the sketch in blues and greens:

Isn't that a great card sketch for any occasion?! The plaid patterned papers are from my stash, as are the pieces of vellum which I cut using a fish-tail banner die from MFT. I stamped the NBUS sediment from the MFT "Stitched Stockings" set and sponged distressed ink onto the stars which were cut using a PTI die. Once the ink was applied, it was much happier, not so distressed.

Challenges

For this card, I'm playing in the second new-to-me challenge called Crazy for CAS, where the theme is our favorite "Anything Goes!"

I'm also taking my cards over to Pixie's Snippets Playground for show-and-tell and Christmas hugs from all my fun and rowdy pals there. I've made my famous rum cake, but don't tell Miss.

 

~~~

Personal:

Even during these festive times, people experience tragedies and sad times. With permission, I wanted to let you know that a dear bloggie friend of ours, Carol M. of Just me: c could use your prayers and positive thoughts. Her father is in intensive care suffering from a massive heart attack. Her mother and the entire family could use your support. Thank you.

In happier news, today was the TENTH birthday of our beloved twin grandsons, Adam and Henry, so I'll leave you with this handsome photo:

They are growing up so fast, they will soon be my age, which hovers around 14 and 1/2. They had an exciting day with breakfast out, go-cart rides, miniature golf, and a visit to an arcade! What a fabulous birthday celebration!

~~~

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!

To open the pop-up comment box that let's you jump to the end w/o scrolling:

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