Live With Zest!

Hello Stamplings!

Until it actually happens to you, you don't realize just how much younger you get with each passing year once you have reached your SSI retirement age. No, seriously. I've mentioned before that my friends and I now get up from the floor like we did when we were toddlers. We have to roll over and get to our hands and knees, push our butts up in the air, and then push off the floor with a mandatory "old person's noise" as we teeter to our feet.

For you youngsters, that noise actually serves a purpose. It exhales all the air from our lungs which is necessary to propel our saggy bits off the floor. And BTW, it takes a long time to perfect just the right amount of oompf noise. Too much and our saggy bits take flight and make us lose our balance and fall over backwards!

So it's only natural that we mature girls celebrate birthdays like a gang of six-year-olds!! The next time your grandmother tells you she is going to "Book Club," she means this:

Haha, now you know the wild truth! This card features an Art Impressions stamp, colored with Ziggies and backed with heart-a-dot paper. Hammy felt the wonky MFT stitching was apropopo!

This card was made to remind you that the WILD challenge is still happening over at TIME OUT! I hope you'll be able to play along! Click on the link for details and to see what the talented Design Team has created to further inspire you!! It's been a pleasure being the Guest Designer for this challenge ~ thank you, ladies!

I'm linking to:

• Inkspirational: Play.
• Little Red Wagon: Play along

Twofer

Two of my friends have challenges that are ending soon, so I made this to play along!

My friend Gail (Crafty Nomad) is having a Bunny Hop in honor of her 150th birthday! Oh, sorry, just seeing if you were paying attention! And my friend Anne (Butterfly Challenge) is holding her 99th challenge celebrating butterflies. So I combined bunnies and butterflies to make this birthday card. The sediment is from Cheeky Monkey.

If you have a minute, I have to tell you the back story on this card. Some of you may remember a bunny card I made one Easter that ended up looking like the bunnies were getting busy with each other like bunnies do. (Here.) I mean, it was totally inadvertent, which made it even funnier. 

That was exactly two years ago and my friend and yours, Princess Judy, never forgot it. So a while back when she was at a garage sale and she happened upon the encircled bunny stamp from Northwoods that you see above, she nearly collapsed with hysterical laughter. (For the sake of those of you with young children in the room, I have attached a flower to give the couple some privacy.) Well, of course, Judy had to buy the stamp and send it to me and, of course, I couldn't wait to share it with all of you! You're welcome. 😇

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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!)

WILD About You!

Hello Stamplings!

How are you? I hope you were finally able to get the grill and chaise lounge out of winter hibernation and pack up your sweaters! I'm always a little conflicted about putting the sweaters away because it immediately becomes evident to everyone how many chockie bars I ate over the winter! Cough.

I'm also a little hesitant to toot my horn, but I have to say I'm really chuffed to have won the 4th Birthday Celebration over at TIME OUT challenges this past March where there were lots and lots of outstanding entries! As a result, I have the honor of being the Guest Designer for the next challenge!

For this challenge TIME OUT wants you to interpret the word WILD! Here is my one-layer card to inspire you:

Of course, "wild" is very tongue-in-cheek for these babies who don't look the least bit wild, do they? They all look like sad little orphans you just want to hug. The wild animal stamp is ancient, heat-embossed in black and colored with my Ziggies. I'd be lion if I told you I could bear to part with it.

I masked the critters and stamped the bamboo. The "wild" sediment is from SU and the "welcome" sediment is NBUS from "If Animals Could Talk" by Elizabeth Craft Designs. The corner was chomped by a Cropadile and a smidge of a score line was added under the sediment because, Frankly, the whole shebang was sitting a little too high up on the card to satisfy my symmetrical sensibilities.

I'm sure you can think of several designs for this fun challenge and I can't wait to see what you make! The Design Team has amazing interpretations to inspire you at TIME OUT Challenges. And we are so lucky to have this challenge sponsored by Winnie & Walter!  

Challenges

• Double D: Friendship.
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: Anything goes.
• Stinkin' Inkers: Simply made ~ one-layer card.

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And a super QACAS to share:

This single blossom and sediment are NBUS from Gina K; sad you can't see the pretty winking. That furry panel is old-timey mulberry paper which was very popular near the turn of the century when I first started this beloved hobby. There was (is) something therapeutic about wetting the edge and pulling it like cotton candy being careful not to get that bit that tore off a huge chunk!

What can I say about that floating flower? It looks ridiculous floating in space, so I feel like you might be cocking your head and wondering why I did that. What happened was, I wanted the design to reflect that the person sending the card feels adrift, uprooted, leafless, and blue.

Aha! Well done, except is leafless a thing in a human? Yes, it's like lifeless, only not quite so dramatic.

Challenges

• Addicted to Stamps and More: Clean and simple
• Back to Basics and Beyond: This is a new challenge with a focus on helping newbies! How cool is that? But everyone is welcome! The first brief is "Matting and Layering." I did the "matting" part. Welcome to Blogland! (They are having a DT Call!)
• Less Is More: My original impetus, the brief is "Bring Something Back!" (Mulberry paper.)

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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!)