It's Trifecta Holiday Time!

Hello Stamplings!

I hope you have been doing well wherever you are and whatever seasonal change you are experiencing. Our hemisphere has been having xtreme weather again. We actually got over three inches of rain, unseasonably early for us, but we badly need it. Others, sadly, had wind and flood damage and my heart goes out to them.

Here in America, we are heading into the Trifecta of Holidays. First up is Halloween this weekend, followed four little weeks later by Thanksgiving, followed four little weeks later by Christmas. Followed by my usual 13.5 pound weight gain. It would be so much easier if these holidays weren't all within such a short time, but I wasn't home the day they called for my opinion on the matter.😄

For this post, I only feature two of the holidays, starting with two Christmas cards:

Are these NBUS critters from the MFT Picture Perfect set guinea pigs or hamsters? Not sure, but no matter, they are darlin' either way, so Hammy and I are declaring they are one of each! I chose the frame and coloring to play in the Color Hues kraft and red challenge, only to just discover that it ended this morning. Oops, I guess I need my head eyes examined.

Besides the sediment declaring this a Christmas design, I tried to change the sunflower seed into an ornament. Now, I'm thinking it looks more like a flask, but, hey, that's festive, too right? Maybe they had a long day planned dropping off Christmas gifts to all the relatives (hamsters and guinea pigs tend to have a LOT of relatives!) and it was cold and they needed a little nip of brandy now and then to sustainsiatate them.

Challenges

• Addicted to Stamps and More: Christmas.
• Cardz 4 Guyz: Animal (actual or animated).
• Jingle Belles: Not a creature was stirring.
• Peace on Earth: Anything goes with an inspiration board.
  

Twofer

This card is art and function. Whoever gets it in the mail this holiday can always use it to light the way if the electricity goes off! I chose this pretty snowflake frame from GKW to paper-piece in metallic gold and blue to join in the October Rudolph Days Challenge. Mo is dedicating this month's challenge to Kath of Plain and Simple, who passed away a few months ago. Kath was a well-known friend to many of us and she loved paper-piecing. I love it, too. It's fiddly, but so satisfying. I finished it with a simple vellum sediment from Penny Black.

Challenges

• Christmas Kickstart: Make one for a loved one.
  
• HLS Christmas: Anything goes.
  
• SSS Wednesday: Anything goes.

Happy Halloween!

I don't make a lot of Halloween cards and this silly card is my fav this year, even though it happened by accident. What happened was, I made a few cards using the ghosts from poppystamps Groups of Ghosts. I pushed out their eyeballs and tossed them off to the side because the ghosts are intended to be sheets with empty eye-holes cut out. 

Well, I happened to push them onto a piece of discarded black card and, thankfully, Hammy looked up just then from sewing his pirate costume and he noticed how cute the eyeballs looked all by themselves on the black paper! I added a white-inked sediment and I used a NBUS embossing folder for a little texture. (It's hard to see, but it is a large conversation bubble.) 

Challenges

• HLS CAS: One-Layer.
  
• The Male Room: Black and white.
  
• Two Old Bats: Anything Halloween.

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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! 

Thank you, too, for your continued patience and all your kind emails. I'm making lots of progress on the To Dew list, making Christmas cards, and I've had a confirmed diagnosis on the hip. Just awaiting word now on a date for surgery, which won't be for some months because everything is lackbogged. Same as everywhere, so can't complain!

*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 Harvest Basket and a Party of Ghosts

Hello Stamplings!

And another week has whooshed bye-bye while you were petting the dog/cat!

This has been a bit of a downer week for me because if it weren't for Covid, I'd have been in a rental house on Lake Michigan crafting with dear friends. Four of us have gotten together every two years since 2014. I know the important thing is that we all survive this, and I do try to keep my chins up, but sometimes you just have to take a moment, pretend your pillow is Covid, and give it a good pummeling.

After wards, I relaxed and forgot my disappointment by getting all crafty with the hamster.

Onefer

Sorry about the lack of definition in my watercoloring, but honestly everything is multi-toned in real life. The apples don't really look like tahmahtoes, but in order to keep the pumpkin pp from being completely washed out by the sun, I had to over-expose my harvest. I apologize, but this is an adult blog. 

The basket is from "Autumn Falling" by ARTplorations and the sediment is from SU. As you can tell, Hammy had a whiskery great time winking and glossifying.

Challenges

• Less is More: In honor of designer Sharon's birthday, we are to CASE her card, show next to the LIM badge.
  
• Shopping Our Stash: Happy Fall Y'All.
• Watercooler Wednesday: All About Occasions.

Twofer

If you're going to party with a few ghosts, these look like absolute party animals, don't they? For this QACAS design, I blended wilted violets and applied them to the background through a NBUS Birch Tree Landscape stencil from Memory Box. Truth be told, Hammy ate most of them. Not the birch trees, the violets. Violets are quite delish and taste a bit like aqua. 

The silhouette ghost from Hero Arts likes to sneak up on old people, but he is so darn happy that you don't mind. The twin ghosts with the demented grins are from GKW and they've been lurking around the Playhouse since before there was a Playhouse.

Challenges

• Fusion: Purple Night. I'm playing with just the photo.
  
• Inspired By ...: Be My Boo! I was inspired by the photo of the ghost pillow.
  
• Simon Says Stamp Monday: Spooky.
  
• Two Old Bats Halloween: Inspiration photo (ghosts).

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Speaking of silhouettes, we are half-way into the Twofer Card Challenge which closes at the end of day on October 24.

The very talented Marcia from the Twofer Design Team has made you another set of Twofer silhouette designs to inspire you. You can see them at the Twofer Card Challenge blog, but for the wonderful details, please check out Marcia's blog: Marcia's Stampin' Pad. I'm excited to see you add your silhouettes to the gallery!

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Even in the toughest of times, we mustn't forget to laugh!

• Who’s idea was it to sing “Happy Birthday” while washing your hands? Now every time I go to the bathroom, my kids expect me to walk out with a cake.
• After years of wanting to thoroughly clean my house but lacking the time, this week I discovered that wasn’t the reason.
  
• What’s the best way to avoid touching your face? A glass of wine in each hand.
• My husband purchased a world map and then gave me a dart and said, “Throw this and wherever it land, that’s where I’m taking you when this pandemic ends.” Turns out, we’re spending two weeks behind the fridge.

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Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy, but be safe out there! 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!)