Autumn Birthday and Wine Labels as Card Art

Hello, Stamplings!

How are you? I hope that today was better than yesterday for you! Not that yesterday wasn't a good day, just that wouldn't it be awesome if every day was better than the day before? I mean, it's not like anyone ever got sick or died from contentment overload, right?

I've been rocking out my November, December, and January birthday cards so I can put on my Christmas helmet and headset and knuckle down making holiday cards only.

Here is the autumn card. (Don't look if you are a card pen pal of mine and you have an autumn birthday!)

Harriet came over last week and we had a fun time crafting and having lunch. She loaned me her PTI "Autumn Wishes" and "Winter Wishes" for my cards. The border is Washi tape. QACAS!

Challenges

• The Heart Desires: Autumn mood board.
• Inkspirational: Autumn photo.
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything goes.
• Stamp Ink Paper: Product: Washi tape.
• Stamping Sensations: Autumn glory.
• Words 2 Craft By: Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

Here is a photo of the cards I made all laid out across my desk. About a half-dozen were cards in my stash, so I only needed to make about 40 cards.

I could have sworn Hammy was on the desk when I took that photo. Bless, he was so pumped up and proud of all the ways he helped me get the job done, but I think he went into hiding because I told him that next I was going to teach him how to sign my name!

⏩Seeing all those cards reminds me ~ I was talking to Sheila the other day and we got on the subject of reading or hearing about crafters who have huge stashes of cards that they don't know what to do with. One woman talked about throwing her handmade cards away! Listen, if you have cards that you don't know what to do with, email me and I can give you several suggestions of groups that would be delighted to have your cards!! Or send them to me and I will reimburse you for the postage! Thank you! ⏪

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A long time ago (cough), Maria sent me some gorgeous wine labels and I recently used them to make cards. I thought now would be a good time to post them, in honor of the 22 wineries that were damaged or destroyed in the recent wildfires in Napa and Sonoma:

The two "Cheers" cards were used for anniversary cards. Thank you, Maria! I think they made really cool cards!

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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 to return the flavor!

(source unknown)

*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 the 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!

Cards for Causes

Greetings, my friends! I hope you are doing well!

Things are still progressing here and, trust me, if you're going to gress, you want the pros on your side! Even by my prattling standards, this post is a lah-ong one. I know I should have done three separate posts, but in the interest of my nursing duties, and because the hamster just kept handing me the information, I just kept on keepin' on ... 

In Blogland this month there are some very special causes and happenings that are near and dear to me ~ and to the world of card art.

First Lee: 

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. As I've said in my annual posts highlighting this important cause, it is rare to find someone whose life has not been impacted by breast cancer in some way. When it strikes close to home, we know our cards are a wonderful way to show our support, love, and encouragement.

For my card, I used my NBUS Triangle Trio die from PTI. The symbolic ribbon is cut from a Provo Craft die, and the NBUS sediment is from The Alley Way Stamps ("Life is Short"), heat-embossed in melon mambo. The Tim Coffey DSP is from my stash. The pretty sequints are from Pretty Pink Posh.

Challenges

• AAA Cards: Word Play.
• Cuttlebug Mania: No Squares.
• Words 2 Scrap By: Fight Like a Girl.
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes.

Twofer Lee:

I didn't realize this, but October is also Domestic Violence Awareness month and purple is the representative color for this cause, just as pink is for BCA.

My dynamic friend Becca is hosting "The Hop to Stop" at her place to raise awareness for this worthwhile cause. She's also kindly distributing to women's shelters any cards that you wish to make and send to her. And, there are even sponsors participating!

To join in the hop and find all the rules and deets, click on the above link. Thank you, Becca, for being a kind and generous soul!

Here is my purple contribution:

I couldn't wait to ink up this adorable NBUS stamp from Purple Onion Designs called "Jolly!" The papers are from my stash. I watercolored the image with my Ziggies and then winked the colors. The sediment is from SU. I think it is also NBUS, but I'm not for sure.

Challenges

• CASology: Silly.
• Christmas Card Challenges: Color Combo.
• Damsel of Distressed Cards: The Hop to Stop.
• Less Is More: Jewel Colours.
• Muse: Christmas Visions: Marilyn Cotter. See below.

And, Third Lee:

Vera Yates and Jennifer McGuire are holding their annual Caring Hearts Card Drive. Along with a few volunteers, these ladies unselfishly use their own time and money to collect and distribute hundreds of Christmas cards to nursing homes! (You may stand and applaud! They deserve it!) For rules and complete information, please visit either special lady!

New Friends Corner

I'm delighted to have you meet five more fabulous card artists!

Purvi Gadewar of Craft Concoction. Purvi started bloggin in 2013. She doesn't get a chance to post often, but I love seeing her craft concoctions when she does. She has been interested in making cards since she was a girl. When you visit, you will find cool and unique inspiration, including hand-lettering and hand-carved stamps!

Karen Letchworth of My Cup Runneth Over. Karen has been blogging since 2011. Her range when it comes to designing knows no boundaries. You will find card art, of course, but you will also find oodles of 3D creations, journals, and stitchery. I'm sure Karen is familiar to a lot of you from all of her guest design and design team positions. If not, you are in for a treat!

Crafty Hazelnut of My Crafty Outlook. Take your hats off, everyone: Hazel has been blogging since 2007!! That alone tells you why you should visit Hazel and how much inspiration you will find when you do. There is always fun going on around Hazel's place as she is also the owner of several challenge blogs! I don't know about you, but I admire and respect a blogger who has been at it since 2007!

Marlena McDeavitt of Marlena is Faithfully Crafting. Marlena has been blogging since 2010, so she's also an experienced blogger. She is the mother of three sweet girls and she enjoys sharing her faith in her card artistry and her blog. Marlena enjoys entering challenges and her cards and 3D projects are always clean and thoughtful!

Susanne Rose of Susanne Rose - Paper Blobs. (I'm not sure about the translation!) Susanne has been blogging since 2013. You probably know her from the work she has done on several design teams. If you don't know Susanne, however, I assure you that you'll be impressed by her wide range of artistic talent, jewelry designs, and tutorials!

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

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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.
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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!

Sail Away in a Sea of Blue

Ahoy, Mateys!

I'm going nautical today and I hope you'll enjoy relaxing on the blue ocean breezes with me. 

I'm not sure why the hamster and I came up with this background watercolor design, but now that we've done it, it reminds me of an inflatable mattress used for floating in the pool. Mine, of course, would be the one that has a built-in area for my drinkie-poo.

If I had a pool. Which I don't. I'll still take the drinkie-poo, though, thank you.

Let's set sail!

The sailboat is from o.o.b. PSX, stamped onto vellum in ultramarine blue Stazon. The striped and starred paper and flip flops are from my stash. Of course, I had to Wink the clouds behind the sailboat. It's on the sweet flip flops, too, but the photo didn't capture that so much.

Challenges

• Fusion Card Challenge. Below. I am playing in both sides of the fun challenge.
• Pixie's Snippets Playground. I seem to be doing a lot of OLCs (or nearly) of late, but for this one I was finally able to use some of my bushels of snippets.
• Words 2 Scrap By: It's a Man's World.

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Looking very simpilar, here's my second card: 

I cut a circle with my Lil' Inker dies to make a hole for my shaker schtuff. The surf and wave (NBUS) and sediment were brought to you by Paper Smooches "Wicked Nauticool" stamp set. The 3D lighthouse sticker is from the Paper House.

Challenges

• CAS(E) This Sketch. Below. My focus pocus lighthouse is off to the side, but I think I captured the spirit of the sketch.
• The Paper Players: Masculine Card.
• Virginia's View Challenge: Ombre or Monochormatic.

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And here's a photo tutorial sorta:

After taping down my watercolor paper, I drew lines with my marker to guide me. FYI, I also have one of the wide aqua brushes, which was perfect for this design.

Here you can see where I added dark blue along the lines and then just pulled the color to the right. I found it was easier (for this pattern) to work from the right side of the paper to the left so that my hand would stop pulling as it got to the area that was already filled in to the right.

And Jack's your rabbit, there you go!

Isn't that fun how it adds dimensation? I'm thinking other smart peoples have already done/seen this before, but we haven't, so Hammy is quite popping his buttons over how clever he is.

Having said that, you can see in the photos that I did have some leakage (don't we all?) and warping (don't we all?) because I didn't hit them with the heat gun afters. I'm guessing that's why. I'm still new at coloring with water, so I know you'll be kind.

In Other News

Thank you for sharing all your tips about your placement of sequints on cards! I'm not sure how many of you were joshing me, but I'm planning to embrace the same plan that several of you attest to embracing, t'wit: toss a few up in the air and stick 'em down wherever they fall!

We are over the moon that the twins will be arriving early in the morning to spend a long weekend with us! It has been way too long since we've had a sleep-over, what with one thing and another. Now that they are getting older (too fast!), they are into sports and lots of after-school and weekend activities. Summer vacation is here now, yippie kiyay, so we are hoping to be able to see more of them!

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I'm off to clean up the Playhouse for them in case they want to make Dad some Father's Day cards.


Enjoy your weekend! 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 the pop-up box opens.
Click Jump to Comment Form; 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!