Birthday Balloons!

Hello, my dearies!

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you know you are loved. That's the underlying noncommercial message intended for you by the beloved arrow-toting Q. Ped.

I'm celebrating by posting two birthday cards for you with no hearts on them!

You might have seen my last post with a sketch inspiration from Stamping Smiles Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge. I liked the layout so much that I used it again for this birthday card using a snippet of older DSP from SU. I really like this paper with the layers of ombre rainbow-hued balloons.

After adhering the paper diagonally on the card, I used my rectangle stitched dies from Lil' Inker to cut a double frame. The sediment is from Avery Elle's "Fanfare" set. The balloon strings die is also from Lil' Inker. The balloons themselves are NBUS from "Celebration Balloons" by Poppystamps.

Challenges

• Inkspirational: Pop! (As in balloons.)
• Pixie's Snippets Playground: Use your snippets!
• STAMPlorations: Triplets. (Three balloons.)

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Well, course, I was left with this marvy panel of positive balloons so the law required that I make this:

I used the "party" word die again from Winnie & Walter. I triple-layered it, which is a fun technique and gorgeous IRL, but I like to slightly offset the layers, so that always makes my photos look a bit blurfy.

Once again, I used the stitched rectangle dies from Lil' Inker. I honestly tried not to have stitched edges because I feel like I'm using them too much, but dangalanga, those stitches add so much interest, don't they? I'd say stitched dies were the most purchased and popular dies of 2015. (It was just last year, right, or am I behind the trends again?)

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Meet Karen

I met a new friend last week at the Playhouse! Her name is Karen Ladd and you may have seen her in challenge galleries. She doesn't have a blog I can link, but she posts her beautiful cards to Flickr here. We decided that although we weren't too happy with our selfie, we were very happy to meet each other in real life!

Thank you for the visit, Karen!

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Purge Update

I've talked to a couple of you before about this, erm, situation, but I was reminded of it when I was opening cupboards in the Playhouse to show Karen. There in the nether regions of one I noticed my stash of paper cutters. You know what I'm talkin' bout, Wilson, those cutters you decide you no longer like for one reason or another, but you keep them "just in case." 

Even though this wasn't the next thing I wanted to tackle, the minute Karen left, I took them down and took this photo for you:

And if that pile isn't bad enough, you should know that the little Tonic cutter I use all the time got left out! (Hammy was using it for teaching his little ones who are now old enough to be trusted with it.) So that makes an even TEN paper cutters for little old me! Color me ashamed! Since eight of them have been up in the cupboard for several months years, I will now find new homes for them with local organizations. (By way of excuse, these have been accumulating since 2002, so that's quite a long time.)

Am I alone in this irrational fear that two paper cutters aren't enough and that one cold, dark, and stormy night, I will need to climb up on a step-stool and get one of the paper cutters from the back of the cupboard that hasn't been used since the end of the last century?!

So that's the latest. One more shelf emptied and one less chance of granny falling!

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Don't forget the GIVEAWAYS Page at the top of the blog! 

(February 10-19)

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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!

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