The Lesser Known Patrick ~ NBUS #111

Happy Funday Sunday peeps!

I hope your weekend is going well! Last night in some parts of America we sprang our clocks forward an hour in the interest of daylight savings. Some of us always get miffed that we lose an hour which we could have spent crafting. Of course, we get it back in the fall, but it's too late by then to come around saying your sorry. 

I love old olive SU paper and may have purchased an indecent amount of it in the event it was ever miscontinued. I swooned when I saw this was the current Colour Me ...! challenge.

And I recently ran across a new-to-me challenge called Twisted Tuesday Challenge. The brief is to make a clean card and include the color green.

So, let's see, green. March. Green. I didn't even need Hammy for this one, not that he would be of any use all lovesick and daydreaming. I haven't done a St. Patrick's Day card yet. As it happens another fairly new-to-everyone challenge called the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers is having a challenge that's perfect to play in and I happened to have just the stamp for it.

When I saw the word "Paddy," the first thing that came to mind was that time I spent in a padded cell. What happened was I was this close to missing a sale at a stamping store so I jammed over to the store in my unnerwear. (Oh, please, like you never did that!) Well, wouldn't you know I hit every red light on my way to the store and the po-po saw me run that last one and when I wouldn't pull over, he flipped on his full regalia of lights and sirens, but I didn't care, no siree Boob, I was not going to miss the sale! I caromed into the parking lot on two wheels, and braked hard right in front of the stamp store.

Unfortunately, I guess because I wasn't wearing clothes, the sudden braking made me slither down in the seat and under the dashboard. Just before my chin hit the bottom of the steering wheel on my way down, I turned my head to see the store clerk flip the shop sign over to "Closed." You can imaginate what happened next. But I was only in the padded cell for three days that time coz the Mister got me my own personal 50% off coupon and so I snapped right out of it.

Sorry. The train down the memory track just comes out of nowhere sometimes and whistles through my fingers.

In all seriousness, the Mister is half Irish on his mother's side, with his mother being full Irish. I'm very familiar with the well-known and well-loved Irish quotes and prayers and proverbs and the history of St. Patrick. I especially love the proverb with the line "may the sun shine warm upon your face" and I have that one on a stamp.

For today, however, I have prepared a QACAS card using an Irish proverb written by St. Patrick's lesser known Uncle Patrick.

 

I used my NBUS die from My Favorite Things called Blueprints. I doodled the white frame with my white gel pen and using my scoring pad, I scored lines around the framed panel to make it look like soft Cord U. Roy.

I hope you find the quote to be as moving and inspiring as I do! 

Remember to click on the links for the challenges to find the rules, sponsor, and prize information. I hope you can join in the fun!

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New Friends Corner

I love the fact that folks are driving up to the Playhouse in car pools these days! I'm pickled to introduce you to six more incredible card artists!

Pat K of Paper, Markers, Ink, Oh My! Another fab blog banner name! Pat has been blogging since 2011. I love that she put on her profile that she is a wife, mother, grandmother, and friend. That is an important aspect of our view of ourselves. Being a good friend says a lot about a person! You are going to enjoy Pat's lovely layered works of art!

Leslie Turner of Love to Scrap. Leslie has also been blogging since 2011. She is a certified hippie girl who loves to ride motorcycles with hubster Ed and by her own admission, she's a "rubber girl." I love that label and can relate!! From CAS to layered and elegant, Leslie has plenty of cards to inspire you!

Julie Beech of Crafted by Jules. Julie has only been blogging since 2013, so please leave her some love when you visit to introduce yourself. Julie's style ranges from CAS delights to multi-layered delights, each one impeccably executed!

Becky of A Diamond in the Rough. Becky has been blogging since 2008. Yes, that's right, 2008! Needless to say, she has been/is on many design teams and has won many, many awards and, in my opinion, rightly so! You will need an uber tall beverage and plenty of time to enjoy all that Becky has to offer!

Jackie C. of Get the JC Look. Jackie has been blogging since 2012. In that amount of time, her list of awards is staggering! Jackie's cards are classic, layered, and so sharp. Her work will charm you and her positive attitude will uplift you!

Welcome, ladies, and thank you for joining us!

~~~

In closing, I wanted to share the annual return of hawks to our neighborhood, which always amazes us considering where we live. I haven't been able to get a photo of the baby red-tailed hawk yet, but I did get one of a baby kite.

It's a pretty good photo considering it was taken by zooming my little pocket point-and-shoot camera from a half a block away and he was at the top of an exceedingly tall evergreen tree. They are so majestic. It's hard to believe this is only a baby!

~~~
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!

Project Details
Paper	PTI white; SU olive green
Stamps	Sediment: by River City Rubber Works; shoes by All Night Media
Ink	Versafine onyx black
Accessories	Dienamics: Blueprints SU Scor Pal Sakura white gel pen

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DJKASE #11 ~ NBUS #110

And we've whooshed our way to another Friday! How are you? I hope you had a great week!

Another epic post I'm afraid, worthy of your largest drinking vessel. I no longer post every day so I can double the length every other day, yes?

Are you ready to see the card artist I am spotlighting and copylimenting today with a DJKASE? She is Shannon J. of Chuchee Chu!

What a great photo of that gorgeous smile! And isn't that an interesting blog name? You're prolly wondering what it means, so I'll let Shannon explain it in her own words:

"If you're wondering about the title of the blog - Chuchee is the name my Dad used to call me when I was small (and still does) and it's always been endearing to me.  Chu is my husband's last name. So Chuchee Chu it is!"

Shannon has only been blogging since January 2013 when she made it her New Year's resolution. When she makes a darling card and shares it on her blog, she always entertains and inspires! Her cards are very well thought out and it's obvious that she crafts with care and humor.

So what happened was, Shannon was on the short list of card artists whose names had been drawn for DJKASEing, but she got moved to the top of the list when she sent me a card last week. (Shannon is one of my card pen pals. If you'd like to be one, just email me your snail mail address and I'll email you mine.)

Now Shannon didn't shoot up to the top of the list just because she sent me A card. It happened because she sent me THIS card:

Shannon's Card

Is that not adorable?

Okay, so those of you who have been following me for a while will know immediately why this particular adorable card caused quite a racket in the Playhouse. Let me put it this way: if you were a boy hamster (let's call him Hammy since a lot of you have already taken to calling him that) who lived all alone with a crazy old stamper woman who drove you nuts and then one day while you were pinched in a corner of your cage, eating out of boredom, you happened to look over at the old bat and you saw this card, wouldn't you be a little becited, too?!

Source

Amused, I watched Hammy's reaction as it dawned on him that he was looking at the cutest little girl hamster he had ever seen! He went NUTS! He jumped on his wheel and flew around it, literally! Since he's not a bird, however, he mostly flopped over onto his back and then spent four revolutions rolling end-over-end, wheezing. Oh, no, wait. That's me on the treadmill. Anyway, the little dude is totally in love!

Needless to say, he became adamant that Ms. Thing's owner (that would be Shannon) become the very next card artist to be DJKASEd! I didn't put up a fight because I completely concurred with his thinking!

But, hold on, I turned the tables on him.

I said I would move Shannon to the top of the list on one condition: that he allow me to take a photo of him and feature him on my card with a message for his new girlie friend. Eh? That stopped him in his tracks for five seconds because he hates having his picture taken. (Since I don't use him as often as I should, he snacks a lot and has put on a few pounds after reaching the shadow side of midlife. Well, you'll see for yourself.)

In spite of that, he agreed and I made this:

 (When you leave a comment, just please don't mention how plump he is.)

The card base is SU crushed curry and the patterned paper is DSP also from SU. It was perfect for making the coordination of the papers EZPZ. The sediment Hammy chose is from a NBUS set by Waltzingmouse Stamps called "Compact Sentiments Part Two." I washed the "oodles" with WOS. The sediment doesn't stamp with that cloud shape around it, but it looks like that in the packaging. I liked it so much that I traced around the stamp, fussy-cut it, and then walked a black marker around the edge.

And what stamp made Hammy? Well, cough, it turns out that I don't have a stamp of a hamster (how did that happen?). So, don't tell Kim Hughes, but while I'm waiting for the set that does have a hamster, I had to improvinate.

I took this stamp set from Paper Smooches called "A Little Lovin":

and I did this to the bunny:

Are you horrified? I just love that you can do this with clear stamps! I'll make an Easter card using him so you can see for yourself that you would never know he was ever separated from his ears. Versability rocks! Thank you, Kim, for making such whimsical and versatile images!

Then I masked the bunny's cute little bucky front teeth and stamped him. I drew a line to close off the evidence of surgery, added some hamster ears and, walla, Hammy was born! The black enamel dots perfectly mimic real hamster eyes.

Oh, and then, to give Hammy some fur I pulled out my decade's old Flock o' Fun, er, Fun Flock which is still as good as the day it was jarred. (I will never use this in my lifetime, so if anyone wants a pinch, lemmeno.) Who even remembers Flock? Didn't they make a movie called "The Flockers?" Were you in it? Maybe they'll ask me to be in the sequel.

Okay, I'll stop. Sorry, I'm chatty today and I shouldn't be because I have a lot of new friends I'd like you to meet. To finish, here are the two cards together:

You have to admit they make a darling couple!

I hope you are pleased, Shannon! I appreciate your wonderful cards, your friendship, and your terrific comments of support! And Hammy is so happy to have a little girlfriend!!

~~~

I'm going to link my card with the current Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge of "Anything Goes!"

I hope you'll be able to join in! The prize is a $30 store credit!

~~~

New Friends Corner:

I am extremely delighted to introduce you to six new followers today!

Ike of Ike's World. I met Ike through the always fun What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday hop. She has been blogging since 2010 and her style runs the entire gamut of card artistry, all the way to the dark side of the moon, or should I say depths of the crypts?! I love that we can appreciate each other's blogs and styles even if sometimes they are polar opposites. I think you will enjoy the diversity Ike provides!

Charlene of Expressions of Me! (Love that name!). Charlene has been blogging since 2008, which is a long time to be sharing her beautiful works of art, whether on design teams, as a challenge participant, or just for fun! I love her sweetly and expertly layered cards ranging from whimsical to elegant! Go potty and pour your beverage now so you'll have plenty of time for your visit without interruption!

Jill of Anjillic Creations. (Love the play on "angelic!") Jill has been blogging since 2010, not often, but when she does, it is worth a visit to see what she has made! Like so many of you, Jill goes the extra mile and decorates the inside of her cards with just as much passion as she does the outside of her cards. I aspire!

Pam of Pammie's Inky Pinkies! Please? What's not to like? Our pinkies DO get inky! Pam has been blogging since 2011. She is a wife, mother, and grandmother who loves to escape to the clutter of crafting, thus escaping from the clutter of life. Sound familiar? Pam makes colorful, well-executed, and sweet, sweet cards!

Danielle Vincent of D's Crafty Connection. Danielle lives in the beautiful state of Montana and has been blogging since 2012. Again, like a lot of you, she started her craftiness with scrapbooking (about 11 years ago) which has evolved into the fulfilling world of card art. Danielle produces her awesome cards in a range of styles and even teaches her craft!

Anjali Reddy of Paper ... Paper ... Paper. Anjali is a new friend from Malaysia. She has only been blogging since last month, but already she has the total hang of playing in challenges! Please make an extra effort to visit Anjali. You know I love it when you welcome and encourage brand-new bloggers, remembering how it felt when you first starting blogging and how cool it was to have visitors.

Actually, that feeling never changes does it? It's always cool to have visitors whether you've been blogging your cards a few weeks or for a few years, so I hope you'll find some time to visit all these inspiring blogs!

Welcome, ladies, and thank you so much for joining!!

~~~

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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You Go, Girl! ~ NBUS #109

Greetings, my friends!

It is only Tuesday afternoon in America, but it's Wednesday morning in Australia and it is my utmost pleasure to be here today with the first of my Guest Designer spots in March for the wonderful challenge Addicted to Stamps and More (ATSM).

My GD honor was the result of my exciting induction into the Wall of Fame at ATSM last week! (BTW, a lot of you got the impression that I had been selected for the Design Team itself, which is not the case; just so there is no misunderstanding.)

This week ATSM is asking that we make cards in honor of International Women's Day 2014 which will be celebrated on March 8, 2014. 

Here is the photo inspiration for this challenge:

The sponsor for this week is the fabulous Stamp Art Designs who are offering five free digis to the winner!

I made two cards for this very special occasion. Oddly enough, when I was looking for a sticker for another card, I came across this stash of old scrapbook quotes I've had since the 1900s, two of which are appropriate for my post today.

Here is my first card:

I love the visual imagery created by the women holding hands, as friends standing together against violence, and as cheerleaders and supporters, looking forward to the possibilities that await them as they journey through their lives.

I chose to keep the coloring monochromatic, using ombre shades of aqua. The woman stamp came to me via my friend Shirley who had originally received it (also containing a man) free in a magazine. Breaking up the couple (sorry!), I stamped the woman over and over to make the pattern. To be honest, I had to do several drafts of this "simple" one-layer card!

The sediment is from SU "Word Play," stamped in SU melon mambo. I brushed Wink of Stella on each of the ladies because, well, while we want to be treated as equals to men, we still want to be women!

I hope you will make a card to celebrate International Women's Day 2014. It's an intriguing challenge and I can't wait to see what you come up with!

~~~

Everything used on this card was from my stash. In fact, the image even came from someone else's stash before mine, so I'm also linking my card with the current Simply Create Too challenge which is to use only materials we have on hand; nothing new.

~~~

Continuing the color scheme, but adding two shades of gray in order to also play in this week's CAS-ual Fridays (CFC) challenge:

I made this second card:

The aqua is background, not part of the card.

For this card, the mum is from a NBUS Waltzingmouse Stamp set called "Vintage Garden Flowers." It is heat embossed in white embossing powder from Hero Arts. The awesome sediment is also NBUS from Studio Calico/Hero Arts 331074 using SU Bermuda bay ink. The gray papers are dry embossed with a Cuttlebug Dotted Swiss embossing folder.

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I used a few snippets on my card so I'm heading over to see some of my friends and the new fence at Pixie's Snippets Playground!

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Yummy prizes are on offer at CFC and Pixie's, so click on the links for the details on rules, sponsors, and the prizes! I hope to see you in the funny pages galleries!

~~~

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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A March Monday

Hello there!

And we're right back around to the freshness of a brand-new week, not to mention, a brand-new month!! Here we go again ... zawhooshing through another year!

I don't have a card today, just so you know in case you want to click right off, but I should have one for tomorrow. Life has kept me busy away from the Playhouse the last few days. I met my former work friends for lunch on Thursday that ended up lasting six hours! Six women, six hours, that's not really long enough when you think about it! Then Friday I had an unexpected occasion to help out a friend that took several hours.  And on Saturday we had the unexpected pleasure of joining the kidlets for a day in the City at the Exploratorium.

I didn't want you to think the hamster pummeled me to death, so I thought I would pop in with some photos of our Saturday outing, which was captured on film ~ oh, hahaha! I said that to a friend recently and we had a good laugh. Film! How old am I??

Enjoy!

 The rain clouds parted to reveal a glorious day!

Coit Tower

 The entrance to the Exploratorium.
The twins are peeking over the circle rim on the left.
That's me on the right with the Mister
reflected in the glass behind me. Very arty!

 Family fun. The Exploratorium is just what the name implies.
We used to take Dan there when he was the age his twins are,
so it's very special for all of us.

 Autographing their artwork from the pendulum art machine.

 A sculpture made completely from parts of DOLLS!
You're thinking, "Why didn't I think of that?" aren't you?!

 Me and the Mister.
Awww.

~~~

New Friends Corner

In between bouts of much-needed rain, I had a lovely visitor come to the door of the Playhouse! 

It's my pleasure to introduce you to Petra of Creative Cards. Petra lives in South Africa and she participates in many wonderful hobbies besides her card artistry: running, scrapbooking, cooking, baking, sewing, and knitting! I mean, WOW, I need a nap after just typing that! I think you will enjoy your visits to Petra and I know she will appreciate the encouragement you give her!

Welcome, Petra, and thank you for joining us!

~~~

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!

This week promises to be another busy one, and I'm really sorry if I haven't been around to see you. I hope to be able to do that soon!!

  

 

*Life Is Too Short!

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Pinch Me! ~ NBUS #108

Happy Day, my friends!

It is, indeed, a happy day in my little corner of the stamping world!

I'd like to interrupt my regular card shenanigans to bring you a special announcement and ask you to forgive a little self-boosterization. I am pleased as butterscotch to have the huge honor of being inducted into the Wall of Fame at Addicted to Stamps and More (ATSM)! It is another distinct honor to be sharing this recognition with the fabulous Bonnie and the fabulous Anni!

I hope you'll check out this challenge, which I always find to be tons of fun, if you don't already play there! Everyone is welcome, the Design Team is sensational, and you'll never run out of inspiration! Thank you so much, ladies! I'm thrilled and grateful!

~~~~~~~~~

My card today was sparked by the current Merry Monday challenge. It is a delightful color and sparkle challenge:

Who doesn't love aqua/turquoise? Scrumdidlyicious! My beautiful DIL chose turquoise for her wedding color and her sisters all looked stunning in their gowns. All that white and turquoise in the photo inspiration reminded me of that magical day.

Here is my card:

This card was simple to make, but it was hecka hard to photograph. Photographing a mirror card, as you know, is like trying to capture a photo of the imaginary troll living under the 12th street bridge!

I started with a white card base to which I applied the gorgeous striped paper from SU that I've had for a year or two. The silver stripes shine like foil. Over the PP I attached a piece of SU silver mirror card which I embossed with a NBUS embossing folder from Sizzix called "Thank You Set #5." Over the mirror card I applied the NBUS joy sediment which is from a Wplus9 die called "Seasonal Sentiments Die." The snowflake is also part of that set. The enamel dots are from My Mind's Eye.

Simple Dimple! (That's a little longer than QACAS.)

~~~

A lot of us are friends with Sandra (Sarn) who runs a once-a-month-Christmas-card-only challenge called "Rudolph Day." The link is only open from the 25th day of the month to the last day of the month and then you get to rest until the 25th day of the next month. Okay, well, maybe not rest, ezackly, no need to choke.

So, anyway, that's ducky and it's another great challenge to allow us to build up our stashes of Christmas cardlets all year long. But just a minute. This year Sarn threw us for a loop, put a wrench in it, and generally stirred the pot by changing the roolsh that you can only enter if you make TWO Christmas cards and enter them at the same time each month! 

It's actually a nice idea and what a good friend she is because then we build our mustaches sooner, doncha see? So the Rule of Two is a fabbie idea unless you totally forget until you are in the process of writing your post. In which case you stop writing and run and make a second card!

Like this: 

Since I had a scrap of this and a larger piece of that on the desk, and some ribbon and, "Hey," the hamster chimed in, "remember that decades-old textured paper you have in your drawer of white papers?" . . . a new design evolved.  And since this one is less busy than the first one, I can enter it in the current ATSM challenge which is "Clean and Simple (CAS)" and bring my post around full circle stop to where we started today.

I love it when that happens.

Sarn asks that we link a photo of our two cards together for her challenge, so this is for her:

 

***

Check out all the challenge links given to find the rules, sponsors, and prize details. 

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New Friends Corner

I am delighted to see a third gentleman has joined our party! Please help me welcome Ignacio Molina of Nicecrane Designs. Ignacio also has a company website and no doubt you have seen him generously sponsoring so many of our wonderful challenges in this stamping community. His designs, both freebies and for sale, are incredibly beautiful!!

Welcome, Ignacio, and thank you for joining!

~~~

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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Mwah!