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Woodblock Wednesday-August 2025

There’s been a lot going on around here, including a lot of crafting. Not all of that is ready to be shared. I did participate in the Pinkfresh Studio Create and Connect event this weekend, and have some cards ready to post later this week. I missed one class in order to go to Skylar and Ella’s juried horse show. Both of them are becoming accomplished riders, and it’s a lot of fun to watch them compete. I didn’t finish the second card in a couple of classes so I probably have 3-4 hours of videos left to watch. All that to say, getting a card together for Woodblock Wednesday was a last minute event. (Thus the less than optimal photographs.)

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I’ve been heavily into Christmas cards, so grabbed an old set of tiny trees by Hero Arts, appropriately named Tiny Holiday Trees. When I set out to stamp these I’m reminded of how much I rely on the MISTI for stamp placement and the ability to restamp. I may have an old stamp positioner around somewhere, but I have no idea where it is. This was the third attempt.

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I stamped the trees with two Simon Says inks. The middle tree is more olive IRL than it appears in the photo. I die cut the trees with a Stitched Rectangle by Simon Says and then matted it with the next largest one die cut with New Leaf cardstock (PTI.)

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I wanted an alternative to red for the card base and decided on Paper Source Night cardstock– a very pretty (almost) navy. The sentiment from Savvy Stamps was embossed on white on a scrap of the Night cardstock and die cut with one of The Greetery’s Pretext Banners. The final touch were three Pinkfresh Studio Iridescent Clear Drops for the tops of the trees.

It turns out that this card perfectly fits the new Freshly Made Sketches Challenge:

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52 Christmas Card Throwdown-Guest Designer

I was chosen as the winner in the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Technique Challenge: Foiling/Embossing.  And now I’m delighted to be Guest Designing for a new Technique Challenge: Teepee Card. 

Technique Challenge (13)

In all the many years I’ve been creating cards, I’ve never made a teepee card. It turned out to be a lot of fun. Not suprisingly, it wasn’t hard to find a good video with specific cutting and assembling direction. I chose some dark green cardstock from Concord & 9th for the base, and then used paper from two 6X6 paper pads for the additional layers. The shiny gold paper is from a very old American Craft pad–no specific name for the pad. The patterned paper is from Spellbinders Handmade Holiday pad.

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Once I had the card assembled, I could work on the decoration. I knew right away I wanted to use a new Spellbinder die set I found on sale not long ago, Christmas Bird Poinsettia. I didn’t use the bird or the candy cane that came with the set, but chose a variety of green scraps for the foliage and two slightly different reds for the poinsettia.

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All three sides of the card are decorated with the two papers. On one of them, I will either stamp an inside greeting or write a holiday message. 

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This is how the card looks when it’s ready to mail. It fits perfectly in a 5X7 envelope. 

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I’m not sure I would have tackled this challenge had I not been the Guest Designer, so I’m not only honored, but delighted to have made my first teepee card. There will probably be another one–maybe for a birthday card next time. I’m anxious to check out the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Challenge for teepee cards to see what the other designers have created. Come along, and give it a try yourself!

A Shimmery Birthday Cake

There’s lots of shimmer and sparkle on this birthday cake by My Favorite Things, but you can’t really see it in the first photo. 

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Both the pink and white panels were die cut with dies from My Favorite Things Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX. They’ve been in my bin for a long time but this is their debut. Both panels are cut from Papertrey Ink shimmer cardstocks. You can see the shimmer and sparkle better here:

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The cake feels a little retro to me, but I love the slightly wonky cake layers. The silver loops on the top layer as well as the cake stand were die cut from  silver cardstock. The candles were die cut from silver glitter cardstock and the flames from gold glitter cardstock. The silver embossed sentiment is from The Stamp Market’s Lots of Little Words. I think it, too, is making a debut here. The final touch were a few clear sequins. It’s been awhile since I pulled out sequins, but they worked here better than the clear drops.

I’ve been waiting to post this card until my friend received it. The timing is good, though, because the current challenge at Seize the Birthday is No Flowers. None here. It’s also going to Just Us Girls Challenge: Word Week: Birthday. Two of my favorite challenges at once! And, of course, it’s off to NBUS as well.

08-14-NoFlowers  JUGS.   NBUS

 

 

Elevated Rainbows

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There always seems to be one (or two) products that “speak to me” in every Pinkfresh release. There were several during the last release, but I managed to control any impulse I had. I’m not always so restrained, and the Elevated Rainbow dies and stencil are one example. When I purchase I try to find products that will work for a variety of occasions, people, and/or genders. These fit the bill, depending on the colors you choose. This time I chose more feminine colors, and one just went off to a friend who recently had a knee replacement.

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The sentiment from Waffle Flower’s Hey, There was foiled in gold and die cut with the coordinating die. 

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I sprayed the stencil with some clear shimmer spray before adding a few Pinkfresh Iridescent Dew Drops.

The next card is for the birthday card stash. I used a few more colors on this one, and it’s my favorite. 

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This sentiment, also foiled in gold, is from Spellbinder’s You Are Everything.

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This is off to Seize the Birthday Challenge: No Flowers, Darnell’s NBUS (the debut of Elevated Rainbows), and Darnell’s I.D.E.A.S. for Week 2 Dies. 

08-14-NoFlowersNBUSI.D.E.A.S.


 

Bright and Happy Zinnia

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I’m a huge fan of zinnias. We started some from seed this year, and they are finally beginning to bloom. This bright and happy yellow zinnia is a bit bigger than mine right now, and is appropriately titled Big Blooms: Zinnia (Papertrey Ink). A friend gave me the bloom and when I saw the current Just Us Girls Challenge: Die Cut Florals, I knew it was time to get it on a card.

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I started by die cutting the background with Papertrey Ink’s Border Bling: Tin Stitched. It was also a perfect time to use Papertrey Ink’s Alluring Brackets, another product finally out of the NBUS box. 

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The leaves were die cut and embossed with Concord & 9th’s Paper Posies and the sentiment is from Memory Box. 

This is also the week for Dies with Darnell’s I.D.E.A.S.

JUGS 787  I.D.E.A.S.

 

Christmas Wreaths

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My IG friend, Greta, is serving as the Elf at the Christmas Kickstart Challenge. I haven’t had much time to create this week with a household of company, but I pulled out two very neglected Christmas stamp sets, and managed to get two cards done for the “Let’s Wreath It Up” challenge. Since these are two neglected stamp sets, I’m sending them off to The Neglected Stuff Challenge.

The first card uses the Avery Elle Winter Wreath set. I’ve used the sentiments from this set on occasion, but I can’t remember the last time I used the wreath.

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After stamping it in green, I added some marker and colored pencil to the base of the leaves for a bit of contrast. Rather than stamp the berries, I used some AMuse red pearls. I’m beginning to run out of these. They’ve long been a favorite. Last time I looked AMuse was taking the summer off, but these red pearls were still available. 

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The sentiment from the same set was embossed in gold. I rounded the corners of the stamped panel with a corner rounder punch, and did the same for the read layer before adding it to the green card base.

A year or so ago, I used the Santa image from Papertrey Ink’s Santa’s Sleigh, but I don’t think I’ve ever inked up the reindeer wreath image. It’s so small and detailed, I stamped it on a piece of drawing paper from Art Pop. The paper has a bit of “tooth” to make it easier to used colored pencils.

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After coloring the image with Polychromos pencils I die cut it with Pinkfresh Studio’s Braided Circles. Then I cut both a red and a gold circle as framing with Ellen Hutson’s Essential Circle dies. 

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After adding it to a square card base (Concord & 9th’s Clover) I added a Memory Box Black Tab sentiment.

#101.   NeglectedStuff

 

Freshly Made Sketches

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This will be a quick one because the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge ends in just about an hour. If you read my previous blog post, you know I have a house full of family, some with Covid. Everyone is feeling better (but not necessarily well) today so I managed to get into my craft room for an hour or so.

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I knew from the first time I saw the sketch that I wanted to play along because I knew I had a NBUS die set in my box that would be perfect for it–Pinkfresh Studio’s Fancy Edgers. I had a choice of six edgers but chose the fancy florals to go with the die cut flowers I found in an envelope just waiting for a chance to used. 

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I have a zipper envelope with flower dies and, luckily, some premade florals and ink blended leaves or this card would never have come together so quickly. A set of tags was also in the envelope which made the card design even easier. The florals came from a Spellbinder’s set Be Bold Blooms. I’m not 100% sure where the leaves came from. I first created the panel for the tag, incorporating the top and bottom of the sketch design. Then I added the florals to the tag using a combination of glue and dimensional tape. I added a bow with black cord to the tag and mounted it on the panel with dimensional tape. 

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 One of the Memory Box Black Tab birthday greetings came to the rescue for the sentiment. 

This is off to Freshly Made Sketches, Darnell’s NBUS Challenge, and another entry to Seize the Birthday: Anything Goes. 

 

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

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Today is my daughter’s birthday, and the good news is she’s here to celebrate. The bad news is two days before she came, she contracted Covid from her husband (now recovered), and our granddaughter, Hannah, also has it. They’re wearing masks inside, and we did the best we could to celebrate. Overall, it’s been a bit of a downer since today was supposed to be spent with their cousins, aunt, and uncle at the pool with pizza and cake afterwards. We had hamburgers and hot dogs on the patio with cake afterwards. It’s been a quiet day with long naps when needed.

Here’s the card I made for her. Hannah made a card this morning, but I forgot to take a photos of it for this post. I tried to resist purchasing the quilt related products from Waffle Flower but in the end, I caved when I realized I had plenty of recipients who would relate to “quilted” cards. Sarah is a quilt maker, and I knew she’d enjoy it. The background of this card is a CASE of one on the Waffle Flower site. I loved the bright colors.

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After die cutting the Quilted Squares Texture plate, I used the coordinating stencils to color it. I love the way the colors blend together. They I cut and assembled many items from the Notions Die so I’d have plenty of things to play around with. I die cut an oval from The Greetery’s Hoopla Ovals Insert Die as a resting place for the spools of thread and the pin cushion, adding some ink blending to them for a sense of dimension. I love the scissors die cut from both matte silver and gold metallic papers.

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I chose a round sentiment from the Postage Collage Sew Fun Stamp Set for the sentiment and die cut it with the Postage Collage Circle die. 

I loved the tape measure from the Notions Die, but couldn’t find a place for it on the card front, so I added it to the inside with another Postage Collage die-cut sentiment added to a Stitched Circle die by Simon Says.

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I’m sending this off to Seize the Birthday: Anything Goes as well as to Darnell’s August NBUS. 

STB-AnythingGoes  NBUS

 

 

Woodblock Wednesday: July 2025 Edition

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Today’s card was designed with three challenges in mind: the monthly Woodblock Wednesday, and Inkspirational’s Birthday Challenge which closes on August 1st, and Seize the Birthday: Anything Goes.

Featured-woodblock-Wednesday-graphic-copy-1#346  STB-AnythingGoes

From the very first trip I made to a stamp store, I’ve loved Annette Watkin’s designs. One of these stamps is labeled 1992, and the other 1993. That’s just about the time I made my first trip to a stamp store! I see they are now referenced on Etsy as “vintage stamps.” I still love these, and they make a great CAS card.

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After coloring the flowers with Copic markers, I die cut the frame with Simon Says Stitched Squares. I added it to a square card base with dimensional tape. Easy peasy, and I hope I remember this design next spring/summer when I’m looking for some easy birthday cards to make. 

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Thanks, always, to Amy for hosting Woodblock Wednesday. I love looking through the woodblock stamps I saved, and often wish I’d saved a few more!

 

 

Season’s Greetings

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I was totally inspired by Greta’s Pinkfresh Studio’s Folk Snowflake and when I saw the 52 Christmas Throwdown Challenge calling for Foiling or Heat Embossing I knew it was time for me to CASE Greta’s card. The card also works for the Pinkfresh Studio July Challenge: Anything Goes which I’m always happy to enter. 

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I embossed the snowflake in silver and used three Pinkfresh Studio Inks, Slumber, Blue Jay, and Sapphire to color it. Next, I cut one of Pinkfresh’s Nested Blanket Stitched Hexagons from silver shimmer cardstock. Before adding the snowflake, I die cut a snowflake from a foam sheet for dimension. I forget about using foam, but it worked well here. I tried the panel on a variety of card bases, but liked light blue best. I silver embossed a greeting on the bottom from Reverse Confetti’s Christmas Card Greetings. I gave thought to using a slightly larger sentiment on top of the snowflake, but I couldn’t bring myself to cover up any of it.

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Before adding the snowflake to the card, I die cut another snowflake from a sheet of white foam. I don’t know why I forget about this. It’s so much easier (and sturdier) than applying a lot of dimensional tape. The final touch was adding a bit more sparkle with a few of Pinkfresh Studio’s Jewels in a beautiful blue. 

July tech 52.   MonthlyChallenge-BlogTop-July2025_f736f66a-cb21-491b-811c-087bb0cb3186_1100x copy

Iconic Christmas

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As soon as I saw the Just Us Girls Moodboard for inspiration this week, I knew exactly what I wanted to use.

JUGS 784

I bought Iconic Christmas from My Favorite Things four years ago when it was released. I thought it was just charming, but could never face the prospect of stamping and die cutting all the small images. This NBUS item was in the Christmas bin labeled: Use it or Purge It! I’m so glad I found the inspiration to put it to use. It is, indeed, charming. The process of stamping and die cutting was a bit easier after watching a video by Yana Smakula. You can see right away that what inspired me was the scattered pattern of tiny images. Mine are more clustered than scattered, but I think you’ll see the inspiration.

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I die cut many more images so I’d have choices about how to group them together. After arranging them, I glued some of them to the card panel, and added dimensional tape to others. The little stars were stamped and gold embossed. To add some more fun to the card, I scattered some Pinkfresh Studio Clear Gems with Gold Dust. The sentiment is from Reverse Confetti’s Christmas Card Greetings. Sadly, neither MFT nor Reverse Confetti are still in business.

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The cream cardstock panel as well as the gold metallic “frame” were die cut with Gina K’s Masterlayout #1. They were then added to a Pure Poppy card base. I’m happy to have another Christmas card in the stash, and I do believe I’ll come back to this set again. This is off again to Darnell’s NBUS collection. 

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Christmas in the Round

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To my surprise, one of the dies I discovered in the NBUS box was a small floral from Waffle Flower, Folk Art Floral. I don’t remember purchasing it, but it made the perfect flower for a Christmas card in the round. The Christmas Kickstart Challenge is Merry Go Round. After die cutting a few of the florals I made three Christmas cards. Two are this design:

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After die cutting and assembling the floral, I die cut the largest of The Greetery’s Nordic Circles. The sentiment is embossed in gold from Penny Black’s Happy & Bright.

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I added a gold pearl to the center of the floral, and three more below as an embellishment. It’s still a very CAS design.

For the second card, I layered the florals to create a more dimensional flower. The rest of the design remained the same.

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In addition to The Christmas Kickstart Challenge, I’m adding this to Addicted to Stamps and More: Christmas.

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Cupcakes

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Unlike the last post where I used recently purchased products, the Waffle Flower Postage Collage Cupcake stencil and Hey, Cupcake stamp set have sat in the NBUS box for several months. When I set the goal of using 31 unused products in 31 days, I knew this was one I really wanted to put to use. Like the Grand Finale set from the last post, this set will see a lot of use. It’s good for kids, teens, and adults, and there are so many colors that can be used with it. 

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The stencils are very easy to use and line up nicely. I decided on pinks and teals and had a lot of fun playing with this set. I added some details to the candles with a white gel pen, and some Rock Candy Glitter for a sugary topping on the cupcakes.

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I sent an earlier card to Seize the Birthday Anything Goes. This one’s for the current theme: Food or Drink. And it’s another for NBUS. I hope to fill up the gallery by the end of the month.

07-10-FoodDrink.   NBUS

 

Grand Finale

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Not all the products in my NBUS box have been there for months. Some are more recent and the Grand Finale die and stencil set by The Greetery are a more recent purchase. When I look at purchasing new products I want to be sure I can use them for a variety of occasions and groups of people. These, like the Yay! product suite also by The Greetery will work for birthdays, all kinds of celebrations, and a wide age-range of recipients. I used the Yay! for two graduations this spring and summer, and expect to use Grand Finale multiple times as well. This card (the second one I created) went to a stamping buddy of mine who celebrated her birthday recently. 

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The die etches a wonderful design on the card as well as openings on each of the fireworks. I backed the panel with silver holographic paper and then stenciled the pink and orange bursts. 

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You can get a sense of the sparkle from the holographic paper in this photo. I also used it to die cut the sentiment from Papertrey Ink’s Bold Borders: Wave. I stacked three white die cuts of the sentiment under the holographic paper for some dimension. I added Pinkfresh Studio’s Clear Iridescent Drops for some added sparkle. 

The die set also includes some small pinwheels which you’ll see in the next card. Here I added one on the inside. It also uses some of the holographic paper.

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The inside sentiment is from an old set from Papertrey Ink. Several years ago, I decided to remove the stamps from the CD cases that Papertrey Ink used for their stamps. I put them on acetate and was sometimes able to peel off the label to add to the cardstock I backed them with. If not, I wrote the name of the set on the paper. Somehow neither of those happened so I have no idea what set this is from. I still have one box of Papertrey Ink stamps that remain in their CD cases. I lost all interest in repackaging the rest of them. 

Here’s the first card I made. It uses all the same products, but I added some pinwheels to the front. I thought it was too busy, but ultimately my husband and I decided it was OK. Nonetheless, I much prefer the second, cleaner-looking card. 

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I’m sending the first card to Seize the Birthday (anything goes) and to Darnell’s NBUS.

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Color Hues #114

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Bonnie has chose a very versatile color combination for the mid-July Color Hues Challenge: 

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I decided to try a new-to-me technique I saw on Tina Smith’s blog called “die cut dipping.” You smoosh some ink from an ink pad onto a glass mat or similar surface, spritz it with water and dip your die cut into the ink. Tina started with colored cardstock, but because I had previously die cut multiple images of the flowers, leaves, and pot from Altenew’s Houseplants dies, I needed to use a clean waterbrush to smooth out and add ink to missing spots on the die cut. Even as I was going through the process, I wasn’t sure if it was going to work, but I’m quite happy with the results.

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I also added some interest to the leaves with a finger dauber and a bit of darker ink. The background for the hanging basket is Subway Tiles by Taylored Expressions. The leaves cover most of the pot, but it was one of my favorites from using this technique. There are four piece to that die cut and it looked so realistic. 

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Once again The Greetery came to the rescue with the perfect sentiment. I used another of those sentiments on an earlier Color Hues card, but this time I added the flourish and die cut it with the die from Garden Gateway die which I have never used before. (Sadly, the Garden Gateway remains in the NBUS box.)

I hope you’ll jump over to the Color Hues blog to see what wonderful designs our Guest Designer, Von Marie, and our Design Team have created. And, of course, we’d love to see you in the gallery!

This is definitely off to Darnell’s NBUS link since Houseplants have been in that too-full Need to Use box for far too long. It’s also off to the TicTacToe Challenge. I used the left-hand side of the grid going down: foliage, layers, flowers. 

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