Drawstring flower card

At Newbury ArtStamps show I was mooching round the Ribbonbox stand with a pal and got my eye on the demonstrator and what she was working on. The most beautiful flowers, just made from petal edged satin ribbon with a drawstring through the back along the straight edge:

Needless to say I was 'In like Flynn' and bought some white and also some cream to have a play. They have red too I found out today so stay tuned as some is on order, for me as well as the toy box:

 

I used:

- 5" x 7" card blank, made using SU's 'Wisteria Wonder' card stock

- Memory Box 'Grand Happy Birthday' die and a couple of sheets of mauve spotted paper from 'Wild Rose Studio's 'Wintry Christmas' paper pack - it's contemporary mauve, pink and aqua stripes and spots and ideal for non-Christmas cards

- to make the flower I snipped a length of seven petals from the white ribbon and then pulled them into a circle using the drawstring which runs along the straight edge before tying the string tightly. Then used Pro Markers ('Amethyst' and 'Orchid') to lightly colour the petals before popping a little dab of 'Icicle' Stickles on each one and rubbing it around with my finger

- finishing touch, a mauve glass and silver brad through the centre of the flower before sticking it onto the assembled card using the glue gun

I try most weeks to make a Christmas card for Merry Monday - this week they threw me just a tad - the theme is actually a Birthday Hop to celebrate LeAnne of the Design Team's Birthday. So this is my contribution - Happy Birthday LeAnne! What a lovely lady she is - do go and check her blog out :)

I'd also like to enter this card into the current Less is More challenge, where it's 'Anything Goes' this week.

Di

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Upcycled Christmas cutie

In the box of 'received Christmas cards' there's been one really cute image pleading to be re-used. She finally got her turn 'cos the current challenge over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge is 'Cute' - and she's also going to play in Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for July, where it's always 'Anything goes'. Tell me she doesn't pull at your heartstrings:

I used:

- A6 cream card blank

- the adorable label 'topper' which I carefully prised off the front of a Christmas card - just look at her twiddling her toes :) The label has been used absolutely as it was, ready sparkled with the ribbon and bow already there. The only addition I made was to add a teeny snowflake and little sparkly gem to her 'slipped halo'

- used snippets for the background layers, pale pink, snowflake patterned then white sparkly card and a teeny snippet of some cream Christmas sentiments paper which dates back many years

- just added a few more snowflakes, punched using different Woodware punches from the original card the little angel came on and topped off with sparkly gems 

Not sure quite why I'm still bashing away at Christmas cards as am well on target - at this rate I'll have run out of steam when other challenges start their Christmas themes :(

Di
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Let's go camping

As a kid I totally adored 'playing tents'. Back garden in Summer and indoors in Winter. I seem to recall that the 'tents' always incorporated one of those large wooden drying/airing horses/racks and a mixture of blankets :) The image on my card for today took me right back to those days, even though Annabel's tent is much smarter :) This image comes with the LOTV 'Here comes Annabel' pre-coloured Art Pad and, as I wrote here the other day, isn't available as a stamp at the moment. Here's the card I made:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- pre-coloured image from LOTV's 'Here comes Annabel' Art Pad, die cut using a Spellbinders Hexagonal die with the bottom pointed section chopped off - mounted onto SU's 'Crisp Cantaloupe' backing

- the card was topped with SU's 'Crisp Cantaloupe' and then a piece of DP from Papermania's Capsule Collection 'Sunshine' paper pack

- the sentiment is from SU's 'A Word for You' set, stamped using Memento 'Grey Flannel' ink then punched using SU's 'Word Window' before being layered onto a split SU 'Modern Label', punched from SU's 'Crisp Cantaloupe'

- the flourish was die cut using a snippet of green card and Cheery Lyn's 'Mini Fanciful Flourish' die

- the flowers were die cut using Poppy Stamps 'Small Hydrangea Blooms', three layers per flower, and a little crystal dome popped in the centre of each

And now Annabel is going to pop her head back inside the tent and sit quietly in the dark cuddling Patch the dog - byeeeeeeeee :)

Di
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Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 135

Wow, what a scorcher of a week in the Playground (and we had 71 entries, wahoo!!) - Parsnip has taken to wearing a knotted handkerchief on his head to ward off the sun when he nips out to refill the lemonade pitchers, which he kindly left under the tree house for you :)

So, with the sun belting down what did I do? Yup, made a Christmas card for my snippets card this week:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- from the snippets folder, a variety of plain blue card stock (mostly SU I expect) - the more turquoise piece was used to cover most of the card front

- the image was stamped onto a snippet of white card, using Clarity Stamps 'Large We 3 Kings' clear stamp and Ranger 'Jet Black' archival ink. I then covered the image with double sided sticky film, peeled off the top layer and sprinkled Cosmic Shimmer ''Diamond Sprinkles' over the whole image (the photo almost picked it up!)

- then I used one of the plastic templates from the 'Stamps Away Patch Work template, set one' to draw the outlines on darker snippets for the strips of blue card. The template is also perfect for actually re-positioning the cut outs of course, I just used some slivers of removable tape to keep it in place when I was sticking the strips of darker card down. I'd already edged those strips using a silver 'Sakura 5mm Calligrapher pen'

- at that point I popped the assembled and glittered '3 Kings' image onto the card using thin sticky pads to add some dimension and sat gawping at what was a very plain card indeed. I'd veered away from using any patterned snippets but the result was just too stark, sigh

- so, out came the Christmas peel offs - which have almost been thrown out on several occasions. All I added was some sparkly dots down either side strip (Anita's 'Glitterations') then strips of silver holly top and bottom from Anita's Dimensions 'Holly' stickers. The lovely thing about these stickers is that bits of them (most of the holly leaves themselves) aren't adhesive so they can be flicked up to add dimension

- final touch, little clear crystal gems on the holly 'berries' - as well as one in the centre of the Star of Bethlehem' on the stamped image

I'd like to enter this into the current challenge over at Winter Wonderland, which is 'On the move'. I know this often makes people think of skating, ski-ing and such, but we often forget the two really important journeys of Christmas - Mary and Joseph and then the Three Kings.

Gosh it's another scorcher as I'm typing here so I think this could be a quick canter through the weekly 'picks'.

I thought this was such a lovely Christmas card, soft and very pretty - made by Maarit.

Stunning work here by Hazel, and a real touch of ingenuity - who would have guessed that the beautifully filigree panel is actually a votive wrap, popped onto a snippet of gold card. Full marks Hazel for thinking outside the box!

Viv made this totally amazing graduation card - I love all the detail and it's such a clever design!

Kitty made this fantastic 'New Home' card for her 'Honey' with a lovely story behind it. Loads of snippets used here - right down to some torn cardboard from one of the packing boxes. We all wish you loads of luck and happiness in your new home Kitty - do please still come and play!

I love the clean and crisp look of this card, made by Pat. White, brown and sunflower shades - perfect!

And from our Queen of Innovation, Mrs A - here we have a fabulous lantern! To see just how Mrs A made it - just hop over to her blog! I bet a few of you will be trying this one out.

I love this card made by Sandy J - right down to the checked snippet just like a rug or towel we'd have taken to the beach :)

Karen P is always pushing the boundaries and trying new techniques, as well as using up snippets of course. What really caught my eye here is the 'Impressionist painting' look that Karen captured by stamping the image in grey before colouring it. I keep forgetting about that tip and it worked brilliantly here!

Eve caught me a bit with this last minute card, I wondered if I was off on a surprise holiday! Eve freely linked to where she got this idea from - isn't it a fabulous card? A design to remember for the future!

So, that was a quick canter, which actually took me longer than planned needless to say - Len is out all day today but I need to be downstairs looking innocent when he gets home as am supposed to be limiting time spent at the keyboard :)

We had two new playmates join us this week - wahoo!!

First of all, Brenda in IN came to play with this great card. Super idea to pop the face in the window - it reminds me a bit of when our Queen photo bombed a selfie just this week at the Commonwealth Games :)

Now, a little plea - right now Brenda doesn't have many visitors or followers as she's quite new to this malarky. It would be great if some of you could visit - and even nicer if anyone can come up with a solution to Brenda having problems when she tries to upload photos to her blog and gets the message that they're too large. Anyone able to help by hopping over with some advice please?

And right before the gates closed, Lucy W arrived with this absolutely gorgeous card. I love how the colouring perfectly matches the paper, loads of lovely detail.

What I read on Lucy'sLucy's profile moved me deeply:

Introduction

My names Lucy I'm 24 from West Sussex (UK) and I have Severe ME and am bedridden. I'm not able to do much but love cardmaking!

Bragging rights

I live in a dark quiet room too poorly for visitors. I do card making for short periods throughout the day in between naps/rests and it keeps me focused and happy as I love it so much!

I don't know about you girls, but I truly didn't see one teeny ounce of self-pity from Lucy. That made me stop and think about how so many of you have health issues and just battle on - taking pleasure in making cards and creating beautiful work. Bless you all my lovely blogging friends - got me almost in tears here :(

OK, let's move on and it's time to see who Mr Random picked to win the MFT 'Notebook Edge' die and the LOTV 'Here comes Annabel' Art Pad - and our winner is:

Jules

 

Oh well done to Jules - I'm sure most of you know that Jules started off the Snippets Challenge and always joins in our weekly fun. I've peeked back though your blog Jules and I already knew you like LOTV images (even though I see you normally colour your own maybe these will be good for some quick cards for the cards for sale box?) AND, that you have in the past used shorthand notebook paper with the torn edge in some designs - flippin' enterprising gal :) So, I hope you likey your prize - I'll post it later in the week!

Oh wow, I got a shock at how many of you entered at least three cards over the last couple of week, and thereby qualified for the draw for one of the three Penny Black 'Soft Wings' stamps on offer. I counted 16 of you, so you had just under a one in five chance. I numbered the order in which you'd qualified and then ran the Random number generator, which came up with these three winners:

Bonnie, Shaz in Oz and Sandra H

Well done girls, I'm sure I have all your addresses so will post the stamps this coming week!

I do so wish I had another dozen or so fluttering around here so that everyone could be a winner :( Having said that, I suspect I was pretty lucky to even get my hands on three of those stamps and they only arrived here on Friday - be still my thumping heart!

This coming week's prize is of course linked to my own snippets card:

It's a Clarity stamp called 'We 3 Kings - large', the same as the one I used today, along with a pot of Cosmic Shimmer 'Diamond Sprinkles'. The stamped image is 70mm x 78mm. If you've never used Clarity stamps before, this one comes already mounted onto its own perspex 'handle'. Also, although the image comes stained blue it's a good idea to clean the blue from the stamp using something like nail polish remover if you intend to use something like a clear Versamark embossing pad so that you don't stain the pad. As I know Maggie and others will agree, Clarity stamps do produce really crisp and clear images - I love them!

As usual, the snippets challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 2nd August and will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say 'No thank you' in a comment if you wish to still play but not be the winner of the prize. And of course, if you're only interested in one or other of the items, then feel free to say so as well.

Mr Linky is below - please let me know if you have any problems linking, it's easy for me to sort out so don't struggle on alone :)

Have a great week!

Di (and a hot and sticky wave from Parsnip)
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Rudolph Day - July 2014

Whoosh, it's here again - from now until the end of this month you can link two Christmas cards (in one post remember) into Sarn's Rudolph Day challenge. Which is two less to think about later in the year :) I inked up a NBUS Penny Black Christmas stamp for the first time, what a cute name it has ........ 'The Light Brigade'! Tee, hee:

As Sarn asks us for two cards, I made two almost exactly the same - only the sentiment wording is slightly different:

For each card I used:

- A6 white card blank

- Penny Black 'The Light Brigade' stamp, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' and coloured with Faber Castell Polychromos pencils and Sansodor blending solution. I tried Inkssentials 'Cut-n-dry' pen nibs instead of Derwent blending stumps with the Sansodor and much prefer the precision it allows - also the end of the nib didn't go 'raggedy' on me! Thank you Irene for sending me the nibs, mwah :)

- the image was then die cut using a die from the Spellbinders set called 'Resplendent Rectangles' and layered onto an oblong of 'Real Red' card. I'd tried lots of different dies over the image for 'best fit' before suddenly spotting this long narrow one sitting quietly in the Spellbinders set and can see it being very useful!

- the plain green and red card came from the snippets folder, but I know it's SU's 'Certainly Celery' and 'Real Red'

- patterned papers are from the Back to Basics Christmas 'Modern' pack

- sentiment is Craftwork cards, layered onto an oval of 'Certainly Celery' which was punched with SU's 'Large Oval' punch

I'd also like to enter today's card(s) into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge where this week the theme is 'Layer it up'. I just counted eight layers on top of the base card :) And I'd also like to enter Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for July, where it's always 'anything goes'.

So that's two more for the box - and still on target with 12 Christmas cards per month.

Di
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New home

A bit like Sympathy cards, New Home ones (when folk let you know they're just about to move house) can catch you on the 'hop'. So this card is for my standby box:

I used:

- A6 white card blank

- image stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad and a Stamposaurus Stamp called 'Town House - small' (bought at Newbury the other week). The image was coloured with Pro Markers and then die cut using a 'Stitched Rectangle' die by Lil'inkers

- plain brown card for the main backing layer as well as a 'frame' for the image, also die cut using a 'Stitched Rectangles' die

- the plaid backing paper is by LOTV from their 'Country Gent' paper pad

- sentiment is an Elzybells one, stamped using Brilliance 'Pearlescent Thyme' ink pad and layered onto a rectangle of brown card

- finishing touch - white Josy Rose nail heads

I've been asked about the Lil'inkers dies - made in the USA. Unfortunately they don't export the stitched squares or rectangles to the UK (as yet and I suspect it's unlikely they will do so in the future) but there is one UK stockist who does have some of their other goodies including stitched hearts, ovals and other shapes . They also have some Winnie and Walter stamps, yay!. The stockist is 'Make The Day Special'  . Do be aware though that they're often out of stock of stuff but certainly worth a first try if you're not in a hurry for something.

So, I ordered my Stitched Rectangles dies from the USA directly from Lil'inkers. In fairness the girls were very good and reduced the postage to $10 when they realised I was only ordering one item - I'd done that so as not to be stung for import duty. Hey, ho though - the customs declaration included the postage (ie. the full invoice amount I'd paid) and I DID get stung for customs duty. What was double annoying was that Royal Mail charge £8 to process the flipping charge!

So, if you UK gals do order from Lil'inkers can I suggest that you add a little note to the effect that they really shouldn't include the postage in the value of the parcel. That's what took my order over the top, sigh. And that, girls, is why I'm using the dies as much - need to get my money's worth outta them!

Di
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Butterfly challenge - spots and stripes

The latest challenge over at Mrs's A's butterfly house is to use spots and stripes. I went for fairly quick and easy, whilst trying not to melt in the heat:

 I used:

- 5" x 7" white card blank

- SU 'Certainly Celery' card stock for the backing

- SU pink and green Subtles designer papers, bought ages ago. The pink is probably 'Pink Pirouette' and the green is certainly 'Certainly Celery' :)

- topped the plain green card stock with a rectangle of pink, striped side facing up and then cut a smaller panel to use with the stripes facing down

- backed the edges of the panel with lacy strips, die cut using MFT Die-namics 'Faux Crochet Border' and a snippet of 'Certainly Celery'

- the butterflies were cut using SU's 'Beautiful Wings' Embosslits and spotty SU green card stock

- 'Happy Birthday' was die cut using a snippet of 'Certainly Celery' and the Britannia Dies 'Happy Birthday' word set

- last touches - white pearls down the bodies of the butterflies and one as a dot above the letter 'i'

Why don't you join in Mrs A's challenge if you don't already? There are prizes to be won but, most of all, the girls who play are such a lovely bunch - needless to say quite a few are also Snippets Playground playmates!

Di
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