Sunday 19 November 2017

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 305 and 306 - results

Well folks, we're galloping towards Christmas now - at  rate of knots! I managed to hit my Christmas card target and now any cards I do make will be much less pressured. Of course, the task of writing them all is no mean feat either, but if a hand made card makes someone happy then it has to be a good thing.

Let's get straight on with our Guest Designer for this fortnight who has some lovely tags to share - perfect for using up little snippets:
 
I just love these adorable tags! You can use the die cuts  left from negative dies to get more value from your snippets - brown or plain red wrapping paper, string and away you go! Parcel wrapping all sorted out :)

And it was Alison of Cranberry and Eggplant who made these and is our 'dancing in the spotlight' guest for this fortnight:
Another happy smiling face too!
This is what Alison said about the super tags and herself:

'Like many of you I have been crafting in one way or another for as long as I can remember. I'm also a bit of a hoarder, I have to hide my scraps from myself and keep them under my bed so no-one knows how much I have, not even me.

I'm always looking for ways to use up plain snippets and tags are a great way to use those thin strips which are always left after cutting a card base from A4.
I confess this idea is not original but it's from an online retailer rather than a blogger so I don't feel any guilt in copying. I saw the tags with the snowflake shaped hole, which I though were very pretty. Then I was left with the cut out snowflakes so I made another set with those. These are my design but not as clever!


Thanks to Di for having me as a GD, running The Playground and showcasing all the wonderful creations which get more amazing each week.' 


Thank you so much Alison for your lovely words and also for sharing a great idea. I have a loads of strips left over from cutting card bases so this is an idea I'll be pinching :)

Time now for the fortnightly picks and, as always, so difficult to choose:

And my first pick absolutely jumped out as a Gold Star card, made by Val of 'Aquarius Blog' it's just gorgeous!
To find out how Val made this wonderful card and the glorious satin-looking bird - do hop over to her blog where she explains it all. Well done Val and please feel free to take the Gold Star badge from my sidebar.

I had a lot of difficulty whittling down the rest of the picks and I chose the final three because I wanted you to see what can be achieved with minimal snippets on generally very CAS cards:
Charlotte (Lady Joyful) has given a perfect explanation of how she made this camouflage  technique card, giving the word 'thanks' much more definition by layering it onto multiple layers of pink die cut words. There's also a little tip as well on how to build up the word layers that's a really neat idea. Shaz in Oz has done a layered sentiment in the current challenge and used a similar technique. Always learning from you girls!

Steffi shared this brilliant Christmas card with us - what impact from the clever placement of three circular snippets and a sentiment! Those of you who might be in a panic trying to made a few Christmas cards in a limited amount of time might like to try this one? Granted you need a good eye for design to place those circles just right but I'm sure that Steffi would be happy for you to use her idea.

Right at the very end of the fortnight, Alison nipped into the Playground waving this really great card and it's another very clever idea. The Christmas tree is brilliant, and would stand on it's own if you're really pressed for time - although I do love how Alison matched the backing paper to the tree, pulling it all together. And, there are instructions to be found via a link in Alison's blog HERE. I made a few of these Christmas trees some years ago - they are such fun and certainly pack a lot of impact!

We had a total of 45 entries and no new Playmates. Numbers of entries seem to be falling - even compared to March, when we had this new format, we were up in the 70's. It could be that with Christmas approaching folk are extra busy I guess. Having said that, it does seem that many challenges are also finding a drop in entries. Who knows, perhaps those who predict that blogging will eventually run out of steam have a point?

Anyhow, let's stay positive and move onto the prize draw. Our winners of the 6" x 6" Studio Calico 'Snippets' paper pads and Woodware 'Numbers' stamp sets are as follows:
Both of you were playing for a complete prize of paper pad and stamp set - well done (and how weird to have two consecutive numbers popping straight out, but that's the whole thing about random numbers I guess)!

Can you please drop me an email with your addresses girls (it's also double confirmation that you were playing for the prize) and then I'll post your prizes off to you as soon as possible. My email address is on the right hand side bar.

Keep those snippets entries coming, you still have a week left to play HERE for weeks 307/308 remember! The prize is a Sugar Pea 'Nativity-Scape' die and a Paper Smooches set of sentiments called 'Christmas Sampler'. I will split the prize if you only want to play for part of it.

Love from the little white peril Parsnip - and of course me,






25 comments:

  1. so very beautiful cards!
    congrats to winners
    hugs

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  2. Wowzer! Totally love Alison's tags--why didn't I think of that?! The picks are just fabulous--congrats to all, including the winners! Oh no--someone thinks blogging is going to end?! It's one of the greatest blessings in my life as I have so many friends due to blogging. Thank you so much for keeping The Playground open, Ms Di!

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  3. Alison's negative die tags are brilliant. Love this idea, and I don't think I've seen it before. (I've been playing with tags via the 25 Days of Christmas Tags that's taking place this month, and it is a great way to use up the tiniest of snippets).
    Congrats to the pick artists and the winners.

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  4. Huge congrats to two dear ladies who won, clever playmates and their gorgeous creations and to the GDT with Alison!!
    ... what a clever snippets idea, could be snowflakes, trees or stars or any such.. well done!!!
    Thanks for sharing your inspiration!
    Shaz in Oz.x

    {Calligraphy Cards - Shaz in Oz}

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  5. PS Di have read on Christmas challenges numbers are up so could be bit seasonal too... xxx

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  6. Congrats to Alison for her GD!! These tags are so cute!! Great inspirations as always, love especially the ideas shown with the CAS cards!! Thanks for sharing!
    Congrats to the lucky winners!

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  7. What a clever and nifty idea for the tags from the guest designer - thanks also for various links which I will check out. Scrolling down - what a lovely surprise to see that my textured bird had flown into the gold award spot, made my day!!

    It will be a sad day if blogging does fall by the wayside and I wonder if it is because so many people seem to promote themselves via Face Book nowadays. I know not everyone feels comfortable with FB which means they will be missing out so keep on blogging I say. I for one would feel quite isolated if I couldn't catch up with cyber friends via their so interesting and informative blogs.

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    1. I agree - keep on blogging!

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    2. My view exactly. Instagram and Facebook seem to be much less fun and more about self promotion in many cases. xx

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  8. Ooh, thanks for the warm welcome and the double whammy. I am doing a little dance which is quite unusual these days. I used to love a school disco and my friend, Helen, and I danced until they turned the music off. Perhaps we could have a Playground Christmas Disco. Old tunes, of course. x

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  9. Replies
    1. And thank YOU Charlotte! It's not only a great card, super use of snippets but it also shows us a new idea. Keep them coming kiddo!

      Hugs

      Di xx

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  10. Congratulations to Karen and Jane. What great picks again this week. As always lots of inspiration and I was blown away by Val's gorgeous bird when I saw it. It's lovely to see Alison as your Guest presenter this time. I like her idea of hiding snippets underneath the bed. I might have to take that one on board! Barbxx

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  11. All the cards here are wonderful! Great designs! I LOVE the idea with the tags and die cuts.

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  12. Lovely to have Alison as Guest Designer; love her tags! The spotlight artist's creations are super stunning!! I've noticed a downturn in commenting throughout, too, Di. I put it down to so many I know who have moved to Instagram. I think it's a shame, really, but those of us who enjoy visiting and getting to know others will keep on blogging ... but we may be a dying tribe, sadly. Of course, here we are uber busy with Thanksgiving as well as trying to get our cards done. We are having the twinks for next week and then the weekend after that, too, so busy, busy times!! Congratulations to Karen and Jane! Lots of love, Darnell

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  13. Aww wow what an amazing set of gift tags love the use of the snowflake and no waste with the tag it was cut from and l love the pearls added too! your so talented Alison and many congrats to the winners x

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  14. Love the tags, the Gold Star is certainly well deserved, super creation.
    I'm sticking with Blogger, taken me years to get used to it and even now it throws me some times but better the devil you know than the devil you don't know.
    Have a good week.

    Kath x

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  15. Great to see Alison as your guest this time Di and those tags are a great idea, both the positive and the negative. Congratulations to Val, Charlotte and Steffi for three great snippety makes, and also to Karen and Jane for winning last time. Personally I think that blogging will continue. What goes around comes around as they say and I think that blogging in its proper form is very satisfying and interactive and is more like a diary and easy to look back at and see what one has done over the years, and easy for someone else to look back at what there is on the blog, which is what I find interesting. Facebook and Instagram are more like instant soundbites and I think on the whole are OK if all you want to do is show photos of your cards, but are very sterile and as far as I am concerned not very interesting to look at, and look at the friends we all have here in blogland. I wouldn't swap that for anything. x

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    1. Oh Pat - so well put - 100% on the nail there! It looks as if there are still a few of us with similar minds from today's comments :)

      Di xx

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  16. Another great set of picks as always and congratulations to the winners x

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  17. I finally have some signal dear Di. I'm so thrilled to see myself as one of the lucky winners. Thanks so much! Well done to all the pics too and thanks to ALison for her lovely GD spot. I have been blogging for 7 years and still love it..I have made such lovely friends, you included Di.Long may it survive! Thanks for all you do.Hugs xx

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  18. Love Alison's tag's, they are so cute and such a good way to use up those snippets. Glad I'm not alone in the amount of snippets I have. lol I love that these tags are sweet and simple, making it easy to get a lot made. Love your other picks as well, so beautiful are the projects. I'm always amazed by everyone and learn so much as well. Hugs, Brenda

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  19. A great selection of picks Di as always, lovely tags from Alison and congratulations to the winners.
    Janice x

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  20. Gorgeous projects all round. Congrats to everyone xoxo

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  21. Fabulous pics and ideas as ever, so much inspiration. I too have blogged less, but only because I've been so busy. I still love it and pop in when time allows (or 3am lol). I noticed a post from last August had some visits today, so like the others say, it's a good resource. Think you hit a nerve eh, going by all the comments! Happy crafting, hope to be back to play soon xxx

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This is a public blog. Those leaving a comment on any post on this blog or entering a piece of artwork into a linky do so in the knowledge that their name and blog link are visible to all who visit this blog and in so doing have published their own personal details and consented to my use of that personal information should they be selected as a winner or to accredit work.