Sunday Snippets - Especially For You

I initially made this snippets card with Christmas in mind but I don't have a small enough long Christmas sentiment die that would look right - so it's now for a Birthday, a Thank You or similar:

I remembered to take a photo of the leftover pieces of snippet for once!

I used:

- 5.75" x 5.75" square white card blank, side opening

- a snippet of white card for the background

- a snippet of Tonic 'Inca Gold' mirror card, backed with a snippet of Stick It adhesive sheet then die cut using a Gummiapan die called 'Doodled Gifts'

- peeled off the backing paper and popped it straight onto the snippet of white card for the background

- then covered a piece of white card with Altenew 'Gold Splatter - Blush' washi tape - it's 4.25" wide, very pretty and has been unopened for ages

- die cut a 4" x 4" square from the washi tape covered card, using a die from Heffy Doodle's 'Stitched Squares' set of dies and set it to one side

- used a piece of leftover washi tape covered card to die cut the little pile of gifts - after covering the back with Stick It sheet

- popped the pink washi pieces into the apertures in the pile of gifts - some of them were teeny tiny!

- die cut the white image panel using a smaller Heffy Doodle 2.5" x 2.5" 'Stitched Squares' die

- trimmed a piece of Tonic 'Inca Gold' to just leave a narrow margin around the pink panel and glued them together

- glued the image panel onto the pink washi covered panel

- added the whole panel to the front of the card using thin sticky foam strips and the 'glue stick' trick

- finally, covered the back of another snippet of Tonic 'inca Gold' mirror card with 'Stick It' adhesive sheet and die cut it using a die from Tattered Lace's 'Sentiment Borders' set of dies

- snipped the sentiment down to the three words 'Especially For You', which are repeated along the die several times, peeled off the Stick It backing and stuck it in place - finished!

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #63 HERE, the Altenew pink washi tape, Gummiapan 'Doodled Gifts' die, Tattered Lace set of 'Sentiment Borders' dies and also the Heffy Doodle 'Stitched Squares' dies set were all having a first outing! Four NBUS items in one go - whoopie!

- Creations in Pink - Challenge #71 HERE

Dudley Pupdate: Just in time for some hot weather here, Len trimmed Dudley this past week. He's like a little newborn lamb right now - looks so small with delicate little feet and legs now that his 'Ugg boots' have been shorn off. His hair grows back really fast so it's only a couple of weeks before he's all fluffed up again.

Sarn has just kicked off challenge #483 over in the Snippets Playground HERE  Hope to see you there - the paddling pool has a very slow puncture so I'm afraid there's a 'rota' for us all do a stint on topping the air up! Dudley is 'excused boots' as he would take forever to add even the slightest bit of air! 

Love as always, Dudley Dog and me,

Sunday Snippets - 'smile'

A fairly pink card from me:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank - side opening

- used an Altenew 'Bold Floral' stamp and Clair VersaFine 'Morning Mist' inkpad to stamp the flower onto a snippet of the same white card as the card blank (I have a 'thing' about whites being the same shade)

- then coloured the flower using Arteza Watercolour pencils and a fine brush

- die cut the flower using a matching die and set it to one side

- die cut a lattice panel from a snippet of Tonic pearlised 'Luna Silver', using a lovely unbranded die gifted to me by a kind friend and also set that to one side

- die cut the pink frame from a 5.25" x 4" snippet of pink linen effect card, using a die from Penny Black's 'stitched frames' set of dies - which left me with the centre as a further snippet for future use

- backed the pink frame with a 5" x 3.75" snippet of the same white card using very narrow red line tape

- at that point I could pop the frame with the white centre panel into the Misti and juggle the silver lattice die cut and the flower about to position the 'smile' sentiment, before removing the lattice and flower then stamping the sentiment using 'Morning Mist' again. The sentiment is from the Funky Fossil 'Making Memories' set of stamps that were part of the prize in Challenge #480 

- then stuck the lattice panel onto the front panel using Stix2 micro dots

- adhered the flower using thin sticky pads

- finally, stuck the front panel onto the card front using very narrow foam tape - and the glue stick trick of course

And, whilst everything was out on the desk I made a second card almost the same, just changing the colours:

I'd like to enter the pink card into the following challenges:

- Darnell's NBUS challenge #63 - HERE- the lattice die was having its first outing

- Allsorts Challenge #785 HERE - under the 'Anything goes' option

- Creations in Pink - Challenge #71 HERE

Dudley Pupdate: The other day, Len spotted a new bit of cooperation between Dudley and myself that I'd been keeping quiet until we both perfected it. Honka Duck is a pretty big thing for such a small chap to carry at the same time as he uses a strategically placed footstool to hop up onto our bed. So, if I'm sitting either in or on the side of our bed he brings Honka to me and holds him up in the air. That's my signal to take Honka from him and put him onto our bed so that Dudley can then skip around to the foot of the bed and hop up. It worked so seamlessly and Len's jaw did drop. 'How did he learn that one? was his question, at which I just shrugged as if it was the simplest thing in the world! Little does he know how long we've been working on it!

It was my turn for a little surprise on Thursday when I couldn't find Dudley anywhere - suddenly I spotted him and had to grab my camera to take this photo:

Len was sitting at his desk playing the guitar and Dudley was on his 'lookout' fleece covered table beside him .......... with his head resting on Len's arm as he dreamily absorbed some Spanish melodies! Apparently he was like that for around 20 minutes, I wonder it it's in his DNA? Havanese are descended from dogs of the Bichon variety that were originally taken to Cuba (hence the Havana link) by Spanish Traders many years ago. Len says my theory is 'barking' mad - ha, ha!

Remember, the results from Challenge #481  are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE 

Hope to see you on the swings for the current challenge as that runs for almost another week.

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - a triptych card

I decided to play with a new die set and made a triptych card - I've been admiring a few of these made by Playmates lately, notably Sarn, Brenda and Pauline:

I know - when I finally remember to take a photo of the leftover snippets - they're pitiful!

I used:

- a piece of pale ivory linen effect card from a FULL sheet, die cut using the main die from Studio Light's 'STENCILSL253' set of dies *** - I then used an embossing board to draw a line down the faint fold lines for easier folding 

- snippets of Tonic's fabulous pearlescent 'Majestic Gold' card - I keep every single scrap tucked into the currently open packets of each colour and the width of most of them is perfect for the set of dies I was using for this card

- used the larger Studio Lights single panel die to cut three gold panels and set them aside

- then, due to current limitations on lifting and bending (sigh) I pulled outa DCWV pa per pad from the bookshelf behind where I sit. I've had it for many years simply to gaze at and gently stroke much of the time! Yup, it's that super 'Mariposa' 8" x 8" butterfly themed paper pad that many of us totally loved a long time ago - so beautifully gilded on many of the sheets. I think I've only ever used two sheets before making this card

- spent some time browsing through the pad and finally settled on one single sheet to use - which I die cut using the smaller of the Studio Lights single panel dies

- glued the die cuts one on top of the other (Majestic Gold outer frames) and then onto the card front so that the card, when folded for posting, has the more colourful panel showing as the front

- all that was left to do was to add the words to the centre panel - taken from the Clarity Stamp 'Words Sticker' Collection - one longish sentiment trimmed into two parts worked a treat

- finished! The card will fit into a small slimline envelope with room to spare

***The Studio Light set of dies was nowhere to be found in the UK. I eventually tracked it down in the USA - paid a very reasonable price and only £2.01 postage. Sent via courier by air to the UK and got here in five or six days - wow! It's the genuine article ..... I did wonder if it would prove to be too good to be true but happily was proved wrong. If you're interested in 'being enabled' - just drop me an email and I'll send you the direct link as it took me ages to track down such an amazing deal! And I'm not on commission BTW!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

- Darnell's NBUS challenge #63. The set of 'Studio Light' dies I used for the triptych are NBUS. 

- Allsorts Challenge Week 784 - under the 'Anything goes' option.

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley's been enjoying lots of pleasant relaxed walks now that the rain has eased here - as well as making lots of new friends en route! Whilst he is reluctant (only initially) to have his harness on 'ready to go' - once out he's a real little trouper and just gets on with it! I have to say, if I've been left Home Alone - he launches himself at me for welcome home cuddles! Whoever knew we'd actually been apart for a whole week ......... or so it seems in his eyes. Mine too to be truthful! The house is far too quiet!

Remember, I've just kicked off a new challenge over in the Snippets Playground HERE.

Hope to see you on the swings, the weather really is warming up at last and no doubt Sarn will be enlisting help to inflate the paddling pool in readiness! 

Love as always, Dudley Dog and me

Sunday Snippets - Sticking together

We had typical UK Bank Holiday weather here in our neck of the woods, Very little sunshine, a good bit of rain and also dropped temperatures. Always the same!

Rootling through a basket of NBUS goodies, I came across a couple of unused sets of stamps needing a first airing. This is how I used them for my snippets card today:

I used:

- 5.25" x 4" white linen card blank, side opening

- snippets of coloured card which were easily to hand in orange and green - trimmed down to form a 'frame' for the image panel then glued together and set to one side awaiting the image panel

- then trimmed a snippet of white linen card down to sit nicely inside the 'frame' - flipping it over to use the plain reverse

- stamped a funky bird and sun using VersaFine Clair 'Morning Mist' ink and stamps from the AALL & Create 'Free Bird' stamp set

- used the same VersaFine Clair 'Morning Mist' ink pad to stamp the sentiment, in two parts. The sentiment(s) came from Altenew's little 'Crafty Add-On' set of stamps. Very appropriate and such fun!

- so, the image panel was already trimmed to size and all that was left was to colour it - using Zig Brush Markers. I like them but always feel the results looks somewhat childish - fine for this card but IMHO not for more delicate and subtle work. Horses for courses as they say.

- then added the image panel to the already adhered orange and green layer to form a framed panel 

- adhered the whole framed image panel to the card front, using very narrow sticky foam strips and the usual glue stick trick

- finished!

I'd like to enter this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #63 HERE - the stamp sets were both having their first outing.

And, into the current Allsorts Challenge, under the 'Anything Goes' rule.

On Friday I had cataract surgery on the second eye. So far all is going well and here's hoping it continues that way.

Dudley Pupdate: Hmm, Dudley wasn't totally quiet on the Friday trips to and from the clinic - even though we'd popped Honka Duck into his doggie booster seat with him. Perhaps he was yelling at him to get out ............... or pay the fare for his ride in treats?! Who knows what goes through the mind of Dudley Dog..

Len always pops Dudley's harness on him once it's obvious we're getting ready to go out as it lets him know that he's riding shotgun and is along for the ride. And, the past few trips he has actually jumped up wanting to get into his doggie booster box on the back seat of Len's car. That's a decent step forward, rather than him almost gluing his paws to the driveway in resistance! We'll just keep working on the rest!

Very importantly, the results of Challenge #480 are now published HERE . 

Do please come and play in Sarn's current challenge over in the Snippets Playground! Just scroll down from my results post - over in the Playground.

Love from myself and Dudley, xxx