Sunday Snippets - Spellbinders 'JOY'

My snippets card this time uses a Spellbinders set of dies called 'Joy' (S4-1012) that has been patiently waiting for at least a year to have a first outing. I kept looking at it and putting it back as I knew it would be a challenge and a half:

I used:

- 5.75" x 4" white card blank, side opening

- die cut the main JOY part first to get a handle on what size background area would work. I used a snippets of Tonic pearlescent 'Majestic Gold' card

- then die cut a Tonic satin mirror 'Black Velvet' rectangle using a die from the Heffy Doodle set of A6 stitched rectangle dies - shame they closed shop as their stuff is/was lovely

- then used a snippet of the same 'Majestic Gold' card to back the black panel and glued them together

- next came the really fiddly part! I die cut all the additional bits from snippets found in the back of an ancient paper pad by Hot Off The Press called 'ForeverChristmas Cards' so that I could closely echo the image on the die set itself and also keep everything nicely toned together. As the snippet were paper, I backed them using some 'Stick It' double sided sheet and a 200gsm piece of white card

- used my baby Altenew die cutting machine to die cut the red poinsettias, green holly leaves, gold centres for the poinsettias and the striped (using paper from the same pack, yay!) inserts for the word JOY

- used a glue pen to add the poinsettias, gold centres and holly leaves onto the main die cut then glued it onto the panel front using two glue pens in different sizes for ease and speed (I did it that way as I would have splodged onto the black background if the image was already in place! I know myself too well)

- at that point I added the striped JOY pieces to the gold die cut. I later realised that I could have die cut the letters into the main gold part then inset the striped letters - but they look fine as they are, IMHO

- added the completed panel to the card front, using thin sticky strips 

- finally, dug out the last of my stash of Mai Flowers small adhesive pearls and added some teeny ones to the tips of some of the firtree bits

- went and had a lie down in a darkened room with a wet flannel over my face

I made two cards the same and have enough snippets in the pad to make a third one. However, this is one of those die sets that I might only ever use the once. I don't know what it is about Spellbinder dies but I've found the same with others in their more intricate sets. Sometimes, no matter HOW hard you faff around, the little pieces you pop on (the poinsettias are particularly bad) just won't line up onto the main die cut. Turning them round and round just made me dizzy until my head hurt. How hard can it be to actually do some precision design and production work? I found the same with their beautiful Christmas Reindeer set a few weeks ago. Sizzix dies can be very complicated, but I always feel that the alignment is really precise so it's worth the pain. Grrrr. Hops down from soap box, sorry to be a 'Moaning Minnie'!

I'd like to enter this card into:

Darnell's NBUS Challenge#68 - the Spellbinders 'JOY' set of dies was having a first outing, at long last!

Also Allsorts Challenge 806 - where the theme is 'Christmas'

I'm so happy that Allsorts will be a fortnightly challenge from December 20th. It's one of my favourite challenges and this gives me more time to make an entry to fit their chosen theme - although one can still enter under 'Anything goes'

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley continues to find and settle into some of the smallest spaces around the house. We now refer to the shower room off our bedroom as 'Dudley's Office' without thinking twice about it. I'll start charging him rent if I find him setting up a desk and laptop in there - small business or not - pun sort of intended! During the early hours of Thursday morning Len was woken up by someone beside the bed on his hind legs with his paws on the bed, ready to tap him awake. Seeing the anxious little face, he knew something was afoot and they both shot downstairs into the garden, where Dudley was promptly sick. Bless his little heart for asking to go out!! Bad me, I slept soundly though it all! He was absolutely fine when it was 'get up, it's a new day' time so we have no idea what that was about. 

We have a new Challenge #493 being run by our lovely Sarn over HERE! Do please come and play - no doubt there will still be some gooodies left over from the Halloween 'trick or treating' haul in the tree house! When I saw Sarn trundling a wheel barrow full of Halloween treats I did wonder however we'd ever get though them all. So far, they're going down just fine and dandy!

Love from myself and Dudley,