Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #418 - Christmas Draw - Prize Z

Phew - finally! Here's the 26th and last prize in the 'Snippets Playground Christmas Draw': 

I used:

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

- snippet of Tonic pearlescent 'Red Velvet' card, trimmed to 5" x 3.75"

- then the fun began! I was using two Clearly Besotted stamps sets - 'Picture It Christmas' for the scene and 'Baa Humbug' for the sheep and a sentiments

- took a piece of white card - A5 and much too big but I wanted to be able to overdo the background blending and then trim it down to size

- right now I can hardly move in here due to the Grand Draw crafting frenzy having taken over my life so I couldn't easily get to my sheets of masking film but just used 'fully adhesive' Post-It notes - bit more fiddly as I needed two side by side for the scene but it worked well, with careful fussy cutting - phew!

- first of all, stamped then masked off the scene image, top and bottom cut to the lines and those fiddly little trees in the distance - I used my much loved Tim Holtz 'Tumbled Glass' Distress Ink pad and a make-up brush for this step, keeping the lower part of the scene lighter than the sky. Again, I have an Altenew fabulous set of four shades of blue that would have been perfect but just can't get to them right now! One BIG sort out is well overdue but at least I pop stuff into fairly organised 'used, supplies, unused new stuff to put way etc.) baskets - ready to have a blitz later on in January

- next I stamped the three sheep (all stamping was done using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a Misti as usual) and coloured them, bearing in mind colours that could also be used for the background to draw the scene together - and after months I finally got to use my Pro markers again. Hooray! Len did the 'reaching up, lifting down and then replacing once I finished' to be on the safe side but I do think I could have managed it myself - hooray!

- used the scenic back ground as it was, untrimmed, and coloured it in, using the Pro markers I already had used for the sheep, plus a few additional ones 

- coloured the gold star using a Signo 'Sparkling Gold' pen

- then trimmed the background panel to just a teeny bit less than the red backing and glued it in place

- fussy cut the sheep 

- positioned and checked where the sheep would go and then stamped the 'baa humbug' sentiment. before glueing the sheep in place

- and then stamped the final sentiment at the top left of the card - and it blurred! What? Right at the final hurdle as well, sob

- ran around the house screaming like a banshee for five minutes and then just re-stamped the sentiment onto a snippet of white card and punched it out using a SU oval die, before glueing in place

- finished - and then I headed for a darkened room to lie down for a few hours!

I'd seen a very similar card design to this one, over on Clearly Besotted, and loved it, which is why I bought the background stamp to go with the sheep - and it will be great to use with loads of other Clearly Besotted or a lot of other sets of 'cute' stamps. 

And here's the prize:

It's two sets of Clearly Besotted stamps from me - 'Baa Humbug' and 'Picture It Christmas'. Sorry a few of the stamps aren't the right way up in the packets - obviously the way the manufacturer packs them to get the optimum number of stamps on a sheet! Two great sets of stamps - those sheep and the sentiments crack me up and I love the snow scene and all the sentiments on the other set. ☺

All the rules can be found on the post for Sunday 12th December 2021, along with Mr Linky for your single entry. I do suggest that you read the rules thoroughly - particularly about the theme for this Grand Draw Challenge.

Just leave a comment on this post you're currently looking at, if you would like the chance to win today's prize.

Remember, the Grand Draw challenge, including all comments, will totally close at 11am on Saturday 8th January. 

We have now donated £300 (including Gift Aid) to USPCA, the charity in Northern Ireland that rescued Lynn's beautiful Westie Ruby and it's all been down to your lovely prize donations. Thank you all so much.

All that remains is for me to also thank you all for joining in, all the lovely comments, a massive thank you to Sarn for pitching in and helping me out with commenting, being my 'wing gal' and a million other things - and once again, those of you who kindly donated prizes. I hope you all had fun in this very last Grand Draw. At times, I've almost been on my knees here. However - onwards and upwards! Ha - if I can get up off my knees! ☺

As they say, see you on the other side ................. over in the brand new Snippets Playground! Sunday 9th January at 00:00 UK time - it's a date! I will have a link on here for you to skip over and don't forget, I will still be using this as my personal blog!

Love from Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #418 - Christmas Draw - Prize Y

Here's the 25th prize in the 'Snippets Playground Christmas Draw':

It's such a sweet, smaller sized set of stamps and matching dies, by Poppystamps and called 'Poinsettia Joy'. I think these would be brilliant for tag making! Kindly donated by Darnell - someone else who has been very generous to the Playground Grand Draw.

All the rules can be found on the post for Sunday 12th December 2021, along with Mr Linky for your single entry. I do suggest that you read the rules thoroughly - particularly about the theme for this Grand Draw Challenge.

Just leave a comment on this post you're currently looking at, if you would like the chance to win today's prize.

A heads up again - tomorrow we reach the end of the alphabet and the final prize of the Grand Draw will be on offer. Do remember that Mr Linky and ALL commenting will be finishing at 11am on Saturday 8th January in readiness for the switchover to the new Snippets Playground blog the following day (Sunday 9th January). If you think you could be interested in the final prize (and nope, I'm not saying what it is before it publishes at midnight) - do remember to nip over to this blog on Thursday, Friday or up to 11am on Saturday.

Love from Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #418 - Christmas Draw - Prize X

Here's the 24th prize in the 'Snippets Playground Christmas Draw':

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank, tent style

- snippet of deep red 'poinsettia embossed' card, trimmed to 5.25" x 4" which arrived from one of you lovely Playmates, to protect the front of a card this Christmas. Much too nice not to use so it was sitting here on my desk and is a perfect colour match for the red I was using for the stamping

- snippet of pearlescent gold card, trimmed to 5" x 3.75" and layered onto the red card, which in turn was glued onto the card front

- piece of white card onto which I stencilled a background of holly and ivy leaves, pine cones, foliage and berries. I used Uniko's 'Winter Foliage' stencil, a soft make-up brush and Delicata's 'Golden Glitz' ink pad then set it aside to dry properly (really shimmery in real life, camera being awkward)

- used the Misti to stamp greenery, pine cones, holly leaves and berries onto a snippet of white card - using whatever ink pads I could grab quickly and stamps from the Uniko 'Winter Foliage' set of stamps

- die cut all the elements using matching 'Winter Foliage' dies

- then stamped sentiment words using SU's 'Real Red' ink and stamps from Uniko's 'Christmas Sentiments' stamp set and just trimmed then by hand

- trimmed the background piece of stencilled card paper down to just leave a very narrow gold border of the pearlescent card layer and then glued it on top

- finally, added all the stamped elements, including the sentiment words - using thin sticky pads

We had some lovely neighbours who moved away to a local village in 2019 and never gave us their new address. However, they popped a Christmas card through our door on Christmas Eve and included said address. Too late for a Christmas card but I made this for New Year instead. So pleased they finally remembered, nothing worse than receiving a card and not knowing where to send one in return - especially when you always exchanged cards previously. We've known them since the girls used to add children's drawings to their cards - and they are both beautiful and very clever young career women now.

Back to the card, I played it safe and speedy by stencilling using a single colour (gold) ink pad - other options were to use sparkly white paste or, possibly too busy as well as tricky, to use a tiny make-up brush to pick out the different leaves etc. in different shades of green with brown for the cones and red for the teeny berries in the stencil. Something told me it would take forever and might look too busy in any case. But they certainly were options - along with a steel grey which I think coule look rather elegant.

The idea for this prize came about when Kanda (Andrea) was clearing out a lot of her craft stuff back in the Summer and, knowing I love Uniko's goodies, she sent me some used stuff including her own set of 'Winter Foliage' stamps and matching dies. Thanks again Andrea - still miss you in the Playground!

And here's the prize:

 

I rushed off to Uniko and bought, for the prize (and for me of course), a 'Winter Foliage' stencil, a set of 'Christmas Sentiments' stamps (absolutely love the clean and crisp font) and a set of 'Winter Foliage' stamps. Plus there's a really lovely Tonic 'pine cone' die which will work so well with the pine branch stamp as well (take a close look at the illustration on the die packet to see what I mean). Our Val very kindly donated the pine cone die and I've kept it safely in the toy box here for ages!

Sadly, Uniko are sold out of the matching 'Winter Foliage' dies - and I've been on their wait list for ages - else they would have also been bought to add into this bundle. However, the elements shouldn't be hard to fussy cut as there are no enclosed areas - and of course you can always stamp directly onto your piece of work.

All the rules can be found on the post for Sunday 12th December 2021, along with Mr Linky for your single entry. I do suggest that you read the rules thoroughly - particularly about the theme for this Grand Draw Challenge.

Just leave a comment on this post you're currently looking at, if you would like the chance to win today's prize.

Love from Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #418 - Christmas Draw - Prize W

Here's the 23rd prize in the 'Snippets Playground Celebration' prize draw:

I used:

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

- followed a video made by John Next Door, which you can see HERE rather than me type out all the many steps to make a rather special shaker card

- the supplies I used are: snippets of Tonic Pearlescent 'Majestic Gold' card stock, snippets of Tonic satin mirri card 'Scarlet Organza' (absolutely luscious!), snippets of acetate to make the shaker element, 'Champagne' sprinkles by Lucy's Little Things' (a gorgeous mixture of sequins and beads in shades of gold and also pearly see through), Kanban (really ancient) gold and red sparkly gems added to four of the snowflakes I added to the card front

- tools/adhesives are Collall All Purpose Glue, red line tape, foam tape (big tip about this below,) Glossy Accents, various square dies to make the red and gold frame element, and most importantly the fabulous Crafts-Too John Next Door 'Baroque Snowflake Plate' die

It most certainly isn't quick to make a card like mine and, on New Year's Eve afternoon, I actually thought I'd bitten off more than I could chew. Partly as the 'clearing space for my Gemini to be handy project' is a work in progress, mostly due to this final Grand Draw. and I did (to be totally honest) find that my old Cuttlebug struggled a bit. But we both got there in the end. Basically, despite the Gemini and my sweet little Altenew mini die cutting machine, I do need to bite the bullet and buy a new manual and foldable die cutting machine, Cuttlebug or very similar, purely for thick Sizzix dies and as a manual backup - these days my current Cuttlebug would fail its MOT (road safety for USA friends!) for sure. 

But, I'm not a quitter, so I kept going and tweaking until I had something pretty much like John's card (a talented man for sure who always makes it look so easy!) - within the limits of my square dies. It's a thick card when finished if you add all the layers of foam tape suggested by John. You can see that by the shadow cast on the photo I took. I do have some unassembled card boxes here (from the days when I made cards very layered and festooned with flowers, ribbons and charms - which I really loved making!). I'll need to ask my tame mountain goat to clamber up to the ceiling height shelves in my craft room and retrieve the boxes for me - or perhaps Dudley can stand on the mountain goat's shoulders?! ☺ I am SO bad!

The foam tape tip I mentioned above is one I discovered a lot of years ago and possibly a lifesaver for shaker cards. When I buy a new roll of foam tape (very rare - I've had my current roll a good few years) I gently rub some talcum powder onto both sides of the rolled up reel then brush any excess off. Then keep the roll of tape in a small poly bag. Just use the tape in the normal way when assembling your shaker cards and you'll find that the shaker elements don't stick to the sides at all! No need to fiddle on with talc when trying to assemble a shaker card - the tape is nicely 'non-stick' down each side. 

The prize is a John Next Door 'Baroque Snowflakes Plate'. This die is utterly gorgeous and I first spotted it when Linby raced in with a card to share fairly recently. HERE is her original blog post for you to check out a different way to use the die. You can use it as a plate as I did or just die cut loads of adorable snowflakes to keep on hand when you're making Christmas cards (I intend to make a little box of them using some lovely white pearlescent paper I found the other week) - or both!

All the rules can be found on the post for Sunday 12th December 2021, along with Mr Linky for your single entry. I do suggest that you read the rules thoroughly - particularly about the theme for this Grand Draw Challenge.

Just leave a comment on this post you're currently looking at, if you would like the chance to win today's prize.

Do please remember that the Grand Draw Mr Linky will close at 11am on Saturday morning, UK time. I've already begun to close comments for earlier prizes and will be closing them on a daily basis from now on as I think people have had ample time to check out the prize posts. It will be tight for you to play for the final prize which will appear on Thursday, so don't hang about as it's one I think a few people will be keen on. The complete Grand Draw will close at 11am on Saturday - and all commenting even for the final prize from Thursday will be included included - in readiness for the move across to the new blog which I wrote about on here yesterday.

The new Snippets Playground blog launches on Sunday 9th January, and the Grand Draw results will be published over there, not on here - but I will remind you on here of course. My current plan is for the results to appear on Sunday 16th January but that may change as it's quite a mammoth task sorting out who wants which prize(s) and - so far - I've been way too busy to do more than watch and respond to your entries, selecting possible picks as I go, whilst frantically writing new posts and also making sample cards where possible. Never fear, we will get there folks - we always do!   

Huge thanks for your lovely comments about the new Snippets Playground blog - not long to wait now!

Love from Dudley and of course me, 

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #418 - Christmas Draw - Prize V

NEWSFLASH! Important announcement after details of today's prize.

Here's the 22nd prize in the 'Snippets Playground Christmas Draw':

It's two more stamps from Jackie T, and it's actually the final two from her massively generous donation. The stamps are Sweet Dixie of course and are called 'Funky Bauble' and 'Oh Christmas Tree'. Thank you once again Jackie for your part in making the Grand Draw such a success.

All the rules can be found on the post for Sunday 12th December 2021, along with Mr Linky for your single entry. I do suggest that you read the rules thoroughly - particularly about the theme for this Grand Draw Challenge.

Just leave a comment on this post you're currently looking at, if you would like the chance to win today's prize.

Please note that I have closed commenting on the first fortnight of the Grand Draw - and will be closing more prizes as this final week progresses.

And here's the news I've been keeping to myself for months now. Today it's exactly 10 years since I took over the Playground keys from Jules. And to celebrate, in one week's time - the day after the Grand Draw has closed - the Snippets Playground will have its very own, new, fresh and fun blog!

Be sure to mark Sunday 9th January 2022 down in your diary! Here's a badge for your own blog as a taster. ☺

I'm thrilled to pieces and hugely grateful to the incredibly talented Loll who designed the new Snippets Playground blog. My own Pixies Crafty Workshop blog will continue and I will add reminders and links in 'Pixies' to new Snippets Playground posts, certainly in the early days. Do be sure to become a follower of the new blog so that it can fly on its own please.

Do please come and play - our motto will be 'Snippets Playground .... where the sun is always shining'. So let's make it a happy and fun place folks. Of course the tree house, bicycle shed, swings, see-saw etc. will still be there at your disposal. And Dudley will still be keeping watch. ☺ 

Picks and prizes will continue, not always with samples though - this place is bursting at the seams! I still have some duplicates but not as many as there used to be. It's also a chance for me to explore all the fabulous techniques you use when making snippets cards rather than being bound by 'samples'. I can see some fun times ahead.

Love from Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #418 - Christmas Draw - Prize U

Happy New Year everybody! Here's hoping it's a good one for all of us - and perhaps this time next year we'll be able walk around more freely than right now. However, let's still do our very best to enjoy 2022, regardless. ☺ 

Here's the 21st prize in the 'Snippets Playground Christmas Draw':

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank, tent style

- snippet of Neenah 'Desert Storm' card, trimmed to 5" x 3.75"

- piece of mauve patterned paper from the Whimsy 'Snow Flurry' paper pack, die cut using a die from the Lil' Inkers set of 'stitched rectangles' 

- used the Misti to stamp an alpaca (from the Sticker Kitten 'Alpaca wishes' set of stamps) and the plant in a pot onto a snippet of Neenah 'Desert Storm' card - using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink 

- then stamped the scarf, part of the alpaca's body for the 'saddle/throw' and the plant in a pot once again onto a little snippet of blue 'Snow Flurries' paper from the same Whimsy paper pack

- spent what seemed like forever fussy cutting the alpaca etc - after colouring the plant's leaves and adding a pink cheek to the alpaca with Polychromos pencils

- added the blue throw and scarf to the alpaca and the blue pot to the stamped/fussy cut plant pot

- stamped the 'Cosy Christmas' sentiment onto the mauve background

- glued the rectangles onto the card front then added the alpaca and plant

- finished!

I used the 'Desert Storm' card for the alpaca as I didn't fancy colouring such a large area with pencils and Len was busy so couldn't get my Promarkers down for me. I just realised that Jo of Christmas Kickstart possibly did the same thing and I do know she had a blue throw on her alpaca as well! Oopsie, thanks for the subliminal ideas Jo - I won't enter this into any challenges. ☺

And here's the prize:

It's a really fun set of stamps, made by Sticker Kitten (a UK company that I found through Jo's fabulous Christmas Kickstart Challenge) called 'Alpaca Wishes'. I really like the quirkiness of this stamp set and there's a lot of scope for creating different scenes with one or two of the alpaca and some of the wealth of little extras in the set.

All the rules can be found on the post for Sunday 12th December 2021, along with Mr Linky for your single entry. I do suggest that you read the rules thoroughly - particularly about the theme for this Grand Draw Challenge.

Just leave a comment on this post you're currently looking at, if you would like the chance to win today's prize.

Love from Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #418 - Christmas Draw - Prize T

Here's the 20th prize in the 'Snippets Playground Celebration' prize draw:

I used:

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

- 5.5" x 5.5" piece of designer paper from Whimsy's 'Snow Flurry' paper pack, glued onto the card front using Collall All Purpose glue

- snippet of white card, die cut using Memory Box's 'Stitched Merry Christmas Square Frame' die set - I always keep snippets of white card in the box where the main sheets are, that way at least the shades of white are the same

- glued the large stitched frame onto the centre of the card front and added to die cut 'christmas'  - both using glue pens

- to finish off, added a few very flat sparkly 'gems' inside the stitched sentiment

The die comes with the word 'christmas' attached by thin wire inside the frame. There was nothing to gain by snipping them apart, it was easier to cut the two parts in one go and there's hopefully less chance of me mislaying the 'christmas' die. Hollow laugh here - who am I kidding?

This die set is great fun to use and super fast - bonus! I made three Christmas cards using different sheets of paper from the 'Snow Flurry' pack.

The prize is a Memory Box 'Stitched Merry Christmas Square Frame' die set.

All the rules can be found on the post for Sunday 12th December 2021, along with Mr Linky for your single entry. I do suggest that you read the rules thoroughly - particularly about the theme for this Grand Draw Challenge.

Just leave a comment on this post you're currently looking at, if you would like the chance to win today's prize.

I hope you have a pleasant New Year's Eve - whatever you might have planned. I've never been a fan of New Year celebrations, but this year there will be a huge cheer going up from Len and I (and probably many more people). We'll be glad to see the back of 2021 for sure.

Love from Dudley and of course me. 

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #418 - Christmas Draw - Prize S

Here's the 19th prize in the 'Snippets Playground Christmas Draw':

By now, Santa most certainly is back home at the North pole having a well earned rest before he wakes up to see the New Year in. ☺ We have another Sweet Dixie stamp from Jackie T plus one from me. The Sweet Dixie stamp is called 'Destination North Pole', so cute! The Inkylicious sentiment stamp set is a favourite I've often offered for Grand Draw prizes, but I don't ever tire of it - it's called 'Seasons Greetings'. And of course, if you previously won the sentiments but have a yen for the snowman I won't split the prize, but, if you win, then you can always give the sentiments set to a friend, at your end.

All the rules can be found on the post for Sunday 12th December 2021, along with Mr Linky for your single entry. I do suggest that you read the rules thoroughly - particularly about the theme for this Grand Draw Challenge.

Just leave a comment on this post you're currently looking at, if you would like the chance to win today's prize.

Love from Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #418 - Christmas Draw - Prize R

Here's the 18th prize in the 'Snippets Playground Christmas Draw': 

I used:

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

- snippet of pearlescent gold card, trimmed to 5" x 3.75"

- snippet of white card, die cut using a die from the Lil' Inkers set of 'stitched rectangles' 

- used the Misti to line up the tree and the sentiment at the same time onto the die cut stitched rectangle- both from Uniko's 'Rustic Tree' set of stamps

- stamped the tree and sentiment at the same time using Brilliance Tear Drop ink pads in 'Pearlescent Thyme' and 'Pearlescent Poppy'

- glued the image layer onto the gold narrow 'frame'

- then backed the gold piece using some Create and Craft 2mm thick double sided foam sheet - about quarter of an inch smaller all round.

- added the whole front panel onto the card front

- added a single shiny gold star shaped Josy Rose Hot Fix nail head to the top of the tree

The set does come with some really sweet little ornaments, a bow and a couple of cute birds - but I opted to let the tree and single gold star do all the work (the tree is the main reason why I fell in love with the stamp set). Partly due to so much else going on - although I did make four cards all the same whilst I was at it, stealing a march on Christmas 2022!

The adhesive foam sheet is great stuff but does need care when applying it as there's no 'wiggle room' as there is with glue. To be kinder to my nerves I might actually apply plain card to one side of the sheet and then use glue when I need to to be totally precise with the positioning. I got away with it but purely through a lot of care and angst. To be honest, it's just as easy to buy plain foam sheet and use glue, which I always do - until I spotted this self adhesive stuff and wanted to have a try. 

Here's another card I made, using my own set Uniko set of stamps called 'Rustic Wreath, for the Grand Draw last year - HERE. Also, the image of the Rustic Wreath stamp set is clearer over there!

And here's the prize:

It's both the Uniko 'Rustic Christmas Tree' and 'Rustic Wreath' stamp sets, from me. I felt that they make a nice pair and are fabulous for 'batch making'! I do know that three of you won the 'Rustic Wreath' stamp set last year - but don't let that make you feel you can't play for this prize. If you do win it, then I'm sure that you will have a friend who you can give the wreath set to, at your end!

All the rules can be found on the post for Sunday 12th December 2021, along with Mr Linky for your single entry. I do suggest that you read the rules thoroughly - particularly about the theme for this Grand Draw Challenge.

Just leave a comment on this post you're currently looking at, if you would like the chance to win today's prize.

Love from Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #418 - Christmas Draw - Prize Q

Here's the 17th prize in the 'Snippets Playground Christmas Draw':

It's two more stamps from Jackie T - I know, they keep on coming. Both are Sweet Dixie and one is 'Snowy Kisses' and the other is 'Best Friends' - two more gorgeous snowman images! In fact, I loved the 'Snowy Kisses' stamp so much I've ordered it - along with a couple of others - just for 'me, myself and yours truly'! 

You may be wondering why I've spread Jackie's very generous donation of stamps right across the Grand Draw. Basically, it gives you more chances to win, means that we have more fun and more winners - also the stamps are often worth almost £10 each. 

All the rules can be found on the post for Sunday 12th December 2021, along with Mr Linky for your single entry. I do suggest that you read the rules thoroughly - particularly about the theme for this Grand Draw Challenge.

Just leave a comment on this post you're currently looking at, if you would like the chance to win today's prize.

Love from Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #418 - Christmas Draw - Prize P

Here's the sixteenth prize in the 'Snippets Playground Christmas Draw':

It's a cling 'Snow Brackets' stamp by Stampendous and the other one is a polymer 'Noel Flourish' by Inkylicious'. Both from me. Sorry the photo is so bad - the weather was really gloomy and the light in the run up to Christmas when I was racing round taking photos was dire. And with cello packets it's all too easy to get any lighting bouncing back. I just looked and found a proper image of the Stampendous stamp online - which I can't easily resize, but it shows how perfect it is for either the front or the inside of a Christmas card:

All the rules can be found on the post for Sunday 12th December 2021, along with Mr Linky for your single entry. I do suggest that you read the rules thoroughly - particularly about the theme for this Grand Draw Challenge.

Just leave a comment on this post you're currently looking at, if you would like the chance to win today's prize.

Love from Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #418 - Christmas Draw - Prize O

Here's the 15th prize in the 'Snippets Playground Christmas Draw':

This is a card I made using my own sets of Clearly Besotted Christmas Pudding stamps and dies, for the Grand Draw last year - HERE. 

And here's the prize:

It's a few Clearly Besotted items! First of all, from a previous Grand Draw, Liz donated her win of the 'Christmas Puddings' stamps and dies (rare these days) sets to Mary McMillan via me - and then COVID hit of course. Since then, Mary has decided she has a lot more craft goodies than she will ever need so the parcel never got sent, which means that this part of the prize is from both of them really! The other two stamp sets 'Festive Foliage' and 'Round and Round', both by Clearly Besotted are from me - again, bought to send to Mary and, as already said, times have changed.

All the rules can be found on the post for Sunday 12th December 2021, along with Mr Linky for your single entry. I do suggest that you read the rules thoroughly - particularly about the theme for this Grand Draw Challenge.

Just leave a comment on this post you're currently looking at, if you would like the chance to win today's prize.

Love from Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #418 - Christmas Draw - Prize N

Merry Christmas everyone! If you manage to pop into the Playground today, I hope someone else is watching over the hot stove for you!

Here's the 14th prize in the 'Snippets Playground Celebration' prize draw: 

And a closer look at the little family ...... aw. Ha, I spotted that 'Daddy Meerkat' had a tiny white fleck on his nose. It was from the rubber tipped 'picker upper' I used for the tiny pieces - so I wiped his nose for him after I'd published this photo ☺

I used:

- 5.5" x 5.5" off white card blank with one side scored in half and folded to make the basis of an easel card

- trimmed a 5.5" x 5.5" off white piece of card for the upright card front, set to one side for now

- selected the most probable piece of scenic background card I wanted to use - from the well loved Kanban Christmas Wobblers backgrounds pack

- die cut all the little pieces for the family of three meerkats from loads of snippets of card (picking out the red and blue of the presents on the scenic design). The die cutting took a while needless to say (perfect for my Altenew mini die cutting machine) and I found that the best approach was to just take one die off the backing card at a time as there is definite logic to how the pieces are laid out on the die set images piece of card

- then glued the pieces together and reinforced some of the joins on the back using teeny pieces of sellotape

- at that point I had three little meerkats assembled, still with no eyes or snouts so they really lacked character - looked a bit spooky to be honest

- checked the background card scene I wanted to use and the little family fitted in just fine - success

- trimmed the background scene down to 5.25 x 5.25 round then glued it onto the previously cut upright panel for the easel card 

- used the top portion of a second piece of the same background card to cover the flat portion of the easel card - 5.25" x 5.25" again

- marked some pale shadowing onto the positions where the meerkats would stand then added the meerkats to the upright scene on the easel card 'front' - using a glue pen for the adults and thin sticky pad pieces for the little one 

- die cut the teeny eyes and snouts and popped them onto the little faces - and the card immediately came to life, what a difference!

- added a pre-made sentiment die cut complete with red ribbon tie (many years old, left from a pack of three) to the top left corner - at an angle as no way did I want to spoil the scene by having the sentiment just slightly 'on the wonk'

- stuck the card front onto the folded base using red line tape

- added a strip of card from the very top of one of the pieces of scenic card to the base, using thick and pretty big sticky pads then stuck it in place to act as a 'stop' when the card is propped open

- topped that with another present image - left from the second piece of scenic card I used - fussy cut and stuck down using small piece of thin sticky pads

- and that was it, finished - I'll write my message on the pale blue piece of base card at the front BTW then it will look more balanced

This Christmas card was made for Len, from me, as we both love Meerkats and when Dudley is up on his hind legs having a bit of a nose around, he does remind us of these adorable creatures. I'm sure it was a Playmate I spotted using this sweet set of dies and needless to say they were sourced and bought in double quick time! Huge fun to play with and although there's a lot of dies in the set, in fact it was fairly easy to find which piece is which for the different meerkat - once I worked out the 'hints' on the backing which holds all the different dies. Perfect for anyone who loves die cutting and it uses lots of little snippets too.

The prize, but of course, is a Marianne Design set of dies called 'Eline's Meercats' (sic), just like the one I used for my card.

All the rules can be found on the post for Sunday 12th December 2021, along with Mr Linky for your single entry. I do suggest that you read the rules thoroughly - particularly about the theme for this Grand Draw Challenge.

Just leave a comment on this post you're currently looking at, if you would like the chance to win today's prize.

I'm entering this card into Jo's Christmas Kickstart Challenge #57, where the current them is 'If it's Christmassy'. And why don't you come and play too - get a head start on next Christmas ☺ Ho, ho, ho I hear!! 

Hope you are having a wonderful day, wherever you are - and that Santa was kind to you! Cheers - mine's a long cool glass of dry Martini and lemonade please.

Love from Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #418 - Christmas Draw - Prize M

Here's the 13th prize in the 'Snippets Playground Celebration' prize draw:

I used:

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

- 5.25" x 4.0" piece of designer paper from the Sticker Kitten 'Celestial' paper pack, carefully trimmed so that the image would be in the right place for the moon's aura on the end result

- once sized, I stamped the little house scene with moon outline onto the backing paper about 0.75" from the bottom of the paper - all stamping was done using a Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad and a Clearly Besotted 'One More Sleep' set of stamps

- used a ruler and a black Fine liner pen to draw right across the background panel, under the houses and to either side

- stamped the Santa, sleigh and reindeer flying across 'the moon'

- coloured the house windows in, using a yellow Polychromos pencil

- went over the area underneath the houses using a Wink of Stella Clear sparkly brush pen 

- glued the background to the card front

- stamped the 'critters' onto a snippet of white card, coloured them with Polychromos pencils and fussy cut them

- stamped the sentiment onto another snippet of white card 

- die cut the sentiment using a die from the Frantic Stamper 'Stitched Fishtail Banners' set of dies

- added the 'critters' to the card front using thin sticky pads and then the sentiment banner using a glue pen

- added three flat sparkly gems, which don't show up on the photo, sigh, and called it done!

This card was made for Dudley from Len and I - crazy or what?! Appropriate for Christmas Eve for sure! The design had been on my mind a lot in the previous week or so before making it. I wanted to 'cheat' and use some night sky backing paper - and it was pure fluke that the Paper Sticker Kitten papers included one design with a distinct 'aura/halo' which I could use to place the moon when stamping! Bit of juggling, but so worth it. 

The prize is a Clearly Besotted stamp set called 'One More Sleep'. Sorry the photo above isn't very clear. It's yet another stamp set that's been 'tweaked' twice by CB so mine, bought a year ago, is the first version. The one on offer is the second version and now they have a third version! To get a clearer view of the third version set - go here to Clearly Besotted. The second version, which is the prize shown above (and is the one I like best!), does have a few more sentiment stamps. I can't understand why you would produce three slightly different versions though. Supplier issues perhaps?

Whilst at it, I made a second card the same - it's often just as easy, and steals a bit of a march on Christmas 2022 cards.

All the rules can be found on the post for Sunday 12th December 2021, along with Mr Linky for your single entry. I do suggest that you read the rules thoroughly - particularly about the theme for this Grand Draw Challenge.

Just leave a comment on this post you're currently looking at, if you would like the chance to win today's prize.

I forgot to enter this card into Jo's Christmas Kickstart Challenge #57, where the current them is 'If it's Christmassy'. Why not join in and play along too?

Love from Dudley and of course me. Remember - if it's not done, made, cooked or bought by now - you will still survive without it! Have a super day tomorrow and Merry Christmas to all our lovely friends,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #418 - Christmas Draw - Prize L

Here's the 12th prize in the 'Snippets Playground Christmas Draw':

It's two sets of Polymer stamps, designed by Katy Sue Designs for Sandra Wright, here in the UK. I bought these gorgeouse sets a good few years ago, they're still unopened and have been stored away from light and heat. I still absolutely adore the stamps, but am now realistic enough to know that my colouring skills probably wouldn't do them justice. They certainly are stunning - and just what we all should be planning to wear for the Christmas Festivities! Tee, hee ☺ 

All the rules can be found on the post for Sunday 12th December 2021, along with Mr Linky for your single entry. Please read the rules thoroughly - particularly about the theme for this Grand Draw Challenge.

Just leave a comment on this post you're currently looking at, if you would like the chance to win today's prize.

Love from Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #418 - Christmas Draw - Prize K

Here's the 11th prize in the 'Snippets Playground Christmas Draw':

It's three Sweet Dixie snowmen stamps called 'Santa's Sleigh', 'Santa's Reindeer' and 'Christmas Night', again kindly donated by Jackie T. All so perfect for the anticipation before Christmas, which is why I've joined them as a single prize. It's getting closer folks!

All the rules can be found on the post for Sunday 12th December 2021, along with Mr Linky for your single entry. I do suggest that you read the rules thoroughly - particularly about the theme for this Grand Draw Challenge.

Just leave a comment on this post you're currently looking at, if you would like the chance to win today's prize.

Love from Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #418 - Christmas Draw - Prize J

Here's the 10th prize in the 'Snippets Playground Celebration' prize draw:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank, side opening - as always, cut down from a 5.75" x 5.75" pure white card blank - my 'card blanks of choice' by Craft UK, always super to trim down to a variety of sizes

- slightly smaller snippet of silver mirri card, glued to the card front as a 'frame'

- piece of white card stock (used part of a Craft UK 5.75" x 5.75" card to have exactly the same shade of white - a trick I often use. Mind you, Samuel Taylor's white card stock which I use for Pro markers is also a great match in shades of white - thanks to Sarn for introducing me to this at Ally Pally ......... a lot of years ago now!

- then embossed the piece of white card using a favourite Cuttlebug 'Scrollwork' embossing folder

- trimmed the white embossed piece of card to slighter smaller than the silver layer and glued it in place

- die cut the sentiment using a Poppy 'Believe Flourish' die and another snippet of silver mirri card

- glued the die cut sentiment to the card front, using a glue pen

- added three sparkly silver flat gems - they're flatter than the die cut sentiment and amazing what a difference they made too

I made two of these at once, I just like the clean and fresh look - dare I say almost elegant?

And this is today's prize, both from me:

A Cuttlebug 'Scrollwork' embossing folder, plus a Poppystamps 'Believe Flourish' die - which cuts like a dream!

All the rules can be found on the post for Sunday 12th December 2021, along with Mr Linky for your single entry. I do suggest that you read the rules thoroughly - particularly about the theme for this Grand Draw Challenge.

Just leave a comment on this post you're currently looking at, if you would like the chance to win today's prize.

Love from Dudley and of course me,