Sunday Snippets - Christmas Owl Tag

My snippets make today is a Christmas tag - another quick and easy make. It's also my entry for the current Rudolph Days challenge:

I used:

- a snippet of Stamperia's  'Owl House' paper pad that was lying right at hand in a basket on my desk, along with a set of tag dies I'd planned to use some weeks ago

- a snippet of white card 

- die cut both snippets using an MFT die from the 'Treat Tag' set of dies

- glued the two die cut tags together for rigidity

- used a couple of brown ribbon snippets, secured with a snippet of narrower grey ribbon through the top of the tag

- finished!

Still working my way through the lovely Stamperia 'Owl House' paper pad. And more sheets left to play with.

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Rudolph Days July Challenge - HERE

Tag Along and ATC's Challenge - HERE

Dudley Pupdate: We had a fun time celebrating Dudley's Birthday during the week. His cards and gifts  were solemnly sniffed then given his nose-dab of approval by His Lordship! He woke up bright and early just revving up for the day to begin - as if he knew it was special! His bandana looks SO cute ........... but it's been too hot to subject him to wearing it for very long. When and IF things cool down then I'll try to take a photo of him wearing it. He does love his cold water spray bottle spritzes right now - very tempting to join him as well!

The arm is a 'work in progress' with little milestones passed on the road to recovery almost daily. I'm sure your very kind good wishes are a huge help! Thank you so much.

Sarn has very kindly written up and published the results of Challenge #536 for me HERE. 

Do please come and play in Sarn's current challenge over in the Snippets Playground - just scroll down from the results post.  The paddling pool is still open, despite hosepipe bans down here in England. Remember, there's always the chance of a little bit of magic in the Snippets Playground!

Love from myself and Dudley, 

Merry Christmas to One and All!!

Dudley ate the Christmas lights after this very special imagery session. We took him to the duty vet right away, even on quite limited Christmas Eve hours. 

After checking him over, the vet said he would actually be fine, phew! 

 

At that, Dudley's eyes lit up! 

My bad! Gotcha! 

With love, as always, from Di and Dudley Dog! (Woof - my Mum is so silly!)

xxxx

The Midnight Watch - Havanese Style!

Merry Christmas Eve Playmates - love from Dudley!

This popped up on the Havanese GB Facebook Group. It's the new Christmas header/banner - and I keep seeing our Dudley at the far left of the line - it's really enchanting!

AI created image used with kind and generous permission from Andrea! Crafter and designer of all things Havanese and general 'good egg'!!

Wishing you all a happy Christmas Eve - watch out for the big fat guy on his sleigh folks! One more sleep.

Love from Di and Dudley

xxx

The final package arrived!

Dudley can now settle down as all planned deliveries are done and the final package was delivered by Amazon yesterday. A last minute toy I spotted for Dudley (little did he know) as he was being 'Amazon snapped' ............. whilst shouting at the delivery guy from behind our front door!

Phew - peace reigns again! We're now at the point of saying, 'if it's been forgotten then we'll cope'. Just as we oldies, and our own parents did before now!

Hope you're all surviving out there - not long now until the reindeer set off! They're probably limbering up right now!

Two more sleeps - yay!

Love and hugs from Di and Dudley Dog! 

Sunday Snippets - 'Special Delivery'

My snippets cards this time are heading off to Germany very shortly. We transfer funds to Kai, Mum of our two teenage English/German Grandaughters and she pops it in cash form into a card each for the girls. I usually send unsealed but already written cards from us for her to use as it seems a little more personal. Trust me - it's much easier all round and the girls have the fun of money to spend after the festivities. So, I made each of the girls a card and envelope:

I used:

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

- the stamped image was in a Gummiapan (UK Meissen) sale a year or so ago, no name but to me he's 'Skating Reindeer'. I bought three very similar different reindeer images and they too also come with matching dies, they cost me very little and one is still to make an appearance on here!

- stamped the image onto the reverse of a Tim Holtx piece of Mixed Media card, using a VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' ink pad

- coloured the image using Arteza Watercolour pencils and a small brush and water for blending and then die cut it - using the matching die. I made a little jig of the image for best placement - always best to pay safe after spending precious time colouring an image!

- next, took a background 'snowy hillside with frozen pond' piece of card from the KanBan 'Christmas Wobblers' backgrounds pack and die cut it using a 5.5" x 5.5" Heffy Doodle 'Stitched Squares' die - now that I knew where the skating deer should be positioned

- glued the scene panel onto the card front which left a nice white outside border

- added the white 'snippets' sentiment, already made in two layers, using my favourite Tonic Christmas sentiments die - using a  glue pen

- the final touch on the card is the reindeer in action! The mixed media card was quite robust so I just added him to the scene using thin sticky pads and the usual glue stick trick whilst placing him

- made two whilst at it of course! Finished .......... Part One!

- Part Two - the 6" x 6" envelope needed something adding to make it a little more special - initially I thought about putting the German yellow post box onto the card scene itself - with a card in the reindeer's mouth as if he was on the way to posting it. Wasn't going to work though by any stretch of the imagination! Sigh

- so, I used the German post box idea on the envelope instead. The box itself with the 'extras' are all part of a delightful Charlie & Paulchen set of small dies - called 'Weihnachts Post' (Christmas Post) - bought not long after I discovered the delights of teeny tiny dies.

- used snippets of yellow card to cut the vertical sentiment strip and the actual post box plus leftover snippets of TH Mixed Media card for the envelope and the embossed panel on the little door - showing collection times, which I edged with a border of Tombow Black brush pen. Then used a glue pen to add the 'collection times' and also the envelope to the post box. The letter box itself opens to tuck things inside - cute! Glued both the sentiment strip and the post box onto the envelope

- finally, finally, die cut the sentiment 'Special Delivery' using an unbranded die and a snippet of Tonic pearlescent 'Red Velvet' card and glued that to the envelope front as well, leaving blank space above to write in the name of the recipient

I'd like to enter this card into:

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #69 - the reindeer as well as the post box dies were having a first outing!

Also Allsorts Challenge #810 - where the theme is 'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas' or, 'Anything Goes'

Dudley Pupdate: a neighbour is having some indoor house alterations carried out and Dudley has generally coped well with the noises drifting over our garden .......... until the other day. We quickly realised that he was padding to and fro from the back to the front of the house upstairs and was evidently very anxious. He was terrified by an imtermittent sound and it took us a while to figure it out. Eventually it emerged that one of the numerous guys working indoors at our neighbours house was nipping outside to use a nail gun to assemble some woodwork. So it sounded like a faint shotgun such as we would hear during the hunting season around here - but much closer, for want of a better description. This is a pooch who is unfazed by storms, fireworks and thunder and lightning. But - take him out in a car OR get out of bed to get ready for the day and there's a real pantomime! He does keep us on our toes!

Speaking of Dudley, a couple of people mentioned it would be nice to see his new haircut. Instead, for now, I have a 'Spot the Dudley' photo - taken during this last week on our bed, in his favourite safe place where he'd literally built a circle of his most loved toys to act as his 'look out' spot with a bit of meditation thrown in:

I find it a rather sad photo, it's the pink around his eyes - which comes with being a fairly newly trimmed white Havanese. Aw, one of his ears was flipped back - they're like little pink shells inside. BTW, he literally gathers all the toy circle with his mouth and paws, no human intervention at all! And his chin is resting on Honka's neck .............. needless to say!

We have a new Challenge #495 being run by our lovely Sarn over HERE! AND, it's the first of our December/Christmas Challenges with more than one bumper prize bundle per challenge - go and take a look! Then get your snippets out.

Goodness knows what the latest storm Darragh has done to the Playground decorations ... just don't try to fix them back up with a nail gun, otherwise Dudley will go into total meltdown!

Love from myself and Dudley, 

Sunday Snippets - Fractured Christmas card

Reminded by Carol L's 'pick' last week. I revisited the Fractured Card 'technique' the other day:

I used:

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

- a snippet of white card covered with a piece of patterned paper from the really lovely Honey Bee 'Make It Merry' paper pad

- trimmed the panel to measure an eighth of an inch less than the card blank on all four sides as the base and set it to one side

- die cut a snippet of the same white card using a 2" Heffy Doodles 'Stitched Squares' die ready for the sentiment

- I die cut a 4" square 'jig' with a scrap of card and die cut the centre portion out using the same 2" stitched square die turned to sit with the points facing top. bottom and the two sides 

- stamped 'MERRY and BRIGHT' using a sentiment from Penny Black's 'Yuletide Wishes' set of stamps and a VersaFine Clair 'Shady Lane' ink pad - and the mini Misti

- glued the sentiment die cut onto the front panel of patterned paper

- cut four quarter inch wide strips of a snippet of plain green paper from the same pad as the patterned paper came from - always a good way to match colours

- then, one at a time I used a glue pen to glue them from a corner of each side of the sentiment panel, right down to the edge patterned layer

- flipped the paper covered panel over and trimmed off the 'overhanging bits'

- adhered the completed panel onto the card blank using narrow foam strips - finished! Sorry, no photo of the white and green snippets I used 

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

- Christmas Kickstart #88 - 'Festive Frames' (I hope the Fractured technique counts as forming a frame around the sentiment panel) 

- Allsorts Challenge Week 788 - under the 'Anything goes' option.

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley has been a proper little pickle this past week! We had a guy here doing some regular maintenance work and the little scamp decided that he would make a good Mum to his puppies if you get my drift. Oh the shame of it - so determined was Dudley that he even skipped away from a treat as I was trying to close him in the craft room with me! Luckily the chap could see the funny side of it. 

Then, I went to have my hair chopped and there was a sweet little dog in the salon so of course I made a fuss of him.  When I got home Dudley was very excited as always - practically breaking the front door down. But not long after my arrival he 'really' sniffed my leg and he probably picked up Teddy's whiff, froze, glared and stalked off to bury his head under Len's pillow .... showing his bottom to us - purely to demonstrate that he was in a 'strop'!!  I tell you - it's like having Kevin The Teenager living here!!

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

Hope to see you on the swings, the weather is up and down at the moment - so perhaps the seesaw would be a better choice? Corny, I know. 

Love as always, Dudley Dog and me

Sunday Snippets - Christmas wrapping paper snippet

My Sunday Snippets card came about when I was looking through the front section in my huge, bulging and vastly expanded 'concertina' snippets folder. That pocket is where I pop any patterned snippets that don't store in the back of a paper pad. And lookie here - I found a snippet of left over Christmas wrapping paper, from years ago (excuse the dark shadow along the bottom edge of the card):

I used:

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

- a brown wrapping paper with a holly pattern all over it - just big enough to cover the front of an A2 card

- for stability I stuck the piece of paper onto a snippet of double sided adhesive sheet and then stuck that onto a snippet of white card

- trimmed the holly panel down to 5.5" x 4.25" and glued it to the front of the card blank

- then worked out what size of panel needed for the sentiment and trimmed a snippet of white card to suit - and to add interest used a ball ended scoring tool and a score board to add a single line right around the sentiment panel

- used a NBUS stamp and die set called 'Merry Christmas' by Gemini to stamp the word 'merry' onto a snippet of white card before die cutting it using the matching die which is part of the set, using a VersaFine Clair ''Nocturne' ink pad for the stamping

- then I could finalise the spacing and stamp the word 'Christmas' onto the sentiment panel

- die cut two more layers for the word 'merry' and layered them up using a glue pen before then gluing the 'merry' onto the sentiment panel 

- backed the panel with a very slightly bigger rectangle of Tonic 'Red Velvet' pearlescent card - trimmed from a snippet then glued it onto the card front 

- it looked a bit sparse to me so I added three matt gold sequins from the 'Champagne' shaker mix by Lucy's Little Things

Only finding the one snippet big enough to cover a single card front was a bit disappointing as I would like to have make more the same. But it's a good reason to dig through the umpteen paper pads I have here! Although, in a drawer somewhere in here I do have a few sheets of patterned wrapping paper - great for backgrounds, but none of them are Christmas ones I'll bet!

By the way, the same set of sentiment stamps and die that I used for the card (donated to the Toybox by Linby but I had to run out and buy my own as I loved them so much) are part of the current prize - over at the Snippets Playground.

  

I'd like to enter this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #52 HERE. Sentiment stamps and die set was having its first outing.

Sarn has posted the results of Challenge #457 over in the Snippets Playground HERE. As always, we had some really great entries - and numbers were really good considering the hot weather lately. Do go and look - one pick in particular has Dudley pondering about starting up a 'fan club'!

Dudley Pupdate: We've been doing quite a lot of de-cluttering lately and have been giving a good few unwanted household things away on websites such as Freecycle and Freegle. Mind you, I swear it's multiplying here as we go! The arrival of more strangers was testing for Dudley at first, but we've noticed that as time goes on he's less anxious and more accepting of visitors, settling down very quickly. Needless to say - he always goes to investigate anyone coming to the house - with Honka Duck Mark II firmly in his mouth - sideways. It always totally disarms people and earns him at least a stroke and usually moves onto a cuddle and some fussing. His sweet little face has got to be one of the best ice-breakers ever! Every single person without fail has left with a smile on their face and usually a little wave at Dudley!

There's still one week of the current Snippets Challenge to go, hope to see you in the Playground soon if you haven't played already. It's Christmas in July with some nice bundles of Christmas themed prizes. Including, as I already said, a sentiment stamp and die set the same as the one I used today. Make a card and come and play - one less to make for Christmas - and a chance to win a nice prize if you join in the draw!

Love, as always, from myself and Dudley,

March of the gnomes - they're on the way

The only thing I can say for now, is that a lovely friend mailed the umpteen die cut pieces from the USA for the SSS lady gnomes so I could assemble them - plus some spare matching card to cut and assemble my own matching 'chap' gnomes', as I already have that male gnome SSS die set. Still with me?

There are 4 singles and 8 couples, enough for 12 cards which will appear later in the week - but, if you count, one couple is missing!

Caught them booking into the local Holiday Inn in disguise! Now returned to the 'fold' and ready to be placed onto various cards. Little tinkers!

Quite rightly, the hair bows were a step too far on my lovely friend's die cutting - but I found two little dies from other sets here and managed to only just squeeze what I wanted, from scraps left over from the card she sent! 

What fun I've had - full reveal and also who had such a big heart will be in a future post!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! FROM DUDLEY & STAFF

Just a quick post to wish you all a VERY happy Christmas, despite the mess we're all trying to cope with.

Speaking of mess, on Tuesday Len spotted Dudley race upstairs - looking decidedly naughty. He followed him and caught him on our bed chewing an offcut of wood he'd picked up very quietly from the garage where Len had been working. We think he was about to try and hide it in the bed - little tinker

It's almost impossible to get a photo of him these days as he just fidgets as soon as you get the camera out. This is the best Len could do:

His lovely pale peach ears are hidden by the false 'beard' on the hat to keep it on for at least 30 seconds and his nose is his Winter 'snow nose' which happens each year so isn't unusual. Despite my daily care, once he hit two years old he does have a bit of discolouration around his mouth and under his eyes. He'd just had a huge drink of water before this was taken so his beard is wet which makes it look more pronounced.

But, he's still our beautiful boy and is such a joy, if anything with more character. During the run up to Christmas he's been  into absolutely anything and everything. We can't move without him trotting along to check out what's going on!

He also doesn't look too thrilled about 'doggie sized Santa hat' but if you look closely just below the middle of his nose, there's a little smile lurking as if he just knows it's his duty to act up! 

Stay safe, enjoy Christmas Day and I'll be back ASAP!

Special woofs from Dudley as well as lots of love from Di, Dudley and Parsnip xxx

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge 393 - and Prize A

Hi there and a warm welcome to the Christmas Snippets Playground. It's time to celebrate both the Christmas and New Year Holiday - plus, it's now nine whole years on January 1st since I took the Snippets Playground over from the lovely Jules!

Warning - this is a really horrendously looooooooooong post as it sets out how the draw will work, in a lot of detail and also repetitively in places to be sure to get the points home!

First of all, this is my snippets card for today:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank

 

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

 

- stamped the wreath, berries and pine cones using Uniko's 'Rustic Wreath' set of stamps and small green, SU 'Real Red' and brown ink pads onto the white card panel

 

- added the sentiment, from the same set of stamps, using a Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad

 

- also stamped the little red sprays of berries onto snippets of white card then fussy cut them and glued into place

- snippet of SU's 'Real Red' card trimmed using a Waffle Flower 'A2 layering' die and glued to the card front

 

- backed the white image panel using a snippet of gold mirri card, cut to just slightly larger than the panel using another Waffle Flower 'A2 layering' die - nice!

- glued the wreath image panel to the gold mirri background, then onto the card front

 

- added Josy Rose 'hot fix' gold star shaped nail heads to the wreath as well as one just below the sentiment, as Bev had done on her sample card over at Uniko 

- still something missing so I used a snippet of gold mirri card to die cut a bow using a die from the Memory Box 'Crisp Bows' set of dies - and just snipping off the straight strip of 'ribbon', before glueing it onto the top of the wreath using a Zig glue pen

 

I made six identical cards whilst I was at it - the joys of a Misti!

So, here we have Prize A of the Christmas/New Year annual giveaway -

On offer for the duration of the challenge is the Uniko stamp set called 'Rustic Wreath' - and I have three of these sets of stamps as prizes.

As in recent years, this is what's going to be going on with the Snippets Playground over the Christmas and New Year (aka Holidays) festivities.

For the Grand Draw this year, the Playground Mr Linky which is below will run for three weeks and closing time will be 11am on Saturday 9th January 2021 and this post you are looking at right now is also where to add any entries - with a maximum of just one entry - over the three week period. 

One entry into Mr Linky means you're in the draw - and the more prizes you say you'd like to win in the comments in each 'additional prize' post does increase your winning chances. You have three weeks to play as no doubt the Christmas and New Year festivities may well be busy for you - although with the COVID-19 restrictions I suspect that many of you will find some quiet time to craft and it's a chance for you to play along for some rather nice prizes too. You can only win one prize during the draw to give others a fair chance. It also means I can clear the Playground toy box out of Christmas themed prizes.

At the same time as the chance to enter your snippets make into Mr Linky closes, I plan to also close all commenting on all prizes on offer - so be on your toes.

So that I don't swamp and confuse you with a load of prizes to choose from in this post, I'll be posting at intervals over the coming three weeks and adding more prizes of varying sizes into the pot as we progress through the holiday. There's a fair few although it remains to be seen if I get enough time to schedule the ones running up to Christmas itself - so they may or may not be evenly spread out.

If you see a prize you'd like to be in the 'pot' for then please leave a 'Yes please' (or similar) comment in the same post where I show you the prize. AND, don't be shy about wanting each prize as it appears - that way you'll have more chances of winning something. So for today's prize, leave a comment below. For me, that's going to be a lot less confusing than me having lots of little lists here and there - especially as there are so many prizes coming up!  It will mean that if you would like to be in with a chance of every prize, then you need to comment on each one as it comes up - and please don't leave it right until the end and nip through all the prize posts adding 'Yes please' to each in one fell swoop. Remember, they will show up serially on my dashboard as well as in the comments where I go to do moderation. If you do that I will notice and wouldn't feel that it's in the true spirit of the Playground so you do risk not being in the draw at all. So, if you want to play then do try to pop in over the festivities to see what's on offer :) Of course I'm well aware that people have family commitments and can't necessarily comment every day so I will be as reasonable as possible. I just don't want anyone swooping in at the last minute and saying yes to each prize in one visit.

Also, just saying here on this post 'count me in for all prizes that are offered' also doesn't count I'm afraid and will mean you don't go into the draw at all - other people are taking the time and trouble to check out the individual posts and prizes and leave comments so it wouldn't be fair to them. Again, this worked fine last year.

As I already said, there will only be the one Mr Linky for all entries - which is at the end of this post of course. I'll remind you where to go to link each time I post a new prize on the blog if you haven't already added your one card. Also, I'll use this Mr Linky as a basis for who entered a snippets make and goes into the draw.

I hope I've explained how the coming three weeks will work in the Playground? Please just say if it's left you confused and I hope it doesn't seem too draconian. My main priority is for everyone to play fair and hopefully be in with a chance of winning something they would like.

The Christmas and New Year Snippets Challenge will run for three weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 9th January 2020. There will be a new Mr Linky on Sunday 10th January 2020. The picks and also the results of the multiple raffle/prize draw will appear one week later on Sunday 17th January - with the proviso that I find the time to do it, otherwise I just might have to move the results slightly or even leave out the picks for once.

Maximum of one entry and remember, there's the prize today and others will appear over the next two weeks so keep your eyes peeled.

Do say in this post if you want today's prize. And please also remember to link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw as well as saying what snippets you used on your entry - and also I'd love you to be a follower of mine if you aren't already, that would be a lovely gesture.

Now, this is important girls, you can leap in throughout the whole giveaway and say 'yes please' to as many prizes as you like .... even if you haven't already made and entered your snippets make into Mr Linky at that point in time. Your 'yes please' will certainly be on the list for whatever prizes you would like to win when it comes to the Grand Draw, so long as you've entered into Mr Linky by the point at which it closes and played by 'the rools'. At the end of this I'll be using today's Mr Linky to add all eligible entrants names into the draw so please feel free to squeal with delight at as many prizes as you wish and say some 'yes pleases' on the way through the festive season - just remember to add just one snippets make into Mr Linky below to be in with a chance. 

As is usual in The Grand Draw some of the prizes on offer will have three chances to win as I bought three of the same prizes. That means there's a good few chances to win a prize, so long as you follow the usual routine/rules.

Also, I think it's only fair that the way I do the draw is from A onwards, regardless of value or number of prizes for that day. That means that the 'Bumper prize' can appear at any point during the challenge. I won't be using the Random number generator - we'll get Dudley to stick his paw into a dish with all the entry names/numbers on slips of paper instead. That means that, if you win a prize, your slip is then removed from the pot and least I'm not messing about re-running the random number generator if your number comes out again - and of course, as the draw goes on the remaining numbers will have slightly better odds of being winners and no-one will win twice. You'll have to trust me to be impartial, which I always am, but this way will work better for such a big prize draw, I'm sure you'll agree. And, as always, I will most certainly post to anywhere you may happen to live,

Please let me know if you have any problems linking, it's always fairly easy for me to sort out so don't struggle on alone.

Sorry this is so wordy and I've repeated a few points but I didn't want to leave any issue not covered - even more than once! Do please ask if anything isn't clear. 

One final point, I'm struggling to keep on top of things here and so far haven't really managed to comment on entries for Challenge 392 which closed yesterday. Don't worry though, I will grab half an hour here or there to visit you all and select some picks and also the winner of the Spellbinders 'Chevron Border' die. There were only 37 entries, so it shouldn't take me too long - looks like I'm not the only person who is busy ☺

On the home news front, poor Dudley has had loads of dips in the utility room sink after his walks. He isn't too keen needless to say but needs must as the weather here is so wet and he comes home looking like a real mucky pup! Some days he literally pokes his nose out of the door and almost sprints to relieve himself before charging straight back indoors. I don't blame him either!

Of course, he's fascinated by all the activity here with decorations being dotted around the house and what seems like a never-ending stream of post arriving. So far he hasn't shown any interest in the Christmas tree - phew!

Merry Christmas from Parsnip, Dudley and yours truly, hope you have a peaceful time and stay safe.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - #368 - Prize J

Today is New Years Eve Folks - but as I feared, I had absolutely no time to make a card for today's giveaway, much less take any photos. So, I've taken an image from where I bought it from on the internet and this is what you can win:

It's a lovely Woodware set of several polymer stamps, designed by Francois Read, called 'Sparkly Trees'. I really can't recall if the prize set came in the package of goodies from Jackie T and then I discovered I could still buy one for myself to make a sample. I think that was my original intention so it's probably another thank you to Jackie!

My idea is, when I find the time, to make gold or silver embossed on darker cards - possibly black or navy blue, reckon they would look really striking. And a few little scattered clear crystal gems would make them 'pop' even more!

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE along with details of exactly how to join in - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post during this fortnight to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft. Mr Linky closes at 11am on Saturday 4th January so you do need to have added a snippets make by then to be eligible for the draw.

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

Busy day here today/yesterday as I'm writing - hence the lack of time to make a card. We've got some sort of electrical problem in that the RCD has tripped three times today - meaning loss of mains power (we still have lights thankfully) and all the sorting out that entails. We're both on the case - Len is the one with the know-how and has the electrical/electronics background, as well as mind - I'm the joker in the pack and keep popping up with ideas. Some of which haven't been so stupid after all - but the issue might plague us a bit until it's resolved.

Len then braved the local supermarket for some bits and pieces and also brought home a lovely freshly baked crusty loaf of bread. So, after I schedule this I'm going to make us a yummy pan of chicken and vegetable broth, using what's left of the Christmas poultry.

Hope you all have a pleasant New Year celebration, whatever you have planned! We might be running to and fro messing around with appliances and flipping 'flipped switches'. Since 4pm we've been hopeful that he's found the problem - one of his Heath Robinson gizmos needless to say ............. and all has been fine since he removed it from the mains circuit - fingers crossed.

At least there's also another less job to do here - I thought we might have to build stables in the Playground to house yesterday's prize of all those reindeer - but it seems you really like them! Trust me, right now I would not be asking the Playground handyman to take on anything else! Happy dance :)

Love from Parsnip, Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge 368 - and Prize A

Hi there and a warm welcome to the Christmas Snippets Playground. It's time to celebrate both the Christmas and New Year Holiday - plus, it's eight whole years on January 1st since I took the Snippets Playground over from the lovely Jules!

First of all I have to add a bit of a disclaimer. On Wednesday evening (having finished doing all the Christmas decorations luckily) just before bed, Dudley and I were playing chase around in our bedroom - a nightly ritual I confess - whilst Len was 'closing the house down for the night'. I managed to get my feet tangled up whilst avoiding the little fella who was frolicking around them, reached out for the bed and sort of missed. It wasn't quite a straight fall onto the floor but in the process I managed to do something to my left shoulder. Absolutely not Dudley's fault in any way - wrong place at wrong time, but you know what - he ran and hid in the bathroom when I squealed in pain/tried not to throw up. Poor little sausage, first thing had to be a one-armed cuddle to reassure him I was OK!

It's been extremely painful but thankfully there's already less pain and more mobility, added to which I'm right handed, phew. It did however impact on some of my plans for making samples and doing posts for the Grand Christmas Draw - not to mention other jobs around the house I had lined up as I've been pacing myself more slowly the past three days in the hope that things will improve better if I don't go being silly. Some of you may well have noticed I sort of disappeared from email and social media whilst it was so very sore. But, there is some improvement, thankfully, and I'll do my very best to stick to the plans for the publishing of prizes during the Grand Draw - although I may have to move some things around as I still have samples to make which would be better done after Christmas Day when there's more time. It will mess up the distribution and subjects of prizes a bit but we can live with that.

Plus, I managed to take a good few photos on Saturday (yesterday) when panic was setting in - and they're not all the quality I would like. The fact that it's been raining for days on end here and we have the lights on indoors most of the time isn't helping with photos I'm afraid. IS ANYONE IN THE UK BUILDING AN ARK YET? I know that Len will help with last minute 'necessary cleaning', flip the Christmas tablecloth over the dining table for me and also reach up as well as do any heavy lifting (thank goodness we're not having Emu as a Christmas roast!) - and the rest will have to wait, just so long as Christmas itself is saved. Enough of the excuses - positive thoughts only here from now on as it could have been a lot worse! And hopefully no long term damage, phew.

Warning - this is a really horrendously looooooooooong post as it sets out how the draw will work, in a lot of detail!

First of all, this is my snippets card for today:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- snippet of silver mirri card  trimmed to 5.75" x 5.75" for the first layer and a  snippet of white pearlescent card trimmed to 5.5" x 5.5" for the second layer. Both glued onto the card front

- a snippet of LOTV snowflake paper from the 'Frosty Christmas' paper pad, trimmed to 5" x 5" and set aside for the moment

- a further snippet of white pearlescent card - from which the two angels were die cut using an Impression Obsession 'Angels' set of dies

- then placed the angel die cuts onto the piece of snowflake backing paper and sort of juggled then about to work out where to place the next die I needed to use

- having done that, used the background die from the Tonic Studios 'Peace Strip' double die set to create a gap approximately an inch from the bottom of the piece of snowflake paper

- glued the two pieces of snowflake paper onto the card front, making sure the top and bottom straight edges were the same distance from the edge of the white layer as the side edges were. This was much easier than it sounds as Tonic Studios thoughtfully designed the background strip die to leave exactly a quarter of an inch gap

- backed a snippet of deep blue shimmery card with 'Stick'It' sheet and die cut the word 'Peace'. Gently placed it into white gap I'd created and snipped the ends off so they just finished where the sides of the silver panels ended and carefully rubbed over the sentiment using the back of my Teflon folder/scorer to make sure it adhered well

- finally, added the two die cut angels where I wonted them to go - finished!
 

It's only fair to say that this was much easier to make than to explain! I mentioned a Teflon folder/scorer. I got mine a while ago  and whilst not cheap I particularly love that it doesn't get the little nicks in that plastic ones seem to acquire over time. The one I have has quite a fat pointed end so I generally use another scorer for actually scoring fold lines in card. But, for folding and rubbing down your folds, as well as gently rubbing over die cuts as I did with the 'peace' sentiment strip die cut - it's brilliant!

So, here we have Prize A of the Christmas/New Year annual giveaway -

On offer for the next two weeks is an Impression Obsession 'Angels' die set plus a Tonic Studios 'Peace Strip' double die set.

Anyhow, as in recent years, this is what's going to be going on with the Snippets Playground over the Christmas and New Year (aka Holidays) festivities.

As usual, the Playground Mr Linky which is below will run for two weeks and closing time will be 11am on Saturday 4th January 2020 and this post you are looking at right now is where to add any entries - with a maximum of just one entry - over the fortnight. One entry means you're in the draw - and the more prizes you say you'd like to win in the comments in each 'additional prize' post does increase your winning chances of course. You have two weeks to play (if you want to of course!) as no doubt the Christmas and New Year festivities themselves will be busy for you. Some of you will be busier than others I know and, for those of you who do find some quiet time to craft, it's a chance for you to play along for some rather nice prizes too. It also means I can clear the Playground toy box out of Christmas themed prizes.

So that I don't swamp and confuse you with a load of prizes to choose from in this post, I'll be posting at intervals over the coming couple of weeks like I did last year and adding more prizes of varying sizes into the pot as we progress through the holiday. That, with luck, might be quite frequently!

If you see a prize you'd like to be in the 'pot' for then please leave a 'Yes please' (or similar) comment in the same post where I show you the prize. AND, don't be shy about wanting each prize as it appears - that way you'll have more chances of winning something. So for today's prize, leave a comment below. For me, that's going to be a lot less confusing than me having lots of little lists here and there - especially as there are so many prizes coming up!  It will mean that if you would like to be in with a chance of every prize, then you need to comment on each one as it comes up - and please don't leave it right until the end and nip through all the prize posts adding 'Yes please' to each in one fell swoop. Remember, they will show up serially on my dashboard if you do that so I will notice and wouldn't feel that it's in the true spirit of the Playground. So, if you want to play then do try to pop in over the festivities and a couple of days after New Year's Eve to see what's on offer :) Of course I'm well aware that people have family commitments and can't necessarily comment every day so I will be as reasonable as possible. I just don't want anyone swooping in at the last minute and saying yes to each prize in one visit.

Also, just saying here on this post 'count me in for all prizes that are offered' also doesn't count I'm afraid and will mean you don't go into the draw at all - other people are taking the time and trouble to check out the individual posts and prizes and leave comments so it wouldn't be fair to them. Again, this worked fine last year.

As I already said, there will only be the one Mr Linky for all entries - which is at the end of this post of course. I'll remind you where to go to link each time I post a new prize on the blog if you haven't already added your one card. Also, I'll use this Mr Linky as a basis for who entered a snippets make and goes into the draw.

I hope I've explained how the coming two weeks will work in the Playground? Please just say if it's left you confused and I hope it doesn't seem too draconian. My main priority is for everyone to play fair and hopefully be in with a chance of winning something they would like.

The Christmas and New Year Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 4th January 2020. There will be a new Mr Linky on Sunday 5th January 2020. The picks and also the results of the multiple raffle/prize draw will appear one week later on Sunday 12th January - with the proviso that I find the time to do it, otherwise me just might have to move the results slightly or even leave out the picks for once. But I'm a stubborn old mare and with luck will stick to the original plan.

Maximum of one entry and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. Remember, there's the prize today and others will appear over the next two weeks so keep your eyes peeled.

Do say in this post if you want today's prize. And, as it worked so well throughout the year, I won't be splitting any of the prize bundles. As the fortnight progresses you'll become aware that at the end of all this I will have a LOT of packages to post!! The packaging let alone the postage is going to be a considerable task/cost for me in January after the draw results are published. This I don't mind at all - I love the Playground and each one of you is someone I consider to be a friend. So, do feel free to play along for a prize, even if you really only want part of it and then you can spread the love by gifting what you might not want to a friend at your end of the line - I don't mind if you do that, although I've tried to select the stuff in the bundles to compliment one another. And please also remember to link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw - and also I'd love you to be a follower of mine if you aren't already, that would be a lovely gesture.

Now, this is important girls, you can leap in throughout the whole giveaway and say 'yes please' to as many prizes as you like .... even if you haven't already made and entered your snippets make into Mr Linky at that point in time. Your 'yes please' will certainly be on the list for whatever prizes you would like to win when it comes to the grand draw, so long as you've entered into Mr Linky by the point at which it closes. At the end of this I'll be using today's Mr Linky to add all entrants names into the draw so please feel free to squeal with delight at as many prizes as you wish and say some 'yes pleases' on the way through the festive season - just remember to add just one snippets make into Mr Linky below to be in with a chance. 

Oh, and a few of the smaller prizes on offer will have three chances to win as I bought three of the same prizes. At the moment that means there's a good few chances to win a prize, so long as you follow the usual routine/rules.

Also, I think it's only fair that the way I do the draw is from A onwards, regardless of value or number of prizes for that day. This year I won't be using the Random number generator - we'll get Dudley to stick his paw into a dish with all the entry names/numbers on slips of paper instead. That means that if you win a prize your slip is then removed from the pot and least I'm not messing about re-running the random number generator if your number comes out again - and of course, as the draw goes on the remaining numbers will have slightly better odds of being winners and no-one will win twice. You'll have to trust me to be impartial, which I always am, but this way will work better for such a big prize draw, I'm sure you'll agree. And, as always, I will post to anywhere you may happen to live.

Please let me know if you have any problems linking, it's always easy for me to sort out so don't struggle on alone.

Sorry this is so wordy but I didn't want to leave any issue not covered!Do please ask if anything isn't clear.

Merry Christmas from Parsnip, Dudley and yours truly,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #331

Here we are again, ready for another fresh Snippets Challenge - anything goes so long as you use one or more 'snippets/scraps'.

There's been little let-up in the current heatwave - although we did have one heavy downpour a week ago and boy was it welcome. Hosepipe bans come into force shortly for many UK folk - not us just yet but we'll surely follow if this continues. We've always been believers in using rain water as much as possible as we live on chalk for starters - a couple of big water butts collect rain water flow from the house and, so cute, Len's guttering (using cable trunking enclosure plastic lengths) they just open up into halves then attach along each side of the shed roof and feed into buckets with the help and guidance of cable ties. Len has all sorts of Heath Robinson things set up here - sometimes I despair - and then a lot of the time I find it so amazing to be able to look at a potential problem as he does and find a way around it. Let's forget that he once made a food blender using a Black and Decker power drill - cabbage on ceiling - so NOT a good look. Before my time with him I'm happy to report! Meanwhile, let's just make the most of our weather!

My make this time round isn't a card - which is really unusual for me! In fairness, it may end up ON a card, at an angle and with a sentiment perhaps, but for now I'm leaving it as a tag in its own right. There's a lot of words about the making and what I discovered through research and trial and error - feel free to skip it if you wish:

I used:

- snippets of card from the snippets folder in kraft, green and red, no full pieces of card, ribbon or twine were harmed in the making of this tag :) 

- using the MFT 'Cross Stitch Tag' set of dies I cut a tag from kraft card with the holes in first of all. You use two dies for this but it's easy to hold them in place with washi tape or similar. MFT recommend that you use a metal plate underneath the die but my Cuttlebug wasn't playing ball and seemed in danger of flying apart so I just ran the paired dies through a few times with folded paper shims on top of the plates - and then poked out each little hole. There's no real way to avoid this from what I've seen - and it's quite therapeutic once you get into a rhythm. I did use waxed paper between the die and the card which ensured that it just dropped out of the die

- then die cut the other parts I needed - a full tag without holes from kraft card, the green top for the tag and the little ring thing which goes around the tag slit - from red card. Put them to one side for safe keeping in a little plastic lid kept for the purpose, it's one of those deep lids from a large tub of cotton buds and ideal for this!

- the pattern I wanted to use is on the MFT website HERE - along with quite a few others. Some are much more simple with a lot less stitching but I always go for the long route!

 - next I got out my cross stitch threads, almost untouched for many years, and matched up the red and green and also picked out a bobbin of white - all Anchor as it happens, purely coincidence. When I was really into cross stitch I always wound embroidery skeins onto flat cardboard 'bobbins' so they were kept untangled and also fitted into special partitioned boxes where you can see the range of colours at a glance. I must have been keen - I have three large boxes with every colour under the sun!

- and then spent quite a while actually sewing the sleigh - I used all six strands of the thread btw rather than split it, those holes are quite big. My guess, as I'm slow and picky and the image is quite solid, is a couple of hours or more. So not something to do if you're in a real hurry - ideal to do in front of the TV if football is on for example

- once the image was stitched - making sure that all crosses were all formed the same way,  just as you would when doing stitching on Aida fabric or linen - it was time to assemble the tag, and that was super fast and easy!

-  just backed the stitched tag with the additional kraft tag (this hides the back of your work and gives somewhere to write on if you just use it as a gift tag!) using narrow red line tape around the edges - glue would ooze through obviously

- then stuck the green top of the tag in place, using red line tape again and added the red 'ring' around the tag slit using a glue pen

- finally,  found one lonely snippet of white ribbon waiting patiently to be used, threaded it through the tag slit and tied it using a snippet of brown twine saved from a brown old fashioned label. Trimmed the ends of the ribbon and the twine to suit and that was it - done!

Here's some additional stuff I found out along the way. You can just draw the crosses onto the die cut tag - but I (personally) can't see it looking as effective without the tactile element- and there are lots of lovely patterns to be found, not only on the MFT website. Check out Pinterest for example or just small cross stitch patterns in general, on line, for ideas. My tag is an unashamed copy of one that MFT use to promote this die set :)

A hint I read is to pre-colour in the design, by drawing crosses using pens matched to your chosen threads (like the suggestion to not use threads) - and then stitch over it to ensure full coverage. I did start off this way and thought 'This really is a mug's game - I'm doing twice the work here' so I switched straight to using the thread and, because it's six strands thick, it covers perfectly anyhow. Also, I made a couple of (I corrected them - so don't check!) sewing mistakes along the way and of course you can't really unpick a Pro marker marker cross can you!
 
MFT also make a plain cross stitch rectangle die, and perhaps others - but it would be so easy to cut out the punched tag and just slice across the top. I might try that one next - maybe in an aperture - although there are some lovely and very effective patterns specifically for this die set. There's room to stamp a smallish sentiment on the green top part of the tag as well. Crumbs, anyone would think I worked for MFT. Sales pitch over!

Without you needing to guess, here's this week's Snippets Playground prize:

Yup, it's an  MFT 'Cross Stitch Tag' die set for the randomly selected winner - and of course, you can omit the cross stitch part if you really must and just make tags to stamp on by not using the 'holes part' of the die - choices, choices :) I'm so excited to have this 'find' to share with you as a prize - I really love it!

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 4th August. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

It's a maximum of ONE entry and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. Please also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

Remember, if you link into the Playground and don't say clearly that you're wanting to be in the draw in a comment on here, then you will be bypassed if your name comes out of Mr Linky. I'm sure you all know I ask for a positive 'yes' on the blog post - just in case you're playing only for fun - otherwise I ignore you on my little list.

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 :)

Be sure to call back next week to see the fortnight's picks and the winner of the Art Impressions 'Doggy Kisses' set of stamps.

Hedgies are doing fine btw - eating for the UK it seems! No pitter patter of tiny paws yet - but Len is only reporting one or two hedgies each night. I'm keeping quiet but I think there could be at least one Mum in the undergrowth nearby with a little brood of new prickles waiting to descend on us. - he hasn't thought of that one as yet!

Love from Parsnip (on his prayer mat right now whimpering for rain - silly bear, he thinks we'll ALL be showering together with the birds and even Spike and friends if water restrictions come in!) and of course from me,