Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #375

Hi there folks - here's hoping everyone is safe and managing to cope in the current lock down all over the World.  It's been OK here, we're managing to get on line grocery orders fulfilled and thankfully Dudley has only ever needed one walk per day. The rest of his exercise has always been plenty of playtime in the house or garden when he wants it.

It seems that the worst of the panic buying is over, although I did have a wry smile at a photo someone posted on Facebook - bare shelves in the home hair colouring section of a supermarket!

Speaking of hair, I still haven't clipped Dudley - a few of you have been wondering. It's going to be a two-person job and meanwhile I'm keeping his face trimmed until the inevitable - which will be soon I imagine lest it grows too long. 

In general people around here are keeping to the self-isolation 'rules'. But, you always get exceptions of course. I really don't know which part of ONE exercise per day they don't understand ........ and this is only the end of the second week. However, it seems there is no cure for stupid and I guess it's no good stressing over those with intentions of being prime candidates for the Darwin award - so long as they don't infect others along the way, which unfortunately is very possible.

I became quite concerned about our lovely Alice of ScrAPamondo in Italy - she hadn't posted since mid-February. However, I had a lovely long email from her this morning (Saturday) letting me know that all is well. She's a teacher as most of you will know and has been even busier than when the schools were open - with on line school work. She may have already emailed some of you but I just wanted to update you as Italy is having such a tough time right now. We all send our love to you Alice - and also to Kate in Spain who's in the thick of it as well, she's also fine thank goodness.

OK, enough about Coronavirus, it is what it is and hopefully we'll get through this in one piece!

Here's my snippets card for this fortnight, a bit of a different one for me - and it also includes a matching envelope, which is totally different for me:

I used:

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

- snippet of green striped paper (by SU) from the snippets folder, slightly trimmed to cover the card front leaving a narrow margin of white - then glued in place

- snippet of plain white card and the large stamp from Concord & 9th's 'Woven Plaid Background' stamp set - stamped using SU's 'Tangelo Twist' ink pad and a Misti

- trimmed the stamped panel to quarter of an inch smaller all round than the green layer and glued it in place

- stamped 'Hello You' onto a snippet of white card, using a stamp from Woodware's 'Celebrating You' set of stamps and Memento 'Tuxedo Black ink

- punched the sentiment out using SU's 'Decorative Label' punch then popped it onto the card front using thin sticky pads

- the envelope is a USA branded one (bought through Amazon) to fit USA A2 cards. It has a straight flap at the back, rather than our more usual UK 'pointed' flaps

- so I used the second stamp in the Woodware set, which is a 1" wide strip and the same 'Tangelo Twist' ink to stamp a border across the envelope flap edge. Little tip, I was using the Misti and to stamp with the envelope closed I just popped a scrap of paper underneath the flap before stamping - so that the plaid pattern was right up to the edge and any slight overhang didn't impinge on the rest of the back of the envelope

- then spotted a narrow strip of the green striped paper lying on the desk and added that across the flap, trimmed it down from the back - and called the job done!

Excuse the slightly washed out colours - the black is a really solid jet black in real life. I took the photo in sunshine here!

I loved making this card and matching envelope - and it was quick as well as easy. I must confess to spoiling my first attempt at stamping the large plaid panel for the card front. I stamped it once then as a couple of spots were a bit pale/spotty (operator error totally) I re-inked the stamp and added more ink, far too much, then applied too much pressure when stamping as well. The resulting plaid pattern was quite thick and I'd begun to lose the fine white lines in the pattern. So, I flipped the snippet of card over and re-stamped on the back - totally successfully.

I might make a run of them to include with prizes, if my mojo ever properly returns. And of course, they would be great for Christmas - how about a black or grey plaid background topped with a die cut poinsettia for example? And you can also use the 1" wide strip stamp to add a lovely edge down the spine side of a card as another idea. This is yet another stamp set I've had for ages, along with the sentiment set - totally unused.

Which means I can enter this into a challenge which the lovely Darnell used to run and has resurrected, with the help of our sweet friend Loll - yup, it's 'the return of NBUS' where you can join in to play along right HERE. I always quietly mourned the closing down of NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) as it really encouraged me to rummage through the 'holding' box I pop my new goodies into and to use them much sooner than I would otherwise have done. However, be warned, it also facilitated/encouraged me to buy even more new stuff after seeing all the entries!

I know that a good few of you are already playing along already. Of course a lot of people seem to have taken the opportunity to tidy and or re-organise their craft stuff or are producing more beautiful makes than ever - but I certainly fall into neither category and am very grateful for the kick start!

And here is the prize for this fortnight:

Concord & 9th's 'Woven Plaid Background' stamp set plus a Woodware 'Celebrating You' set of sentiment stamps (which includes a cute little heart image as well).

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 18th April. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

It's a maximum of ONE entry, 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 want 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 itself - just in case you're only playing for fun - otherwise I don't add you to my little list.

I'm still struggling with commenting as punctually as I ought to in the Playground at the moment, plus I owe many of you emails. Huge apologies and I'll be there ASAP, I promise! It's as if my 'get up and go' has 'got up and gone'- which is not good at all.

Instead of crafting I've turned to doing more elaborate meals a lot of the time and some baking as well. Crafting would be better for the waist line though :)

Stay safe my lovely friends.

Lots of love from us all - Parsnip, Dudley and of course me,

Butterfly Birthday

Had to make a card in a bit of a rush for a friend's Birthday so decided to dig out a NBUS stamp set, then whipped this card up:

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank, side opening

- piece of Core-dinations purple card, cut to 4.75" square and glued onto the card front

- piece of white card stock, cut to 4.5" square

- used stamps from Woodware's NBUS 'Mosaic Butterfly Round' set of stamps, the Misti and a Ranger 'Black Archival' ink pad to stamp the large butterfly mosaic stamp and a sentiment (the set comes with a choice of five sentiments) first of all

- then positioned a corner stamp from the same set of stamps and stamped all four corners, turning the square piece of card by 90 degrees each time - hooray for the Misti!

- coloured the image panel using my long-neglected Zig brush pens - straight onto the card so the colours are rather bright ☺

- glued the panel onto the layer of purple card - finished!

Another time using the Zigs, I really must have a play at diluting the colours and try to use them more 'artistically' with some blending. Need to watch some You Tube videos first - as well as allow more time! 

This stamp set would be great to use on acetate as a clear window, coloured with Pro markers and set into a big circular aperture.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - #368 - Prize G

Me again - with another snippets card:

I used:

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

- then, using the Misti, I first stamped the reindeer using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and Impression Obsession's 'Reindeer - F10007' stamp

- as the stamp is red rubber backed with cling mount (still think red rubber is so good for first time crisp images) I'd had to remove the foam inset from the Misti so I then popped it back in for the next stamp I used, which is a clear one from the Do-crafts Papermania 'Traditional Sentiments' stamp set - again with Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- the stamping looked very dark on the sentiment, but comfort and time weren't on my side so I toned it down a bit using clear Wink of Stella

- then coloured the reindeer using Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils plus a Signo sparkly silver pen for the antlers, stars and outlines

- final touch was to run an embossing tool round each side using my Scor-Pal

A totally rubbish photo, which doesn't show up the colouring at all well, but I was too tired to start fiddling around with different lighting - even some blending fluid or using Pro markers would probably have been an idea. But at least you can see the sort of thing I had in mind! Given more time and patience I'll certainly revisit this lovely reindeer stamp, and perhaps heat emboss the sentiment in silver. It would look good with a strong Scandinavian theme as well - which is what I had in mind when I bought the reindeer stamp and, for me, a silver frame perhaps.

But, I was struggling with this dratted shoulder and some sweet person actually said in a comment, 'don't worry if you can't make the samples' and I did so appreciate that recognition as it hadn't crossed my mind as a 'Last Stand Saloon' solution - and that actually might happen with one or two of my future prize posts. We shall see though, I'm not a quitter :) Ha, I moved a linen basket of folded washing ready to iron today and that told me off a bit! Note, I only moved it folks!

And so, today's prize is (sorry, I'd forgotten to add this photo when I originally scheduled the post):

An Impression Obsession's 'Reindeer - F10007' stamp plus a Do-crafts Papermania 'Traditional Sentiments' stamp set.

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.
And can I also remind you please that you must use one or more snippets on your entry for the challenge.

I've just spent a good while going through your entries, as well as all of of your comments so far - jotting down potential 'picks' and also reading every single word of your lovely comments. I love to read your anecdotes and snippets of news. Remember girls, it's YOU who make this Playground happen - if it's really in your heart then you know just what I mean.

I've been a bit saddened that a few 'wild card' entries don't even make the effort to use a single snippet, lovely as they might be - I will exclude those during the draw. Our one rule IS to use at least one snippet ......... and mention it in your post so it's clearly a snippet you've used please.

Finally - did you know that Havanese dogs dance on their hind legs for treats? Dudley is utterly enchanting when he does it - he even does a good impression of a Rudolf Nureyev pirouette. Bichons do, so why not their Cuban cousins? If he starts to wear high heeled Cuban boots for the performance we'll be seriously worried! He could be on the way I fear - all of Christmas, during the day but not at night, he's trotted quite happily around wearing a Christmas bandana that Santa left for him! With a rather 'camp' flourish!

Love from Parsnip, Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground #368 - Prize C

Just one more sleep until it's Christmas Day!

Due to the shoulder issues I had to re-jig some of my intended posts, I still have a Nativity card to make - along with a few others for the draw to showcase prizes. I so wanted a Nativity scene for today (and the stamp I'll be using for the card is just so perfect, sent for the draw by our lovely Shaz in Oz) so do watch for it coming later on in the draw posts, but something had to give so I did a bit of a reshuffle in the end. Why on earth I didn't think to make the samples in date order is beyond me though!

I made this 'sample' card a little bit ahead of time thankfully:

I used:

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

- slightly smaller snippet of black card, with some little twinkles in - in truth I couldn't locate where my plain black card is safely stored and all my snippet were too small so I rummaged through a box of Christmas snippets and found this - result! It has a white core so I ran a black marker around the edge so it wouldn't show when viewed sideways (no wonder I take so flipping long to make a single card!)

- snippet of SU's 'Real Red' card, trimmed to slightly smaller than the black layer

- snippet of white card which I popped into the Misti and stamped using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and MFT's fabulous and very generously sized 'Christmas' background stamp - trimmed it to slightly smaller than the Real Red backing layer

- more from the SU 'Real Red' pile of snippets trimmed to a height of 1.5", but left wider than the printed background layer for now. I trimmed a tiny bit more off the height as I wanted the background words to not be chopped in half when I adhered the red die cut to the front of the card - just a little whisker needed to be trimmed off but it does make all the difference when using such a strong set of letters on top of what almost looks like newsprint. I backed the strip with Stick-It adhesive paper, then die cut it using a die from the fabulous Memory Box 'Merry' set of three dies, all with the word Merry in different fonts - I chose the bold capitals for this card

- then popped the die cut onto the 'newsprint' background and carefully trimmed either edge of the red strip to line up with the background, quickly ran it through the Cuttlebug to ensure a good 'set' :)

- glued the black layer to the card front, followed by the red layer and finally the newsprint layer with the red sentiment strip already adhered - finished!

And, I was left with the waste from the die cut - a lovely set of capital letters all ready for a further card, when time allows.

I can sort of see the front of the Daily Mirror newspaper in this card - should have thought ahead a bit more perhaps.

I do so love the background stamp, it stamps perfectly and can provide loads of different colours of course. Another time I'll certainly try different colours for the card as a whole, even the background could be stamped using different shades of the same colour to give an ombre look for example - and both the stamp and set of dies will stand on their own and be so useful for other projects.

And of course today's prize is:

MFT's Background 'Christmas' stamp - which is red rubber and mounted onto cushion backing. It stamps beautifully! Plus a Memory Box 'Merry' set of three dies in different fonts.

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, which I won't be splitting of course.

Hope you're not racing round in a flat panic and that you manage to find some time to wind down a bit before the big day itself! There comes a point when you just have to say 'That's it. What's not done, or what we may not have, isn't actually what this celebration should all be about.'.

Love from Parsnip, Dudley and of course me. Parsnip is bustling around, hanging up stockings and generally fussing around - whilst Dudley is watching my every move, in case it involves food!

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #358

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who commented about my quandry whether or not to order from Simon Says Stamp! I did end up placing a small order, needless to say the postage is sky high, so it remains to be seen what transpires once it reaches the UK! Fingers crossed.

It's still hot down here in Hampshire, but thankfully we're not having the rain problems and flooding that some others parts of the UK are contending with.

I needed a Birthday card for a good friend last weekend and so I also made it my snippets card ahead of the usual panic here - me not totally stupid.

And therefore, here's my snippets card for this coming fortnight:

I used:

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

- snippets of peach coloured card which I used as 'frames' for the main image panel and also the sentiment - I try to choose the coloured card before then looking for matching/toning colours for coloring in the backgrounds and images

- another snippet of white card onto which I stenciled a background using Altenew's 'Feeling Dotty' stencil and 'Tumbled Glass' Distress Ink - applied using a Clarity stencil brush

- piece of white card, also a snippet, onto which I stamped the adorable Newton's Nook 'Dainty Daisies' plus a sentiment from the same set (I chose one suitable for a Birthday but I do love the other sentiment which is 'Thanks a bunch!'). And of course I used Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and the Misti

- then coloured the 'daisies' image using Pro markers before die cutting the bunch using a die from the Newton's Nook co-ordinating set, I did find it best to use another snippet of card to cut a template to ensure the placing of quite a detailed die

- I had set out to make a USA A2 sized card but then realised that the balance was going to be all wrong - would have been better to have the daisies within an oval or rectangular frame in the centre perhaps for that card size

- so I cut everything back to go onto the now reduced in size card blank and glued the peach frame and image background panel in place, before trimming and adding the sentiment to another peach frame

- that meant I could sit and sort of juggle things around a bit until I was as happy as I'd ever be

- then glued the bunch of daisies in place and popped the sentiment to the bottom left

- final touch - a rootle through my huge box of gems and other similar (rarely used these days) embellishments and found some lime green sparkly but almost clear 'domes' which I popped in place

- as always, I added an insert although I usually leave those blank but this time I added 'Happy Birthday Wishes' using a stamp from a pre-loved SU set called Avant-Garden (this is really for my own record as it took me ages to find a small enough sentiment that went with the font of the sentiment on the front of the card)

So, it ended up as a much smaller card than I originally envisaged - but, victim of my own OCD really, I like (as far as possible) to only use goodies on my fortnightly snippets card which form part of the prize. Otherwise, I really do think those daises would be in a pretty die cut frame (of which I have a good selection) or aperture - and the sentiment would have also been die cut using an elongated pennant/flag or some such die, IF I could find one absolutely the right size, which is rare when I'm sticking to using a specific sentiment.

There are loads of ideas out there for how to use this lovely 'Dainty Daisies set' - quite a lot don't even need the die cutting and some are such vibrant and quite funky colours. I think the set is a fairly recent release (2019) and I just bet I spotted it on one of your blogs (or Seven Hills blogspot which is fabulous but so tempting) and ran off to buy them.

The prize this fortnight is:

Of course it's a Newton's Nook 'Dainty Daisies' set of stamps with matching dies, plus an Altenew 'Feeling Dotty' stencil.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 17th August. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.
 
It's a maximum of ONE entry, 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 want 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 itself - just in case you're only playing for fun - otherwise I don't add you to my little list.

And we do have a few photos of Dudley this week - in the garden one evening, having one of his favourite times of the day, which always includes a little 'treat' or two of course. He still hasn't opened up his Birthday cake shaped treat though, it's being saved for after this coming Tuesday when he gets home from having a 'shampoo, set and manicure' at our local grooming salon. He'll need so little trimming that, for now, he's going to the local branch. That makes life much easier for us not having to trek to Winchester as I can take him on his own and then either come back home for an hour or nip round Sainsbury's just over the road from the grooming place.

Anyhow - here's the little chap, especially for you:

OK Mama - I'm ready to perform, get that camera clicking!

I can 'dance for my Daddy' for treats anytime!

But just got told to 'sit' and wait

Then,when I give my paw, I get the treat :) Sometimes I'm gentle and other times I just slap my paw like a high five and think 'get on with it!'

And this is my toy box - a few of the toys are strewn around elsewhere - but you can see Benjamin Bear who came to live with me on my Birthday - and of course my beloved 'Stinky Monkey - Mark 2'. I'm working hard on him 'cos one day he was suddenly all fresh and new for some reason!

Lots of love from us all - Parsnip, Dudley and of course me,

Less is More #398 - one layer and spots

It's absolutely ages since I joined in with many of the challenges I used to play in (when I had more time), and one of those is Less is More.

I have a big Really Useful Box, stuffed full of unused items such as stamps, dies and stencils (or NBUS as Darnell would say). Some are to be used for my Snippets Playground challenge samples, and some are items I either bought just for me, or have been sent by lovely friends.

This card is a mixture, the stamp set is a one off that I fell in love with and bought last year - there was only one in stock, and it doesn't seem to be available here in the UK right now. However, the stencil has a duplicate in the Toy Box and that will be on offer, sometime fairly soon.

So - the theme is one layer over at Less is More #398 - and you also have to include spots. This is my offering:

I used:

- 6" x 6" white card blank (in fairness, Hobbycraft's card blanks are a teensy bit smaller even though they quite cheekily sell them as 6" x 6" (the envelopes are 6" x 6" though) and I usually trim them down slightly to 5.75" x 5.75" - as I did in this case

- the stamp set I used is such a fun one - it's by Your Next Stamps and is called 'One in a Chameleon'. Really great images and also some very cheesy sentiments as well. Also I especially like that the images lines are lovely and thick, which makes them perfect for masking

- stamped the chameleon and one of the flowers onto a piece of Woodware Magi-film, using Ranger Archival ink (wasn't sure whether Memento would possibly smear when I was fussy cutting the images so played safe) - and then spent ages carefully fussy cutting out the two masks

- then stamped the chameleon and the flower onto the card front, using the Misti of course

- popped the masks onto the images on the card front and then adhered the stencil in place using some low tack tape before stencilling the green spots using an Altenew 'Feeling Dotty' stencil, SU's 'Wild Wasabi' ink pad and a Clarity stencil brush

- removed the stencil and the two little masks then coloured in the flower and the chameleon using Whispers brush pens

- then added the two sentiments (using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink) with the help of the Misti and some clear acetate with grid lines on for the initial alignment - and naturally also did a check before 'going for it'!

- final touch, a coating of Glossy Accents on the eyes - and I also checked that the Glossy Accents wouldn't react with the pupil of the chameleon by trying it on a snippet of card first - me not always as daft as me looks!

Finished! As I said, this is such a fun set of stamps and it's ages since I did any masking so am quietly pleased with the result. I did Google to look for ideas to colour in the chameleon and came across some images where folk had used the colours of the rainbow - which I admit I unashamedly followed and then I thought I'd do the same when colouring the flower). And I do love his little 'two-fingered salute ☺

It also struck me that, as it's a celebration of World/Gay Pride at the moment, it's quite appropriate.

Rudolph Days Challenge - June 2019

It seems quite a while since May's Rudolph Days challenge - run by the lovely ScrappyMo HERE. I like the monthly prompt to add to my stock of Christmas cards, and this time round managed to make seven cards for the June challenge, all the same:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank, side opening on the short edge for a change

- a piece of slightly shimmery silvery grey card, trimmed to an eight of an inch smaller than the card front, all round (ie. 5.25 x 4") for the backing to frame the finished image panel

- white card onto which I stamped the tree background and falling snow from the Stampin' Up 'White Christmas' set of stamps, using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- then added the sentiment, also from the same set of stamps, trimmed the image panel down to just slightly smaller than the silvery grey layer as I wanted just a narrow silver grey frame and set the panel aside for now

-  next stamped the car and added the tree on top onto slightly thinner card as I was going to fussy cut them after colouring - thank goodness for the Misti, brilliant for 'batch baking' a load of cards all the same

- coloured the car with the tree on top using my much loved Whispers brush markers and then spent what seemed like a lifetime carefully fussy cutting seven of the little perishers! Why seven? Ah - that would be telling (basically there was a casualty when stamping the tree background which I couldn't save early on in the process - not even using the Sand Eraser)

- then I returned to the background itself and used a grey Whispers marker to colour the trees then tickled them with Clear Wink of Stella

- used a glue pen and some glitter dust to add some sparkle to the snow line and the snow in the sky area

- layered the image panel onto the silvery grey card then added that to the card front

- finally, stuck the car in place using a thin sticky pad

Despite almost losing the will to live with the fussy cutting, it was good fun making these cards and it also boosted my 'tally' to 43, wahoo!

I'd been hankering for this set of stamps for a while (I think they first came out in 2014) and was lucky enough to find a totally new set on a Facebook De-cluttering site a while back. Plus, they're clear polymer which, in combination with the Misti, did take a lot of the 'angst' away from the stamping process when building up the scene for the background and the tree on top of the car so it could all be cut in one piece.

We have a neighbour with a very similar car - but perhaps the sentiment isn't right for folk you see more often than some :)

I saw a few very similar designs on the Internet using this stamp set - the one I followed is by a SU demonstrator but I can't find it again, sigh. But, thank you - whoever you are :) One thing I would change - I would not add the glitter blobs to the falling snow, better to have left them well alone and she did. AND, that car has no driver!!

Allsorts Challenge - Weeks 476/477 - Flowers all over

The current challenge over at Allsorts (one of my very favourite challenges) is 'Flowers all over' - and it's running for two weeks this time round.

I had a NBUS stamp bought some while ago - and this was the perfect opportunity:

I used:

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

- very slightly smaller snippet of mid-olive green card to form a frame for the image

- piece of white card stock onto which I stamped the image using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a Taylored Expressions stamp called 'Bloomin' Background'. I used the Misti but in truth the panel stamped beautifully first time - possibly as it's red rubber mounted onto clingy foam, and I used a fresh ink pad as well

- then stamped the sentiment, using the same black ink and a stamp from the Penny Black 'Special Thoughts' set. The beauty of this image panel is that it comes with the plain oval, edged with a stitched effect - all ready for your own sentiment

- and now it was time to sit and do some colouring. I used Pro markers and followed the colours shown on the stamp packet image for this first play

- time to assemble the card - which involved a bit of careful trimming. The image panel is actually 5.75" x 4.5", so you can just trim it down on all sides to suit your needs

- then glued the green panel onto the card front, followed by the image panel (which I'd backed with fun foam for some dimension)

- final touch, three self-adhesive red pearls - which I darkened to match using the same deep red pen as I used when colouring the image

One card, all ready for the challenge. I just love this stamp! And I think the sentiment is so appropriate for the lovely Brenda who tirelessly runs more than just the Allsorts challenge - along with her talented DT of course.

I took the photo of the card lying on the desk (the card, not me!) but even so, the narrow green 'frame' layer still sort of disappears at the bottom - trust me, it's even, all the way round!

I'll be honest and say that right now crafting is a bit of a struggle for me - my heart just isn't in it like it used to be. Hopefully that will change toot sweet and I'll be firing on all cylinders again. The Playground is safe, as well as top priority, and if I manage to do more than that then it's a bonus right now.

Maybe I need to just stamp out a few images and spend time colouring them :) OR, do a bit more of something different, using my own duplicate of the next Playground prize - taps nose and winks knowingly. Come back on Sunday and all will be revealed, snigger.

.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #321

Well, what a week for weather here in the UK! Some of you suffered quite badly, some were just middle of the road like us and others barely saw more than just a sprinkling of snow. We were pretty much locked in here for a couple of days as we live quite high up in Hampshire and also on a sloping and reasonably steep road. Of course, there will always be those who venture out regardless (perhaps through need rather than desire I must admit) and quite a few cars were literally just sliding back down the hill.

Anyhow, today (Saturday) has seen a dramatic lift in temperature and thankfully the snow is rapidly melting.

Enough of the weather - let's move onto Playground stuff.

I'd been eyeing up the Concord and 9th 'Turnabout' stamps for ages and finally took the plunge a few weeks ago. Of course, then it was a case of choosing which design to go for. I figured that the new 'Sprinkles' set of stamps would be good fun and it could also be used at Christmas time to make card backgrounds in Christmassy colours.

Here's my snippets card, using the set: 

I used:

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

- snippets of SU's lavender coloured 'Wisteria Wonder' card and also snippets of white card from the box where I keep card for stamping (it's categorised between brands and uses so I know the white shades will be the same)

- the first thing was to stamp the 'Sprinkles' background using the main 'Turnaround' stamp. I subsequently found several videos about using these stamp sets and, IMHO, this is the best one so far, produced by Hedgehog Hollow. Even better than Jennifer McGuire's videos about using the Turnabout stamps and that's really saying something as I'm a huge fan of hers! I think the Hedgehog Hollow video scored higher marks for its clarity rather than galloping a bit - as well as the idea of laminating the 'grid'. That isn't essential but I like that it would then make it wipe clean

- of course, if you haven't come across these stamp sets then you'll be wondering what on earth I'm on about. It's too complicated to explain quickly - but suffice it to say that the principle is generally the same - using a background stamp you stamp in one colour (using the Misti for ease), then do a quarter turn of the piece of card leaving the stamp on the lid. Clean the stamp and ink it using a different colour before stamping again. You can do this for all four 'turns' and build up as busy a background as you wish - or just do it twice for 'less is more'. The really important part is finding and marking the centre of the stamp itself before placing it onto the Misti - my card isn't absolutely right but it's very close and next time I now know (from the Hedgehog Hollow video) exactly how to set the stamp up. So easy ....... when you know how!

- I stamped the 'Sprinkles' background using four colours of Dewdrops Brilliance Pearlescent ink pad - Yellow, Orchid, Lavender and Sky Blue and set it aside

- next stamped the sentiment onto a snippet of white card and the cupcake outlines onto another little snippet of white card - using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- then stamped the cupcake cases onto another little snippet of white card using some of the ink pads from the background

- also stamped some sprinkles onto the frosted topping on the cupcakes before fussy cutting around the cupcakes and the cases

- layered the cupcake cases onto the cupcake outlines using a glue pen - and also checked that they would fit onto the sentiment panel once it was trimmed down!

- ready now to do the final trimming and layering of the 'Sprinkles' background and the SU 'Wisteria Wonder' backing 'frame' and glue both pieces together and then add them to the card front

- trimmed the sentiment panel to suit and backed it with some SU 'Wisteria Wonder' just enough to peek out on either side and glued those together before adding it to the card front

- lastly, added the little cupcakes to the sentiment panel using this sticky pads to add some dimension

This stamp set was such fun to use and such a clever idea by Concord and 9th as well. The designs are growing and many of you will have at least spotted the triangles stamp on your travels around Blogland. I would certainly buy more stamps in the series now that I know all the little hints and tips :)

There are a few sentiments and various combinations of cupcakes - another reason I chose the set as it's pretty good value for money due to the additional stamps

So, here's this week's Snippets Playground prize:

Of course, it's a set exactly the same as the Concord and 9th 'Sprinkles' Turnaround stamp set I used today! Ha, if you like I'll also add in some white snippets :)

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 17th March. 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 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' - just in case you're playing only for fun. Thanks!

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 winners of last fortnight's 'Sugar Pea 'Home Sweet Home' die and the matching Sweet Pea Sweet Sentiments 'Home' stamp set.

Parsnip's latest calamity adventure was helping me to clean the different stamps as I was making this card - thank goodness for the Shammy as there is a fair bit of stamp cleaning to do along the way. Of course, he demanded payment in choklit! However, I have absolutely no idea how a little white bear could end up with yellow ink inside his ear as well as sky blue underneath his chin. I think he must have had a couple of itches and forgotten the dangers of scratching oneself whilst having inky paws. I didn't look any further, for fear of where else on his fluffy little white body he might have been spreading the stuff - I shudder to think!

Love from Parsnip and of course from me,

Twofer Card Challenge #1

I was going to leave my entry for Darnell's new 'Twofer' card challenge until my usual Wednesday post. But, that's really very last minute, the cards are made already, and I'd cry if someone comes up with one of my ideas.

We have to use a 'feather' stamp and/or die on two different cards, for two different occasions - and you need a stamped or die cut sentiment to emphasise which occasion the card is for - easy huh?

After much pondering about just how to achieve what I wanted for the Christmas card I found a neglected set of feather stamps lurking here. And away I went with these cards as a result:

This is the stamp set I used - just the the smallest feather stamp on the bottom right:

Here are the cards on their own, with how I made them:

I used:

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

- snippet of SU 'Certainly Celery' card for the backing layer, topped by a piece of paper from the 'Sweet Wishes' paper stack (free with a magazine ages ago) - glued together and set aside

- then stamped the blue and pink feather onto a snippet of white card using a slightly curved feather from the Viva Decor stamp set, which has loads of lovely feathers in. Made in Germany but also available over here in the UK. The inks for the feather are Memento 'Summer Sky' and VersaMagic 'Pink Petunia' - chosen to match the patterned paper

- next, stamped the sentiment using stamps from the 'Hot Stuff' stamp set made by Clearly Besotted and SU 'Wild Wasabi' ink pad

- die cut the 'banner' using a die from the MFT 'Stitched Fish Tail Flag' Stax set

- then drew around the same die and cut it even bigger than the pencil lines using more 'Certainly Celery' card - the dies cut really close to the edge of the metal so I had to create my own wider border

- glued the two layers together, trimmed the top and added it to the layered green and patterned paper before then gluing them to the card front

Loved making this card, lining up the patterned paper was a challenge - and there's no way I could have stamped the sentiment without the Misti!

I thought about Darnell and her lovely little (not so little now) twin grandsons whilst making this - even though the card is for a 'one of each variety' :)

My Christmas card is next, and that's the one I'm really happy with as I stretched the Misti a little bit further. I've never seen this done before but someone will already have 'sussed' it I'm certain:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank, side opening

- then cut a piece of white card to an exact square - I think mine was 5" x 5" - just make sure you have it big enough to either die cut or trim down later as placing the feathers was a bit of an unknown in terms of the final size I confess

- I marked the centre and then lightly drew around a circular die using a soft pencil

- selected the same smallest feather stamp along with three different SU green ink pads and it was time to play

- set the card in place in one corner of the Misti (for some reason I tend to go for the bottom left corner but the principle is the same however you prefer to position your card for stamping)

- then placed the 'softly curled' feather stamp in place at 12 o'clock on the pencilled circle. A slightly curled or curved feather is likely to work best for this technique

- picked the feather up with the lid of the Misti and then stamped it onto the card using SU's 'Certainly Celery' - the lightest of the green ink pads I'd chosen to use

- to be honest, at this point I could already see enough about where this was going so I carefully erased the pencilled circle and 'winged it'

- leaving the stamp in place, I rotated the piece of card by 90 degrees to the left, inked up the stamp again and stamped another feather. I did this twice more for the other two stampings, rotating by 90 degrees each time (I went to the left but either way would work I'm sure)

- now I had a piece of white card with light green feathers stamped at North, South, East and West - or, 12, 3, 6 and 9 on a clock face

- let's stick with the clock face descriptions (sheesh photos would be easier but all the photo editing is crazy!)

- next I cleaned the stamp using my Shammy and placed it onto the card in the Misti, at 11 o'clock this time, so it was overlapping the first feather by about half and also following the curve in my mind. One could argue that I have a VERY curved mind to be honest!

- stamped the feather four times, as before, this time using SU's 'Wild Wasabi' ink and of course rotating the card by 90 degrees each time

- last of the stamping was to clean the stamp and replace it at 10 o'clock on the happily forming circle. Then stamped as before, four times using SU's 'Old Olive' ink and rotating the piece of card by 90 degrees each time - so the circle was complete

- and there we have it, one feather wreath, all thanks to the Misti

- I die cut the wreath panel using a die from the 'Stitched Squares' set by The Works, and mounted it onto a slightly larger square of red satin mirri card 

- using more of the snippet of red satin mirri card, I backed it with Stick-It and die cut a sentiment using the Presscut 'Merry Christmas' die and a bow using one of the Memory Box 'Crisp Bows' dies

- snipped the long string off the bow and added that to the bottom of the wreath and then popped the sentiment in place

- did my usual trick next of running the panel through the Cuttlebug using the embossing plates on either side of the panel and an embossing  folder (left folded) on top to give the right pressure without leaving any indentations on the panel

- glued the panel in place on the card front

- added a few Josy Rose shiny gold star shaped nail heads here and there on the wreath and also on the 'knot' of the red bow 

I think this could work well using gold/ silver stamping inks as well - of course, if you're really wanting to 'sit and peel grapes' then you could possibly emboss each set of four feathers as you go.

I did read a few folks saying how much fun they had being able to use stuff for both cards whilst it was all out on the desk. The only thing I used more than once was the feather stamp - and I guess the Misti, guillotine and die cutting machine!

It was fun to play and after such a long absence I did spot my mojo peeking round the corner of the craft room door - almost ready to return!

Thanks Darnell for the swift kick in the rear end! I hope to be back to play again - once I recover from this first marathon!

 

Pixie's Snippets Playground Weeks 313 and 314 - Prize H

This is the very last prize in the Christmas/New Year giveaway folks - and I'm almost on my knees here after such a flurry of card making, writing posts, keeping track of comments on prizes, visiting your entries etc. But, with a huge sigh of relief and satisfaction, we made it in the end! Even Parsnip keeps whining when I produce yet another prize to offer! He may well ban me from doing this next year - but the show isn't finished just yet.

I did have a smile about my penguin card of yesterday. They sure do have grey fluffy plumage at first - but they apparently also have dark head markings so I was a bit off-beam. Never thought to look through the Google Glasses of course! I just recall seeing little grey fluffy babies on TV nature programmes .......  shouting for their parents to return to them with FOOD!

So, way off the track on penguins, this is my card for today - in fact I made two identical ones at the same time. When you have all the bits for heat embossing lined up it does make sense to do more than one card - especially as this was fairly easy to make:

I used:

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

- piece of silver mirri card from the snippets folder, trimmed to leave a white border when afixed to the card front

- snippet of deep navy card stock, cut to slightly smaller than the silver layer so that it would be 'framed' when the card was assembled

-  then I used the navy card in the Misti plus an acetate grid to align the two stamps where I wanted them to go. They're both by Inkylicious, the tree is 'Xmas Tree Swirl Small' and the sentiment is another one from the 'Seasons Greetings set

- once happy with the alignment, I picked the stamps up on the lid of the Misti then removed the navy piece of card, swiped it all over with an anti-static bag and replaced it in the Misti ready for action

- stamped and embossed the tree and sentiment in one go (one benefit of using stamps by the same manufacturer is that they will invariably be the same thickness). I used a Delicata 'Silvery Shimmer' ink pad and Stampendous 'Sterling Silver' embossing powder

- glued the image panel on top of the silver 'frame' and then glued them both to the card front

Prize H is mostly connected to this card:

Exactly the same stamps as I used for my card - Inkylicious 'Xmas Tree Swirl Small' and another (total of four sets this year!) Inkylicious 'Seasons Greetings' set of stamps. I've had the tree stamp since just after last Christmas - patiently waiting in the toy box. And, keeping it company for about the same length of time is this:

I was sent the set of stamps by a lovely friend for the toy box ages ago and it's also part of today's prize. Dee peeks in here but isn't a blogger ........ yet :) It's a really gorgeous Bo Bunny set called 'Father Christmas' - and it's very traditional. Even just the little sprig of holly would be so useful - although I like the whole set, that Santa is just as I imagined him as a kid. Who said 'imagined' - he was here for a mince pie and glass of sherry for sure, as always, just a couple of weeks ago. Parsnip was peeking!

And that, my little friends, is absolutely the very last Christmas item left in the toy box! And of course, I will split the prize if you only wish to play for part of it.

So, the Playground gates close at 11am tomorrow (Saturday 6th January) and commenting for prizes will also be turned off at the same time ready for us to swing into a fresh Mr Linky at midnight. As well as a bright and fresh new year - remember, there's still time to link up a snippets make HERE.

And do make sure you've added your name if you want to play for a particular prize by leaving a comment on the relevant post from this past fortnight.

I hope you enjoyed playing along, it really may be the last Christmas/New Year mahoosive giveaway as I did find it much more tricky for some reason this year. Might be galloping old age or just that I've been juggling so many options. But - it was still good fun!

Love from Parsnip and me

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 277 and 278

Happy Easter Sunday everyone! Whatever you have planned for today, I hope you have a lovely time. I'm just hoping we have some sunshine - last week was glorious, for a few days!

As always, a huge thank you to everyone who came to play this past fortnight - loads of gorgeous entries.

This is my snippets card for this next fortnight:

I used:

- 4.25" x 5.5" white card blank, opening on the short side for a change

- snippet of pale rose pink card, trimmed to just slightly smaller than the card front and glued in place

- piece of white card stock for the front panel, trimmed to just slightly smaller than the pink layer

- found a little snippet of true rose pink card, backed it with Stick-It adhesive sheet and die cut it using a Crealies rings die - the die has no name but is reference number 'CLDR11'. Elizabeth sent me this die a while ago - with a challenge to see how I could use it, I can see it being a really useful embellishment die for all sorts of cards including Christmas! 

- then I used the Misti to arrange the stamps I wanted to use - with the ring die cut in place but not stuck down. Removed the ring die cut for now and stamped my selection using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- the butterflies are by Kaisercraft from their 'Butterflies' set and they're a smidgen thicker than the sentiment stamp I used so, as they had stamped well, before repeating the sentiment stamping I removed the butterfly stamps from the Misti

- the sentiment (from an Inkylicious set called 'Friend') had slightly stamped onto the card anyhow. Held in place as it was by the Misti it was just a quick re-ink, re-stamp and it was done!  

- then I coloured the butterflies using Faber Castell Polychromos pencils in just two muted shades of green and blended very slightly using a Derwent dry blender pencil

- punched each corner of the image panel using a fancy corner punch by Woodware

- glued the image panel to the card front, on top of the pink layer

- added the set of die cut rings to the panel - finished!

So I learned something new about the Misti when making this card. It's fine to position all the stamps you want to use at one time, even if some are thinner than others. You just peel away the thicker ones as they stamp and then the next thinner ones will make proper contact with the card - and so on I guess.

I also used an L-shape from the new Misti 'Creative Corners' set for the first time - yay! It allows you to push a piece of card away from the edge of the Misti (I knew my stamps were close to the edges and that can sometimes cause issues with getting enough pressure), yet you still keep perfect positioning.

Need to play a lot more to try out all the additional things the Creative Corners set can be used for - repeat stamping and diagonal placement of sentiments for one! Jennifer McGuire has some great tips and there are lots of others to be found on line as well. The one thing I would say is that it's best suited to the standard sized Misti rather than the mini Misti (the L shape piece is too big for a mini Misti I understand) although some pieces will fit. And, at £16 or so, which isn't much more than the cost of some polymer stamp sets, I think it's a good investment!

I was really pleased how this card came together in the end as I picked the items I wanted to use and only then worked out the design - rather than the other way round. I was driven by the fact that there were three items that had been in the toy box for quite a while and two of those had been kindly donated. I hate to take forever offering donations as prizes (my record was goodies from our lovely Darnell, and still feel bad that it took me so long for 'the muse' to be right). In fact, right now there's just one donated item left (really cute as well). I have plans for it ASAP Val!

But never fear, the toy box is looking healthy with quite an assortment of goodies that I've bought lately. Watch this space!

Probably don't need to spell out what this fortnight's prize is made up of:

I will split the prize three ways if necessary, the Kaisercraft 'Butterflies' stamp set kindly donated by Megan, the Crealies 'rings' die, kindly donated by Elizabeth ....... and the Inkylicious 'Friend' sentiment stamp set from me. But, as always - all items are one complete prize if you wish to play for all of them together.

In truth, it isn't often I end up splitting a prize but that's absolutely the luck of the draw - not me saving on postage!

The Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks from now on and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 29th April. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

It's still a maximum of ONE entry and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. The prize is all items together as a single prize, unless you really do only want to try for a 'split' as I explained above - in which case I'd do a further draw for the other item(s). 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 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' just in case you're playing only for fun. Thanks!

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 winner of last fortnight's prize plus my picks from the past two weeks - as well as a lovely guest designer too!

Love from Parsnip (busily gobbling Easter eggs - little does he know it's the bath for him later, due to choklit on his chops!) and also love from me,

Less is More Challenge 299 - 'Acetate or Vellum'

It's a lovely theme this week over at Less is More - use acetate or vellum. I flipped a coin, vellum won - and this is the card I made:

I used:

- 4" x 6" white card blank, tent style

- snippet of white card, embossed using a Sizzix folder called 'Corner, flower vine' then trimmed to just an eighth of an inch smaller all round than the card blank 

- added the sentiment using Memento 'London Fog' ink and a sentiment from the Hero Arts 'Truly Appreciated' stamp set

- I wanted the embossed layer to stand out from the card blank so followed a tip I found last week which is to not use double sided foam pads or tape as the card will likely become distorted in the post. Instead I cut a piece of white fun foam just marginally smaller than the embossed panel and glued it in place

- then glued the panel onto the card front. Using the foam certainly makes for a lovely even, raised panel and it's a trick to be used more here in the future

- stamped three flowers onto plain white vellum. First swiped the vellum with a Woodware anti-static bag. Stamped three flowers using a clematis stamp from the SU 'Secret Garden' set using VersaMark ink and then embossed with white embossing powder 

- coloured the flowers on the reverse side of the vellum using Pro markers and quickly dried the flowers using the heat gun (the alcohol ink doesn't soak in so will come off on your fingers if it isn't totally dry - ask me how I know!) The beauty of colouring on the back of the vellum is that the embossed white lines disguise any minor 'blips'/slips of the markers :) 

- next I fussy cut around the flowers and gently shaped them using a bone folder underneath each petal

- glued them in place on the card front using a teeny drop of 'Glossy Accents' - and thankfully the white embossed stamens in the centre of the flowers were enough to cover any glue from showing through

Some tips about vellum. Do keep a little strip of vellum and try out your markers on the reverse before launching into colouring whatever you've stamped. It's really dramatic how muted the colours become once you flip the vellum over to the right side.

When colouring the vellum on the reverse it helps to work with a dark piece of paper or card underneath so that the white outlines stand out - and keep a piece of white card or paper at hand as a background to check how the colours are working out.

Also, my first attempt at attaching the flowers to the card from almost ended in disaster - Collall glue reacts quite violently with Pro markers on vellum and not only doesn't want to stick but will also lift the colour right off the vellum. Luckily I spotted it right away and switched to 'Glossy Accents' instead.

Finally, on my card above, I'd trimmed parts of a couple of the flowers too close to the white embossed line. Only noticed this as I was finishing off writing this post and I haven't changed the photo - but, those white lines are now back in place along the edges where I'd trimmed too close. Courtesy of my Signo white pen - which did need a little scribble on a snippet of ordinary paper to get the ink flowing. My guess is that it's because vellum is such a silky surface.