Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 158

Well, that's been a nice little break I must admit, and I was so pleased to see that so many of you still came to play - 107 entries in total!

My snippets card this week is a very simple one - and it's based on a new (to me) technique that I saw Greta using here, called 'camouflaging die cuts' :

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank

- a piece of paper from Prima's 'Stationer's Desk' paper pad (my current favourite!), cut to exactly fit the front of the card - but not adhered, yet

- I backed the patterned paper with some 'Stick-It sheet' and then used a Penny Black die from the 'Hooray' set to cut out the word and set it to one side

- then used some snippets of white card to die cut the same word three times, also with the card backed with 'Stick-It sheet'

-at that point I adhered the patterned paper, with the word 'enjoy' missing, to the card

- next it was just a matter of slotting in a white die cut of the word, topping it with another two white ones and then adding the final layer which was the word die cut from the patterned paper

- one tip, depending on which word die you use you might have some solid pieces of patterned paper when you do the die cut - here it was the centre of the  letters e, o and the looped tail of the y. Do not throw these away - I almost did until I realised they were needed - they were the last thing I added, once all the layers were built up, they just popped into place down inside the letters at the same level as the background

- I did find that life was made much easier by using my Tim Holtz retractable craft pick to peel away the sticky backing and also to manoeuvre the layers into place

And this is Greta's card, showing how it ought to be done, this uses such a lovely bold word plus Greta stamped the background rather than cheating as I did with patterned paper :)

 

So, onto this weeks picks, even harder than ever this time so I did a short list and just stabbed with my pokey tool :)

I absolutely adore these cards, made by Viv. A perfect way to use up snippets and they look so fresh - and I particularly love the pink one, wink!

Greta made this beautiful scene for her hubby's card - on Christmas Eve. I wonder how many of us did that then? Waves hand here :)

This is one card that absolutely would have been included in the picks, regardless. Made by Cathy and just so, so elegant - plus the 'marbling' stamp is just divine.

I just love this card, made by Sarah (Sazzle Dazzle) - wonderful way to use up snippets and what a result!

This 'alternative' Christmas card made by Laurie really brought a smile to my face - such fun!

And there's one last card I want to show you. Liz made it and wasn't going to link in as she'd already linked three times - but I asked her to link (when I do the draw this won't be included) - but it's just fabulous and I'm sure you'd love to see this 100th Birthday card:

What's really lovely is that Liz has made sure this is a very tactile card due to the recipient (the 100 years young lady called Kitty) having poor eyesight. It's a stunner!

Sue J skipped in very late in the fortnight, but even though I'd done most of the picks I just had to add this little cutie in :) A real peaches and cream delight!

 

Ha! That's eight cards in total for the picks - I was on a roll there.

And we have several new playmates as well:

First of all Tiziana, from Italy, with this lovely Christmas card!

 Then Barbara C, with this clever combination of a branch and falling snowflakes.

Next came Desire, with such a lovely snippets card - the colours remind me of liquorice allsorts (a typically English sweet for those who might not know about them).

I love the beautiful colours on Alison C's snippets card - and did have a giggle at the postscript underneath her blog name which says 'or where did that inky smudge come from?'

Such a gorgeous card made by Janis - and a firm reminder that I ought to try following more sketches in 2015 :)

And finally, Bozena came to play right at the last minute, with this lovely card - darling image!

Crumbs, that's six new playmates - welcome to you all and I do hope you come back to play often!

And now comes the bumper prize draw:

Prize A: (all the dies that made up the Santa's Washing line scene)

Kath (Handmade by Kath)

Prize B: (the Hero Arts Snowman die/stamps set, sentiments stamps plus the embossing folders)

 Lesley G

Prize C: (the Penny Black deer stamp plus the pack of three Wink of Stella brushes)

Eve

And Prize D: (the ribbons from Jules plus the extra Marianne tree die)

 Greta

Can all the winners please drop me an email with their address (di_wray@hotmail.com), and also confirming that they're happy with their prize. I have cross checked with your comments and my only slight doubt is prize D - but after her number was selected I did go and peek at Greta's blog and spotted that she uses ribbons a fair bit - yay! 

So ladies, that was almost heart breaking as I wanted all of you to be a winner!

And this coming week's prize is quite a 'back down to Earth with a bump' one - but I hope it will be of interest:

It's a 48 sheet 6" x 6" paper pad the same as the one I used today (Prima's 'Stationer's Desk') which I just love, plus a Tim Holtz retractable craft pick - one tool I use all the time.

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 10th January. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say 'Yes please' (or similar) in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. As always, if you're only interested in one or other of the items making up the prize, just say so and if you win then I'll do a further draw for whatever it is you don't want. But, please do go for both if that's what you'd like of course.

Mr Linky is below - do please let me know if you have any problems linking, it's easy for me to sort out so don't struggle on alone :)

Di and of course, Parsnip!
x

Just saying hello for Darnell's #3 NBUS challenge

Darnell is running her third NBUS (Never-Before-Used Schtuff) challenge to celebrate reaching yet another milestone in followers. And of course I wanted to play :)

I used:

- 3" x 7" small DL cream card blank

- my NBUS die - made by Poppystamps called 'Bijou Film Strip', die cut from a snippet of black card

- the teddy bear images are from a sheet of toppers by Little Claire

- the sentiment was stamped using a Hero Arts set called 'Truly Appreciated' and a VersaFine 'Vintage Sepia' ink pad

I do quite like how a couple of the images look as if the bears have taken 'selfies' - although I have to admit that in real life I have quite an aversion to them and just don't see the point. Selfies, not bears BTW!

Anyhow, why not come and join the NBUS party, there are very generous gift vouchers to be won - but most importantly it's a chance to celebrate with Darnell as well as using something new on your project! Just click on the logo below to find out more :)

Di
x

Happy New Year - and a fourth Playground prize

I hope you all had a good time, however you chose to spend New Year. Here's hoping that 2015 is a good one!

Now, when Jules saw that I was offering some bumper prizes in the Playground, she asked if I'd like some ribbon to offer. I almost bit her hand off :) The package arrived yesterday with 28 beautifully rolled and tied bundles of ribbon in every colour, material and width you could wish for! Take a look:

And,  there's something extra to the right as well. Dumbo here ended up with two of the Marianne Tree dies (LR0136) - forgot I'd already ordered one so went back and ordered another.

This means that after the draw for prizes A, B and C - there'll be one more chance for a win, the ribbons plus the tree die make up a fourth prize :)

Thank you Jules - you're a star!

Di
x

My five favourite creations - 2014

The lovely, and always very inspiring,  Debby, over at A Scrap Journey is running her annual challenge - to pick your five favourite creations, made by you during 2014. We already chose our five favourite Christmas cards so this is part two.

Looking back through the umpteen cards I made over the year, the ones I decided to go for are all where I was trying out something newly bought, a new idea or a different technique:

I chose this card because it was the first outing for the Taylored Expressions 'Mr & Mrs' plate, which was also on offer as a Snippets Playground prize, and I love how it turned out. More detail about the card can be found here.

 

I said at the time (here) that this was a total CASE of a card I found on Pinterest, great fun to make and this won't be the last time I use snippets of card to make 'Lego' for boys cards.

This was my first play with 'Brushos', a new craze in 2014 and a never-ending source of different results. More detail here and I doubt if you actually could create the same background twice!

Back in July, Less is More asked us to use recycling when we made entries for their latest challenge. I upcycled some Spellbinders packaging to make the flower using alcohol inks plus a flower die set and came up with this card - more detail here. To my delight, it was subsequently showcased - which is only an annual event for me so I was extra thrilled :)

This card was the result of me buying some Craftwork Cards 'Kitsch Collection' papers and embellishment sheets then realising just how much the little dog reminded me of the 'Radley handbags' dog. So, I devised a handbag shaped card, which doesn't need a template, for him to go on - and there's a very long but detailed step by step tutorial here - if you're mad enough you want to have a go as well.

Oooer, that's my five - but, please can I just sneak in one more - which was also a new technique/design for me:

I'd been in awe of the lovely 'cards in boxes' appearing in the Snippets Playground and this (above) was my first attempt - more detail here. I was doubly thrilled when it was subsequently published in Quick Cards Made Easy magazine :)

So that's my five (plus one) favourites - why don't you join in as well? And do make sure to check out Debby's own picks of 2014 - they're absolutely fabulous.

Hoping you have a lovely evening, whatever you have planned to bring in the New Year. We just have a quiet time here and only wish for health and happiness for the forthcoming year ahead. Wishing you all the same!

Di

x

And onwards to Christmas 2015

Tee, hee - I bet many folk are totally fed up of Christmas cards by now, but needs must when the devil drives and I'm really going to try and stick to making 12 Christmas cards a month through January to November (which would be 132 of course). It was such a help this Christmas just gone, even though the last minute panics were just transferred to other things :)

Some of the cards will be 'batch bakes' but I do want to still join in with my favourite year round Christmas challenges - and this card is for Craftyhazelnuts Christmas Challenge where it's 'Anything goes' this week - and also for Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra where it's always 'Anything goes':

I used:

- 6" x 6" square cream card blank - tent style

- the image from a 2013 Christmas card, carefully trimmed/fussy cut - I'm already eyeing up the shop bought ones we received this Christmas!

- a main frame of red mirri card to pick up the red foiled frame around the poinsettia image, topped with a piece of designer paper from the My Mind's Eye 'All is bright' paper pad

- the sentiment was from the same upcycled card, trimmed down into a pennant and then two Josy Rose nail heads added as 'faux fasteners'

Of course there's also Rudolph Day on the 25th of the month and Merry Monday every week so that (quick count up) could cover at least nine cards a month if I don't double up.

Di
x

Oh go on

...........'ave a larf then. That wretched eye has flared up again - anyone got a parrot?

 

Not to worry, my next hospital 'emergency eye clinic' (excuse me while I choke laughing) appointment is a week on Thursday - so that's alright then. 

Meanwhile, back to upping the meds and pretending it's nice having sandpaper rubbed over your eyeball all the time :(

Great to see the Playground so busy - I'm keeping my good eye on you all :)

Di

x

Dandelion Fairy

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- snippets of turquoise and also SU's 'Perfect Plum' card from the snippets folder

- fairy image from LOTV's 'Set 6 - Fairies' Art Pad, which was bought pre-coloured of course, just tickled with some clear Wink of Stella'

- and then I paid homage to our Sarn. I love how she marries a lot of her backgrounds to the main image on her cards - without resorting to patterned papers. So, I already had a new Penny Black Cling stamp called 'dreamy' on my desk and it struck me that the dandelion clock went well with the image so I just stamped it once slightly off the side  using SU's 'Perfect Plum' ink pad

- the sentiment is part of a Hobbycraft one stamped using SU's 'Perfect Plum' ink pad again and then punched using SU's 'Word Window' and 'Modern Label' punches

Santa brought me a new camera for Christmas, I love it - although the online user manual is about 161 pages long! If I search for long enough there could even be a function for it to do the ironing (I wish!).

Don't forget, the Snippets Playground is open for a further week over the festivities!

Di
x

My five favourite Christmas cards - 2014

The super talented Debby, over at A Scrap Journey is running her annual challenge - to pick your five favourite Christmas cards, made by you during 2014.

Sheesh, running the Playground and picking a selection out of the super cards etc. made by others is bad enough. But, for the opposite reason, I took ages to pick my own five - mostly as I don't think they're that special. But here goes, not in any particular order:

One of my latest, which was such fun to play with, for the current Snippets Playground where there's a two week chance to win one of an assortment of prizes:

 

More details can be found here.

Folk who know me will know that I just love pink, so this card had to be included:

More details here, back in October. 

I just adore this die, and also the poinsettia ribbon I used to make the flower - really it's a card that almost made itself!

More details here, back in August.

This card is possibly, along with the pink one, my favourite one of all the Christmas cards I made this year.

More details here, back in November.

Gosh, so far every card has been made using dies, I realised the other day how hooked I am on dies and my stamps must be feeling neglected so here's one I stamped and coloured:

More details here, back in May. 

And another stamped image, which makes six (oops, sorry Debby!). I just adore this Penny Black owl stamp :)

More details here, back in July.

Do hop over to Debby's blog - her cards are so inspirational (and often a trigger for me ending up spending my pocket money!!) - plus there are some really lovely links over there already. I've spotted Jules, Kath and Carol L already and I'm typing this on Christmas Eve!

And a heads up too, it's most likely that Debby will be asking for your favourite five for 2014 at the end of the year or possibly earlier, not just specifically Christmas cards! Get those thinking caps on :)

Di

x

Crafter's Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas, I'm stood by the tree,

and wondering what Santa brought just for me.

"Could it be card stock, ink pads or lace

or maybe some stamps" I said - with a smile on my face.

And that's when I heard him... "Hi Santa" I said.

He replied "You know, good girls should be in their bed".

"I know I should Santa and now I've been caught,

but I was just so excited to see what you brought".

"Well, let's take a look in this room where you work."

He shook his head quickly and left with a jerk.

I heard him exclaim as he put it in gear -

"You've got enough cr*p, I'll see you next year ! "

Hope you all have a lovely Christmas folks!

Di

x

Someone got an early Christmas present from Santa

Our lovely 17 year-old neighbour, Abi, passed her driving test - yippee - so I whipped up a card in double quick time:

I used:

- 6" x 6" white card blank

- a frame of gold mirri card

- the image is an upcycled card, but it seemed just so appropriate as if Santa is giving an early Christmas gift :)

- the L-plate was just copied and resized from the internet, printed onto glossy card, torn in half and placed so it looks as if Santa's throwing it away

- used gold peel offs for the 'Congratulations' and also Abi's name

I bet most of us can remember that heart in mouth feeling when we first took to the road without anyone sitting beside us. I certainly can!

Well done Abi, clever girl!

PS. Do make sure you join in the three year Snippets Playground Celebration party :) And I think I'm almost ready for Christmas - wahoo - that was a miracle!!!

Di
x