A question for the Snippets Playground

Does anyone know what was going on here? Some of you witnessed it, those of you who didn't - any thoughts? Tune in tomorrow to find out :)

No wonder I needed the yellow duster panties hat and sunglasses as a disguise.

Di
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A message from Maggie and a card for her

Maggie emailed me with this message on Friday evening  (the flowers were sent with love and sympathy from all of us in the Snippets Playground after the sudden and sad loss of her husband, Geoff ):

Thank you so much for those beautiful flowers which have just arrived.  It is such a comfort to know that so many people have taken the time to show their support, and it is a comfort.  I am going to print out all the messages we have had and put them, together with all the cards, in a special book that I can take out and read when I need help.
Our two children have been fantastic, and so far, have not let me be alone.  They have come with me to all the arrangement making appointments, reorganised my house so that I can reach everything, and just been there.  They have contacted everyone for me, by phone, email, Facebook.  Everyone has brought their children for the light relief that only children can supply at times like this. 
Please thank everyone for me and tell them how much their messages have given me support.
Maggie xx

This card is for Maggie and her family, and was also sent from all of us in the Snippets Playground:

I used:

- A6 white card stock

- Couture Creations 'Tied Together' embossing folder and pearls

- stamped sentiment by American Art Stamp, number GRS20.G, stamped using SU 'Perfect Plum' and die cut using Labels 8 Nestie

- SU 'Perfect Plum' card stock

- butterfly die cut using SU's 'Beautiful Wings' Embosslit, and a little strip of pearls added

I made this card with such a heavy heart, barely able to comprehend how Maggie must be feeling right now - I know we all feel so truly saddened.

Then I thought more about the sentiment and realised that Geoff already was a real treasure, during all the happy years he and Maggie had together - and, strangely enough, at that very moment the sun broke through the clouds here as if to say 'Too right'!

Di
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Alfonse Mucha style - take 3

I truly loved using the decoupage 'Alfonse Mucha style' ladies I bought in The Range a while ago. This is the last card:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card stock

-the decoupage sheet that was bought, nameless, from The Range

- patterned card from a Teresa Collins designer pad called 'Sweet Afternoon' , sent to me by Mary Mac. I'd never come across this brand before and the papers are divine - thank you once again Mary!

- plain card is SU's 'Bashful Blue', and I punched the bottom border using Martha Stewart's fabulous punch 'Traditional Scallop' - oh how I love this punch, just bought it this week and am 'pickled tink' with it :)

- the little added corners were die cut in 'Bashful Blue' using a Whimsy Corner die

- ribbon from the ribbon box, right across and then an additional piece folded to make a flat 'bow', with a pale blue pearlescent gemstone popped on top

Then I stood back and left it well alone, no sentiment or anything :)

OK, so today is the day - a group of us from the Snippets Playground are heading for Alexandra Palace (just North of London)  to meet up at the 'Big Scrapbooking and Stamping Show'. 

A full report will be posted - once I recover! Wish us luck :)

Di
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Strut your stuff boy - it's your Birthday!

The current challenge over at Seize the Birthday is to make a card for a male following their current sketch. As I almost lost the will to live following the same sketch for a girlie card, I'd thought about skipping this one. However, that's what challenges are all about - pushing the boundaries innit?

This is the sketch, which I bravely turned on its side - brave 'cos I've only done a handful of sketch based cards:)

By a stroke of luck, whilst tidying up a few things here, I found a ready stamped image which I'd been sent by a lovely bloggy friend and away I went!

I used:

- A5 white card stock

- pre-stamped and already die cut image, which I coloured with Pro Markers. I don't know who the image is by and can't say who sent it (for fear of the copyright police) - but I know, and they know, who they are - thank you!

- main backing card is plain burgundy, topped with striped paper from MME's 'Sunshine' paper pad

- the 'banner' was made using paper from the 'Sunshine' pad again, this time picking a matching plain reverse and embossing it using a brilliant folder that another friend, Mary H, sent me a while back - it's by Darice and is called 'Argyle', perfect for both male and female cards as well as great for snipping the ends into points by following the embossed pattern

- the scalloped border was also tucked in by my anonymous friend with the 'rooster' image so I just coloured it using a 'Burgundy' Pro Marker

- then finally a plain strip of turquoise card from the snippets folder to match the plumage on Mr Rooster's tail - well, in truth I coloured the plumage to match the snippet of card I'd found :)

Slowly am beginning to really find sketches such fun to play with - wahoo!

Di
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As Kanban sails into the distance

...........I nipped over to Foilplay and bought a few goodies, before they become rare as hen's teeth:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card stock

- pale blue backing card from the snippets folder - I love this pale icy blue and just wish that SU would bring out the same shade, all of theirs have a slightly turquoise tinge compared to this one

- the 'wavy sea' is from Kanban's 'Coastline Borders' A4 sheet, love the fact you get four long borders already printed and foiled to go with their 'Beach Huts and Boats' toppers

- image is also Kanban from their 'Beach Huts and Boats' A4 toppers sheet

- the label came from the same toppers sheet, tied on with bakers twine and a little bronze coloured anchor charm 

- white Josy Rose nail heads

A quick and easy card, Kanban did most of the work :)

Sorry I've been missing in action a bit - if I just say the following words - kitchen, ceiling, leak, pipe, water, you should get my drift. Sigh :( Will play catch up today with luck!

Di
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Sad news for our friend Maggie

I know that lots of you who hop in here know Maggie - aka SilverCrafter. Maggie is a regular on both WOYWW and in the Snippets Playground.

I just found this, posted by Maggie on Facebook in the early hours of this morning:

Take time throughout your life to laugh and make good memories. In the end, they are what hold you together in the bad times. My wonderful husband died suddenly on Sunday, and my happy memories and all the wonderful tributes and memories are a great comfort. I am lucky to have incredible children and friends and we will get through. Do all you can to fill your lives with joy from the simple things of life. If anyone tries to put you down or upset you, remember that they are not as lucky as you. xx

 

Sending sympathy and thoughts to Maggie and her family. Geoff was a much loved husband, father and Grandad - he'll be sorely missed.

Maggie is always so generous with her time and advice - I know that crafting and blogging will be far from her mind right now but if you do happen to read this Maggie, we'll still all be here waiting to welcome you back with open arms our dear blogging friend and snippets playmate.

Love

Di

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WOYWW 201- with a note from me Mum

After missing a few WOYWWs here's the note from me Mum:

'Dear Miss Julia and Co., my apologies for Diane having missed WOYWW playtime over recent weeks, her appearances have been sporadic to say the least. So, I've hidden the dusters (but can't find the yellow one with lace edging made by Annie and Jo as she refuses to be parted from it). Have also removed the plugs from the vacuum cleaners and hidden her mop and bucket. Yours sincerely, Diane's Mum.'

So, this was my desk late yesterday:

Not toooo messy I guess. Usual cup of coffee, remains of a card I'd just finished making, big basket of cards waiting for inserts (sigh), Pro Markers to be returned to their rightful home, snippets to be filed, and an embossing folder I'd been playing with. Oh, and some scraps of ribbon to remind me to buy more of the same or similar.

And this is a bad photo of my laptop screen as it's much more orange in real life but you can get the drift, it's my background on the laptop:

 

Sunset, taken by Len on the beach in Koh Samui, Thailand, looking across at offshore islands. It cheers me up no end during the dull days we're still having here in the UK - and also makes me yearn to return before too long.

Off you go, over to our lovely hostess Queen Julia's to see what everyone else is up to this week.

Happy WOYWW!

Di

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Lime and black at Less Is More

The current challenge over at Less Is More is a colour theme - lime and black. Yikes - if I hadn't just had a SU order here with lime card in that could have been a real struggle:

I used:

- 5.75" x 5.75" square card, made using SU's 'Lucky Limeade' card stock

- a snippet of white card, stamped with Memento 'Tuxedo Black' and three handbags from a Personal Impressions set by Kirsty Wiseman called 'Bags of Fun'. I tickled the butterflies on the left bag, the flower centre and handle on the right bag with a 'Lime Green' Pro Marker then punched two tiny flowers from paper, also coloured with the same Pro Marker. They were layered onto the centre bag and a little black gem popped onto the centre of the flower. 

- the white card was then layered onto a snippet of black card

- sentiment is from the same set, stamped with Memento 'Tuxedo Black'

I'd also like to enter this into the current challenge over at Addicted to Stamps and More, where your entry must be Clean and Simple.

Di
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Feeding time at the bird table

Len is an avid feeder of the bird life in our garden and this little LOTV image could well be him on Christmas morning:

It's for the following challenges:

- Winter Wonderland - lots of spots - even the parcels have spots on :)

- Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge - must have the word Christmas on - I opted for a simple sentiment

- Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for April - anything goes

I used:

- 6" x 6" square Kraft card stock

- image by LOTV, called 'Christmas Bears Bird Table', coloured with Pro Markers and twinkled up with Glamour Dust and some Gold Stickles (for the star)

- backing papers from the Bo Bunny 'Father Christmas' collection

- sentiment - Craftwork cards, mounted onto an oval of green card, punched using SU's plain oval punch

- Josy Rose nail heads

- the corners were decorated with die cuts made by using a Whimsy Corner die and a snippet of card

- Christmas poinsettia which is one I had already made by taking it apart, removing the bright yellow centre, added glue to the petals, sprinkled with Glamour Dust and then reassembled using a topaz coloured jewelled brad. It's much easier to sit and make a batch of these of course, me not totally daft! Len would probably think it akin to sitting peeling grapes though :)

Di
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Pixies Crafty Snippets Playground - Week 67

Another busy week in the Playground. Thank you to all who were sweet enough to comment on my 'crazy sheep' snippets card last week - my step-mum loved it!

My snippets card for this week is bright and zingy - and, it cracks me up - tell you why later:

I used:

- 5" x 7" white card stock

- image is Docrafts Country Companions 'Frog' from the 'Sunshine Meadows' range, stamped in Memento 'London Fog' and coloured with Pro Markers. I might add some Glossy Accents to the splashes of water coming out of his wellies but this card was made in a real rush as it is

- snippet of green Core-dinations card, embossed using Craft Concepts' 'Dragonfly' folder and sanded to reveal the 'core' using SU's sanding block

- patterned backing paper is also snippets, from the Echo Park 'Hello Summer' paper pad' - I try to slip snippets from patterned pads inside the front cover until it becomes tricky and then the whole thing is popped into a cello bag. Our Jules is even more organised and apparently pops her 6" x 6" paper pads into poly zipped bags straight away

- plain orange card is all snippets - I drew round the oval Nestie I'd used for the image and (badly) hand cut round it. The orange snippets dividing up the oblongs of patterned paper are literally little strips, waste not want not!

- sentiment was printed from the PC, the end snipped into a banner and a couple of Josy Rose nail heads added

The sentiment combined with the image is what I'm still giggling at - can just imagine the eager little frog hopping out of a pond waiting to be turned into a Prince. Not really the best of starts with that outfit - poor little chap! There again, a quick peck and he could turn into Richard Gere or whoever floats your boat :))

OK, 'show and tell picks' now - and it gets harder as the weeks go by :(

Sam made this delightful fold out card, using resist stamping.

Lynn was playing with the silhouette stamp set she won (no hanging around there Lynn) and made a really beautiful shadow card.

Hazel made this super elegant card - I love the combination of elegance and a soft look, beautiful!

And almost at the last minute, Maureen raced in with this card - brilliant use of snippets and a gorgeous result. This really is a design to CASE dontcha think?

That's just a few I've picked, each and every make you brought was gorgeous, as always.

So, it's time for the draw for the duster brushes and TH ink pad:

First out was Linby, who generously declined in a comment as she already has duster brushes, so I ran the Random Number thingy again and the winner is:

x

This coming week's prize is based around my snippets card:

A dragonfly folder, a little frog stamp.......plus another stamp from the same range called 'Rabbit', kindly donated by Rach!  That was really quite spooky as I already had the folder and frog stamp tucked away in my 'snippets prizes box' so the cute rabbit added perfectly to them - thank you Rach!

The Playground is open all of this coming week but it will close on Sunday 14th April at noon, UK time and Mr Linky is below as usual. Just enter a snippets make into the Playground this week and I'll do a draw after the Playground closes next Sunday.

 

Do please note that the Playground is open for a day longer than usual this week - I'm out all day on both Friday and Saturday so rather than curtail it I decided to let you have an extra day to play. We'll return to normal (whatever that is!) the following week though. As usual I am asking for a snippets make please, maximum of three entries and please say 'No thank you' in a comment if you wish to still play but not be a winner of the embossing folder and those cute little stamps.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, stay warm, safe and have a lovely week!

Di
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A splash of Spring

Wahoo, the sun shone for all of a couple of hours yesterday - and, with Spring, in mind I made this:

It's for the current challenge over at Seize the Birthday, a feminine card this week following this sketch:

One of the trickiest sketches I've ever followed 'cos sketches are new to me, but it was fun working out the elements and colours :)

I used:

- A5 white card stock

- backing paper from a pack called 'Emma's Garden' by Jennifer Ellory, which came free with Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine

- pink card from the snippets folder for the scallop (used my Woodware scallop blade again) and for the scalloped Nesties circle behind the pale green Craftwork Cards sentiment

- blue card for the plain scalloped oval and strip of card across the card (belly band as Elizabeth calls it)

- lemony-yellow card for the scalloped oval and the banner strip, which was embossed using Cuttlebug's 'Birds and Swirls' folder

- the green leaf sprig was enclosed with some other complimentary ready cut dies with a recent order from Dies to Die For - such a sweet touch by Tracy

- the flower was stamped onto the pink card using a stamp from SU's 'Secret Garden' set and 'Melon Mambo' ink pad and die cut with the matching SU die - then just gently curled and popped on with a sticky pad

Remember, the Snippets Playground closes at noon today - and re-opens at midnight UK time.

Di
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A Christmas Carol or song

........that's the theme of this week's challenge over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge. After gawping for ages at my stamps and other goodies the final choice came down to 'speed and a Stickeroo':

I used:

- DL white card stock

- Penny Black Stickeroo from the 'Together in Christmas' sheet, mounted onto SU 'Gumball Green' card and fixed right at the end to the card with sticky pads

- patterned green paper, with the cross stitch border and sentiment already printed, from The Paper Studio's 'Cozy Little Christmas' paper pack - bought in New Mexico

- from the same pack, very finely striped red backing paper, with one edge punched using Martha Stewart 'Cherish' border punch

And the song? Why - 'Deck the halls with boughs of holly' of course :) With a bauble thrown in for good measure!

This is also going into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for April, where it's always 'Anything Goes'.

Di
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Less Is More - scallops

I truly thought I'd be skipping the current challenge over at Less is More, which is to use scallops. Not that I don't have a selection scalloped dies and punches - the 'muse' just wasn't upon me. However, on Tuesday I had a little play and came up with this - if nothing else, it gets points for me being dumb stupid patient enough to sit and stick all those little dots on :)

I used:

- 4.5" x 4.5" square white card stock

- snippets of card, punched using an ancient Fiskars scalloped edge punch, one of the first I ever bought

- a lorra the punched out 'dots' - thank goodness for a Quickie Glue pen and tweezers

- sentiment is from an Elzybells 'Mini Tag' set, stamped with SU 'Rose Red'

I quite liked the look of those dots all swept to one side and tumbling down - but my in-house critic is back in hospital for shaking his head and walking away whilst muttering 'she really needs to get out more'!

Di
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Free to a good home

EDIT: Sorry, these have now been re-homed!

During my tidying the craft room session I opened a drawer and found some new, unused, and never to be used Ikea Ratjan spice jars. I bought them ages ago, in readiness for my craft room to be finished, to sit prettily filled with flowers, buttons etc. on open shelves or the desk. Well, that's not how the final design worked out so I have some jars looking for a new home:

Those are large fabric flowers in one of them by the way. On their sides the jars are about 3" high and 3" from front to back - too big for spices in my opinion but just right for little pretties we love to craft with.

I have eight of these and am happy to post them, within the UK only though I'm afraid, for nothing whatsoever - I hate waste-  although otherwise, it's off to the bottle bank for them! They're not expensive to buy but not everyone has an Ikea within reach and you can't get them online. Well, you can from eBay if you wanna shell out almost £10 - extortion!!

Just leave a comment if you'd like them - I can't see a flurry but if need be I'll just draw a name out of me sunhat - that's the only use for it right now :)

Di
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Twinkle, twinkle, Christmas Star and no WOYWW

Skipping WOYWW once again :( Keeping up with other things, like housework (sob), is my priority right now.

The current challenge over at Winter Wonderland is 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Christmas Star':

I used:

- 5" x 7" white card stock

- Nellie Snellon image called 'Hokey-pokey', (I always thought it was the Hokey-cokey?) stamped in Memento 'Tuxedo Black', coloured with Pro Markers and tickled with Glamour Dust here and there

- SU glittery silver card, scallop die cut for behind the image and cut with the 'scallop' blade on my rather wonky-doodle (as opposed to hokey-pokey) Woodware trimmer for behind the patterned card and sentiment

- Kanban's 'Merry Mistletoe' patterned card - I love the soft blue of this card for a change (by the way, FoilPlay have quite a bit of Kanban stuff in stock)

- sentiment is by Hero Arts called 'Twinkle Border', bought for a 'snip' and then bravely embossed with Stampendous 'Sterling Silver' without any mishaps. I thought the sentiment just right for the challenge and this image :)

- iridescent ribbon wrapped round the patterned card and topped with a 'looped bow thingy' then an iridescent sparkly snowflake button, threaded with doubled iridescent cord tied in a bow - that's a lorra iridescent :)

Partway through making this card I spotted that Christmas at Sweet Stampin' are asking for colours other than red or green - wahoo! And, it's a new month over at Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra. Three challenges with one card, almost a record for me :) Off to bed, this is scheduled and will link to the challenges when my Prince kisses me 'Good Morning my darling Princess'..........I might be some time waiting though :(

Edit: And Hazel said I can enter this into her current challenge over at Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - the theme is a Christmas Carol or song - I had wondered because although it's a song I wasn't sure if Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star qualified 'cos it's not strictly Christmas based but now that Miss Hazel has said it's fine here I go :)

Di
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Gilding flakes and an apology

Apology first - to those who were, ahem, misinformed about Poliflora and the shortage affecting sticky products on my post of yesterday - which was of course April Fools Day. I washed my mouth out with soap then went and stood on the naughty step for a couple of minutes hours. But, thank you for taking it in good part :) And here's how justice comes back and bites you - the Crafters Companion sticky tape runner I was using whilst making today's card only went and broke on me - wasting half the contents. That'll larn me!

OK, gilding flakes - I've had a couple of pots of these for absolutely ages, over 18 months now. Frankly, I opened one pot when I got them, took a quick peek and before I could close the pot they were jumping everywhere - so that idea got put on the back burner.

But, I've been watching a Barbara Gray DVD and yesterday felt compelled to have a try. I'd forgotten that Elizabeth used this technique way back in 2011 - plus by coincidence Maggie used gilding flakes the other day. There was a great tip from Maggie as well - rub a little bit of talcum powder into your hands before working with the flakes! And the very first thing to do is to empty the pot into a much larger container before even starting to play I found :)

This is the result of my first attempt - even though the photo makes it look a bit like a barrel :)

I used:

- 5" x 7" white card stock

- image was stamped using black StaZon ink onto a piece of double sided adhesive sheet. I think, by its very nature, stamping onto sticky sheet doesn't give as crisp an outline as card - but, hey, I was playing, OK? The stamp is a Hobby Art stamp, called 'Tree Scene'

- then, the stamped image was covered with a piece of acetate - over the already exposed sticky

- the backing was peeled off the self adhesive sheet on the reverse side of the image, and then the fun really began

- I covered all that sticky sheet behind the image with 'Variegated Red' gilding flakes,  by Crafty Notions (in truth they're gorgeous shades of gold and copper) and rubbed 'em in first wiv me finger and then with an Indigo Blue scoochy sponge

- next, the flakes were covered with more sticky sheet and stuck onto card then trimmed to size and sliced into three before being mounted onto black card (and that's the point at which my glue runner jumped up and bit me in the b*m for being a bad girl earlier in the day)

- the sentiment is from SU's now discontinued stamp set called 'Sincere Salutations', stamped with Memento 'Tuxedo Black'

And wahoo - I'm just in time for this week's male card 'Seize the Birthday' challenge, following this sketch:

Hope you all had a lovely Easter break, and also that I'm forgiven.

Di
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The ugliest card I ever made

There's a fun blog hop going on today - for the ugliest card you (ie me, not you) ever made.

Oh boy - did I have a shed load to choose from! This is the one I picked:

I posted it on here in September 2010, and today am wondering what drugs I must have been on at the time!

OK, so I was doing a happy dance due to mastering making a 'diamond fold top' card - but then all reason went out of the window and I happily slapped some really gross, cheap and nasty 3-D stickers all over the thing along with peel offs. The worst bit is, I didn't account for the fact that one monkey was almost hidden by the diamond fold - absolutely no forward planning whatsoever :(

And, bless her, Bernie even called by and left a sweet comment :)

Di
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Glue and sticky stuff alert

Until the other day I'd never even heard of 'Poliflora' - but whilst browsing the web I picked up that it's a plant derivative which is widely used in the production of adhesive. In simple terms I think it's a natural form of cellulose or similar which in turn provides the 'elasticity' in glue. And, due to the dreadful weather everywhere round the World seems to been having, crops are bad and there's a predicted shortage. Even that didn't faze me, until I delved even deeper - due to the shortage, adhesive is set to double or even treble in price. Mama mia!

Poliflora is used in adhesives used by us crafters! Take a look - I just grabbed a few glue based items I use regularly and all of these are dependant on Poliflora:

DST, glues, tape runners, ATG gun tapes, double sided adhesive sheets, sticky pads - and even Stickeroos are reliant on adhesives which have poliflora as an additive in the glue making process.

Sheesh! I'm gonna stock up for sure - you might well want to do the same if prices are set to double or treble. I've found a long list of adhesives and brands which use Poliflora - just go HERE to check it out and make your own mind up.

Sigh - I thought it was bad enough with Kanban going to the wall, but this is much more serious :(

Di
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Pixies Crafty Snippets Playground - Week 66

First of all, I hope you're having a lovely Easter - wherever you are and whatever you're doing.

My snippets card for this week just had to be an Easter card, made for my step-mum - and they do look as if they could be guarding the entrance to the Playground:

I normally send her a card with a religious theme, but this year I thought this little scene might make her smile :)

I used:

- DL white card stock

- background inked with Tim Holtz Distress ink (Tumbled Glass), a duster brush and my own 'clouds' template - there's more about the process on this post here

- then I die cut grass to go along the bottom from a snippet of Kanban's 'Green Grass' card, using my Marianne Creatables 'Icicle' die. It works really well the wrong way up if you don't have a proper 'grass' punch or die 

- the 'twining leaves' were cut from a couple of green snippets using Cheery Lyn's 'Mini Fanciful Flourish' die and then sort of woven in and out of the fence before fixing it to the card. The fence was cut from another Kanban snippet of 'Wooden Fence' card using Cheery Lyn's 'Victorian Picket Fence' die and a piece placed at either side of the card. It's such a shame that Kanban have ceased trading - I do like many of their products

- teeny yellow flowers were added, punched from a snippet of yellow paper with a very small Tonic flower punch, and then some orange Hunkydory gems added to the centres

- the very tactile sheep family came from 'The Range' - so cute, Mr and Mrs Woolly-Jumper and their offspring - oh, and I added little googly eyes to Mr and Mrs - and used the whole set of sheep in one fell swoop

- at that point I put the card to one side, summoning up courage for three whole weeks before stamping onto the sky area. Why will I never learn, I always advocate stamping sentiments etc. before making up a card and I broke me own rools - but in fairness, this card sort of evolved as I went along without any real forward planning

- but hey, I managed to finish the card without any mishaps by stamping the sentiment, from the Penny Black 'Easter March' set and also a little flock of birds using Clarity stamps 'Small birds'. Phew - the relief!

I'm entering this card into two challenges:

It's Use it Tuesday's 'All about Spring Challenge'. I used plenty of snippets/scraps of card and paper as described above, the googly eyes I've had forever and a day,  the icicle die has hardly been used - and it was a first outing for the fence die, which (shame on me) I've had for months and months! It's my first time playing along in this challenge, but it won't be the last - a great way to bring out those goodies you haven't used for ages, or even more shamefully in my case, had for ages and never used at all :( Oh dear, I just looked back through this challenge and a winner last week sponged the sky and also used an icicle punch or die for grass - all I can say is that I did mine over three weeks ago, and I guess nothing is really new when it comes to ideas :(

And over at That Craft Place the current challenge is 'Animals' - I reckon that a family of 'Woolly-Jumpers' qualifies nicely :)

Now onto what you've been up to this last week - once again we have loads of lovely snippets makes - and we have three new playmates, Maudieroff, Asha and Sue. Do please go and say 'Hello', that would be so welcoming.

As always, the difficult part is to pick some of the work you've done for 'show and tell'.

I'm sure you'll all agree, this is just stunning use of snippets by Darnell! To see HOW it's done, go here - the magic of chevrons.

Sue is one of our new playmates and she brought this card and another one. This card shows how even those plain white snippets we all have can be given the 'gilding wax' treatment - brilliant!

 

Cathy R brought us two cards showing great use of snippets this week, link to the first one and link to the second one - I can't pick just one as they're both great and so clever. 

At this point I have to move on, otherwise I'd be here all weekend typing away - so many gorgeous snippets makes - which you can look back over here.

So, it time for the draw for the Stamp Addicts unmounted stamp set (kindly donated by Viv) called 'Playful Girls' - as I said last weekend, absolutely perfect for the Playground :)

And the winner is:

 LYNN (of Lynn's Crafty Corner) 

Well done Lynn! Please drop me an email (di_wray@hotmail.com) with your snail mail address and the stamp set will be on its way to you ASAP.

This is really a bit spooky, I just checked back over who'd won over the time we've had regular prizes - and each time it's been someone different. Don't let that stop you from still being in the draw, it's just the way the numbers came out of Mr Random - but it's nice that the chances are being spread so well. 

This coming week's prize might appeal to you too - although I do know that some folk already make their own cloudy backgrounds in much the same way as I did on my snippets card for today, I still thought this was a nice prize for Easter:

A set of three Inkylicious dusters (double headed ones at that) - plus the same colour Distress Ink as I use to make clouds, 'Tumbled Glass'. Snigger, I expect you can cut your own template but I'd make some and enclose them if you really were desperate enough to rely on my cutting efforts :) And, of course, think of all the other things you can do with these brushes - not just clouds. Brushing over those snippet 'masks' left after die cutting to name but one use.

The Playground is open all of this coming week but it will close on Saturday 6th April at noon, UK time and Mr Linky is below as usual. Just enter a snippets make into the Playground this week and I'll do a draw after the Playground closes next Saturday. But, as usual I am asking for a snippets make please, maximum of three entries and please say 'No thank you' in a comment if you wish to still play but not be a winner of these brushes and ink pad.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, stay warm, safe and have a lovely week!

Di
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The best laugh for ages

On WOYWW (on 20th March) Annie posted that she had some Scrabble tiles on offer - and you just had to leave a comment saying what was the strangest thing you kept 'just in case it could come in handy'.

This was my comment:

Number one is my lovely Len :))

And next is an indication of my kleptomania - if EVER there's a free ballpoint pen going then it's into my handbag and then stored in a mahoosive poly bag in a drawer here. No hotel, conference centre etc. is safe. Think I'm covered if there's ever a world shortage of biros! The sad thing is that every now and then I have to go through and dump those that are so old they've dried up! Sigh, keep saying I ought to get out more!

I left old pairs of pants and knickers as cleaning cloths off the list :) Err, or did I 'cos I just told you?

On Thursday this week a package arrived in the post - and when I opened it, these were inside. Oh my gosh, I'd only gone and won those Scrabble tiles! There was a lovely card plus the much longed for tiles, in what I thought was the way Scrabble tiles come these days, in a nice drawstring bag:

When I read the card it did make me smile but in the excitement my brain wasn't fully in gear.

 And THEN, I opened up the bag to peek inside at the tiles!

Bwahahahahahah - Len came running to see why I was hopping round with my legs crossed in tears of laughter. Soooo funny, the bag is only a pair of panties made from a duster - so in return, I'm linking this into Annie's Friday Smile for this week. The girls, Annie and Jo, were giggling so much making this package up they only posted it and forgot to take a photo :) They truly didn't ought to be allowed to play together :))

So, from me it's a very BIG:

There's only one letter X of course in a set of tiles - otherwise there'd be a LOT more!!

It's a new week in the Snippets Playground on Sunday of course - you might just want to hop by and see what's been going on, but I won't be modelling the panties - not even as a jaunty little hat:)

Di
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A basket of bunnies

......but this is soooooo not my idea. The lovely Vicky popped a basket just like this (without the bunnies in residence though) on her blog the other day and it was too cute not to try out - plus there are fabby and detailed instructions how to do it, link at the end of this post. Here's my take, very similar to Vicky's:

I used:

- SU's 'Crumb Cake' card stock

- SU's 'Square Lattice' embossing folder

- couple of brass coloured brads from my goodies

- SU's 'Pretty Petites' stamp and Memento 'Toffee Crunch' ink

- SU's 'Petite Curly Label' punch

- a snippet of brown and white bakers twine

- the basket was stuffed with snipped strips of cream paper to look a bit like straw - to do that I used a pair of multi-bladed scissors, bought really for fast shredding of address labels when I can't be bovvered to switch on the shredder. Your friendly doorstep Kleenezee man will sell them and I've also seen them in Sainsburys in the cookery tools section - sold as herb snippers :)You can see a little bit poking out behind the right hand bunny - the scissors are also great for fringing paper of course

- and the finishing touch, two of the smallest Lindt chocolate bunnies (currently 3 for £1 in Sainsburys)

We have a very sweet young lady living nearby, called Hemma, who often calls with raffle tickets or things like sponsor forms as she does a lot of charity fund raising - modestly and without a fuss, bless her. She lives a very quiet life with her parents and the other evening she trotted up our drive with an Easter egg for us - one of those people who just hasn't got a mean bone in her body. So, these bunnies will be going to Hemma, once the basket is in a cello bag with a bow on top.

Anyhow - there's still time for you to make one or more of these baskets. Vicky's instructions are brilliant, I know that Darnell has also linked to them from her blog - do go and take a peek and I bet you'll be tempted to have a play :)

Thanks Vicky for yet another great idea! Tee, hee - my Stampin' Up order just arrived as I finished writing this ready to schedule - time to do a bit of unpacking and making stuff look as if I've had it forever :)


Di
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Easter March

Aw, I love this Penny Black stamp so much:

 

This Easter card is winging its way to my 'longest and bestest' friend Moira, up in Scotland. We met at boarding school aged 13 and, apart from losing touch for a few precious years, she's been in my life ever since.

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card stock

- stamped image using Penny Black's 'Easter March' stamp, coloured with Pro Markers and layered onto the plain reverse of a sheet of card from the paper pad 'Bird Song'. The background was very lightly chalked as well as the hedgie's cheek - that's a tip from Jules, using chalk for cheeks means it blends much easier

- backing paper is from First Edition's 'Bird Song' paper pad - love how some of these papers are 'flittered' and the reverse of a lot are plain and pick up colours in the patterned ones

- there's a ready-scalloped strip of pink glittery card (bought a couple of Easters ago in Hobbycraft), then dotty pink ribbon across the card.

- the 'bow' was made by loops of more of the same ribbon, topped with a button and bakers twine - in yellow to pick up the colour of the chick that's happily hitching a ride :)

A card made especially for Moira, with a lot of love.

Di
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WOYWW 199 - warning, long post

After missing WOYWW for a few weeks I reckon I should have a note from my Mum :(

Still plodding on with organising my stamps - am onto the clear ones now and they're gonna take a lot of time I can see, you're likely to be finished way ahead of me Elizabeth!! This is what I was up to yesterday:

There's a reason I took the photo at 10:30 yesterday morning - Len was out and I was about to try something while he wasn't around that could potentially have meant running for the fire extinguisher :)

This was my first attempt at the storage for clear stamps. A piece of white card and the stamps from two different sets stamped before laminating the sheet. In truth, the stamps do all need to be stamped onto index cards as well 'cos, although I'm keeping them in sets within the binders, for example - images such as the bird will  sit better under the category 'birds' in the card index box.

BUT, the white card I'm trying to use up is not especially stamp ink friendly, it's OK. Plus, actually fitting the stamps onto my own stamped images wasn't really a walk in the park - and I thought it looked a bit messy.

And then - I suddenly wondered why on earth I was thinking of disposing of the acetate that comes with most stamp sets with the images already printed on!? Soooooooo, I waited until Len was out and the coast was clear, plugged in the laminator, said a quick prayer to St. Mytrimmer (Patron Saint of crafters) and had another play:

And it worked - so much neater!! No fires either :)) The main thing is to put some card in the laminate 'sandwich' behind the acetate to prevent buckling - and you need the card anyhow for the images behind the stamps to stand out well.

And here's the laminated article, trimmed and corners rounded to reduce finger slicing, with the stamps on and a piece of same sized clear acetate on top so the sandwich slides in and out easily. The stamps tend to adhere to the acetate better than to the shiny laminate anyhow but hey - am I bovvered so long as they don't fall off one side or the other?!

Then, the laminate, stamps and protective clear acetate all slide into a side opening clear file pocket - ready to be stored in lever arch files.

I know that everyone has their own way of storing non-wood mounted stamps, often driven by space, shelving etc. I've seen DVD cases and lots of other ideas - but this seems to be a solution that's gonna work for me. It all hinges on the A6 card file box where I have single stamped images in categories, with details and their location also written on.

In time, all of this shelf is likely to be taken up by files of actual stamps - at the moment I haven't labelled the files but from left to right they are:

- dies, on A4 magnetic sheets in file pockets

- three postcard albums for unmounted rubber stamps

- two lever arch files - ready for the clear stamps

- and the cream file is full of tips and techniques saved from magazines or sent to me by Sarn.......plus a lot of receipts so I know where I bought certain things from. As I've said previously, I'm dead meat if Len ever takes a look in there and tots up the evidence though :))

Sorry for rabbiting but without making a video (snort!) this is the best way I can explain what's going on right now.

So, do hop over to Julia's to check out what everyone else is up to - and have a lovely WOYWW!

Di
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More micro beads

On a roll here playing with micro beads - I made this card for two challenges:

Sheesh - micro beads are a pig difficult to photograph using flash 'cos it was dark and overcast here. The image isn't clear when the light bounces back, and then there's a milkiness to the beads close up although in real life they look perfectly clear.

I used:

- 5" x 7" white card stock

- stamped large flower from SU's 'Everything Eleanor' set, stamped onto a SU snippet in 'Melon Mambo, covered with Woodware Ultra High Bond adhesive sheet and then hand trimmed before being dunked in micro beads

- the flourish was stamped using the large flourish from SU's 'Everything Eleanor' set, in SU 'Old Olive'. As I didn't need the whole flourish I masked some of it off before inking and then removed the scrap of Post It before stamping

- I looked at 'Melon Mambo' card to back the panel of white card with the image on and realised that, even with clear micro beads, the shade of the flower looked deeper after its 'treatment'. Good ole SU to the rescue, a snippet of 'Rose Red' card did the trick :)

- the flower was stuck over the flourish and then the whole strip of card was attached using thin sticky pads

- sentiment is also SU, from their now retired 'Sincere Salutations' set - stamped using SU's 'Old Olive'

The two challenges I'd like to enter this into are:

Seize The Birthday - a feminine card using this sketch:

I was really tickled when the Kenny K card I made the other week was picked for 'Birthday Honours' - thank you ladies!

And, unheard of for me, a second entry into this week's 'Less is More' challenge, which is to use beads - I did so use beads too, tons of the little perishers!

Di

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