UK Snippets Playground prizes

Today I took  little drive out to where I know of a large and secluded Post Box. So all UK prizes to date are on their way to winners. That's Kathy K, April, Chris Smith and Jackie T. Posted First Class so they should be with you soon - many thanks to Sainsbury's, who will deliver stamps along with your groceries!

Still mulling over what to do about the Overseas prizes - there is a way of using Royal Mail on line to do the postage but my initial play wasn't too reassuring. It seems to be a very tedious process, so for now, my plan is to wait a while longer.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #379

Here we go again, still soldiering on and with more easing of lock down. We'll be watching the infection statistics with interest.

I'm seeing quite a few people's comments on blogs saying, quite truthfully, that they're scared to go back out into the 'open world such as it is', now that restrictions are being eased. I can empathise so much with that  - it worries me that all this might be a bit too soon and, for what it's worth, if going out at this early stage is going to stress you out - stay safely at home until things really do seem to be much improved. Not everyone is in the position of being able to do that I know - but if it's an option then stay home if you feel overwhelmed by venturing out. There again, I certainly don't wish to spent the remainder of my life locked in at home!

Finally got round to baking the cheese scones I've been threatening to make for literally weeks. Totally yummy recipe (BBC Good Food one) with a few tweaks by yours truly. The main one was to use buttermilk rather than ordinary milk and what a difference it seemed to make. 

Here's my snippets card for this fortnight, and it has nothing to do with the prize(s) on offer this fortnight! Well, there is a very tenuous link but you'll have to read on to find that one out:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" rose pink card blank, tent style

- a snippet of off-white card trimmed to 5.25" x 4" and with a faint pencil line drawn horizontally right across the centre

- I returned to the lovely roll of Altenew 'Vibrant Spray Die Cut Tape' (as I was making another run of cards to enclose with prizes) and cut a length of the die cut tape so that I had all the pink flowers in the pattern showing, to match the card blank itself

- then, I sliced the die cut tape piece horizontally right across the centre (ahem, at least as close as possible that is!)

- then placed the top section of the tape about quarter of an inch above the pencil line on the white panel and then the bottom section about quarter of an inch below the line - thereby leaving a half inch gap across the middle of the card

- I wrapped the tape ends around the back of the white panel rather than trimming it but, in fact, trimming it works better as I ended up adding a strip of sellotape to each side at the back to stop the die cut tape from coming away from the card

- then I stamped the sentiment onto another snippet of the off-white card using Versafine's Clair 'Nocturne' ink pad and a stamp from a Simon Says Stamp set of 'Handwritten Borders' sentiment stamps

- trimmed the sentiment strip to about half an inch height and adhered it to a border strip of the rose pink card (left from when I trimmed the rose pink card blank down to A2 size)

- then glued the sentiment strip across the gap between the upper and lower parts of the die cut tape and trimmed off any excess from the back

- finally, glued the whole panel onto the card front card front - finished! 

It was fun to use the 'Vibrant Spray' tape a second way, and I have a couple of other ideas buzzing round - but I still like the original card which I posted HERE the best. I made six cards the same once again. The off-white card was lurking in the bottom of a box where I keep all my 6" square card blanks, as were the rose pink cards. In real life it does match the off-white edges of the die cut border very well. However, I have no idea what possessed me to buy rose pink card blanks in the first place so it was good to finally find a use for them!

And here's the tenuous link to the prize.  As I tidied my card making stuff away, I cleaned my stamp using one of these:

It's a Lawn Fawn Shammy - and there are three of these on offer. It's over two years since I first bought one and offered a couple as prizes so I thought it would be nice to offer three this time. Three chances to win has to be good! I love my stamp cleaning shammy and use it all the time. Sure, they end up stained but that doesn't affect the performance. I keep mine in a small zip lock bag in a desk drawer where I can easily grab it. No more stray bits of lint from baby wipes - hooray!

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 13th June. 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.

Dudley continues to be an absolute delight here, he's more loving than ever right now, although he still resists his daily grooming sessions - little tinker.

I managed to take this photo of him on Thursday afternoon, right at the start of his grooming session as he sat up and prepared to 'do battle' with me:

Unfortunately, he was a bit distracted by the fact I had my camera in my right hand and he began to 'wobble' a bit. He was perilously close to the edge of the table I groom him on so I did gently support one of his paws as he would have come a real cropper had he tumbled sideways! Normally, both paws are either down like his other paw is or raised like a boxing hare or kangeroo. When he's at ground level, dancing and wanting a treat, he sort of pirouettes with his front paws literally out sideways like a ballerina keeping her balance. He's a dog of many poses :) 

Here's a photo of our favourite poppy in full bloom. There are too many buds to count - which is as well as they're gigantic pale pink Californian poppies and the petals are so delicate that it just takes one breezy day to almost decimate any open blooms. But their short lived beauty is a sight to behold:

Stay safe my lovely friends.

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

Faux pour backgrounds

I'm still loving the Joanna Sheen 'Faux Pour' background papers - and the other day I whipped up a couple of general purpose cards, using a different design of paper plus a couple of new (unused but pre-owned) rose dies. I actually bought a job lot of five of these Poppy Stamps 'Rose Collection' dies in different designs from a Facebook Craft De-cluttering group - absolute bargain as well!

Here's are the two cards I made:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blanks, one used vertically with a side opening and the other used horizontally, tent style

- pieces of the same white card stock as a 'frame', trimmed to 5.25" x 4", for the faux pour paper and glued onto the card front

- then a layer of Faux Pour paper from Pad No. 1, by Joanna Sheen, - trimmed to 5" x 3.75" and glued in place

- die cut the two rose dies using my Altenew mini die cutting machine and more white card the same as the card blank. The rose dies are both made by Poppy Stamps and are called 'Rose Stem' and 'Country Rose Corner'

- die cut the sentiment words, again from the same white card, using dies from the Penny Black 'Hooray' set of dies

- glued the die cuts in place using a fine Zig glue pen - finished!

Little tip, each of the sentiment words has a 'dot' above the letter i. It was easy to leave those sitting in the die cuts, adhere the actual word then pop a little touch of glue using the glue pen onto the back of the 'dots' before laying the aperture from the die cut word over the glued in place word and gently pop the dots out onto the card front. Perfect placement and also much less chance of losing the little perishers!

Once again, I'd like to add my card(s) into Darnell's NBUS challenge #14. Love this challenge and it's really encouraging me to use the rather shameful mass of NBUS languishing here.  

Rudolph Days Challenge - May 2020

It's Rudolph Days again over at Scrappy Mo's! You have until the 31st of the month to enter, if you haven't done so already.

I made a run of six identical Christmas cards, and the bright sunlight here has certainly washed out the dark blue a bit, as well as almost obliterating the embossing on the background, sigh:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" (A2) white card blank, side opening

- a layer of darkish blue card, from a pack of several toning sheets of blue card, picked up in Hobbycraft before lock down, trimmed to 5.25" x 4" and glued in place with Collall All Purpose glue

- then a panel of white card measuring 5" x 3.75" which had been embossed using a Darice ''Snowflake Background' embossing folder, again glued on the card front

- made up the sweater using the same colour blue card plus a lighter shade of blue for the neckline, welt and cuffs. The die set I used is another NBUS item, made by MFT and called 'Comfy Sweater' - it comes with two sizes of sweater and has been around for about three years or so. I was lucky enough to buy mine from a Facebook Decluttering Group, unopened and never been used - another bargain!

- topped the sweater with a white snowflake, cut using a die from The Works 'Snowflakes' set of dies

- then the hunt for a sentiment began - I finally found one saying 'Enjoy the warmth of the season' and another one saying 'Warm holiday wishes'.  But I wanted mention of Christmas itself, sigh. Having then totally coincidentally received an email from Jane W, in which she mentioned that she frequently generates sentiments on her computer, I followed suit and printed off the words I wanted onto white card in dark blue. Something I'd totally forgotten about, yet years ago did it quite frequently. Thanks Jane for the memory nudge!

- die cut the sentiment using a die from Spellbinders 'Nested Pennant' set

- then added quite a lot of thin sticky pad pieces to the backs of the sweater and the sentiment before adhering them to the front of the card

- final touch, a teeny very flat little diamante gem in the centre of the snowflake, so it will still go at standard letter rate

It took a couple of afternoons to make six cards on a 'production line' - but very therapeutic at the same time.

I'd also like to enter this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #14 for May as the sweater dies were new and unused.

Hope everyone is staying safe.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #377 - results

 

And we've had yet more sunshine and very high temperatures this week. Although just earlier this morning, Saturday, we had a sudden heavy downpour - which stopped as quickly as it started. The slight relaxation of lock down is still meaning that some are pushing their luck needless to say. We're just carrying on as we have been and keeping our heads down for now. We have a wonderful network of volunteers in our area, divided into 'hubs', and earlier in the week a lovely young chap collected my repeat prescription from a local chemist and delivered it here. And grocery delivery slots are easy to get hold of as well - all of which helps to keep any stress levels down.

Let's move straight into this fortnight's picks:

This card design, made by Karen L, is a great way to use up little snippets, of white or even coloured card. I love the squares popped up on foam tape to add dimension as well. I did smile when Karen said in her blog post that the stamp set she used here is about 17 years old - it just proves that some items never seem to look outdated.

And here's another great card design, this one was made by Kath, to remind you of ways to use up little snippets. The rainbow theme is especially topical for many of us right now since it became the symbol of 'hope' during this pandemic. And the addition of the two embossed lines is a neat trick both in terms of placing the butterflies and also adding definition to the card.

And finally, I chose this card (made by Gail/ionabunny) as it uses up lots of little snippets for a start. And, it's also a great reminder that you can look at a die and only use part of the design. The lovely green wreath is made up of several pieces, snipped from die cuts which actually feature a deer's head. By cutting four times, Gail got enough pieces of greenery to make the wreath - and not a single deer's head to be seen. Clever stuff!

So, that's my picks and I do hope they've given you some inspiration for ways in which you can use up some of your own snippets. 

We had 50 entries in total, with no new Playmates this time round.

Now for the prize draw, which is for Clearly Besotted's Rainy Day stencil with their 'April Showers' set of stamps and matching dies. And the winner is:

Gail (Ionabunny)

Well done Gail, it's a while since you won a fortnightly prize and I know you always try to join in. Double Happy Dance for you this week - a 'fortnightly pick' and also prize winner! Please send me your address, with your full name at the top as well so I can copy and paste or just write straight from the email onto the envelope - for speed and ease. It's also confirmation that you still would like the prize of course and I'll post your prize once we're finally allowed out to play again! Please put Playground Winner or similar in the subject line of your email in case it drops into my junk mail. Email address is on RH sidebar as always.

Remember folks, there's still almost another week to run on Challenge #378 - you can find it HERE. The prize is a set of Lil'Inker sentiment stamps called 'Just Sayin'. I did chuckle at the number of you who were doubtful about even attempting to make a herringbone pattern background - I promise you, it's easy and good fun - have a go, I dare you.

Do remember that it's the monthly Rudolph Days Challenge over at ScrappyMo's from the 25th to the end of the month!

Dudley is doing fine, and it's definite that he sits on his hind legs to ward off being groomed - little tinker! He now bends forward whilst doing his 'bunny sit' making even grooming his 'undercarriage' more difficult than it needs to be. 

One funny little trait he has is to react to certain things by whining/whimpering and running around with Stinky Monkey in his mouth. He does it if either of us goes out leaving him with the other 'half'. And lately we've noticed another 'trigger'. Len generally makes a cup of fresh coffee around mid-morning and often calls out to ask 'Do you want juice today?'. Some days I have a glass of fresh orange juice and other days I don't so he always asks beforehand. And that two way exchange of just a few words is enough to set Dudley off running around with Monkey in his mouth having a proper little conversation with him! Needless to say, Monkey never whines or whimpers in response though. 

Some recent photos of Dudley Dog to finish off with:

I KNOW you have a treat hidden in your left hand Mama! Slurp.

It's time someone cleaned these flagstones!

Getting ready to start my panting session at the sight of a grooming brush being picked up!

Love from Parsnip, a happy wave and woof from Dudley - and of course hugs as always from me. Stay safe - and keep on crafting.

New Hope and Chances mini kit on sale!

Christine has just put another charity mini kit of two cards onto her Hope and Chances blog, sold in aid of the NHS.

If you want one, be fast as they sell out in double quick time!  Here's the link.

xxx

Friends are special treasures

I wanted to make a run of cards, to enclose with the backlog of Snippets Playground prizes which are still here, waiting to be posted off to the winners at some point. I made a run of 10 cards, all the same, using a sentiment stamp which is a great favourite of mine 'Friends are special treasures'. I always think of SaRn when I use this lovely stamp set as I first spotted it over on her blog, a good few years ago now. And also, during this lock down, my blogging friends have become even more precious - if that were possible. Len calls it my 'lifeline to the World' - and he's so right at times.

And once again, I did a bit of cheating. This time with the NBUS Altenew floral border on the cards, see what you think:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" (a2) white card blank, tent style

- cut some 6" x 6" squares of card using the same white card (I actually just halved some of the same card blanks I often use to cut down for the A2 size). These panels were destined to be trimmed down further but if you read on you'll hopefully understand why I did this

- and this is the 'cheats bit' - I used a NBUS product by Altenew (bought it from Seven Hills Crafts) called 'Vibrant Spray Die Cut Tape'. Oh boy, how I LOVE this stuff!

- for each front panel I cut a length of the die cut tape approximately 6" long, peeled off the backing and then adhered it along the bottom edge

- next, I lined up the panel in my guillotine so that one bottom edge of the die cut tape would be cut straight across. Just a question of making sure no white card was left showing, whilst keeping as much of the floral design as possible, and plenty of spare card left above the tape

- then I trimmed the sides to 5.25" width and then across the top of the panel at 4". That allowed me a little bit of 'wiggle room' on either side of the panel to line up the edge cuts as well as possible taking the floral pattern into account. Any slightly 'odd' looking tall parts of the design at the very edges can be easily peeled back and trimmed with small scissors to give a more pleasing effect.

- stamped the sentiment onto the panel using the 'Friends are special treasures' stamp from the Hero Arts 'Live Life' set of sentiment stamps, the Misti and another NBUS item, Versafine's Clair 'Nocturne' ink pad (huge thanks to Kathleen for recommending this - it's brilliant!)

- final step was to glue the panel to the front of the card blank - simples!

These really were great fun to make, particularly for a batch making session, and I've spotted an idea for a different design using the same tape. The way things are going it'll be while until I get those packages posted so there will be a few more winners by then and a few more message cards to be made to include with prizes.

I adore the Altenew border, and you actually get 5 metres on a roll, so although the initial outlay isn't exactly cheap, you'll get a good few cards out of it! They have other designs but this is my favourite, I would be thrilled if they bring out one in a Christmas design needless to say.

A couple of things, the Altenew tape border is very slightly 'off-white' and my card stock here is all bright white. I would have hopped into the car and nipped down the road to Hobbycraft for a pack of slightly off-white card blanks - but of course that's not an option at the moment.

I do love the Versafine Clair 'Nocturne' ink pad, it gives such a strong black stamping straight away. However, it's so juicy that you can actually see a faint shading on the reverse of the card, so possible best avoided for one layer cards - unless you sneakily back the inside of the front of the card with a slightly smaller panel of card of course.

Both the above points are purely down to my tendency towards OCD when crafting, this I freely admit!

I'd like to enter this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #14 May 2020. I love this challenge, so thrilled that Darnell has brought it back. Of course the Altenew tape is my NBUS item, as well as the Clair 'Nocturne' ink pad.

Typing this when I really should be baking. It's too late to begin now so it looks as if I'll be forced to do some more crafting. At long last, I feel as if Mr Mojo is peeking round the door ready to return - I have loads of ideas for Christmas, snippets and other occasion cards racing round in my head! Hooray, it's not before time.