Sunday Snippets - for someone special

I recently bought a fabulous John Next Door 'pre-loved' 'Shaded Ivy' stamp and matching die. Here it is in use below:

I used:

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

- itching to try out the John Next Door stamp and die set, I picked out a snippet of Vaessen cardstock (love their products, available on Amazon!) in 'textured green' and used the reverse side of the card as the pattern/texture is 'softer' when stamping

- then used the *JND133 'Shaded Ivy' stamp and a Misti to stamp all the leaves in one go as it's a single stamp - the ink pad I used was VerseFine Clair 'Shady Lane'

- then die cut the ivy using the matching die - and that's where the magic happened. Two of the opposite corners have a triangle built into the stamp and the die has two opposing corners cut across for alignment! Therefore, the die can be perfectly  lined up with the stamped image, EVERY time! And then - you get a perfect cut of several pieces of inked and die cut ivy, in varying sizes with tow branches of ivy and plenty of different sized leaves, all at once - sheer genius!

- then I used two Papermill Direct 'Powder Pink Pearl' card from single and double sided swatches/snippets to die cut the Daisy-like flower heads - using a very old (one of my very first!) and favourite die set by Joy! called 'Daisy die set'

- used Nuvo glue to stick the flower layers together, gave the upper petals a flick and then glued them together before adding a large white pearl - from  Amazon of course-  and setting them aside

- next came a 5" x 5" white panel of the same cardstock as I had the die cut pieces to play around with by this point

- added double embossed lines around the outer edge to take away the plainess 

- backed the white panel with a very slightly larger snippet of Tonic mirror 'Inca Gold' card 

- then glued the whole panel to the card front

- next step was to juggle the pieces of die cuts around on the top layer of the card to work out just where the embellishents AND the sentiment would go 

- and then the plan just suddenly fell into place so, I stamped the sentiment! Onto the bottom right of the card front - using a well-loved stamp from Hero Arts 'Live Life' stamp set and the Clair 'Shady Lane' ink pad once again

-- next steps were to adhere the delightful ivy to the top left corner and add the pink daisies -  used teeny pieces of  slim sticky pads for the daisies! 

- almost there. I used a few blue hued butterflies from the Katy Sue set of 'Kaleidoscope of Butterflies'. Literally hundreds of double sided and already die cut little butterfly embellishments - after I'd tickled them with clear 'Wink of Stella'. Glued them in place with Nuvo glue and added some small ivy leaves at the bottom left hand corner

- finished!

* I totally adore the 'Shaded Ivy' stamp and co-ordinating die plate but, despite massively prolonged searches on your behalf, it seems that only the stamp is available - and even then it's extremely rare. For me it's a real 'winner' as a set . 

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge #842- HERE.  Under 'Anything Goes'

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #83 - HERE. It's the gorgeous John Next Door 'Shaded Ivy' stamps and dies of course!

Dudley Pupdate: The weather here has been awful lately, we had one lovely sunny day this week but heavy rain the rest of the time. Mid-morning yesterday, Dudley must have been desperate for a wee so Len opened the back door for him ................ at which the little guy screeched to a halt, looked out at the downpour, rolled his eyes until you could see the whites and raced to hide in the lounge. Undeterred, Len chased him round the downstairs of the house a few times and finally back into the kitchen. He'd invoked 'Toilet Emergency Plan B' and this was what a CCTV camera in the conservatory picked up:

I almost cried laughing as Len donned body warmer and wellies, then grabbed our biggest umbrella to hold over Dudley ................... whilst he followed the call of nature. 😂 You don't have to be crazy to live here - but it helps!

The results of Challenge #524 are now published HERE. SO hard to just pick three entries.

Do please come and play in Sarn's current challenge over in the Snippets Playground - just scroll down from the results post.

Love from myself and Dudley, xxx

Sunday Snippets - Criss Cross Technique

My snippets card for today (sorry, Christmas once again) uses a technique I hadn't come across before - perfect for using up patterned papers. It's called the 'Criss Cross' technique - and this is the link to the YouTube tutorial I followed, HERE:

And to show there's no waste:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" 'Silkweave 'Pale Ivory Linen' card blank - side opening

- added a layer of Tonic pearlescent 'Red Velvet' card to cover the whole of the card front to pick up the red in the patterned paper

- the papers, one patterned and one plain green are from the gorgeous Honey Bee Stamps 'Make It Merry' paper pad - a huge favourite of mine. 

- I followed the tutorial and 'sort of' managed to assemble the pieces evenly onto a snippet of 'Pale Ivory linen' card, using Collall All Purpose Glue for moveability. I used one patterned sheet and one plain green sheet - which actually gave me enough pieces for four cards in total - result! Double sided card such as SU card with one patterned and one plain side would work so well wth this clever idea!

- then adhered the 'criss cross' panel to the card front using narrow foam tape and a glue stick for moveability

- and now for the sentiment - I used a Penny Black 'song of peace' sentiment stamp and VersaFine Clair 'Shady Lane' ink pad to stamp the sentiment, using a 'jig' I made, as there were four to die cut/stamp identically

- the die I used is a Presscut 'Oval Stitch Hole' die - a huge set in many sizes!

No challenges this time. I'm Brenda's GD over at Allsorts right now - go me! And also I already used one stamp from the stamp set so it isn't totally NBUS for Darnell's challenge!

Dudley Pupdate: He's developed a habit of snuggling down all cosy between us in during the night, on what is thankfully a King sized bed. Even to the point of lying with his head snuggled into my neck. That's fine by me, but the other morning I was woken up by something gently stroking my hair. I thought it was Dudley at first but then, cracking me up, realised it was Len half asleep thinking he was stroking Dudley with his hand! Havanese pooches do have silky hair rather than fur BTW! It took all of my self control not to lick Len's hand in return - and give a loud 'WOOF'!!

Sarn has opened up Challenge #525 in the Snippets Playground HERE.

Do come and play with us in the Playground - numbers are back up after Christmas and we love seeing all of you - where the sun always shines! Goodness know - we need sunshine in our lives right now!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Allsorts Challenge #842 - 'Create your own background'

I'm happy as can be to be asked to be the Guest Designer over at Allsorts Challenge #842 HERE. The theme is to 'Create a background' and eventually I decided to go back to the background technique I love ................. 'Herringbone' using snippets! This is what I made:

I used: 

- 5.5" x 4.25" cream Hunkydory  card blank - side opening

- a leftover snippet of the same sheet of Hunkydory cream card on which to assemble the herringbone background, covered with 'medium sticky' double sided adhesive sheet

- a selection of quarter inch wide paper strips, cut from snippets tucked in the back of LOTV's 'Country Gentleman' 8" x 8" paper pad - a variety of different colours/patterns

- spent a very contented time adding the strips to the sticky panel 

- the next step, once the herringbone was completed, was to snip off the overhanging ends of the strips - I'd done this after a fashion as I went along so as not to waste any small pieces but trimming the remaining ends from the back of the card panel evens it all up

- then I was faced with a panel which wasn't exactly equal on opposing sides where the chevrons finished - it's the nature of the beast and so I carefully trimmed the herringbone panel, a little bit at a time and ended up with a piece measuring 3.5" x 4.75" - which still kept the A2 card balance/proportions and evened up the pattern edges

- then layered the herringbone panel onto a larger rectangle of brown Hunkydory card as a frame add narrow frames

- glued the herringbone layer onto the card front, using Collall All Purpose Glue

-adhered the two layer front panel to the card blank using narrow foam tape for some lift

- then stamped the sentiment using a large stamp from a set by The Greetery called 'Opposites Attract' - and a Tsukeno Brilliant 'Pearlescent Poppy' ink stamp, onto  a snippet of the cream card I'd been using throughou

- made a cutting 'jig' and die cut the sentiment out, using a die from the same Greetery set

- then took a little snippet of the Hunkydory brown card and die cut it using a Lil'Inkers 'Stitched Rectangle' - tweaking it a little at each end by shuffling the die along by one stitch and re-cutting

- glued the sentiment together and then onto the brown rectangle - finally gluing it to the bottom right of the card 

- finished!

I loved making this card, especially the herringbone background. It's the selection and slicing of the snippets of  papers I found to be more onerous - actually building up the herringbone itself is very satisfying!

Do come and play in Allsorts - there's also an 'anything goes option', the challenge runs for two weeks - plus the prize is four background stamps from A&C. Go for it!

With love, good grief, I sound like Meghan Markle!!

Rudolph Days - January 2026

Wow, a bit like buses - three consecutive posts come along at once - and this first one is my entry for the current Rudolph Days Challenege HERE: 

I used:

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

- the image is from a CAS Christmas card we were sent this past Christmas - die cut using a die from the Heffy Doodle A6 set of 'Stitched Rectangle' dies

- backed the image rectangle using a snippet of Tonic 'Firestone Red' mirror car, trimmed to leave just a narrow frame arounf the image

- glued the image onto the die cut panel and set it aside

- trimmed a bigger snippet of the Firestone Red card to 6.75" x 4.75" and glued it to the card front

- then trimmed a whole sheet of grey stars patterned paper from the Honey Bee Stamps 'Make it Merry' paper pad down to 6.5" x 4.5" - and glued it onto the front ot the red mirror card layer

- finally, I used thin sticky pads to adhere the image onto the card front - luckily it came with the sentiment as well! I used a slick of glue stick across the sticky pads and can't sing the praises of that tip from Chrisse Stokes enough!

- finished!

Quick and easy - once I realised that the greyish-green tree needed a grey background!

Sunday Snippets - CAS Christmas card

A couple of my USA crafting friends very kindly protect cards they send to me through the post with panels of embossed card - and I hoard them like a squirrel! This card uses one of the latest gifted panels - as they are indeed just that, a gift. A quick rummage through my snippets and a short while later this was the CAS result:

I used: 

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

- a snippet of Tonic pearlised 'Red Velvet' card, very slightly trimmed then glued onto the card blank front

- the deeply embossed deep cream (camera lied again!) panel of Christmas foliage, cones and flowers was trimmed by moi and glued on top of the red layer

- used a NBUS die set for the first time - by John Next Door called 'Bold Wishes - JND558', plus small snippets of Tonic pearlised 'Red Velvet' and pearlised 'Majestic Gold' - to die cut the sentiment and also its shadow background

- glued the gold sentiment onto the red background/shadow using a glue pen

- used Nuvo glue to adhere the sentiment panel to the card front, at bottom right

- finished!

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

- Allsorts Challenge #841 HERE.  - 'Anything Goes'

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #82 HERE - my NBUS item is the John Next Door sentiment and shadow die set

I'm sure that most of you will know, but in case you don't, NBUS stands for 'Never Been Used Schtuff'. You only need to be using an item for the first time to enter. It's run by our friend Darnell - who else would think up a challenge name like that!?

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley is beside himself with the dreadfully damp and dull days we're having right now. This weekend it's the Royal Society for Birds (RSPB) 'Big Garden Birdwatch' - and Len rigged up a CCTV camera covering much of our back garden so I could watch indoors for an hour in the warmth. 

I hit lucky with the chosen hour in that it was dry and bright - even threatening to be sunny! Logged a good few birds - to be reported back to the RSPB online. But nothing overly exciting in the great scheme of things ........ unless you count in a rather cute white fluffy four-legged critter that didn't fly. That would be Dudley (but of course) who kept on hopping in and out of the house and definitely didn't care for the pigeons ground feeding on the hanging feeders leftovers one little bit. Basically 'cos they flew away as soon as he bounced over to say 'hi' to them! Poor little 'Billy No Mates'. 😢 And it's almost as if he KNEW I wanted a peaceful, non-zoomies garden so that the smaller birds wouldn't be skittish! 'Nope Mum, not gonna happen on MY watch. This is good FUN!'

The results from Sarn's Challenge #523 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE.

Sunday Snippets - Christmas Bells

With the cold and miserable weather we're having right now, I'm still in Christmas card making mode as Summer seems just a hope on the wind. So I dug out some never been used (NBUS) bell dies that I've had for years and years. Bought before I learned the lesson to at least try out new dies before filing them away! And this is the result - which IS such pretty platinum pinks in real life:

 I used: 

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

- used a pad of Craft Perfect 'Moonlight Rose' card for the two backing layers, trimmed to 5" x 5" and 4.75" x 4.75" - 'Rose Platinum' and 'Frosted Silver'. 

- also used snippets in the same colours as above, plus 'Burnished Rose' from the same pad for the bells, bow and sentiment - all of which I cut out in readiness before launching into the actual assembly side of things

- the first thing to be assembled were the two bells, 'Burnished Rose' matt snippets for the main parts then the top 'filigree' layers plus the 'ringers' were die cut from shiny 'Rose Platinum' and then glued together. The die sets, unused and almost forgotten (shame on me!) are by Dee's Distinctively. They're 'Bell Silhouette and ringer' plus 'Bell No.1' and 'Bell No. 2'. If they are even available now, sorry!

- the bow was die cut twice and layered/glued together - using a snippet of 'Frosted Silver' card plus a glorious bow die from an unbranded set of seven different bows, from eBay ages ago

- the sentiment was die cut using a Technique Tuesday die set called 'Say-It-Noel' and used the matt pink for the shadow and the shiny pink card from the snippets pile for the actual word 'Joy' 

- much earlier on in the process, I'd die cut a plain white square mat for the image - using a 4'5' x 4.5" square stitched die by Heffy Doodle

- assembly time - gosh that sounds like the morning call at boarding school! So, I glued the largest background layer of card onto the card front

- then set to on the main panel assembly - starting by gluing the silver and white stitched die cut panels together

- used very narrow foam tape (and the very forgiving glue stick which allows some movement before pressing down hard) to apply to the back of the silver/white panel and gingerly stuck it onto the already adhered shiny rose panel on the card front

- and then, drum roll, time for the bells, bow and sentiment to be added!

- glued the bottom bell to the centre top of the panel. then popped the top bell on - and added the bow - all using snippets of very thin sticky pads to raise them a bit

- finally, glued the sentiment onto the bottom right of the panel and called it 'finished'!

Psst. Once again, no matter what daylight or artificial light I used - the pretty pinks tones of this card didin't wanna play ball!

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

- Christmas Kickstart Challenge #106 HERE - 'Dreaming of a Pink Christmas'

- Allsorts Challenge 841 HERE - under 'Anything Goes'

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #82 HERE - my NBUS items are the 'Bells' dies

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

Dudley Pupdate: A lot of Dudley's past few days have involved 'shouting at shadows'. When the sun sometimes (rare but it happens!) shines into our hall through the front door, the shadows seem to create rainbows and dance for him. Now and then, Len will open the front door to let him know that there's no-one there - might be a villain, either lurking to steal Honka Duck or even kidnap us all! He takes his 'Doggie Duties' very seriously!

Love as always, Dudley Dog and me

Sunday Snippets - Christmas Gift

'Santa Dudley' looked at my Christmas wish list and chose a die that I've liked for ages as his gift to me - go Dudley! Here it is in use below:

I used:

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

- a snippet of Tonic pearlescent 'Blue Cashmere' card which only needed a whisker trimmed off, ready to form the main backing element

- then I used some of my precious non-shedding silver glitter card - so kindly donated by a lovely friend - and used Dudley's Christmas gift of an Amazon die to cut what I saw as 'triple ribbons' on the front of a Christmas gift

- glued the silver die cut in place, slightly on the 'wonk' but I did my best! It did need a little bit of trimming once in place but worked fine, IMHO

- then die cut the leaf and shadow using snippets of parchment paper and dark green card along with Penny Black's 'leaf layers' pair of dies then glued them together

- next I used one of my favourite dies - from Sizzix 'Winter Wishes' to die cut the word 'Joy'

- glued the shadowed holly branch and the sentiment, both at angles, in place ........... using a glue pen

- and the final touch was a few SU red Glossy Dots to make the whole thing really 'pop'!

I think the 'ribbons' die would be perfect for a chap's card BTW! 

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge #840 - HERE.  Under anything Goes'

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #82 - HERE. The unbranded 'Gift ribbons' die as I call it and also the Penny  Black 'leaf layers' set of dies were having their first outing

Dudley Pupdate: Post-Christmas and New Year Celebration time has been a quiet time for Dudley. Catching up on his snoozes. I spotted him earlier this evening curled into a tight cosy little ball in one of his dog beds . So cute - but if I'd tried to take a photo he'd have woken up, so I just tiptoed past. 

Very importantly, the results of Challenge #522 are now published HERE. 

Do please come and play in Sarn's current challenge over in the Snippets Playground - just scroll down from the results post.

Love from myself and Dudley, xxx

Sunday Snippets - Santa Train

Happy New Year everyone - Dudley and I wish you oodles of health and happiness throughout 2026. I left wealth out many years ago - it helps, but can't buy happiness or real health either!

I made my snippets decoupage card for today for Len - nine layers later I was like a wet dish cloth from the effort and concentration with so many fiddly pieces. But, he loves it, even though he threw the box away, so I gave him a spare one I already had made - just in case he wants to keep it for a while longer:

I used:

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

- Katy Sue's decoupage sheet called 'Santa Train' which I layered using very thin sticky pads

- used snippets of Tonic's pearlescent 'Majestic Gold' and 'Red Velvet' card to make a 'frame' and glued it onto the card front

- glued the assembled Santa Train image onto the gold layer

- final touch, added the words and little hearts and popped the card into a white card box, bought ready to assemble from Amazon - vastly superior to a well known card making company's offering!

Not entering any challenges this time - onto Christmas 2026 card making next!

Here's a peek at the Christmas card that Len gave to me:

It's absolutely stunning, stands at about 4" deep when opened up and is one to keep for sure. I know it's laser cut and pre-printed but the design is a delight too! Ha! Much as I'd love to compete I'll settle for it sitting on my desk right in front of me for the new few days.

Dudley Pupdate: There's a slight possibility of snow here before too long, as we live at about the highest point in Hampshire. Dudley has a very smart fleece lined new 'walkies' jacket as well as one for just romping around the garden without the need for a built in harness or some leg protection - both are red so we don't lose him in any snow drifts. What am I like, thinking back to Northumberland snow depths when that easily happened to my beloved Bichons! Just their coal black noses popping up out of two foot of snow in the fields behind where I lived at the time. Meanwhile, Dudley and I are watching the skies for any white flakes! Len is praying we don't get any!

Sarn has opened up Challenge #523 in the  Snippets Playground HERE.

Do come and play with us in the Playground - for now, we're back to normal - or at least as normal as one could hope for!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - Christmas Garland

My snippets card was made using a Katy Sue decoupage kit:

I used: 

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

- Katy Sue's decoupage sheet called 'Christmas Flowers' which I layered using very thin sticky pads

- used Tonic's 'Inca Gold' and 'Scarlet Organza' mirror card to make a 'frame' and glued it onto the card front

- used a snippet of white card which I ran embossed lines around before gluing it to the card front

- glued the assembled Christmas wreath onto the white piece of card

- final touch, added the sentiment and popped the card into a white card box, bought ready to assemble from Amazon

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

- Allsorts Challenge #839 HERE.  - 'Anything Goes'

- and  of course, this month's Rudolph Days Challenge HERE.

Dudley Pupdate: As always, Dudley loved Christmas - he has to poke his nose into each item as it's being unwrapped! I think that's most of the fun for him. Oh, and a little Christmas dinner of his own course. As usual he left the solitary Brussels sprout I'd added!

The December Draw results from Sarn's Challenge #519 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE.

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Merry Christmas to One and All!!

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

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

 

At that, Dudley's eyes lit up! 

My bad! Gotcha! 

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

xxxx

The Midnight Watch - Havanese Style!

Merry Christmas Eve Playmates - love from Dudley!

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

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

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

Love from Di and Dudley

xxx

The final package arrived!

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

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

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

Two more sleeps - yay!

Love and hugs from Di and Dudley Dog! 

Sunday Snippets - 'Happy Birthday'

For a change from Christmas cards, my snippets card this week is a Birthday one:

I used: 

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

- snippet of the same white card, trimmed to 5.5" x 4.25" and then run through the Gemini using a pierced edge die from the Spellbinders 'Pierced Rectangles' A2  set of dies. A very kind blogging friend gifted the set to me a little while ago. It's hard to see in the photo but I left the die in place and, from the back, ran a ball-ended embossing tool around the inner edge of the die to raise the centre portion. What a difference it makes (in real life, unless you press your nose against the screen for a closer look!)

- then stamped the background using a VersaFine Clair 'Morning Mist' inkpad and a Gummiapan 'Happy Birthday text'  stamp I've had for ages, waiting to be used

- next, I stamped the flower onto the card front panel using a VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' inkpad - and at the same time stamped it onto a snippet of Strathmore Mixed Media card. The stamp is unnamed and by Crafty Roo

- the 'Strathmore' flower was coloured using a cute unbranded set of 24 metallic watercolour paints - having its first outing

- I added a little green to the lower part of the flower on the actual card front before fussy cutting the leaves and flower head and running a black Tombow pen around the edges

- then paper pieced the flower head and leaves onto the stamped flower on the card front panel using a glue pen

- glued the whole front panel to the card front

- final touch was the addition of five SU purple glossy dots in the bottom left corner - finished! 

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

- Allsorts Challenge #839 HERE - under 'Anything Goes'

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #81 HERE - my three NBUS items are the Gummiapan and Crafty Roo stamps - plus the set of metallic watercolour paints

Remember, I've just kicked off a new challenge over in the Snippets Playground HERE.  It's our second December Prize Draw with mystery prize bundles to be won!

Dudley Pupdate: With Christmas fast approaching Dudley has found plenty to shout bark at - the postman both delivering and collecting post, umpteen delivery drivers, neighbours popping cards through the letterbox and so on. Dudley certainly knows that something's afoot!

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas! 🎅🎄🎄🎄🎄🎅

Love as always, Dudley Dog and me

Sunday Snippets - By the sea

I bought a die not so long ago and used it the other day for my snippets card below:

I used:

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

- first thing to tackle was the actual die cutting of the beach huts, which proved to be a mental agility test! 

- die cut the complete row of die cut beach huts in one single strip from a snippet of plain white card and, I confess, looked at them on and off for a whole day in between doing other Christmassy preparations such as finishing off writing Christmas cards

- eventually, given that I wanted to inlay the red and blue pieces, I decided to snip the white die cuts apart and treat each beach hut seperately. That worked for me as I could take it step by step

- drew around the complete row of beach huts dies onto a snippet of white card, backed with a snippet of  Stick-It adhesive sheet

- then very carefully trimmed the outline down to a whisker inside the actual outline cutting line - phew!

- snipped each sticky backed beach hut apart - easier than it sounds I promise, and then peeled off the adhesive side backing before sticking each one onto the reverse of its matching beach hut - sticky side showing through the holes and strips in the design!

- then took snippets of the same red and blue card that I planned to use for the background 'frame' and, one by one, die cut each beach hut all over again. Only this time I carefully placed the coloured die over its matching 'white base' and gently poked the small pieces in place. It wasn't infallible as some tiny pieces needed real encouragement so it took ages, but not one tiny piece escaped!!

- once the huts were complete I set them aside in a little plastic dish for safety - didn't want any disasters after all that work

- used a backgound snippet of Tonic pearlescent 'Red Velvet' card, trimmed to 5.25" x 4" and glued onto the card front 

- next a snippet of Tonic pearlescent 'Navy Dazzle' card trimmed very slightly to 5" x 3.75" was glued onto the red layer

- then took a piece of paper from the unbranded 'Sea Wave' pack, sold by Amazon. and  trimmed it down to 4.55" x 3.5", and glued it onto the outline 'frame' on the card front

- the next step was to stamp the sentiment, I used VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' ink and a NBUS stamp from the lovely Penny Black NBUS 'without limits' set of stamps'

- glued the beach huts in a row along the shoreline and suddenly the card sprang to life!

- final touch was to add three teeny white seagulls, using a Gummiapan die - the end! 

The middle beach hut has a partly cut door which I gently scored at the hinge side and opened, then popped a die cut rectangler in red behind the open door - just for fun. 

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge #838 - HERE. The theme is ' New' - or 'Anything Goes'

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #81 - HERE. The unbranded 'Beach huts' die and the Penny Black sentiment stamp set were having their first outing

Dudley Pupdate: We're ahead of ourselves for once here and the Christmas tree is now decorated plus most of the other indoors stuff is done. Len did the outside lights etc. a week or two ago. Indoors we had Christmas music playing to add to the atmosphere and I set to and opened up the tree decorations. At that point I thought Dudley was about to explode with excitement, skipping about almost squeaking in delight! He loves anything sparkly - and the mere rustle of tissue paper sends him off into paroxyms of sheer joy. The lounge is all done and only one or two hours work, if that, remain to pop up some other special decorations.

Very importantly, the results of Challenge #520 are now published HERE . 

Do please come and play in Sarn's current challenge over in the Snippets Playground - just scroll down from the results post. It's our big Christmas giveaway draw and well worth playing along.

Love from myself and Dudley, xxx

Sunday Snippets - 'Joy'

I made my snippets card for today in double quick time - about 15 minutes or so- allowing a sheet of designer paper to do most of the work:

I used:

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

- two sheets of designer paper from the 'A Winter Story' pack made by Stamps by Me

- the reverse of one sheet is the same green as the patterned paper - perfect!

- trimmed the plain green paper down to 4.75" square and the patterned paper down to 4.5" square and glued them to the card front

- then used a die from the little Sizzix 'Winter Wishes' set to die cut the word 'Joy' from a teeny snippet of Tonic mirror card in 'Inca Gold'. I won this lovely little set of dies over at Christmas Kickstart a while ago and absolutely love the delicate Joy sentiment - many thanks again Jo! It's extra special as it 's designed to leave imprints of tiny studs on the letters

- glued the sentiment onto the card front, at a jaunty angle for a change. Finished!

No photo of the gold snippet - I disposed of it before engaging brain! The image colours are muted but in reality they're a bit brighter than the camera shows, needless to say.

- Allsorts Challenge #838 HERE - under the 'Anything Goes' option 

- Christmas Kickstart #105 HERE - 'If it's Christmassy, link it up'

Dudley Pupdate: it's been a pretty uneventful week for Dudley. The most exciting things were the car rides when Len took me to the dentist - and surprisingly, Dudley was the quietest he's ever been - usually it's a full-on yodel but this was more like doggie gentle singing! We've popped one of his doggie beds in our bedroom for him, but he only uses it now and then. Much more fun to cuddle up between us on the bed - preferably sideways if he can get away with it!

Sarn has opened up Challenge #521 in the  Snippets Playground HERE.

Do come and play with us in the Playground - Sarn has more information for you about our prizes for the December challenges. We have more prizes per challenge therefore more chances of winning a surprise bundle of goodies! Yay!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - 'Red Cardinal'

My snippets card was made using a lovely little 'Red Cardinal' in the snow die set for the first time:

I used: 

- 5.5" x 4.5" white card blank - side opening. It's not a true A2 size as I needed more width due to the size of the background die. It just fits into an A2 envelope, failing which an A6 envelope is even better!

- die cut the snowy background using a trimmed down snippet of Tonic pearlescent 'Blue Cashmere' card and an unbranded die set from Amazon. Unsurprisingly, it's now sold out!

- before doing the die cutting I adhered 'Stick It' sheet to the reverse of the piece of blue card, so it just was stuck straight onto the card front - and amazingly it behaved and went on straight 

- then die cut the branch and one 'Red Cardinal' - the set comes with another two of the birds in smaller sizes but one looked just enough. I used snippets of pearlised black and also red card

- at that point I could stamp the sentiment using the Misti as I knew the position where the branch would go. Used a Uniko stamp from the 'Christmas Wishes' sentiments stamp set along with a VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' ink pad

- next step was to glue the branch onto the card front using a glue pen - it's actually quite cleverly designed as the cut end of the branch is on a slant so that it follows the line of the 'snowflakes'

- and the final touch - added the Red Cardinal using lttle snippets of thin sticky pad. Yup, I even save those in the packet with the full sized pads!

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

- Allsorts Challenge #837 HERE.  - The theme is 'Focal Sentiment' and looking at the lovely DT cards my entry might qualify, otherwise it would be 'Anything Goes'

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #80 HERE. The set of Uniko sentiments and the set of dies were both having a first outing

- and  of course, this month's Rudolph Days Challenge HERE.

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley had the third and final part of his trim done by Len - and very dapper he looks too! Plus, as a bonus, today he behaved calmly enough to have his claws trimmed by Len on his own, usually a two-person job! I daren't speak too soon but perhaps he's getting more used to it - it's only taken seven years! 

The results from Sarn's Challenge #519 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE.

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,