'Santa suit' Christmas money holders

About a week ago, I set to and made three money/cheque holders. The size is perfect for euros as I carefully measured up -  but Len had me 'switch horses mid-gallop' so they will now be going to different recipients. Back to the drawing board for the girls and their Mum in Germany - he wanted 'pretty'! Anyhow - this is what I initially made and they will head off to Ipswich:

The money holder, closed

The money holder, opened up with pouch for money on the right hand side

The snippets I started out with. The silver looks gold, but it truly isn't, it's an adjustable 'warmer light' setting on my 'over the desk' lamp. And - I didn't use the very big red snippets in the end - opting for full A4 sheets of card - slap my wrists!

I used - for each holder - which just looks like a normal card until you open it:

- a sheet of Tonic UK A4 sized 'Red Velvet' pearlescent card - scored at 4.25 " and 8.5" from the long edge downwards - with 3.25" remaining

- then folded the holder along the scorelines into three, creasing well with a Teflon bone folder. The narrower width of 3.25" was to make the 'holder' part

- sliced the whole triple folded holder across the width, using a guillotine and cutting it down to 6.25" high

- to create the 'flap' for the money pouch I cut across the 3.25" narrow portion at 2" from the bottom, then down from the top crease line to meet the point where the first cut met the crease (easier to see what I mean by looking at the 2nd photo above), I used a guillotine (for one card) and long sharp scissors for the other two. Neither are easy to be honest but my slight preference is for using the scissors

- rounded the corner of the newly created 'flap' using a large X-cut corner punch

- before going any further I trimmed a snippet of white paper and glued it on the inside of the money holder, ready to write a message to the recipient - bit of forward thinking, for once, there!

- then used very narrow red line tape (one eighth of an inch wide) to securely adhere the bottom edge of the flap to the main body of the money holder - forming a little pouch

- topped the 'pouch' section with a sentiment, die cut using Tonic Studios 'Mini Moments - Merry Christmas' and a snippet of silver mirri card - if I lose it tomorrow - that sweet little die owes me absolutely nothing

- decorating the front of the card was truly the fun part, I used white, black and silver snippets for all of it - as well as a die set made by Joy! called 'Vintage Jeans - Buckle and Belt'

- it's really self-explanatory, but for my own records, the white 'fur' was 1" wide, cut from a snippet of plain white card, the plain black belt portion die for the 'no punch holes' side was far too short so I just cut a .75" wide longer strip of black, again from a snippet

- assembling the belt and buckle was slightly fiddly but still pretty easy - and I stuck the bottom edge of the assembled belt in place at about 1.25" from the bottom of the holder - using red line tape - then carefully pulled off the top layer of tape from behind the belt piece using very lethal and pointed tweezers

- the die set even included a little 'retaining excess belt length', or whatever you call it, die in the set so I cut one and stuck it in place

- the buttons come in four different designs but only used two of the designs as I liked the double button holes and also alternated them - again using red line tape to adhere them - finished!

I have to say that the attention to detail in the design of the Joy! die cutting sets is quite hard to beat.

But, let's talk about about the set of dies I used for this folder/card. There's more detail to the dies - which am sure means running the buttons as well as the belt through the die cutting machine, to emboss them but I wasn't too fussed about going to those lengths. In fact, I only bought the set of dies as they were in a 'super reduced sale' a while ago. You can easily achieve very similar results using a plain black strip of card for the belt, small square, oval round quite tightly nested dies for the buckle (look at your punches - they might do the trick!) - then possibly real buttons or small punched circles for the buttons. Pokey tool for the button holes or a white marker - and away you go!

This is my snippets card to kick off challenge #442 over in the Snippets Playground. Go HERE  to join in the fun!

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

Rudolph Days November 2022 Challenge

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #44 as I used the Joy! NBUS set of dies

Dudley Pupdate: We've had work being done here for over a week now and sweet Dudley, during the day time, has been at his absolute wit's end with all the different sounds, deliveries, comings and goings etc. Being on duty has meant no time for his daytime naps, so he's out for the count at bed time! Mind you, so are we.

Christmas wishes snippets card

If there's a drought and water shortages next Summer, I'll scream! The rain here has been unrelenting for weeks and there's a permanent dampness in the air. Despite the house being warm, the humidity levels are up and down, which isn't good for arthritis. Poor Dudley, never a fan of going to the toilet in the rain, is so fed up and has become an expert in crossing his legs for as long as possible!

One rainy afternoon I made this snippets card:

I used:

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

- snippet of silver really super-sparkly card, trimmed to an eighth of an inch smaller all round than the card blank and glued in place using Collall All Purpose glue

- a sheet of DP from the NBUS Fairy Hugs Craft Papers 'Misty Whisk' paper pad, trimmed to an eighth of an inch smaller all round than the sparkly silver layer and glued in place using Collall All Purpose glue 

- the trees were made using an NBUS unbranded set of two dies

-  for the green Christmas trees I used just the plain outline die - and then embossed them using a 'Twirls and Swirls' embossing folder by Taylored Expressions

- the centre tree was die cut using the plain outline die and a snippet of the sparkly card, then topped with a 3D effect die cut tree using a mossy green snippet of card - of course in real life you can peek at the card at an angle and see the silver layer twinkling at you!

- glued the green trees onto the card front then added the 3D tree using thin sticky pads

- the sentiment is by Craft Expressions, called 'Festive Mini Expressions - Christmas Wishes', die cut twice from a snippets of the mossy green card and the top layer die cut using the sparkly silver card

- glued the three layers together using a glue pen and added the sentiment to the top right hand corner of the card - finished!

Such a shame the super sparkly silver has once again defeated my camera - there are hints of it here and there so perhaps you can imagine the rest. ☺ The patterned paper pad I used has some interesting abstract designs, mostly featuring the sun or moon on the front with co-ordinating abstract patterns on the back. I was idly flicking through the pad when this particular paper shouted 'use ME' and I remembered the NBUS Christmas tree dies. And so a card was born!

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

Christmas Kickstart #68 where the theme is 'Trees, Trees, Trees!' Such a lovely theme, must try to make a second entry if I find some time.

Allsorts Challenge #703 'A/G with option trees/leaves' - that was a bit of luck!

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #44 - the Fairy Hugs paper pad and the unbranded tree dies were NBUS.

Dudley Pupdate: Earlier in the week, Len gave Dudley Part 1 of his trim - his legs and 'undercarriage' still need to be done. I suspect I'll have to perch on a stool opposite to Len and hold Dudley on the grooming table on his hind legs like a boxing hare, facing Len to have his undercarriage done. Right now he looks adorable - and his trimmed areas are so soft and silky, very much reminds me of when he was a little puppy. You know that little groove that doggies have running down the centre of their skulls - it's much more exposed now and he adores a gentle stroking there! We suspect he's feeling the difference due to being 'shorn' as he's taken to sleeping most of the night snuggled between us on our bed.

The Results from Challenge #440 are now up and running in the Snippets Playground - and there's still a week left to join in with Sarn's current challenge #441. Hop over to the Playground pronto - Sarn is sure to have something nice in the way of warming food and drink to share at break times in the tree house.

Remembrance Sunday

Today is Remembrance Sunday here in the UK - my snippets card was made with that in mind:

I used:

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

- really pretty piece of patterned paper - most probably from a little selection of SU paper that I was sent by my SU demo. at the time (I never throw anything away - and this paper was perfect for my needs the other day!)

- trimmed the paper to an eighth of an inch smaller all round than the card front and glued it in place

- then took a snippet of white card from the pile on my desk - along with snippets of moss green, red, black and pale green, all from the same pile - and promptly forgot to take a photo of them to show what I began with!

- used the Memory Box 'Perky Poppy' die to cut the poppy stem, leaves and bud in pale green with the flowers in black and red 

- then, used a glue pen to adhere all the poppy pieces onto the white card panel

- mounted the image panel onto the slightly larger moss green panel, before adding that to the card front using Hunkydory 2mm thick sticky pads - just as a change from thinner pads

- the sentiment was cut from a sheet of sentiments in the Creative Expressions 'Wordies Sentiment Sheets - Birthday' and glued in place by raising the left hand side from behind with a narrow snippet of black card to make sure that the right hand side would sit directly onto the poppy stem and the whole sentiment would be level

- added a narrow strip of the patterned paper down the inside of the card - I normally make a plain insert but this could be a real time saver, as well as adding a nice touch

- final addition was three clear self adhesive 'Fairy Drops' made by Memory Box and sold under their 'Open Studio' brand - so quick and easy to use, with three different sizes in the pack of 100 drops, a new favourite here! BTW, I used the middle sized ones on my card.

So, that's my snippets card for this week folks. Sarn has a new challenge up and running over in the Snippets Playground HERE. Quick, hop over and see her lovely snippets card and also the prize she's chosen for the current challenge.

Dudley Pupdate: A quiet week due to rotten wet weather, with no rides for me - again, sob. We bathed Dudley midweek and once we all dried off he looked so lovely - for 24 hours or so! Still white and smelling of baby talc from the doggie shampoo - despite all the thorough rinsing. However, it's time for a hair cut, otherwise he'll end up looking like a small Yeti - he's well on the way right now!

Back to my card for today, I'd like to enter it into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #44 HERE. My NBUS goodies are: the piece of patterned paper as it's the first time I've opened that little gift packet, the sentiment strip (the pack comes in white on black and black on white and I would probably use all of the sentiments to be honest) plus the clear Fairy Drops, quick, easy and no chance of glue smudging!

That's all from us for now.

Love from Dudley, and of course,

Lest we Forget

'Spirited Snowmen'

The current Challenge #701 over at Allsorts is 'Sparkle and Shine'. I love a bit of sparkle and shine, on Christmas cards especially, and came up with this:

I used:

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

- topped the front of the card with baby blue pearlescent card for the 'shine', die cut using Lawn Fawn's 'Stitched Windy Backdrop' cover plate

- then, using snippets of white card, stamped a skating snowman - using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from SU's 'Spirited Snowmen' set

- coloured the image using Polychromos pencils , including using the Polychromos silver pencil for the skate blades

- die cut the image panel using a die from a now discontinued set of four dies, marketed originally by The Works and sold under the M&C label - called 'Oval Frilled & Stitched'. I found them on eBay, brand new for £6 the other week - bargain!

- then stamped the sentiment using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a little stamp by Clearly Besotted from their 'Let It Snow' set of stamps, discontinued

- stuck the image panel onto the card front, using thin sticky pads

- finally, die cut some snowflakes from a snippet of very sparkly silver card, using using a Penny Black 'Snow Family' die set - and glued them in place, shame the lovely crisp silver sparkle just doesn't want to be picked up by the camera though

And yup ....... I made another one exactly the same whilst everything was out on my desk. 

The set of The Works dies are NBUS so I'm also skipping over to Darnell's to join in with NBUS Challenge #44.

A card for Josh

A neighbour's eldest boy celebrated his Birthday on Saturday (yesterday). He's now 14 and that's a sort of 'in between' age - too old for LOTV cute images/Lego and such - yet not old enough for more 'manly cards. No doubt that will come though!

So, I opted for a fairly neutral style:

Needless to say, the colours look a bit washed out - rather like our weather right now. Dudley is drawing up plans to build us an Ark!

I used:

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

- a slightly smaller layer of Neenah 'Desert Storm' - which was a snippet

- a slightly smaller piece of patterned paper from Craft Consortium's 'Ink Drops - Ocean' pad

- glued both layers in place onto the card front

- then dug out a couple more snippets of the same 'Desert Storm' card and die cut the sentiment twice. For the sentiment I used a die by Lawn Fawn die called 'Giant Happy Birthday to You' - SO useful!

- glued both sentiment layers together using a glue pen

- adhered them to the card front using a glue pen

- despite the card being for a 'young man' I did feel it needed something more - so I glued three white sequins in place and that was it, finished!

The results from Challenge #439 are now available over in the Snippets Playground HERE. Hop over and see if you're a 'pick' - or perhaps the winner of the prize on offer.

Despite the rain I did manage to fit in a trip in my car to have my hair chopped (rather overdue) and also to collect a repeat prescription, which involved a long queue and some dithering people in front of me. Am now signing up to a local pharmacy to deliver directly here without me needing to put in requests. This new pharmacy is in the same parade of shops as my GP as well as my current pharmacy so if it goes 'pear-shaped' it's close enough for me to go in person and sort things out. 

However, the rain has made it impossible to venture out for a decent 'ride and walk Dudley' trip. It's a bit like giving a child a packet of sweeties to become excited about and then taking them away. I've really missed it - having the Purple Peril and then being 'grounded' is a bit cruel of Mother Nature. 

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley speaking - well, I got through Halloween without too many 'woofs'. I stuck with my favourite and most sinister bandana all evening - we forgot to take any photos though! The camera was on the coffee table all ready to go - but in all the excitement we just forgot and 'enjoyed the moment' as they say. I had a fair few cuddles (from some very pretty teenage girls, my favourite!), and almost left home with some of the most loving callers! Mama soon chased me back indoors though - spoilsport! Tell you what, I slept like a little log right through the night - just exhausted by it all. And no chocolates for me of course - but I did get a few Doggie Choccie Drops, as consolation. Back to Mama now. x

See you in the Playground!

Lots of love from myself and the little perisher, Dudley,

Mia and Livi's interactive 'reveal wheel' Birthday cards

Allsorts Challenge are celebrating their 700th Birthday this week - so I'm entering the pink card as it's 'Let's celebrate - any special occasion'. Very appropriate - well done to Brenda and the team! There's still plenty of time to join in the fun and also lovely prizes to be won.

Just a couple of days after Len's Birthday, Grand daughter Mia celebrated her Birthday - Autumn is a busy time in our family for Birthdays. I planned to make her sister Livi's card for 1st November at the same time so asked their Mum what colours the girls liked.

Mia is very girlie so and pink, white and gold are her favourites. Livi is the rebel/tomboy who likes blue, black and neon orange!

It was much easier to make the two cards, stage by stage, at the same time as they are both 'reveal wheel' cards and this was my first try at using the set of dies:

Mia's card

Livi's card

I used:

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

- 5.25" x 5.25" square of plain coloured backing card (Tonic 'Rose Platinum Mirror' fo the pink card and neon orange for the blue one

- 5" x 5" square of patterned card for the main layer - pink is from Craft Consortium's 'Ink Drops' paper pads - pink is from the 'Candy' pad and the blue is from the 'Ocean' pad (I love these papers!)

- then I used Gemini's 'Sentiment Reveal Wheel' set of dies and stamps to create the working parts of the card(s)'. I won't go into all the detail - but the set does not come with the promised set of instructions, so I had to find a demo. video on You Tube

- after assembling the card(s) I tucked the 'waste' from die cutting the half moon shape at the right hand edge of the card underneath where the edge of the wheel is all ready to turn -  it looked unfinished otherwise, IMHO

- having added the additional parts of the stamped sentiments to the front of the card - I just added a couple of die cuts to the bottom left of the card. Poppy Stamps 'Rose corner' for Mia's card and an unknown stamp from a rose and leaves set - I suspect it might be a Tonic Studios die set as it's black

- and that was them, all done! Then I had a lie down in a darkened room to recover

What a palaver, first of all - having no instructions is bad - I now know that others have complained about this as well. The video I found was a very hurried demo, on a selling show and some important points were skimmed over. I ended up dizzy with having to keep rewinding the wretched thing to grasp each step. Thumbs down to Crafters Companion for little instruction and also inferior silicone stamps - made in China.

However,  next time will be easier - and the girls loved their cards! I might just have a go at making one for Len for Christmas .......... whilst I can still sort of remember the steps involved, and before his card is at the end of the line - as usually happens. ☺

 

Tumbling numbers Birthday card

Today's card is my snippets card for our new Challenge over at The Snippets Playground HERE.

I made it for Len's Great-Nephew, Ben, whose Birthday is actually on Halloween (every year too, ☺) - so I used Halloween colours in keeping with our optional Playground theme of Autumn/Halloween. 

I must stress that this card is an absolute CASE of a card that won Nicky a Gold Star HERE back in November 2018. I notice that our lovely Nicky hasn't posted anything on her blog since July so, if you're looking in Nicky, do think about coming for a little play, you are missed. Many thanks for the inspiration from several of your past entries!

 

I used:

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

- all snippets were already on my desk, the black card is good quality watercolour card, left from some I was playing with

- cut a deep purple backing layer and a slightly smaller black one for the main panel and set them aside

- die cut the numbers from deep purple and neon orange using a die set of 'candle numbers' from The Works. I trimmed the flame off the top of each die cut, to keep the card as masculine as possible 

- then die cut the 'Birthday Wishes' sentiment using another snippet of deep purple and an Impression Obsession 'Birthday Top Edgers' die

- glued the purple 'tumbling numbers' to the piece of already trimmed to size black card, leaving some of them overlapping the left hand edge

- then glued the sentiment in place, followed by the orange 21

- flipped the panel over and trimmed off the overlaps from the back

- glued the black panel to the deep purple surround then glued that onto the card front

- finished!

I just popped over the The Works' website to see what dies they might be selling right now. I knew the candle numbers - which were their own M&C brand - had long been discontinued. I was sorry to see that they no longer sell any dies under the M&C name - such a shame. That set of candle numbers only cost me £4 - and I also hit lucky with a few other die sets back in 2017/18. All of them were super value and are excellent cutters, sigh. There ARE a smattering of the dies (the actual brand to look for is M&C) on eBay - I ought to know as I just whipped in and bought a couple of brand new sets for the Playground Toy box, yay! Needless to say at slightly inflated prices but still jolly good value, particularly when you take free postage into account. However, the eBay M&C pickings are pretty thin on the ground now.

So, it's a new Snippets Challenge - Halloween is almost here - go and check out the theme! 

Tomorrow (Monday) is Halloween itself and, after a couple of years of abstinence, we're going to 'set up shop' for trick or treaters.

Dudley 'Pupdate': Dudley speaking - well, what can I say? The week has been very wet and I hate wet paws so have had to be (yet again) physically lifted up and dumped out into the garden a few times. One or other of my 'hoomans' then stays on guard beside the door making sure I do what I've been put out to do. Something called 'Halloween' is on the horizon and the 'pawrents' have been wafting around trying on silly outfits, messing around and planning things for Monday evening. Ha, little do they know that I intend to bark and howl at every single person coming to do 'trick or treat' here - until I have a cuddle of course. Mama has given me a choice of TWO different Halloween bandanas - I like them both so will be doing costume changes throughout the whole evening - leaving the pawrents exhausted and vowing to never, ever to do it again! Snigger! x

Finally, did you remember to change your clocks?

With love from Di and Dudley,

 

Rudolph Days Challenge October 2022

It's the latest Rudolph Days Challenge, over at ScrappyMo's - and here's my entry:

I used:

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

- a very slightly smaller panel of Tonic 'Majestic Gold' pearlescent card

- then a slightly smaller again layer of patterned paper by Magnolia called 'A Christmas Story - Angels Calling'

- then die cut the holly sprig from a snippet of white card using Penny Black's 'Holly and Berry Branch' die - also die cut the berries area from a snippet of red card

- dug out what ended up as five lightish green small sized stamp pads - from SU and also Tsukineko then used a couple of small makeup blending brushes to colour the leaves

- coloured the 'twig' part of the die cut as well as the very parts where the leaves join the twig with a brown Zig marker and coloured the berries with a red Zig marker

- carefully fussy cut around the red die cut berries and glued that piece on top of the main die - it was a perfect match so really I hadn't needed to colour the berries, that was done in case I slipped up at all with the fussy cutting

- then glued the holly and berry die cut onto the card front

- added a Memory Box 'Christmas Fairy Dewdrops' embellishment to each holly berry

- die cut the sentiment using Tonic Studios 'Mini Moments Merry Christmas' die, one from a snippet of Majestic Gold card and the top layer from another snippet of the same red card I'd used for the berries. Then glued them together, before giving the finished sentiment a coating of clear Wink of Stella and giving it a short time to dry

- glued the sentiment in place using a glue pen - finished

Love how those berries shine in a muted way! There's some 'light bounce back' in the centres - but in real life it's not there). I fished the lovely 6" x 6" sheet of Magnolia patterned paper out of a box I rummaged around in about a week ago for the green and gold backing paper for the poinsettia cards I made. The contents date back to around 2008! There might be one or two sheets of the same paper still lurking in there for duplicates - but I know it's long been discontinued, sigh, a shame as it's such a gentle and soft pattern which makes a nice Christmas background without overly dominating the card. My quest is to try to checkpoint myself and see if there are more pieces of the same patterned paper to be used for duplicates - especially now that it's been made once. Always makes re-iterations simpler.

It was a first outing for the Memory Box dewdrops, as well as the Penny Black holly die, so I'd like to enter this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #43.

 

Poinsettias for Christmas

The current Challenge #67 over at Christmas Kickstart has a lovely theme - 'Poinsettias and Posies'. I finally found time to make a couple of cards, exactly the same, as my entry. Here's one of them:

I used:

- a white DL card, tent fold - which actually ended up at 8.25" x 3.75" to look more balanced

- dug out a couple of identical pieces of very old patterned paper by Craft Creations called 'old Christmas Wording on Green Texture' and trimmed them down to 8" x 3.25"

- die cut three apertures from the paper using a NBUS MFT 'Slimline Stitched Square Trio' die - and put the centre square's waste to one side for later use

- then glued the patterned paper onto a piece of Tonic 'Inca Gold' Mirror card

- using snippets of white card I die cut three squares using the MFT die and inset two of them in the outer apertures

- ran a gold Calligraphy pen around the edge of the square of white card waste I'd set aside a couple of steps back and glued it and the 'set aside' patterned centre square's waste together, then added it onto the centre aperture using 2mm thick large sticky pads. The gold edge was really so that, from the side, the edges of the square wouldn't look stark white - and it works well. I initially had tried just having it flush to the rest of the card front but raising it on foam pads really made such a difference

- in fairness, I made the poinsettias right at the start of making the card as i wasn't sure if the aperture's would be the right size etc.

- to make the poinsettias I used the NBUS dies in the Sizzix dies by Tim Holtz called 'Seasonal Sketch' - and snippets of Tonic ''Red Velvet' pearlescent and 'Inca Gold' Mirror card

- then glued the slightly offset gold layers on top of the red ones, before finally adding them to the card front

- finished - another two for the box!

The patterned paper that I used is so lovely in real life (I also have some in deep blue as well as in rich deep red) - the 'information strip as most 12" x  12" papers  do bear, shows that the design goes back to 2008! And that was in the days when I bought a lot of my stuff from Craft Creations. You chose from either a paper catalogue or a very clunky online 'shop' - and then submitted your order on a paper order form, which you posted off with a cheque for the relevant amount. It all seems rather pre-historic now. ☺ 

One lesson I learnt is that the 'stitched edge' to the three apertures doesn't show up well on dark quite heavily patterned paper. However, the die will be really great on plain paper and card of course - plus it guarantees that all three squares are lined up properly!

I'd also like to enter my card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #43. The poinsettia dies and also the MFT 'Slimline Stitched Square Trio' die had their first outing.

No news to report from Dudley. Right now he's cuddled up on our bed with Honka Duck (still the same old duck, bad mistake to let him see the old one after we'd hidden it and given him a new one). With all this wet weather, which he hates, it's not been easy shoe-horning him out into the garden to go toilet - just before bed in particular. He seems to have magnets built into his paws and rear end and you just can't budge him! Len has had to physically lift him outside - whereupon he then wees for England (Dudley not Len!) - which shows that he would have been pestering to go out in the early hours of the morning - little tinker!  

A little message for those to whom I promised to send decorative flowers and such during my proposed 'sort out' session. Basically I hit a mobility problem as well as a nasty leg infection so they are still on hold, for now. Don't give up - I will get there, I have your addresses and .... I need the space!

There's a new post over in The Snippets playground, with the results of Challenge #438 - HERE.

Happy Birthday to Len!

Yesterday was Len's Birthday - and Dudley commissioned a card for his beloved 'Dad' from me:

I used:

- DL white card blank, side opening

- snippet of black card, trimmed to a bit smaller than the card front and glued in place

- another snippet, this time of white card, trimmed to a bit smaller than the black layer

- then dug out my Altenew 'Poured Acrylic' paper pack and cut into a whole new sheet! Basically to add one and a half inch bands across the top and bottom of the white panel

- die cut the Creative Expressions 'Mini Woof' using a turquoise snippet from the patterned piece of the 'Poured Acrylic' paper - so I could check the alignment of everything

- then used Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink to stamp the fun sentiment ('Don't worry, I ate all the candles so nobody will know your age!') and the adorable pooch onto the white panel - his ears, eyelids and the pads of his paws were coloured pale peach using a Polychromos pencil. However the light when I took the photo has almost faded them - but they're there, trust me!

- stamped the pooch's bandana onto a tiny scrap of the turquoise part of 'Poured Acrylic' paper, fussy cut it and ran a new black 'Tombow Brush Pen' around the edges to hide any potential white edges from showing. After over 15 years of use, my black Whispers brush pen finally dried up/ran out of ink - it was the most used of the set of 36 markers and owed me nothing

- glued the turquoise bandana in place onto the pooch (now looking very much like Dudley in trouble!) using a glue pen

- glued the die cut 'woof' onto the image panel - and thought that was it finished

- however, the 'white space' was too stark with a mainly white dog - so I used a small paw print stamp by 'Fun stamps' and black ink to add some extra interest

- now it was finished!

I went bonkers with the little paw print stamp on the envelope, a gift tag, the inside of the card under Dudley's 'signature', and even on the back of the card besides the words 'Commissioned by Dudley'!

I'd like to enter this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #43 HERE' The NBUS is the Penny Black stamps set - oh, and the little 'Woof!' die as well!

And, this card also qualifies for this week's Allsorts Challenge #698 over HERE - hooray! So many weeks I just don't get the chance to join in, so it's great when the week's Allsorts theme works in my favour! The theme is 'Add a sentiment'- and I think the cute little sentiment voicing the pooch's 'don't blame me' trip fits the bill very well!    

Len loved his card from Dudley - and, even though I cheated and bought a ready made laser cut 'sailing schooner 3D card' from me (time was not on my side) - he was really pleased with that too. A few other lovely cards and of course pressies from Dudley and myself - a happy day! Nice evening meal - worked well.

The week has been busy with bits and bobs so we only managed one excursion on Tuesday with the 'Purple Peril' - which some of you rightly guessed is a wonderful purple mobility scooter! The feeling of freedom is incredible.

Thursday was my COVID vaccination day, in town. I was lucky and had both the COVID as well as the flu vaccination - one in each arm. Yay! So far so good - a bit tender but nothing to be concerned about.

Dudley was there outside the 'Health Hub' in the shopping Mall and he waited with Len whilst I disappeared to be 'dealt with'. He was SO good - he just watched everything going on round about him and kept close to his Buddy Len. Dudley is such a curious dog - always interested in what's going on and I think the outing to somewhere totally new and quite busy really stimulated him. Without even trying, he really charmed loads of people as well. It's only recently that 'non-assistance' dogs have been allowed into the shopping Mall, we didn't see anything untoward so there's a chance that the move won't be reversed. Obviously not all shops will allow them inside but for us it's a great step forward.

Sarn (and I) work hard to make Playground a fun place - and, to that end Sarn has opened up a new Snippets Playground challenge HERE. 

Also a little heads up that in two weeks time so NOT just yet girls. I'll be hosting a new challenge on 30th October. We don't often have 'themes' but we will be looking for Autumn, Halloween and/or the associated colours in your entries for the challenge that opens 30th October ................. not just yet, I'm just giving you some advance warning so you can plan ahead! It's not mandatory but would be fun we think!

With love, from Di and Dudley

What a week!

So busy, so much going on - and I suggest you just hop on over the Snippets Playground to see the results of the previous challenge. Like Sarn, I'm really delighted to see that our playmate Suzanne H has set up a blog so she can still come and play with us! Go Suzanne! Just shout if you do ever need help.

We, please note the use of we, met Arnie a couple of times this week whilst out walking Dudley. Arnie is 'Dudley's Bestie' in the whole wide world and the adoration and hugs for one another between those two dogs is incredible! Those doggie hugs are so special to see. For me, having  having finally properly met Arnie close up, he really is so very adorable - his tail is like a little black propeller! He was a rescue dog and I just cannot get my head around how that came about - he fell on 'all four paws' certainly with such a sweet family! When we're out and I'm over the enchantment of just smiling and gazing at them, on their hind legs and hugging, I'll take a photo for you to see on here.

We've had days worth of no hot water, as well as other home plumbing issues this past week, so no snippets card got made. British Gas Home Care stinks! Their administration and also their almost non existent telephone service is diabolical to say the least.

And, after such a long time, literally years, I've been out and about with Len and Dudley, as a family this week - on woodland walks and to such lovely places I never realised were even within such close walking reach from our house. No car journey needed to reach them - amazing and magical!

I leave you to guess just how I went on those very happy and beautiful 'walks' with my boys - and what absolute freedom and joy doing that has brought back into my life.

Answers on a postcard! And for the very few friends who do know - don't squeal until the reveal!

Happy 'Purple Peril' Bunny here!

 

Forever Friends teddy card

Having a little rummage turned up the makings for two identical Christmas cards. I found two Forever Friends Christmas teddy tags along with some snippets of red patterned paper - stored together in a cello bag, I'd obviously paired the image and the snippets at some point - and this is what I made:

I used:

- mini slimline white card blank, side opening

- piece of slightly smaller white card

- the snippets of red patterned paper, trimmed and added as borders to the top and bottom on the panel of white card

- then stamped the sentiment using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from Clearly Besotted's 'Simply Said Christmas' set of sentiment stamps

- glued the panel to the card front

- added the bear tag using thin sticky pads, thankfully it didn't have a hole punched for twine. I vaguely recall it coming with a roll of matching Christmas paper many years ago

- then die cut a few snowflakes using a Penny Black 'Snow Family' die to die cut a selection of flakes from the leftover card used for the card blank, then tickled them with Clear Wink of Stella on a scrap of paper and left them to dry

- finishing touch was to add a scattering of the snowflakes using a glue pen

Two more cards for the box!

Len had his COVID booster earlier in the week, he felt one degree under for the following day but it only lasted for 24 hours and was nothing like he's reacted previously. Mine was booked for today (Sunday) but is now postponed until the middle of October. 

Dudley Pupdate: We managed to swap Dudley's old Honka Duck for a new one, then Len, in a daft moment, showed him the old one. So right now Dudley has both of the ducks - and the new one is decidedly neglected whilst he never lets his old favourite out of his sight! So, I'll have to wait until he's asleep and hide the old one again! On Thursday he had a bath/shower and all three of us had a good soaking, perhaps revenge for the duck swop?! 

There's a new challenge over in the Snippets Playground HERE. Hope you manage to join in!

Rudolph Days - September 2022

Time for another Rudolph Days challenge over at ScrappyMo's HERE. I made four really quick Christmas cards - two of each design and the first one is my Rudolph Days entry:

I used:

- 8.5" x 3.5" slimline white card blanks, tent style. I made my own card blanks using a UK size A4 sheet of heavy weight (300gsm) white card. Our A4 is only 8.25" wide so I had to make them 'down the length' of the sheet of card, meaning more waster/more snippets for ATCs perhaps

- next stamped the sentiments using stamps from Penny Black's 'Yuletide Wishes' set of sentiment stamps - and a Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad - onto the chosen images

- topped the card fronts with the Whimsy Stamps image papers - from the 'SurReally Cool Christmas' set of Slimline papers, using Collall All Purpose Glue

- super fast - four cards done!

Yesterday was Dudley's 'Gotcha Day' - four years since he joined us here. And he still manages to surprise us! Little does he know that plans are afoot to sneakily replace Honka Duck with a new one, today if possible. Followed by a bath/shower tomorrow - he's gonna be pretty fed up I can see! ☺

Today is all about you

I did a quick scrabble around some snippets and toppers lying on my desk - and made this card in double quick time:

I used:

- mini slimline card, made from a large snippet of white card

- snippet of SU 'Wisteria Wonder' very slightly trimmed to fit the card front whilst leaving a narrow border, corners rounded then glued in place

- the floral topper was made up by yours truly ages ago and fairly recently rediscovered in a cello bag ...........hiding in a box of 'bits and bobs' - added using a chunky glue pen

- the sentiment is from a NBUS purchase of a Pinkfresh Studio packet of foiled sentiments - again, added using a chunky glue pen

- finishing touch - three 'raindrop' gems by 'Lucy's Little Things. I used Glossy Accents to adhere them - that stuff is SO unforgiving if it squidges at all, normal, but strong, glue for me in future!

The floral topper was part of a sheet of pop out die cuts ready just to layer up - possibly made by Kan Ban - but I can't be sure.

The set of sentiments is a mix of gold and silver sentiments on white backgrounds. Half gold script and half are silver script. Many are on die cut shapes, like the one I used for my card, and that's mainly why I bought the packet (for speed and ease) - although, others are on rectangles with foiled frames. I have to say that the wording on many of them isn't terribly inspiring to be honest (almost too 'funky', save your pennies!).

I'd like to enter this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #42 HERE. The sentiments were having a first outing. 

AND, the Results of Challenge #436 are now over in the Snippets Playground.

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley, like most dogs, sometimes dreams when he's asleep. Usually a whimper or two and his little legs do a quick workout. But a couple of times he's really shaken us with a single, really forlorn and heartrending, howl whilst asleep. The first time it happened, months ago, we sprang out of bed convinced something terrible had happened. The other evening we were watching a TV programme about a 'lone wolf' and its plaintive howl was exactly the same as Dudley's. Sure tugs at the heartstrings - and reminds one that of course dogs are descended from wolves. Certainly, when Dudley dives into his evening meal I can totally relate to that one! He's fussy about what he eats so it took us a while to figure that out when he was a puppy but he's like a little vacuum cleaner now. And of course, he can hear the rustle of a cheese wrapper from the other end of the house!

Happy Birthday Joe, at 17

Len's great-nephew (he has four of them) has just turned 17. I almost forgot his Birthday, which was on the day of our Queen's funeral, and in fact had even forgotten I made and asked Len to post this card in the 10 days of public mourning. However, goodness knows how, it turns out I did remember to take a photo, which I found on my camera just the other day:

I used:

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

- a piece of dark blue shimmery card, found lying on my desk in 'the pile' waiting to be popped into the snippets folder. Trimmed to an eighth of an inch smaller than the card base all round then stuck onto the card front

- then I dug out a new paper pad from one of my NBUS baskets on a shelf behind where I sit to craft (for me it's the best way to ensure I use new things and don't just file them away to be forgotten)

- the paper pad is really gorgeous and was bought with the red tartan in mind for some Christmas cards I have planned - however, this blue tartan/plaid was perfect for my needs

- the paper pad is called 'Tartan' , made by Craft Consortium, a UK Company - the darker colours are so perfect for male cards

- trimmed the tartan paper from all sides to look as balanced as possible and then added a three quarters of an inch or so strip of plain dark blue shimmery card in place across the card - before trimming the sides off

- glued the tartan panel to the front of the card, with the outer dark blue framing it

- then stamped a sentiment using an ancient Lili of the Valley stamp and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink - I could have dug around the ink pads for a Navy Blue but I was basically almost running on 'empty' at that point in time

- I'd used a scrap of white card the same as the card base to stamp the sentiment on and then punched it out using a SU round punch - one and one eighth of an inch in diameter I think- and stuck it in place using a piece of very thin sticky pad

One super fast and simple card - made thanks to a video of very similar 'male cards' I'd spotted online, but can't find again, as so often happens.

So there we go - almost back in the saddle, I hope!

Hello again!

Sarn and I are popping back up from the Period of National Mourning, after the loss of our beloved Queen, Elizabeth the Second. Nip over to The Snippets Playground to see what the new challenge #437 has in store!

I have no card to offer as time here in Great Britain has almost stood still with shock initially, for 10 days, much of it in painful silence, watching TV and grieving for our Queen. 

But, on the upside - Sarn did use yesterday to clean the Playhouse, oil the swings and sort out the stuff we both just dropped, 10 or so days ago, ran off and left. I got sent to the wholesalers for even more Autumn cocktail ingredients - with orders to look for Halloween decorations! UK isn't too hot on Halloween, help! And little Dudley has been stoically sweeping up Autumn leaves and basically giving the place a good polish! Anyone for a highly polished slide ride courtesy of an over keen Havi - wheeeee!? 10 pence a go - as charged by the little gangster! So, I think we're surfacing and at some point very soon things will return to the old mayhem! HMTQ wouldn't want us to carry on grieving - but to remember her with joy and love - for sure!

Do come and join us HERE!

Four Penny Black 'Masterpiece' cards

It's Sarn's turn to post today and it's the results of Challenge #435 over in the Snippets Playground, HERE.

For my snippets card(s), I had a flick through the numerous sets of Penny Black Christmas 'Masterpieces'  here and pulled out four Winter cottage scenes to play with:

I used: 

- 5.5" x 4.25" card blanks, made using white linen card (same texture as the little images) bought from The Paperbox. Two are long side opening and two are short side opening

- the images needed slightly trimming to fit behind four already die cut frames, also using the white linen card. These were left from when I die cut a whole bunch of frames using a die by MFT called 'Stitched Rectangle Scallop Edge Frame' - I love the frames but they really need care when fixing an image behind as they're very narrow with not much room to play 

- glued the images to the inside back of the frames, using a glue pen

- then flicked through the 'impending cr*palanche' on my desk and pulled out a few snippets that were waiting to be filed in my bulging snippets expanding filing folder. Every single one was on my desk. which shows the chaos I'm currently working in!

- trimmed four of the larger snippets to cover almost all of each card front, leaving just a narrow border and glued them in place

- then used my Altenew mini die cutting machine and the sentiment die I've used so much lately (Tonic Studios 'Mini Moments Merry Christmas' ) to cut four sentiments using more varied snippets, and glued them in place using a glue pen

- glued the framed 'Masterpieces' in place, using Collall All Purpose glue, as usual for large pieces

- the only snippets I can easily name are the green ones, they were tucked inside a pack of Altenew 'Forest Glades' card which is such a lovely shade of green. Still on my desk from its last use, sigh

- another four for the box of 2022 Christmas cards!

The two images with the green backing card came from the 'pinecones and peace' set, the image with the black backing card is from the 'home for christmas' set - and the image with the shimmery deep blue backing card is from the 'snowfall serenity' set.

Penny Black really are onto a seller here, certainly where I'm concerned. Buddly Crafts had three new sets of Christmas designs in when I was over there just the other day, looking for something else - and yup, they did sort of fall into my basket!

I'd like to enter the first card into the current Christmas Kickstart Challenge #66 HERE. The theme is 'Home for the Holidays'. I wasn't cheeky enough to write three posts to 'bag' three entries into Jo's fun challenge - which  means I need to have a bit of a think and a hunt through my stamps and dies!

Thursday was a dark day for our whole Nation, countries of the Commonwealth and a lot of the rest of the World when our beloved Queen Elizabeth 2nd died. From knowing she was very unwell, and fearing the worst earlier that day, to the final confirmation of her death so many of us almost held our breath, lest a puff of air would make a difference. She was utterly true to her vows when she became our Queen - right until the end. The rainbows over both Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace just prior to the Queen's death being announced seem to almost have been a sign from her that in the end, all will be well. RIP after a such a long and very varied reign your Majesty. I do believe that King Charles will do his utmost to honour the legacy left by his beloved Mama and will rule wisely and kindly. Long live the King.

 

RIP, our beloved Queen Elizabeth the Second

Pink daisy for a friend

It's time for a new Challenge (#436) over at the Snippets Playground HERE. My turn to host and give Sarn a bit of a break.

For various reasons my snippets card was made fairly quickly - using bits and pieces within easy reach - late into the week just gone, so it ain't gonna win any prizes - but it's rather sweet:

 

The end result is the first image, and the snippets I grabbed to work with are just above here.

I used:

- 6.25" x 3.25" mini slimline sized white card blank, tent style

- a couple of snippets of the same white card were lying abandoned on my desk and the Lawn Fawn 'Watercolor Wishes' pad, with the envelope of snippets inside the back cover, was literally within arms reach - so I collected those I wnted to use together

-the card background was made using trimmed down blue for the sky and green for the grass - all from the Lawn Fawn paper pad - I just hand cut a sort of 'gentle wave' across the piece of green paper to make it look a little more natural then glued both papers onto the card front

- used my Altenew mini die cutting machine (oh, how I truly love this little baby!) to die cut the daisy from plain white card and coloured snippets of paper - all using Lawn Fawn's adorable 'Delightful Daisy' set of two dies. It's such a simple die design but I love it!

- used a glue pen to adhere the 'skeleton outline' of the daisy onto the solid white die cut background piece

- then carefully added all the coloured pieces, using a glue pen, to fill in the skeleton outline 

- time to add a sentiment and I had an old favourite in mind from the Stampendous 'Happy Messages' set of sentiment stamps - which I stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- already knew where the daisy die cut was to sit - so just glued it in place using a glue pen

The set of daisy dies is having a first outing, so I'm adding it into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #42 - HERE.

A Dudley tale - he's done it for ages now, but it's one of his first routines of the day. It's the same every time, a little gallop, a spring onto a low footstool at the bottom of the bed , a launch and then the 'thump' of him landing on the bed when I stir in the morning. Eeek, followed by as good a wash as he can manage to give any exposed part of me as I wake up. It's certainly the fastest way to get one sitting up .......... fighting a crazy smiling licking Havanese full of joy wanting to kickstart aother day of fun and frolics - or should that be frolicks perhaps?!

Remember to come and play in the Snippets Playground Snippets Playground, please tell us what you use and post your entry - over on our new challenge HERE!

With love from Dudley Dog and me,

'Tis the Season to be jolly .........

Here's my  card for ScrappyMo's Rudolph Days Challenge for August:

I used:

- white DL card blank, tent style

- first of all I coloured the pre-stamped Penny Black 'Snow Family' image using Polychromos pencils and Sansodor blending fluid - matching the colouring to the background paper 'scene' I'd selected to use

- die cut the image using Penny Black's 'Snow Family' set of dies and tickled the pale grey fluffy pom poms on their hats using Clear Wink of Stella

- used a piece of SU 'Wisteria Wonder' card for the main backing - die cut using a die from Phill Martin's Slender Collection set called 'Elegant Eyelets' and glued onto the card front

- the background paper is from Whimsy's 'Frozen' Slimline paper pack - LOVE this set of papers so much! Trimmed the paper to nicely sit on top of the die cut backing card - just a sliver from the top and sightly over 3/4" from one side

- stamped a sentiment onto the bottom left of the 'scenic' panel using the Misti, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from Clearly Besotted's 'Simply Said Christmas' set of sentiments 

- glued the 'scenic' panel onto the card front so that the 'Wisteria Wonder' layer formed a frame 

- then added the die cut 'Snow Family' using thin sticky pads to add a little dimension (but still keeping it under the limit for standard postage letters) 

- the 'Snow Family' die comes with some lovely snowflake dies and I used the three smallest ones to die cut a selection of flakes from the leftover card that the main image had been stamped onto, then tickled them with Clear Wink of Stella on a scrap of paper and left them to dry

- finishing touch was to add a scattering of said snowflakes using a glue pen to 'lift' the background

In real life the colours are a little more vibrant and of course, just to make life easier when the Christmas panic sets in, I made two exactly the same. Partly as I found two ready stamped images and couldn't bear not to use both of them. I suspect that a sweet friend sent me the stamped images ages ago. Before I bought the same 'pre-loved' stamp several years later ............. then I followed it up with the matching set of dies, probably within the last 12 months or so. Funny what you come across when looking through boxes of stuff you've almost forgotten about. ☺

Another Christmas Challenge that I love is 'Peace on Earth' - it's always 'Anything Goes' but their mood board does have a snowman on it. So I'd like to play along with their current Peace on Earth Challenge #22.   

And, I just found 'Christmas with the Cuties' Challenge #62. Anything cute and Christmas, with an optional theme of 'Frosty the Snowman, was a jolly happy soul'. I just had to join in as my sentiment includes the word 'jolly' - as all snowmen should be! I think it's my first time playing over there - but there's at least one familiar DT name! Hi Sarah. ☺

As both the 'eyelets' DL dies as well as the Penny Black 'Snow Family' die set are NBUS - I'd like to join in with Darnell's NBUS Challenge #41. 

The results of Challenge #434 are over at the Snippets Playground HERE. 

Dudley alternates between being very solemn and then running round like a crazy dog! On Thursday evening Len sneaked up the 'bedtime treat chalk bone' as Dudley was snoozing in the hallway. Swiftly, Len popped it onto my desk and whispered 'Hide it' - and we reckon it truly could have been done in one massive bound from downstairs - there was Dudley beside me waiting, paws up on my desk chair, tongue out with a cheeky smile, literally as I reached out to pick up the treat! He's a total scamp!

Then there are the times he looks at life through the serious end of the telescope and spends time almost meditating with some of his most loved toys, and of course his 'bestie' Honka Duck. On Friday, whilst taking a piccie of today's card by placing it on our bed (hunting for light!), I looked up and Dudley was steadily watching me, from his position surrounded by toys on the bed! Usually he would move, but this time he didn't and I managed a quick and sneaky photo:

I really love this 'spur of the moment' photo of him. Dudley isn't a dog who poses nicely when asked - you have to take 'pot luck'. He has one paw on top of, and protecting 'Honka',peeping from behind him is a cheeky chick toy and beside him are an upside down flying squirrel .......... plus a much loved hedgehog, sent by his much loved 'God-dog Mum' when he arrived here almost four years ago now. Yup, he still has it and uses it as a little pillow often during the night, so cute. Version 2 is on my desk, 'awaiting Mama's surgery' as it's got a  split seam (ouch!), but let's not tell him that!

The thing that really gets me is the depth, wisdom, and even a tinge of sadness in the look in his eyes, talk about 'Let me look right into your soul Mama'!

Or, to look on the bright side, most likely, 'Hey Mama, where you gonna try and hide the next treat?'!! Let me try my pensive look on you - ha!'.

He (Dudley) knows I'm typing about him as he just popped out from under my desk to say 'a big hello, from your Friendly Security Guard'. His timing always cracks me up!

Love from both of us - Dudley and of course me,