Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #390 - results

We're now heading into quite a strict 'Tier System' in yet another attempt to put a lid on COVID here in the UK. The converse of that is a five day easing of restrictions over Christmas to allow up to three households to meet up to meet up. It's worrying what will happen with the infection rate as a result - but it's obviously really important to a lot of people. And to be honest, if a ban had been left in place then you can bet many people would have rebelled and done what they wanted anyhow. We have one set of neighbours who mix people from five households in their home as a matter of course - and have done so right from the very beginning of this. That's what's known as 'taking the Mickey' IMHO.

Anyhow, let's dive straight in with my picks from the previous challenge - which was really tricky to whittle down - particularly as the challenge ran for three weeks:

What a great way to use up loads of snippets as well as return to the really therapeutic 'iris folding' craft technique. Gail brought this card to share with us and I love it!

I absolutely adore this white on white Christmas card, made by Lesley! It's so elegant as well as so clever to emboss the layers with different folders then add the twist of twine as a lovely finishing touch. 

Alison rushed into the Playground, after a busy time nurturing her wonderful flower growing business, waving this card (without any gilding wax on her slippers so she could trample it everywhere - a memory that still makes me laugh, I'm sure it was Alison and if not then it was an equally scatty Playmate!). It uses snippets, even a piece of cut down A4 is a snippet of course and whilst I do look for using snippets imaginatively I often do this myself. What I don't do is use the stamping technique that Alison did - flippin' fabulous! Do go and check it out as it's just got to be tried - misting sprays at the ready girls!

So that's three picks, as is almost always the case. It's really busy here as I'm frantically trying to add inserts into my Christmas cards and get them ready to post off as soon as possible - certainly the ones for outside of the UK at least! Having said that - I really could have gone on with loads more picks.

We also had two new Playmates:

Vivian Foo

Faith

Welcome to the Playground girls - lovely entries and do please come back and play again soon.

Can I please add a gentle reminder here, We are a snippets challenge, not just 'anything goes' as some people seem to think. 'Throw it in and see if I can win a prize' - nope, doesn't work for me I'm afraid. So, if I don't know or can't even see or read what snippets you used in your post - here's the deal. I may comment, but I won't ask what snippets you used if I can't find them or see mention of them. I just won't add you to the 'Yes please for the prize' list. This happens every so often and perhaps it would be more fair if everyone actually says what they used as snippets. I don't think we have too many rules but using clearly defined and described snippets is certainly one of them. Jumps down from soap box!  x

We had 109 entries in total - perhaps the three week timespan, the rather nice prize(s) plus, for this time, being allowed to enter more than once. It might be the most entries we've ever had. I'm still struggling to reach the magical 500 followers on my RH side bar though, sigh. So near yet so far, although I've been astonished by how many folk follow by email.

Now for the prize draw, which is a set of Lavinia 'Whimsical Hares' stamps, an Inkylicious 'Mountain & Valley Sun/Moon' Stencil & Masks template plus a set of 10 lovely soft make-up brushes for blending inks. And the winner is:

Lesley G

 

Congratulations Lesley! I hadn't realised how much you were hoping to win this prize until I re-read your blog post just now - so I'm double delighted for you. It's been a bit of a rough ride for you this past couple of years which makes this sweeter! More so as you're already one of my top three picks as well! Whoop, whoop - go and buy a Lottery ticket as these things usually come along in threes!

And, I did say how much I wished I could offer a prize to all of you - well, a 'Secret Santa' stepped in and has added a further set of blending brushes to the prize pot, to be sent by me with love from Parsnip and Dudley! You know who you are dear Secret Santa so HUGE thanks and our love to you for such a lovely gesture. And the winner of the blending brushes extra prize is: 

Alison C

Well done Alison! And you are also a top pick this time - how spooky is that then? Another one who should buy a Lottery ticket! I know you used to play very regularly and that life has been busy since you set up your wonderful fresh cut flowers business with funeral flowers, bouquets and allsorts - all grown by yourself. Perhaps this lovely set of brushes will encourage you to spend a bit more time crafting .................... when the flowers aren't calling for attention. ☺

Please send me your address(es), even if you know that I know it already, with your full name at the top as well so I can copy and paste for speed and ease. It's also confirmation that you still would like the prize of course and I'll do my best to post your prize(s) ASAP this coming week. 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.

I did hesitate and wondered whether to change the top picks when two of them were then chosen as prize winners - but, I wanted you to see both of their cards as they're so lovely. And I don't like to mess around with how the chips fall. We have three really good and fun techniques, including Gail's 'iris folding' to try this time - if you take time to settle for a few minutes and read the girls' blog posts! It will be so worth it I promise.

Remember folks, there's still another week to run on Challenge #391 HERE. The prize is a Gemini Edge'ables 'Balloon Bouquet' die donated by Viv, plus a set of Britannia 'Happy Birthday' sentiment dies from me, which have arrived and are now tucked up in the Playground Toybox.

Dudley had us really amused this past week. He suddenly decided to hide some of his favourite toys under Len's pillow - first of all his Arabica coffee wood chew, then two nights later his Benjamin Bear toy - and the grand finale the following night was Benjamin Bear, Little Ted (a small bear) plus a fluffy toy hedgehog from his 'God/Dog mother Auntie SaRn that he's had from being a puppy! Thankfully we think the novelty of hiding toys has worn off as he hasn't done it for a few nights now. Len was beginning to worry that Stinky Monkey the Fifth might end up there - but that's one toy that goes everywhere with Dudley and he doesn't share it. Never a dull moment!

Love from Parsnip, a happy 'high-five' and woof from Dudley - and of course hugs as always from me. Stay safe, wear those masks, swipe sparkle on any body places still showing - and keep on crafting. 

Penguin parade!

Determined to enter into this month's 'Let's Squash It' challenge, open until the end of the month, I had a little play the other day. The theme is to use a Christmas embossing folder and stamps - and this is what I came up with:

The light here was dreadful when I took the photo, but needs must when the devil drives as they say.

I used:

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

- piece of white card stock, embossed using Crafts Too's 'Snowflake Banner' embossing folder - as I wanted to stamp my image and sentiment directly onto the card and it's the only Christmas folder with a plain centre panel that was suitable here

- then trimmed the original A6 embossed piece right down to 4" x 4" - leaving a border of snowflakes around the edges

- next stamped the penguin and sentiment onto the embossed piece of card using the Misti, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and stamps from Clearly Besotted's 'Let it Snow - CBSLE470' set of stamps. I made six cards in total, two of which are repeats of a couple of the hats.

- stamped a selection of hats and then coloured the penguins and hats using Pro markers

- then fussy cut the little hats ready to begin assembling the card

- trimmed a silver mirri card background 'frame' to an eighth of an inch bigger all round than the image panel and glued them together using Collall All Purpose glue

-then glued that panel onto the card front, using Collall again

- added the little hats using a Zig glue pen

- after dithering I decided against adding white fuzzy fun flock to the hats as I just liked them as they are, left plain. Plus, being a bit OCD, I worried that the two shades of white (the fun flock and the background) wouldn't be exactly the same. I know, I know - need to get out more!

I was mooching around Clearly Besotted's website recently and this set of penguin stamps popped up in their clearance section. It doesn't have matching dies but fussy cutting the little hats was fun anyhow. The stamp set seems to have disappeared altogether now from Clearly Besotted, I possibly got the very last one - sorry. I wonder if it's because penguins don't live at the North Pole after all Jane? ☺ Clearly Besotted have also stopped adding matching dies to their new stamp releases which is such a shame IMHO. 

 

Apart from the Let's Squash It challenge -

and as it's a first outing for the 'Let it Snow' stamp set I can add this into Darnell's NBUS challenge#20 HERE.

Another six for the 'Christmas box of cards' and, apart from making a few more IF I have time, that's it for the moment as time is ticking on. The rest will be charity cards. Just need to write and post them all now!

On Wednesday morning I set to and for the first time ever made a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, even though we don't celebrate the day over here, I thought it would be fun to make. Wow, so easy if you cheat and use a bought pastry case from M&S! It smells and tastes absolutely gorgeous and  the 'two-legged' mouse, aka Len, loves it - as well as the leftover filling which I baked in a Pyrex dish - and neither of them ended up with cracked surfaces either. Nom, nom.

'We'll be gnome for Christmas'

That's one of the 'punny' sentiments in a NBUS set of stamps and dies that I cracked open to make six of these cards a couple of weeks ago, before the shoulder incident:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank

- layer of SU 'Real Red' card, cut to an eighth of an inch smaller all round than the card blank and glued to the card front

- a 'scenic' background, one eighth of an inch smaller all round - trimmed down from a KanBan scene in the 'Christmas Wobblers' pack of pre-printed backgrounds and glued on top of the red layer

- the little gnomes were bought from Amazon ages ago - mostly as it was the first time I'd seen a little lady gnome stamp quite like this one. Stamped using the Misti and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- coloured the two gnomes using Pro markers

- then came time to die cut them and my asses ears went up! The set of matching dies only has dies for the two other gnomes, which I'd decided against using (as well dies for a toadstool house, signpost and circle for the 'pom pom')!!

- so I had to set to and fussy cut them using small scissors - whilst quietly grumbling to myself then glued the two gnomes in place. Discovered I was one male gnome short and everything had been packed away (so one card in the set of six has just a little lady gnome and a slightly different layout)

- by this time I was VERY just a tad fed up so I skipped using any of the sentiments from the stamp set and dug out a Craftwork cards 'white on black pre-printed' circular sentiment which I snipped the little retaining 'pips' from and then ran a black Whispers pen around the edge to cover the white edge core at the edge

- glued the sentiment onto a background of more 'Real Red' card (punched using a one and a quarter inch SU circle punch) which was then added to the right hand top corner of the card using thin sticky pad snippets

- final touch was to use a SU 'Itty Bitty' round punch to punch out white pompoms rather than use the little die in the set of dies. Then add Stampendous 'Fuzzy Fun Flock' by covering with glue from a glue pen and patting the fun flock onto the pompom

- glued the pompoms in place using Glossy Accents and breathed a sigh of relief

I now have a really uneasy feeling that the dies themselves might have been a starting point for the set of stamps (gulp, hopefully not copyright theft?) and the manufacturer (in China) added the two very cute stamps I used - but didn't design and manufacture extra two dies for those stamps. The set was very cheap, despite a bit of a wait, and it's fun to use although, that'll teach me not to do enough homework before ordering and then using goodies!

The background is seriously chopped down from the original 6" x 9" one. But I knew this when I ordered them - some of them come with really quite childish looking parcels in the snow - as my background did. So that got chopped off straight away and then I nibbled away with the trimmer until I was happy with a final, fairly simple, background. The pack has 36 backgrounds in (6 each of 6 designs) and to be honest saves such a lot of time and effort when you're at the middle of November knowing you just can't make many more cards.

As this is a first outing for a few things (the KanBan backgrounds, the stamps and dies as well as the Fuzzy Fun Flock) I'm adding this into our lovely Darnell's NBUS Challenge #20 HERE.

And of course, I'm adding it into ScrappyMo's Rudolph Days Challenge for November!

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #391

Wowser, extending Challenge #390 by a week and also allowing two entries certainly boosted numbers of entries into the Playground this past couple of weeks (109!) with many of you hoping to win the Lavinia 'Whimsical Hares' stamps, an Inkylicious 'Mountain & Valley Sun/Moon' Stencil & Masks template - plus a brand new set of 10 make up brushes for blending inks. As with the 'Hap-pea' stamps and dies the other week, I knew it would be a popular prize and you've certainly proved that! I'm slightly behind with commenting but am in the 80's (entries, not age!) so will get to you soon if you wonder where I am. ☺ The draw will be in a week's time - good luck!

I've been taking things more gently and, whilst not yet fully back to normal, my shoulder is loads better - huge thanks again for all your kind wishes. Who knew something like that would be so easy to do - one slight turn and wham!

Sarn, and some other lovely friends, have been really supportive offering to help in the Playground - Sarn even asked me on Thursday if I wanted her to step in with this post. So sweet - thank you all, especially Sarn of course. I soldiered on, having been out for a drive mid-week and did make a snippets card for this challenge - hooray! I struggled a bit using the Cuttlebug for the main die cut but thankfully the little Altenew mini die cutting machine was perfect for a lot of the card 'bits and bobs'. 

And this is the result:

I used:

- 4" x 6" white card blank, cut down from a 5 x 7" one

- piece of white card - approx 5" x 7" to allow room to trim it down later (I used half a card blank the same as the main one, purely to keep the whites exactly the same shade)

- then die cut the long edge of the piece of white card using a NBUS Gemini Edge'ables 'Balloon Bouquet' die 

- trimmed a snippet of black card down to 4" x 6"

- trimmed the white 'balloon edged' panel down to 4" x 6" and glued it to the black panel using Zig glue pens (it's worth doing it that way round so that any slight deviation in alignment can be carefully snipped off before it's actually on the card front, if that makes sense!

- then glued the whole front panel onto the card front using Collall All Purpose glue

- trimmed a snippet of rainbow paper left from a card I made recently, from Whimsy's 'Rainbows' paper pack (sitting on my desk as a reminder to send some sheets to a sweet friend for her to play with - I haven't forgotten J, just been a bit out of action!)

- then added that rainbow snippet to the left hand side of the card front, again using Collall Glue always my favourite to use wherever possible as it's so manoeuvrable, with the rainbow colours deliberately in reverse to what i planned next 

- die cut a full rainbow 'Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain' selection of balloons using little snippets, the same balloon die and my little Altenew die cutting machine 

- glued those in place using a Zig glue pen  then added a touch of white Gel pen as suggested on the die packaging image - ugh, too bold! What to do? Out came the Mono Sand Eraser and a little bit of gentle rubbing later made it seem much better - phew - I love my sand eraser!

- as I was more or less following the design on the die packaging, I hunted right through my sentiment dies and eventually die cut, using a black snippet backed with Stick It plus a Britannia Dies 'Happy Birthday' word set, the sentiment. A die set I've used so much over the years and it never disappoints, despite so many new designs on the market these days 

- popped the sentiment in place using a Zig glue pen, put my Teflon 'bone folder' on top of it, rubbed firmly and it was done - as Len says, also suitable for a boy - which is great news as I always struggle with cards for boys!

And here are the snippets I pulled out of my 'plain coloured card snippets concertina folder' plus a snippet from the Whimsy 'Rainbow' paper pack:

This is exactly as I pulled them out and popped them onto the desk. I know, my OCD means I just can't store snippets without trimming them into squares, strips or rectangles! Unless they're a die cut oval or such, in which case they're spared a quick hair cut! I used the rainbow paper to find the best match I could for the balloons - used them all with enough plain rainbow coloured snippets left for at least one more card the same, although I did colour one balloon with a Pro marker to make it look more like indigo.

Let's move onto the prize for this fortnight's challenge (yup, back to two weeks and only one entry - fingers crossed!):

My 'sample' card is very similar I agree, although I do like the rainbow panel that I added from my current favourite paper pack. The first part of the prize is a Gemini Edge'ables 'Balloon Bouquet' die very, kindly donated to the Toybox by our lovely Viv. To make a snippets sample card I bought the same die although I needed NO persuading as it's such a fun die and you can use it in many more ways than I've chosen. The card on the packaging image opens up with a black background behind but I couldn't really fathom out how to back what would then be the back of die cut balloons in the time I had to play, plus, the die measures 6.2" in length meaning it won't go through the Cuttlebug sideways to die cut the long edge of an open card, although it's only 2" or so wide. I tried by just folding the card with first a metal plate in between (potential disaster darlings) and then folding it between the clear cutting plates, too much of a crease beside the fold lines to restore it to a decent card. I can see a Big Shot or perhaps a Gemini here at some point - anyone got any strong feelings about how good they are? I've also seen the card made with a backing of blue sky and fluffy clouds which looks great - and I bet it would look wonderful with gold/and/or silver balloons to celebrate those Anniversaries. As Len keeps saying to me - think outside the box. Pale pink and/or blue for a new baby? ... I'm thinkin', I'm thinkin'!!

Plus, as the prize was a lovely donation to the Toybox from Viv, I tracked down the set of Britannia 'Happy Birthday' sentiment dies I used for my card, which comes in two sizes, to add to the prize from me. The font is a bit like the peel offs most of us set out with but absolutely loads better to handle when cut in card and also timeless IMHO, and here they are:

Very recently ordered and they're currently in the post so I 'borrowed' this image from the seller's JJD's UK online shop website. Both items make up the one prize.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 5th December. 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.

 

Please also remember that I only allow a total of nine other challenges, which makes 10 in total, when you enter a snippets make into the Playground.

 

Dudley continues on his mission to entertain us here during the latest lock down - he's such a funny little dog! He's lost a snippet of weight overall but the extra long walks mean he's gained an appetite which he didn't have previously! He still hankers after Julie our post lady - I can see that a Christmas card from him (as well as us of course) is a real 'must'!

When Dudley returns from his midday walkies he still always has a treat and now stands on his hind legs as usual ........ with the addition of spinning round in anticipation. It's sweet but also quite sad to think that the Bichon breed learned to dance on their hind legs when they fell out of favour with the royal courts in the late 19th century and ended up living a rough life begging on the streets. Despite this, and their subsequent return to popularity, they never lost their gentle and loving nature right through the breeding lines which gave us dogs such as the original Bichon, Maltese, Bolognese, Coton du Tolear and of course Havanese! Darnell triggered this memory with a recent post showing some really cute photos HERE.

Finally, remember it's ScrappyMo's Rudolph Days challenge from the 25th to the end of the month! And of course, my card today is being entered into Darnell's November NBUS Challenge HERE!

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

 

Card for Josh aged 12

We have a young neighbour who celebrated his 12th Birthday a while back on Bonfire Night (5th November). Len immediately came up with the idea of a dog for his card as Josh became the proud owner of a lovely black Labrador puppy during the Summer. She is 'growing rapidly into her paws' - lots of puppies seem to have oversized feet which I believe generally  indicates that they'll be quite big dogs when fully grown. She's a lovely pup and is Josh's pride and joy - he begged for a dog for years and finally his wish came true, thanks to lock down.

This is the card I made for Josh, using Len's idea:

I used:

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

- snippets of plain grey card (SU Smoky Slate) and red and white spotty paper from a 'Summer Goodness' paper pad - free with Quick Cards Made Easy magazine a good while ago. I still miss that magazine

- die cut the grey card and red spotty card to size using a Waffle Flower 'A2 Layer Dies' set

- I found the free Clipart image of the pooch etc. online and resized it in GIMP before printing it onto white card and then cutting it to size using one of the Waffle Flower layering dies 

- next, I die cut the word 'celebrate' using another snippet of the grey card and an Impression Obsession's die from a set called 'Birthday top edgers'

- glued the sentiment onto the image layer using a Zip glue pen and snipped the excess from either side

- then it was just a case of glueing all the layers in place 

This card design is almost the same as the card I recently made for Livi's Birthday - as I had all the layer dies selected and out to hand, it seemed silly not to move straight on from making her card to making this one for Josh. 

Some of you have said that you're considering whether or not to invest in the Waffle Flower layering dies. For me they really have been a game changer in terms of accuracy as well as the fact that you can also use them to 'gut' paper or card thereby making a single piece go much further. As yet, I've not used the in-between sized set so I can't say whether that will get much use or not. I would just buy the main A2 set and take ir from there if you're unsure.t

And how about this - just supposing you've already assembled and glued together your card and then decide to add a sentiment banner right across the top layer. We all know how easy it is to be just a gnats whisker out when using a trimmer - but you would just cut your banner to the height you want it to be and then you can use the same die you used for the top layer to position the sentiment centrally (which I struggle with unless I measure and do some calculations with pencil and ruler) to die cut it toexacrly  the same width. For me it's a bit of a no brainer really. I bought mine from Bumbleberry Crafts HERE - but right now they're out of stock. Perhaps some of you have already sneaked in?!

Speaking of 'gutting' paper - ie. cutting the middle out to make it go further, there's another style of card that I've made a few times in the past - like this one., known as 'Triple Layer':

They're great fun to make and can be subtle, or pack quite a punch like this one I made in January 2014, which uses some tropical/very bright papers.

To make this card I measured and cut it all by hand - in the process using three sheets of the 6" x 6" patterned paper to get the continuous alignment effect as well as a similar amount of the plain card. The idea is that the end result looks like the patterned sheet with the pattern just broken up by the plain frames. Using the A2 layers die set(s) I can now get everything I want from a single 5.5" x 4.25" sheet of patterned paper and also from the same sized piece of plain card. 

I have yet to prove it, but the optimist in me says 'of course it's possible!' ☺ Once I'm fully ready for battle again - getting there thankfully!

An extra week on Challenge #390

Just a little reminder that Challenge #390 is running for three weeks instead of two this time - so you have an additional week to enter before it closes on the new date of Saturday 21st November at 11am. PLUS, I'm allowing two entries instead of the usual limit of only one entry. It's a pretty decent prize and many of you are keeping your fingers crossed.

My post of Thursday 12th November explains more about why I've extended the time and also there's a little bit about Christmas and New Year in the Playground - HERE. 

I'm doing commenting when I can, but no crafting still. That seems to be a wise approach and already there's a significant improvement in my shoulder. Thank goodness!

I did manage to take Dudley into the groomers on my own - with Len driving us there and back. It's almost as if Dudley knew he shouldn't play up too much, apart from applying his 'glued to the spot' magnets once we were actually inside the little salon! He does make me laugh - I've never known a dog who can so firmly root themselves to the spot and make it feel like you're trying to move a ton of dog instead of just a few kilos!

And huge thanks to all of you who have left such lovely messages - and also to my dear friend Sarn who immediately offered to pitch in and help out. I feel blessed and am so grateful to be surrounded by so many wonderful bloggers.

I have high hopes that normal service will be resumed very soon.

Slight glitch in the Playground

Hi Girls!

Just to give you a heads up that, two evenings ago, I was quietly relaxing on a sofa, watching 'tee-vee' and moved my right arm awkwardly, that's absolutely all I did, there was a sort of 'click' and - once I came down from the ceiling - the pain in my shoulder was not good, in fact it was horrible. Isn't it strange, only now is my left shoulder feeling almost normal after tripping over Dudley nearly a year ago and now this happens to the right one!

Being VERY right handed it's hampering me and, although it's likely to get better faster than the left one did, right now I'm pretty limited in what I can manage to do in the craft room. I can type fairly easily as my right arm is supported on the desk - but can't do any serious lifting stuff and die cutting. So most card making is on hold, apart from stuff I already have lined up and scheduled. In truth, a lot of the time I fly by the seat of my pants - perhaps a lesson there.

To take pressure off at this end, and I think for the very first time, I'm going to extend the current challenge by a week. PLUS, for once and as it's a pretty cool prize, I will allow two entries rather than just one. So, the Playground will remain open until Saturday 21st November at 11am, normal closing time of the day but a week later. You might want to enter a second time and statistically increase your chances - so long as I deem your entry to be a true snippets card and not just an afterthought of course. Who would ever do such a thing?

That has also set me thinking about Christmas and what we'll do with the challenge then. By my calculations, there will now be a new challenge on 22nd November and one on 6th December. 

Which actually leads very nicely into the Christmas/New Year challenge - and it will now will span 20th December until 9th January. Yup, that's going to be another three week challenge so those of you who are busy with other things will have more of a relaxed chance to join in. BUT, please don't enter and just forget the Playground as there will be at least three other prizes posted over the three weeks of the challenge which will need comments if all goes well here (additional to the big prize I'm planning to kick the challenge off with).

I'm hoping to be much more agile asap - no press-ups though! And will post a reminder on Sunday for those of you who may miss this heads up! 

Sorry about this, basically I need to try and get Dudley to the groomers tomorrow without him totally dislocating my shoulder! What wimps we both are! I suspect that Len may have to help with the 'dragging Dudley the length of the store' process! He's in for an eye-opener, snigger.

Love and apologies