Sunday Snippets - 'Bulrushes'

I wanted to make a special thank you card and it was the ideal opportunity to give a NBUS set of dies a first outing: 

I used: 

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

- snippet of unbranded black velvet effect card stock (very tactile) to die cut the main image of bulrushes within a frame plus a sideways butterfly, using a NBUS unbranded set set. For ease I backed the framed bulrushes die cut with Stick-It double sided sticky paper before cutting it

- then trimmed a whole sheet of paper from Lawn Fawn's 'Watercolor Wishes'  so that it would form a 'sunset' background - I just trimmed it so that it would sit along the middle of the frame sides 

- adhered the backing paper to the bulrushes, very slowly as it was a 'one chance only' situation - it worked fine!

- glued card front panel onto the card blank

- die cut a sideways butterfly from some of the leftover centre of the background panel and set it to one side

- die cut the 'Thank you' sentiment twice from snippets of white card and layered them together

- then added the butterfly and sentiment to the card front using a glue pen and called it 'done'

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

- Allsorts Challenge #825 HERE Making cards for friends 'makes me happy'! 

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #75 HERE The set of dies is NBUS of course

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

Dudley Pupdate: It's been an uneventful week with Dudley so far. He's done the usual 'shouting' at the post man and any delivery people of course!

Hope to see you on the swings - the weather hasn't been too kind to us lately here so be sure to at least bring dry pants if you're gonna play on the slide, seesaw and swings!

Love as always, Dudley Dog and me

xxxxx

Sunday Snippets - Daisy Stem 'hello'

I wanted a set of elongated hexagon dies for ages - and finally got my hot sticky paws on a really nice set - which I used on my Sunday Snippets card below:

I used:

- A6 white card blank, side opening

- snippets of Tonic satin mirror 'Black Velvet' card, Tonic Mirror 'inca Gold' card - and a snippet of orange patterned paper from DCWV's 'Mariposa' paper stack (I hoard that paper stack like a flippin' squirrel!)

- then die cut three layers using dies from the delightful Hunkydory Moonstone range 'Straight Edged Nesting Dies - Extended Hexagon' set of dies and set them aside

- then die cut the daisy using a snippet of the same white card stock as the card blank for the flower head and a further snippet of 'Inca Gold' for the stem and outline of the daisy - using the two-die set of Memory Box dies called 'Single Daisy Stem'. What's so nice about this particular daisy die set is that it's so easy to just glue the outline onto the complete die cut daisy head, using a glue pen

- die cut the sentiment using a snippet of leftover 'Black Velvet' card and a die from a dear little Sizzix Thinlets set of dies I won very recently over at Christmas Kickstart, called 'Winter Wishes' - I cut the sentiment word 'hello' twice and layered it for dimension

- assembly time! I used Collall All Purpose glue for the layers and a glue pen for the sentiment and the daisy. The photo more or less speaks for itself. I did also use a favourite trick to add the completed panel to the card front, using very narrow foam tape - it adds dimension - but not extra postage!

Ha, so flushed with such a speedy make, I forgot to take a photo of my snippets! Detention?

I can see this set of dies being great with Penny Black Christmas Masterpieces - need to make a template and have a little play as I have a ton of them to use up.

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

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #74 - HERE.   All of the die sets were out for a first play

Allsorts Challenge #824 - HERE. Still time to join in the 'Anything Goes' 16th Birthday Celebrations girls! Some lovely prizes on offer too - go for it!

Dudley Pupdate: Oh goodness, where to begin?! Dudley has blotted his copy book BIG time here - probably his worst 'naughty boy' moment ever! 

Earlier this week we had the annual service visit from the stair lift company. We've got to know Peter the engineer and he gets on, minds his own business and always does a good job. Lots of crawling up and down the stairs, checking things ............ this is important to know as it does leave one vulnerable!

As per usual, Dudley wanted to be into what was going on so Len was watching him like a hawk. And then ........ an unscheduled delivery arrived - needing a signature. Len offered to pop a portable gate up to keep Dudley out of the way but Peter said just to go ahead. And SO ........................ Len took his eye off the ball, AKA Dudley! 

On 'stress overload' Dudley, with TWO interlopers to worry about, made a grab for a 'love hug' with his mate Peter's leg as he was kneeling on the stairs, got carried away and then widdled (warm and wet as Peter wryly described it) down Peter's trouser leg! OMG! SHOCK and HORROR here of course. It all happened in the space of a minute or two - ha, no photo folks! 

Thankfully Peter was pretty laid back about it. We did offer to pay for a new pair of trousers, but then he pointed to the hole in one knee and tried not to smile too much - NOT an excuse for Dudley's performance though! Oh, the shame of it!

Very importantly, the results of Challenge #506 are now published HERE. 

Do please come and play in Sarn's current challenge over in the Snippets Playground - just scroll down. The more the merrier - just roll your trouser legs up if Dudley's around!!! 

Oddly enough, Dudley STILL crouches and widdles like a puppy or a female - and he will be seven years old/young in July! He's confused - and so are we most of the time!

Love from myself and Dudley, xxx

Sunday Snippets - 'Child with goose family'

I've had this Alexandra Renke set of dies for ages, I knew it would mean a ton of die cutting and kept putting off using it: 

I used: 

- DL white card blank, tent style

- first of all I die cut and assembled all the adorable geese and the little girl, using snippets from a 'Paper Mill Direct' swatch and snippets of 'Pale Ivory' linen effect card - although I used the reverse plain side. The geese are all double layered and the little girl has several layers to add dimension- the die set is 'Child with goose family' by Alexandra Renke, fabulous detail to play around with!

- then set the die cuts aside whilst  adding the background layers to the card

- for the background layers I used part of a whole sheet of Sizzix A4 grey card trimmed to size plus a sheet of pink patterned paper from Whimsy's Slimline 'Champagne' paper pack, die cut using a Creative Craft 'DL stitched straight edge' die

- glued the pink patterned paper onto the grey backing layer then added the whole panel to the card front using very narrow foam strips

- die cut the sentiment, double layered it, using more of the grey backing card and a Poppy Stamps 'Merry Christmas - Poe Script' die - then glued it to the top right hand side of the card front

- used a glue pen to add the little girl and the 'goose family' to the card front

- final touch, popped a couple of bows onto two of the geese - finished!

I made two cards the same  and they were such a delight to work with. The set even includes a couple of hats for the geese!

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

Allsorts Challenge #824 HERE - everyone over there is having a fun time celebrating their 16th Birthday, and there are some lovely prizes to be won! 

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #74 HERE- the 'goose family' dies were out for a first play

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #98 - HERE - the theme is 'Winter Warmers'

Rudolh Days Challenge - May 2025 - HERE

Dudley Pupdate: Earlier this week, we were visited by my new mobile hairdresser - and Dudley was thrilled to pieces! He's a real pushover for the ladies - men, not so much. When Lisa came to the front door, naturally Dudley had to poke his head out to 'woof 'Hello, my name is Dudley, may I be of assistance?' 

Not a great photo but you get the scenario I hope! We have a CCTV camera in the lounge bay window, trained onto the front doorstep area - I've cropped Lisa out as it wouldn't be right to publish her photo on here. She's a lovely lady, very bubbly - and most importantly is a very good hairdresser!

We have a new Challenge #507 being run by our lovely Sarn, over HERE. Goodness knows what weather this week will bring - it's half-term for the schools so very probably we'll have rain!

Love from myself and Dudley, 

Sunday Snippets - ATC's

A new venture for my snippets make today - an ATC coin! I made a normal ATC a couple of days earlier and then Sarn sent me a photo of my one and only previous ATC make - dating back to 2012 or so! I enjoyed making both of the latest ones, the coin was more of a 'success' though - so here it is:

I used:

- 2.5" x 2.5" front piece circle, die cut from a snippet of DCWV 'Quince Blossom' paper stack

- added the sentiment word 'Nature' snipped from a sentiment in the Clarity 'Word Sticker Collection' - absolutely ancient!

- then popped on a black silhouetted bird, sent to me ready die cut by Sarn

- then popped a few Memory Box amber 'Fairy Jewels' onto the centres of the larger flower heads

- added details to the back, using a Globeland stamp from their ATC set, then die cutting it before adhering it in place

- also made a little 'pocket' for the coin, following some very easy instructions (again from Sarn) and another piece of paper from the 'Quince Blossom' paper stack

I searched through my dies for a 2.5" circle and, despite having a load of circle dies, ended up relieving an old 'doily' set of dies of a plain circle - spot on 2.5". The ATC holder had the top semi-circle cut away, using a small circular die rather than a punch - I just don't have the strength these days!

This 'normal' ATC was my first foray - warts and all - after so many years since making Sarn's ATC.

I used: 

- a Penny Black 'Masterpiece' image as a starter for the background - trimmed down to 3.5" x 2.5" 

- I then stamped some flower heads along the bottom edge using a lovely stamp set sent to me by another dear friend and 'Old Paper' Distress Oxide

- added a couple of Lavinia fairies using a Clair 'Nocturne' ink pad - and managed to smudge one of them a bit. I think my attempts to correct it made even more of a pigs ear/dodgy legs of it, but it's here as a reminder to me that freehand stamping is so not my forte!

- the sentiment was stamped using Clair 'Morning Mist' and a stamp from Woodware's 'Postage Stamp Greeting' set

-  then decided to add a line of gold Calligraphy ink around the edges, followed by some dots of Gold ink so i went for overkill and added some dabs of Winsor & Newton gold ink

- still a sow's ear - but I enjoyed playing! And I made an ATC pocket using paper from the same DCWV stack!

Both Val and Sarn have been so encouraging and supportive during my 'journey' into ATC's - thank you both SO much!

I'd like to enter the coin ATC into the following challenges: 

- Allsorts Challenge # 823 HERE - under 'Anything Goes'

- Tag-along & ATCs May 2025 HERE - Anything Goes

Dudley Pupdate: Currently, Dudley isn't really on speaking terms with me as I had the cheek to trim down his 'Ugg boots' around the front of his paws this afternoon during a grooming session- writing this final part on Saturday evening. Always tricky to brush and tidy up with a Havanese climbing onto your shoulder. It's a battle of wits for sure - but we always have a cuddles session later - once he's out of the 'you're SO mean to me' phase. Tee, hee! 

Remember, the results from Sarn's Challenge #505 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE.

Do come and play with us in the Playground - we have both ice cream and soup on offer - my thermal vests are dizzy with the changes in weather!

Before I go, it's a big celebration over at the Allsorts Challenge blog as of next Saturday so get thinking!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - 'Magnolia'

A very special friend had a Birthday last month - and this is the card I made for her: 

I used:

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

- snippet of the same white card stock as well as a snippet of Tonic's mirror 'Inca Gold' card stock to die cut the outer frame using a pair of dies by Maximim Crafts HERE. I love the effect of these dies - instant elegance .......  IMHO of course 

- glued the white frame on top of the gold frame - thereby giving two narrow gold edges to the white frame and then glued it onto the card front

- then die cut the parts for the magnolia - using an unbranded die set called 'Magnolia Curved Branch' and snippets of pink and green ombre papers from Lawn Fawn's 'Watercolor Wishes' ombre paper pad - and again I used some white die cut card apertures to help to position where to die cut the pink flowers

- glued the curved branch, assembled magnolia flowers and additional leaves onto the card front

- added a few touches of gold pen to the magnolia flowers

- the sentiment is actually pre-folied in gold and already die cut - made by Pinkfresh - and I added it to the card front using a couple of pieces of thin sticky pad

- the final touch was a few Memory Box self adhesive clear 'Fairy Drops'

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

- Allsorts Challenge #823  'Anything goes' HERE 

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #74 HERE - the Magnolia Branch die set was having a first outing 

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

Dudley Pupdate: It's been a better week with Len's jaw problems this week, although I did get in touch with the surgery for an extension of the antibiotics as he's not quite out of the woods yet. I do think that just five days of treatment was a bit optimistic - particularly as the usual course is 7 or 10 days - and am hopeful that this repeat course wlll really knock it on the head. When Len went to collect them, Dudley literally put his head onto Honka Duck and cried like a baby. One day I'll take a short video of him in action - heartbreaking. I kept telling him that 'Dad' hadn't run away, but he was too busy being a drama queen to actually take any notice - bless his little paws.

However, Dudley is at least much less worried about Len's health than he was this time last week, and I find that reassuring as well. As I'm typing this he's flat on his back - on MY side of the bed well into the land of nod! Dudley of course - not Len! The 'patient'/'impatient' is sitting in bed watching the evening news on 'Tee Vee'.

Hope to see you on the swings - come and play with us, it's always fun! The weather has been less warm that it was this time last week but it heating up again - doubtless Sarn will be supplying hot/cold drinks to suit!

Love as always, Dudley Dog and me

xxxxx

Sunday Snippets - 'Butterflies'

On Day 7 of the Gummiapan Easter Calendar, one of the lovely dies in the packet was a very pretty butterfly - and so I made this card:

I used:

- 4.75" x 4.75"  white card blank, side opening

- a snippet of the same white card stock, which I die cut using a 4.5" square die from a 'Stitched Squares' set of dies from 'The Works'. I don't think they sell dies any longer - which is a shame as they were great value for money

- then die cut the circular shape into the panel using Altenew's 'Window Sphere' die 

- next, glued a snippet of 'shades of mauve' paper from Lawn Fawn's 'Watercolor Wishes' ombre paper pad behind the 'Eclipse aperture - using a glue pen right around the circle

- time for the Gummiapan butterflies, which I die cut from a snippet of paper from the Honey Bee 'Team Tie Dye' paper pad and coloured the body with a black Tombow pen

- gently curved the wings a bit and then added the butterflies to the 'Eclipse window' using small pieces of thin foam sticky pads

- the silver foiled sentiment was just added using a glue pen - the ready made sentiment is from a pack by Pinkfresh Studio

 

- final touch was to add the whole front panel onto the card blank, using narrow foam tape to 'lift' the whole thing

Hooray, I took a photo of my snippets - and a TIP, you'll see the butterfly cut into a snippet of white card. It's an invaluable way of positioning solid dies onto most stamped images things,as well as patterned paper where you want to pick out particular areas.

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

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #74 - HERE. The butterfly die was out for its first flutter!

Allsorts Challenge #822 - HERE. The current challenge is 'Inspired by a Song' - and my song is 'Love is Like a Butterfly' sung by Dolly Parton 

Dudley Pupdate: It's been quite a week here and after several sleepless nights all round I finally got Len to agree that he should see a GP. On Wednesday I was sitting at 8am ready for the surgery to open, phone in hand as he could barely speak by then. After being triaged 'remotely by my description of his symptoms' he actually had a face to face appointment at the surgery at 11:30am - and came home with a course of antibiotics - but with no clear diagnosis. He took just two of the 20 doses in the full course and by 10pm we had the beginnings of a miracle as the excruciating pain had almost gone - incredible!  Progress is slower than that immediate improvement but so far it's going in the right direction. Still days to go on the course of pills and I do have a contact for my own needs at the surgery who would raise a repeat prescription request  for Len if needed. Just five days of treatment is a bit optimistic IMHO - particularly as the usual course is 7 or 10 days.

Thank you all for your well wishes last week - so very kind. Dudley has barely left Len's side during all of this needless to say. 

Very importantly, the results of Challenge #502 are now published HERE.

Do please come and play in Sarn's current challenge over in the Snippets Playground - we've had glorious weather for a few days now and of course she's been up to no good. Nothing new there then - once a scamp always a scamp, meant in the nicest possible way! To think that I thought a prefect's badge and finally being my partner in crime sharing the Playground would calm things down. 😰 

Love from myself and Dudley, xxx

Poinsettia Star

Here's another item out for its first use:

I used:

- 4.75" x 4.75" square card blank, side opening 

- a piece of the same white card, die cut using a 4.5" square die from a 'Stitched Squares' set of dies from 'The Works' a good while ago, and still a favourite of mine

- used my NBUS die set by Creative Expressions called 'Festive Collection - Poinsettia Star' to cut an aperture into the 'stitched' piece of card using just one of the three dies

- backed the aperture with a square of Tonic satin effect mirror card called 'Scarlet Organza' - I found it easiest to use a glue pen and run it around the back of the star shape itself, with a little extra dot in the centre of the poinsettias - and also the same glue pen run right around the edges of the red satin mirror card, before putting the two layers together

- then added the stitched panel to the card front using narrow foam tape strips

- the sentiment is from a much loved Uniko set of Christmas sentiments called 'Simply Said Blocks - Christmas' - stamped using VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' black ink

- then covered the uncut stamped sentiment with self adhesive 'laminating film' to add some shine, before trimming it down and running a black Tombow brush pen around the edges

- added the sentiment to the card front using very narrow red line tape

- finished!

Sorry for the rubbish photo - taken late yesterday evening in a rush. The Scarlet Organza isn't the least bit pink in real life - it's a vibrant rich red!

I was originally going to try the clear nail polish trick on the sentiment but I was running late, as well as unsure if it would work on a stamped image, so I bottled out and opted for the clear sticky laminate instead

On a roll here, I made four the same to boost our 2025 Christmas card numbers! 

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

- Christmas Kickstart #97 HERE - 'Positively Poinsettias' 

- Rudolph Days April 2025 HERE

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #73 HERE - the poinsettia die set was having it's first outing 

Phew - almost missed the end of April deadlines for all three challenges! Squeaked in by a gnat's whisker - story of my life really!

Hugs

Di xxx

Sunday Snippets - 'Dragonfly'

I signed up for Gummiapan's Easter Calendar and what fun it was opening a packet each day before and over Easter weekend. Day 7 revealed a gorgeous dragonfly along with two other dies - and so today's 'Dragonfly' card took flight: 

I used: 

- DL white card blank, side opening

- a Tonic Pearlescent 'Majestic Gold' snippet, trimmed to leave an eigth of an inch on all sides - and set aside for now

- one side of another white DL card blank, die cut using a NBUS die from Phil Martin's Slender Collection called 'Eyelets'

- then die cut the inner part of that panel using an unbranded die I've had for well over a year called 'Christmas Bubble' and glued it to the pearlescent gold layer

- next it was the turn of the patiently waiting dragonfly die so I found a snippet of white card to die cut the whole dragonfly in one go - a useful step as I used it later on

- next, I pulled out the much loved Honey Bee 'Team Tie Dye' paper pad - and in the back where I keep leftover snippets in a little pocket - I found a snippet of mottled green/blue paper, yay!

- used the aperture left from cutting out the plain white dragonfly to find the best spot on the snippet of green/blue paper - and then die cut the dragon fly and set it aside after, trimming off the feelers and the tail portion - right up to the body level, ouch!

- then I snipped the white dragonfly die cut down to just body and feelers, all intact and coloured them using really ancient Whispers markers - still going strong as well! I used brown for the body and black for the eyes and feelers 

- the wings needed something before being added to the dragonfly body/tail etc. - but I truly didn't feel like pulling out clear embossing powder etc. plus the faff of the heat gun just for one small item

- and so I crossed my fingers and experimented on a little snippet of the green/blue paper using clear nail polish ................ with success! So, I then used the same clear nail polish to coat the dragonfly wings for some lovely shine and shimmer and did a happy dance. THAT is my BIG tip for today, it certainly works fine on small areas - I imagine larger areas would deserve the effort of being fully clear heat embossed!!!

- once the wings had dried I then added the body feelers and tail part using a glue pen

- then added the completed dragonfly to the die cut 'bubbles' feature

- popped a 'Happy Birthday' sentiment, ready foiled and die cut by 'Pinkfresh' underneath the die cut bubbles before adding a few die cut 'Majestic Gold' spots and dots made using a snippet of card and the same 'bubbles' die

- finally, added the whole panel to the card blank using very narrow foam strips - and called it done!

Kudos to our lovely Glennis over in NZ for the idea to use a dragonfly with the bubble die - many thanks once again for the inspiration! I abandoned my original dragonfly die I had in mind in favour of the Gummiapan one.

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

Allsorts Challenge #822 HERE - EDIT:  Brenda and Val both pointed out that 'Come Fly With Me' sung by Frank Sinatra was very apt for their theme of 'Inspired by a Song'

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #73 HERE- all the dies I used were having a first outing

Dudley Pupdate: A mixed week here. Len and I had our Covid vaccinations over a week ago - both of us felt it was a little vicious for some reason. I'm now fine but Len has been unwell for just over a week now with neuralgia affecting one side of his jaw along with flu like symptoms. Today's research by yours truly shows that it can be a rare side effect of vaccination - great huh!. The worst part for him is that he can barely open his mouth to eat - and there are only so many ways to dress up a can of soup! We've progressed to adding some small cooked macaroni to tomato soup and now a little bit of well chopped cooked chicken and mashed up croquette, in chicken soup this evening - Saturday. Progress but very slow and painfull for Len.

I do think that slowly he is improving but of course it means that we have to make a decision about future Covid vaccinations, when the time comes. Little nurse Dudley has been doing a sterling job - barely letting Len out of his sight and cuddling up against him whenever possible to give comfort. I swear that little guy wears an invisible nurse's uniform! 

We have a new Challenge #505 being run by our lovely Sarn, over HERE. The weather forecast is supposedly set for a mini heatwave this coming week - be sure to bring a towel at the very least as the paddling pools will be out (and a cossie ............. skinny dipping isn't allowed). I'm sure that Sarn will be serving some refreshing cold drinks up in the treehouse. If you don't want to climb the ladder - just shout your order up and she will lower it down in a basket for you. 'Room service anyone?'

Love from myself and Dudley, 

Sunday Snippets - 'Easter'

Happy Easter everyone! Naturally, my snippets card had to be an Easter one, albeit a very simple design:

I used:

- 4" x 4" white linen card blank, side opening

- all the card I used for the die cutting came from one of the Papermilldirect card swatches I wrote about recently

- used an unbranded die set and three different shades of card swatch to die cut the 'Chook Family' 

- then die cut the unbranded 'Happy Easter' sentiment, using a green swatch sample, before double layering it

- trimmed a snippet of the white linen card to a square just big enough to line up the chicken family

- at that point I knew a little 'frame' was needed and so I cut one using a snippet of Tonic 'Soft Amethyst' satin mirror card

- to add something different I rounded two opposing corners on both the white panel and the soft amethyst one, using a small X-Cut 'corner rounder' punch

- glued the two front panel layers together and then added the chickens using thin sticky foam pads and a glue pen to add the sentiment - the wings of the chickens can be flipped up again once the card is taken out of the envelope

- added the front panel onto the card front using narrow foam tape

- finished!

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

- Allsorts Challenge # 821 HERE -  under 'Anything Goes'

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #73 HERE - all of the dies I used were out to have a first play  

Dudley Pupdate: to be honest, it's been a pretty normal week here with Dudley. He and I had our regular 'Clash of the Titans' yesterday when I groomed him then applied anti-flea treatment. It's funny how he gets the 'vibes' immediately beforehand and sidles off to keep his distance. We went to the local pharmacy on Tuesday for Covid boosters and, as we had Dudley, we took it in turns to go in whilst the other one of us stayed with 'trouble' in the car. He loves to have the window down and made sure that he said woofed 'hello' to every unsuspecting shopper who had the audacity to return their shopping trolley to the collection point  ............ right next to Dudley!

His coat and ears are growing really well - he's not far from looking like a proper Havanese once again.

Remember, the results from Sarn's Challenge #503 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE.

Do come and play with us in the Playground - there's an Easter Egg Hunt under way. Dudley will be kept well away from anything chocolate as always. We do keep a packet of doggie choccie drops to hand as an occasional treat ...................... for the rare times we indulge in eating the human version! 

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

 /) /)

 (-.-)

0_(")(")

A little memory of the lovely Bernie - a dear friend in Blogland, gone too soon. She used to sign off with this bunny at Easter, and I've done the same ever since she died, back in 2013. Not forgotten.

Sunday Snippets - 'Eclipse Heart' card

It's time for a new challenge over in the Snippets Playground - my turn to run the show. 

I absolutely love using cutting dies where the design is strips of card cut out from a basic shape, which forms more or less the focal point of a card - be it heart, circle, square, hexagon and so on. Perfect for the Eclipse Technique as well as a background shape - and here is my card: 

I used:

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

- snippet of the same white linen card, die cut using a Presscut 3.75" square die 

- then die cut the heart into the white square (using a NBUS heart die by Craft Addiction) and backed it with a snippet of white softly sparkled card, so pretty in real life,  - sent to me by a lovely friend - then set it aside

- next I die cut the butterfly using Memory box dies and snippets of Tonic 'Inca Gold' card and the same white linen card as used for the rest of the card. The solid gold butterfly layer and the butterfly's body were cut using an 'Isabella' die and the white top portion was cut using a 'Pippi' die   

- stuck the butterfly parts together and set it aside

- then die cut the sentiment using a Heffy Doodle 'Hello Shadow' die, just the actual sentiment without the matching shadow die, a snippet of 'Inca Gold' card plus more of the white card as a backing to double layer it  

- glued the sentiment layers together

- at that point I had enough of the card pieces to see how it would look assembled and immediately felt that it needed a 'frame' around the front panel so I grabbed another snippet of 'Inca Gold' card and die cut it with a 4" x 4" square die by Presscut - from the same set

- time for the final assembly, glued the heart panel onto the gold panel 'frame' then added it to the card front using narrow foam tape

- popped the butterfly onto the heart using very narrow red line tape and then added the sentiment, using a glue pen

- finished!

I really enjoyed making this card, looks like Mr Mojo might even be loitering here after his holiday! I mentioned 'Craft Addiction', a UK company, who make and sell some lovely dies and Christine Stokes (aka Chrissie of YouTube) sent loads of us in a flurry to snap up their expanding range of 'Eclipse' dies. THIS is the link to their website. A lot are out of stock but they do have a pre-order (pay up front) option. And they're working as fast as they can so your wait shouldn't be long. When I last looked, the pre-order drop down payment gizmo wasn't working on all die sets but they are aware and some 'tweaking' needs to be done. They deserve a chance girls - great dies AND their prices are very fair as well.

Do hop over to the new Snippets challenge, link below, I have a duplicate of my Craft Addiction heart dies set as part of the prize!

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

- Allsorts Challenge #821  'Anything goes' HERE 

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #73 HERE - the Craft Addiction heart die was having a first outing 

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley is certainly a ladies man and not just other pooches it seems. We had a young lady Amazon driver deliver something earlier in the week and Dudley was all set to kick off - until he heard her sweet voice as Len opened the front door. Dudley screeched to a halt, dropped Honka Duck and went all 'gooey eyed'. 💓 Of course he was made a fuss off - and it was mutual. He was almost asking to become an Amazon driver after she drove off! During this warm spell Len has just left the back door open if he's out in the garden so that Dudley can come and go as he likes. And, as I guessed, he managed to get Honka outside before he was spotted. In fact he dropped Honks and went hunting around the garden doing his usual  checks that nothing is out of place! Then, once satisfied, he gently picked up Honks in his mouth and brought him indoors. Duty done!

Remember, I've just kicked off a new challenge over in the Snippets Playground HERE. There's also information about an important change to where we will ship prizes to from now on. 

Hope to see you on the swings - come and play with us, it's always fun!

Love as always, Dudley Dog and me

Sunday Snippets - 'Art Deco - take two'

I really liked the Altenew card I made previously in an 'Art Deco' style - so when Altenew then brought out a set of 'Art Deco' frame dies, I was pushing my way to the front of the queue, of course:

I die cut the black flower outline using the fall out from cutting the frame

I used:

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

- a snippet of Tonic satin effect 'Black Velvet' card, literally just a tad larger than the size of the card front

- die cut it using Altenew's 'Deco Cover' die set  (three dies in the set BTW) - the largest one fits the USA A2 size perfectly. I used the satin effect 'Black Velvet' card to do this step and struggled a LOT. The usual issue of intricate dies cuts not wanting to leave the die itself was problem but I used waxed paper and that really helped a lot. Then the card itself wanted to keep 'peeling' its layers even as I gently worked with it. In future I think a perfectly plain and black all through card would work best with this particular naughty die! To be fair, it's the first Tonic card stock item I've ever found to be difficult - and thinking back, the same one on more than one occasion as well!

- once done, and  after lie down in a darkened room, I then glued the frame to the card front using a glue pen

- next came the flower - using a die by Altenew called 'Streamlined Sprig' and first I die cut the outer lines of the flower sprig, using the fallout from cutting the Art Deco frame - worked really fine just using my baby Altenew die cutting machine

- backed the flower heads and the leaf using little mauve and green snippets of shaded paper I found in the back of my much loved Lawn Fawn 'Watercolor Wishes' paper pad - I never throw a scrap of that paper out, so useful!

- then I could play with the Misti and the assembled 'sprig topper' to work out the right place to stamp the sentiment - using a piece of square printed clear acetate for alignment before doing a test  stamp onto the acetate to check, and then stamping a stamp from Woodware's 'Deco Sayings' onto the card itself (also used VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' ink). All inking was easily wiped off the Misti and the acetate with a Lawn Fawn Shammy  BTW

- finally, I then glued the flower sprig in place and called it a wrap!

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

Darnell's NBUS Challenge # 73 - HERE. The Altenew 'Deco Cover' set of dies were out for a first play

Allsorts Challenge #820 - HERE. The current challenge is 'Spring Flowers' but I doubt if these are any season really - so am entering under 'Anything Goes' 

Dudley Pupdate: This week Dudley (on Monday morning) was sick after spending time sucking his beloved Honka, sure sign it needs to be changed. Len just grabbed old Honka and marched off with him, Honks, to the bin. Monday is collection day so no second chances there - poor old Honks! And then he came back with ..... yes, another duplicate fresh Honka from Mama's store in the garage and plonked it in front of Dudley - no arguments allowed. Talk about 'tough love'. Dudley was almost sat in shock - me too kiddo! Dudley and I were just looking at one another for a while.

But how odd, an hour or so later, the postie called with a delivery - and Dudley always runs for his precious Honka before he goes into meltdown. He was so distraught that he grabbed new Honka without even thinking .................... and they've been best friends ever since!  Hmm?!

Very importantly, the results of Challenge #502 are now published HERE.

Do please come and play in Sarn's current challenge over in the Snippets Playground - we have glorious sunshine right now and need help with putting up a gazebo or two, to protect those little freckled faces! Dudley, on his little stilts, will be at the ready for you to pay attention to his 'barked' directions. 

As if! That always reminds me of the indignant image of a sweet little white puppy, with the caption 'Today I barked at the postman ................... then he laughed'!  Oh, and already - Dudley's hair is growing back at a rate of knots! Hooray!!

Love from myself and Dudley, xxx

Sunday Snippets - 'O' Little Town'

I've had the 'double sided die' I used today for at least three years - a present from Santa. It's always looked far too complicated - until I took the time earlier this week to watch a video on how to use it - then away I went, and it's actually pretty easy as the die does most of the work:

I used: 

- 8'25" x 4.25" white card blank, side opening (meaning it's .25" wider than a standard DL card - purely to leave a little space at either side of the image panel) - and the envelope will still just fit - yay!

- die cut the double sided die - Gemini's 'O' Little Town' in one pass using a snippet of Tonic satin effect 'Black Velvet' card for the main layer and a piece of Tonic satin effect 'Soft Amethyst' card for the other die cut layer - both pieces of card had been backed with 'Stick-it' pieces

- cut a further piece of card, just slightly smaller than the main black die cut, from Tonic pearlescent 'Blue Cashmere' card

- then layered it all together - easy peasy, with a bit of care

- next, I die cut the sentiment from snippets of the black and amethyst card - using a two part die set by Reverse Confetti called 'Layered Peace', glued together using a glue pen

- finally, added the image panel to the card front using very narrow foam tape for a bit of a 'lift'

and just glued the sentiment underneath, using a glue pen. Finished!

If you're tempted by the double sided dies, made by Crafters Companion, they are used in the electiric die cutting Gemini machines, using a pair of the special pale green plates - with a clear plate at the bottom and another clear one on the very top of the sandwich. I have no idea if they are in any way compatible with other die cutting machines - much less what the sandwich plates would be! I've said previously that I actually use my green plates all the time for any normal die cutting in the Gemini - they certainly have helped to prevent warping and saved me a lot of angst.

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

Allsorts Challenge #820 HERE - under the 'Anything Goes' Option

Rudolph Days Challenge for March 2025 HERE

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #72 HERE - the double sided die was having a first outing - and not before time either! Both the Amethyst and the Cashmere card packs were new to me, new colours in the range I'd never tried before.e 

And, a cheeky second entry into Christmas Kickstart #96 over HERE, where the theme is a Christmas colour palette that's 'not the norm' ..... I think this one fits the bill nicely!

Dudley Pupdate: Been a funny and very busy week here for Dudley. Len is the proud owner of yet another set of dog grooming clippers (we could set up a shop here with the ones he doesn't like). Thankfully, these have been declared the best ever - but I suspect that, as of Monday, Dudley would differ on that one - and his upset Mama most certainly would differ! I now have a really 'newborn lamb with a bark' as a pet - he's been shorn, including his beautiful long ears! Granted they were very prone to becomiong matted but the solution is a bit drastic to say the least! I keep whispering to Dudley that it will all soon grow back, and indeed it will. And he will look just like any self-respecting Havanese ought to!

Wednesday saw our friend and close neighbour Kim come round with Tilly the Corgi for a Pupdate with Dudley. The weather was SO kind to us and we sat in the garden in beautiful sunshine having tea and bikkies whilst the dogs played together. In the end, Dudley went to Len for a cuddle when it all became too much - we're talking at least two plus hours of running around. It's only since Len clipped him right down that it's come back to me how fine boned he is. He slept like a little log that night! We do plan to do it all over again very soon.

Then, Dudley's grand finale of the week, on Friday, was his annual trip to the vet for his MOT and innoculation. He came through with flying colours and perfect teeth (always a huge relief here) and Emily the vet is his new best human friend. She's one of the few vets we've met who really know a lot about the breed as well as their natures - and she loved him, and Dudley loved her too! 

We have a new Challenge #503 being run by our lovely Sarn, over HERE. No doubt, there will be delicious goodies on offer in the treehouse, Sarn is now asking for a chalk board for 'today's specials'!! WHAT is she plotting, I ask myself? Soup and a roll from the microwave are one thing - but a whole menu is quite worrying! Mark my words - it'll be a dishwasher next!!

Finally, do remember that for many of us, UK in particular, the clocks have gone forward by an hour. One hour less to sleep - sigh. 

Love from myself and Dudley,