Triple stamping - first play

Hmmm, I think I was better at the triple jump, but this was a first try:

I used:

- 6" x 5" white card stock

- white card for stamping on

- SU 'Certainly Celery' card

- stamp set called 'Flowers - by Rhonna Farrer' made by Autumn Leaves

- SU ink pads in 'Certainly Celery' and 'Rich Razzleberry'

- sentiment by Stampendous from the 'Happy Messages' set, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black'

- a snippet of green grosgrain ribbon

This was such fun to make, thanks to Sarn for showing on her blog earlier this week.

Ack, then I hit problems properly lining the things up - totally my fault trying to rush so I ended up doing some trimming round the outside edge of the bottom layer of 'Certainly Celery' - BIG mistake :( But it really is such a great technique if you don't have a squint in one eye :)) Nip over to Sarn's if you want to see one properly done!

Di
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WOYWW - 191

Taken when I trotted back home yesterday after an afternoon crafting with a friend:

Sigh, this is becoming an all too familiar sight, abandoned coffee cup when I dropped everything and ran off to play, basket of cards at the back waiting for inserts and scribbled notes all over.

The flowers were given to me by my crafting friend yesterday afternoon - 90 Kaiser flowers in lovely Christmassy colours (sshhhhh, she doesn't know what she just gave away).

There are a couple of new Clarity stamps ready to be played with, once I face the brayer challenge again, plus a mahoooosive one further back. I almost had the vapours when I saw the size of it but it turns out to either be a wrong code on their website or a wrong pick at dispatch. BUT, how about this for service - when I rang Clarity to speak about it, they said straight away they'd send the correct size out and I should just keep the bigger one! That's what I call getting Brownie points from a happy customer. Particularly as the big stamp would be of interest to others so will be a prize in the Playground sometime :)

OK, that's me for WOYWW - do hop over to Julia's to see what others are up to.

Di
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Spring Bringer and my 800th post!

In fact, it's more than 800 because I've deleted a few older ones plus some that were a constant target for spammers. Despite the spam going into the spam comments on my dashboard I did get some pleasure out of deleting the posts that were being targeted. Grump, grump :(

The Hobby House have some lovely pre-coloured card toppers, I was mooching round their online shop for something totally different (Kenny K images for boys) needless to say, when this little cutie hopped into my basket as well:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card stock

- backing paper by Pink Petticoat from the 'Vintage Rose' collection - free with Quick Cards Made Easy magazine, and still one of my favourite paper packs

- image from the Hobby House set called 'Spring Bringer'

- doily die cut using DL102 'French Pastry' die by Cheery Lyn

- pink 'lacy' strip die cut using Marianne Creatables LR0155 and a snippet of pale sugar pink card - it's a shade I love but very hard to track down

- pink ribbon from my ribbon box, threaded through the 'lace' (and promptly hidden when the doily was added!) and tied in a bow

- heart shaped charm with the words 'Made with Love' engraved on, tied with iridescent cord and a bow

- sentiment by Craftwork Cards, mounted onto a larger oval punched with SU punch from a little snippet of the pink card

- lace butterfly by Martha Stewart, bought in Michaels in NM. Ha, and a bit of a swizz 'cos it says nine pieces on the packet, FIVE of which are just clear gemstones - good job that they were on offer so I bought two!

- and, as a finishing touch a hand made rose

I'm also entering this into the current Cheery Lynn challenge, which is 'Tickled Pink'.

Di
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Rudolph Day - January 2013

So where did the last month since Christmas run off to? Sarn's monthly Rudolph Day challenge, which starts on the 25th of every month through to the end of that month, is a great way to make your Christmas cards throughout the year.

I used:

- 6" x 6" square cream card stock

- image from a delightful 2012 shop bought Christmas card - it didn't need trimming or anything, just gently prising from the front of the card

- papers from My Minds Eye 'All is Bright' pad

- embroidered brad is from Papermania's Henbury Lane 'Poinsettia' set - in real life it picks up the pale turquoise of one of the parcels on the image

- two strips of self-adhesive ribbon from a Dovecraft 'Jolly Happy Christmas' pack

- sentiment by Craftwork Cards

Another great challenge is also run monthly by Hazel, over at Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Extra Challenge. Plus, each week Hazel runs a weekly challenge with a theme to tax you just that bit more.

Absolutely no reason at all not to play and make your 2013 Christmas cards in good time, spread over the year :) I just worked out that if you make just one card for each of these challenges you'd have 70 in time for next Christmas - it's gotta be a bit of a stress buster surely?

This card is for Sarn's Rudolph Day and Hazel's Christmas Extra Challenge.

Hope you all had a good weekend - the white stuff has totally disappeared from here, phew :)

Di
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Pixie's Crafty Snippets - Week 57

Yikes, this post almost didn't get written - but I cleverly washed all the tiled floors downstairs and mopped my way right to the bottom of the stairs so I could nip into the craft room and do a quick post while they dried, me not totally daft.

First, my snippets card:

It's a bit of a cheat 'cos the only real snippets are a couple of pieces of ribbon that were lying on the desk.

I used:

- 8" x 8" card stock with the front totally covered in a whole sheet of Raspberry Road backing paper, which came free with Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine - ages ago

- the most fabulous tag - absolutely NOT my own work although I did replace the ribbon. It was made by Dee (aka Peggy when she comments) along with two others quite some time ago - she doesn't have a blog as yet and is too busy even if I set her one up, but I live in hopes 'cos I'm sure she has some lovely work to share!

- the other piece of ribbon was just tied around the spine of the card

I thought the paper and the tag just screamed out to be used together - thank you again Dee!

I got Len to do the draw before he went out (for fear of being mopped down I suspect) and the winner of all those lovely flowers is:

Brenda B

Congratulations Brenda! Hope you have fun using them - and perhaps show us a result sometime soon.

I think this week has been the busiest I've known in the Playground - perhaps it was all the snow confining us to our craft rooms :)

Some makes which caught my eye:

A stunning grandfather clock, with workings plus two albums - the smallest one fits into a secret compartment! How clever is that? It was made by Bubbles of Patchwork Apples - it's great to see you blogging again honey and welcome to the Playground.

 

This lovely card was made by Mary H - using a paper napkin! There's a link in her posting which shows how to do it - fabulous!

 

Laura made this fabulous white on white anniversary card - it's just perfect!

And, just to make you smile - cheeky Sam made this 'snow chook' during the snow we had last week:

 

Once again - some brilliant entries, I just wish I could cover every single one - but to see them all you can always go to last week's posting here.

And finally - here's a card from two weeks ago:

 

It was made by Kath of 'Handmade by Kath' and I fell in love with the way the die cut hearts had been interlocked by Kath. So clever - and what d'you know, the draw for this coming week is................................

A set of Cuttlebug Concentric Hearts diesthe same as Kath used - just in time for Valentine's Day. I loved them so much that I found myself dropping two sets into the online shopping basket so you could have a chance :)

So, if you want to join in the Playground fun and frolics and be in with a chance of winning this set of dies - the Playground is open all of this coming week but it will close on Saturday 2nd February at noon, UK time and Mr Linky is below as usual. Just enter a snippets make into the Playground this week and I'll do a draw after the Playground closes next Saturday. But, I am asking for a snippets make please, maximum of three entries and please say 'No thank you' in a comment if you DON'T want to be entered.

I'll post to anywhere in the World BTW - it's open to all of you lovely Playmates, the flowers won by Brenda will be going all the way to Canada.

Remember, it's Rudolph Day over at Sarn's until the end of January - that's on my 'to do list' for today.

Di

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Saturday Supper - Beef 'n' Beer Casserole with Herby Dumplings

One for the current cold weather:

Beef 'n' Beer Casserole with Herby Dumplings

Serves 4

2lb (900g) beef braising steak or shin beef
3 large British carrots cut into chunks
Half a bottle (ie. half a pint/500ml) strong beer like Black Sheep 'Riggwelter'
1 pint (500 ml) beef stock
1 tbsp tomato puree
Dash of Worcestershire Sauce

Dumplings
3 tbsp beef suet (although I always use vegetarian suet)
6 tbsp self raising flour
Good pinch dried herbs
Cold water to mix to a stiff paste

Cut off excess fat from the meat and cut into 1-inch cubes. Lightly dust with seasoned flour and place in a casserole dish or slow cooker. Add all other casserole ingredients.

Cook in a low oven (130 degree C) for around 3-4 hours or in a slow cooker on high for 6-7 hours.

Approx 40 minutes before the end of cooking (or one and a half hours in a slow cooker) add dumplings to casserole.

Serve with a selection of vegetables or in a giant Yorkshire pudding.

To be honest, this is really a glorified plain old stew/beef casserole - but the beer does add something extra!

Things I did: For two of us I halved the recipe - of course! The casserole was cooked in the oven, mostly as I remembered too late to set it going in the slow cooker. And we didn't have the giant Yorkshire puddings - much as I adore them it would have been waaaay too greedy to have dumplings plus Yorkshire pudding!

By the way, for those of you in the UK, have you seen the new 'Aunt Bessie's' boat shaped Yorkshire puddings? They are a brilliant way to cheat and make toad in the hole!

Have a lovely day - and those of you in the North especially, I hope you're coping with the snow. It did tickle me a bit this morning when I read that during the overnight blockage on the M6 motorway which stranded a lot of motorists, apparently a couple got out of their vehicle and built a snowman!

Di
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A touch of the Orient

Apparently, if you watch certain craft shows on tee vee, we're going back into the 'Oriental look' - that totally serves me right for throwing, yes throwing, out some oriental papers just last week :(

This is a card I rustled up yesterday:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square card stock

- Penny Black Stickeroos from the 'Unfolding' sheet

- totally perfectly matching backing paper (even if I say it meself) - from the Prima 'Firefly' paper stack

- green and maroon plain backing card behind the Stickeroos

- black Josy Rose nail heads

So it was really just a matter of picking, matching, cutting and sticking :)

I can see we're gonna have to have a Snippets Playground draw for some Stickeroos soon! I'm off to have a hunt on the internet to see what I can find :))

Di
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Sunset or sunrise?

I dunno, could be either I guess:

This is the finished card that was still in progress yesterday on WOYWW - in the end I kept the whole thing reasonably uncluttered and let the image do most of the work, especially after the hours I toiled over it :)

I used:

- 7" x 5" white card stock, with four lines scored, two above and two below the ribbons

- the image - for which (apart from blood,  sweat and tears) I used Clarity White Silk finish card, the 'brayer' (aka by Sarn as 'the tool of the Devil'!), Adirondack ink pads in 'Peach Bellini' and 'Salmon' plus a very old multi-blues pad, stamp by Clarity called 'Spruce Scene' and Memento 'Tuxedo Black'. Yesterday's post explained how I did the reflection - and yes,  I had spotted that using a clear acrylic block was an option but the cello bag method works a treat  - and I suspect could be less prone to slipping/smudging, truly I'm quite clumsy!

- peach and turquoise ribbons layered, from the ribbon box

- Craftwork Cards sentiment, mounted onto an oval of black card

Di
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WOYWW 190 - and a revelation

My desk yesterday before I trotted out to the Post Office. I'd brayered and stamped a scene for the very first time then got sidetracked with the 'Less Is More' challenge so had returned to 'the scene of the crime' and was fiddling round thinking about how to best make a card:

It's been a bit of a learning curve but following Shaz's brilliant tutorial along with using my new little helper in here, known as the Splodge Away Blending Mat (thank you for nudging me into getting one Sarn!), a lot of the angst and hair tearing was chased away. A loooong way to go with practising to get colours graduating properly I know but this was the best one I could manage:

Bwah, ha, ha - I didn't have a little 'birds in flight' stamp so hand drew what looks to me like some very overfed eagles....you wouldn't wanna be pooped on by these :( Little Clarity 'birds in flight' stamp now on order.

But, on this journey of discovery I then wondered how to tackle the stamped reflection. As you know, I have an intense dislike for don't get on with the brayer too well and the thought of pushing Mr Luck and brayering the reversed image like many folk do just made my teeth itch.

Wahoooo - a revelation!! Whilst Googling I stumbled across a technique that's too good not to share - it sort of blew me away in its simplicity, and I do know that lots of you might just sigh and say you already do 'reflections' this way but I'm gonna share anyhow!

Ha! Watching Create and Craft TV whilst ironing in the kitchen yesterday afternoon I saw a demo where the person doing the demo merely turned the card round by 180 degrees and stamped a second time - the result wasn't a true mirror image. Len rushed to see why I was waving the iron round shouting at the TV 'No, no!!!!' :)

So this is what my revelation was - stamp your main image onto your chosen piece of 'already brayered with a background' card, then re-ink the stamp and stamp onto a cellophane bag - one used to package cards in would be perfect:

This is the cello bag with the stamped image on, just laid down on some spare card so you can see - snort, and also see me reflected taking the photo :)

Then, take your piece of 'backgrounded' card with the previously stamped image on, flip over the cello bag with the same stamped image on so it's ink side down, line up the lower edge of the image and gently rub your hand over the bag  - or you could let the brayer play and use that I guess, just in case it sulks.

Hey presto - my little practise:

Easy as pie! I used Memento Tuxedo Black for both lots of stamping but for a softer reflection I might try Memento 'London Fog' for the cello bag stamping step.

The wavy black background for the image has been rejected here in favour of simplicity - but the card remains unfinished, until I get time to play today, so it's hopefully gonna be in tomorrow's blog post if you want to see the finished card plus list of 'ingredients'.

Right, off you go to Queen Julia's now and then onwards to see what other WOYWWers have been up to. Have a great day!

Di
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Good friends

....are the best!

I love this sentiment, so it was a bit of a no-brainer when I spotted this week's 'Less Is More Challenge' - which is 'Friends':

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card stock - and without even stopping to think about it or fretting, it's a one layer card :)

- Elzybells stamp called 'Hugs' - bought from the Netherlands when I found an online supplier with some (very limited) stock last year - coloured with Pro Markers

- sentiment and the little flower ('cos I thought the leaves echoed the curls on the girlie's hair) are both from the 'Good Friends' set by Hero Arts

- light green Josy Rose nail heads in the corners

Di
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Recycle or use something free

....that's the current challenge over at Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge. So, I turned to Christmas cards from 2011 - such a hoarder here :(

Hmm, the lurex ribbon is gold and the card stock I used is cream, plus the greens are a perfect match , truly - must be the reflection of the snow bouncing back, how peculiar!

I used:

- 6" x 6" cream card stock

- image from a Christmas card, layered onto red and then gold card

- backing paper which I've had for years, think it originally came from Craft Creations

- red and gold ribbons from the ribbon box

And this is also being linked into Hazel's other challenge - it's run monthly and you have free rein so long as it's Christmas - Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra. 

Don't forget - it's Rudolph Day over at Sarn's later this week too!

Oooer, I've been playing with the brayer here - got a lot of practise to get in yet but might even be brave enough to show my first result once it's been made into a card :)

They say more snow is on the way, we might escape this time but are just on the edge so, knowing our luck, there'll be more of the white stuff - sigh.

Di
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Pixie's Crafty Snippets - Week 56

As always, my own snippets card first:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card stock

- Penny Black Stickeroo from the ''It's a Boy' sheet

- snippets of blue SU 'Marina Mist' card plus another paler one which might be 'Baja Breeze'

- a lace corner below the image, stamped using the Joanna Sheen 'Live Each Moment' set onto a snippet of white card  SU's 'Baja Breeze' then trimmed wiv little scissors

- sentiment is from the SU 'Petite Pairs' set, stamped using 'Marina Mist', punched with a SU circle punch and mounted onto a scalloped circle

- two 7" snippets of blue gingham ribbon - tying the bow was fun and very fiddly with such a short piece I can tell you!

- a selection of Wild Orchid flowers. The wire twists are just snipped from the flower stems and curled round a poky tool - the frondy leaves were punched. The punch hates card so I just coloured some paper using a Pro Marker before punching them out

- pearls from the 'gem box'

- plaster for the finger I burnt using the glue gun came from the First Aid box - just checking you're still reading :)

OK, so the flowers are truly taxing for me to use - this will be confirmed further down this post. Bev Rochester need have no fear of competition from this quarter for sure!

And now, the Playground - well, what a busy week. In between the excitement of Darnell's wedding anniversary, plus the snow here in the UK - we also had some wonderfully heartening news from our Bernie, so keep those prayers and positive thoughts going girls.

We had 41 lovely makes brought to the Playground this week - and these are the ones that especially caught my eye:

Both the above were posted by Victoria - what a fabulous butterfly canvas and such a great use of snippets!  Along with others, I almost had an accident laughing at Jeff the dog :)

Viv linked the above card - absolutely gorgeous - and the doily had almost been thrown out 'cos one edge was crumpled! Swift bit of chopping and what a lovely card resulted!

And a little Playmate tiptoed into the Playground this week - please welcome Debbie back, I know some of you already have been over to say 'Hello'. Debbie, bless her, suffers from a lack of confidence in her gorgeous work so I was delighted to see her coming to play again and to show the above fabulous tag book/card, please do hop over - and while you're there take a peek at the beautiful icing flowers she makes - one very talented lady!

ALL of your makes were gorgeous as always girls!

OK, so the little draw for the Paperarsy  PaperArtsy stamp.

I have to admit I squeaked when I saw whose name popped up this week - it's not her first win, but I do know the prize will be well loved, used a lot and was very much wanted. It was drawn fair and square using the Random number generator (Len hasn't found time to help me with Linux Gimp yet to show the results, he was shovelling snow when I typed this) so I do hope you'll all be pleased for:

Sam aka Hettie

Right, back to those flowers! Kath, of 'Plain and Simple', and I both have quite similar thoughts about crafting - ha, but not always about my recipes on Friday Feast though, eh Kath?! :)

We both struggle with adding flowers to cards - especially the admittedly fabulous Wild Orchid ones, and Kath has 'thrown in the towel'. A mahoosive box of flowers arrived from her the week before last to offer as a lovely giveaway - and I added some of my own as well as I've also thrown in my face cloth, whilst retaining some opened packets, and hate to see goodies just languishing :)

There are 14 packets in this little haul now - ranging from large, medium, small and tiny roses through to cherry blossoms, calla lilies and even some Christmas roses and white poinsettias.

So, if you want to join in the Playground fun and frolics and be in with a chance of winning this little 'florist shop' - the Playground is open all of this coming week but it will close on Saturday 26th January at noon, UK time and Mr Linky is below as usual. Just enter a snippets make into the Playground this week and I'll do a draw after the Playground closes next Saturday. But, I am asking for a snippets make please, maximum of three entries and please say 'No thank you' in a comment if you DON'T want to be entered 'cos once again I do realise that not all of you are into adding these sorts of flowers to your 'makes'. You can of course enter as many snippets makes as you like but only a maximum of three goes will be counted.

I'll post to anywhere in the World BTW - it's open to all of you lovely Playmates.

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

Penny Black Saturday January Challenge which is 'January Blues'

Allsorts Challenge - Week 190 - 'Flower Power'

Hope you all have a lovely week!

Di
x

A Saturday quickie

So fast to whip up - even at my snail's pace:

I used:

- bits from a Kan Ban card kit called 'Special Moments', found whilst sorting out the craft room here - the card is just one of the backing sheets trimmed, scored  and folded in half to A5 size

- a few self-adhesive pearls

We had about 6" of snow here yesterday in the end - hope you're all keeping warm and safe!

Di
x

And the jury is out here

........my 'in-house' critic says this card is too sombre - it's the black he doesn't like. He can now be visited between 2 and 6 pm in our local hospital - his broken nose will heal fine they say but the limbs in traction could take a while longer :)

The reason I did a black background was 'cos I had a lovely new stamp set and ink from Santa:

The reason Santa was so good was because, after much questioning of yours truly, he discovered there was something on my wish list to play with - usually I dance around the subject until he gets fed up and just shops anyhow :(

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white linen card stock

- apricot backing card from the snippets folder

- A5 Clarity Black Coated card - primarily bought, along with some Clarity white card and (yay!) a Splodge Mat, to face the 'brayer bush tucker trial' soon. Ack, perhaps a handful of grubs to eat would be preferable 'cos that brayer still hates me

- Santa's gift of a  Joanna Sheen stamp set called 'Live Each Moment' plus StazOn Cotton White ink pad. The stamp set comes with four stamps - I love the long lace border and think it could be good to use with all sorts of coloured inkpads - in the long run a saving on real lace as well as the cost of postage

- sentiment from the same set - badly stamped but hey, my excuse is that I was just playing around

- a hand made rose and butterfly, both in apricot

Soon be time to pull on those big girl pants and face the brayer - our snippets playmate Shaz in Oz did a tutorial on her blog a while ago here - the results are fabulous and I'll be sitting here with it on-screen, trust me!

Di
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Inchies

Whilst we were in New Mexico last September, Hobby Lobby came up trumps with a much reduced set of 'inchies' stamps - and I also came up trumps by promptly forgetting I'd eagerly snapped up this bargain :( The clear set has 12 little 1" stamps, 8 other slightly smaller ones, one that's about 1.5" plus three little words 'bliss, dream and life'. A lorra stamps for your dollars!

Yesterday they popped up and demanded to be used, so I obliged:

I used:

- a small cream DL card

- SU 'Melon Mambo' card snippets, cream card snippets

- three square stamps from the set, which is called 'Flourishes' by Inkadinkado, stamped in different SU colours, trimmed and layered onto small square scallops of 'Melon Mambo' card

- sentiment and butterfly from the set stamped using 'Melon Mambo' onto cream card. I used a Spellbinders pennant die to cut some 'Melon Mambo' card and then laid the metal die over the stamped sentiment and lightly ran a pencil round the inside of the die as a guide to hand-snipping a smaller pennant. And if you followed that garbled description........... well done you :)) 

Di
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WOYWW 189 - and Happy Wedding Anniversary to Darnell

Things were just ticking along here yesterday - until an email kicked me into action:

Darnell, who is much loved in Blogland and is a regular on WOYWW as well as in the Snippets Playground has a Wedding Anniversary today - so out came the card, paper, Penny Black Stickeroos (no time for the luxury of stamping or colouring), ribbons and of course I found time to make a fresh cup of coffee.

I'm a very slow crafter so it was a little while later that this was finished:

Tah, dah!!!!!!!!!!! Happy Anniversary Darnell and Mister K - from all your WOYWW and Snippets Playground little Playmates  - hope you have a lovely day!

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card stock

- a luscious deep pink snippet of backing card by SU

- patterned backing paper by Bo Bunny from the 'et cetera Collection'

- Penny Black Stickeroo from the 'Heart and Flowers' sheet

- deep pink and cream organza ribbon from the ribbon box, along with a sweet little 'double hearts' charm - tied with some iridescent cord

To join in WOYWW - hop over to our lovely hostess Julia's here - I suspect there might be more cards and good wishes for Darnell and her hunky hubby flying around :)

Di
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Is yoga exercise?

Well, it certainly felt like it to me years ago when I used to go to lunchtime sessions, although the five minutes of total relaxation at the end with our lovely teacher softly talking us through picturing lying on a beach with the sea lapping was bliss.

This week's challenge over at Less Is More is 'Sport or exercise':

And, it's a one layer week as well.

I used:

- 4.75" x 4.75" square white card stock

- image and sentiment from My Favourite Things, the 'Serenity Now' set, coloured with Pro Markers

- Josy Rose nail heads

The jury is still out here as to whether, now it's been entered into LIM, I should line the card as it is, to cover the Pro Marker 'bleed' on the inside - or chop down one side, mount it onto a mat of either Sandstone or Turquoise card and then pop it onto a bigger white card - just to add more definition.

Sigh, decisions :(

I've forgotten who it was mentioned boxes for cards on their blog that we can buy here in the UK - apparently the company wouldn't ship overseas (to the USA I seem to recall). If it's any of you ladies (but I might just have spotted it on WOYWW) can you drop me an email, my email is di_wray@hotmail.com

Di
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We Three Kings of Orient are

......is one Christmas carol that always reminds me of yet another one of my 'sillies' - but first here's the card I made:

Been sifting through Christmas cards here and keeping some to 'up cycle' - and then I saw over at Shaz's blog how she'd die cut an image from a Christmas card rather than just cutting it into a square or oblong as I generally do. Her result is beautiful - do go and see what I mean!

And, I wanted to make a card for this week's Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge which is 'Rudolph is resting', so no Rudolph images.

I used:

- 6" x 6" square cream card stock

- deep blue card from the snippets folder

- vellum with the words 'We Three Kings of Orient are' printed all over - which reminded me of the little tale further down this post. Attached the vellum to more cream card stock by using part of a double sided adhesive sheet - the wording shows up better when the light catches it properly

- sentiment from Personal Impressions 'Many Greetings' clear stamp set, stamped in Memento's 'Paris Dusk'

- a single gold Josy Rose nail head star

Resisted the urge to add anything else as I wanted the real message of Christmas in this card to be the focus.

Right, and here's my tale - 100% true, but I bet I'm not the only child ever to have wondered about this one.

As a child we had a routine (this was pre-dishwasher days of course!) whereby Mum cooked the evening meal and Dad and I did the washing up between us while she sat down with a well earned cup of tea - he washed and I dried. And we sang - oh how we sang - every show tune and song imaginable!

As soon as there was a whiff of Christmas in the air I would be hopping up and down begging for us to begin singing Christmas carols as we did the dishes - 'Good King Wenceslas' was my very favourite as Dad sang the part of the king and I sang piped out the part of the page.

I must have only been about six or seven years old  when I stopped Dad in the midst of 'We Three Kings' and said it puzzled me. Why did we sing about three kings when there were only two of them I wanted to know?

Dad could see I was really very confused and had been waiting for the right time to ask - so he stopped putting dishes away and gently asked me just why I thought there were only two kings.

'Well Daddy' said little Miss Clever 'it goes like this.........We three kings, Ovori and Tar......but that's only two of them so where's the third one?'.  Absolutely true - and one of those tales that Dad delighted in telling my boyfriends when I was older!

Di
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Pixie's Crafty Snippets - Week 55

Whew, quite a busy Playground this week and some gorgeous snippets makes too. This is my snippets card for this week, no time to do paper piecing and such, but I did use a snippet of plum coloured backing card to mat the image onto:

This really has to be one of my best ever bargain stamps - although I didn't realise it at the time. Bought when out with Jan and Julia it cost me £2, reduced from £4. I've since seen it on the internet in a well known online craft shop that I visit a lot - for £5.49! Oooer, me loves a bargain :)

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card stock

- image stamped onto a snippet of the same card stock (there are sooo many different shades of white I find) and coloured with Pro Markers, with a tickle of Glossy Accents added to the grapes. The cling stamp is by Stampendous and is called 'Grape Scene' by the way - almost forgot to add that

- a snippet of plum, or aubergine, card - left over from when I made a load of wedding invitations

- sentiment is by LOTV from their 'Small Greetings' set - stamped using SU's 'Perfect Plum'

Wouldn't the stamp be great on a gift tag, or one of those 'slip over the neck of a bottle tags' that have a big round hole punched in the top - perfect finishing touch to a gift of a really decent bottle of red wine.

And so to the Playground - well, it's been a soggy old week, with Sam even shouting for me to light the 'brazier' as it was cold out there. That led to some ribald remarks about bra-burning needless to say!

Every single make and use of snippets this week was wonderful, but although I truly could keep on writing this we'd be into the realms of how the roll call used to be, and also the length of time it took - so, please do look at the links (the thumbnails help) in last week's Playground Mr Linky here.

However, we have a new playmate this week - Hi there Juls! OMGosh girls, trust me - if you haven't seen this yet then prepare to be blown away - I sure was:

 

Well? Isn't it just the MOST fabulous use of snippets - a gorgeous tree in Juls' little girls bedroom. And it's not yet finished so I hope we see more later on Juls!

Next it's the draw for the lovely Memory Box dies, kindly donated by Maureen (aka ScrappyMo). And the winner is:

LINBY

I used the Random number generator, for all of you who hadn't said 'No thanks' to the chance, but would love someone to tell me how to display the result on this posting properly!

Edit: being awkward, I use Ubuntu and not Windows here :)

Well done Lynn, could you drop me an email with your snail mail address and I'll pop the dies into the post for you.

And, there's a chance to win a stamp this week girls. Now, I know we all have different styles so this won't appeal to everyone - I have to be honest and say I for one probably wouldn't use it but it just 'fell' into my online basket this week when I was buying something entirely different  (in the sales, so don't fret) 'cos I do know that some of you would like the chance to win it - it's a generous 3" x 4.5" by the way:

So, if you want to join in the Playground fun and frolics and be in with a chance of winning this stamp - the Playground is open all of this coming week but it will close on Saturday 19th January at noon, UK time and Mr Linky is below as usual. Just enter a snippets make into the Playground this week and I'll do a draw after the Playground closes next Saturday. But, I am asking for a snippets make please, maximum of three entries and please say 'No thank you' in a comment if you DON'T want to be entered. You can of course enter as many snippets makes as you like but only a maximum of three goes will be counted.

The lovely Kath has sent something for a future Snippets draw too - thank you chick!

And finally, I know loads of you hopped over to add your support to Bernie - she's written a little follow up post which you may like to see. Keep blowing a breeze under her wings girls!

Di
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A Saturday Story

I related this one to Len yesterday, and he sort of looked at me whilst shaking his head and obviously thinking 'You know, she really IS so totally stoooopid',.

In a previous part of my life, I was lucky enough to have two adorable little Bichon Frise dogs. We only had one at first but quickly got him a companion from the same parents next litter - this is the two of them:

 

During the one Summer when we only had little Benjie, we brought the touring caravan down from Northumberland to Hampshire for a holiday in the New Forest.

After almost losing him in a dense part of the forest, I got it into my head that we needed to  get a dog licence (they were 'on the way out at that point' and weren't compulsory, but I was adamant).

So, I'm pretty sure it was in Brockenhurst, I hopped into the local village store cum Post Office and went to the counter. One elderly post master was on duty and he had to rummage round to find the little A6 sized form. With pen poised he said 'Name'?

And I replied brightly, and even helpfully 'Well, his full Kennel Club name is Benjamin Silverelves Gypsy - but we call him Benjie or even Widdle for short (he's proving difficult to fully house train) if that's easier to fit on the form'.

With a stern stare over his glasses, said Post Master then almost barked 'Your name, madam'.

Tell you what, I paid my thirty seven and a half pence (or something similar) and was out of there as fast as my feet would carry me!

Di
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A card for Bernie

This card is already winging its way across the Atlantic and should almost be there now but I thought I'd publish it here anyhow before it arrives - just to let Bernie know how much we're all thinking of her, if indeed she even feels like looking at blogs right now:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card stock

- Penny Black stamp called 'Love Blush', coloured with Pro Markers and die cut with a blue frame added

- sentiment by SU from the 'Sincere Salutations' set - stamped with SU 'Bashful Blue'

- papers by SU, 'Bashful Blue' from the Subtles range - Bernie's favourite colour is blue

- Martha Stewart PATP straight edged punch from the 'Vintage Lace' set to make the blue lacy strip

- 'baby blue' organza ribbon from the ribbon box

- 'baby pink' pearls, probably from Hobbycraft

I've seen how many of you have been over to Bernie's blog to add your positive thoughts and prayers, I'm sure she will be very touched by your love and care.

Di
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Stepper birthday card

For once I'm ahead with this card, it was lying on my desk partially made on WOYWW yesterday, now finished and made for Len's very special great-nephew, Edward:

I realised how few stamps I have suitable for a young chap, not yet into his teens but probably past LOTV little boy images - Penny Black to the rescue, although I think am gonna need to look seriously at Kenny K or similar for some future makes as all the boys are growing up so fast.

The big pennant on the front of the card was made to echo the little ones in the backing paper - and the sentiment is layered onto circles to echo the dots :) Subtle huh?

I used:

- A5 cream 'stepper' card

- Penny Black Stickeroo from the 'Embrace' sheet

- backing papers from a free with QCME magazine, called 'Let's Fly Away'

- tangerine backing card

- sentiment stamped using an Elzybells stamp and SU's 'Tangerine Tango' ink pad

And, when the card didn't fit any A5 ready envelopes I had - out came the Enveloper Pro again, with heart in mouth and following Sarn's advice about adjusting sizes to suit plus snipping the corners - total success!!


Di
x

WOYWW 188

SIGH, just a mess I'm afraid - nothing new there then :(

This was the light at mid-afternoon yesterday - not lot of it sadly, so depressing.

Same old, same old - making a stepper card, cuppa cold coffee to the left and a basket of cards needing inserts, envelopes and cello bags to the back.

The blur of red and white strips is me being a squirrel as always - snipped off rather lovely unreusable Costco Christmas gift bags (ie handles) for re-use.

Told yer - same old, same old.........but to see much more exhilarating (big word) sights - just hop over to Julia's pad here. Bound to be much more fun there.

Happy WOYWW!

Di
x

You know too much

I just love the sentiment on this card:

When Len saw it he looked puzzled though, I think it's a man thing as they don't really share with their buddies like us girlies do.

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card stock

- image is a Penny Black Stickeroo from the 'Pond-side Celebration' sheet

- sentiment from the Born to Shop 'Out of Bed' set by Docrafts

- baby pink backing card

- backing paper from Prima's 'Firefly' collection - I almost didn't use the backing paper and made the card very clean and simple but decided that the BP looked a bit like a pond - sort of algae soup :)

- ribbon from the ribbon box

- a few baby pink pearls - am sure they came from Hobbycraft


Di
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Christmas Wishes

I wanted to begin the year right and make a card a week to enter into Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - which is 'Santa has gone into hiding' so I swiftly chopped up another of the shop bought cards we received at Christmas time. No way would I even contemplate touching the precious hand made ones sent by so many lovely people - Elizabeth has just published on her blog a great idea for storing/displaying them by the way!

Anyhoooo, this is what I made:

I used:

- 4" x 4" square white card stock

- image from a Christmas card, die cut and then matted onto SU's 'Certainly Celery' backing made by tracing round the outside of the same die and hand cutting - and it is centred properly, although in the piccie the right hand side looks a bit 'off'

- backing paper on the card front is from a free set which came with a magazine, called Humphrey's Corner Christmas paper pad. There are some decoupage images included but I doubt if I'll use them although the papers are nice :(

- little holly sprig was die cut using a Marianne Creatables die - No. LR0244

- Josy Rose nail heads on the die cut and also to cover the insipid ones on the main image

And here's another little tip. Having so many backing papers I often cover the front of cards - sometimes leaving a narrow border. But, if I don't want to leave a border and instead want to cover the entire front of a card, I use a variation on the little trick I explained the other day. Cut the patterned paper just slightly bigger than the card front, then stick it (put the adhesive onto the card itself and not the patterned paper by the way else you'll be cutting through sticky stuff) so that the 'spine' and one side at right angles are aligned properly - make sure you've folded your card first. Then just trim the rest off the bottom and the other side, from the wrong side (ie. the inside of the card). If, like me, you use a trimmer which sometimes leaves a little raised line just run a fingernail down the front edges after cutting.

Not content with just a card, I also played with my new Crafters Companion Enveloper Pro and made an envelope to match :) I know quite a few of you make your own envelopes - Sarn is one person who springs to mind and they always are a lovely finishing touch. Over Christmas I made a few odd shaped cards and this gizmo would have been great to have - so the other day I hopped into Hobbycraft and spent some gift vouchers I've had in my little paws since September on one.

Hmmm, square cards, and therefore square envelopes, do mean a bit of a different fold at the bottom to what I expected (unless I'm missing a trick - I think oblongs would be fine though) - but I'm still 'pickled tink' :)

Di
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Pixie's Crafty Snippets - Week 54

Super fast card today. Due to being a hoarder I never throw away die cuts or embossed pieces of card so I dug into the box yesterday and rustled this up, the idea was that it would be good for LIM's challenge (white, black and a touch of another colour but I think it turned out a bit more than less so that idea got scrapped):

I used:

- A6 white card stock

- already embossed snippet of white card

- oval black die cut, I confess from whence I do not know

- Memory Box 'Vivienne Butterfly' die cut, from a little pack sent to me by Dee ages ago

- purple mirri card to form a border

- little purple self-adhesive gems

Which brings me onto the subject of Memory Box dies - the postman brought a packet this week, sent by Maureen/Scrappymo all the way from Canada - to offer as a Playground prize:

How kind is that then? Thank you Maureen! The dies are called from the left 'Primula Blooms' and 'Fancy Blossoms' - so pretty and just perfect for adding little flowers made from snippets to your projects! At first I thought about offering them one at a time, but they compliment one another so well they really shouldn't be separated, especially after their long journey :), and they would be just gorgeous to use for Easter/Spring cards and other makes.

To be in with a chance, just enter a snippets make into the Playground this week and I'll do a draw, one winner gets both, after the Playground closes next Saturday. It would also be good if you say 'Yes Please' or 'No thank you' in a comment. But, I am asking for a snippets make please, maximum of three entries! You can of course enter as many snippets makes as you like but only a maximum of three goes will be put into the sun hat here.

Quite a busy week in the Playground here, despite the dreadful rain - we now have an overflowing duck pond and the donkey has trotted off in disgust :(

Of all the entries this week, here are some that totally caught my eye:

Hettie's adorable little Christmas sleigh table decorations, one to remember for Christmas 2013:

Sarn's lovely card (sneaked in with about 15 mintes to go!)

 

Irene's crochet plant pot cover and mat

and last, but not least, a little card made by Maggie - do be sure to enlarge it over at Maggie's blog to see the beautiful colouring!

 So, if you want to join in the Playground fun and frolics and be in with a chance of winnng these lovely dies - the Playground is open all of this coming week but it will close on Saturday 12th January at noon, UK time and Mr Linky is below as usual.

One final, and more sobering thought - a lot of you will know Bernie of Bernie's Craft Closet. She's one of my very first followers, is a very special friend, has played with you all in the Playground -  and even trusted me enough to let me set her blog up. Bernie is now facing a big battle for her health and has publicly written about it on her blog so please remember her in your prayers - and even if you don't pray as such, please think lots of positive thoughts - together we can perhaps help to be the 'wind beneath her wings' and keep her flying while she faces what's ahead in terms of treatment to make her well again. Bernie is one very special lady indeed.

Di
x 

The only conditions to playing nicely in the Snippet Playground are that your card (or absolutely anything else you wish to bring here to show) must be made by using up snippets (card, paper, lace, wool and ribbon are all fine), and a link back to here in your own blog posting please. Oh, and no nipping or hair pulling of course :)