Pixies Crafty Snippets Playground - Week 66

First of all, I hope you're having a lovely Easter - wherever you are and whatever you're doing.

My snippets card for this week just had to be an Easter card, made for my step-mum - and they do look as if they could be guarding the entrance to the Playground:

I normally send her a card with a religious theme, but this year I thought this little scene might make her smile :)

I used:

- DL white card stock

- background inked with Tim Holtz Distress ink (Tumbled Glass), a duster brush and my own 'clouds' template - there's more about the process on this post here

- then I die cut grass to go along the bottom from a snippet of Kanban's 'Green Grass' card, using my Marianne Creatables 'Icicle' die. It works really well the wrong way up if you don't have a proper 'grass' punch or die 

- the 'twining leaves' were cut from a couple of green snippets using Cheery Lyn's 'Mini Fanciful Flourish' die and then sort of woven in and out of the fence before fixing it to the card. The fence was cut from another Kanban snippet of 'Wooden Fence' card using Cheery Lyn's 'Victorian Picket Fence' die and a piece placed at either side of the card. It's such a shame that Kanban have ceased trading - I do like many of their products

- teeny yellow flowers were added, punched from a snippet of yellow paper with a very small Tonic flower punch, and then some orange Hunkydory gems added to the centres

- the very tactile sheep family came from 'The Range' - so cute, Mr and Mrs Woolly-Jumper and their offspring - oh, and I added little googly eyes to Mr and Mrs - and used the whole set of sheep in one fell swoop

- at that point I put the card to one side, summoning up courage for three whole weeks before stamping onto the sky area. Why will I never learn, I always advocate stamping sentiments etc. before making up a card and I broke me own rools - but in fairness, this card sort of evolved as I went along without any real forward planning

- but hey, I managed to finish the card without any mishaps by stamping the sentiment, from the Penny Black 'Easter March' set and also a little flock of birds using Clarity stamps 'Small birds'. Phew - the relief!

I'm entering this card into two challenges:

It's Use it Tuesday's 'All about Spring Challenge'. I used plenty of snippets/scraps of card and paper as described above, the googly eyes I've had forever and a day,  the icicle die has hardly been used - and it was a first outing for the fence die, which (shame on me) I've had for months and months! It's my first time playing along in this challenge, but it won't be the last - a great way to bring out those goodies you haven't used for ages, or even more shamefully in my case, had for ages and never used at all :( Oh dear, I just looked back through this challenge and a winner last week sponged the sky and also used an icicle punch or die for grass - all I can say is that I did mine over three weeks ago, and I guess nothing is really new when it comes to ideas :(

And over at That Craft Place the current challenge is 'Animals' - I reckon that a family of 'Woolly-Jumpers' qualifies nicely :)

Now onto what you've been up to this last week - once again we have loads of lovely snippets makes - and we have three new playmates, Maudieroff, Asha and Sue. Do please go and say 'Hello', that would be so welcoming.

As always, the difficult part is to pick some of the work you've done for 'show and tell'.

I'm sure you'll all agree, this is just stunning use of snippets by Darnell! To see HOW it's done, go here - the magic of chevrons.

Sue is one of our new playmates and she brought this card and another one. This card shows how even those plain white snippets we all have can be given the 'gilding wax' treatment - brilliant!

 

Cathy R brought us two cards showing great use of snippets this week, link to the first one and link to the second one - I can't pick just one as they're both great and so clever. 

At this point I have to move on, otherwise I'd be here all weekend typing away - so many gorgeous snippets makes - which you can look back over here.

So, it time for the draw for the Stamp Addicts unmounted stamp set (kindly donated by Viv) called 'Playful Girls' - as I said last weekend, absolutely perfect for the Playground :)

And the winner is:

 LYNN (of Lynn's Crafty Corner) 

Well done Lynn! Please drop me an email (di_wray@hotmail.com) with your snail mail address and the stamp set will be on its way to you ASAP.

This is really a bit spooky, I just checked back over who'd won over the time we've had regular prizes - and each time it's been someone different. Don't let that stop you from still being in the draw, it's just the way the numbers came out of Mr Random - but it's nice that the chances are being spread so well. 

This coming week's prize might appeal to you too - although I do know that some folk already make their own cloudy backgrounds in much the same way as I did on my snippets card for today, I still thought this was a nice prize for Easter:

A set of three Inkylicious dusters (double headed ones at that) - plus the same colour Distress Ink as I use to make clouds, 'Tumbled Glass'. Snigger, I expect you can cut your own template but I'd make some and enclose them if you really were desperate enough to rely on my cutting efforts :) And, of course, think of all the other things you can do with these brushes - not just clouds. Brushing over those snippet 'masks' left after die cutting to name but one use.

The Playground is open all of this coming week but it will close on Saturday 6th April 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, as usual I am asking for a snippets make please, maximum of three entries and please say 'No thank you' in a comment if you wish to still play but not be a winner of these brushes and ink pad.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, stay warm, safe and have a lovely week!

Di
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The best laugh for ages

On WOYWW (on 20th March) Annie posted that she had some Scrabble tiles on offer - and you just had to leave a comment saying what was the strangest thing you kept 'just in case it could come in handy'.

This was my comment:

Number one is my lovely Len :))

And next is an indication of my kleptomania - if EVER there's a free ballpoint pen going then it's into my handbag and then stored in a mahoosive poly bag in a drawer here. No hotel, conference centre etc. is safe. Think I'm covered if there's ever a world shortage of biros! The sad thing is that every now and then I have to go through and dump those that are so old they've dried up! Sigh, keep saying I ought to get out more!

I left old pairs of pants and knickers as cleaning cloths off the list :) Err, or did I 'cos I just told you?

On Thursday this week a package arrived in the post - and when I opened it, these were inside. Oh my gosh, I'd only gone and won those Scrabble tiles! There was a lovely card plus the much longed for tiles, in what I thought was the way Scrabble tiles come these days, in a nice drawstring bag:

When I read the card it did make me smile but in the excitement my brain wasn't fully in gear.

 And THEN, I opened up the bag to peek inside at the tiles!

Bwahahahahahah - Len came running to see why I was hopping round with my legs crossed in tears of laughter. Soooo funny, the bag is only a pair of panties made from a duster - so in return, I'm linking this into Annie's Friday Smile for this week. The girls, Annie and Jo, were giggling so much making this package up they only posted it and forgot to take a photo :) They truly didn't ought to be allowed to play together :))

So, from me it's a very BIG:

There's only one letter X of course in a set of tiles - otherwise there'd be a LOT more!!

It's a new week in the Snippets Playground on Sunday of course - you might just want to hop by and see what's been going on, but I won't be modelling the panties - not even as a jaunty little hat:)

Di
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A basket of bunnies

......but this is soooooo not my idea. The lovely Vicky popped a basket just like this (without the bunnies in residence though) on her blog the other day and it was too cute not to try out - plus there are fabby and detailed instructions how to do it, link at the end of this post. Here's my take, very similar to Vicky's:

I used:

- SU's 'Crumb Cake' card stock

- SU's 'Square Lattice' embossing folder

- couple of brass coloured brads from my goodies

- SU's 'Pretty Petites' stamp and Memento 'Toffee Crunch' ink

- SU's 'Petite Curly Label' punch

- a snippet of brown and white bakers twine

- the basket was stuffed with snipped strips of cream paper to look a bit like straw - to do that I used a pair of multi-bladed scissors, bought really for fast shredding of address labels when I can't be bovvered to switch on the shredder. Your friendly doorstep Kleenezee man will sell them and I've also seen them in Sainsburys in the cookery tools section - sold as herb snippers :)You can see a little bit poking out behind the right hand bunny - the scissors are also great for fringing paper of course

- and the finishing touch, two of the smallest Lindt chocolate bunnies (currently 3 for £1 in Sainsburys)

We have a very sweet young lady living nearby, called Hemma, who often calls with raffle tickets or things like sponsor forms as she does a lot of charity fund raising - modestly and without a fuss, bless her. She lives a very quiet life with her parents and the other evening she trotted up our drive with an Easter egg for us - one of those people who just hasn't got a mean bone in her body. So, these bunnies will be going to Hemma, once the basket is in a cello bag with a bow on top.

Anyhow - there's still time for you to make one or more of these baskets. Vicky's instructions are brilliant, I know that Darnell has also linked to them from her blog - do go and take a peek and I bet you'll be tempted to have a play :)

Thanks Vicky for yet another great idea! Tee, hee - my Stampin' Up order just arrived as I finished writing this ready to schedule - time to do a bit of unpacking and making stuff look as if I've had it forever :)


Di
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Easter March

Aw, I love this Penny Black stamp so much:

 

This Easter card is winging its way to my 'longest and bestest' friend Moira, up in Scotland. We met at boarding school aged 13 and, apart from losing touch for a few precious years, she's been in my life ever since.

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card stock

- stamped image using Penny Black's 'Easter March' stamp, coloured with Pro Markers and layered onto the plain reverse of a sheet of card from the paper pad 'Bird Song'. The background was very lightly chalked as well as the hedgie's cheek - that's a tip from Jules, using chalk for cheeks means it blends much easier

- backing paper is from First Edition's 'Bird Song' paper pad - love how some of these papers are 'flittered' and the reverse of a lot are plain and pick up colours in the patterned ones

- there's a ready-scalloped strip of pink glittery card (bought a couple of Easters ago in Hobbycraft), then dotty pink ribbon across the card.

- the 'bow' was made by loops of more of the same ribbon, topped with a button and bakers twine - in yellow to pick up the colour of the chick that's happily hitching a ride :)

A card made especially for Moira, with a lot of love.

Di
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WOYWW 199 - warning, long post

After missing WOYWW for a few weeks I reckon I should have a note from my Mum :(

Still plodding on with organising my stamps - am onto the clear ones now and they're gonna take a lot of time I can see, you're likely to be finished way ahead of me Elizabeth!! This is what I was up to yesterday:

There's a reason I took the photo at 10:30 yesterday morning - Len was out and I was about to try something while he wasn't around that could potentially have meant running for the fire extinguisher :)

This was my first attempt at the storage for clear stamps. A piece of white card and the stamps from two different sets stamped before laminating the sheet. In truth, the stamps do all need to be stamped onto index cards as well 'cos, although I'm keeping them in sets within the binders, for example - images such as the bird will  sit better under the category 'birds' in the card index box.

BUT, the white card I'm trying to use up is not especially stamp ink friendly, it's OK. Plus, actually fitting the stamps onto my own stamped images wasn't really a walk in the park - and I thought it looked a bit messy.

And then - I suddenly wondered why on earth I was thinking of disposing of the acetate that comes with most stamp sets with the images already printed on!? Soooooooo, I waited until Len was out and the coast was clear, plugged in the laminator, said a quick prayer to St. Mytrimmer (Patron Saint of crafters) and had another play:

And it worked - so much neater!! No fires either :)) The main thing is to put some card in the laminate 'sandwich' behind the acetate to prevent buckling - and you need the card anyhow for the images behind the stamps to stand out well.

And here's the laminated article, trimmed and corners rounded to reduce finger slicing, with the stamps on and a piece of same sized clear acetate on top so the sandwich slides in and out easily. The stamps tend to adhere to the acetate better than to the shiny laminate anyhow but hey - am I bovvered so long as they don't fall off one side or the other?!

Then, the laminate, stamps and protective clear acetate all slide into a side opening clear file pocket - ready to be stored in lever arch files.

I know that everyone has their own way of storing non-wood mounted stamps, often driven by space, shelving etc. I've seen DVD cases and lots of other ideas - but this seems to be a solution that's gonna work for me. It all hinges on the A6 card file box where I have single stamped images in categories, with details and their location also written on.

In time, all of this shelf is likely to be taken up by files of actual stamps - at the moment I haven't labelled the files but from left to right they are:

- dies, on A4 magnetic sheets in file pockets

- three postcard albums for unmounted rubber stamps

- two lever arch files - ready for the clear stamps

- and the cream file is full of tips and techniques saved from magazines or sent to me by Sarn.......plus a lot of receipts so I know where I bought certain things from. As I've said previously, I'm dead meat if Len ever takes a look in there and tots up the evidence though :))

Sorry for rabbiting but without making a video (snort!) this is the best way I can explain what's going on right now.

So, do hop over to Julia's to check out what everyone else is up to - and have a lovely WOYWW!

Di
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More micro beads

On a roll here playing with micro beads - I made this card for two challenges:

Sheesh - micro beads are a pig difficult to photograph using flash 'cos it was dark and overcast here. The image isn't clear when the light bounces back, and then there's a milkiness to the beads close up although in real life they look perfectly clear.

I used:

- 5" x 7" white card stock

- stamped large flower from SU's 'Everything Eleanor' set, stamped onto a SU snippet in 'Melon Mambo, covered with Woodware Ultra High Bond adhesive sheet and then hand trimmed before being dunked in micro beads

- the flourish was stamped using the large flourish from SU's 'Everything Eleanor' set, in SU 'Old Olive'. As I didn't need the whole flourish I masked some of it off before inking and then removed the scrap of Post It before stamping

- I looked at 'Melon Mambo' card to back the panel of white card with the image on and realised that, even with clear micro beads, the shade of the flower looked deeper after its 'treatment'. Good ole SU to the rescue, a snippet of 'Rose Red' card did the trick :)

- the flower was stuck over the flourish and then the whole strip of card was attached using thin sticky pads

- sentiment is also SU, from their now retired 'Sincere Salutations' set - stamped using SU's 'Old Olive'

The two challenges I'd like to enter this into are:

Seize The Birthday - a feminine card using this sketch:

I was really tickled when the Kenny K card I made the other week was picked for 'Birthday Honours' - thank you ladies!

And, unheard of for me, a second entry into this week's 'Less is More' challenge, which is to use beads - I did so use beads too, tons of the little perishers!

Di

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A play with micro beads

Sigh, am such a sucker for trying out new things and techniques - no wonder the craft room is almost bursting at the seams :( A buddy of mine (Zo) commented the other day that I do mix things - she meant it nicely I know and I sure do mix as I just can't settle on one style or technique - always fascinated by new ideas to try.

For AGES I've wanted to have a play with glass micro beads, bought some clear ones plus super sticky adhesive backing and then sat here eyeing up the pot of beads with fear hesitation and there they stayed. But, this week's Less Is More challenge is to use beads and Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge is to have three of something on your card - bingo, inspiration and here we have my first play:

I used:

- 4.75" x 4.75" square white card stock

- SU's 'Ornament Keepsakes' stamps, stamped using Adirondack 'Purple Twilight'

- Woodware Ultra High Bond adhesive sheet - it's just like the tape with the red protective covering and, to my mind, is the very best way of ensuring the little perishers micro beads stick. I'd had a little play with a little scrap of normal double sided adhesive sheet when the beads first arrived and the beads picked off easily - you need the really strong stuff if that's how you want to fix the beads. I haven't tried glue but believe that Glossy Accents works well - so long as you leave it overnight to dry

- the stamped shapes were covered with the adhesive sheet, red side left on and then die cut with the SU matching dies - of course you could just fussy cut them either

- then the red protective layers were peeled off and the shapes dunked into a little tray of clear glass micro beads

- I just drew the lines for the baubles with a Whispers pen

- sentiment is stamped with Adirondack 'Purple Twilight' ink and a sentiment from Woodware's 'Bubble Wreath' set

My guess is that many of you know about micro beads, Sue Wilson of Particraft uses them a lot, they're teensy and I wouldn't like to spill a pot of them as they do bounce all over the place given half a chance! I use one of those special little trays with a pouring spout and stopper at one end. The beads come in colours as well as clear and don't have a hole in the centre like seed beads we used for cross-stitch - waaaaaay too small for that! Here's a close up of a bauble:

Lovely and 'schparkly' :)

I can see some butterflies getting the 'micro' treatment next!

And last, but by no means least - this is also for Sarn's Rudolph Day Challenge - remember, it's the 25th of each month. You have until the end of the month to link a Christmas card.

Edit: and Hazel just reminded me, I can link this into her Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra as well - so I am :)

Di
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Pixies Crafty Snippets Playground - Week 65

Oh dear, more snow :(

Here's my snippets make for this week, well, it's really more 'how to use snippets' 'cos a lot of it was cut from whole 6" x 6" papers - shame on me. But, when I saw how Katina had used scraps of leftover patterned paper in this month's 'Quick Cards Made Easy' magazine she did me such a huge favour. A while ago I bought a paper pack with lovely bright pinks, black, cream and grey papers in - then sat wondering for ages how to use them as (to me) they were much too bold to use as backings to images. So, thanks to Katina, out they came and this is the result:

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card stock

- papers from the Echo Park paper pad called 'Be Mine', cut into 1" strips and fishtails cut into the ends - with a double strip of paper across

- sentiment by Elzybells, stamped in Memento 'Tuxedo Black' onto a snippet of white card (YAY!), then layered onto a snippet of black card (double YAY!) and the pink reverse of one of the EP papers

- black Josy Rose nail heads

Right, Playground time now. We've had two new little Playmates calling in this week, Sue and Eve, I do hope you can find time to go and say hello to them.

Sigh, it gets harder each week to pick 'Show and Tell' makes that you bring 'cos they're all gorgeous - but here goes:

 

This is real dedication to snippets - Bonnie hand cut each of those little hexagons to fit into the embossed spaces!

 

Mary Mac made such a fun card, using her Playground prize from the other week - those feathers crack me up - pun intended :)

 

Despite being so busy, Jules brought us this adorable card to show - I love the image loads and the embossing folder is perfect (just like tyre tread - sigh after my experience during the week) don't you think? As loads of you will know, Jules started the Playground off and without that we could be buried under our snippets :) So a big cheer for our Patron!!!

 

And Viv reappeared (carrying a forged excuse note from her 'Mum') with this beautiful pale pink/white card - lovely use of snippets, I have tons of white and cream to use up and bet I'm not alone either!

Believe me, there are so many great ideas and ways to use snippets - so I do urge you to check out Mr Linky here.

 

So, now onto the draw for the lovely Memory Box die, so kindly donated by Shaz in Oz.

And the winner is........................................................

IRENE

Well done Irene!  Can you please drop me an email reminding me of your address and I'll post the die to you ASAP.

And this coming week's prize should appeal to you Playground Girlies - kindly donated by Viv, thank you so much!

It's a delightful Stamp Addicts unmounted stamp set called 'Playful Girls' - absolutely perfect for the Playground :)

The Playground is open all of this coming week but it will close on Saturday 30th March 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, as usual I am asking for a snippets make please, maximum of three entries and please say 'No thank you' in a comment if you wish to still play but not be a winner of this beautiful stamp set - no colouring needed :))

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, stay warm, safe and have a lovely week!

Di
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Sunnyvale, California, just go away

Just off to bed for an early night (for me!) but for the past week or more have noticed that an unidentified Operating System and Browser based in Sunnyvale California is spending ages leaping around my blog like a demented banshee. It comes via some very 'odd' sites to try and hide its origin.

I suspect it's machine generated , but if you do read this Sunnyvale, go away - I don't allow anonymous comments and also have spam blocked. Please pester someone else as you're totally wasting your time here!!

Unless you wanna clean out the Playground chook coop and treehouse while you're here?

Di
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Nuts about Nutella?

I know someone who is a Nutella (chocolate and hazelnut spread) fan - in fact more than one person :) Tried it for myself last week and hated it - way too sickly and had to run and brush my teeth twice to get rid of the taste. But, Grand daughter Livi in Germany adores it:

Trust me, I felt just like she looks after my tasting but without the smile :( ACK!

But there again, I love Marmite and that's a love or hate thing - this is one for Annie's Friday Smile!

Di
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'Frame It'

....that's the current challenge theme over at Less is More this week:

I used:

- A6 white card stock with corners rounded

- a snippet of brown card, with a slightly textured pattern, die cut with a decorative edged Nestie and then the centre die cut with a smaller plain oval Nestie to form the frame

- a Penny Black Stickeroo from the 'Flower Festival' sheet (just for you Kate)

- sentiment stamped using a stamp from Hero Arts 'Live Life' set and Brilliance 'Mediterranean Blue' ink

Job done, it had to be a fairly quick make yesterday due to a backlog of ironing screaming at me :(

Di
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A lorra flowers

As soon as this pre-loved stamp arrived from my pal Sarn, it was kept within eyeshot on my desk as there was a little inkling of some papers that would go with it:

I used:

- 5" x 7" white card stock

- Hero Arts 'Posy Sketch' stamp, coloured with Pro Markers to pick out the colours in the background papers I used, then die cut with a Sizzix die. Love the way the leaves are shaped like hearts :)

- SU 'Wisteria Wonder' card for all backings, including the image which was done by drawing round the outside of the die and cutting by hand

- papers are by Pink Petticoat from the 'Wild Blossoms' collection

- lemon satin ribbon with a lemon organza bow tied around 'cos satin looked too heavy

- sentiment is by Elzybells, stamped in Brilliance 'Pearlescent Orchid'

- a couple of teeny butterflies, die cut with SU's 'Beautiful Wings' embosslits

- little pearlescent gems on the flower centres, butterflies and either end of the sentiment

It was a tussle making this card yesterday due to (what now seems like) fun and games with my car (aka Babe). Thanks to a pothole (grrrrr) I had a flat tyre and called out our car recovery company. So far so good - I already had two new front tyres all organised at a local centre, just needed the wheel changing so I could drive there.

Snort, man from recovery/assistance arrives, we open car boot and lift the flap which covers where the spare wheel fits. It must have been like a Laurel and Hardy sketch - he looked at me and I looked at him - then we both gazed again at the spare wheel void which only contained a polystyrene moulded insert and a cylinder of aerosol 'stuff' to put into a flat tyre. Then you could drive about 5 miles on the tyre! WHAT?! I bought the car new and have been driving round for years without a spare?! Apparently that's the way of things these days and you should always check if the car comes with a spare or is it an optional extra. Well, forgive me but with all the extra bells and whistles I truly would have expected a spare tyre suggested by the salesman - and was never even asked if I wanted one!!

The poor recovery guy was stumped, and waving the aerosol of weird stuff around, until I suggested that I phone the tyre place and tell them we'd both be along soon with my little 'Babe' on the back of the trailer. Then I could wait while the work was done and drive home afterwards - he hadn't thought of that one.

What a scramble to get up into the cab - I'm not tall or terribly agile due to a Metal Mickey hip and it was like a monkey scrabbling up a greasy pole to be honest. But, we got there and my car now has new shiny shoes on the front :) And my bank account is a lot lighter needless to say :(

Anyone want to buy a silver 1.8 sporty Vauxhall Tigra convertible with electronic hard top, tons of extras, only 12,000 miles on the clock in just under the five years that it's been owned from new by one lady owner? :)) Oh, but it doesn't have a spare wheel of course! Sigh :(

Di
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A little bit of a smile

This has been going on for ages - and the photo isn't really clear 'cos cats don't pose:

BUT, this is our neighbours' cat, Misty..........having a sauna!! I finally nipped out and snapped her in the act the other morning when Len was in the shower and the heating/hot water was going full belt.

No kidding. you might see the wisps of steam coming from the condenser boiler steam outlet/exhaust thingy at the side of our house. That daft (or very wise) cat hops onto the six foot high fence whenever one of us has a shower and basks in the warm, moist air from the outlet ........ until her fur is damp and sticks up in spikes :) I'm gonna buy a cat sized towel and hang it on a nail out there, just so she can have a brisk rub down after her sauna session :)

One for Annie's Friday Smile I think! Sigh, we sure do live in a very strange place!

Di
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Penny Black 'Snowflakes Falling' and missing in action for WOYWW

I spotted a great challenge the other day over on Bonnie's blog - it's another Christmas one, called 'Merry Monday' and goodness knows, I need all the inspiration I can get. This week's challenge is to have a snowman (or even a few) on your card:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card stock

- surprise, surprise, a Penny Black Stickeroo, from the 'Snowflakes Falling' sheet

- duck egg blue plain pearlised card

- duck egg blue 'snowflakes' backing card

- a snippet of ribbon, again rescued from a box of chocolates, with a bow

- love the expression of sheer joy on the snowman's face so I added a little silver 'Joy' charm, tied using silver cord in a bow

It's great to have found another Christmas challenge to add to my regulars - Sarn's Rudolph Day each month and Hazel's weekly and monthly challenges - production could be stepping up a gear.

Rushing round today so in fairness I have to skip WOYWW but if you have found your way here I'll make sure I get to call by and see you ASAP :)

Di
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Merry and Bright

...........that's this week's theme over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge. I opted for 'Merry', picking the word on this upcycled Christmas card topper, although you could argue that the red is a splash of traditional bright:

I used:

- A5 white card stock

- the large topper from a shop bought Christmas card we received last Christmas, popped on with fresh sticky pads. Loved the fact that it was already shaped and edged with shiny red

- red mirri card

- white and silver card, bought ages ago from Art of Craft

- red velvet ribbon, with silver and red diagonal stitching along the centre. This was such a small snippet that I'm almost sure I salvaged it from a box of chocolates :)

- hard to see but I tickled the image with a glue pen in a few places and sprinkled very fine iridescent glitter on to make the snow twinkle a bit

- had about 3" of the ribbon left so ran a little line of stitches up the middle then pulled tight and fastened them off. Added three teeny silver 'jingle bells', threaded onto red shiny cord and tied in a bow

One more for the box, which is growing slower than I thought :(

Am also entering this into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for March.

Have a nice day!

Di
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Playing with paper napkins

Our lovely Playground pal Mary H kindly sent me some lovely paper napkins to play with - she kindly added in some from Mary Mac (another lovely Playground pal) as well - so kind the way everyone shares in this wonderful world of crafting.

I eagerly set to with the iron to follow a tutorial  on t'internet here .......... and almost lost the will to live :( You use plastic food wrapping - and the clingfilm we have just would not melt, sigh. Not sure if this is the UK stuff, what I had or what :( Undeterred I rootled round and found a roll of plastic sheets that you use to interleave homemade burgers before freezing them - and it worked! Talk about sweating over a hot iron though. This is my first card using one of the results:

I used:

- A5 cream textured card stock

- the bird image from a paper napkin

- pale blue card

- more cream card

- a strip of wide blue lace, bought from our local haberdashery store in their bargain bin

- strip of cream ribbon and a sort of 'folded bow' on top

- sentiment is a combination of SU's 'Four Frames' and 'Petite Pairs', stamped using SU's 'Wild Wasabi' then punched with SU's 'Decorative Label' punch

- one blue corner (to hide where the napkin had slightly curled), die cut with a Whimsy Corner die

- a black, white and silver butterfly sticker on the lace - I'll let you work out why :)

There was a bit of 'make do and mend' going on here with this card but after all the angst with the iron I wasn't gonna give up! And it was fun to try something new. Thank you again ladies!

Elizabeth just pointed me in the direction of another challenge, called Sentimental Sundays, and the current challenge is 'Anything Goes - plus a sentiment as always' so I'd like to add this card over there.

Di
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Pixies Crafty Snippets Playground - Week 64

Well, we had some extra excitement in the Playground this week - and we're on Wikipedia after an 'inverted ice pyramid or spike' grew overnight in the bird bath - there's a piccie further down this posting. I had a rapid visit from a very interested chap, who even signed up for Blogger to be able to leave a comment on this post here. Then he messaged me asking if it was OK to add photos of our Playground birdbath to the article. Doubt if he'll be trotting in to show snippets makes - but it's been very exciting all the same :) Also, we made it onto BBC South Today, blink and you missed it and sadly they don't have BBC iPlayer for the news 'down here in the sticks' :( Crumbs, just as well - we could have been invaded in the Playground and you could have been queueing for the swings :)

My snippets card this week came about 'cos I was musing about the vast amount of narrow snippets strips I seem to accumulate. Then I remembered an article in this month's Quick Cards Made Easy magazine (my very fave - always something new to learn), which showed the 'bargello' technique - perfect for those pesky strips :) I think how the card is made could be self-explanatory but am happy to make a second one and show measurements and photographs as I go - although, I just found a good tutorial on Splitcoaststampers here.

Anyhow, this is my take on Bargello, but you can do umpteen different things just by lining up strips of snippets and sticking them to thin card, slicing down the layer lengthways and then offsetting them:

 

Bright innit? :)

I used:

- 7" x 5" white card stock in a tent fold

- strips of saved snippets from Echo Park's 'Hello Summer' paper pad, made into a bargello design. More snippet strips from the same pad along the bottom of the card, when I remember I do save most patterned snippets in the front of pads for future use which makes it easier to co-ordinate

- sentiment by Elzybells, stamped in SU 'Pumpkin Pie'

- card candi by Craftwork Cards

Making this card brought back memories of when I did a lot of tapestry and bargello work - even making a box cushion to go on the seat at one side of a mahoosive stone fireplace MANY years ago.

OK, so what else has been happening in the Playground besides this:

Sorry, am still so thrilled 'cos this ice spike is VERY rare, even though it's not a true 'snippet make' it occurred in OUR Playground :) Enuff on the subject - unless we all get invited onto a tee vee show ........... we could hire a coach and take fizzy pop and sandwiches :)

 

Elizabeth made this delightful Christmas card, by upcycling a saved one she had - love the teeny present for the birdie :)

Irene showed us a set of three perfectly co-ordinated cushions in lovely shades of blue, they're gorgeous.

 

Ike had me rolling round laughing with such a clever card - a take on Moulin Rouge - there's a great sense of fun (and naughtiness) there!

And, last but not least, here's such a clever trick for punching those tiny little snippets from Sarn - go and see, it's really neat and one to remember for future use!

As I always say, just wish I had time to show you more but you can check out last week's entries here - they're all fabulous!

Time now for the Random number thingy to do its work and choose who wins last week's prize of the 'Butterfly Suite' stamp:

IKE

Well done Ike, two hot spots this week :) Can you please drop me an email to:

di_wray@hotmail.com with your address and the lovely Penny Black stamp will be in the post to you ASAP.  Ike does such a wide variety of work and some fabulous colouring so am sure this stamp will be well used! Just wish I had more of them to give away as lots of you did drool over it.

But, this week's prize is a corker - sent from the USA, ordered especially for the Playground by Shaz in Oz. What's even lovelier is that Shaz craves this particular die for herself but chose to order it for the Playmates and have it sent to meas a snippets prize - bless you dear Shaz!

Wahoo! It's a fabulous Memory Box die called 'Summer Border'! Someone is gonna just LOVE this.

The Playground is open all of this coming week but it will close on Saturday 23rd March 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, as usual I am asking for a snippets make please, maximum of three entries and please say 'No thank you' in a comment if you wish to still play but not be a winner of this beautiful die.

Enjoy St. Patrick's Day and have a lovely week!

Di
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