I'm still here

Just in case it seems quiet - I'm still here and am amazed at the number of you already playing in the Snippets Playground.

Yesterday was really busy (with gorgeous weather too) so I hardly set foot in the craft room, much less find time to comment on your lovely creations. I'll be round to visit you as soon as possible - (pinky promise!) just hang on in there :)

 

It's a card I already posted on here but it still makes me smile :)

Di
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Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 118

What a week for changeable weather in the Playground, sunshine, showers, unrelenting rain, hailstones and even a quick flurry of snow! But, that didn't deter you lovely folk from coming to play. We had 56 entries this week - wahoo!

So, here's my snippets card - a super fast one:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- a snippet of pink card from the snippets folder, for both the frame and the speech bubble

- sheet of backing paper from Prima's 'Firefly' paper pad

- Penny Black Stickeroos from the 'Pond-side Celebration' sheet. I flipped the backing paper so it looks a bit like a river bank reflection where the pre-printed swirls are - if you can't visualise that then the fishing frog is levitating as if he's on a magic carpet instead of the lily pad :( Even the little dragonfly came from the Stickeroo sheet

- the sentiment (from LOTV's 'General Greetings - Small' set) was stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' onto another snippet of the pink backing card then die cut using a Docrafts 'Speech Bubble' die

- three little pink pearls to finish off

Onto this week's picks - so many gorgeous entries too - you really are such a clever little bunch!
I just love the clever design of this card made by Pippa, look at those snippets butterflies fluttering out of the envelope. And the way they graduate in size - perfect!

Jean made this gorgeous card, I do so love the ivy against the brick wall and then popped onto an embossed brick wall.

This card, made by Liz W, jumped out of the screen at me - LOVE the vibrant flowers against the 'bark' background!

I think Kath deserves a prize for her tenacity in making 10 correction 29 of these darling Christmas cards. AND, probably a huge glass of wine 'cos she's been having real trouble all week uploading photos to Blogger. So much so I thought she was ready to throw the towel in and shut up shop!

WOW, this is just stunning isn't it! Made by Jan with such an elegant look to it. Jan was wondering if the piece of ribbon mesh counted as a snippet - YES, it sure does! 

How about this for a fabulous piece of mixed media artwork then? Made by Hazel (kbrandy4), using lots of snippets - love it!

Ooops, sorry Brenda, I had to reduce the size to large on here 'cos the image was drifting off the right hand side. However girls, aren't these just adorable? And so clever of Brenda to colour match the little hats on the robins to the snippets of backing paper!

I could happily show each of Sue J's three entries, but this is the one that tickled me the most and it's beautiful. I can just imagine you lot doing this in the Playground - lights, camera, action!

And here's a fabulous wicker heart, beautifully decorated by Karen P - absolutely stunning!

Crumbs, that's nine picks this week and believe me each and every entry in the Playground is wonderful so if you aren't a pick just remember that we all love your work and get so, so much inspiration from you.

And we have one new playmate this week:

I love this Spring card Maarit - hope you come back to play again soon!

And the winner of last week's prize (the 'Wyanet' stamp and the Memory Box 'Wild Feathers' die - just like the ones I used on my snippets card last week) is:

Carol L

Well done Carol, peeking at your comment on the 'Wyanet' card I made, my guess is that you'll be happy with this win :) I have your address still and will post the prize off to you this week.

And this coming week's prize is - Penny Black Stickeroos of course:

Eight sheets in total, four are fun and funky (including those frogs of course!) and four are floral. Many thank to Kim for sending me some, and I added a few others as well. These are just great for quick cards!

A quick word about the Playground toy box - we have lots of prizes waiting there so if you sent me anything and it hasn't been offered yet don't worry. I have a Playground notebook and everything is written down, along with the names of senders, before being tucked into the toy box to await its turn!

As usual, the snippets challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 5th April and will open again at midnight UK time on the same day. Maximum of three entries and please say 'No thank you' in a comment if you wish to still play but not be the winner of the prize.

Mr Linky is below - please let me know if you have any problems linking, I can sort it out for you quite quickly and am always happy to do so.

Have a great week - the forecast is good for us in the UK this weekend, yippee!! If you're in the UK, hope you remembered to change the clocks - Spring = forward :)

Di (and a wave from Parsnip)
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'Huffing' for notelets

I needed another little supply of notelets to add in with Playground prizes, plus I fancied trying colouring stamps with Distress Ink markers before actually stamping onto the card. Irene is so good at this and I've admired her fabulous results for ages now. This was my quite simple result:

I used:

- four 4" x 4" square white card blanks

- stamps are all from SU's 'Pocket Silhouettes' set. Coloured with Tim Holtz Distress Ink markers, 'huffed' on to re-moisten the ink (too much information there?) and then stamped onto white card before being cut into ovals with a Nestie die

- little scrabble through the snippets folder for toning snippets of card, which were die cut using a Nesties scalloped oval die - I love the soft scallops on this die set

- sentiments were stamped after being coloured directly onto the stamp with the same co-ordinating TH DI pens, and then punched using SU's 'Word Window' before being layered onto a matching punched SU 'Modern Label'

Job done! Just a shame the colours look a bit washed out in the two bottom cards, it was throwing it down with snow when I took the photo and the light was awful :(

Di
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Card in a box

Remember me squeaking with delight over the 'cards in boxes' made by Mary Anne and Debs here on Sunday's Snippets 'show and tell'?  Well, my copy of Quick Cards Made Easy magazine arrived the other day with a free pack of paper and matching embellishments so I had a little play:

 From the front.

And from the side.

I used:

- SU's 'Certainly Celery' card stock to make the box

- papers from the 'Vintage Blooms' pack by Jennifer Ellory, free with QCME magazine to decorate the box

- toppers from the same pack. They were also on paper so I cut them out then ran them through the Xyron to add sticky to the backs before popping them onto more card and then trimming round again to add rigidity

- then I added acetate strips to each one before arranging them inside the box

- a few coloured gems for some sparkle

- one final topper on the front flap

And when the card is closed, I worked it so that everything sits nicely inside the rectangle so there are no 'pokey out' bits to be scrunched in the post.

I followed this tutorial - it's in both metric and imperial measurements. Do be aware that it doesn't fully emphasise that the back section of the box needs to stand upright so you don't score across that section. Sigh, I did score of course but when  the patterned panel was added I just cut the paper to the whole length (height) of the box and also the full length of card for your message that you add to the back panel restores the rigidity - phew.

Karen P over at Technique Time Tuesday picked this card to CASE the other day. If you haven't played along in Technique Time Tuesday I truly recommend it - it's a great way to learn new techniques, return to some old ones even and there are always really clear instructions and tips and hints. 

Di
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Less is More - Mwah, mwah, mwah

The current challenge over at Less is More is to use three of something on your card:

I used:

- A6 white card blank

- stamp by Stampabilities called 'Kiss', stamped three times using SU's 'Real Red' - I deliberately tried to make the three 'pucker marks' slightly different 'cos that's how they would be in real life ..... ask me how I know :)

- there are double embossed lines above and below the 'mwahs' - but I ran round the house three times trying different places to take the photo and sort of gave up in exhaustion in the end

- the sentiment is from the LOTV 'Small Greetings' set, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black'

Not sure if it's me but a lot of Less is More entries are becoming a bit more than less - can't be picked up for that with this one though :) In fact it was almost embarrassingly quick and easy to make.

I did giggle, my 'in-house critic' said 'Well, who could that be for?' as he often does when I've made a card. I smartly replied that I'd keep it for him for next Valentine's Day, so he had to forget about it and act surprised next February 14th :)

Di
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Rudolph Day - March 2014

It's here again, the 25th of the month when we try (up until the end of the month) to make two (at least) Christmas cards to link in one post over at Sarn's Rudolph Day Challenge. My first card was a miserable failure, but I did manage two other different ones that passed muster:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blanks

- all backing papers came from LOTV's 'Classic Christmas' paper pad, I just switched the colourways between the two cards, that meant that I got two cards from each 8" x 8" sheet of paper - plus some snippets left over

- the pre-coloured image is also LOTV, from their 'Festive Foliage' art pad, die cut using a Spellbinders 'Wonky Square' die

- the sentiment was stamped directly onto the image - there was a nice bit of white space there - using a clear stamp from Personal Impressions' 'Many Greetings' set and a Memento 'Northern Pine' ink pad

I'd also like to enter these into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge where this week it's 'all wrapped up', and also into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra where it's always 'anything goes'.

And nope, I ain't showin' you the failure - but it's leering at me on the desk here until I do something to salvage it. I hate admitting defeat, not to say wasting a LOTV topper the same as I used today :(

Di
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Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 117

Wahoo, we actually had sunshine in the Playground at times this week - happy dance here.

Straight in, here's my snippets card:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- an adorable stamp I bought a while ago, one of those you sigh over for ages before risking playing with it in case you don't do it justice. It's foam mounted and made by Whimsy Stamps, called 'Wyanet' which means 'beautiful' in North American Indian apparently - and she totally stole my heart. Coloured with Pro Markers, some tickles of Adirondack 'Aqua' ink pad and a cloud template (which have disappeared in the photo) and then die cut with the largest of the Nesties 'Floral Ovals' die set

- I used SU's 'Coastal Cabana' card stock to back the patterned papers which are one whole 'kind of flowery' sheet and a striped snippet, both from a Raspberry Road' 'Love Lives Here' paper pad, free gift with Quick Cards Made Easy magazine. The 'belly band' hides the fact that the striped snippet wasn't wide enough for the card so I halved it and just stuck it onto either end of the full width 'Coastal Cabana' backing strip and the image hides the gap

- the feathers were die cut from a selection of teeny snippets I dug out from the snippets folder, I used a Memory Box die called 'Wild Feathers' and just tied a snippet of twine round them. Ha, that turquoise feather was in and out of the set more often than a fiddlers elbow - in the end I left it in for a touch of brighter colour and to pull the turquoise 'Coastal Cabana' together :)

- the sentiment is LOTV from the 'Dreamy Days' set, stamped using Memento 'Toffee Crunch' ink pad and then hand cut

- lastly I added coppery brown Josy Rose nail heads to three corners and a turquoise Josy Rose star-shaped nail head to Wyanet's head dress. There was a star there in the design already but I thought she might like a little bit of 'bling' and the nail head fitted perfectly

So onto this week's picks - and what a headache you gave me, as usual!

What a stunning scene, created by Sally who is so, so good at these.

How about this for an amazing way to use up snippets? So colourful and a brilliant design by Squirrel.

Amanda is a whizz at paper piecing and this card is a perfect example - I love it!

What a fantastic card, made by Pat - it reminds me so much of the place I still call home - Northumberland. Each step is explained in Pat's blog post - and at first I was convinced that those little cockle shells on either side of the 'Happy Birthday' were real ones.

Gosh I do so love this card, made by Viv. Every detail is just so right for such a soft and pretty make - beautiful!

Isn't this absolutely beautiful? Cathy R made this gorgeous card and the really clever trick is how she used the die as a stencil! All is explained in Cathy's blog post if you want to have a go :)

Sue made this perfect card for a chap. I love how you feel as if you're looking through a port hole at the passing schooner - great stuff!

And we had some super makes this week which just HAVE to be included as pop-up/exploding/flap/etc. boxes are absolutely all the rage just now:

This fun filled one was made by Mary Anne, for St. Patrick's Day.

And then Debs raced into the Playground, unaware of Mary Anne's box, with these:

 

What a fun way to use up snippets, AND Debs has kindly put some instructions on her blog post. Can we expect lots of boxes this coming week in the Playground then?

Whew, I could keep going but those are my picks for this week!

And, we have three new playmates too - yay!

Jan F, with this adorable card - and such a neat trick to cut a flower from the backing paper!

Janet popped in with this glorious bird - LOVE the tail feathers, such brilliant use of snippets.

And Lesley G hopped into the Playground waving this adorable card. What really amazed me is that I have this beautiful little stamp and Lesley's paper piecing would have been tiny and very fiddly to do!

Welcome to the Snippets Playground girls, hope you see you back again really soon :)

And now, the winner of the set of Patchwork Templates is:

 Karen P

Oh well done Karen! I know that Karen isn't too well right now and 'supposedly' taking things easier than usual - but this gal is one prolific card maker and never fails to enter the Playground each week. Hope it cheers you up Karen! I do have your address and will post the templates ASAP this week.

And this coming week's prize is of course your very own 'Wyanet' stamp, plus a Memory Box 'Wild Feathers' die set. I know that feathers are really popular right now and I dithered for ages over which set to buy, I love the big ones but plumped for the MB set as they aren't too big to go with an image :)

As usual, the snippets challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 29th March and will open again at midnight UK time on the same day. Maximum of three entries and please say 'No thank you' in a comment if you wish to still play but not be the winner of the prize. Of course, if you're really only interested in one part of the prize than say so and I'll do a second draw for whichever item you don't want.

Mr Linky is below - please let me know if you have any problems linking, I can sort it out for you quite quickly and am always happy to do so.

Have a great week - let's hope that the signs of Spring continue, but don't take your Winter vests off just yet! And, it's Rudolph Day beginning on Tuesday over at Sarn's. 

 
Di (and a wave from Parsnip)
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Going dotty

OK, some would say I'm already there and have the t-shirt to prove it :( What I really mean is that the current challenge over at Cuttlebug Mania is to use your manual die cutting/embossing machine (doesn't have to just be a Cuttlebug) and just 'Go dotty'. The girls over there are also celebrating their 1st Birthday - congratulations ladies!

So this is my entry:

I went for both die cutting and embossing - in for a penny and all that :)

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank

- a piece of white cardstock  to cover the whole front of the card, embossed using my trusty Cuttlebug and a Crafts-Too embossing folder called 'Dotty Frame'

- the leaves were die cut using a Thinlits die from Sizzix's 'Susan's Garden' set and a snippet of green dotty paper from Dovecraft's 'Back to Basics II' pack

- the flower is die cut using TH's 'Tattered Florals' die and a piece of mauve dotty paper from Dovecraft's 'Back to Basics' pack (I love how the Back to Basics paper packs mix and match so well)

- the leaves and flowers were rounded to give some dimension,  popped onto the card using sticky pads and then a white dotty Craftwork Cards Card Candi just popped onto the centre of the flower

No sentiment, I left it as CAS as possible. And it makes a change from Christmas cards too :)

Di
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Guess what, it's a pink Christmas card

No surprise there then, although it all evolved from the cute little pre-coloured image:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- pre-coloured image by The Hobby House from their 'Let it Snow' sheet of toppers, die cut with a Nesties oval die and then layered onto a slightly bigger hand cut SU 'Rose Red' oval - had these images for a good while and just found some the other day

- paler pink backing card is also SU ('Pretty in Pink')

- the 'Rose Red' corners were die cut using a Whimsy corner die

- pale turquoise snowflakes paper is from a Penelope and Percy paper pad and the curved pink patterned paper (cut after tracing round a small Pyrex bowl!) is by Marianne Designs from the 'Merry Little Christmas' paper pad - I've had these papers for ages and had almost forgotten about them

- sentiment is by Craftwork Cards, layered onto a circle of SU 'Rose Red' punched with SU's one and an eighth diameter punch

- the snowflake was die cut using Whimsy's 'Layered Snowflakes' die set, held together with a pink glass and silver coloured brad

- 'Crystal Ice' Stickles added at the end to the layered snowflake and image, along with some 'Liquid Pearls - Opal White' on the falling snow

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

Sketch N Stash Challenge 135, where this is the sketch to follow:

Winter Wonderland, where the current challenge is 'Girls, girls, girls'

Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for March - anything goes

Di
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O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,

This is one of my favourite German Christmas Carols, learned when we lived in Germany - ahem, many years ago now. So when I spotted this week's challenge over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge was to use some green on your card, it was a no-brainer and had to be a Christmas tree. And then I found a 2013 Christmas card just waiting to be upcycled - this was the result:

I used:

- A5 white card blank

- upcycled already slightly sparkled Christmas card, most of the front really, trimmed (including the sentiment, stroke of luck there) and popped onto a backing of SU 'Real Red'

- the ivy corners were die cut using a Joanna Sheen Signature die called 'Ivy Corner - SD066' and green Core'dinations card - and the greens match much more closely in real life :(

- the final touch was to echo the sparkle on the leaves in the card image onto the ivy corners. I mixed little squeezes of Stickles in 'Green, Lime Ice and TH Peeled Paint' together on a scrap of paper to get the right shade - each leaf is sparkled but they don't all show up well in the photo

Totally LOVE the ivy corner die, which I first spotted in use over at Sue P's blog. Of course there's also one in the Playground Toy Box as a future prize too :)

Di
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Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 116

Another week in the Snippets Playground just went whoosh! But, with 59 entries, many of you still found time to join in and play along - yay.

Here's my snippets make for this week:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square cream card blank

- the Stamps Away 'Patchwork Template Set One'. I'd seen Elizabeth using this set here and immediately sent away for it - this is the first play and I totally LOVE it!

- a snippet of red card, SU's 'Cherry Cobbler' I think

- snippets from DCWV's fabulous 'Mariposa' stack  for the corners and I broke into a fresh sheet for the centre :( The corners have faux stitching (added using the fine end of a red Whispers pen)

- I then fussy cut another big butterfly to sit over the slightly chopped off one (ack, from ANOTHER whole sheet!) and the little butterfly did at least come from the original whole sheet I'd used. But, thinking about it, I've been treasuring this stack and using it very sparingly like a right little miser for years now - time to get in there and use it!

- the sentiment is from the 'Friendship Ticket Sentiments' set by Whimsy Stamps, inked using Memento 'Espresso Truffle' and then fussy cut. I do have the matching ticket die but it's much faster by hand :)

- Josy Rose nail heads in a couple of the corners

Onto the week's picks:

Such a pretty card made by Elizabeth, what really caught my eye (apart from how lovely it is all told) is the offsetting of the ovals - clever!

Mary H brought this stunning card, would you believe that fabulous butterfly was made using the metal from a soda can? Love it!

I totally adore this soft and gentle card, made by Greta - wonderful use of snippets!

Darnell can always be relied on to come up with innovative ways to use up those scraps we might just throw away! Not just the letters but also the pop out pieces 'from the Ayes and the Peas' as she so neatly puts it!

Wahoo, isn't this just a fabulous way to use up little strips of snippets and then emboss them? Made by Carol L and such a lovely splash of colour - just like a quilt waiting to be snuggled under. Gorgeous.

Jean made this amazing card using snippets of 'dry wall tape' - how clever it that then? I'm off to our local 'pound store' for a nose around their DIY section later on!

Right at the last minute, Linby raced into the Playground waving this fabulous card. Love those diamond shapes and brilliant paper piecing, oh how I love the dress and hat!

Once again, every single snippets entry was terrific - there are sooooo many ideas. I can't urge you strongly enough to take time to check out what your playmates have been up to - I learn so much every single week.

Right, now for the winner of last week's two Penny Black stamps:

Sue P

Well done Sue! I think you'll have some good fun playing with these stamps :) Can you please drop me an email with your snail mail address (di_wray@hotmail.com) - I thought I still had it but searching has proved fruitless :(

And this week's prize is perfect for 'snippets busting' - so many shapes and sizes to play with:

Yes, it's that fabulous Stamps Away Patchwork Template set, just like the one I used today. Although I used papers from one pack you could mix and match to your heart's content, the possibilities are endless :) And, I'd thought you'd have to wield a craft knife - not so, just draw round the apertures and hand cut, easy peasy!

As usual, the snippets challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 22nd March and will open again at midnight UK time on the same day. Maximum of three entries and please say 'No thank you' in a comment if you wish to still play but not be the winner of the prize.

Mr Linky is below - please let me know if you have any problems linking, I can sort it out for you quite quickly and am always happy to do so.

Have a great week - Spring is in the air here, at long last.

Di (and a wave from Parsnip)
x

When the sun shines - make Christmas cards

In truth, the day was dull, cold and misty when I started on these cards the other day, but the sun broke through just before lunch time. Please note I used the word these - made four all the same in my quest to keep ahead of the game and produce at least 12 Christmas cards each month, wahoo!!

I used:

- A6 white card blank

- SU 'Coastal Cabana' card stock

- white card stock, embossed using Crafts-Too's 'Snowflake Banner' embossing folder

- image is SU from their 'For the Birds' set, stamped in Memento 'Tuxedo Black' and coloured with Pro Markers PLUS Pro Marker clip-on ultra fine nibs. The image is so small and detailed that was a must! Little touch of silver pen on the bauble

- 'Crystal Ice' Ice Stickles for the icy ground and 'White Opal' Liquid Pearls' for the snowflakes round the image

I have to credit our playmate Eve with the ideas for the colouring, Stickles and Liquid Pearls - I remembered her lovely card using the same stamp from before last Christmas and took inspiration from that. The link will take you to her latest snowy snippets card, I love it!

I'd like to enter this into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge where it's 'Spread your Wings' this week - and also into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra where it's always 'anything goes'.

I'm out playing with a friend this afternoon - she wants me to show her how to transfer images onto candles. That should be fun :)

Di
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Inspired by Sarn

My lovely buddy Sarn has recently really caught my eye by adding 'tabs' to her cards. A great way to just add that finishing touch - and also to use up snippets. This card really made me giggle yesterday over at Sarn's - just look at how Daisy the cow wrote the sentiment with her tail!

So here's my take on using a couple of tabs:

I used:

- A6 white card blank

- the pre-coloured image is from a Little Claire sheet of toppers called 'Garden Shelves', cut down with a Nesties oval die

- aubergine card from the snippets folder, embossed using a Quickutz folder called 'Flowers'

- the little tabs were made using snippets of SU's 'Certainly Celery' and white card stock and SU punches

- flowers were punched from the sliver of aubergine card stock I had left and just topped with a white pearl on each

Love how those tabs work - thanks again for the inspiration Sarn!

Di
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Little Christmas Angel

The current challenge over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge is 'Spread your wings' and Hazel wants to see some wings on our cards. I have lots of birdies I could have used but instead opted for this little cutie:

I used:

- 5" x 7" pre-foiled dark green card blank, I'm almost sure these also came from Lakeland Limited in the good old days

- a pre-coloured image from LOTV's 'Christmas Angels' Art Pad - to be honest I think she looks a bit more like a little fairy, but she does have wings of course :) - with a teeny bit of Glamour Dust on said wings

- the image was die cut using a Nesties oval die with just a little bit of one wing overlapping the edge and then mounted onto a Spellbinders Floral Oval, die cut using SU 'Real Red' card stock

- backing paper is also LOTV from their 'Classic Christmas' paper pad, liked how it matches the big parcel on the image, and I used a scalloped corner punch just to soften the corners a bit

Whilst everything was out it made sense to make a further two cards exactly the same - and so I did just that :)

This is also for Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra, where it's always 'anything goes'.

Di
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