Froggy candy cane

The current challenge over at Merry Monday is to include 'Christmas Food' on your card, and I almost missed joining in :( I have less Christmas food images here than you can count on the fingers of one hand, so I went hunting online. One image really tickled me, an anxious turkey holding a placard saying 'Eat ham' (for our American friends, many people tend to eat turkey over here at Christmas, much as turkey is traditional for Thanksgiving in the USA).

Then, I found another image online, perhaps less emotive and very cute - this is the card that resulted, and we do know a few 'froggy folk' who would probably like this one, as opposed to an anxious turkey waving a placard:

 

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank

- free pre-coloured image of the frog hugging a candy cane, from My Cute Graphics.

- patterned papers from Dovecraft's modern 'Back to Basics' Christmas pack

- SU's 'Wild Wasabi' green card for the backings and die cut surrounds

- SU's 'Wild Wasabi' ink pad and a sentiment from Banana Frog's 'Winter Wonderland' clear stamp set

- then came the point where Dumbo almost wrecked the flipping card :( Applied Marvy 'Liquid Applique' to froggy's hat trim and left it to dry overnight - so far, so good. Had already had a practise on a spare piece of card which worked fine but this time mistakenly used the heat gun on the high setting - snigger, it puffed up fine but almost looked like the slightly browned top of a lemon meringue pie, overheated! Ran three times round the walls in despair and then just picked the offending applique off and covered the trim area with clear 'Wink of Stella' before adding Glossy Accents to the candy cane

Isn't it odd how a card that seems to be very straightforward can give you serious palpitations? :(

Di
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LOVE is forever and a new (to me) technique

Almost a year ago I bought this stamp set and it's a first outing for it:

I wanted to use a technique that Sheena Douglass showed on Create and Craft TV quite a while back and thought this set was good for a first try.

I used:

- white DL card blank

- black card stock for the frame

- white card stock to stamp onto (in fact I generally cut a matching card blank up to get exactly the right shade of white - whoever knew there where so many shades of white huh?!). And of course I keep the other half with the rest of the same card blanks for another time

- a snippet of white card for the rose head to try out this 'ere technique. I used a rose stamp as well as also used 'Ruby Red' from my Twinkling H2O's. What you do is to spray the H2O paint and let the pot stand for a while until it goes creamy, as you would normally. Then, using a flat headed bristle brush carefully paint all over the stamp, much as you would if you inked it up. Then stamp onto the snippet of white card - I found I needed to press really firmly for a good image. Then, take a water brush (or you could use water and an ordinary paint brush) and just pull the colour in from the stamped outline, following the natural shading

- then I allowed the rose head to dry thoroughly before fussy cutting round it

- the barbed wire stem was stamped using Brilliance 'Starlite Black - looks more like a greyish silver to me, just the colour I wanted, and the wording was stamped using Brilliance 'Graphite Black'

- after the card was all trimmed and assembled I just popped the rose head on using Collall glue

And much to my 'well knock me over with a feather' surprise, the in-house critic really liked the result! I thought he might think the barbed wire was a bit weird but it got the thumbs up :)

I know the technique probably isn't new to lots of you, and we do use other mediums such as Distress Inks in a similar way, but this really has made me look at those sad little neglected H2O's and several other stamps in a new light. Certainly worth a try if you also haven't tried it yet :) Just be prepared for the watered down H2O to be quite a lot paler than the outline of course, something to think of when picking colours to use.

Been busy here doing other things besides crafting so I'll be playing catch up on Playground commenting today, if I haven't already done so!

Di
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A mini journal

At the WOYWW crop on Saturday, Sam gave me the most fabulous 'handcrafted with her own fair hands' notebook - leather bound and so beautifully handstitched:

I absolutely LOVE it but there's a thing about me and new blank books, probably going back to childhood. Am always scared to actually use them!

But, when chatting to my buddy Sarn via the wonders of the airwaves on Monday, she suggested I could use it as a mini journal. Brilliant idea - the book is just less than A6 in size and much less daunting than the A4 sized journal I already have here.

Yesterday I had a little play, just the facing page - using colours to pick up the lovely floral lining of the book and a quotation that I think sums up how this little mini-journaling adventure should be undertaken:

I used:

- the mini journal of course

- Tim Holtz 'Scattered Straw' DI ink pad and a sponge applicator (tip, I slotted a piece of white paper underneath the page to stop any stray ink being spread onto the edges of other pages)

- Brilliance 'Pearlescent Ivy' ink pad and a stamp from the Inkylicious 'Bullrush' set

- Brilliance 'Rocket Red' ink pad and one of LOTV's 'Quotables' stamps from the 'Life's Journey' set

- Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad and the little bird stamps which are also from the Inkylicious 'Bullrush' set

God bless this ship and all who sail in her - watch this space :)

Di
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Less is More Week 173 - die cut

The current challenge over at Less is More is to use a die cut. I went for Christmas, and used two dies:

I used:

- 7" x 5" white card blank

- SU's 'Tempting Turquoise' card stock

- white card stock

- Memory Box 'Flurry Wreath' stamp, stamped using SU's 'Tempting Turquoise' ink pad then die cut using the matching Memory Box 'Flurry Wreath' die. Little tip about cutting out using this, below the list of ingredients. I used little sticky pads to make the wreath 'pop' a bit when I added it to the card - thereby shoving it up to Large Letter rate of course, sigh :(

- Memory Box 'Crisp Bow' die cut from SU's 'Tempting Turquoise' card stock

- sentiment was stamped straight onto the card using a stamp from Woodware's 'Bubble Wreath' set and SU's 'Tempting Turquoise' ink pad

Again, as all the goodies were out to play with, I made two cards the same.

Almost forgot the little tip - the Memory Box die I used is beautiful, but as it's a solid die (rather than just a frame) it needs a different approach to placement.

What I did was to stamp the wreath first onto white card and set that aside. Then, made a template by using the matching die to cut a spare piece of thinnish card.

Next step is to position the card template over the stamped image, making sure all the snowflakes are evenly lined up within the aperture of the template.  This piccie below was taken after the card was finished but should show what I mean about alignment of the template you made:

See, the template is fitted over the stamped wreath. Once you're happy with the alignment just use a couple of small bits of low tack tape to hold the template in place over the image and then get the die in your little mitts again and 'lock' it into place cutting side down within the template - you'll feel when it pops into place. Use a little more low tack tape to hold the sandwich of image, template and die together and run thorough die cutting machine as normal. Bingo!

Another way is to use the holes you see outside the die shape in the above photo to mark and then reposition the die without leaving the template in the 'sandwich'. Ask me how I know that's not as accurate :)

Di
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'Christmas in your country'

............that's the theme over over Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge this week. A quick rootle through my 'box of Christmas cards to upcycle' produced a few typically British images, village scenes, red post boxes and LOADS of robins. The robins were chirping calling to me so I picked one out and this is the result:

I know robins aren't exclusive to the UK, we've seen them in sunny Spain in the middle of Summer and no doubt they live in many other places too - but, for me, they're synonymous with Christmas here. 

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- red satin mirri card and a sheet of robins backing paper from a pad of My Mind's Eye 'Snowed In Winter Papers' - free ages ago (2011 is the date on the pad!) with Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine

- the main image was die cut using a Nesties oval die then layered onto white card cut using the largest die in the Spellbinder Floral Ovals set

Quite a quick card to make once I found the backing paper, and the image itself is so lovely I didn't want to detract too much from it. 

I'd also like to enter this into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra where it's always 'anything goes'.

I tried out the new Spellbinders Tool 'n One for the first time to clean the bits out of the Floral Ovals die. Verdict? I really like it but be prepared to possibly still have to poke a couple of stubborn pieces out of the die at the end - and (despite me thinking I was being a bit extravagant) I also like the foam pad you can get to go with it. Had wondered if the back of a mouse mat would be just as good but I'm converted to both the tool and the foam mat.

Sorry if I'm tempting you to spend your pennies - you can live without it, after all it's been a long time coming anyhow! It's just a time and sanity saver really.

Di

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Playground picks and prize draw result

Time for the weekly picks and the draw for last week's prize. But first of all, what a fun time was had at the WOYWW Crop yesterday. Fabulous company, lots of fun and laughter - as well as a gorgeous lunch and loads of delicious cakes throughout the day......and some crafting of course, almost forgot that bit. Thank you so much Jan and Julia, what stars you are!

In all the excitement I only took a couple of photos - this first one is to show the amount of stuff that our playmate Sam brings along with her, and Fergus of course:

And that doesn't include the two fabulous quilts she also brought to let us see - the tiny bit of stuff in the bottom right hand corner is mine I must admit :)

I wanted to do a 'before and after', so late on in the afternoon I took this photo:

Isn't this a lovely photo of the Playground Scallywag - and in fact there wasn't as much (ahem) 'mess' as I'd expected either! We were both a bit high on the Collall glue though :)

Over the whole day I only coloured six images I'd stamped to take along. First job was to guide Sam in making a pop up box card and lots of the rest of the time was spent chatting, eating and tootling round the room to see what everyone else was up to - basically, just being a 'sticky beak' makes me happy!

Right, onto this week's Playground Picks:

 

Our Sarn made this lovely card, and it's actually here with me in the flesh (or should that be in the card)! A great technique using an ordinary wax crayon to resist the ink - who needs expensive goodies to make such an impact huh?

Such a sweet card, made by Shaz. Plenty of snippets used here and a really cute image!

I love this card, made by Linby. Brilliant paper piecing and even the teeny little headband is paper pieced! I think I'd have resorted to a fine marker - but it really was so worth the fiddly cutting.

Loads of lovely snippets were used by Carol L on this beautiful card - love the colours combinations and such a great idea to create the herringbone background.

Fabulous little flowers by the dozen on this lovely card, made by Kim. Someone else with loads of patience.

And, I think you'll agree, this is the star of my picks - made by Viv. Who would believe this fabulous jar started out life as a humble marmalade jar? Amazing!

That was a quick canter through this week, every single entry was worthy of being a 'pick' - so to check out what everyone made - remember you can always go back and look at last week's entries.

And the winner of last week's stamps and LOTV Art Pad images to colour is:

Irene

I have your address Irene and will post your prize off this week. Well done!

That's all for today folks, remember that the Snippets Playground is back to the usual routine this coming week - and you can join in here.

Di
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Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 126

Remember I said that the Playground post will be a bit different this week? With luck I'll have been down in Wiltshire having fun with Sam when the Playground closed so this post is just my snippets card, a peek at what's to be won this coming week - and of course the all important Mr Linky!

On Monday I'll publish the weekly picks and do the Random number draw for last week's prize. I can't see there being another snippets card from me though :)

Anyhow, this is my snippets card for today - and I made two at the same time while everything was out on the desk:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square cream card blank

- backing paper from LOTV's 'Country Lady' paper pad

- cream card snippet stamped using a Stampendous stamp I wanted for ages, called 'Snowy Postcard', I used VersaFine 'Vintage Sepia' to stamp with. Just coloured the holly leaves with a red green Whispers pen and added some little red gems before tickling the oval on the 'postcard' plus some of the scene with 'Crystal' Glamour Dust - not that it really shows up in the photo, sigh :(

- used Joanna Sheen's Signature die called 'Ivy Corner' and snippets of green card just to add extra interest. The lovely thing about this die is that you can snip it up easily if you don't want a full corner embellishment - so I 'snipped'

AND, today is the start of another Rudolph Day challenge over at Sarn's so I'd like to enter my cards - and just to prove I made two:

It seems weird not to be writing about the weekly picks here, but I do like to have every entry in before making a final choice - even though I do keep a little list running during the week, when I remember!

So, let's move straight onto this coming week's prize, but I do know some of you have one or both parts already:

Yup, it's stamp and a die, the same the ones as I used today :)

As usual, the snippets challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 31st May 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. The prize IS both the stamp and the die, but if you only fancy one of the items just say so in a comment and I'll do a second draw if you win for the other. But, you can have both if you wish :)

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 weather had been so varied here in the playground, so bring wellies and your swimwear, just in case!

Di (and a wave from Parsnip)
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Pop up box card for a 'Little Knight'

A little neighbour is five today, it promises to be a fun afternoon as his Birthday party is being held in a 'party bus'. For the uninitiated, it's an old London double decker bus which has been converted into a 'party bus'. The idea is that you can hold a childrens' party in a safe, well padded (snigger) and self-contained area with usually a slide from the top deck down to the lower deck, 'ball pools' to play in, other activities and they also supply food and drink if required.The bus parks outside the front of your house and better still, there's no clearing up afterwards. Neat idea! Maybe we need one for the Snippets Playground on wet days?

I made this card for the little chap - it's really hard to see all the elements but there's a castle in the background against cloud patterned paper, a dragon, a little knight and a couple of other toppers, all popped up on acetate strips:

I used:

- an A4 sheet of SU 'Baja Breeze' to make the basic box

-  a mixture of papers from three paper packs to decorate - 'Serif's 'Picnic in the Park', 'Let's Fly Away' (free with Quick Cards Made Easy magazine ages ago) and Echo Park's 'Hello Summer'

- then I set to with a couple of packs of toppers, bought in Hobbycraft, with a knight and dragon theme and strips of acetate to create the 3-D scene and the remaining stickers just decorated the flaps

- the only extra things I did was to pop the number 5 over the existing number 1 on the little knight banner and also added the little chap's name to the front flap by stamping with SU's 'Pacific Point' ink onto a snippet of 'Baja Breeze' card and then punching out the circles using one of SU's 'Itty Bitty' punches. The stamps are from a letters and numbers set made by Craftwork Cards - really with their card candi in mind

- oh, and I stamped Happy Birthday on the back of the box, using Inca Stamp's ''Dot Birthday' and SU's 'Real Red' ink pad - then added the last remaining 'Little Knight' for luck :) 

All that remains is to find my ear plugs ready for a couple of hours of fun and games :)

I already had this card in mind for Taylor but it was also a good way to remind myself of the measurements and make a template as well as measure, fold and cut a basic box as Sam (Hettie) wants to have a try at making one on Saturday.  I can see some more fun and games ahead!!

Di
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Flutter by... ...butterfly

Here's today's card:

Having recently bought some 'Gelatos', it was a good chance to try them out. I only bought the 'Tropical' set - which is just as well as the jury is still out here on how much I like them.

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- a snippet of SU's 'Rich Razzleberry' card stock

- white card stock, embossed using the Embossalicious Die'sire 'Swirl Corner' folder

- the sentiment was stamped using an Elzybells stamp (now discontinued) and SU 'Rich Razzleberry' ink pad

- flowers were stamped with Versamark and then embossed with Stampendous black embossing powder - the stamp is from SU's 'Secret Garden' set. Then the flowers were coloured using 'Watermelon' and 'Raspberry' Gelatos. First tip, you do need to use silky finished card otherwise when you rub to spread the colour (even with water), matt card will 'pill' - I used white Clarity Coated/Silk finish card stock. I coloured the flowers before fussy cutting them. Then they were attached to the background with small sticky pads and a medium sized black gem popped onto the centre of each flower

- final touch, two little sparkly butterfly stickers (bought from Accessorize ages ago) plus a little black gem on each of the butterfly heads

Wanna laugh? I was putting Spike the hedgehog's food out last night 'cos he's now a nightly visitor. There I was, stood standing in me PJs with food dish in one hand and water dish in the other - dilly dallying over whether the food dish should be to the left or right of the water dish. Suddenly someone appeared behind me brandishing a set of cutlery and a napkin saying 'Do you think sir/madam would like a slice of lemon and some ice in the water as well once the table has been set?'. Snort - the very same person is out of bed like a rocket to peek outta the window at the first sound of a dish rattling or the outside lights going on to mark the arrival of Spike!

Di
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Less is More - 'Flowers'

The current challenge over at Less is more is 'Flowers'. I have a gazillion flower stamps here but decided to try out a new die instead. That's when the fun began:

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank

- a Memory Box 'Wild Blooms' die. Looking at the die before attempting to cut it, the asses ears went up here :( It's a lovely die but ALL of the petals cut separately - sheesh. First I thought about using the die as a stencil (one for the future), then I thought about just backing the outline with coloured card - but that would have been waaaaaay too easy. First of all I cut the die into the front of the card blank and decided I wanted to 'inset' the stems and flowers and there were a lot of little petals to play with - did I really need to get the glue pen out to stick each one individually?

Then I had one of those 'I'm not really as stupid as I look' moments and backed the die cut aperture with Woodware double sided sticky film and added a piece of white card behind (ie. inside the front of the card, cut just a little bit smaller than 5" x 5"). That left me with a nice lot of sticky little apertures. I die cut the stems using a snippet of SU's 'Certainly Celery' card stock and popped those into place - easy as it's just one piece. Next I die cut the flower heads portion using a snippet of  SU's 'Perfect Plum' card stock and very carefully lifted the cutting plates apart so as many pieces stayed in place as possible. That meant, apart from a few stray pieces, that it was easy peasy just to pick up one little piece at a time and pop it onto the card in its rightful place rather than trying to figure out what went where.
 
- the sentiment was stamped using a favourite stamp from a Stampendous set called 'Happy Messages' and a Memento 'Elderberry' ink pad, then punched using SU's 'Word Window' punch and popped onto a backing which was punched using SU's 'Modern Label' punch

I've managed to catch up on Playground commenting, Monday was such a glorious day I was out and about quite a bit :) Then I came home and just collapsed relaxed in the sunshine!

Di
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Double 'upcycling'

Last Christmas we were sent this gorgeous shop bought card:

I love this beautifully designed and sparkled card and carefully kept it to upcycle. So, the other day I chopped it in half:

And made two cards:

For this card I used:

- DL white card blank

- bottom portion of the original shop bought card

- matt dark green and red mirri satin card 'frames'

- a few Josy Rose silver star nail heads (one was to hide a little mark)

 And for this card I used:

- A6 white card blank

- the top portion of the shop bought card, turned sideways and die cut

- a matt dark green frame, also die cut

- stamped sentiment using a stamp from the Stampendous 'Reindeer Swirls' set and Brilliance 'Pearlescent Ivy' ink pad

So from a very much loved original I ended up with two smaller cards for the box here. I could tell you who originally sent it as it's someone we all know and love - but that would be telling! I wonder if I dare send one of these back this coming Christmas :)

I'd like to enter these into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge where the theme is 'Festive flowers and/or foliage' - as well as Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra where it's always 'Anything goes'.

Di
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Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 125

Fabulous weather here in the Playground - I just found discarded shoes, socks, sweaters and leggings scattered here and there, plus there's some ominous splashing and giggling coming from the duck pond! The ducks have taken flight :(

It's a girly snippets card this week:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- the image is from LOTV's pre-coloured Art Pad 6 called 'Fairies' and this particular image is 'Positively Pampered' - die cut with a Nesties die and a tickle of clear Wink of Stella added to the wings

- patterned papers are one whole whole sheet and a snippet from Wild Rose Studio's 'Annabelle's Meadow' paper pack

- all the purple, pale green and bright pink card came from the snippets folder

- the leaves and flowers were punched from snippets using a couple of different flower punches and a Martha Stewart foliage punch, then layered onto the card and white card candi popped onto the centres of the flowers

- the sentiment is by Whimsical Designs from the 'Whimsical Fun - Vol. 1' set, stamped using a Memento 'Elderberry ink pad then punched with SU's 'Large Oval' before being popped onto a scalloped pink oval, punched using SU's 'Scallop Oval'

And onto this week's picks, although as always it's such a tough choice so your best bet is to go also to last week's Mr Linky thumbnails and hop around to see for yourselves:

I chose this card, made by Jenny, because of all the lovely elements used and it's in keeping with this week's theme of 'cards for kids'. Also, Jenny is still in a lot of pain and a visit from you would cheer her up - so long as you don't play too rough :)

Truth be told, I could feature a card from Jules (our lovely Founder) every single week and this card is just one stunning example of how cleverly Jules uses up snippets - it's absolutely divine and should have you running for your snippets of patterned papers :)

Hazel made this adorable handbag/purse card - so, so pretty and very eye catching!

I think Sam takes the prize for sheer intricacy, layers and volumes of different snippets this week with this absolutely beautiful card. I already asked her to make one like it for my 50th Birthday, snigger :)

Ileana makes such beautiful cards and this is no exception. I actually commented and then went straight back for a closer look before commenting further - see the chair, it's paper pieced to pull it together with the background papers. Clever stuff!

This card, made by Mo, leapt out at me as well. I think it's a beautiful card and made all the more so by the flower embellishments which echo the background paper.

Some little wag remarked that almost all of last week's picks had flowers on them, I hadn't even realised that - so here are  few without any flowers at all to balance things out!

Christine made this beautiful card, I do love all those layers and the richness of the deep pink - perfectly complimented by that luscious bow!

I love the simple yet stunning design of this card, made by Greta. A perfect way to use up a selection of snippets!

Amanda made this great card, all using snippets. Gosh it brought back memories of impatiently waiting for the image to appear on Polaroid photos :)

And Sue J really came up trumps with this card, just perfect for a little chap! Love it!

We have one new playmate this week as well - Flora has been peeking through the fence at us for ages and finally came to play, yay!

Flora's posts are often very funny so you'll be sure to come away with a smile on your face! Make sure you come back again soon Flora.

Now it's time to run the Random number thingy to see who won the dies from last week, and it's:

AJ

 

Well done AJ! I found that I still have your address so will post your prize off to you ASAP :)

And this coming week's prize is:

Yup, it's the actual LOTV 'Positively Pampered' stamp the same as the pre-coloured image I used today (kindly donated by Sarn), plus another little cutie of a stamp set by S.W.A.L.K called 'Little Madam' (kindly donated by Sandra H) AND a set of 10 LOTV uncoloured images the same as the 'Vintage Boys' set here (kindly donated by Sarah of Sazzle Dazzle). I don't think LOTV sell printed uncoloured images any longer, which is a shame as they do allow you to vary the colours you use. So that little lot of stamps and images should be a help to anyone making cards for girls and boys - and in fact the Vintage Boys images are good for older chaps too I think. I took the goodies out of their shiny packetsjust to take the photo as the light was bouncing on them! OK, sales pitch over :)

As usual, the snippets challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 24th May 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. The prize IS both stamp sets (they each come with their own sentiment) and the uncoloured LOTV images, but if you only fancy one or two of the items just say so in a comment and I'll do a second draw/third if you win for the item not on your wish list. But, you can have all three if you wish :)

And there's a little change for this coming week- but it won't affect opening and closing times. I always finish or even totally do the Playground write-up on a Saturday morning and next Saturday (24th) it's the WOYWW Crop so I'll be away playing (with Sam, yay!!) for the whole day. However, the Playground will open and close as per normal with a new Mr Linky at midnight on the Saturday and I'll be including my snippets card and details of the new prize on offer in that fresh Playground post.

Then, on the Monday I'll post the name of the winner of this week's goodies (I need to have all entries in when I run the Random selection thingy of course!) as well as the weekly picks. Bet this is as clear as mud :(

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 - keep those snippets coming :)

Di (and a wave from Parsnip)
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Quick heads up

I FINALLY listed some craft stuff (only a few items) on my for sale page here just to see if there really is any interest :)

Di
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Christmas Star

I made this card for the current challenge over at Merry Monday, which is 'Stars':

And I made two cards the same while everything was out and scattered over the desk :)

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- a layer of SU's 'Tempting Turquoise' card stock, I love the freshness of this colour - from the 'Brights' range

- white card stock, cut slightly smaller than the turquoise background card and then a star die cut from the centre, using a die from MFT's plain stars set, before adding the white on top of the turquoise layer

- then I added the sentiment using a stamp from the Personal Impressions 'Many Greetings' set and a Memento 'Teal Zeal ink pad

- the filigree star was die cut from sparkly card using a Marianne Creatables die from the Christmas Baubles set number LR0183, then run through the Xyron before being popped into the centre of the turquoise star

- finishing touch is a silver bow with a little silver bell dangling from it

It's Friday today so I bet many of you are breathing a big sigh of relief ready for the weekend, let's hope the fine weather continues. Here in the UK it's been lovely for a few days! Almost time to ditch the vests and liberty bodices girls :)

Di
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You 'Cane' Light the Way

I remember rootling through a 'Hobby Lobby' bargain bin with the lovely Kay in Santa Fe, over 18 months ago now, and her coming up trumps with a House Mouse stamp, tucked right away at the bottom of the bin. Kay squealed that it was shouting for me to buy it so I let it jump straight into the shopping trolley (cart) without any hesitation :) And this week I used it for the very first time, slap my wrists for waiting so long:

 I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- House Mouse stamp 'You Cane Light The Way', coloured with Polychromos pencils then die cut with a Nesties circle die, plus a tickle of Glossy Accents on the light bulbs

- popped the image onto a doily die cut from SU's 'Always Artichoke' card stock using Cheery Lynn's 'French Pastry' die

- backing papers are LOTV's 'Woodland Wishes' with SU's Always Artichoke' card stock for matting

- the corners were die cut using a Whimsy corner dieand Josy Rose nail heads added

- sentiment is by Craftwork Cards, popped onto an oval of SU's 'Always Artichoke' 

I tend to hesitate when I look at my House Mouse stamps 'cos of all the small detail but using Polychromos pencils made this like a walk in the park - or should that be a walk along a tightrope. Those pencils really are a joy to use - so much so, I made two the same!

This card is for Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge 'Let it shine' as well as Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra 'Anything goes'.

Another two for the stock of 2014 Christmas cards - now reached 54, yay!

Di
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