Happy Silver Wedding Anniversary!

Today it's the Silver Wedding Anniversary of a very special friend and of course her hubby! With luck she might have opened this card before she sees this post:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- silver sparkly self adhesive film added to white card for the backing

- Centura white pearl card embossed with Crafts-Too's 'Lattice' folder

- the heart was die cut first using white Centura pearl card and a plain Memory Box die called 'Cupid Heart'

- then I cut the top layer using a Memory Box die called 'Heart of Hearts' and more sparkly silver film card. I do love this die but if you fancy it, do be aware that it doesn't actually cut the main heart shape, I had to run the card through the Cuttlebug again using the Cupid Heart. I reckon that another time it would be best to cut the main heart shape first and then use the die for all the little hearts - but time wasn't on my side and I only had a little bit of the silver film left which wasn't enough to play with

- then I cut a couple of red hearts using the same 'Heart of Hearts' die and popped them back into a couple of cut outs on the big heart shape

- after adding the big layered heart to the card I gathered up the little silver heart shaped cutouts and popped them onto each intersection of the white embossed background

- the sentiment is Craftwork Cards - I have no Silver Wedding stamps or peel offs, but there's plenty of silver going on anyhow :)

- ribbon from my ribbon box with a heart shaped charm added using silver cord

Hope you're both having a fabulous day - and here's to the next 25 years!

Di
x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 144

Here's my snippets card for Week 144:

I used:

- white DL card blank

- a plain orange piece of card from the snippets folder as a backing

- the background was me going totally slightly crazy with Brushos (brown, scarlet and yellow) - which were then sprayed with 'Heirloom Gold' Perfect Pearls and also 'Pearl' Glimmer Mist, eek, that really spread the colour around. In a panic I grabbed a couple of pieces of kitchen roll and folded them to blot the puddles up - and although it won't show in the photo - ended up with a lovely light gold textured effect. It's so true what Sarn and Kathy say - you have to just play about with Brushos and often there will be surprises!

- more snippets of orange/yellow were used to punch out the three butterflies (using a SU punch) before running them through an embossing folder called 'Bon Jour' by Couture Creations. The folder has a leaf pattern on, so that was my nod to continuing the idea of the butterflies looking like Autumn leaves :)

- once on the card they looked a bit odd without bodies, so I grabbed a snippet of gold mirri card and die cut three bodies using a Memory Box 'Isabella' die

- final touch - gold sequins tumbling down with the leafy butterflies. The sequins were die cut using a snippet of mirri gold card and a really useful die made by MFT Die-Namics called 'Sequins'

Right, a quick gallop through this week's picks:

I just love the simple elegance of this card, made by Jenny H!

Cathy R had been playing with metal sheet and alcohol inks - what a stunning result too.

So, I know a few of you have been running little production lines this past week - largely for Christmas. Sharon rocked me on my heels with her offering of 20 cards just like the one above. It's a tri-fold and those always take a good while to make. Great way to use up snippets!

This card by Liz really caught my eye - one that stands out in the crowd I think. See how cleverly the background embossing and the dots on the ribbon echo one another?

I picked this card, made by KT Fit Kitty because it's great use of snippets of course, but also I love how everything sort of 'pulls together'. 

That's the picks for this week I'm afraid. Things are busy here and it does take an age to do this weekly post, so I hope you won't mind it being shorter than usual. I have thought about changing the format but haven't reached a decision yet.

One thing I have noticed, and I've just checked again, as a result of last weeks picks only a total of four additional comments were left for the 'picked' snippets makes. I know it doesn't mean you don't go to visit but it does make me wonder if it would be just as easy to allow you to use the thumbnails in Mr Linky - without my intervention and the lengthy time it takes me each week to draw up the list of picks, whittle it down and then write and link into this post.

Anyhow, maybe there will be some feedback from you? I'm open to suggestions.

And now for the winner of the Papermania stamps set, glitter and ribbons:

x

And this coming week's prize:

Yup, it's a die cut set the same as the one I used today - MFT Die-Namics 'Sequins'. As I already said, these are great dieswith several sizes of plain and embossed sequin cuts which can be used on either mirri or plain card to perfectly compliment the rest of your creation.

As usual, the Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 4th October and will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say 'No thank you' or 'Yes please' in a comment if you wish to still play but not be the winner of the prize.

Important note - last week I had problems as peeps had forgotten to say 'No thanks' to the prize on offer. I'm not sure how to address this but it caused me quite a bit of extra work so, for now, unless you positively say 'Yes please' then I'll have to assume that you don't want to be in the prize draw.  Of course feel free to say no thanks just to reinforce things :)

Mr Linky is below - please let me know if you have any problems linking, it's easy for me to sort out so don't struggle on alone :)

Have a great week!
 
Di (and the usual happy wave from Parsnip of course)
x

Rudolph Day - September 2014

There are some Christmas challenges I absolutely try my utmost not to miss, and this card actually fits FOUR in one go!

Rudolph Day September 2014 over at Sarn's - I made two of the same card :)

Merry Monday, where it's Christmas Bingo, I chose the left hand vertical column, sparkle, die cut and red:

Crafthazelnut's Christmas Challenge - where you have to make a card in 20 minutes or less, once you have stuff out ready on your desk. To be honest I thought I wouldn't manage that but was amazed at how fast I could work when everything was already to hand, the card design was planned and I wasn't dithering around. 30 minutes for two identical cards, so I think 20 minutes for one is about right 'cos the second one is always a bit faster?!

And, Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra, where it's always 'Anything goes' 

This was the result:

And to prove, for Sarn, that I made two cards:

I used:

- A6 tent style white card blank, with lower corners rounded using a We Are Memory Keepers Corner Chomper

- the top three quarters of the card front was embossed using Cuttlebug's 'Snowflakes' folder sideways on, then I used the Hougie Board to score across the slight mark that had been left by the edge of the embossing folder. In fact that worked well (I thought) to create a nice division between the embossing and the plain part of the card where the sentiment was to be stamped - harrumph, even though the scored line doesn't show up in the photos!

- I used SU's 'Real Red' ink pad and an Inkylicious sentiment called 'Winter Wonderland'

- next came the snowflakes, I'd covered some white card stock with clear sparkly film and using a die set called 'Layered Snowflakes' by Whimsy cut out three snowflakes for each card (thankfully all in one go per card as die cutting through card topped with sparkly film takes a good few passes and some determination). The snowflakes were glued using 'Glossy Accents' and topped off with Aurora Borealis sparkly gems

Phew, then I truly needed a lie down to recover! Photographs, writing this post and also clearing away the stuff I used/sort of threw aside after I'd used it has taken MUCH longer!

Di
x

Last minute Lego card

I had to make a very last minute card for one of Len's great nephews - and boy/male cards are never easy for me so I turned to Pinterest and found some great ideas there for Lego cards. I well and truly CASE'd a card made by Tina, who is a SU Demonstrator over in Oz - thanks Tina! This was the result:

I used:

- A6 black card blank

- a layer of slightly smaller white card stock

- a layer of smaller again black card stock for the board - I ran it through the Cuttlebug using Cuttlebug's 'Swiss Dots' folder

- snippets of red, blue, yellow and green card - punched using SU's 1" square punch and SU's Itty Bitty round punch. Yay Irene, you were right - there are uses for that 1" square punch :)

- I didn't double layer the 'dots' as Tina did (lack of time as I said) but did add the white Signo pen curves to give the impression of dimension

- the 'happy birthday' sentiment was stamped using a stamp from the 'Happy Messages' set by Stampendous, and a Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad

Phew, despite a Birthday Book right behind my desk on an eye level shelf, it only works if you remember to check it!

Still really busy here - who would have thunk it would take so much just to prepare for a shower room and bedroom to be revamped. It's like a military operation for goodness sakes!

Di
x

Any takers? The result

In Sunday's Snippets Playground this prize was won, but declined:

I then did another draw using Mr Random, and this time contacted the 'next' potential winner - who also declined.

Rather than keep messing about doing more draws - it's now on offer to anyone (all three stamp sets, I won't split them)  who leaves a comment saying 'Yes please' in this blog post. If a few of you say 'yes please' then I'll do a draw - after noon tomorrow (Tuesday 23rd September).

AND, you don't have to have played in the Playground, either last week or at all!

Edit: I actually had 10 peeps interested in these little cuties - so I ran the Random number generator and it picked out comment number two, which was left by :

Hazel

And thank you so much to the other nine of you girls who left comments saying 'yes please'! Can you please let me have your snail mail address Hazel (di_wray@hotmail.com).

I know a few of you have already been playing in the Playground, I'll apologise right now for not spending time hopping around to comment. It's busy here and getting busier but I'll be there ASAP! 

Di
x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 143

It's been a funny week for weather in the Playground, sometimes really quite hot and sunny yet at other times dank and misty. Autumn is on the way - and Spike thinks so too as he's visibly slowing down with less visits, and also he's eating less and less. Hibernation is beckoning him and the other little hedgies who pop in from time to time.

Anyhow, here's my snippets card for this week - and for a change the forthcoming this next week prize is totally unrelated. I was playing with Brushos the other day just using them as watercolours - and this was the result:

I used:

- an 8" x 8" card blank, cut down to make a tent style A6 sized card - and part of what was chopped off will now make two little 4" square cards as well

- a snippet of white watercolour card (Crafters Companion), Penny Black's 'Letters and flowers stamp and Ranger 'Jet Black' archival ink for stamping

- Brushos for the water colouring (a mix of turquoise and ultramarine plus emerald green and leaf green)

- the main image was die cut using a Spellbinders 'Resplendent Rectangles' die

- the image was then mounted onto a snippet of SU 'Wild Wasabi' backing which had been cut with the next size up Spellbinders 'Resplendent Rectangles' die

One thing worth mentioning about these dies, they really are fabulous but are very intricate so waxed paper or some similar method of releasing the card from the die is a must. I was in a bit of a rush and skipped that step, not a wise move!

So, let's have a quick skip through this week's picks:

I do try to spread the weekly picks around, but just had to include Val for two weeks running - isn't that the sweetest little robin? Made using the quilling technique and as if that wasn't enough - the holly leaves are also quilled! Wonderful and so intricate too.

Right, most of us know about Brushos now and loads of you have bought them and are playing - have you thought about using them with shaving foam as Sue did? What a fabulous background - I love this card!

 

And here's another technique - 'cracked ice' from Jean. There's a really good and detailed explanation over on Jean's blog if you fancy having a try - stunning results!

I do so love it when playmates come to show what they made with their Playground winnings - Bonnie won this sentiment stamp a while back, and didn't she use it perfectly?!

I know that lots of you have already seen and commented on this beautiful card, made by Carol L - so pretty and I think anyone would feel better if they received such a gorgeous make.

Making cards for men is something I always struggle with so this card, made by Kim, really leapt out at me. And that wonderful map background is actually stamped (must be one huge stamp for sure!).

And here's someone else using their Playground prize, gosh what a fabulous way to use the burlap background stamp Maarit - I absolutely think this deserves to be a winner over at Less is More!

So that was a pretty fast scamper through the picks, as always though, each entry was fabulous girls!

And let's welcome a new playmate:

Isn't this just super? Apparently it's the very first time that Carole has entered a challenge but surely it won't be the last?! Hi Carole, lovely to see you here and let's hope you come and play again really soon!

And, the winner of the three little stamps from last week is:

Sarah (Sazzle Dazzle)

Congratulations Sarah, I'll pop your stamps into the post this week, I still have your address from your last win, which I think was about a year ago.

And the prize for this coming week is:

As I said at the beginning of this post, totally unrelated to my snippets card for once, it's a selection of Papermania Christmas goodies, kindly donated by Viv. There's an Urban Stamps set, four little pots of glitter and a packet of felt ribbon - just the thing for getting you going on those Christmas cards :)

As usual, the Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 27th September 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. As always, if you only fancy one or two parts of the prize then just say and I would do further draw(s) if your name pops out.

Mr Linky is below - please let me know if you have any problems linking, it's easy for me to sort out so don't struggle on alone :)

Have a great week!
 
Di (and the usual happy wave from Parsnip of course)
x

Using a favourite stamp and Brushos

I absolutely love Penny Black's 'Hello sunshine' stamp and also wanted to play at using Brushos as watercolours instead of 'sprinkle and spritz' for a change - although that technique gives such amazing results.

This was the result of just tapping the teeniest bits of Brusho colours into a watercolour palette and adding water before painting using a very fine brush:

I used:

- A6 off-white card blank
 
-white watercolour card (Crafters Companion), Penny Black's 'Hello sunshine 'stamp and Ranger 'Jet Black' archival ink for stamping

- Brushos for the water colouring (lemon, yellow, orange, brown and leaf green)

- the green backing card is SU's 'Mossy Meadow'

- the main image was die cut using a Spellbinder Labels Eight die then the sentiment was stamped using a teeny stamp from a (sadly discontinued) set by Elzybells and SU's 'Mossy Meadow' ink pad

- the image was then mounted onto a SU 'Hello Honey' backing which had been cut with a Spellbinders Decorative Labels Eight die

The more observant amongst you might twig that I've been using new card and ink pads from SU's In Color 2014-2016 collection. I love, love, love them!

I haven't been playing much lately for various reasons - but will be doing the Playground as usual for Sunday! Make sure you tune in :)

Di
x

Sending you lots of hugs

I made this card for someone very special who is in need of some hugs:

I used:

- 4" x 4" square white card blank

- a snippet of white card, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' and a stamp which came free with Craft Stamper magazine a while back. The image was coloured with Pro Markers and the flower centres were dotted with a silver marker pen

- the sentiment comes from a lovely set called 'Truly Appreciated', made by Hero Arts - which was enclosed with a lovely Birthday card from a dear friend (thank you and mwah!). Again, it was stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- after trimming the white piece of card down I just ran a Sakura Silver Calligrapher pen around the edges

- the purple backing card was another snippet - SU's 'Perfect Plum'

It's a sweet little stamp and is so much Charles Rennie and Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh's Art Nouveau style.

Di
x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 142

First of all, a HUGE thank you for all your Birthday wishes, cards and gifts! It was a lovely day from start to finish :)

And straight into my snippets card:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- image and sentiment are from the Unity Stamp Itty Bitty set called 'Bouncy Blue'. I stamped the baby buggy using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' and coloured it using Whispers pens. The sentiment was stamped by colouring the stamp with the same blue Whispers pen and 'huffing' on it before stamping

- the turquoise card (SU's 'Tempting Turquoise' came from the snippets folder and the pale blue, plus the little snippets, are from Me To You's 'Spring Chic' paper pad

- the hexagons were die cut using Spellbinders hexagon dies - although I did the turquoise mat by drawing round the outside of the die I'd used to cut the image with and then cut it by hand

It had to be a super-fast make when we got back home from  a celebratory lunch on Friday!

This week's picks are:

What a fun card, made by Hazel - and the paw-print binding is a great touch!

I love this wedding card, made by Sam - tons of lovely die cuts too. I'm sure I saw a whisper somewhere yesterday that it's a very special Wedding Anniversary this weekend for Sam and her Simon - congratulations!

A really super 'screens' card made by Brenda - those adorable dresses and bags are fabulous snippets busters!

Who wouldn't love to be sent a Christmas card as beautiful as this one, made by Val. Just perfect.

Hazel (kbrandy4) made this stunning Christmas card - I love the idea of having an acetate front (you can just see it if you look closely enough) with a smaller image on so you can see the paper on the inside of the card.

Oh I did giggle at this super little snippets make, brought to share by Elizabeth. She's an Amigurumi penguin (named Priscilla!), crocheted using snippets of wool. So cute!

Lynn is one of our Playground jokers - and this week she came up with a real lulu of a card :) Tee, hee.

We had one new playmate this week, which was quieter than it has been recently - possibly due to the schools returning.

Can you please welcome Craft Nerd (aka Sarah) to the Playground. Hope you come back to play with us often Sarah!

The winner of last week's prize (the Woodware 'Tweet Birds' stamp set) is:

Lucy

Well done Lucy! Can you please drop me an email (di_wray@hotmail.com) with your address and I'll post the stamp set off to you this coming week.

And here's this coming week's prize:

It's a stamp set the same as the one I used today (Unity Itty Bitty 'Bouncy Blue'), another one the same as the one I used on Friday's card here (Unity Itty Bitty 'Happy Happy Happy') - plus a great Studio G stamp set called 'It's Your Birthday' - which was kindly donated by Cornelia. So a cute selection - just right for those smaller cards too.

As usual, the Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 20th September 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. As always, if you only fancy one or two parts of the prize then just say and I would do further draw(s) if your name pops out.

Mr Linky is below - please let me know if you have any problems linking, it's easy for me to sort out so don't struggle on alone :)

Have a great week!
 
Di (and the usual happy wave from Parsnip of course)
x

Is it a butterfly, a bug, a bee or a teddy with wings?

Either way, it's a stamp that makes me giggle - and so I inked it up for the first time for the NBUS challenge:

Darnell's 'NBUS Challenge #2' - to celebrate over 600 followers. Way to go Darnell and so generous too! There are five $25 vouchers to be won but I'm just playing for fun as I was really lucky and won the first time Darnell did this challenge. I used my winnings to buy some Spellbinders dies - which will pop up on here soon.

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank

- papers from the MME 'Sunshine' paper pad. I die cut the hexagon (using a Spellbinders Nestie) out of the centre of the turquoise backing paper and the mustard coloured papers are snippets which were tucked into the back of the same pad

- the image and sentiment were stamped in Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink using  the Unity Itty Bitty set called 'Happy Happy Happy'

- then I coloured the image  using Pro Markers - sigh, and went over the edge so had to carefully fussy cut round him, and then I added some Clear Wink of Stella to the black markings on his wings

- the sentiment was punched out using a Hobbycraft Label punch and a small hole punch, before I added more Wink of Stella to the large 'Happy' word

- almost forgot, a strip of self adhesive ribbon to hide the join in the mustard papers, plus some domed 'sparkly' thingies - one on the label and three in one corner

Oh, and a stamp set the same as this one is one of three parts to next week's Snippets Playground prize too :)

We'll be out celebrating my Birthday today - but Parsnip is watching the Playground like a hawk, so no mischief please!

Di
x

A touch of sunshine

I literally had about 10 minutes craft play the other day (if you don't include drying time) and rustled this up:

I used:

- a snippet of SU's 'Daffodil Delight' card stock to make the small card blank (it's about 3.75" square)

- black backing card, die cut using a Spellbinders square die

- a snippet of water colour card, sprinkled with little touches of lemon, yellow and orange Brushos, then lightly misted with water and left to dry

- a cone flower stamp which came free with Craft Stamper magazine, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad - then I die cut the whole Brusho'd square, again using a Spellbinders square die

- three black round glossy Josy Rose nail heads

Job done :)

Di
x

Less is More- Week 188 - Colour Challenge

For this month's colour challenge over at Less is More it's

CHOCOLATE MINT

For a couple of days I thought that was it for me, inspiration had gone for a looooong walk, sigh.

Then, yesterday morning, I stumbled across a pre-printed sentiment - out of which this card was born washed out piccie but I weren't up to doing a whole repeat routine, sorry:

I used:

- Hunkydory slightly 'flittered' mint coloured card stock, just folded into A6

- plain chocolate satin ribbon, topped with narrower chocolate/white spotted organza ribbon

- the sentiment that started it all off - made by Craftwork Cards (many years old now!) and it just about sums up my view on dark 'chocklit'

- five Craftwork cards Candi dots in different shades of chocolate :) You can take the creamy white one if you like - me no likey dose ones - ack, bleurgh!

Di
x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 141

And we're into September - already so soon. There are few few 'lurgies' doing the rounds and we've not been exempt here so I'll keep this quite short and sweet. First of all, here's my snippets card - a sooper-dooper fast make:

I used:

- A6 Kraft card blank

- robin and holly stamps from the Woodware 'Tweet Birds' set (in fact these little guys could be coloured differently to make little blue tits or such), stamped onto a snippet of white card and coloured with Pro Markers

- then cut with such a useful die from the Spellbinders 'Resplendent Rectangles' set and a little red gem added as the holly berry

- sentiment was stamped using Memento Tuxedo Black' using a stamp from the Personal Impressions 'Many Greetings' set

- the background papers are snippets from LOTV's 'Classic Christmas' paper pad

The current challenge over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge is 'Do you hear what I hear' and, as I love to hear our local robin singing, this card fits the bill - oops, unintentional pun there! Of course I'm also entering this into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for September, where it's always 'Anything goes'.

So let's run through this week's picks, as always such a difficult choice from all your beautiful work girls:

I love this fun card made by KT Fit Kitty - such a bright and cheerful splash of Summer!

And at the opposite end of the seasons - what a super Christmas card made by Sandra H!

I think this is such a lovely card, and the vellum flowers are breathtaking - made by Cathy R. And how clever to back one of them with solid card too - it just makes the composition perfect!

A trip to Sally's is a 'must' this week girls! The snippets are the image backings - and even more exciting is that Sally has videos showing you just how to create scenes like the one on this beautiful card above.

Isn't this such an adorable card - made by Ileana? Such a great idea to paper piece the birdies using a page from an old book - plus Ileana designed and handmade the little bird houses herself.

I really love this set of little note cards made by AJ - what a super way to use up little snippets :)

And I totally adore this beautiful card, made by Kate. Tons of snippets used and it's just so, so beautiful!

And, we have three new playmates as well:

Veronica brought us this lovely Christmas tree card.

This little sweetie-pie bearing flowers was made by Kathy T.

And Christi brought us this cute card, partying cats complete with little snippety hats! :)

What fun - our three new playmates all arrived almost one after another during the week. I'm always curious how peeps find the Playground - it would be great if you could pop over to say hello to them :)

The winner of last week's prize of the JustRite 'Burlap Background' stamp is:

MAARIT

Maarit has been playing with us regularly in the Playground since March and this is her first win, so well done Maarit! Just shows, the number 13 can be lucky :) Can you please send me your home address and I'll post the stamp to you as soon as possible (di_wray@hotmail.com).

And this coming week's prize is:

Yup, it's a Woodware 'Tweet Birds' stamp set, just like the one I used today. There are nine little birdies for you to play with, plus a couple of sentiments and two holly sprigs. The birds are about 1.25" in size.

As usual, the Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 13th September 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, it's easy for me to sort out so don't struggle on alone :)

And a big PS from me - I don't know how, but some of you know I have a Birthday later this week. A few cards already arrived - but being like a kid I quickly peeked and then popped them back into their envelopes to appreciate properly on 'the day'.  Thank you so much and I'll be in touch once I legitimately look at them - it's really so very kind of you - err, please remember I pay our postman's tip at Christmas based on volume of deliveries :) Sooooooooooooo, just raise a glass wherever you are and take a big slurp for me - that will do nicely.

And, I actually went to bed this afternoon - Saturday - to read and then sleep for a few hours. That is just soooo out of the normal frame as I never, ever, just crash during the day however I feel, sigh. Len is currently heating me up some soup with nicely buttered (OK Flora'd if you really must!) and cut into dinky pieces of bread - bless him :).

I'm OK but am worried that our lovely friend Elizabeth is down with something similar so do please go and give her hugs. And also Karen has been having a rough ride lately, so she could do with some love as well.

Di (and the usual happy wave from Parsnip of course)
x