Rudolph Day - February 2015

Well that came round fast, it's Rudolph Day again over at Scrappy Mo's. All you need to do is to make a Christmas card and link into Mo's blog HERE to be in with a chance of winning a really lovely Memory Box die. And this month you only have until tomorrow (Saturday) to join in as it's a 28 day month!

I used:

- 4" x 4" white linen effect card blank

- red tartan paper from LOTV's 'Classic Christmas' paper pad

- snippet of white linen card topped with snippet of green plain paper from the LOTV paper pad

- then on top I just added a pre-made little Scottie dog felt topper with sticky pads (bought just after Christmas in Hobbycraft, their own brand)

I made four cards in total, two with red Scotties on and two with white Scotties on, I changed the backing to red for those, although all four card do have the lovely red tartan paper as the main background. And, as the LOTV paper pad is 8" x 8", I got four cards from one sheet too :)

But, although fine in daylight, when I've taken photos of the cards with the white doggies on you can see the shading of the sticky fixers I used - rather like little sets of underwear - through the felt :) Still, they look OK to the naked (no pun intended!) eye, it's just the camera that's acting like an x-ray machine - so that's another four cards added to the total of 2015's Christmas cards.

And, I'd also like to enter this card into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge, where this week's theme is 'Feature a Creature' - as well as Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for February, where it's always 'Anything Goes'.

Di
x

Less is More - Week 212 - Wings

The current challenge over at Less is More this week is 'Wings'. I did try to steer clear of birds and butterflies but in the end opted for a favourite birdie stamp of mine:

I used:

- A6-ish white card blank, the front portion of which I ran through the Cuttlebug using the SU 'Chevron' embossing folder with the back of the card folded outside the folder (needs must with a little Cuttlebug sometimes)

- then backed the inside of the front part of the card with a piece of plain white card stock to add stability as the breaking down of fibres during embossing can leave a piece of card a bit unsteady on its feet :)

-  the image is from Banana Frog's set called 'Shake your tail feathers', stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and coloured using Whispers pens, then covered with clear 'Wink of Stella'. Sadly Banana Frog ceased trading over three years ago - I loved their crisp designs, sigh :(

- the sentiment of course came from the same stamp set, again stamped in Memento 'Tuxedo Black'

- then die cut the image using a Lil 'Inkers Stitched Rectangle die, and glued it onto a slightly larger rectangle die cut from a snippet of SU 'Tempting Turquoise' card stock

- then added the 'topper' to the card front using thin sticky pads 
Di
x

Butterflies and ribbon

I used:

- 7" x 5" white card blank

- a white layer of card stock, embossed using the Couture Creations 'Tied Together' embossing folder

- wrapped a piece of lilac ribbon round the embossed layer before adhering it to the card blank and tied a single little knot of ribbon

- the image is a Penny Black pre-coloured Stickeroo sticker from the 'Language of Flowers' sheet, popped onto a snippet of SU's 'Perfect Plum' card stock. Can I add the little tip (once again) that these stickers really are impossible to shift once they're in contact with card so it's always best to put the sticker onto a slightly larger piece of card and then just trim it down after the Stickeroo is in place

- the sentiment is from the Personal Impressions 'Everyday Words Happy Birthday' set, stamped onto a snippet of white card using SU's 'Perfect Plum' ink pad

- used SU's 'Word Window' to punch out the sentiment and then layered it onto a snippet of SU's 'Perfect Plum', punched using SU's 'Modern Label' punch

- the image and sentiments were adhered to the embossed layer using thin sticky pads

Di
x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 165

We've got the first signs of Spring here in the Playground at last! And so, what did I do but make a Christmas card for Merry Monday, using snippets of course, and the theme is 'Santa'. Easy you might think, but I have only a couple of Santa stamps here. So I turned to a great idea I found and bookmarked not so long ago - and this is where the fun begins.

The idea came from a really inspiring USA based Stampin' Up demo lady called Debbie Henderson, whose blog I've followed for a good while - and I was halfway through making the Santas when the penny dropped. I was only CASE-ing the very same Debbie who's on the Merry Monday Design Team! So, although I'm entering this into the challenge - after much 'shall I, shan't I' - I do hope that Debbie doesn't mind such a direct CASE of the Santa humself. It's a compliment for sure as I love the idea and I really thought you girls would love to find out more about using punches and dies to make a 'Snippety Santa'!!

I used:

- 4" x 4" white card blank

- background is a snippet of SU's 'Real Red' card stock, topped with a snippet of DP from Dovecraft's ' Back to Basics Christmas - Modern' paper pack

- snippets of more Real Red, white and peach card stock

- if you look at the Santa, he's really fairly self-explanatory but here goes. For the moustache and beard I used the SU 'Bow Builder' punch and then embossed the pieces using a Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' folder (Debbie used the SU bow builder dies BTW)

- for Santa's face, using a snippet of peach card stock I punched a circle using SU's  1.3/8ths circle punch, and his nose came from the same peach snippet (using a round SU 'Itty Bitty' punch)

- ha, then I hit a problem. The hat is just a triangle but my SU pennant punch isn't big enough. When I'm playing without any real instructions I just used scrap paper to see how things will fit together - and the hat looked a bit like a pea on a drum when I used the punch to be honest!! So I used a Spellbinders 'Nested Lacy Pennant' die and just trimmed it straight but you could hand cut the triangles to size of course

- the 'fur trim' on the hat is just a white snippet punched using SU's 'Word Window' punch, and then the top of Santa's hat was folded down and stuck in place with a little piece of Ultra Strong sticky tape. The 'pompom' is another white snippet punched using the round SU 'Itty Bitty' punch again

- and of course Santa has googly eyes,  the box with them in was still on my desk after making the Ninja Turtles - which you can see here if you missed them along with my step by step tutorial on how to make them :)

NB. Whilst writing this my latest Stampin' Up order arrived and I think, having quickly punched a paper template and tried it on top of the completed card, the Christmas Tree punch (with the trunk cut off) would do the trick for Santa's hat!

Also, there are many varieties of punch art Santas on the internet, some with beards made using scalloped punches or dies - as well as moustaches made using the SU 'Bird Builder' punch set wings.

I actually made three of these little cards, all the same - am managing to keep on my target of 12 Christmas cards per month, yay!

Straight onto this week's picks now:

It's our talented playmate Carol L, with such a great pop-up card. One to CASE for sure!

Viv made this beautiful card, loads of snippets and the peach tones are so gorgeous.

This is such a bright and happy heart which Kate brought to show us. What a great way to use up snippets of cotton yarns.

Sharp intake of breath when I spotted Darnell waving this card - so CAS and a wonderful design.

And last but not least, Sally set to using the set of stamps she won in the Playground the other week - so clever to use two of the stamps like that and the background for those deep shaded roses is beautiful. I should know 'cos it's here on my desk :)

And we have one new playmate this time:

Welcome scrAPpamondo  and we'd love to see you playing again! Love all the flowers and butterflies on this lovely card.

Now the draw for last week's prize - the lovely set of our Sarn's 'Sarntangle' stamps - and the winner is:

Andrea (KandA)

Oh well done Andrea! I just checked my little book here and have a feeling this might be your very first Playground win!? Yet you've been playing for ages - just shows, good things come to those who wait. Can you please let me have your address (di_wray@hotmail.com) and I'll post your set of stamps off ASAP this coming week.

I know from what Andrea said in her comments this week that she really wanted her name to be drawn, as did quite a few of you. Gosh how I wish I had a big box of the stamps to offer :(

I know I'm doing more promotional work here but the Sarntangle stamps are a limited run of 50 and a lot have already been sold. I also know that Sarn doesn't plan to have any more produced so if you love them as much as me - why not hop over to this link to see just what other people have been making using the stamps. It might just make your mind up :)

And this coming week's prize has absolutely nuffin' to do with the snippets card I made for today.

It's a set of 'Build-a-Scene dies by X-Cut called 'Nautical' - kindly donated by Viv. I think these will be huge fun to play with (loads of fabulous dies in the set, up in the teens) and perfect for sea scene cards for boys and men! If you zoom in there are some examples at the bottom of the packet and more ideas can be found on the internet.

ON THE SUBJECT OF PRIZES: our Playmate Eve currently has a lovely giveaway over at her blog HERE, it's a really nice set of SU stamps and due to internet issues she's now leaving the draw open until 25th February. I've joined in for a chance :)

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 28th February. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say 'Yes please' (or similar) in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize.

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

Di and of course, Parsnip!
x

We now have a Playground guard dog - with attitude

Snigger :)

xxx

Ninja Turtles - and a little 'Raphael' tutorial

Earlier this week it was the Birthday of a little chap we know - this is the card I made:

I used:

- 7" x 5" white card blank

- SU 'Old Olive' card stock, cut slightly smaller than the card front, corners punched with a Woodware fancy corners punch

- four hand made Ninja Turtles (instructions below), popped onto a white square of card with thin sticky pads, backed by a slightly larger square of card in the same colour as the turtle's mask

- I then positioned the four 'toppers' onto the card using Collall All Purpose glue

- and at that point, to be honest, the card was fine. BUT, Len likes little ones to have their names and ages on cards so I used Britannia dies and leftover snippets to die cut the Birthday greeting, 3rd and also the little chap's name. I know it makes it personal but I still think all the extra 'bits' are too much :(

If that's all you want to know then skip away now, if you want to know how I made the Ninja Turtles then fetch a cup of tea or coffee and read on.

You'll need:

- a circular punch or die, I used SU's 1 and 3/8ths inch circle punch

- an oval punch or die, I used SU's 'Large Oval' punch, which measures 1 and 3/4 inches x 7/8th of an inch

You can just fiddle round trying different sizes if you don't have these, they were what I had quickly available here

- snippet of green card stock (I used SU's 'Old Olive' but again, you can just vary whatever to green you think would work) and a darker green ink pad - plus dauber or makeup sponge if you have those

- snippet of red card stock.  If you're making the full set of four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles then you'll need blue for Leonardo, Orange for Michelangelo, red for Raphael and purple for Donatello (mine of useless information here!)

- scissors, adhesive, fine black pen and googly eyes approx. 1/4" diameter

And away we go:

Firstly, punch from green card stock one circle and one oval then just go round the edges using a darker green ink pad (I used SU's 'Mossy Meadow') and something like a sponge dauber or a make up sponge - this will add dimension to the turtle face.

Next, punch a circle from red card stock and about quarter of an inch from the top cut straight across the circle and then again at quarter of an inch below that to form the mask. At the same time cut another quarter inch wide strip from a piece of spare red card with one end cut into a V shape and keep to one side - I found it easier to use a pennant punch on the edge of a bit of card for the V and then to cut the strip to width.

This is what you're going to play with next, the mask piece - don't throw the biggest half moon shape away just yet though. I added a strip of very narrow (1/8th inch) ultra strong adhesive tape to the back of the top of the mask piece (ie. slightly tapering in) then gently put it in place on the round punched piece of green card. Doing it this way means you get a perfect fit for the curve of the circle, just remember to ONLY apply a very thin line of tape or glue to that top edge of the mask as you want space/a pocket underneath that mask for the next step!!

I then just ran a bit of tape roller over the 'circle punched piece' of the turtle's face below where the red mask was adhered and that allowed me to wiggle the oval into place, tucked partly underneath the mask - which of course then hides the join.

Remember the leftover half moon shape from the red punched circle I told you to keep? This is where you use it, if like me you're not very good at freehand. Just place the curve of the crescent where you think the turtle's smile should be and using a pencil draw partly round the curve.

Remove the half moon template, using a fine line black pen draw over the 'smile' and then rub away any excess pencil lines.

Final touch - snip the headband 'tail' down to about half an inch across the straight end, stick it behind the headband at the back of the turtle with the V shape showing.

Then just add the googly eyes and all of a sudden your little Ninja Turtle takes on his very own personality :) Introducing 'Raphael' :)

I gleaned quite a bit of the above from the internet but I didn't think there was enough detailed information in one place so that's why I've done this little step by step 'how-to/tutorial' for you.

Of course there are some things you can do differently which would speed things up. For example, you could just cut a straight strip for the headband, stick it in place and then round it with scissors to shape (work from behind the circle if you decide to do this as it will give you a guide). Of course, you won't have the template for the turtle's smile but I bet most of you are better at freehand than I am anyhow! And, you can get away with white and black card stock circles for the eyes - although I do like the googly eyes if truth be known!

If any of this is unclear (or all of it perhaps!) just let me know and I'll clarify things.

Di
x

Less is More - Week 211 - Love

This week's challenge is 'one layer' over at Less is More, where the theme is 'Love'. And this is my entry:

I used:

- A6 white card blank, tent style

- Penny Black 'hearts away' stamp, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black ink pad and just the heart shaped balloons coloured with a red Whispers marker

- the sentiment is from a much loved Hero Arts set called 'Live Life', stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' and then just a little bit of red Whispers marker on the word 'Love' - it stamps leaving the word white but it seemed too stark in real life to me, even though it looks quite dark in the photo, needless to say :(

- for the final touch, I rounded two of the corners using the Fiskars Corner Rounder scissors

My original intention was to cover the balloons with red glitter - but I quite like the simplicity of the image as it ended up - so left it well alone :)

Di
x

Cuttlebug Mania - Down By The Sea

The latest challenge over at Cuttlebug Mania is 'Down By The Sea'. All you have to do to join in is to follow the theme and also use a manual die cutting/embossing machine - simples!

The prize this fortnight has been kindly donated by KennyK Downloads - wahoo, these are such fun images too.

This is my card following the 'Down By The Sea' theme:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- pale blue backing card, embossed using the Die'Sire 'Swirl' 6" square embossing folder - 'cos I thought it looked like waves :)

- the image is a Michael Powell one called 'Shore Thing', stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and coloured using Faber Castell Polychromos pencils. Michael always colours his quirky sketches in a very 'loose' fashion so I followed suit, that's my excuse anyhow :)

- the die to cut this image out was really a 'no brainer' given that the image is quirky/wonky. I used Spellbinders 'Wonky Squares' of course. As it's the largest die in the set, and also because I prefer narrower frames anyhow, I drew round the die and hand cut the yellow frame from a snippet I already had here

- the sentiment came from the Hero Arts 'Truly Appreciated' set, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black'. I'd already clipped the sentiment into two parts previously, and for a change placed it around one corner

- finishing touch, Craftwork Cards card Candi

Job done - now it's your turn to hop over and play.

Di
x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 164

Well, I mucked up last week's Snippets Playground good and proper during the week! I was feverishly trying to recover as much as possible until 2am on Wednesday morning so I apologise to those of you who were weekly picks and then went up in a puff of smoke, but I truly couldn't spend even more hours rewriting the whole post :(

Onwards and upwards though and here's my snippets card for this week:

I used:

- 7" x 5" white card blank

- two of Sarn's fabulous 'Sarntangles' stamps from her set of nine stamps. I used one image and one sentiment, both stamped onto a snippet of white card stock using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad

- then I just did some colouring using Whispers pens

- die cut the image using a die from the Spellbinders 'Resplendent Rectangles' set and popped it onto a snippet of SU's 'Crumb Cake' which was also die cut with a larger die from the same set

Now, I know that most of you will be aware that Sarn recently brought out a limited run of Sarntangle stamps, and quite a few of you have already bought them for yourselves. The designs are really gorgeous, you can use them as they are, colour them, paper piece them, add more zentangling - whatever floats your boat. There's absolutely loads of ideas over on Sarn's blog HERE. And, the quality is superb - the stamping is so crisp and clean. Nice one Sarn!

Straight onto this week's picks now:

 

I absolutely adore this beautiful Wedding card, made by Viv. Every little detail is just so perfect.

Cornelia showed off a terrific technique that I'd never heard of - 'Faux paper cutting'. There's more information over at Cornelia's blog and I also Googled to find out more.

I think this is a stunning card, made by KandA (Andrea) - and guess what, the silver die cut is actually a snowflake!

I just love this very special card, made by Lucy. It's absolute perfection and all the more amazing because Lucy struggles with severe ME.

And this final card, made by Jean, is just so, so beautiful. Every element is lovely and the attention to detail is stunning!

This week I seem to have been in romantic mode when doing the picks :)

As I always say, this gets harder as the weeks go by - every single entry is worthy of mention, but I guess you've noticed how much the number of entries seems to be increasing week by week and even just commenting is quite a job :)

And we have one new playmate this week:

Gorgeous touch of Spring there Julieanne - do please come back and play again!

Let's do the prize draw now for the Spellbinders 'Diagonal Chevron' die set - little drum roll - and the winner is:

Liz (Cavill)

Well done Liz! I still have your address from your last win (which I just checked in my little notebook was six months ago) and will pop the die set in the post to you when I'm next out and about.

Gosh that was a popular prize girls, we had loads of entries and a third of you were keeping your fingers crossed to win. Do please remember that I only flag up playmates who positively say yes to being in the draw.

The prize this coming week is probably no surprise to you playmates:

It's your very own limited edition set of Sarn's brilliant Sarntangle stamps of course :) Wahoo!!

I know that some of you do already have a set of these stamps - but that doesn't stop you from still joining the weekly mayhem of course. We had a screaming match this past week in the Playground due to the possibility of an iguana joining the menagerie - and a few playmates threatening to up and run away if that happened. Trust me, I would have been leading the way - possibly only being beaten in the rush by a little white, soft, fluffy and very cowardly bear, belting along as fast as his little short legs can carry him!!

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 21st February. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say 'Yes please' (or similar) in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize.

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

I promise to do my best not to corrupt this post as the week goes on - still don't fully know what happened :(

Di and of course, Parsnip!
x

Love you just the way you are

Whilst Len was out at archery the other morning, I whipped up a very quick Valentine's Day card for him. Thankfully he doesn't check my blog :)

I used:

- A6 white card blank

- snippet of SU 'Real Red' card stock and a snippet of black card stock for the 'frames'

- stamped the heart using SU 'Real Red' and the sentiment using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' - both stamps came from SU's 'Sprinkled Expressions' set

- it looked a little stark so I stamped a couple of splatters using Memento 'Gray Flannel' and a stamp from SU's 'Gorgeous Grunge' set

- then I almost wrecked the thing - bearing in mind I was working to limited time as Len was almost due home! I punched all four corners using a Woodware fancy corner punch - and totally mis-punched the top left corner! Bit of swift thinking and I grabbed the corner rounder scissors and rounded that corner and the bottom right one

Shame it's not as I'd planned, but the scissors did save the day I suppose.

Di
x

Merry Monday #145 - Candy Canes

At first my heart really sank when I spotted that the current challenge over at Merry Monday is 'Candy Canes', sigh.

This is the inspiration photo:

 

I don't possess a single stamp or die featuring candy canes and the one designer paper I found was just not doing it for me (too busy and too many other colours). Then I Googled 'candy canes' - do you know just how many free candy cane images there are to be had? Picked one, re sized it in GIMP (free software that I use mostly for my photos) - and off we went:

I used:

- the 'mouse with candy cane' image is free Clipart, which I found online. Printed onto white card after being re sized in GIMP as already said, then die cut using a die from the Spellbinders 'Floral Ovals' set

- then embossed a piece of white card using SU's 'Holiday Frame' embossing folder and popped the mouse die cut oval on top

- matted onto a snippet of SU's 'Certainly Celery' which was then adhered to the card blank using thin sticky pads

- final touch, one matt silver Josy Rose nail head in each corner

And that final addition means I can go and play over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge where this week we have to decorate one or more corners. Also I'd like to join in with Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for February, where it's always 'Anything Goes'.

I managed to mess up Sunday's snippets post BIG time - mental note, be so, so careful when fiddling with HTML!! And of all people (given my programming background since aged 19 - child prodigy back in the dark ages when a computer took up a whole floor of a building!) I should know that!!!

But, although the picks and body of the post have gone and I'm really sorry I don't have time to re-do them, Mr Linky has been re-installed and your entries so far are safe plus your comments are still there- so if you've said yes please for the lovely die set, don't worry, that's all in hand.

It's all probably due to the threat of Iggy the Iguana arriving anytime now as a new playmate in the Playground. I'm absolutely terrified of lizards and don't even mention snakes - comes (with good reason) from living in the Far East for a few years. Once (about 15 or so years ago) literally stood up ready to jump into the river in Bangkok, whilst playing tourist, when some eeedjit draped a python over Len's shoulders as we floated past in a longtail boat. I still shudder thinking about the little smiley face, forked tongue (ack!!) and beady eyes looking over my right shoulder before I screamed, stood up  and prepared to abandon ship with a swift dive into the river. Tell you what - there were a lot of other people in same boat screaming at the same time as the boat rocked from side to side, snigger :))

I'm doing my best to keep up with commenting on your snippets entries, if I slip behind at times it's because we're busy fighting over the process of decorating our bedroom. Not had a tin of paint poured over me yet though - she says with fingers firmly crossed!

Di
x

Less is More - 4 years old

Less is More is four years old this week and to celebrate their colour theme of pink and grey - I made them a Birthday card :)

I used:

- A6 white card blank, with each corner rounded using a Woodware punch

- a snippet of white card stock with the image stamped using Memento 'Gray Flannel' and a much loved Anita's stamp, with no name on it

- paper pricked round the edge of the image layer and also rounded the corners using the same Woodware punch

- stamped the image again (still using Memento 'Gray Flannel') onto a snippet of spotted paper from Wild Rose Studio's 'Wintry Christmas' paper pack

- cut out the parcel pieces and paper pieced them onto the main image. When paper piecing it's always best to put the glue onto the card rather than the fiddly little pieces you're adding - a handy tip I got from Jules ages ago

- then just added the 'topper' onto the card using thin sticky pads

Happy Birthday to everyone involved in running Less is More, plus all the kind sponsors - long may it continue!

Di
x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 163

SCREAM!!! No idea how it happened but I managed to lose the weekly snippets post on Tuesday evening while I was composing another unrelated post !! Most of you will have already seen it and here's the snippets make I did - using the Spellbinder Chevron die (with a Brushos background inset)

And this is this week's prize of course:

All your comments are safe, Janis knows she won last week, the rules are the same and I have to see if I can retrieve the previous Mr Linky entries OK (phew, managed that too!!) - oh poo - I do so NOT need this!! Am sorry but have no time to re-do the weekly picks though. Good grief, what a pickle!!

Di (Parsnip is under the duvet in shock and shame!)

Magnetic Bookmarks revisited

It's about 18 months since I last made magnetic bookmarks, but a recent meeting with some bloggy friends meant I wanted to think of something hand made to take along with me as it's tradition to exchange 'little somethings'. So I opted for a 'little something' useful:

I used:

- SU 'Smoky Slate' card stock - after stamping and trimming them, the bookmarks ended up at approx. 1.75" x 5" , when they were folded in half from top to bottom
 
- stamps used are from the Clarity 'Letter Box' set for the names, along with the matching masks to cover up the lettering when doing the floral stamping - and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- once the letter boxes had been stamped then covered with the matching masks I used a stamp from KanBan's 'Stamp 06' set and the following dye inks, all made by Memento, 'Rhubarb Stalk', 'Teal Zeal' and 'Cottage Ivy'

 - the word 'friend' was then stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from Winnie & Walter's 'The Big, the Bold and the Happy' stamp set

- tiny little butterfly stickers

- then I laminated them, my laminator is just a cheapo one from Lidl btw

- trimmed the excess lamination from the sides and ends and rounded each corner with XCut corner rounder punch then made sure the folds were as tight as possible by using the Hoogie Borad and firmly re-embossing the fold lines

- then just added the pairs of magnets, I bought mine from Abel Magnets but can't find them on their website any longer :(

Then, with nothing else to do (that is soooo not true), I made matching holders just to make them look more like a little gift although they certainly won't be robust enough to use much :

 Closed

 And open

They're pretty self-explanatory - and I just invented and measured them as I went along :) The bow was punched with the SU 'Bow Builder' punch and I used lovely thin self-adhesive Papermania 'Magnetic Clasps' to hold the little flap closed.

Di
x 

Upcycling - beginning with 'B'

First of all - thank you all so much for the lovely comments yesterday about me being on the Cuttlebug Mania Design Team.

If I could have picked any team to be on, this would be the ONE. I adore the versatility if you stand back. The peeps are lovely and of course I do love die cutting and embossing, as you know :)

It's not going interfere with the Playground - but most importantly, the themes are really easy if you think it through. For instance, this current two-week challenge is based on I 'heart' you - most probably Valentines Day. Do you need to have a heart die cut or embossing folder? Of course not - there are many, many stamps and images out there with heart or love themes and if you just cut the background using a die and/or including an embossing folder that is non heart - you're in it!! Tee, hee - think outside of the box :) OMG, this is where I get kicked out of the team - but I very much doubt it :)

Anyhow - today's offering is for: Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge is to make something for Christmas, featuring something beginning with 'B'. I got carried away and made two quick and easy upcycled Christmas cards whilst everything was out on the desk to play with:

 This card has the following 'B's' - Bird, Blue, Branches

 And this card has the following 'B's' - Berries

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blanks with all four corners rounded using Fiskars scissors

- a layer of white Centura Pearl card, embossed using the Darice 'Snowflake Background' embossing folder, trimmed slightly smaller than the card and all four corners rounded before being stuck onto the card front using Collall All Purpose glue

- then used two cards from this last Christmas to upcycle. In both cases it was a question of using a die from the Spellbinders 'Labels One' set and carefully positioning it on the card front to get the best cut. For instance, I wanted the bird (dove), the star and as much of the trees as possible to be included on the first one. And then I wanted the sentiment on the second one, which was right down in the bottom left hand corner of the original card so there was some careful addition (and a lot of checking) in both cases of lo-tack tape whilst the dies were in place for cutting

- using more white Centura Pearl card I die cut the 'lacy' backings using a Spellbinders die from the 'Luscious Labels One' set and stuck the images on using Collall All Purpose glue

- just a case then of fixing the lacy edged images onto the cards, using thin sticky pads

Two more for the 2015 box!

And I'm also entering into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for February, which is always 'Anything Goes'

Di

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Cuttlebug Mania - 'I {heart} You'

I just joined Cuttlebug Mania's Design Team, wahoo!! Please be kind, this is my first challenge - called 'I {heart} You' and what a great theme to start off on. In fact, I had so many heart shaped dies it was hard to choose which to use.

We are sponsored by 'Yours or Mine Papercrafts' and I do hope you'll play along:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- snippets of SU's 'Melon Mambo' card stock and also snippets of Centura 'Pearlescent White' card stock

- using a snippet of Melon Mambo I die cut the plain Memory Box 'Cupid Heart' as a backing

- then die cut the Memory Box 'Butterfly Heart' using Centura Pearlescent White. Now that was fun as the die doesn't actually cut round the edge of the heart shape but by using the plain Cupid Heart die that was soon resolved

- added a plain band of Centura Pearlescent Pearl White card across the width of the card, popped onto a backing of Melon Mambo as edging

- sentiment was die cut using Cheery Lynn's 'Love' word die, backed with Stick-It of course

- finally carefully stuck both layers of the heart together, taking care to avoid the butterflies. Popped the heart onto the card using thin sticky pads then gently flicked up all the little butterfly wings

Please come and play HERE - I'm sure you can use some snippets up at the same time :) And in case you're wondering, the Playground will carry on the same as always of course.

Di 
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