Pixie's Snippets Playground - Weeks 178/179 update

Hopefully all is well back at the Playground and I won't return tomorrow night to find that Parsnip has been terrified out of his fluffy white fur.

No snippets card from me, but there is the chance to win a stamp set:

They were donated to the toy box by our lovely playmate Viv. Made by Visible Image and they've never been opened (I think Viv won them), although it's only fair to say that they did sit on a shelf in Viv's craft room for a while and the light has turned them very slightly yellow. That doesn't detract from the quality of the stamps and at £11.99 a set I think they're worth throwing your hat in the ring!

All you need to do is to have entered at least one card/snippets make into the Snippets Playgound - and also leave me a comment on this post, saying you'd like to be in with a chance for a runner-up prize.

I'm offering them separately to spread out the chances, so in fact it's two prizes. If you only specifically fancy one or the other (Isabella or Tala) then please say so as well. Otherwise I'll assume that either one would be fine.

Di
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Less is More Week 225 - Use some metal

I normally run away from 'use some metal' challenges, especially when they're meant to be clean and unfussy. But I do love to play over at Less is More so, I rootled round in a box here and found some ancient and never used metal/enamelled handbag charms, loitering in with a load of NBUS, and this is what I came up with:

I used:

- A6 white card blank

- a strip of black card, topped with a slightly narrower strip of white card

- three handbag charms, make unknown but I think do know they've been here for a long time

- the sentiment is from a Personal Impressions set called 'Bags of Fun', designed by the very talented Kirsty Wiseman

On hindsight, I should have perhaps chopped off the rings at the top of the handles - too late now as I'm scheduling this on Wednesday late afternoon for Friday and am all packed and ready to roll in the morning. Be good in the Playground!! :)

Little tip for today, I  generally cut my 6" x 6" square card blanks down to A6 when I want that size. The cut off strips are so useful for adding to the main card, say if you want to stamp and die cut a sentiment or have a strip like I have here right across the card. You always get a perfect match to the shade of white that way :)

Di
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Rudolph Day - May 2015

Absolutely no way could I miss Rudolph Day over at ScrappyMo's, despite being in headless chicken mode here, getting ready to go away tomorrow. It's fine to desert the homestead though as I've left Len a mahoosive bucket load of Chilli Con Carne, frozen into several portions, in the freezer :). Give him chilli and he's such a happy bunny! This is a really quick RD card I whipped up, in between stirring the chilli:

I used:

- A6 white card blank

- matt gold backing card

- lightly patterned backing card from a really old paper pad by Dovecraft called 'Let it Snow'

- and then I struggled for hours assembling the Christmas tree with all the teeny baubles, chains and such. What a fibber! It's a topper from an ancient Jolee's Boutique set called 'Christmas Tree' - and I added three of the extra stickers they also included in the set :) Easy peasy and a bit of a cheat I think!

Woot, woot - I picked up a different watermark when editing this photo, bought at the same time as my normal one - and I quite like it too :)

Di
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Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - Bling

This fortnight's challenge over at Cuttlebug Mania is 'Bling' - just add diamonds, pearls or anything else to 'bling up' your creation. We just ask that you use a manual die-cutting/embossing machine and also let us know which product(s) you used. The sponsor is Yours or Mine Paper Crafts.

I decided to try out a new (to me) technique - making a dress from one and a quarter doilies. There are lots of instructions to be found on the internet, HERE 'S a link to the ones I followed.

And this was the result:

I used:

- A6 white card blank

- a snippet of purple card from the snippets folder, embossed using SU's 'Holiday Frame' embossing folder, then trimmed and glued onto the card front just leaving a narrow white border right round

- this was the fun part, making the dress. First I die cut two doilies using Cheery Lynn's 'French Pastry' doily die and white paper - I used the paper rather than card for ease of folding. After folding the skirt using one doily as per the tutorial I've linked to above, I then backed a quarter of the other doily with white card before die cutting it using a Spellbinders plain heart die - in the tutorial the blogger actually used a heart shaped punch but I don't have one the right size and the die worked perfectly. You trim the bodice down the sides anyhow so I reckon you could just cut one freehand

- the waistband is just a snippet of ribbon I had left from making wedding invitations a good while ago, with a double 'tail' added

- then I set to with the 'bling' just plain clear diamantes around the top of the bodice, on and down the ribbon 'tail' and a few scattered around the hemline of the dress

I haven't added a sentiment, a lot of folk seem to make these as wedding cards though. And most people make these dresses using small paper doilies without going to the trouble of die cutting their own - but as this is for the Cuttlebug Mania DT I wanted to make my own :) Besides which, I'm not 100% sure just where my ready made doilies are hiding right now!

I think this is a lovely theme over at Cuttlebug Mania - most of us like a bit of bling now and then so why not come and play?

Di
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Pixie's Snippets Playground - Weeks 178 and 179

I did mention last week that I'm away for five days over next weekend, at a school reunion to be exact. There's usually about 200 or so of us there, although of course we have our own special smaller groups of friends within that number. There will be a lot of chatter, making merry, dancing, eating, quaffing a little wine - and not a lot of sleep or spare time to blog. So, once again this is a two week run for the Playground - but watch out next Sunday (31st May) for a scheduled update with a little extra prize of course.

My snippets card for this week really stretched the word 'snippet' and only the black 'frame' is a snippet. The little scene started off at about A5 size but I kept trimming the thing down once it was finished and it ended up at 3" square :) Tee, hee.

I used:

- 4" x 4" square white card blank

- a snippet of black card for the 'frame'

- the scene was created using first of all Adirondack inks and 'Ranger Mini Ink Blending Tools'. The moon was masked with a circle punched using a SU punch and a Post-it note during the process of blending the sunset

- the hills were blended using Adirondack inks again along with a plastic Inkylicious 'Mountain Valley' stencil, which is just under 12" long. I usually just tear my own from paper but find this really good - and easy to clean

- the fairy is Lavinia's 'Flower Fairy', stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- then I just added some toadstools and little edges of foliage using a mix of small stamps that were to hand/within quick reach

I didn't add any sparkle or Wink of Stella, quite like the simplicity of the matt stamping against the matt background. And I know fine well that other playmates do these backgrounds sooooooo much better, but it was fun anyhow :)

Right, straight onto the weekly picks, or my weekly headache! I love every single entry and would love to pick you all each week - but I guess that then defeats the object - plus you can always browse through last week's thumbnails of course.

I picked this card, made by Nessa, as I think it's absolutely perfect! A fabulous design, wonderful colours, great use of snippets and beautifully made. Just stunning.

And here's another card which totally blew me away - made by Greta - and just so soft, pretty and well designed.

This card went straight onto my 'picks of the week' list, and I just hopped back to pick up the image and link over at Loll's. Did giggle when I spotted a comment left by Darnell that the girls in the Playground would swoon - we did, we did! How clever of Loll to shape and layer up the hibiscus for beautiful dimension!

I just love the CAS look of this beautiful card as well, made by Lindsey! So fresh and a perfect way to use up little snippets too.

This beautiful card was made by Mo - I just love all the detail and how well all the elements interact. Right down to the scrap of cheesecloth, which caused Mo grief along the way but behaved in the end! :)

And we have four new playmates this week too:

I've searched back through the Playground and think this could be the first time Little Mr P has entered/come to play with us. Lovely card - the frog is such a cutie- and for the funny tale about his entrepreneurial skills do hop over to Mo's (she's his proud Grandma) for a giggle :)

Hazel of My Card Attic brought two cards to show, having been encouraged by our lovely playmate Mary H. One is above and for the other one do please hop over to Hazel's for a peek. Absolutely beautiful! 

Monika brought this card all the way from Germany - love the image and I just bet that Kathy K will adore the purples :)  Monika posed the question, do I post prizes abroad. I most certainly do - if it's a prize then it has to be ready to travel wherever it has to :)

And finally Annie hopped in with this absolutely gorgeous card. I just spent time earlier browsing back through Annie's blog admiring her beautiful colouring and the cards she makes. A very talented lady!

So a huge welcome to our new playmates, it would be lovely if you remember to come back and play whenever you use a snippet :)

Straight onto the prize draw from last week now, the Spellbinders die cutting set called 'A-2 Fancy Ribbon Threader'. And our winner is:

Jenny L

Congratulations Jenny! I've checked back and it's a good few months since you last were picked by Mr Random - but I do still have your address and will post your prize off to you this coming week!

And that brings us to the main prize this fortnight:

It's a Lavinia 'Flower Fairy' stamp, a pack of Ranger 'Mini Ink Blending Tools' and also (not so easy to see at the bottom of the photo), an Inkylicious 'Mountain Valley' stencil as I used on my card (even though I chopped a lot of the card down :) You can see more about this really cool product HERE - what I like about it is that you can use it four different ways.

Some of you, Hettie in particular 'cos she won an identical stamp plus a stencil, will remember that I offered the same Lavinia 'Flower Fairy' stamp here in July 2013. I just totally forgot I'd offered one previously when I was putting together the template and blending tools as a prize and ordered a 'Flower Fairy' stamp as well. But, of course, you can opt for some and not all of the prize if you wish!

The Snippets Challenge will run for TWO weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 6th June. 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. As there are three items, you might only be interested in one or two of them. If so, then do say so in a comment and I'd do a second/third draw for the other item(s) if you win - but, all three items are up for grabs as one 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 :)
 
Do remember that it's Rudolph Day tomorrow over at Scrappy Mo's!  It runs until the end of the month and is a great way to get a little head start on those Christmas cards.

Di, and of course, Parsnip!
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Merry Monday #159 (Non-Evergreen Trees!}

The current challenge over at Merry Monday is 'Non-Evergreen Trees'. And, over at Hazel's Craftyhazelnuts Christmas Challenge it's 'Use some of your favourite things'. I love stamping, embossing, die cutting, ribbon and sparkle - so out came a couple of stamps for the scene on this card and away I went:

I used:

- A6 white card blank

- a layer of white card, embossed using the Darice 'Snowflake Background' embossing folder and then trimmed to marginally less than A6

- attached a band of ribbon (SU's 'Lost Lagoon') with a little piece knotted around it and glued the whole panel onto the card front

- the image was stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink, trees first and then the deer with the aid of my trusty stamp positioner. The trees are a Hobby Art 'Tree Scene' stamp and the little deer is probably by Serendipity

- then I covered the image in double sided sticky film, leaving the top still protected before die cutting it using a die from the Spellbinders 'Labels Eighteen' set. Then I peeled the top protective layer off and coated it with glitter similar to Glamour Dust but less fine - and a lot cheaper too

- next I used the next die up in the 'Labels Eighteen' set and die cut a backing layer from silver holographic card and glued the two layers together

- then added the finished panel to the card front using thin sticky pads

And of course, while all the stuff was out I made a total of four cards, all the same :)

This is also for Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for May, where it's always 'Anything Goes'.

Di
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Less is More - Week 224 - 'Hello Sunshine'

A fun challenge over at Less is More this week, it's 'Hello Sunshine'. Right now, as I type and schedule this post, it's piddling down with rain and it would be just wonderful to get a glimpse of the sunshine!

After a few false starts, this is what I made as my entry:

I used:

- A6 card blank, made using 'Desert Storm' Neenah card

- the image was stamped using VersaFine 'Vintage Sepia' ink and a pre-loved stamp by Judi Kins called 'Architectural Studies'. I have no idea if this is meant to be an English seaside pier but it does remind me of  them

- I then added a die cut sun, made using a snippet of yellow card stock and the sun die from the Joy! 'Sun and Moon' die set

-then die cut the part of the image and sun that I wanted using a Spellbinders circular die

- stamped the sentiment across the bottom of the card using VersaFine 'Vintage Sepia' ink and a stamp from Lawn Fawn's 'Hello Sunshine' set. The jury is still out about this sentiment, it's a bit too much like my own handwriting at 10 years old for me, sigh :(

- then it was time to add the circular image - and it was clearly not going to work just slapped in the centre of the card so (after a few options were considered) I went for slicing one edge straight and adding the image to the right hand edge of the card

My 'in-house critic' doesn't like the drabness of the Neenah card and thinks white would have been better. Maybe we're both wrong and cream would have been good?

Di
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Little gift cards

When I send out the Playground prizes, I always try my best to include a card as well. With the recent draw for the Stix2 goodies, I needed to whip up a few little gift cards - all to be similar. This is what I came up with, all five of them:

I used:

- 4" x 4" square white linen card blanks

- a stamp from Uniko Studio's 'Gerbera' set, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink then coloured with Whispers markers

- the sentiment is from the same set, also stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

I only recently got my first Uniko stamps, this is my second set and I'm absolutely hooked. I love the designs, quality of the photo polymer with a perfect image every time, brilliant service from Bev - and also the fact that they come in DVD cases (like SU's unmounted stamps). Love, love Uniko!!

My first set (thanks to the generosity of a sweet blogging friend, mwah!) will make an appearance soon - it's under wraps at the moment 'cos I used it for some DT work.

Edit: I've been persuaded to enter these into the current challenge over at Uniko, which is 'Flowers'.  They seem so simple that I hesitated but here goes anyhow! :)

Di
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Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 177 and Merry Monday #158 {Stencils}

My snippets card today has absolutely nothing to do with the prize for this coming week :) It's for the current challenge over at Merry Monday which is 'Stencils'.

Oh help :( I really wanted to use embossing paste, rather than just ink through a stencil, but had never really recovered from my one try last Christmas time. But, I had taken advice from a few of you at the time (when I was struggling with Sweet Poppy paste and adding loose glitter) and had bought some Imagination Crafts sparkly paste - so the decks were cleared, the NBUS pastes were cracked open and off I went. This was one of the results - complete with light bouncing off the black card strip:

I used:

- A6 black card blank, tent style

- a snippet of matt gold card stock, embossed using a Crafts-Too 'Snowflake Banner' folder

- the black panel is Imagination Crafts satin card stock, which I then stencilled using a 'Christmas Holly' stencil made by Sweet Poppy and Imagination Crafts 'Metallic Sparkle' sparkle medium paste

- then I just trimmed the panel down to size and backed it with a piece of copper satin mirri card to act as a border above and below 

Couple of tips, first of all this embossing folder actually has a plain band across the middle as well as a scrolled panel in the centre. Most of the time I don't make a feature of the centre, or indeed the plain band - although I did on THIS card last Spring. So, not all embossing folders need to be used as originally designed :)

Secondly, I do like the Imagination satin card stock, and it isn't too slippery for stencil paste either. However, it's black on one side and white on the other - which means that, when trimmed, you end up with an outside line of white showing. To cover this I just ran a black Whispers marker round the edge before layering up.

And moving swiftly onto the picks for this past fortnight, which was a double headache in a way as you might guess. But, having the Playground open for a two week run did actually help me enormously, with us being away and all that. In fact, I'll need to do this again in a week or so as it's my school reunion very soon and I'm lucky if there's even time to sleep, let alone blog! I'm away for five days this time too :) But, this coming week in the Playground is just one week!

So here are the picks:

I totally love, love this card - made by Cathy R - the woodgrain background and that beautiful window with the perfect window box  of tiny flowers are just fabulous!

Such a fun filled card, made by Shaz in Oz - and plenty of snippets used too :)

This is one of the most elegant cards I've seen in a while, it was made by Ann, and it's just stunning!

You truly should hop over to Kathy T's and see the inspiration photo that Kathy used for this fabulous card. Such a clever working in of the key elements - and squeal, look at the teeny flowers!

I could go on forever with picks, but have kept this to four as I need to do a few prize draws this week! Don't forget that the thumbnails are still showing if you haven't already had a browse HERE.

Before I forget, we also have two new playmates:

How cute is this, made by Irene Mendes.

And we also have a new playmate called Vibula, over on Flickr HERE. As I've said before, I can't copy and paste images from Flickr so the best I can do is the link above.

And now onto the winners of the main prize for the last couple of weeks, the Sheena Douglass 'Simply Sweet' stamp sets.

April Cheetham

Janis in ID

Well done girls, I do hope you have fun playing with your prizes - I have your address already Janis, but could you please drop me an email with yours April - to di_wray@hotmail.com. Thanks! The prizes will be on their way this week.

And next, the four STIX2 runner up prizes. For these I didn't go through all the rigmarole of copying, cropping and then pasting each Mr Random result, although I did actually use the generator.

Our winners are: #39 Jane W, #20 Kathleen, #55 Sarn and #50 Lucy.

I have all of your addresses girls and will post the STIX2 goodies of to you ASAP.

And, it's time to reveal the prize for this coming week, which I actually used on this DT card for the current Cuttlebug Mania challenge earlier in the week:

Yay! It's a Spellbinders die cutting set called 'A-2 Fancy Ribbon Threader' - a very pretty set of dies:

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 23rd May. 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. Do remember that you should also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

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!
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Less is More - Week 223 - 'Water'

The current challenge over at Less is More is 'Water' - and one-layered as well. As often happens, I dithered too long and a couple of the ideas I had were already entered - right down to one using the very same SU birdbath stamp, Eve :) In the end this is what I came up with:

I used:

- A6 white card blank, tent style

- image is called 'Water Lilies' from the Joanna Sheen Favourite Flowers Collection - stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad and coloured with Faber Castell Polychromos pencils. Just a little tickle of clear Wink of Stella was added to the dragonfly's wings

- final touch, rounded off the bottom left corner using a We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper

A short list of 'ingredients' today - for a change! Hindsight being 20/20 vision, perhaps I should have masked off the sentiment and even the dragonfly before stamping the image. Next time maybe!

Di
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CHNC Challenge 228: Vintage or Shabby Chic

The current challenge over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge is 'Vintage or Shabby Chic'. Hmm, there was a bit of pondering here for a while and then I came up with this:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square SU 'Crumb Cake' card blank

- backing paper is from the Bo Bunny 'Father Christmas' paper collection, just slightly trimmed

- the postcard image is made by Stampendous called 'Cling Snowy Postcard' - stamped using VersaFine 'Vintage Sepia' ink

- I then just tickled here and there on the scene using a clear Wink of Stella brush then did a little bit of colouring on the holly leaves using a Gold Wink of Stella brush. The berries were added using a deep red Pro marker

- I trimmed the postcard to size using my old faithful Woodware trimmer and a 'deckle' blade

I'm pleased to report that I did manage to track down some additional spare blades for the trimmer as well as some extra cutting mats to slot in the blade channel - just took a bit of good old Percy Veerance :)

And as is often the case, I made an additional card exactly the same whilst at it.

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

Uncle Charlie's funeral went well on Friday and was indeed more of a celebration of a long and full life. Remember that I mentioned he was a POW in World War II? And was a  captive for almost five years?

Well, we discovered from the family that he and his wife very recently had to go into a nursing home - after Charlie had a minor stroke and couldn't continue to look after his beloved wife Jessie at home. Within a very short time, Uncle Charlie plotted their bid for freedom and they were caught trying to 'escape' through the kitchen which had a back door to the outside world - the rotten postman snitched on them!

Di
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Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - Ribbon

The challenge for the next two weeks over at Cuttlebug Mania is 'Ribbon' and this is my card:

I used:

- 5" x 7" white card blank - tent style

- a snippet of SU's 'Old Olive' card stock trimmed to just slightly smaller than the card front and adhered using Collall All Purpose Glue

- another snippet, this time 'Wisteria, embossed using Crafts-Too's 'Lattice' embossing folder, trimmed down slightly and adhered with Collall All Purpose glue

- the image was stamped using Memento 'London Fog' ink onto a snippet of white card. The image is SU's 'Love is Kindness' stamp - but I covered up the sentiment before inking the stamp and then removed the low tack tape so that only the bunch of tulips would stamp. Then I stamped the tulip heads onto another snippet before colouring both the main image and the additional tulip heads using Pro Markers

- next I die cut the image panel using a die from a Spellbinders set called 'A2 Fancy Ribbon Threader' die' 

- at that point I could work out how much room I had to stamp a sentiment above the ribbon and bow I wanted to add - the sentiment is from a Whimsical Designs set called 'Whimsical Fun - Vol. 1', stamped using Memento 'London Fog'

- then I threaded a snippet of pink gingham ribbon through the ribbon slots and tied a little bow before adding the panel to the card

- finally, cut a few extra tulip heads and popped them onto the image with thin sticky pads before adding just a few little pink clear 'domes'

That's my DT card for Cuttlebug Mania - why not come and join in HERE. This fortnight we're sponsored by Digi Scrap Kits (loads of lovely Clip Art to be had!).

I'm sure a few of you are aware that Lucy and some of our other much loved playmates suffer from debilitating ME/CFS and other related illnesses. If you're fit and full of energy today - cherish every moment, oh, and why not wear something blue too?

Di 
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Snippets Playground - update

First of all, a snippets card from me. I had carefully peeled a lovely heart shaped topper off the Valentine's Day card that Len gave me this year and it was on my desk for weeks. Then, I had a paper pad out for a different card (still to be made) and the topper and one of the paper designs just seemed to wanna have a hug :) So I made this:

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white linen card blank

- backing card by SU, 'Smoky Slate', from the snippets folder

- a piece cut from a sheet of patterned paper in the LOTV 'Heartfelt' paper pad (I love this pad!)

- the adorable topper, added using thin sticky pads

- the word 'love' was die cut three times from another snippet of SU's 'Smoky Slate' card stock (backed with Stick It adhesive film) then layered together for dimension. The die is by Cheery Lynn, called 'Love' (now there's a surprise!)

And a little update on the Snippets Playground. When this publishes we should be back home but, as I said already, the Playground will run for a further week to give me time to catch up. However, I'm adding some little runner up prizes into the draw:

The lovely people at Stix2 sent me four of these little packs to give away. Each one contains a packet of tiny sticky pads, a tape runner, a glue stick and a really handy 'Pick Up Pencil', which is so useful for picking up little gems etc.

To be in with a chance, all you need to do is to have at least one entry in the Mr Linky on last Sunday's post HERE. You have all of this coming week if you haven't already played.

Then, just leave a comment here saying you'd like to be in the runner up draw - of course if you already said you want to be in the main draw you can also enter this one as well!

Now, I thought there might be a little complication with posting these packs outside the UK.  I've checked with Stix2 directly and they post the glue sticks overseas, they go on white and dry clear and are non-flammable - so you can all play along too, no matter where you live!

Di
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