What? Just one 'Ho!'?

The current challenge over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge is 'Ho! Ho! Ho!', and I do tend to follow challenges a bit literally so there was some scrabbling here for a 'Ho! Ho! Ho' sentiment stamp (of which I have only one little LOTV tag stamp).

So then there was a hunt for Santa image/stamps - bit thin on the ground there as well.

But, the other night, unable to sleep, I turned to the way I find can sometimes send me off to dreamland - lying in the dark idly thinking about different challenges and 'sho nuff' - the image of a NBUS stamp popped into my head. Luckily I remembered it the next morning, managed to locate it and so this card was born:

I used:

- DL white card blank

- a snippet of white card onto which I stamped the 'Stamps Happen - dolly mama's' image called 'Ho', using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink. I'll explain more about the story behind this NBUS stamp underneath this list of ingredients but I do love that it's just got the one 'Ho' :)

- then I coloured the image using Whispers markers plus tickles of clear Wink of Stella on the fur trims

- backed the image with a snippet of SU's 'Certainly Celery'

- before adding the image to the card I just popped some patterned 'Certainly Celery' onto plain backing pieces and added them to the top and bottom of the card to fill in the white spaces

I'm not 100% sure where I got this quirky pre-loved stamp from, I suspect it was either a WOYWW crop or one of the Stash Selling Face book sites. But, as soon as I saw it, she reminded me so much of my hairdresser Jane. I bet you're wondering now about what sort of hair salon I frequent?! I've followed Jane from one salon to another for 20+ years in fact, she's a brilliant stylist, fantastic at cutting and now she has her own small salon which is wacky and such fun. I never know what colour or style her hair will be (purple and pink have featured for sure) - and I'm sure this card will appeal to her sense of humour.

So that's another one for the box, I only made the one as I do suspect there's a limited audience in my circle of friends and family who would totally 'get' this :)

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

Di
x

'Digging around'

Our next door neighbours' little boy is obsessed with all things to do with 'digger dumper trucks' and such and one of Max's favourite games is moving earth from one flower bed to another - using one of his many toy trucks and JCBs. So, when it came to making his Birthday card, it was a bit of a 'no brainer' really - I found a card almost identical to this one over at Memory Box's gallery, but can't find a name to give credit to:

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank

- olive green Core-dinations backing card as a frame

- pale blue card to build the scene on

- strip of brown Core-dinations card with a 'hole' dug, partly using a SU 'Itty Bitty' punch and then finished off freehand  :)

- a snippet of brown card and a snippet of olive green Core-dinations to die cut two Memory Box 'Arboscello' trees. I then radically 'pruned' the brown tree and just added a few of the leaves from the green tree

- the JCB is a Memory Box die called 'Excavator', die cut using goldy yellow and black card snippets. I just inked over the cab and the upright exhaust using a permanent black marker pen. The little face as suggested by my in-house critic was such fun to do (not!). It took umpteen attempts to add two eyes and a mouth to such a little peach coloured punched circle. In the end I used temporary adhesive to glue a little row of the circles onto my glass cutting mat and then went along adding eyes and noses to them, all using a black fine liner pen - and finally there  was one that was balanced and useable! So much easier than trying to add marks to teeny circles that want to fly away as soon as they're touched

- the clouds were die cut from white card snippets using MFT's 'Cloud Trio' set set

- the name 'MAX' was die cut using a snippet of blue Core'dinations card and Tattered Lace's Every Day Anniversary Alphabet (D695) die set and popped onto one cloud

- the number '5' was also die cut using Tattered Lace's 'Mini Numbers' die set and popped onto the side of the JCB - love these numbers but really they're very small

- added the smaller cloud to the 'scene' using glue and then gently shaped the 'Max' cloud and added it to the card using thin sticky pads

- inked in a little flock of birds freehand using a black fine liner

- final touch, a silver 'Happy Birthday' peel off, bottom right of the card to balance things out - and also 'cos my in-house critic insisted that you can't send a little boy a Birthday card without it having that greeting on :)  

I'd like to enter this card into the current challenge over at Cardz 4 Guyz, where the theme is 'Something beginning with T'. I have on this 'ere card a tree and the beginnings of a trench :) It's my first time playing along with Cardsz 4 Guyz, but I hope not the last - maybe it'll pull me out of the 'girlie cards' comfort zone :)

Di
x

Rudolph Day and Merry Monday

I made a card for two of my favourite challenges:

Rudolph Day - 'Anything Goes'

Merry Monday #167 - 'Hearts'

I did struggle with the 'Heart(s)' theme a bit, then decided to flick through my album of non-Christmas fancy dies. And there looking back at me was a Memory Box 'Bingham Heart' die (a gift from Mo when she was over here visiting the other year - mwah!). I immediately thought 'red flowers', a bit like poinsettias, and off I went:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white linen card blank

- a 6" x 6" layer of white linen card for background, as yet untrimmed at this stage

- snippets of green, red and sparkling silver card from the snippets folder

- then die cut three hearts, one from each snippet, having backed the green card snippet with Stick-It double sided adhesive sheet

- popped the green heart onto the background piece of card, as centrally as possible

- then, one by one snipped off the red flowers and added them on top of the green heart shaped die cut, using a Quickie glue pen

- then I did the same with the sparkling silver stars

- then trimmed the whole piece down to be slightly smaller than the card blank and glued it onto the front of the card. I found it best to do it this way as there's more chance of ending up with the heart centralised :)

- next I popped some teeny clear gems in the centre of each red flower

- finally, a silver sentiment (With Love at Christmas) from Craftwork Cards was added in the centre of the heart, popped on with thin sticky pads

And, trust me, I just knew this would be fiddly before starting out - so I only made the one! Like I often say, I may look daft but I'm not totally stoopid :)

Di
x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 187

Well, I bet this might have some of you flummoxed - 'yes' you did see my snippets card for this week over at Less is More yesterday and also on my blog. This week's challenge over at Less is More is to use snippets and I would be so thrilled if you could try to join in. To be honest, a clean and simple card isn't always easy using snippets - but if I can do it then am sure anyone can. To recap, and to save making another snippetty card for today (me not as daft as I look), this is what I made:

I used:

- 5" x 7" white card blank

- then I stamped the sentiment using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from the 'Good Friends' set by Hero Arts - I do usually stamp sentiments first, purely to save spoiling a finished card which could have taken ages, with a smudge or whatever :) And it IS straight I promise, it's the photo that's 'on the wonk'!

- next I masked off a panel across the card using Scotch removable tape, plus some Post-its for good measure, before adding clouds using a duster brush, Tim Holtz 'Tumbled Glass' ink pad and an A6 stencil by Dutch Doobadoo called 'Clouds'. It's fine to use this stencil on bigger cards, just remember not to go right up to the side edges before moving it across a bit

- then came the snippets fun :) I first of all die cut the balloon from a snippet of black card using a fabulous Joanna Sheen Signature die called 'Hot Air Balloon'. I'd backed the black card with 'Stick-It' adhesive film which did make the whole process much easier. I then stuck the balloon onto the cloud panel - my measuring had worked a treat as I wanted the gondola itself to be against the white background rather than the sky

- next I lined up six little snippets of card and backed them with 'Stick-It' adhesive film. They were literally just little strips of snippets so I did have to take great care to make sure I cut and lined up them properly when cutting out the little panels, one by one, sigh :( Never choose the easy route of course!

And here's a tip - after I'd stuck the black outline die cut of the balloon onto the card front, but before adding the coloured panels - my OCD kicked in. Even the microscopic width of the cut around each panel could have meant some white card peeking from behind - so I inked around the inside of each panel with a black Whispers marker! It made the visual lining up of the die cut panels much trickier I must admit, but with the aid of a really strong pair of specs and my daylight lamp it was feasible and of course when properly lined up they do sort of 'slot down' into place :) And no 'white bits/bikini marks' as they say :)

And it was also a special Birthday for Chrissie over at Less is More, she's celebrating being 70 years young, which made it all the more exciting :)

OK, back down to earth (pun totally intended!) and here are this week's Playground Picks - and I've had to limit my choice this week. After the Less is More post went live yesterday it was mayhem here, I really was blown away by how kind everyone has been about my GD spot - mwah!! And, as the icing on an already  luscious cake, my 'Graduation card' made it into the top five over at The Allsorts Challenge - everything seemed to come along at once:

Shaz in Oz made this fabulous card to show us, I especially love the gold embossed panel - looks so rich and just perfect for the clockwork theme. And a perfectly designed card I'm sure you will agree.

Isn't this just the cutest norwhal ever (they're also known as 'The Unicorn of the Ocean'). Wonderful watery background and if you look closely at it you'll see that April used a really neat trick for the circular bubbles - the end of a sponge dauber and a marker dipped in white ink. My guess is that it's the hollow opposite end to the sponge itself that April used - very clever!

Now this image above is just the tip of the iceberg! ScrAPamondo scampered into the Playground and brought an amazing mini album - crammed full of wonderful detail and using up many, many snippets. This is the cover - and you really do need to hop over and see how the cat was cleverly created from a modified Sizzix die cut.

And finally, this was one of Sazzle Dazzle/Sarah's fabulous snippets cards made for Chrissie over at Less is More. I totally love the vibrancy and how clever to die cut the numbers from chevron pieced card stock. Wonderful!

I do hope you understand why I've cut down on the picks a bit this week - there were loads more I'd have loved to include, given the time. Remember, the thumbnails are still on last week's Playground post for you to check out.

And we had one new playmate this week too:

Dana brought this super card to show. Now, Dana is also a relatively new blogger with just a handful of followers, so it would be brilliant if you could hop over to say 'Hi' - and no doubt frisk her for sweeties whilst there! I did giggle, like quite a few people who come to play for the first time, Dana admitted to 'stalking' the Playground for a while.So glad you finally joined in!

And onto the draw for last week's prize, which was the Just Inklined 'Tutu Cute Washing Line' stamp - and our winner is:

Mary Anne

I still have your address honey and will take a trip to the Post Office and send the stamp off this week.

Now let's see the prize for this coming week, which is all connected to my Less is More Snippets card:

And we have a Dutch Doobadoo 'Clouds' stencil, a Joanna Sheen Signature die called 'Hot Air Balloon' - plus a packet of A5 sized Stick-It sheets to make fiddly die cutting and sticking easier - all the same as I used on my snippets card above.

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 1st August. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. Also, if you already have or aren't really interested in part of the prize but still would like to play for one or two items - please say so and if your number is picked as the winner then I'll do a second draw for the rest of the items. However, the prize IS for all three items unless I'm told otherwise in a comment. 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 - please let me know if you have any problems linking, it's easy for me to sort out so don't struggle on alone :)

Finally, remember that it's Rudolph Day over at Scrappymo's - you have until the end of July to enter, and the prize is a fabulous Memory Box 'Merry Christmas' die.

Di and of course, Parsnip!
x

Less is More Challenge - 'Snippets'

I've been sitting on a BIG secret for weeks here, first of all, it's a very special Birthday for Chrissie over at 'Less is More'. 'Happy Birthday' Chrissie!!

The next part of the secret is that this coming week's theme for the LIM challenge is 'Snippets' - and Sarah kindly asked me to be their Guest Designer!! Wahoo, and then panic set in of course. Much running round the walls and chewing of nails here. And that was Parsnip little white fluffy bear, forget about me!!

We all know that it's not always that easy to make a snippets card whilst keeping the card clean, crisp and having plenty of 'white' space - but it is 'doable' I promise:

I used:

- 5" x 7" white card blank

- then I stamped the sentiment using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from the 'Good Friends' set by Hero Arts - I do usually stamp sentiments first, purely to save spoiling a finished card which could have taken ages, with a smudge or whatever :) And it IS straight I promise!

- next I masked off a panel across the card using Scotch removable tape, plus some Post-its for good measure, before adding clouds using a duster brush, Tim Holtz 'Tumbled Glass' ink pad and an A6 stencil by Dutch Doobadoo called 'Clouds'. It's fine to use this stencil on bigger cards, just remember not to go right up to the side edges before moving it across a bit

- then came the snippets fun :) I first of all die cut the balloon from a snippet of black card using a fabulous Joanna Sheen Signature die called 'Hot Air Balloon'. I'd backed the black card with 'Stick-It' adhesive film which did make the whole process much easier. I then stuck the balloon onto the cloud panel - my measuring had worked a treat as I wanted the gondola itself to be against the white background rather than the sky

- next I lined up six little snippets of card and backed them with 'Stick-It' adhesive film. They were literally just little strips of snippets so I did have to take great care to make sure I cut and lined up them properly when cutting out the little panels, one by one, sigh :( Never choose the easy route of course!

And here's a tip - after I'd stuck the black outline die cut of the balloon onto the card front, but before adding the coloured panels - my OCD kicked in. Even the microscopic width of the cut around each panel could have meant some white card peeking from behind - so I inked around the inside of each panel with a black Whispers marker! It made the visual lining up of the die cut panels much trickier I must admit, but with the aid of a really strong pair of specs and my daylight lamp it was feasible and of course when properly lined up they do sort of 'slot down' into place :) And no 'white bits/bikini marks' as they say :)

Thank you so much to the LIM Team for asking me to be their guest designer and for choosing the theme 'Snippets', you really totally amazed me there. And of course, once again, I hope that you, Chrissie, 'Have a fantastic day' - as the sentiment I used says :)

OK Playmates, it would be great if you try to join in with Less is More, I'd be thrilled to see some LIM snippets cards in the Playground.

AND, of course I don't normally do a blog post on a Saturday, but I will be back tomorrow with the Snippets Playground write-up plus a pretty good prize selection - all linked to today's card :) Snigger :)

Di
x

"Deck the halls with boughs of holly

...............fa, la, la, la, la, la la, la, la."

Gosh, I couldn't get that line out of my mind whilst making today's card, which was made with a couple of few challenges in mind:

Winter Wonderland - 'Traditional Christmas colours'

Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge #238 - 'Spots and/or stripes'

Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for July - always 'Anything Goes'

as well as, Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge for July- just use patterned paper

I used:

- A6 white card blank

- SU's 'Real Red' snippet as a backing layer

- diagonally striped paper from Dovecraft's 'Back to Basics Christmas - Modern' paper stack

-pre-coloured image from LOTV's Art Pad Set 14 'Festive Foliage' - die cut using a Tonic Studios round die from a set of 14. I totally LOVE that set of dies, they graduate up in size beautifully close together and, as yet, I've always managed to find the perfect fit!

- the teeny label, which comes from LOTV's  Set 32 'Christmas Sentiment Tags' was stamped using a Memento 'Cottage Ivy' dye ink pad and then 'fussy cut'

- the label was attached on top of the holly wreath using little snips of thin sticky pad and then I added a dark green Josy Rose nail head to look like a brad

Writing this post took almost as long as it did to make not just the one but another card exactly the same as well :)

Di
x

Graduation Day

One of my friends asked me to make a Graduation Day card for her Grand daughter - I was delighted to oblige of course:

I used:

- 6" x 8" white card blank

- plain SU card stock for the backing layers ('Baked Brown Sugar' and 'Core'dinations  Primrose Petals')

- the main patterned backing paper is from the LOTV 'Country Lady' paper pad

- the image is a Penny Black cutie called 'A Scholar', coloured with Pro markers - with the mortar board and 'scroll plus hedgies right hand' fussy cut from a second layer and fixed to the main image with teeny thin sticky pads pieces

- the image was die cut using a die from the Lil-Inkers 'Stitched Rectangle' set and layered onto plain backing card as a frame

- the bunting was punched using SU's 'Banner' punch and a snippet of paper from the same LOTV pad

- I then backed each 'banner' with another one punched from a piece of 'Baked Brown Sugar' card - I realised in time that the paper wasn't gonna work too well over the fine twine I wanted to use :)

- popped the fine twine onto the patterned card layer, and at the same time added a strip of caramel satin ribbon down the left hand side - before fixing it to the card front

- then added the little banners, I'd already added the lettering using a scrap of 'Primrose Petals' and the Tattered Lace 'Everyday Anniversary Alphabet' die set

- then tied a bow round the caramel ribbon and fastened a heart shaped charm with a double bow using brown cord

- the rose is one I was sent by a Playmate - I liked that it picks up the roses from the backing paper :)

- the sentiment was stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and two stamps (the word plus the dotted line) from the Hero Arts 'Messages' stamp set and layered onto snippets of the same backing card stock as used elsewhere on the card

I made up a plain white box, with the bottom lined with toning patterned brown paper, as the card needed some protection - even though I think it will be hand delivered on Graduation Day by a 'rightly very proud' Grandma! :)

I'd like to enter this into the current challenges:

Stamping Sensations - Feature a Creature

Penny Black and More - Anything goes with a Sentiment

Allsorts Challenge Week 320 - Add a banner or flag

Di 
x

Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - Sweet Goodbyes

Over at the Cuttlebug Mania Challenge we're just about to take a little Summer break until September. The theme for our last challenge before the break is 'Sweet Goodbyes', so of course we'd like you to make a goodbye card.

Our sponsor for this challenge is Crafty Charlie, one of my favourite places to shop on line.

Here's my offering:

I used:

- A6 white card blank, tent style

- a snippet of SU's 'Not Quite Navy' card stock for the background, embossed using a Darice folder called 'Clouds' and trimmed down to size

- the skyline was fun to make! I used a couple of NBUS dies that I've had for some time, made by Memory Box they're called 'Cityscape Silhouette' and 'Cityscape Nightline'. I die cut the solid cityscape (Silhouette) using a snippet of SU's 'Hello Honey' card and topped it with the cityscape Nightline, which was die cut from a snippet of black card

- the balloon was die cut using a little hot air balloon die from Little B's 'Baby' die set and snippets of SU's 'Real Red' and 'Hello Honey' card

- the sentiment was stamped using SU's 'Real Red' ink pad and a sentiment from Kaisercraft's 'Bon Voyage' Mini Clear Stamp Set, then punched out using SU's 'Word Window' punch before being backed with a snippet of SU's 'Hello Honey' card which was punched out u out using SU's 'Modern Label' punch

I've mentioned this before, the only reason I know exactly which snippets are which SU colours is 'cos I have a swatch - here it is:

As soon as I get any new SU card stock colours I cut a little square from each colour (2" x 2"), add a label to the back with the collection and colour name on, punch a hole in one corner and add it to the swatch. It's useful when writing up blog posts, but invaluable when I need to order more favourite colours!

I do hope you'll come and play over at Cuttlebug Mania before we have our little Summer break!

Remember, you do need to use a manual die cutting/embossing machine, but it needn't just be a Cuttlebug. Also, we like to know which products you used for die cutting and/or embossing please.


Di
x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 186

A mixed week for weather here, had some welcome rain although the temperature hasn't really dropped much. The Playground has been busy, and so many beautiful makes too.

This is my snippets card for this week:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank, tent style

- green backing card from the snippets folder, it's SU's 'Mossy Meadow'

- the patterned paper was a fresh sheet (shock, horror!) from Wild Rose Studio's 'Letters from Paris' paper pack

- before layering the plain and patterned card onto the card blank I added a snippet of mossy green ribbon across the centre

-- the image (Just Inklined - 'Tutu Cute Washing Line') was stamped onto a snippet of white card using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and coloured using Faber Castell Polychromos pencils and Sansodor blending fluid

- the sentiment is from a Whimsical Designs set called 'Whimsical Fun - Vol. 1', stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black ink

- die cut the image/sentiment panel using a Spellbinders Nestability die from the 'Labels Two' set, and added three iridescent sequins, using Glossy Accents

- stuck the image panel in place using thin sticky pads

- final touch, a knot of mossy green ribbon carefully kept from the snippet I used earlier and then a butterfly charm, tied on using iridescent thread

Onto the weekly picks now:

Carol L always comes up with such great ideas for using up snippets - how about this wonderful mosaic background? Super idea!

I  just homed right in on this gorgeous card, made by Mary Anne. What a fantastic scene, and brilliant use of snippets.

This card was based on an inspirational picnic photograph and made by Diane H - I just love it. So much careful detail and the more you look, the more you see! Even the strawberries have been run through an embossing folder to produce the 'seeds'.

Liz C gave me a real headache this week, I wrote down every one of her three entries as potential 'picks' - in the the end I plumped for this one. Love the darling cats sitting on the brick wall and Liz came up with the bright idea of elongating the lamp post as the die was too short. It's the little details that make such a difference :)

Nessa's cards never fail to amaze me - how about this terrific New Home card girls? Fresh and clean design but also a lot of care and detail - for example, the little houses are each intricately paper pieced :)

Almost at the last minute, Cornelia raced into the Playground waving this absolutely fabulous card. The coloured design was actually done using a Christmas tree stamp which is just beautiful in itself. But, there's another great idea here - see the sentiment? I thought that was done using a Dymo labeling machine but in fact it's a snippet of black card with the words embossed in white - the choice of font totally fooled me. And a little trick I'll be trying out ASAP.

Wow, I found time to add six picks this week! And, we also have two new Playmates as well:

First came Pirjo from Finland, with this err, adorable little frog. A note bearing this little chap would surely make anyone's day - not sure if he's a Prince underneath so I'll hold back on the kissing malarky :)

And secondly, in hopped Barb (Williams) with this terrific card. I love the owl stamp, who doesn't love owls? The colours are great and a very clever way to add the sentiment too. Barb has only been blogging since February, so it would be great if some of you could nip over to say 'Hello'.

I do hope you both come back and play with us again!

Next, the draw for the Memory Box 'Sparkly Tree Tile' die, and the winner is:

Karen P

Well done Karen, I still have your address here and will post off your prize as soon as possible!

And the prize this coming week is a stamp, the same as the one I used today:

Thankfully it's a single stamp so no juggling round pegging the washing out!

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 25th July. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say 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!
x

Teensy gift cards

I found some blank white cards and envelopes in a box the other day - just diddy little things but it struck me that I could make a few little gift cards to enclose with Playground prizes:

I used:

- 4" x 3" white card blanks, tent style

- patterned paper from Papermania's Capsule Collection 'Heather' paper pack. Using the 'enjoy' word die from Penny Black's 'Hooray' die set I then cut the word out of the centre of the patterned paper and also die cut a further two words the same from plain white card

- to make assembly easier, I'd already backed the paper and white card with some 'Stick-It' adhesive sheet prior to die cutting, so it was just a case of popping the background onto the card front and then layering up the white card die cut word into the aperture twice before topping with the patterned paper layer

- for the dot above the letter 'j', I used a lilac gem (truth be told, I lost one of the patterned dots and decided that gems might be better anyhow)

I made two of these at the same time whilst everything was strewn out on the desk :) And they aren't very easy to photograph - for all I know you might think you're looking at a card with just a flat piece of patterned paper on, but just rub your finger across the screen and you'll feel that the word really is raised. Don't tell me that you really DID rub your finger across the screen?

Di
x

Quick and simple Christmas cards

The current challenge over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge is 'Deck the halls' and I took it literally with the sentiment I used:

I used:

- A6 white card blank

- backing frame using a snippet of SU's 'Real Red' card stock, glued onto the card blank

- the white layer was embossed using SU's 'Square Lattice' folder, glued onto the 'Real Red' layer

- the image is a pre-coloured one from LOTV's lovely little Art Pad #15 called 'Furry Christmas, which sadly looks as if it's discontinued as well as being out of stock now. It's been on sale at 50% off recently (I bought mine ages ago though) - and LOTV's website says 'when they're gone, they're gone'.  A real shame as there are some lovely images in the pad :(

- die cut the image using a Spellbinders 'Labels Eighteen' die, ran a ball ended tool round the cut card while it was still in the die and then stamped the words 'Deck the halls!' onto the panel using Memento 'London Fog' ink and a stamp from the Personal Impressions set called 'Many Greetings'

- attached the image panel to the card front using thin sticky pads

You know what's coming next - yup, I made a further two exactly the same whilst I was at it!

I know that I keep mentioning 'thin sticky pads' and thought maybe I should clarify what I mean. The ones I buy are made by Ultratape and are 25mm x 12mm and the best price I've found recently here in the UK is 99p per pack/sheet of 40 with free postage. Even if you can find them in Hobbycraft, they come at £2 per pack! Being thin (only 1mm thick), they do cut up easily for decoupage and also allow you to add a single layer as I did today for a bit of dimension - which will still slip through that pesky postal gauge slot!  

Of course this is also for Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra too - where it's always 'Anything goes'. 

AND, this is also my second entry for Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge where the theme right now is 'Tree'. Yay! :)

Di
x

Less is More - Week 232 - One Layer and Masculine

I almost keeled over when I saw what this week's Less is More challenge theme is! On top of being one layer, they only went and threw 'masculine' into the pot as well!

Before I could reach for my SU 'Rev Up The Fun' set, someone had already hopped in 'toot sweet' with a great card using same set. Sigh :(

Then I remembered a stamp set that's in the NBUS box here, and just had to keep my fingers crossed that our KathyK didn't turn to it as I know she's used the same set previously - and very well I should add! This is what I made:

I used:

- A6 white card blank, tent style

- stamps from the Acid Drops and Whatnots' set called 'Dressed to Kill'. Stamped the image using Memento 'Tuxedo Black ink (how very appropriate!) and just coloured his 'foppy/floppy' handkerchief using a red Whispers pen

- added the sentiment from the same set, inked up using SU's 'Real Red' ink pad

- final touch, a wobbly line round the edge using a black fine liner pen

10 minutes flat! Wahoo :)

Edit: Almost cried with laughter here on Sunday. I only tend to post on the blog once a day and only on certain days of the week - so I scheduled this post for Tuesday being as how Sunday was Snippets Playground day. Ha! KathyK was away on Saturday but on Sunday morning she hopped into Less Is More with ............................................... this card:

So funny - and serves me right for not striking while the iron was hot eh?! So, I'm not linking this into Less is More after all :)

Another edit: After hilarity and encouragement in your lovely comments, am entering my card (at the top of this post!) just for fun after all into Less is More - if only as a little reminder not to hang about if you have an idea!

Di
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Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 185

My guess is that we're all 'enablers' in the Playground when it comes to using wonderful products and sending our followers off in a shopping frenzy :) Quite a few of you are guilty of 'enabling' me - and recently it was Kath, with a fabulous Memory Box tree die. It's been waiting to be used for almost a month now and I can't wait any longer:

I used:

- A6 white card blank, tent style

- snippet of deep red satin mirri card

- snippet of silver card, already gilded with snowflakes

- snippet of sparkly silver card, backed with Stick-It adhesive paper and die cut using the Memory Box 'Sparkly Tree Tile' die then adhered to a snippet of deep red satin mirri card

- then I carefully hand trimmed a border round the tree, as Kath had done on her card which you can see in the link at the top of this post

- stuck all the layers onto the card blank and topped it off with the tree

- thought about adding some clear gems but didn't, firstly as they'd need individually gluing to the sparkly card (self adhesive wouldn't have stayed put) - and secondly 'cos in real life the tree sparkles like crazy anyhow :)

This die is actually what's known as a 'tile' die and many people use it to create a really pretty aperture in a card front which is then backed with contrasting paper or card. I do like that idea, and will try it next, but (for now) this used up a few snippets :)

Edit: At the suggestion of Loll, I'd like to enter this into the 'Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge where the theme is 'Tree'.' I got it wrong and thought you had to stamp your image on an entry for it to be eligible - not so! :) Look out for me playing along with future challenges over at HLS, not all of them are Christmas ones either!

Straight onto the weekly picks. The Playground has been a teeny bit quieter this week - possibly partly due to the hot weather that many of us are experiencing. It's been glorious here!

This was our first entry this week, and it went straight onto my list of possible picks - and stayed there! Andrea (Kanda) made this fabulous card for Less is More as well as the Playground - brilliant use of snippets and very stylish!

Such a beautiful card, made by Kathy of KT Krafts, love all the white in the background plus the butterfly - and the pink flowers set off the sentiment and foliage perfectly!

Maura only recently joined in the Playground, and just look at what she brought to show us this week! Isn't that scene absolutely amazing? A wonderful, wonderful card!

Just had to show you this great card, made by Glennis. Such a clever idea to make a birdie from a button - and the use of those strips of snippets is a perfect backing too.

On Friday, our little friend Eve hopped into the Playground waving this stunning card. So, so elegant, just perfectly designed and made too. I totally love this card Eve!

Eeemeli brought us this adorable card to show, fabulous use of snippets and such a cute image as well.

And last, but not least, Lisa skipped in with this beautiful scene - totally sums up Paris for me :)


This week we have one new playmate to welcome:

Maria originally entered this card into Merry Monday, I spotted it there, fell in love with it and invited her to come and play :)  This is destined to be a Birthday card for Maria's grand daughter at Christmas time - one little lady is sure to be delighted.

A huge welcome from all of us in the Snippets Playground Maria, hope you come back often to play with us!

Onto the prize draw from last week, and the winner of the stamp, aqua dewdrops and also a packet of mixed dewdrops is:

Karen (Ladd)

Well done Karen!

I'd ended up buying a pack containing 450 mixed dewdrops as wasn't sure that my selection was varied enough, so at the same time I bought an extra packet and yesterday I ran Mr Random a second time and who should pop out but:

Greta

That tickled me as Greta was only playing for the mixed dewdrops anyhow - serendipity or what?!

I do have your addresses girls and will post your goodies off during this week, just as soon as I can get to the Post Office. 

And this coming week's prize might be easy to guess:

Yup, it's a Memory Box 'Sparkly Tree Tile' die of your very own :)

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 18th July. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say 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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