Less is More - Week 243 - Something shiny

The current challenge over at Less is More is 'Something shiny'. Over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge 248 it's 'Stick it down' - plus I'd also like to enter this into Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for September where it's always 'Anything goes':

Gosh the light was weird when I took this photo! The trees are actually peel off stickers, with the difference that some parts are sticky but others aren't, so they have layers which don't adhere to the card itself - giving a 3-D effect.

I used:

- DL white card blank. tent style

- scored lines top and bottom, half an inch from the edges, using my Hougie board

- three gold and clear 3-D Christmas tree peel offs - no name on the packet :(

- peel off 'Merry Christmas' sentiment

And, needless to say I made another one the same whilst I was playing!

Di
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Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - No Squares

The Cuttlebug Mania Challenge this fortnight is 'No Squares' and all you have to do is to use a manual die cutting/embossing machine (it doesn't need to be a Cuttlebug but it must be manual, not electronic). Then make your entry, link into the challenge, link to the challenge in your own blog post and and make sure that you also say what products you used for any die cutting/embossing. We're a nosey lot and do like to know just what you've used :)

Our sponsor this fortnight is 'Digiscrapkits' - over here.

Most of my card are square these days, with a few oblong ones thrown in for good measure - but after some head scratching I came up with a rocker card, and not a right angle to be seen:

I used:

- a pre-coloured image from The Hobby House called 'Spring Bringer', die cut slightly smaller using a die from the Tonic Studio's 'Circle Layering' set (I wrote quite extensively about this set about 10 days ago in a Christmas rocker card post)

- layered the image onto a snippet of SU's 'Crisp Cantaloupe' card which had been die cut using a Spellbinders 'Scalloped Circle' nestie

- stamped the word 'Hello' onto the image using VersaFine 'Vintage Sepia' ink and a sentiment stamps from the Stampendous ''Happy Messages' set

- to make the base I used the two largest dies in the circles set, cutting one from SU's 'Pistachio Pudding' and then a slightly smaller one using a sheet of Craftwork Cards 'Vintage Rose' paper

- glued them together and then scored the circle right across the centre and folded it to form the rocker base

- stuck the image panel onto the rocker base using red line tape. That was a bit tricky-woo to make sure it was all lined up fine, and whilst concentrating on the lining up I took my eye off the ball, sigh. So there's a deliberate mistake but no way was I going to rip the image layer off without wrecking the whole card. The flowers on the paper are upside down (of course they're the right way up on the back, which is the side I meant to use as the front), but then again, the flowers the little girl is carrying are also mostly upside down - so that's alright then :)

You have two weeks to join in with Cuttlebug Mania - hope you find time to come and play!

Di
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Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 196

We're officially into Autumn now - and galloping towards 'you know when' at a rate of knots. Do remember that it's still Rudolph Day over at ScrappyMo's - until Wednesday 30th September, and of course you can combine your Rudolph Day card with a snippets one :)

Let's get cracking and first of all here's my snippets card, told you Autumn was in the air:

I used:

- A5 white card blank, tent style

- the image is a stamp by Marianne Design 'Don and Daisy - DDS3324', stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and coloured using Pro Markers then die cut using a Spellbinders Nestie 'Labels 18' die

- then took a snippet of Neenah 'Desert Storm' plain card stock and drew round the outside of the die before fussy cutting to create a narrow frame for the image - and glued the image to it

- using a little strip of the patterned paper I backed it with Stick-It adhesive sheet and die cut the word 'friend' using a Winnie and Walter die called 'In A Word: Friend Cutaway'

- more snippets of Neenah 'Desert Storm' card plus a whole (gasp, shock, horror) sheet of patterned paper from Papermania's Capsule Collection 'Sunshine' paper pack to form the main background of the card

- to cover the front of the card I did some quick maths then layered an oblong of the patterned paper onto Neenah 'Desert Storm card - leaving a narrow border right round

- guillotined the top part of the background according to my calculations and adhered it to the top of the card front

- next, added the die cut word 'friend' - leaving the bottom of the card totally blank at this point

- once the die cut 'friend' was in place, I could tell whether the bottom piece of the background was going to meet the bottom of 'friend' nicely and still leave a white border at the bottom of the card. Bingo! It worked fine so I glued the bottom panel in place

- had my calculations been slightly adrift, by leaving the bottom panel until last I could have made an adjustment by either trimming a bit off the patterned panel if it was too large, or taking a little bit off the bottom of the card blank itself  if the panel was on the small side

- finally, I added the image panel to the top part of the card using Collall All Purpose glue for some 'wiggle room'

I do so love this stamp - Len says my hair looks like that when I wake up in the mornings! And the 'friend' die is going to be fun to use, cut in plain card it would look great, it could also be used for the camouflage technique - and of course would be super combined with stamped words too.

And now onto this week's picks - sheesh, a lot of entries and also many of you were keen on the Sizzix die/Stick-It sheets on offer. Here we go:

Oh how I love all the detail on this fabulous easel card, made by Jenny L. It's super Jenny!!

Still with purple, Kitty brought us this amazing Halloween card - get the expression on that cat's face :)

Eve is on a roll at the moment with beautiful black and white cards, accented with gold foiling and embossing. I picked this one as a lovely example to share with you.

I just love this card, made by Linby. Fabulous use of snippets and a perfect sentiment. This little lady reminds me a bit of Sally in The Nightmare Before Christmas film, only without the stitching on her face. It's the eyes I think!

You know that feeling when you see a handmade card or something else on a blog - and it stops you in your tracks? Well, I literally screeched to a halt when I spotted this amazing card made by Donna - gosh it's fabulous and it's all made using dies, a stencil, a stamp and snippets. I LOVE, love, love this!!

I chose this card, made by Janis, as it's a great example of how to use up neon coloured snippets - it sure brightened up the day here!

This is such a pretty tag that Ileana skipped with in to show us - who wouldn't feel better if they received this?

Yay! Cornelia came to play a couple of times this week - first of all bringing us this fabulous card to share. It was published in Craft Stamper magazine and I'm not surprised. The great news is that Cornelia is well on the mend after the retina repairs - but for now she's gonna be sitting out playing on the seesaw, just like me!

Now, we're not just about cards in the Snippets Playground, and this week two fabulous canvases caught my eye:

This first one was made by Brenda (Floral Fantasies), and I think it's just absolutely gorgeous. And loads of you who visited her also thought the same - there's a great explanation of how Brenda made this beauty on her blog as well.

And finally, here's another canvas - this time made by Jane J. She used a technique I'd never come across before called 'Slashed Canvas' - it's amazing! I've read the steps a few times on Jane's blog and now have a good idea about how it was done. Would love to try it and I wonder if anyone else dares have a go, another great way to use snippets!

We had one new Playmate and, bless her little cotton socks, she's our youngest crafter in the Playground ever! Aged 22 months! When I spotted what Daisy Jane had made I asked Jane J (her Nanna) to link her into the Playground so you could all see a crafter in the making - take a look at what the little poppet made:

The conkers were from a 'conker hunt' with Nanna - and to prove that Daisy is already adept with stamps and pens, here she is working (Nanna did the grown up writing of course!):

So cute!! And starting off really young too.

So, with a little drum roll, it's time to pick the winner of the Sizzix 'card front die' called 'Peace, Love, Joy' and/or the Stick-It adhesive sheets:

Donna 

I was delighted to see Donna's number come up (the first two runs of the Random number generator picked two Playmates who had already declined the chance to win so it was third time lucky for Donna!). And not only that, you'll have seen that Donna's fabulous scenic card blew my socks off this week - and you know what? She truly doesn't realise just how good she is.

Donna came to play for the first time the week before last and has only been blogging since February - so this is a fairly quick win, and very well deserved. To date she has just 17 followers - I just bet (and very much hope) a few more of you will hop over and start to follow her after seeing her work! Can you please let me have your snail mail address Donna, and I'll post your prize off this week (di_wray@hotmail.com).

This coming week's prize isn't difficult to guess:

It's a Winnie and Walter 'In a Word: Friend Cutaway' die and a Marianne 'Don and Daisy - DDS3324' stamp, just like the ones I used on my snippets card today.

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 3rd October. 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 say if you only want one or other part of the prize (the die or the stamp), but both are up for grabs as one prize of course. And please 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 :)

Progress with the back is slow but it's steadily improving - bit by bit we'll get there!

Di and of course, Parsnip!
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Rudolph Day - September 2015

Yay, it's Rudolph Day again, over at ScrappyMo's - HERE. And, it's also Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge #247 'Something beginning with P' - as well as Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for September 'Always anything goes'.

So, I began with the letter P as my starting point - and this was the result - presents/parcels:

I used:

- A6 white card blank, tent style

- snippet of red satin mirri card, cut a tad smaller than the card front and glued in place

- snippet of white card, cut a tad smaller again and glued in place on top of the red layer

- Stampin' Up 1" square punch to punch three squares from patterned snippets tucked in the back of LOTV's 'Classic Christmas' paper pad

- plain snippets from the same paper pad, backed with Stick-It adhesive sheet and then die cut using a die from the Memory Box 'Crisp Bows' set - to form the 'ribbon and bows' on the parcels which were assembled and put to one side

- next, a red peel off sentiment - had totally forgotten I had a sheet of red ones!

- then I added the assembled parcel with their bows - best done at the end when the sentiment peel off is in place just to make sure the balance is right (or as right as it ever would be if I'm behind the making!)

I made some cards in a similar style for last Christmas, although they were bright neon colours and much more modern/funky - HERE.  

And, of course, I made another one exactly the same as the one I showed at the top of this post - which means I've hit my target for September of 12 Christmas cards - so that makes 108 made so far this year. Whoop, whoop!


Di
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At long last!

It's taken us years to capture 'Spike the Hedgehog' in a reasonably decent night time photo, under the garden spotlights, but one evening the week before last, Len managed to catch him whilst he was somewhat preoccupied:

He did turn his head to cast a beady eye at the camera, and then quickly returned to the object of his interest:

Oh help - he'd only brought a girlfriend to dinner! And we don't think dinner was the only thing on the menu either.

Len has now christened them 'Horace and Doris' - quite why is lost on me :)

The worry is, if there are little 'Spikelets' in a few weeks time as a result, we'll be doing the hedgehog rescue palaver all over again.

In fact it got even more complicated - later on we found CCTV shots of THREE hedgies dancing around the lawn playing 'ring a ring o' rosies'! Little perishers :)

Di
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Minions Birthday card

I've wanted to make a 'Minions' Birthday card for ages now, using the Stampin' Up Owl punch. Recently I got the chance to make one for one of Len's little relatives - and they really are such fun to make, if a little fiddly!

This is so NOT my idea by any means, there are loads of Minions cards out there and we've had some fun ones in the Playground for sure. THIS is where I found some clear and easy to follow instructions using the SU owl punch (which was my mission!), along with photos of the stages. And this was the resulting card 'wot I made' - with huge thanks to Trisha for the really clear instructions:

I used:

- A6 white card blank

- a snippet of dark blue paper as a frame

- a panel of white card

- snippet of yellow card, die cut using a Memory Box 'Grand Happy Birthday' die then backed the lower part with a snippet of dark blue paper

- only at that point did I stick the yellow sentiment layer, with lower part backed with the dark blue paper, to the panel of white card and trim it down to sit on top of the dark blue frame leaving a narrow border right round

- the cheeky little Minions were made by following the instructions here (as mentioned earlier) and using snippets of yellow, black and dark blue card - plus some large googly eyes

- die cut the letters for Joe's name using a snippet of dark blue card and a Tattered Lace 'Anniversary - Classic Alphabet' die

- then just popped the little Minions in place using thin sticky pads

I used some words I'd seen whilst looking for the Minions tutorial, just printed them on the insert .................. 'Sending you Minions of Birthday Wishes'.

Snigger :)

Di
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Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 195

Well, we made it through the week - dearest Sarn jumped in on Monday to say she would look after the Playground for me, I did decline her kind offer but how sweet was that then? AND, she did hop round you all, in front of me during the week to comment - just in case I was tottering along like an old biddy - bless :)

Writing this on Saturday morning, and for the first time in over a week I can feel the teensiest improvement in the old back. It's the nature of it that it travels around different areas - almost as if when I protect one sore set of muscles it then moves onto another area. Nasty piece of work if you ask me!

Anyhow, let's do a quick canter this week - first of all here's my snippets card:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- a smaller snippet of red satin mirri card for the largest frame, glued onto the card front using Collall All Purpose glue

- a whole sheet of pale green snowflake patterned paper from Wild Rose Studio's 'Annabelle's Christmas' paper pack

- a snippet of almost plain green paper from the LOTV 'Classic Christmas' paper pad, with the back covered with some 'Stick-It adhesive sheet. This was then die cut using a Sizzix card front die called 'Peace, Love, Joy' 

- after removing the backing from the die cut I popped it onto the centre of the sheet of pale green snowflake patterned paper and trimmed along each edge

- layered the 'message piece' onto the red satin mirri card, again using Collall glue for some wiggle time

- backed another snippet of red satin mirri card with 'Stick-It' adhesive sheet and die cut the letters 'J-O-Y' (the letter dies come in with the die set) then popped them onto the word JOY - after running a red Whispers pen (which doesn't bleed like a Pro Marker would of course) round the edges - I hate white bits where they shouldn't be :)

- something was missing so I walked away for a while, had a think and eventually came back and die cut a single snowflake using a die from the Whimsy 'Layered Snowflake' set, covered it with clear Wink of Stella and once dry popped it in the middle of the letter 'O' using a small piece of thin sticky pad

- added a snowflake diamante embellishment on top - just the snowflake and bling made all the difference (IMHO) - but, you could also use the letters 'J-O-Y' alone or with a snowflake on (say) a plain white snowflake background, I think that could look very elegant

So, that's my snippets card for today, and it fits nicely in with the current challenge over at 'Merry Monday #171' which is 'Sentiment in the Spotlight'. I think I covered the Merry Monday brief - n'est ce pas?

And now onto this week's picks - sheesh, a lot of entries and also many of you were keen on the Tim Holtz prize on offer. Who knew? I truly thought I was 'tail end Charlie' with those birds, once again!

Carol L always features on my weekly list of possible picks at least once, usually more times. I chose this entry as it's a perfect Christmas card - using the wonderful Arboscello Tree die by Memory Box and just so pleasing to the eye. Love it!

I certainly went WOW when I spotted this absolutely gorgeous WOW card, made by Viv. Just perfection and so, so beautiful - welcome back Viv! Viv has been travelling round the country in her role as Vice-President of England Bowls for what seems like ages now - we missed you chick!

I'm sure that many of you know that Bonnie is on the DT for 'Merry Monday' - one of my favourite challenges. And this is the latest DT card she brought to show us. Now, I thought it was all one stamp that Bonnie had used - but not so! That little beauty was made by careful selection and positioning of a variety of Christmas sentiment stamps. So clever and one I bet a few of us would love to CASE! Slightly sick grin here, Bonnie has a Misti Stamp Positioner - am totally green around the gills with envy. I do so wish someone in the UK would stock them - right now the postage and also the risk of paying duty is quite off-putting, such a shame!

And here's another Christmas card, made by Annie. And certainly one I'd love to CASE as well. I just adore the idea of die cutting the bauble from the front of the card and then popping a snippet of sparkly card or paper behind the aperture! Great idea and so effective too!

I love this card, made by Lynn, using snippets of white card and transforming them into this real beauty! What's interesting too is that the shades of white vary - but of course when you create wonderful stamped and inked backgrounds it really doesn't matter, so don't throw those slightly off-white snippets out girls!

Kate hopped in with this stunning card - some beautiful die cutting, wonderful flowers too! What really made me smile was that Kate used a snippet of wallpaper sample on the card. Such a great idea - I'll be off to Homebase as soon as am more mobile :) Tee, hee - and able enough to beat a hasty retreat with an armful of wallpaper samples!

Oh I do so love this card, made by Laurie! The die is a Cheery Lynn one called 'Witch's Laundry' and it's such a fun die - a perfect way to use up snippets too! I'm sitting on my hands here but bet that one of these will fall into my shopping basket over at Maddy Lisa's before the day is through!

So, that was this week's picks - I managed a few more than I'd expected, and now it's time to welcome two new Playmates to the Playground:

Chris S brought us a gorgeous snowflake Christmas tag to see - I love all the blues and it looks so Nordic, just beautiful Chris!

Donna nipped in with this great card - the film strip die is a perfect way to personalise cards I think! Donna also has a trick for stopping tent style cards from splaying out (and looking like a ballerina doing the splits!) - she kindly sent me instructions but I haven't cracked it yet - to be honest I think I was doped up on painkillers when I had a play, so must try again!

Welcome to both of you - and it would be lovely to see you in the Playground again! I take it the girlies shared their choklit and also showed you where the illicit whisky still is hidden - they think I don't know! Ha, nothing gets past Parsnip and me when we're in full 'ferreting and searching' mode :)

So, with a little drum roll, it's time to pick the winner of some or all of the Tim Holtz 'Bird Crazy' stamps and dies - plus the Accessories stamps set. Oh how I wish I had more of this bumper prize to offer - in all there were 38 of you longing for the whole bundle and a further five of you would have loved just part of the prize. And, the first person to pop out of Mr Random had indeed said a huge 'yes please' to the whole bundle:

Liz

It's over 30 weeks since Liz last won a Playground prize, and most weeks she comes to play, often three times like this week, which is brilliant! Plus, Liz is also often a weekly pick - here's an example from this week's entries, just fabulous:

So I know you'll all be delighted for Liz - I'm sure she'll be back soon with some fun cards using the stamps and dies! Psst, I still have your snail mail address Liz and will post your prize ASAP this coming week!

This coming week's prize is another 'no brainer' of course. It's a Sizzix card front die called 'Peace, Love, Joy', just like I used on my snippets card. I've also got a packet of A5 'Stick-It's sheets as part of the prize. This is such a detailed die to stick down and I do think the Stick-It sheets are a bit of a life saver.

I thought it was time to throw a Christmas prize into the pot now and then - Autumn is on the way and quite a few of you are thinking about making Christmas cards already.

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 26th September. 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 say if you only want one or other part of the prize (the die set or the 'Stick-It' sheets), but both are up for grabs as one prize of course. And please 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 :)

Di and of course, Parsnip!
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Upcycling for Christmas

Out of the 'shop bought' Christmas cards we've received in recent years, I've kept quite a few that seemed to have potential for upcycling. There was one square card which I kept looking at - a plain black background with a pretty printed wreath of holly, white flowers and some red glitter - with a lovely die cut 'Noel' sitting in the centre, popped up on a dimensional sticky pad.

However, for ages I really couldn't think of how to upcycle the card other than slapping the whole square front onto a slightly larger square card - which wasn't gonna be true upcycling IMHO. Then, when I spotted Hazel's Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge this week was to use festive trees or greenery on a card (a little or a lot), out came said box of cards to upcycle and once again I pondered over that black square card. Bingo! Sudden thought and off I went - and this was the end result - a rocker card:

I used:

- the card front, after I'd carefully removed the 'Noel' with its sticky pad backing and put it to one side - because I was going to use the Cuttlebug on the card front and didn't want to squish it

- out came the set of Tonic Studio's 'Circle Layering' dies - more about those wonderful dies below this 'how I made the card burble'

- selected a circle die just the right size for cutting out the wreath from the upcycled card, plus the next two sizes up - so three dies in total

- die cut the wreath and set it aside

- using the next size up, die cut a red satin mirri card circle and also a circle of 300gsm white card stock - set those aside

- using the largest die, cut a circle from the 300gsm white card stock - and left it in the die. This was because I was using this largest circle of card for the rocker base and, yet another great thing with these Tonic Studio dies, they have a little notch at each 'quarter hour' of the die for precision. So, I marked the card at opposite sides using a pencil, removed the piece of card from the die - then lined the pencil lines up on my Hougie board and scored down from one mark to another. rubbed out the pencil marks and (with heart in mouth) folded down the score line to form a half circle. Result! A perfectly lined up rocker base - yay!

- so then it was just a matter of assembling the whole card (using Collall glue for some 'wiggle' time) by sticking the circular wreath to the red die cut circle. Then backed that red circle with the piece of white card I'd cut at the same time - this was so that the back of the card looked matched to the rocker part 'cos the reverse of the red satin mirri wasn't a crisp white

- lined up and stuck the complete card front to the folded rocker

- added the word 'Noel' back into the centre of the wreath, using a fresh strip of sticky pad

Back to the Tonic Studio's set of circular dies, it's absolutely brilliant! As the name suggests, it consists of circular dies - but the fabulous part is that there are 14 dies in the set ranging from 14cm down to 2.5cm and they come on a magnetic sheet within a hole punched pouch (ideal for popping in the front of my 'frame dies' file). I just looked online and there's a great offer over at Amazon.co.uk at £14.72 with free delivery, a saving of 36% (I know I paid much more than that price for the set I bought a while back). The largest die still fits my Cuttlebug fine yet is big enough to cut a circular card - and although the blurb says the dies will cut up to 240gsm card stock, I used 300gsm white card stock and it cut with no problem at all. One of my all time favourite everyday die sets for sure - even though I already had a Spellbinder Nestabilities set.

So, this card is for Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge 246, where it's 'Festive trees or greenery,' and also Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for September - where it's always 'Anything goes'.

Di
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Less is More - Week 241 - Wishing!

The current challenge over at Less is More is 'Wishing' - but with the twist that we all love so much, it's one layer - sigh.

I had a few ideas which were quickly rejected once I spotted that they'd already been thought of - you often need to be really quick off the mark with some LIM challenges. Anyhow, this is what I came up with:

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank

- Lavinia 'Moon Fairy' stamp, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- the sentiment, also stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink is from a NBUS LOTV set 'Set 90 - Fairy Sentiments'. I bought it in the LOTV shop when Kath and I met up in the Summer

- then I just tickled the moon using a Gold Wink of Stella brush pen, and some clear Wink of Stella over the wings

Kept it at that - and needless to say the brush marks of the gold WOS don't show up as much in real life. Who said the camera never lies? It might not lie but it sure does exaggerate! 
Di
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Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - Wheels

Hi folks! The Cuttlebug Mania Challenge this fortnight is 'Wheels' - anything with a wheel or wheels will count and it doesn't have to be the die cut or embossed part of your card of course. I had several options in mind when making my DT card, including a few stamps - but opted to play with a die.

All you have to do is to use a manual die cutting/embossing machine (it doesn't need to be a Cuttlebug but it must be manual, not electronic). Then make your entry, link into the challenge, link to the challenge in your own blog post and and make sure that you also say what products you used for any die cutting/embossing. We're a nosey lot and do like to know just what you've used :)

Our sponsor this fortnight is 'A Day for Daisies' - a lovely digital stamp shop.

 

And here's my DT card:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- a snippet of deep burgundy card stock, trimmed to slightly smaller than the card blank

- from the centre of the burgundy square I then die cut a scalloped circle, using a Spellbinders Nestabilities die and put it aside - needs must as that was the only piece of burgundy card I had!

- adhered the 'gutted' burgundy square onto the card blank, cut a white scalloped circle from a snippet and slotted that into the gutted area (OCD kicked in there I think!)

- then added the (trimmed to a slightly smaller size) patterned paper, which is from Prima's 'Stationer's Desk' paper pad - love this pad!

- more 'gutting' now, this time by die cutting the 'penny farthing' from the middle of the burgundy scalloped circle that I'd set aside earlier. The die I used is 'Vintage Bicycle' by Memory Box

- next I die cut a plain circle from a snippet of grey card, using a Spellbinders Nestability die

- glued all the layers together and then added them to the card front

- final touch, a couple of pearls in the centre of the wheels and three in the top right hand corner for luck :)

So that's my DT card for this fortnight's Cuttlebug Mania challenge - it would be lovely if you come and play!

And, I'm entering this into Darnell's current NBUS challenge HERE. It's my third and final entry and wow, she has loads of amazing sponsors - and all you have to do is to use some 'Never-Before-Used-Schtuff or NBUS for short' as Darnell calls it - mine was the penny farthing die! 

Just think, you could make one card and play along with the Snippets Playground, Cuttlebug Mania and also over at Darnell's! 

Thankfully this card/post was already made/scheduled! 

Di
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Just to say.........

............whilst I truly did think I did well on the Birthday outing on Friday with Len, as often is the case two days later, right now it feels like a combination of being kicked and also having a set of huge crab claws grinding into my back/ the right hand side of the middle of my spine. Something I expect a lot of you can relate to. Managing with a load of pills though. Rattle, rattle!!

Am trying my best to keep on top of commenting in the Playground, but my biggest worry is that I owe so many of you my love and thanks for wonderful emails, plus snail mail cards and gifts. Please bear with me - I'll be back (snort!) ASAP.

Meanwhile - a shot from Longleat the other day:

I know, squeal! A little Meerkat on guard duty, within touching/stroking distance in an enclosed area where you could really get up close and personal - so cute and also so intense. Even in the short time we spent there with these guys we watched them 'swop shifts'. Aw, how darling! Good grief, I'd love to be able to sit straight up like that right now :)

Di
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Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 194

And yet another week flew past, we're almost into Autumn here in the UK, but with some lovely sunny days thrown in still. But, I just bet the shops will be full of Christmas stuff before long - if they aren't already!

Last Saturday one of my bestest friends from schooldays had a Birthday. I'd been saving the NBUS stamps and dies I used for her card for a few weeks, ready to make a snippets card this week:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- a piece of SU's 'Crisp Cantaloupe' card stock as a 'frame'

- a piece of white card stock on which to build the front of the card

- snippets of white card stock for stamping on

- then I set to using the fabulous Tim Holtz 'Bird Crazy' stamp set as well as the Tim Holtz 'Crazy Things' stamp set. First I stamped the images I wanted onto the white snippets and then coloured them using Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils and Sansodor blending solution

- next I die cut the Crazy Bird using the matching thinlets die set, and fussy cut the 'Crazy Things' hat and balloon. Apparently there will be matching dies coming out for the Crazy Things stamps (late September I believe) but fussy cutting was no hardship

- next die cut the word 'Smile' three times from a little snippet of SU's 'Tempting Turquoise' card stock using a die from Penny Black's 'Hooray' set and layered them up using Glossy Accents

- to assemble the card front I first stamped the sentiment using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from LOTV's 'Set 61- Quotable' stamps, which seemed to fit the bill (snigger) perfectly

- next trimmed out the centre and added the hat to the little bird then popped it onto the card front using thin sticky pads. Did the same with the eyes and beak

- then worked out where to add the balloon and used a snippet of bakers twine to tuck it round the end of the balloon and also underneath where I then placed the bird's extra wing layer

- added the word 'Smile' and a few sparkly sequins

- finally, when the card was ready to be put safely to one side, I added 'Glossy Accents' to the beak, eyes and some touches on the balloon

This was such a fun card to make - gotta love those Crazy Birds :) Hope you had a great day Moira!

I'd like to make this my second entry into Darnell's current NBUS challenge - all the Crazy Birds stamps, dies - and their accessories were unopened and unused before I made this card. Do join in the fun - there are loads of lovely prizes to be won and of course you get to use some of that NBUS stuff you haven't played with before!

Straight onto this week's picks, which of course were chosen by Sarn - who did a fabulous job of commenting and looking after the Playground this week. There were times I thought it was a bit like her having to herd cats. Thank so soooo much Sarn!

And here's what Sarn says about her time as Playground Prefect: Can I just say it's been great fun being Prefect this week and thanks to the playmates for being such good sports and playing tag nicely (apart from the donkey tail pinning incident of course!). If anyone else fancies being Prefect for a week, I know Di would love to hear from you.

And now for Sarn's picks and why she picked them, in her own words:

20: KandA HERE. Because I think it's a cute card, beautifully coloured and toned in and prettily embellished.

 

34: Julieanne HERE. Great masculine card with lots of snippet layers.

46: Jane's Journal HERE. It's just so amazing with all the work that's gone into it and NO stamping allowed! 

56: Lynn Hayes HERE. Love the multi-inked square butterfly flying outside of it, plus the matching die cut sentiment. The layout is so pleasing to the eye.

No 67: K T Krafts (Kathy). . .HERE. I just HAVE to add this card to my picks . . . because it is right up my street and uses my fave stamp set. (This was a really last minute addition from Sarn at 10am yesterday morning - which shows just how much we try to keep the picks absolutely up to date, until the very end stop when those gates clang shut each week).

Keeping up to date is also the reason why I pick the previous week's winner right away as soon as the gates close - I know (and totally understand why) a good few challenge work a week behind. But, it's fun to wrap one week up properly before moving onto the next one.

Sarn also said: Oh my goodness it is SOOO difficult picking out cards as they all have their merits. 

Thank you so much again Sarn, wonderful picks although I do so agree about choices being so difficult! It's been a huge help having you on board this past week, especially as there's been a lot going on here.

No new little Playmates this week, but we still had 68 entries - am gonna need to get more swings etc. before long!

Now the draw for that lovely stamp set, so kindly offered by Sarn - Woodware's 'Delicate Daisies' - and the winner is:

 KandA (Andrea)

Well done Andrea, I have your address and will let Sarn know as the prize will be sent to you directly by her. Isn't it strange, the last prize you won here was the set of Sarntangles stamps, some time ago now - maybe Sarn is a good luck talisman/rabbit's foot?

One reason why this past week has been busy is that yesterday was my Birthday so Len took me out for a day at Longleat on Friday. We had a great day, the weather was so kind to us and with a heat patch on my back, rattling with pills and also a cushion for the 'off the road' ranger tour in a Land Rover around the Safari Park I coped pretty well. The tickets were bought a while ago and the date had been booked so we had to go through with it. We did laugh, after all the bouncing round in the Land Rover I felt my back for the heated stick on pad - and it had slid down into my knickers - wondered why my bum was so warm!

A HUGE thank you to everyone who sent me cards, Facebook messages etc. - I will thank you all individually but my time at the laptop is still being limited.

Anyhow, to celebrate my Birthday I planned a bigger prize than usual for this coming week as a thank you for all the fun and laughter - plus your fabulous snippets makes of course!

Yup, the prize is the Bird Crazy stamps and die set plus the accessories set that I used for my snippets card today. Not my own ones you understand - these are new and unopened of course!

Ideally, this should all be one prize, so that's what the offer is - all three items. BUT, I've been sitting on this prize for a few weeks now, fretting watching quietly as more and more of you succumbed to the 'Crazy Birds' and there was nothing I could do but hang on.

But, if you already have all of this prize, we have tons of lovely prizes coming up in coming weeks and I know hope that they're just the icing on the cake really.

Now, maybe you only have some of the prize and would like (say) the accessories and/or the dies 's cos perhaps you already just have the birdies or maybe you just have the dies only (err, who would do that?). It's absolutely fine to pick and choose - please just say clearly in a comment which you would like to win - remember you can have all three items as they are a bundle first and foremost, but I will split them if you want to add to your TH Bird Crazy stuff and you get picked as a winner. It might even be that someone would only want the bird stamps, to have a play with and that's fine too. First out gets their choice and then if necessary I'd just keep re-running the random number generator for second/third prizes.

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 19th September. 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. Or, as explained above - just one or two parts of it! 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 :)

Di and of course, Parsnip!
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