Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 212

And we had yet another really busy week in the Playground, with lots of lovely entries shared - 65 in total. As always, it's gonna be tough doing the weekly picks!

This is my snippets card for this week. I spotted the idea in 'Die-cutting Essentials' magazine and must confess I thought it would be really quick to CASE/make. But, I hadn't bargained on the lack of any measurements in the instructions so just had to play around with plain white paper templates until I was happy enough to cut into any snippets. Because I really wanted to use a new die on this card it became a mission and I wasn't gonna give up - otherwise I think the waste bin would have come into play:

I used:

- 7.75" x 7.75" square white card blank

- covered the whole front with Neenah 'Desert Storm' card stock

- the 'shirt' is made using SU's 'Whisper White' card stock. The layer for the shirt itself is just a square with a slit cut to the top left, lines embossed to make folding crisper and the 'collar' folded back and held in place with narrow slivers of thin sticky pads

- the 'tie' was drawn freehand and hand cut from a snippet of LOTV's 'Country Gent' patterned paper - after some fiddling around with a couple of prototypes!

- the pocket was cut from a snippet of SU's 'Whisper White' card stock - and to create the pointed end of the pocket I used a Spellbinders hexagonal die

- gosh it took umpteen tries to get the folded handkerchief right - cut from a fresh sheet of the same patterned paper as the tie in the end and I was almost at the point of despair

- the sentiment was die cut using another snippet of patterned paper, backed with 'Stick-It' adhesive sheet, and using a really great Joanna Sheen Signature die called 'Retro Happy Birthday', I'm sure I first spotted it over on a playmate's blog - as is usually the case!

Finito! And I'm not sure I'd ever make another one - but if you'd like to have a try here are the measurements for my attempt. I was a bit hog-tied by the size of the sentiment as it's 3" x 2" - pick a smaller sentiment and you could reduce the size of the card for sure.

Card blank, 7.75" square. Neenah layer, 7" square. Cut slit for the collar, 1.25" in from the left hand side and 1.25" in length - folded by approx 0.5" from the top edge tapering down to the end of the cut slit. Tie is 6" long overall and 2.25" wide - it tapers down for the point from 2" above the bottom of the tie. The pocket started off as a 3.125" square and after cutting the bottom point using the hexagon die it measures 3" from top to bottom. The handkerchief started off with much smaller snippets than I eventually used - in the end I used a 4.5" square piece of paper from a fresh sheet and sliced it across diagonally to form two triangles to get enough overlap - just chopped off the bottoms before sticking it to the reverse of the pocket.

The sample in the magazine had faux stitching drawn round the 'sewn' sides and bottom of the pocket - I really liked the effect but to be honest was at the stage where I'd have cried if it hadn't worked out properly! Just thought, I could have pricked holes down the edges maybe - too late now. 

Let's whizz through some weekly picks now:

I've had such lovely messages thanking me for your weeks 208/209 prizes - and just have to show you this card, made by Val using the stamp she won:

I really love how Val has used the same paper as the background sheet to paper piece the number 25. Really clever idea and it pulls the whole card together so well.

I just love this butterfly canvas - made by Cathy. It's truly inspiring and certainly makes me want to break out the mixed media box again and get mucky!

Kathleen made this absolutely adorable baby card, using a Woodware stamp and paper piecing. It's just so lovely and a great way to use up lots of toning snippets!

Love this card, made by Eve - such gorgeous colours and great paper piecing too. We seem to have a bit of a roll on paper piecing in the Playground right now :)

We have another Baby card, this time made by Sam (Whisper). I adore this stamp, my own one sits on a shelf right in front of my desk. It's a 'centre swing' card and is one of the few fancy folds on my quite short list of ones to try - so much so that I have a 'Card School' article beside me as I type - kept from a recent QCME magazine. Really so effective!

Janis brought this fabulous card to share - I think it's just stunning! Do hop over to see just how Janis achieved the look - using her 'molten technique'. Certainly one to try out here!

Isn't this a great card - made by Jane W. What a terrific way to use up lots of different snippets, punched into circles. I'm sure you'll all agree that every single week here brings yet more inspiration!

And last but not least of the weekly picks:

Sandma scampered into the playground with this perfect scene - I really love it. Such a beautiful depiction of the Northern Lights - yet another technique I want to try!

I have little scraps of paper here and there with notes about ideas to try out. Jannie of the Cuttlebug Mania challenge made me a beautiful covered A6 sized notebook for my Birthday - rather than just admire it, I've literally just now written this idea/technique in as one to try! So that's a perfect use for such a pretty notebook and a great way to tidy the desk a bit too..

We have three new Playmates this week:

Lia brought this card to share - I love the effect of the little butterflies soaring across the sun!

These darling ATCs were made by Susan (Renshaw) - so pretty.

And Jo L was encouraged to come and play with us by our own Jenny L. I just love this tag - gorgeous background, made using an inky snippet and those beautiful stamps. That reminds me, I have some similar stamps in the toy box here - for another week's prize.

Welcome to the Playground girls! We do hope you'll come back to play with us again.

And now for the prize draw for last week - the two embossing folder strips, kindly donated by Viv - and our winner is:

Susan (Renshaw)

Wow, it's first time lucky for Susan! What a welcome to the Playground - do please send me an email with your address in Susan and I'll pop the embossing folders in the post to you ASAP. My email address is shown in the right hand sidebar.

And now for the next prize on offer - this coming week it's two Joanna Sheen Signature dies:

They are: a 'Forget me not' flower die, the same as I used on Friday's card HERE, and a 'Retro Happy Birthday' die, the same as I used on the pocket on my snippets card for today.

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 23rd January. 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. As these dies are quite small I would prefer to keep them as one prize but if you have a burning desire for only one or the other then just let me know in a comment - and if your number comes up then I'll do a further draw for the remaining die. 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 :)

Have a good week - I think we have a strong possibility of snow here in the UK. Let's wait and watch the whole country grind to a halt after a few flakes huh?

Better news on the 'foot front'. After the slight despair I felt after the hospital visit (which proved to be as much use as a chocolate fireguard) I had a progress appointment with my GP. He's begged to differ with the hospital 'experts' and says that it was in fact two flare ups of gout - back to back. Plus, he actually saw me laid up in bed - unable to do more than hop to and from the loo - right in the throes of the worst one of course. So, knowing first hand the state I was in, he will be putting me on preventative treatment. Yay! Sometimes I wonder if am my own worst enemy with hospital visits and putting a smiley face on! I don't like taking meds but almost bit his hand off!

It's a real balancing act to get the dosage right versus the acid crystals so it will involve blood tests before starting treatment and certainly regular ones thereafter to monitor progress and keep an eye on the dosage. But such a small price to pay. It isn't a guarantee, there may still be flares or I may never have another one - but any chance of prevention is fine by me.

Di and of course, Parsnip!
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