Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 253

Crumbs, that week went fast! And we've just  changed the clocks by an hour here in the UK overnight - you did, didn't you? That means darker evenings earlier of course, just in time for Halloween tomorrow.

Thank you so much for all the kind comments and get better wishes re. 'shingles'. Thankfully the rash is already clearing nicely, most probably as I went onto medication the very same day - which was a fluke as I only mentioned it during a routine appointment. The back is on the whole less painful too - getting in and out of my car is a nightmare though. Little by little is how I'm handling it - trying to keep moving seems to be key, loads of fluids and thinking happy thoughts :)

Anyhow - here's my snippets make for this week:

I used:

- 4.25" x 5.5" white card blank, tent style

- a snippet of SU 'Marina Mist' card stock, embossed using a SU folder called 'Happy Heart'. Trimmed to just slightly smaller than the card front and then glued in place

- the little elephants were great fun to play with as I used the 'mirror technique' for them. The stamp set I used is called 'Love You Tons' by Lawn Fawn and it does actually come with two slightly different little elephant stamps which face one another but I wanted to do a mirror image of  just one - to prove it can be done really!

- the secret is over here on Jennifer Maguire's blog and it's much easier for you to see how she did it than for me to explain

- so, I stamped both elephants onto a snippet of white card facing one another, following Jennifer's video. I used Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from the Paper Smooches 'Mirror Blocks' set, plus a little elephant from the 'Love You Tons' set. Found I had to work very fast. Jennifer recommends using VersaFine ink as it doesn't dry too quickly and I can see where she's coming from on that one! 

- then coloured both elephants using a grey Pro marker before stamping a little heart above (from the same set) using SU 'Real Red' ink

- then I stamped the sentiment from the same set directly underneath the elephants and would you believe there was a teeny bit of fluff caught up on the ink pad so I ended up with a bit of a smudge - sigh :(

- not to worry, I just stamped the sentiment again onto a different piece of card and slightly rethought the card design :)

- trimmed a snippet of SU 'Real Red' card stock plus the image and the sentiment then popped them onto the red card using a tape runner rather than glue (not sure why and it was daring in itself!)

- added the image/sentiment panel to the card front using fun foam to raise the panel - finished

My card design bears more than a passing resemblance to one of Jennifer's cards on the blog post linked above - I really liked the idea of the red, white and turquoise blue together, with embossed hearts on the backing panel.

Of course you can achieve good results using just a piece of acetate and no Misti - I've done this in the past, especially for 'reflections' in water or on snow when you want to 'flip' the image. But IMHO the Mirror Block stamps and the Misti do take a lot of the 'risk' away. You get the chance to stamp over the image again totally accurately if you aren't happy with the first 'press' and the Mirror Blocks are much less likely to 'smudge' as they're made of polymer just like clear stamps rather than slippery acetate.

But there again, we always managed to cope doing it the old way didn't we? I often stop and wonder when the craft world will run out of ideas to tempt us into spending more money - not likely for a good while yet!

Lets move straight onto the weekly peek at the picks, I've kept the numbers down this week - purely as am limiting my time spent at the desk:

I really love this card, made by Sue T. A fabulous way to use up little snippets of mirri card and I, for one, can't bear to throw away even the smallest snippet of any sparkly or shiny card :)

Kath shared this really elegant card with us. I love the way she used vellum with a gorgeous peel off - perfect use of a vellum snippet and also for Less Is More's challenge for last week which was to 'use vellum or acetate'.

Just had to include this wonderful note pad, made by Alice. It sums up Autumn perfectly and really is something I'd love to try making at some point in the future. My understanding is that Alice used the outer cover of a hard back diary or similar as the starting point - so it's clever upcycling too!

Lovely to see Bozena playing along with us again - and what an inspirational Christmas card too! Some wonderful 'colour smooshing' on the blue panel there as well.

Sonia flew in with this marvellous pop up slider Christmas card to show to us. As always, it's an absolute delight and there are loads of details over on Sonia's blog if you want to have a go yourself :)

And, Sue and Roy tied the knot on 22nd October! After his illness and such a worrying time it was really heartwarming to see so much happiness on their special day. The official photos should be on Sue's blog before too long (I hope so Sue?) - meanwhile here's one to keep you going :) Such a pretty outfit as well!

We had two new Playmates last week - and 57 of you came to play in total. As always, such wonderful inspiration from all of you!

This is the sweetest bookmark, made by 'Paperpapier' - I think it's so pretty and very clever how it slips over the corner of the page.

Helen hopped into the Playground to share this beautiful card - I love the 'camouflage' technique and this really is such a perfect example!

Welcome to both of you and we hope you come back and play really soon!
 

And it's prize draw time, for the prize from last week. Our winner of the Tonic Studios 'Scotty Dog' die and the Inkylicious sentiments stamp set called 'Seasons Greetings' is:

Jenny L

 

Well, that gave me goosebumps when Jenny's number popped straight out of the Random Number thingy! First of all, Jenny's card last week featured Scottie dogs and tartan as my own snippets card did - by pure coincidence. And, Jenny's nickname at school was 'Scottie' so she has a real affinity with Scottie dogs!! Well done Jenny, I'm sure everyone else will agree that this prize is just perfect for you.

Can you please drop me an email with your address in and I'll post your prize off as soon as possible! My email address is on the right hand side bar. 
 
Sadly, no-one took up Penny's kind offer of tickets to the Crafting Live Show at Peterborough on 11th/12th November. But it was really kind of you to offer the tickets Pen!

This coming week's prize is:

One set of Paper Smooches 'Mirror Blocks' stamps (the largest stamp is 2.5" x 3.5" by the way) and also a Lawn Fawn 'Love You Tons' dinky little set of stamps. Just like I used for my snippets card today.

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 5th November. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

A maximum of ONE entry and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. Once again, I think both items work really well as a pair but if you have a burning desire for just the 'mirror blocks' stamps or the 'Love You Tons' stamps then please feel free to say and if your name pops out then I'll do a second draw for the item you don't want. 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 lovely week!

Parsnip (aka the little white peril) is in disgrace after doing a practice run with green eyeshadow ready for Halloween. But he sends a wave from the 'naughty corner' anyhow!

Less is More Challenge 299 - 'Acetate or Vellum'

It's a lovely theme this week over at Less is More - use acetate or vellum. I flipped a coin, vellum won - and this is the card I made:

I used:

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

- snippet of white card, embossed using a Sizzix folder called 'Corner, flower vine' then trimmed to just an eighth of an inch smaller all round than the card blank 

- added the sentiment using Memento 'London Fog' ink and a sentiment from the Hero Arts 'Truly Appreciated' stamp set

- I wanted the embossed layer to stand out from the card blank so followed a tip I found last week which is to not use double sided foam pads or tape as the card will likely become distorted in the post. Instead I cut a piece of white fun foam just marginally smaller than the embossed panel and glued it in place

- then glued the panel onto the card front. Using the foam certainly makes for a lovely even, raised panel and it's a trick to be used more here in the future

- stamped three flowers onto plain white vellum. First swiped the vellum with a Woodware anti-static bag. Stamped three flowers using a clematis stamp from the SU 'Secret Garden' set using VersaMark ink and then embossed with white embossing powder 

- coloured the flowers on the reverse side of the vellum using Pro markers and quickly dried the flowers using the heat gun (the alcohol ink doesn't soak in so will come off on your fingers if it isn't totally dry - ask me how I know!) The beauty of colouring on the back of the vellum is that the embossed white lines disguise any minor 'blips'/slips of the markers :) 

- next I fussy cut around the flowers and gently shaped them using a bone folder underneath each petal

- glued them in place on the card front using a teeny drop of 'Glossy Accents' - and thankfully the white embossed stamens in the centre of the flowers were enough to cover any glue from showing through

Some tips about vellum. Do keep a little strip of vellum and try out your markers on the reverse before launching into colouring whatever you've stamped. It's really dramatic how muted the colours become once you flip the vellum over to the right side.

When colouring the vellum on the reverse it helps to work with a dark piece of paper or card underneath so that the white outlines stand out - and keep a piece of white card or paper at hand as a background to check how the colours are working out.

Also, my first attempt at attaching the flowers to the card from almost ended in disaster - Collall glue reacts quite violently with Pro markers on vellum and not only doesn't want to stick but will also lift the colour right off the vellum. Luckily I spotted it right away and switched to 'Glossy Accents' instead.

Finally, on my card above, I'd trimmed parts of a couple of the flowers too close to the white embossed line. Only noticed this as I was finishing off writing this post and I haven't changed the photo - but, those white lines are now back in place along the edges where I'd trimmed too close. Courtesy of my Signo white pen - which did need a little scribble on a snippet of ordinary paper to get the ink flowing. My guess is that it's because vellum is such a silky surface.

Tricks with the Misti #2 - 'Multiple Layer stamping'

I'm sure I have 'wonky' eyes! Even using clear polymer stamps I struggle horrendously when trying to get decent images using the so popular 'multiple stamp' images such as SU flower sets.

My search last week turned up some neat little tricks and this is the card I made first of all:

I used:

- 4.25" x 5.5" white card blank, tent style

- backing layer of SU 'Always Artichoke' card stock, die cut using a Lil' Inkers 'Stitched Rectangles' die and glued onto the card front

- piece of white card stock, stamped using the SU 'Lotus Blossom' stamps set with the Misti - there's a mini tutorial below if you're interested. I used all SU inks, 'Daffodil Delight', 'Pumpkin Pie' and 'Tangerine Tango for the graduated colours on the flower head and 'Old Olive' for the stalk

- added the word 'Friend' using the Misti, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from the Inkylicious 'Friend' set of sentiments

- die cut the image panel using a smaller Lil' Inkers 'Stitched Rectangles' die and glued it in place

Wow, I love using the Misti for this type of stamping! You can actually use just the Misti for this technique with clear stamps by carefully lining up the stamps onto the image, to be picked up by the lid as you build it up - and of course you can make several cards exactly the same at the same time, step by step.

As I don't trust my alignment capabilities I used the method which is absolutely perfect for solid rubber stamps whereby you use either acetate or something like the plastic sheet from the Stamp-a-ma-jig along with the Misti.

SU originally used to make their layered stamps from red rubber and boy did I struggle. Can't wait to dig a couple of old rubber layered sets out and have a play now!

There's at least one really good tutorial to be found online but I found it whilst browsing on my Notepad and didn't think to bookmark it. Have had another search using the laptop but can't find it so I hope my few steps/photos/words below are a help! Ha, they could of course totally confuse you! :) But remember that although I used polymer stamps and the plastic sheet - you should be able to do multi layer stamping with clear stamps just by placing the stamps onto the previously stamped images and then picking them up with the lid. So maybe you should imagine that my stamps are solid rubber ones :)

Step 1: First of all I used some masking tape to stick the SU plastic sheet from the Stamp-a-ma-jig to the top edge of the Misti with the lid open, butted right up against the top and side edges.  

Step 2: Then I placed the main 'body' stamp onto the plastic sheet face down and closed the Misti lid onto it so that the lid picked it up. Inked the stamp and stamped the image onto the plastic sheet. 

Step 3: Popped a piece of white card in place underneath the plastic to check where I wanted the flower to be positioned - similar to using a normal stamp positioner. Flipped the piece of plastic back out of the way whilst holding the piece of white card in place with magnets

Step 4: Next I re-inked the stamp using the palest colour and brought it down onto the piece of white card to lay down the main part of the flower. The picture above shows the plastic flipped over the image ready for the next step

Step 5: Then replaced the main flower stamp on the plastic sheet with the middle layer stamp (it doesn't matter if you're not exactly in the same spot). Picked the stamp up with the lid as in Step 2, inked it with the middle colour and stamped it onto the plastic sheet. As the plastic sheet was held in place with masking tape as a hinge I could just move the flower image on the white card around underneath the plastic to find the right stamping position and hold it in place with a couple of magnets. Then re-inked the stamp, lifted the plastic sheet out of the way and stamped onto the white card again.

That's actually all three stamped layers shown in the above photo, and I just added the stalk in much the same way

I really wish I could find that video again! It certainly is a much simpler process than the above photos and words imply!

Upcycled Christmas Tree card - Rudolph Days Challenge October 2016

It's time for Mo's Rudolph Days Challenge for October - it runs from today until the end of the month. And, there's only one more left after this one until the real countdown begins!

The basis for this card was lurking in my box of saved Christmas cards, and I think it's been hiding there for a few years now. A really quick and easy card, and my entry for Mo's challenge:

I used:

- 4.25" x 5.5" cream card blank

- I made the card blank from a 6" square card and used the largest die in the Lil' Inkers 'Stitched Rectangles' set of dies to emboss the stitched outline before cutting it down to size. It's easy to do this, it only embosses the stitched outline and doesn't cut a rectangle like the other dies in the set - really useful too. So long as you remember to butt the die right up against the spine of the card - then you just need to trim the other sides to suit

- the Christmas tree image from a small Christmas card, just trimmed in proportion to the card blank I intended to add it onto

- glued the image onto a slightly larger snippet of deep red satin mirri card, left on the desk from the Hunkydory cards I made

- then glued the completed two-layer panel to the card front - no sentiment needed of course

Done! The camera does tell porkies though as in real life the cream colours on the topper and the card blank are identical.

I only made one card of course, haven't managed to train friends who send us some beautiful shop bought cards to make sure they all send the same designs - or at least lots of three the same :)

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 252

Funny old week here really. It appears that this awful stabbing back pain is more than just muscular and joints! Turns out to be a bout of shingles - a first for me, and hopefully the last! On so many different pills right now that if I jump up and down I'd rattle! Enuff of the medical stuff already - here's my snippets card for this week:

I used:

- 6" x 6" white card - to be honest it's a tad under that size as I check the 'supposedly matching' envelopes before making a card these days!

- snippet of red tartan card stock (called 'Red Christmas Tartan' made by Kanban) trimmed to slightly smaller than the card front and glued in place

- snippet of black card stock, die cut using the Tonic Studios 'Rococo Scotty Dog' die' - I carefully saved the cut out pieces from his eyebrow, legs and underneath the tummy and am so glad I did!

- for this card I wanted a solid tartan coat but the die does cut out a 'Winter doggy's coat' area. So I die cut a sacrificial Scotty from a scrap of card stock and then hand cut around the total area that I thought would make a decent winter coat for him to cover those cut outs

- flipped the 'coat' template upside down and then drew around it in pencil on the back of a little snippet of the tartan card stock (doing my best to at least make sure the lines were parallel with the background panel). Doing the flip routine meant that I could draw the pencil lines on the white backing of the tartan card snippet where they wold be visible for the cutting process and it would be the right way round when I flipped the cut out tartan coat over

- fussy cut round the pencilled outline of the coat then held the coat up against the Scotty and slightly trimmed it until I was happy that both layers would match and ran a red Whispers marker around the outside of the coat to cover the white core of the card before gluing it in place - using a fine line glue bottle

- found a snippet of white card stock, trimmed it to half an inch smaller all round than the tartan card stock, to leave a decent border, then used the Misti to position and stamp the sentiment using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamps from the gorgeous Inkylicious 'Seasons Greetings' set

- glued the white panel onto to the card front  

- glued the Scotty dog, with his coat in place, onto the white panel and then popped the black die cuts I'd saved back into their respective places. I think that's an important step as online there are some cards which have been lovingly made but the cutouts have been left blank and it just looks a bit odd to me (IMHO of course)

- final touch - added a googly eye :)

Must search out some more tartan paper or card as this was such fun to make (once I worked out a few of the little tricks) and would be a lovely Christmas card for a few Scottish friends. 

I'd like to enter this card into the current Merry Monday Challenge #218 where the theme is 'Plaid' - or 'Tartan', as we British call it.

And also into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge #304 'Use a Sentiment' and well as Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for October where it's always 'Anything Goes'.

Hedgehog update - the little perishers are going berserk! We think there could be as many as NINE different ones coming to feed over the course of a night. Len was awake in the early hours of Wednesday morning and heard a regular clattering from one of the hedgie feeding stations. At 4am he dragged himself into the garden to investigate (bless) and there was one very irate hedgehog - impatiently flipping the lid up and down on an empty bowl! I sure hope they all decide to have a sleep this Winter as we're becoming victims of our own success with them!

Lets move straight onto the weekly peek at the picks:

I think this is such a clever way to use up strips of snippets, by making them into book spines as Megan has!

From Kim we have a 'twisted pocket' card - what a great design and I had no idea how it's done but did find a YouTube link which gives the general process very clearly.

For anyone looking for a really elegant Christmas card design to do some 'batch baking', Viv's card above is a real beauty!

I LOVE this card, made by Bonnie as part of her Merry Monday DT work - where the theme is 'plaid' right now (hence my Scotty dog card of course!). Such a super idea to make a 'package' and that Rudolph tag is just so cute:) I worked out that the antlers are made from a punched snowflake!

A touch of Halloween next, made by Helen. I love the simplicity of this design - and it's fun as well! Err, unless you're have arachnophobia I guess! 

This is such a sweet card, made by April - using the SU 'Best Bird' stamp set, which is now on my wish list of course. Love how well the colouring of the bird goes with the polka dot paper.

Totally adore this card, brought to share with us by Shaz in Oz. Wonderful use of lots of snippets and such a darling image as well. Beautiful work Shaz!

Francesca hopped into the Playground with this terrific Christmas card to share with us. I love all the little details and such a fun image too!

Calling a halt there - my time at the desk is almost up! But I just had to share this final pick of the week - made by Karen P. Such a pretty card with loads of snippets used too, The fascinating thing for me is that beautiful soft image and it did take me a while to work out that Karen had wrapped vellum over a coloured image. Clever stuff!

Vellum certainly is really popular right now - I see that this week's Less is More challenge theme is to use vellum or acetate.

We had no new Playmates last week but 55 of you came to play in total. Yay - what a lovely turnout and so many fabulous makes as well.

 

And it's prize draw time, for the prize from last week. Our winner of the Penny Black set of hedgie stamps called 'Loads of Love' is:

Lia

Congratulations Lia! Lia has been playing here since January and, although her lovely cards have often featured in the weekly picks, this is her first win - so I think that extra congratulations are due :)

Can you please drop me an email with your address in and I'll post your prize off as soon as possible! My email address is on the right hand side bar.

This coming week's prize is:

Yes, it's a die exactly the same as the one I used for the doggie (Tonic Studios 'Scotty Dog',  and you can see what I mean about saving the little cutouts. There's also the Inkylicious sentiments stamp set called 'Seasons Greetings'. I've used my own set a few times over the past few weeks on here (as well as today) and as people have already commented, the fonts are really lovely.

Some more snippets of news:

It's time for Rudolph Days on Tuesday over at ScrappyMo's - runs from 25th to the end of the month and an ideal opportunity to make a Christmas card with a sentiment on for Hazel's challenge, anything goes for Mo's challenge - and if you use a snippet then you can link up here as well!

And, Penny from sunshinepens rambles  has very kindly offered a pair of tickets to the Crafting Live Show at Peterborough, which is on Friday/Saturday 11th/12th November. I think the easiest way to pick a winner of these tickets is also to use Mr Random, although I do realise that Peterborough won't necessarily be easy for some of you to get to :) If you follow the link above you'll see that there are some really well known companies exhibiting their tempting wares! So, if you would like to win these tickets then just say so in a comment please and I'll keep a note and run the random number thingy before next week's post is up and running. I have the tickets electronically so you wouldn't have to wait for them to be posted.

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 29th October. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

A maximum of ONE entry and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. I think both items work really well as a pair but if you have a burning desire for just the die or the sentiment stamps then please feel free to say and if your name pops out then I'll do a second draw for the item you don't want.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 lovely week!

Hugs from Parsnip - caught him rootling through my makeup drawer the other day, flinging stuff hither and thither. Only looking for green eye makeup .......... so he can plaster his face and whiskers in order to scare the local kids at Halloween when they come knocking!

More 'Phill Martin meets Hunkydory' Christmas cards

At the risk of being a bit 'samey' - here's a slightly different card to the other one, published on here fairly recently.

A lot of the images in the Hunkydory pads don't really lend themselves to being cut down from the very generous 4" x 6" size, but some certainly do - such as the one I used on this card:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- an image from the Hunkydory Little Book of 'Sparkling Season' toppers, cut down to a square

- mounted the image onto a piece of deep red silk/satin mirri card, cut just slightly larger than the image

- next, glued the image panel in the centre of the card

- finally stamped the sentiment using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from Phill Martin's 'Scribbled Christmas Sentiment Corners'

I found the best way to check for possible images to cut down was just to have a couple of pieces of paper to blank off areas of the image and see if it still works OK.

And, of course I made three the same :)

Tricks with the Misti - #1 - 'Sentiment Backdrops'

I have no idea whether I'll be pointing you in the direction of just this one, or perhaps more tricks using the Misti. I was actually looking to see if there was any way to use the Misti to more easily stamp those multiple layered flower stamps that are so popular right now when I found a different technique on Jennifer McGuire's blog, entitled 'Sentiment Backdrops' HERE. That lady is so talented! I loved what she made and couldn't wait to try the technique out - here's my version:

I used:

- 4" x 5.75" white card blanks (I made four the same)

- a one line sentiment stamp from the MFT 'Tickled Pink' set plus the little freebie 'Parsnip' bear stamp which came with Craft Stamper magazine at least six months ago

- the Misti of course. You can actually do a similar style of card using a stamp positioner and a LOT of patience - the Misti made it so easy though and I really wouldn't even contemplate trying to do the same using a straightforward stamp positioner (having two left hands!)

- first of all I placed the one line sentiment and the little bear exactly as I wanted on a sheet of the pink grid lined paper which comes with the Misti. I'm a bit ashamed to admit I'd never worked out just how to use the grid lined paper, relying instead on  placing the stamps where I wanted them on the actual card front and then checking they were totally straight on the grid lines on the Misti cover - Dumbo! I also now need to produce a grid on acetate which I read about a while ago - I know that Simon Says Stamp sells them in the USA, but the Misti website also has a free download and I have some printer friendly acetate already as well

- I'd drawn a pencilled outline of the card blank onto the grid paper and I'd also marked the centre of the area  to help with the placements

- then I stamped four cards one after the other using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and both stamps at the same time

- then removed just the little bear stamp and popped him onto an acrylic block before stamping a few Post-Its with the image. My Post-It's don't have a full covering of 'sticky' on the back but I like the fact that they're yellow and easy to see and handle

- then trimmed the little bears to make masks - in fact I only used the same mask for all four cards so have spares for a future run

- added the bear mask to the card image (using removable tape runner) and then followed Jennifer's instructions for the multiple sentiment stamping, using SU's 'Certainly Celery' ink pad

- if you want to try then this technique then do please check out the link where Jennifer has a link to her really good YouTube tutorial

- basically you will have left the sentiment stamp in place on the Misti lid (make sure you clean it of course!) and then you just move the card blank up and down the grid lines to stamp it in a lighter colour (I moved it by two lines each time as the sentiment stamp is quite a tall one). Ink and stamp, move by two lines, ink and stamp, move by two lines etc. etc. until you cover as much of the card front as you wish

- at some point you may well find you need to stamp with the card blank overhanging the outside edge of the Misti - it works absolutely fine though

- after finishing all the stamping removed the mask and coloured the little bear's nose, ears and the flower, using Whispers markers

- added clear Wink of Stella to the flower itself and called them done

These cards are 'Parsnip Specials' of course, to enclose with Playground prizes! He finally left his beloved 'pickled conkers' alone for long enough to wander into the craft room, hop onto the desk, borrow my specs and have a look. I did resist the urge to lock him in the craft room and rush off to empty the vinegar away - it smells like a pickle factory in here!

And I did a little bit of surgery on the bear stamp. First of all, I confess that I lost the original stamp and had to order another copy of the magazine to get a second bear - and you might know that the original bear turned up a day or two later! He comes with a little heart sort of 'floating' above his head - which was gonna be tricky for masking so I snipped the heart off one stamp and left it in place on the other one. Thereby justifying buying two copies of the magazine of course :)

I'm thinking that this technique would be great for Christmas cards too!

And, yes, I did find out how to use the Misti to stamp those multiple layer stamps accurately and easily. Just need to have a play!

Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - 'Something Spooky'

Time for another Cuttlebug Mania Challenge and the theme this time is 'Something Spooky'. By that we mean you can let your mind go a bit mad - for example, ghosts, mummies, spiders, witches, kids in costume, or lots of black. Or any other bright ideas so long as it fits in with 'Something Spooky'.

I struggled with my DT card as I have almost zilch items here to do with Halloween - and in fact, I used this same main die last year for a similar theme over at Cuttlebug Mania. Mind you, it's so specific to Halloween that it needs an annual outing!

You do have to use a manual die cutting/embossing machine for Cuttlebug Mania entries (it doesn't need to be a Cuttlebug but it must be manual, not electronic). And, you can't mix the two, it must be all manual please. 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.

Details of our sponsor can be found over on the Cuttlebug Mania Challenge blog.

This is my DT card:

I used:

- 4.25" x 5.5" white card blank, tent style

- slightly smaller layer of SU's 'More Mustard' card stock, glued in place and topped with a slightly smaller again layer of black card stock 

- then I embossed a piece of pearlescent 'platinum' coloured card (bought at the Coventry show) using a Tim Holtz 'Cobwebs' embossing folder and trimmed it to just slightly smaller than the black card layer and glued it in place

- next, die cut the really fun Cheery Lynn Designs 'Witches Laundry' from black card and glued it in place across the card. The Woodware Ultra Fine applicator bottle is perfect for fine work like this! 

- then added a few touches of gold here and there on the die cut using a Signo 'Sparkling Gold' pen

- sat for ages pondering what to do next with the blank patch at the bottom left hand corner of the card - a sentiment? black gems? - totally stuck, until I remembered a die I've hardly used

- out came the Cheery Lynn Designs 'Kitty Kitty Meow Meow' die and a snippet of black card. Die cut just the Daddy cat from the sweet little family, chopped his tail off (ouch!) and popped him in the offending corner

Must be my warped sense of humour, he almost looks like he's quietly looking on - sniggering at the cat hanging on the line to dry - possibly his Lady Wife? :)

We'd love to see you over at Cuttlebug Mania and the challenge runs for two weeks.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 251

It's been a busy week here in the run up to Len's Birthday. He had a lovely day yesterday, archery in the morning trying out his new bow in the Autumn sunshine. And then we had a very pleasant evening at home, with a meal delivered. We're off out on Monday for lunch and possibly a trip out on Tuesday as well - this is one loooong Birthday celebration :) And Len also says a huge thank you for your lovely Birthday wishes left on here when I published his 'guitar' card. It was a great hit and he couldn't believe it started off as a stamped image!

Here's my snippets card for this week:

I used:

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

- snippet of dark green card stock trimmed to slightly smaller than the card front and glued in place

- snippet of white card stock, embossed using a Couture Creations embossing folder called 'Candy Stripe' - bought at Coventry the other week - trimmed down and glued in place. Am not sure the folder was such a bargain as it leaves little cuts here and there right through the card stock - and is such a tight squeeze to get through the Cuttlebug I was worried I'd break the machine!

- the image was stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and two stamps from the really cute Penny Black set called 'Loads of Love'. First spotted this lovely stamp set in use over at Jules' blog. I positioned both as I wanted using the Misti and stamped them at the same time, image and sentiment

- coloured the image using Pro markers and some tickles of clear Wink of Stella here and there

- die cut the image panel using a Spellbinders Labels Eight die

- then drew round the outside of the die and hand cut a mat from a snippet of red card stock and glued both layers together

- glued the finished panel to the card front and called it done!

This card was also for Len's Birthday yesterday - 'from' the hedgies and garden birds he looks after so diligently! He knew I'd been struggling whilst making 'a card for him' last week and, without knowing anything about the card, made me step away saying 'A hand made card doesn't need to be perfect' - bless. And he loved the card yesterday! (Thinks I'm probably barking mad as well I expect).

Any suggestions about that folder? I know some of you really play around with your embossing folders and am sure I read a sort of solution a while ago. But, the folder is certainly too tight with the recommended Cuttlebug plates! I did try building up the layers using a thinner base plate and lots of shims - almost got there but frankly it was just taking too long :(

Lets move straight onto the weekly peek at the picks:

Lia was first into the Playground with this really fun Minions card - love it!

Brenda makes some amazing cards, and this really is a beauty! A perfect Autumn scene I'm sure you'll all agree.

What a clever design this card is! Made by Barb, it really lovely and one to keep in mind for future reference :)

I love, love this beautiful Autumn card, made by Pat. She used the 'ghosting' technique for her background just perfectly - and those leaves are so realistic!

I picked this fabulous collage card, made by Jane as it's a perfect illustration of using up lots of little snippets. And it's a jolly good card too!

This card, brought to share by Lynn (Linby) is such fun. I have this same set of stamps and sat for ages pondering over why Lynn picked those particular stamps for this super card! The answer? 2 10 6 = 2016 (almost)! Clever sausage!

Love this card, made by Helen! Such a great idea to use a snippet of patterned paper for the curved portion at the top of the card - and it's lovely how the colours tie in with that adorable image :) Another super idea I want to try out.

This is such a beautifully designed Sympathy card, made by Janice. I really love how she used a vertical panel of the embossed 'Tied Together' card underneath those really pretty branches and birds.

LOVE the design of this adorable card, made by Heather! Heather was desperate to use those darling little dragons (by MFT) and they work beautifully on this fun Christmas card.

Calling a halt there - my time at the desk is almost up! I need someone with a whistle like you used to have at boating lakes in the 'olden days'. The attendant in charge of hiring out the boats gave you a shrill blast and hollered something akin to 'Come in number 10, your time is up'!

We had one new Playmates last week - 55 of you came to play in total:

Preety came to play for the first time, bringing this really great Halloween shaker card to share. Such a fun card and I love how in amongst the shaker filling there are teeny little bats, individually punched!

Preety has only been blogging since last month and up to now has just two followers, one is me. I know we all started out with zero followers and were so delighted when the numbers crept up. I'd love for you girls to hop over to say 'Hi' to Preety - and perhaps add yourself to her list of followers.

Welcome from all of us Preety, please come back and play again soon!
 

And it's prize draw time, for the prizes from last week.

The First prize (prize A), the Elizabeth Craft Designs 'Accordion Fancy Label' die set:

 NanaConnie

I'm sure this is your very first Playground win Connie - and you certainly chose the right week and prize for your number to come up! Well done :)

Then runner up prize B, the bumper pack of Hunkydory 'Little Dudes & Perfect Princesses' toppers kindly donated by Kim:

 Lynne in NI

 

Loads of lovely images to play with Lynne - I think you'll have fun with these!

And runner up prize C, the modern roses Crafts-Too embossing folder (CTFD3108):

 Em

It's a lovely folder Em and am sure you'll enjoy using it.

Congratulations to all three of you girlies! Can you please all drop me emails with your addresses in and I'll post your prizes off as soon as possible! My email address is on the right hand side bar. I know that you possibly all have the same snail mail address if you won before, but I need to make sure after a wrong assumption I made a little while back. 

This coming week's prize is:

A Penny Black stamp set the same as I used on my snippets card today - called 'Loads of Love'.

And here's a heads up girls, especially for those cat lovers amongst you. Janis is having a giveaway of this brilliant stamp - in the run up to the forthcoming Cat Lovers Hop. Just follow the link to Janis above to find out how to be 'in it to win it' :)

 

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 22nd October. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

A maximum of ONE entry and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. 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 lovely week!

Hugs from Parsnip - he's busily pickling conkers in vinegar ready for the forthcoming Playground Conker Championships :) Little cheat!