Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - 'Use a frame'

Time for a new challenge over at Cuttlebug Mania -  this fortnight's theme is 'Use a frame' and you can create your frame in a variety of ways eg. die cut, embossed, stamped, drawn, etc.

Details of our sponsor/the prize to be won can be found over on the Cuttlebug Mania Challenge blog.

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.

This is what I made - six the same in fact, in a push to keep up with the Christmas card target:

I used:

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

- panel of white card, trimmed to an eighth of an inch smaller all round than the card front

- then die cut an aperture using the larger of the two dies in the MFT 'Wonky Peek-a-boo Windows' set into the white card panel

- glued the panel to the card front and also set the piece that had been cut out back into the aperture. This was as I was only wanting to use the stitched outline and also wanted a flush surface for the next steps

- snippets of SU's 'Pear Pizzazz' from which I cut the green stitched aperture using the smaller of the two MFT dies in the 'Wonky Peek-a-boo Windows' set. Then I carefully trimmed around each aperture to form a green frame - which turned out to be only a whisker bigger than the aperture I'd filled in on the white panel, phew!

- next backed the aperture in the green frame with a snippet of LOTV's 'Frosty Christmas' paper and glued the whole thing in place on the card front

- then stamped a sentiment from the Paper Smooches ' Christmas Sampler' set using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink onto the card front

- stamped the penguin using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from the Jane's Doodles 'Winter Wishes' set

- coloured the penguin using Pro Markers and Whispers markers before fussy cutting him out

- stuck the penguin in place sort of sitting on the frame using a thin sticky pad 

There's lots of ways you can use this set of dies, I opted to make life difficult and go for a 'proper frame'. Trimming those outside edges of the green frames took quite a while with them not being at right angles to one another! But the same set of dies really works so well just used as apertures/windows, perhaps with one twisted inside another one on two layers of card. I'm sure I've seen this set being used on one of your blogs - Kathy K perhaps? I know I tend to get a lot of ideas for new products to buy from blog hopping, sigh.

I hope you find time to play along with this latest Cuttlebug Mania challenge - we'd love to see you join in! There's loads of scope and different ways in which you can make your 'frame'.

This is my final card for the Cuttlebug Mania Challenge as I'm stepping down from the team. The Playground will of course continue though!

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 283 and 284

We're almost through May now - good grief! Once the year ramps up it really does seem to fly past.

During this coming fortnight I have a long weekend away booked, in Stratford Upon Avon - for my old boarding school reunion. Lovely hotel, right beside the river and little boat cruises from their own jetty. So watch the headlines over next weekend for reports of pensioners doing swimming competitions along the river! One of my besties from those days is unable to make it this time (Hi Moira!) but our other great friend/partner in crime, Angie, will be there helping me to stir up trouble when we can. And, we three do plan to have a girly weekend away before too long to make up for the disappointment.

Len and Parsnip will be at home but the Playground will be in your hands for a few days in the middle of the fortnight. I probably won't have a chance to comment on entries whilst partying. But, due to the new timings on picks and winners, I will be doing a scheduled post for the 'middle of the fortnight' as usual - on Sunday 4th June.

As always, a huge thank you to everyone who came to play this past fortnight - loads of gorgeous entries. I so love seeing what you've been up to and also to pick up loads of ideas along the way (too many in fact!).

This is my snippets card for the coming fortnight:

I used:

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

- snippet of white card stock, onto the centre of which which I stamped a selection of stems, leaves, flower heads, twizzles and a sentiment from the W Plus 9 'Doodle Buds' stamp set - using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and the ever useful Misti

- then stamped the leaves and flower heads onto a right old selection of snippets - too small to really identify properly (oddly enough though they did come from where I keep my Contemporary Christmas papers - so when you're hunting don't dismiss looking at those for 'everyday' scraps/snippets!)

- fussy cut and then glued all the little elements in place onto the image panel - gosh some were so fiddly! 

- meh, then had the beginnings of a card ...... hooray as it took ages!

- furtled around in my scraps of Core-dinations card and die cut two layers from the Avery Elle 'Postage Elle-ments' die set in turquoise, to pick out the turquoise seed head - and there was a frame

- glued the frames together. Used Stick-it sheet when die cutting the top one, then wiggled the two layers together as perfectly as possible before running the now double layered frame through the Cuttlebug with the two embossing plates AND an embossing folder - purely as padding, unopened. A tip I found this past week - and it worked beautifully!

- stuck the frame onto the image panel, which had been suitably trimmed down

- finally stuck the whole piece onto the card front

- in-house critic was asked his opinion about adding a few turquoise sequins - and he said 'Step off the podium lady!' - so I did and left it well alone from that point on

The 'Doodle Buds' are such a great set of stamps! Initially I wanted to stamp and heat emboss a few before colouring with Zig Watercolour brush markers as those have been sadly neglected. But, as it's a snippets card I felt bound to use those little snippets for the paper piecing. Took a lot longer and I had to stop and think about the ordering of the layers more than once - but it's another way to show how versatile this stamp set is. Each element is separate, bit daunting at first but good fun when you get going!

And the die set I used is also great fun and very versatile - I used it recently HERE.

Probably don't need to spell out what this fortnight's prize is made up of:

The prize is the W Plus 9 'Doodle Buds' stamps set and the Avery Elle 'Postage Elle-Ments' die set - same as I used on my snippets card of course. There are lots of ideas about using the stamp set to be found on line and with a bit of clever masking you could build up a lovely bunch of flowers all ready to colour in. The largest die is almost  4.25" x 5.5" by the way, so it's perfectly fine for a lot of card sizes. I do like the American 4.25" x 5.5" size of card rather than our UK 4" x 6" size - it somehow just seems more balanced to me.

I will split the prize if necessary, am mindful that not everyone would like both parts of the prize - although (as so often!) I do think they go together well. But, as always - both items are one complete prize if you wish to play for them as a pair.

The Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks from now on and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 10th June. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

It's still a maximum of ONE entry and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. The prize is both items together as a single prize, unless you really do only want to try for a 'split' - in which case I'd do a further draw for the other item. Please also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

Remember, if you link into the Playground and don't say clearly that you're wanting to be in the draw then you will be bypassed if your name comes out of Mr Linky. I'm sure you all know I ask for a positive 'yes' just in case you're playing only for fun. Thanks!

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 :)

Be sure to call back next week to see the winner of last fortnight's prize (the Chevron edger dies and the Flora cat stamps) plus my picks from the past two weeks - as well as another lovely guest designer too!

Love from Parsnip and of course from me,

Rudolph Days - May 2017

It's Rudolph Days again over at ScrappyMo's - and this is the card I made:

I used:

- 4.25" x 5.5" white card blank

- snippet of white card, trimmed to slightly smaller than the card front and set aside

- Penny Black Stickeroo from the 'nature's splendor' sheet. Stuck the stickeroo onto a snippet of white card and then die cut it using a die from the 'Stitched Squares' set of dies, made by The Works (8 dies for £6 a set!)

- then I spotted a snippet of turquoise Core'dinations card still lying on my desk from another project - which was already backed with Stick-It adhesive sheet, wahoo!

- die cut the turquoise layer using a Spellbinders die from the 'Lacey Squares' set

- worked out where I wanted the sentiment to go and stamped it onto the 'set aside' piece of white card using the Misti, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from the Inkylicious 'Seasons Greetings' sentiments set

- glued the stitched edge die cut image onto the turquoise square and then glued them onto the white panel

- backed the white panel with white fun foam and glued it onto the card front

A fast and simple card as time isn't really on my side at the moment, but I couldn't let one of my favourite challenges slip past without making a Christmas card to play along. Plus it all helps with the total I'm aiming to make this year.

You have until the end of the month to join in with Rudolph Days - go on, you know you want to :)

Designer Len strikes again!

This post is mostly for my own use, to remind me of what we did for Taylor's 8th Birthday card. Yup, it sure was we,  as Len totally pulled all the elements together  to make up this little scene:

I used:

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

- the image panel created by Len from free sources on the internet (didn't dare mention that the cop is wearing a USA uniform though), just printed onto white card stock and trimmed down

- piece of red card stock to form a narrow frame around the image, then glued image onto it before adding the whole panel to the card front

Right now, Taylor (a neighbour's little boy) is mad about anything to do with the police. Len has given him some bits and bobs from his time working with our UK Metropolitan Police up in London. And he even bought him a proper police whistle not so long ago - not sure how happy Taylor's Daddy was with that bright idea I must admit :)

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 279 and 280 - results

Hello once again! Time for the fortnightly round up of  the Playground which includes our latest Guest Designer, some 'picks' of the fortnight and of course the prize draw.

We have another Guest Designer this fortnight, and it's Alison C of 'Cranberry and Eggplant' - and this is her fabulous snippets card:

Brilliant, exactly the sort of card I've been showcasing lately and a perfect way to use up little snippets. But these aren't snippets of already patterned paper, it's white snippets, stamped to create the patterns! What a fabulous idea, so precise and neat as well!

This is what Alison said when she emailed me her card image and photo, but do hop over to her blog for more detail and also to say a 'Hello' please:

I'm excited to be the guest designer at Pixie's Snippets Playground. 

Since playing along in the Playground, I've got into the habit of reaching for snippets before cutting into a new sheet. In fact I don't really like starting a new one!

Having said that, I still have a mountain of snippets. Mine are mostly white so that's what I wanted to use here. Apart from the base, all the rest is snippets.

I punched the squares then used lots of different stamps to create the patterns on the squares but the same two ink pads.

Thanks so much to Di for hosting the playground and keeping it all going. It's so inspiring to see the many and varied cards which people are clever enough to make. You'd think we'd run out of ideas but we never do!

And, here's a photo of Alison ......

Another happy, smiling face :)

When 'scouting' around her blog, I discovered right away that Alison is a keen gardener, in fact she grows a wide variety of stuff in her garden (complete with chickens and a poly tunnel for plants). She loves cut flowers and always has a vase or more of them in the house - picked from her own garden. This is a recent example:

Gorgeous isn't it?!

Back to crafting, this is what I gleaned from Alison's profile: she's a Mum to three grownup offspring, who certainly has crafting in her blood with sewing, lace making and also hand making paper as 'strings to her bow'. It's only about five years since Alison actually took up paper crafting. And what a long way she's come since then - I would be delighted if more of you follow her (pretty please)!

Thank you so much Alison for making such a stunning snippets card as our Guest Designer this fortnight, it's a real pleasure to have you as GD - and to have learned more about you in the process of course! Running the Playground is a real pleasure for me - more so since we switched to fortnightly challenges - and without you girls there would be no Playground!

So, let's move onto my picks from this past fortnight - tough call as always! I stayed with three picks - no special theme this time, just cards that really caught my eye - as well as using snippets in an inspirational way of course:

This is such a clever card, made by Alice (scrAPamondo)! The theme of the main challenge that Alice created this for was a Venn diagram (that took me back in time!) and I just love this card - sheer ingenuity.

And what a super card from Lynn (Linby) as well. Lots of little snippets used to create this brilliant scene - very cleverly done so that the perspective is just right as well. And, Lynn has been putting a new die cutting machine through its - Crafters Companion Diamond Press. Very dinky and just perfect for using with snippets - don't shoot me, I'm only the messenger!

And last but not least, AJ made this fabulous 'concertina' card. It's absolutely amazing and there's lots more photos of the card over on AJ's blog. So much attention to detail - it's been a real labour of love! Lovely images, ribbons, lace and plenty of sparkles make this into a really special card to be treasured.

That's my three picks - I do hope they will inspire you as well girls. Of course we had loads of fabulous ways to use up snippets, so I do recommend that you grab a cup of coffee and spend some time visiting blogs - the thumbnails with links are always there for you to look back over.

57 of you joined in this past fortnight (thought it was a bit quieter in the Playground!) - with one new Playmate:

Monica finally came to play with us - all the way from Singapore! I lived in Singapore for three absolutely wonderful years as a child so am especially delighted to welcome Monica. I adore this card - the look on that frog's face is something else 😃

Hope you come back to play again soon Monica!

Prize draw time now and our winner of the MFT 'Diagonal Strip Sentiment Cover Up' and Memory Box 'Sketchbook Imagine' dies is:

Megan

Well done Megan - 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.

Keep those snippets entries coming girls, you still have a week left to play HERE remember! And the prize is a MFT 'Chevron Edger' pair of dies and a set of Waffle Flower 'Flora Cat' stamps.

Do remember it's Rudolph Days coming up on 25th until 31st May - over at ScrappyMo's! Time to perhaps make a Christmas card or two?

Love from the little white peril - and of course from me too

Sympathy card for a friend

One of my friends from our old school reunions recently suffered the sad loss of her husband. We weren't at boarding school together, her prison term was a few years before mine,  but we became friends whilst working on the School Association Committee a few years ago. As her husband had been a farmer, I wanted something 'depicting nature' for the card I made to send to her. And this is what I came up with:

I used:

- 4" x 6" (ie. A6) white card blank

- then created a butterfly stencil using the Memory Box 'Darla Butterfly' die and a snippet of card stock

- fixed the die cut stencil to the card blank with low-tack tape and, using a sponge, added some Adirondack inking with 'Cloudy Blue' and 'Peach Bellini'. The colours are deeper in real life (thanks camera!), although still quite subtle

- left the stencil in place and, using the Misti, stamped the little birds/branches using a stamp from the Stampin' Up 'Serene Silhouettes' set and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- finally removed the stencil and added the sentiment using a Penny Black 'Special Thoughts' stamp and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

Quite an easy one layer card to make, once I came across the idea for the design on Pinterest. This is the blog post I eventually traced it back to - loads of good ideas to be had there and on the rest of Shel's blog, especially for those of you who are Stampin' Up enthusiasts!

Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - 'Use a tag'

Coo, that went quick! It's time for a new challenge over at Cuttlebug Mania -  this fortnight's theme is 'Use a tag' and we're looking for a project which is either just a tag, or has a tag added to your creation.

Details of our sponsor/the prize to be won can be found over on the Cuttlebug Mania Challenge blog.

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.

This is what I made:

I used:

- 4.25" x 5.5" off-white card blank, side opening

- a snippet of card onto which I stuck a Penny Black poinsettia Stickeroo from the 'Snowflakes Falling' sheet

- then die cut the image using the largest label die from the Avery Elle 'Postage Stamp Elle-ments' die set and set it to one side

- snippets of SU's 'Certainly Celery' and 'Pistachio Pudding' plain card , from which I die cut the background panel and the darker 'postage stamp edged' frame - using the largest 'frame' die from the Avery Elle 'Postage Stamp Elle-ments' die set

- next die cut the aperture for the sentiment using a die from the MFT 'Stitched Oval Word Windows' set

- at this point I stumbled across some issues that would take me forever to explain here (all because of not planning properly ahead) but I managed to cobble my way round them

- assembled and glued the whole green panel to the card front 

- then just stamped a sentiment from the Paper Smooches ' Christmas Sampler' set using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink, inset into the aperture

- final step was to add a loop of red ribbon to the top of the label and then stick it in place using thin sticky pads 

I hope you find time to play along with this latest Cuttlebug Mania challenge - we'd love to see you join in!

Watch out for the Avery Elle 'Postage Stamp Elle-Ments' die set appearing again before too long - there's one in the Playground Toybox waiting as a future prize :)

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 281 and 282

We're now galloping through May - and we do have signs that Summer is lurking around the corner - yippee! Spike and Co. are feeding well and the birds are busy nesting, feeding and having endless swimming sessions in the birdbaths!

My visit to hospital was a little more productive than I thought, had x-rays taken - and after those are reviewed there may or may not be a MRI scan as the next step. Watch this space folks :) But don't hold your breath either!!

As always, a huge thank you to everyone who came to play this past fortnight - loads of gorgeous entries.

This is my snippets card for the coming fortnight:

I used:

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

- snippet of white card stock, with the bottom die cut into a scalloped chevron using a die from the Frantic Stamper 'Chevron Edgers #2 - 130 degrees' die set, Tip, at this stage I kept the panel wider and also taller than I knew it would be at the end, allowing room for some play

- snippets of pink and SU's 'Wisteria Wonder' card stock were then selected so I could match the colouring I intended to do

- stamped a cat from the Waffle Flower 'Flora Cat' stamp set onto the white panel - using the Misti and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- coloured the decoration on the cat using Faber Castell Polychromos pencils

- then die cut the pink snippet using the same chevron edger dis as before and set it to one side

- stamped the words 'take care!' from the 'Flora Cat' set, using the Misti and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink onto the 'Wisteria Wonder' snippet

- at that point I measured up the vertical centres of the panels, marked them using a soft pencil and then glued the three layers together

- only then, once the glue dried, did I trim the whole panel down to just under the size of the card front

- added the panel to the card front using a piece of white fun foam to lift it

- it looked a little bare to me, although I reckon it could have worked without more additions, but I did add a pink punched heart (SU's discontinued 'Itty Bitty Heart' punch,  recently purchased from a SU pre-loved site) plus some sequins

The way I tackled the card is so much easier than trying to make everything line up to the exact dimensions as you go along - I made sure there was plenty of spare card to trim off the panel at the end of assembling it and it works a treat!

Love the chevron edger dies! The set comes with two dies, one is scalloped (the one I used) and the other one is straight stitched lines - perfect for male cards! Also, you can die cut and use the negative part of the cut as that is also designed to be used. A great set, you can use them at an offset angle of course rather then symmetrically. Oh, and of course you could use them as inverted V shapes as well! I make that eight options without even including the 'offset angle' idea. I was on a waiting list for them for absolutely ages and had almost given up hope! But, they arrived this past week and I just had to have a play of course :)

Probably don't need to spell out what this fortnight's prize is made up of do I then?

Oops, got my reflection again :)

The prize is the  Waffle Flower 'Flora Cat' stamp set plus the Frantic Stamper 'Chevron Edgers #2 - 130 degrees' die set, exactly the same as I used today. The dies are 5.5" across by the way so are fine for a lot of card sizes.

I will split the prize if necessary, am mindful that not everyone would like both parts of the prize - although I do think they go together well. I'm more of a doggy person but can still see me using my own set of these stamps quite a lot - and they would look pretty good without any colouring either! And of course, you may already have the dies or very similar as they've been around for a little while now. But, as always - both items are one complete prize if you wish to play for them as a pair.

The Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks from now on and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 27th May. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

It's still a maximum of ONE entry and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. The prize is both items together as a single prize, unless you really do only want to try for a 'split' - in which case I'd do a further draw for the other item. Please also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

Remember, if you link into the Playground and don't say clearly that you're wanting to be in the draw then you will be bypassed if your name comes out of Mr Linky. I'm sure you all know I ask for a positive 'yes' just in case you're playing only for fun. Thanks!

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 :)

Be sure to call back next week to see the winner of last fortnight's prize (those fabulous dies that you all seem to love!) plus my picks from the past two weeks - as well as another lovely guest designer too!

Love from Parsnip and of course from me,

It's the most wonderful time of the year

I absolutely love Christmas, no 'Bah Humbug' here for sure! Still ploughing on making cards for the festive season - I made six identical ones the other week:

I used:

- 4.25" x 5.5" white card blank, side opening

- a piece of white card stock, die cut using the NBUS MFT 'Stitched Cover-up Companion - Diagonal' die

- then I used the Santa stamp I wanted to use for the image as a guide to position the sentiment in place, using the Misti of course (with six to make it was such a help!). The sentiment is from Uniko's 'Most Wonderful' stamp set, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink 

- backed the aperture die with a piece of pale blue patterned paper from LOTV's 'Frosty Christmas' paper pad and glued the panel onto the card front

- then stamped the Santa onto white card stock snippets, using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from MFT's 'Jingle All The Way' set

- coloured the image using Pro Markers, making the 'gift' blue to link to the LOTV background paper - and added some clear Wink of Stella to the fur and bobble on Santa's hat

- then die cut the Santa, using a card template for positioning the die (I've covered how to do this this a few times on here before), and the matching 'Jingle All The Way' set of dies

- stuck the Santa in place using thin sticky pads and stepped away from the 'cooking pot' - job done, times six, yay!

The design I used kept popping into my mind - so much so that I do wonder if I've seen it elsewhere and it lodged in a little brain cell here. I adore the MFT Cover Up die I used for this card, so many possibilities! I can see one finding its way into the Playground Toybox at some point :)

Somewhere, over the rainbow ...............

Bet that's got you singing now :)

For ages I've wanted a rainbow die, but quite a lot of them are made up of only six 'stripes' - and I wanted the full 'Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain' spectrum of colours!

But, I did recently find that MFT make one with seven stripes - and this is the card I made (I did two at once as there was quite a bit of fiddly die cutting so it made sense to double up):

I used:

- 4.25" x 5.5" white card blank, sideways opening on the short side for a change

- snippet of turquoise blue card, trimmed to slightly smaller than the card front

- next I die cut the rainbow aperture out of the blue card using MFT's 'Rainbow' die

- backed the aperture using double sided adhesive sheet so that the sticky side was showing through the aperture - covered it with the wax protective sheet

- cut a thinnish piece of card and glued it to the back of the die cut panel to reinforce the aperture behind the sticky adhesive sheet

- found snippets of all seven rainbow colours and ran them through the Cuttlebug using the rainbow die - making sure I kept the right pieces lined up in order on the desk!

- inserted the colours of the rainbow into the aperture on the blue panel, one at a time - it's easier to work from the inside out over when adding the strips

- used Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from the Penny Black 'Special Thoughts' sentiments set to stamp 'you brighten my day' - using the Misti plus the L shape from the Misti Creative Corners set to 'push the card away' from the very edge of the Misti recess (makes such a difference and really an add-on worth buying!)

- then glued the blue panel to the card front, with a layer of white fun foam between to add dimension

- lastly, die cut a couple of clouds from snippets of white card (left over from chopping the card blanks down) - using MFT's 'Cloud Trio' die  and then stuck them in place using thin sticky pads

Tip, just to make the clouds look slightly different to one another, I flipped one the other way up (ie. top to bottom). Just a subtle change but it took away the 'samey, samey' look.

Edit: Liz left a comment on here, which prompted me to go and check out her blog here. And I found the lovely card she made which first piqued my interest in rainbow dies - back in 2014! Do go and see, it's really worth a look!

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 277 and 278 - results

Hello once again! Time for the fortnightly round up of  the Playground which includes our latest Guest Designer, some 'picks' of the fortnight and of course the prize draw.

Gosh I was lucky to have a Guest Designer this time around, it had totally slipped my mind - thankfully my choice was able to oblige. And it's Em of 'Creative Em' - who made this brilliant snippets card:

Love this card Em, fabulous die cutting - sigh, more on my wish list!

And this is what Em said about the card, but do hop over to her blog for more detail and also to say a 'Hello' please:

Dies are from Spellbinders, Die'Sire and Creative Expressions and the aperture is backed with a snippet too.

And, here's a photo of Em, another lady with a mischievous twinkle about her:

Em has been blogging since 2013 and I had a fascinating time reading her blog. This gal lives in the North West of the UK, yet seems more American than English. She's a brilliant card maker and a very loyal Playmate, rarely does she miss a snippets challenge. Even Miss Marple here couldn't really piece together very much about Em's personal life. She might be a Mum, she might not. She probably has American blood in her, but perhaps not. I think she possibly lived in the USA once upon a time, but maybe I'm wrong. In short, Em is a bit of an enigma - and I admire her for keeping us guessing! This much I do know, she has a very strong faith and also a very kind heart. Oh, and she's a great photographer too - that much I managed to trace!

Look at this:

How about that then? Not only a squirrel, but a red one. And they move so fast too!

Thank you so much Em for making such a stunning snippets card as our Guest Designer this fortnight, and also for stepping in at such short notice. Saved my bacon!

In future I'll make a point of emailing for a GD as soon as the interim post (like this one) is published as it really isn't fair on any of you. Normally I'm in reasonably good time - and in fact if this happens again I'll most likely just have a week minus a GD rather than mess people around.

So, let's move onto my picks from this past fortnight - tough call as always! In the end I opted for three picks which I reckon any one of you can CASE fairly easily with goods you have to hand. It doesn't mean no work of course - just that the inspiration is there for you to have a play:

First of all, we do have a Gold Star winner this week - and I'm sure you'll agree that this card is such a worthy entry:

From comments left by a few of you over at Carol L's blog - you also think it's a pretty amazing way to use up lots of little snippets. It's made up of a variety of squares and strips - then embossed to give the quilted look! Absolutely fabulous! Do collect your Gold Star badge from the side bar Carol :)

I also love this card, made by Jane W. Such a great way to use up snippet strips with some embossing, and either a punch or a die cut at the bottom of the strip. Clever stuff. The sentiment at the bottom right just finishes it perfectly!

This is a design I keep forgetting about - and it's so perfect as well as being a super way to use up snippets! Janice brought this lovely card to share with us - and of course you don't need to stick with just four squares, although I love the symmetry of four. Irene who used to play here was so good at making cards like this - using 'inchies', often a panel of six or nine of them. A really versatile idea folks!

That's my three picks - I do hope they will inspire you as well girls.Of course we had loads of fabulous ways to use up snippets, so I do recommend that you grab a cup of coffee and spend some time visiting blogs - the thumbnails with links are always there for you to look back over. For this fortnight I homed in on three ways to use snippets in a sort of geometrical way - but, as you all know, the possibilities are endless.

Numbers are looking good in the Playground, 70 of you joined in this past fortnight - with no new Playmates.

Prize draw time now and our winner of the Kaisercraft 'Butterflies' stamp set kindly donated by Megan, the Crealies 'rings' die, kindly donated by Elizabeth ....... and the Inkylicious 'Friend' sentiment stamp set from me is:

Lynn (Hayes)

Well done Lynn - 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.

I'm sorry if anyone feels that I should already have a note of your address if you've been a previous winner by the way. Asking you to email me does confirm that I have an up to date address - and that you haven't changed your minds about the prize of course :)

Keep those snippets entries coming girls, you still have a week left to play HERE remember! And the prize is a popular one, a diagonal stripes cover up die plus a Memory Box sentiment die.

I'm finally off for a hospital visit at Rheumatology this coming week - but am not holding my breath that they'll be any help at all with the back problem. Murphy's Law as well - this latest flare-up is subsiding again down to a bearable level. I doubt if I'll be entering any limbo dancing competitions just yet though!

Love from the little white peril - and of course from me too

First Holy Communion card - Mia

Mia, our little Grand daughter over in Germany, has just recently taken her first Holy Communion and I made her this card:

I used:

- 5" x 7" white card blank

- a layer of very slightly smaller silver mirri card, glued to the card front

- a piece of white card stock, embossed using a Couture Creations 'Constellations' folder then trimmed down to a smidgen smaller than the silver layer and glued in place

- the cross itself was actually made first a couple of days before I made up the card - used white card stock, backed with Stick-It sheet and two Tonic dies from the Tonic Studios 'New Life Cross' set to die cut the filigree shape with a solid outline

- then I used just the solid die from the same set to cut a silver mirri cross

- layered the white filigree onto the silver and then ran it through the Cuttlebug to make sure the Stick-It was thoroughly in contact. A surprise side effect was that it also produced a lovely effect effect of almost embossing the filigree into the silver layer

- then cut a further two solid crosses and added them to the back of the double layer front, just to made the whole thing more 'solid' and robust

- the sentiment was stamped using a VersaMark pad, sentiment from 'Stamping All Day' and then heat embossed using Stampendous 'Sterling Silver' EP

- to die cut the sentiment I ended up using a die from the DoCrafts 'Speech Bubbles' set, making a template first to ensure the die sat properly over the sentiment before I die cut it

- also die cut a further two layers as I did for the cross to thicken up the sentiment

- ran a silver Calligraphy pen around the edge of the sentiment label just to add a bit of a finish

- used thin sticky pads to adhere the cross and the sentiment to the card front

I thought I had a 'dud' die as the centre wasn't cutting properly - but when I switched to 200gsm rather than 250gsm card it worked perfectly! That's made me wonder about some other intricate dies I had big problems with in the past, now I think about it - it was always when I was cutting using a particular white 250gsm card! I know that SU card is always trouble free and that's slightly lighter weight/thinner as well - I think a big penny just dropped here, oopsie!! It does only apply to quite intricate dies though, bigger outline dies do cut just fine using 250gsm.

The original intention was to add a few pearls to parts of the card and/or the cross but decided to call a halt rather than 'over egg the pudding'. Mia's name was on the printed insert I added, rather than the card front - again, to retain a more classic feel to the card.

Gosh it's taken me a good while to have the 'savvy' to run die cuts through the Cuttlebug again once they're fixed in place. The difference it makes is vast!

Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - 'Have wings, will fly'

It's time for a new challenge over at Cuttlebug Mania -  this fortnight's theme is 'Have wings, will fly' and we're looking for a project which includes a bird or an insect with wings eg. butterfly, ladybird, dragonfly etc. More than one is fine!

Details of our sponsor/the prize to be won can be found over on the Cuttlebug Mania Challenge blog.

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.

This is what I made:

I used:

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

- SU's 'Certainly Celery' flowery DP, trimmed to just slightly smaller than the card front and glued in place

- the white frame and inset panels were cut using an offcut left over from making the card blank and Just Right's 'Three in a Row' set. I've got a bit of a 'thing' at the minute about frames with white inserts but the inserts were likely to have a gnats whisker of green showing around the edge so I backed the frame with white card before popping the inserts in place. I know, it would only have been the thickness of the actual cutting line - but CDO (OCD) struck again!

- glued the frame in place on the card front

- the sentiment is from the Paper Smooches ''Sentiment Sampler' set, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- the leaves were cut from a snippet of plain SU 'Certainly Celery' and a die from the Spellbinder 'Rose Creations' set

- those cute little ladybirds are from an Elizabeth Dies set called 'Lady Bugs'. I just added some Stick-It adhesive paper to snippets of red and black card, die cut the  ladybirds and assembled them - making sure none of the black spots made a bid for freedom before they were popped in place! The die does cut the holes so the black body shows through but I thought it looked more realistic to have the spots flush with the red wings - despite it being a bit fiddly

- glued the leaves and the ladybirds in place using Collall All Purpose glue, in a fine line applicator

I hope you find time to play along with the Cuttlebug Mania challenge - there's lots of scope with the theme. I had ideas for a few different cards before settling on this one - and of course your 'thing with wings' doesn't need to be a die cut. I'd had the ladybird die set for ages - NBUS needless to say - and wanted to give it a first outing :)