Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 291 and 292

Crumbs, so where did THAT two weeks go to then? It time for a new fortnightly challenge in the Snippets Playground folks! As always, a huge thank you to everyone who came to play this past fortnight.

Let's get straight in - here's my snippets card for the coming fortnight - trying out a couple of new things along the way:

I used:

- white card blank made using Strathmore Mixed Media Vellum surface 300gsm paper (at 300 gsm it's very sturdy card in fact, and I used it as it's 'a very slightly off-white all of its own' - I wanted all the bits of off- white to be from the same shade (OCD once again!)

- a snippet of the Mixed Media card, which I coloured using the fabulous TH Distress Oxides that arrived here the week before last. I used the pads straight onto the card - just some daubs here and there, heat drying in between colours and then added more colour into any bare patches here and there using a sponge applicator - colours used were 'Broken China', 'Faded Jeans' and 'Iced Spruce'

- next, sprayed the inked up piece of card using a Mini Mister, which produced lovely water marks and heat dried again - then did a happy dance :)

- for the top layer of the card I die cut a snippet of the white Mixed Media card using my much loved MFT 'Stitched Cover-Up Companion - Diagonal die, and set it aside

- then I stamped a hibiscus flower and two leaves using stamps from the Clearly Besotted 'Aloha' set. Stamped them using VersaMark and then heat embossed using Ranger 'Liquid Platinum' embossing powder

- next I coloured the leaves and flower using my (a second outing only!) Ziggys and fussy cut round them leaving a narrow white border

- now I could check exactly where the word 'Aloha' from the same set ought to be positioned on the band across the die cut - did this using the Misti and a small piece of acetate on top of the die cut, which is printed with lines/squares for alignment. Held it in place on the Misti with magnets and once the 'Aloha' stamp was stuck to the Misti lid it was just a matter of whipping the acetate away and leaving the die cut panel in place ready for stamping

- again, I stamped using VersaMark and then heat embossed using Ranger 'Liquid Platinum' embossing powder

- finally, it was just a case of assembling all the pieces to make up the card itself. I used red line tape to adhere the Distress Oxide panel to the back of the die cut frame, glued the backed frame onto the card front and used more red line tape to attach the leaves and flower

My original intention was to use a Distress Oxides panel of orange tones I'd already made but it looked much too 'samey'. Thankfully I'd been playing and had a few pieces in different colours - the blue is more like the sea and sky in Hawaii :) So says my in-house critic anyhow!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

The Flower Challenge #10 - 'Embossing Heat/Dry' - I chose heat embossing and it's the first time I've entered this lovely challenge, one for the future girls! It closes on 25th July - the same day as the latest Rudolph challenge begins over at ScrappyMo's!

Certainly I'm really pleased with the Distress Oxides, such luscious, creamy and rich colours - although I do need much more practice at one of the other techniques which is so popular right now. Inking onto my craft mat, spraying with water and then 'smooshing' - sigh. I have a sneaky suspicion I was too liberal with the water - but am delighted at the 'apply straight to the card and then spray' approach! I need to check out Loll's videos!

Once again, no need to really spell out what this fortnight's prize is made up of, although funds wouldn't run to TH Distress Oxides I'm afraid - but if you live in the UK Joanna Sheen has the original set of 12 selling at £49.99, which is about a £16 saving. So here's the prize:

It's is a MFT 'Stitched Cover-Up Companion - Diagonal die (I first used mine here in May, then ran off and bought one for the toy box - and it can be used either way round depending how much space you want above or below the 'banner strip'), plus the Clearly Besotted 'Aloha' stamps set. I love that the stamps come with three sizes of flower and two sizes of leaves - just perfect for making up a little montage of flowers :) And, when I Googled, I was stunned at how many colours of hibiscus there are in real life - absolutely tons of them! I will split the die and the complete (obviously) set of stamps if you only wish to play for one or the other.

The Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks from now on and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 5th August. 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 (Concord & 9th 'Heartstrings' die set and the MFT 'Label Maker Sentiments' set of stamps) plus my picks from the past two weeks - hopefully as well as another lovely guest designer too!

Love from Parsnip and of course from me,