Pixie's Snippets Playground #342 - Prize I

And before we knew it, it was New Year's Eve! Not our favourite celebration in many ways so we generally have a quiet evening at home. The days of crazy parties, almost dancing on the tables and then tottering to bed at about 4am are long gone! Plus of course, the whole neighbourhood erupts with fireworks so we need to be home and calm with Dudley. He was fine over Guy Fawkes so let's hope he's still 'Joe Cool' about the mayhem. Woof!

Meanwhile, let's have another Christmas/New Year 'Snippets Playground Celebration' prize:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank, side opening

- snippet of deep blue, almost midnight in some lights, shimmery card, trimmed only slightly smaller than the card front - but not glued in place yet

- snippets of plain white card, die cut using the following dies - The Works 'Joy Message' and The Works 'Snowflakes' 

- then added the Joy followed by the snowflakes to the piece of deep blue card - using just a fine glue pen and making sure a couple of the snowflakes were placed 'off the edge'

- snipped the excess from the overhanging snowflakes from the back

- glued the deep blue panel to the card front and popped on a scattering of self-adhesive diamantes to add some sparkle 

This was a fun card to make, didn't take too long and the dies are gorgeous! The big snowflake at top left would stand very well on its own on a smallish card and they're the prettiest set of snowflakes I own for sure. The only thing I found is that die cutting the Joy word needed some small shims added to the snowflake part to cut right through, which isn't uncommon when you have a portion of a die within a circle - I just use little pieces of paper to build it up and keep running through my Cuttlebug until the cut is completely through. Everything else cut like a dream and everything also popped straight out of the dies. The Works dies really are very good quality - but as i said previously, they do keep changing their range so if you see a die or set of dies you want then do go ahead and get them at the time!

So, here's today's prize:

It's The Works dies, same as I used, 'Joy Message' and 'Snowflakes' which is a set of four (five if you include the centre spokes of the huge snowflake in fact as they pop out separately).

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post during this fortnight to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft. Mr Linky closes at 11am on Saturday 5th January so you do need to have added a snippets make by then to be eligible for the draw.

By the way - I realised that if all goes to plan there will even be a prize on Saturday 5th January. I'll be leaving the comments open on later prizes for at least a couple of extra days to give folk a chance to check what's on offer and say if they're wanting to play for those prizes. I can't leave them open for too long though as of course I want to publish the draw results on Sunday 13th January and it's going to probably take me days to sort out the draw results and write them up. Whoever thought this was a good idea she asks herself?!

Just leave a comment on this post if you would like the chance to win today's prize. The prize isn't going to be split. But, if you have one of the dies/sets or only want one or the other than, as I always say - you can gift what you don't want to a friend at your end! Can't be fairer than that.

Keep checking for more prizes! Am still working on samples for upcoming prizes here but there seems to be a little chink of light at the end of the tunnel ☺

Pixie's Snippets Playground #342 - Prize H. Plus Challenge #341 - results.

This is likely to be a bit of a bumper post - first I'll do the latest prize to go into the Christmas/New Year Grand Draw pot, followed by picks as well as letting you know who won the 'Wedding card' goodies from two weeks ago. Which to be honest feels like a lifetime ago!

Here's my snippets card first of all:

I used:

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

- a piece of already trimmed paper for the backing layer which I'd tucked into the back of the My Minds Eye 'All is Bright' paper pad - so it does count as a snippet. I'd obviously trimmed it for another card and then changed my mind

- glued the backing paper onto the card front

- then I dug out a load of little white snippets for the rest of the card

- first of all I stamped the little birds, branch, leaves and also the sentiment onto snippets of white card - using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink for all bar the branch which I stamped using VersaFine's 'Vintage Sepia'

- the stamps are all from a really sweet little set of stamps by Lawn Fawn called 'Winter Sparrows'

- then used a mix of Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils and Whispers brush pens to colour the little sparrows and the leaves

- out came the Cuttlebug and first of all I die cut the branch, leaves and sparrows using a matching Lawn Fawn 'Winter Sparrows' set of dies (taking great care not to drop any of them after the red cardinal incident!)

- now I had an idea how the sizing would be when the little critters etc. were lined up so I dug out a very old Spellbinders oval Nestabilities die and using another snippet of white card die cut the oval as a 'scene background'

- before adding the little die cut elements, stamped three little notes using a teensy stamp from the 'Winter Sparrows' set of stamps and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- then glued all the little die cuts onto the oval ready to add to the card front

- before going any further, die cut the sentiment using one of the MFT 'Stitched Oval Word Window' dies - the sentiment is actually on what would really be the waste part from the stitched window but it fitted perfectly

- then I could position the oval 'scene' and the sentiment as I wanted before gluing them in place

More haste less speed certainly applied when I was making this card on Saturday morning (just yesterday so you can see I was cutting it really fine!). The sand eraser came to the rescue twice, sigh.

And today's prize is:

Lawn Fawn 'Winter Sparrows' stamps and dies - times three! So you have three chances to win these adorable stamps and dies as there are three lots lined up waiting for new homes.

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post during this fortnight to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft. Mr Linky closes at 11am on Saturday 5th January so you do need to have added a snippets make by then to be eligible for the draw.

Just leave a comment on this post if you would like the chance to win today's prize. The post I did on Sunday 23rd December has all the detail you might want to know about this bumper draw and how it works.

Now let's do our usual fortnightly results bit - and here are the picks from Challenge #341:

 

Donna F shared this gorgeous Christmas card with us - loads of impact and also great use of snippets of course!

I really love these sweet little boxes made by Helen - and more wonderful use of snippets too!

I know, I know! This card looks so very professional that you would happily think it's a shop bought one made using computer wizardry! But, it isn't - our lovely Playmate Trina made it herself and I think it's just stunning! Lots of snippets were used as well!

And, although I'm in a hurry (nothing new there!) I absolutely must include one more pick as there's also a great tip for you:

This card was already on my list of potential picks, made by Alison C. It's so pretty and the soft blues and pinks work so well. The tip from Alison is that she added dimension to the flower (and maybe the leaves?) by adding little scraps (snippets) behind them instead of sticky pads - which often take cards into outer space pricing as they become liable to the rate for 'thicker' letters!

No new Playmates this time and we had a total of 38 entries. Numbers were down and I'm not at all surprised as it was headless chicken time for most of us!

Now it's prize draw time for Challenge #341, and our winner of the Xcut 6" x 6" 'Polka Hearts' embossing folder, The Works 'Swirl Heart' die and a Creative Expressions 'Congratulations' die is:

Liz C

Liz is one of our most stalwart Playmates and rarely, if ever, misses a challenge - I often pick her work for you to see as well. I was quite taken aback when my records appear to show that it's about year since Liz won in the Playground - when I was giving away the big batch of sand erasers (same as Em our previous winner in fact!) - so this is certainly due! Do please send me your address Liz, with full name at the top as well so I can copy and paste or just write straight from the email onto the envelope - for speed and ease. It's also confirmation that you still would like the prize of course and I'll post your prize once I hear from you. Please put Playground Winner or similar in the subject line of your email in case it drops into my junk mail. Email address is on RH sidebar as always.

Do keep on checking for more prizes, the grand draw is still in full swing! I'm struggling to make sample cards but will certainly do my best - it's good to have something really pressing, reminds me a bit of working to tight deadlines in a previous existence!

Love from me, Parsnip - and Dudley sends his love too! Woof!

Pixie's Snippets Playground #342 - Prize G

Here's another prize in the 'Snippets Playground Celebration' prize draw- it's a card I've posted on the blog already this Christmas - but here it is again with a reminder about how I made it:

I used:

- 4" x 4" white card blanks - I find Hobbycraft's A4 300gsm card is really great for making card blanks - it doesn't 'split' like some bought card blanks do when you fold them

- 3.75" x 3.75" square of dark blue pearlescent card for the background

- 3.75" wide strip (snippet) of white pearlescent card, backed with Stick-It and then die cut using the adorable Your Next Die 'Winter Scene Border' die

- fixed the die cut to the very bottom of the dark blue card background - at this point not stuck onto the card front in case I needed to trim a bit off the sides. I didn't in fact but best to play safe plus it's always easier to handle elements before the card is assembled'

- then die cut the sentiment using more of the white pearlescent card backed with Stick-It and Impression Obsession's 'Seasons Greetings' die. I'll be quite honest and say that it was a bit of a so-and-so' to remove all the waste from the die cut but so worth it - I put it down to me using Stick-It adhesive sheet and another time may well try using Collall All Purpose glue in a fine line bottle, or even a fine glue pen as Stick-It sheet just loves to play awkward on really intricate die cuts

- to position the die cut sentiment I used a strip of clear removable tape across the front of the blue panel for an alignment guide and popped the die cut sentiment in place before removing the piece of tape ready for the next card in the production line

- then ran the whole panel through the Cuttlebug using the CB embossing plates plus an embossing folder as 'packing' - the result looks as if the sentiment and little scenic strip are inlaid and there's no way those die cuts are gonna peel off

- glued the panel onto the card front and then stared at the card for ages

- asked Len, who agreed with me that something was missing - so I added three Josy Rose shiny silver star shaped hot-fix nail heads and was finally happy with the result

I'm really happy the way the border along the bottom breaks up a plain card and the fabulous big die cut sentiment works well with it rather than being on its own (IMHO). And I made six of these at the same time - one of my favourites of the year.

And today's prize is:

A Your Next Die 'Winter Scene Border' die and an Impression Obsessions 'Seasons Greetings' die.

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post during this fortnight to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft. Mr Linky closes at 11am on Saturday 5th January so you do need to have added a snippets make by then to be eligible for the draw.

Just leave a comment on this post if you would like the chance to win today's prize.

Love from Parsnip, Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground #342 - Prize F

And we're now heading for the weekend, followed by New Year. Meanwhile, it's time for another Christmas/New Year 'Snippets Playground Celebration' prize:

I used:

- 4" x 4" square white card blank, side opening

- snippet of pretty LOTV paper from their 'Woodland Wishes' paper pad - just as a strip down one side of the card and glued in place (I showed this idea as a fortnightly pick just recently, made by Heather HERE. Sigh, I didn't add a teensy strip of plain down one edge of the patterned paper which really does give a nicer and more finished look I think. But, I did at least remember to co-ordinate the colours in the images with the paper!)

- a snippet of white card stamped using stamps from the Reverse Confetti 'Christmas Cheer' set of stamps, then coloured in using Pro markers

- then I die cut the shapes using the matching set of dies - the cuts are quite intricate so I really wouldn't have wanted to tackle them by hand cutting. I did die cut aligning templates to be on the safe side - and one thing that really is such a help is to use coloured card for the templates so you can clearly see the white outline when you're lining the die etc, up ready for cutting 

- just added a little stripe of grey Pro marker to 'ground' the elf and Christmas goodies before gluing the die cuts in place

- then stamped the sentiment, using one of the sentiments from the same set of stamps and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink before die cutting them using a die from a very old Spellbinders 'Nested Pennants' set of dies

- then drew round the same pennant die on the reverse side of another snippet (plain green this time) from the same LOTV paper pad and carefully cut it out - making sure I had angled corners and pointed ends on the pennant as the die itself is rounded off a bit

- glued the sentiment to the green backing and then glued it onto the card front

Whilst at it I made a little run of four of these cards, two with boy elves on and two with girls and also alternated the colouring. Ha, so that's a start for 2019's Christmas cards! Of course, a lot of the fun is choosing how to colour these lovely images, the permutations are pretty varied really.

This is the first time I've come across Reverse Confetti and I do like their products - the stamps are lovely and clear and the dies really don't cut any corners either - if an area can be cut out then it is!

So, here's today's prize:

It's a pair of matching stamps and dies by Reverse Confetti - called 'Christmas Cheer'.

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post during this fortnight to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft. Mr Linky closes at 11am on Saturday 5th January so you do need to have added a snippets make by then to be eligible for the draw.

Just leave a comment on this post if you would like the chance to win today's prize. The prize is obviously not going to be split, grin.

Keep checking for more prizes! My battle now is to try to finish making the last of the sample cards to showcase the prizes yet to come, fingers crossed I'll manage - somehow!

Pixie's Snippets Playground #342 - Prize E

Here's another prize in the 'Snippets Playground Celebration' prize draw- and I've also posted these cards on the blog already - but here it is again with a reminder about how I made them:

 I used:

- 5" x 5" square, slightly off-white card blank - side opening

- piece of gold mirri card, about quarter of an inch smaller than the card front - glued in place using Collall All Purpose glue

- topped that with a slightly smaller piece of plaid paper (red and also green) from the LOTV 'Twas The Night' paper pad

- die cut the Lil' Inkers 'Noel Word Antlers' from a snippet of dark brown card which was backed with Stick-It adhesive sheet beforehand

- snippet of the same off-white card as the card blank

- then I added the Noel antlers die cut plus the 'nose' - placed a bit down from the centre of the letter O to look a bit more like a nose

- and only then did I use a The Works 'Stitched Squares' die to cut the final square out - that makes it much easier to make sure the word is positioned exactly as you want inside the square as well as the pressure making sure the die cut is well adhered

- backed the image panel with a slightly bigger piece of gold mirri card and then glued it onto the card front - done!

And today's prize is:

A Lil' Inkers die called 'Noel Word Antlers' - times three! So you have three chances to win this lovely die as there are three lined up waiting for new homes.

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post during this fortnight to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft. Mr Linky closes at 11am on Saturday 5th January so you do need to have added a snippets make by then to be eligible for the draw.

Just leave a comment on this post if you would like the chance to win today's prize. The post I did on Sunday 23rd December has all the detail you might want to know about this bumper draw and how it works.

Hope you're having a quiet time after all the festivities - I love the days right after Christmas - cold poultry cuts, left over pigs in blankets stuffing, bubble and squeak using up brussel sprouts and leftover roast and croquette potatoes chopped - yummy. And gammon cooked in Coca Cola, the best!

Remember to keep on checking - there's more to come yet, wink, wink.I've just realised that so far we've had a lot of dies as prizes - the next prize is at least stamps with matching dies for the stampers and colourers among you!

Love from Parsnip, Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground #342 - Prize D

And it's Boxing Day already in the UK! Time for another Christmas/New Year 'Snippets Playground Celebration' prize - and it's a bit of a bumper bundle again:

What a nightmare to photograph! This is the best I could do without hanging by my toes from the ceiling light fitting. As we know, mirri card picks up reflections beautifully - it's a shame that by turning the card to one side to lessen that, the gorgeous sparkle doesn't show too well. Trust me, it's there!

I used:

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

- a layer of sparkly silver card as a frame, glued in place

- a snippet of white card, trimmed just an eighth of an inch smaller all round to go on top of the sparkly silver layer of card

- before gluing the white layer in place I stamped a sentiment using a stamp from the Creative Expressions 'Festive Traditions - Sentiments' set and a Memento 'Gray Flannel ink pad (it's softer than black for this particular card without resorting to silver)

- then glued the white panel onto the sparkly silver one

- for the bauble I used a lovely set of dies from The Works called 'Bauble 2 piece' - first of all cutting a solid shape from a snippet of silver mirri card 

- then I used both dies together to cut the pretty top layer from a snippet of XCut 'Adhesive Glitter Sheets - Pastels'. 

- snipped the top part of the bauble from the glitter layer before placing it onto the plain solid silver mirri card bauble, turned it over and pressed/rubbed the two layers together with the flat of my hand. Didn't want to run it through the Cuttlebug in case I lost the bit of embossing on the silver piece at the top of the bauble

- then just glued the bauble in place and that was one of four card done - I made three others at the same time using different coloured snippets from the same pack of XCut glitter sheets. This one in turquoise as well as one lilac, one pink and one green.

As I already said, in real life this card sparkles so beautifully - I'm typing this late in the evening before Christmas gets under way and under just the light from a single desk lamp it really does look very pretty, which leads us into today's prize:

It's a set of two dies from The Works (Bauble 2-piece), a set of sentiment stamps by Creative Expressions called 'Festive Traditions - Sentiments' AND, a packet of the XCut Adhesive Glitter Sheets - Pastels (there are ten in a pack, two of each colour). These sheets are so pretty they can be used all year round. One tip, after die cutting a shape from the adhesive glitter sheet, is to peel off the backing before removing the 'waste' - the waxy backing sheet is very sturdy so it makes life easier to remove it first after doing the die cutting and then take the waste away from the die cut, which will be cleanly cut right through.

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post during this fortnight to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft. Mr Linky closes at 11am on Saturday 5th January so you do need to have added a snippets make by then to be eligible for the draw.

Just leave a comment on this post if you would like the chance to win today's prize. And a reminder that I won't be splitting this prize - but of course you can still play and give away what you don't want to a friend at your end!

Edit: Hope you all had a lovely day yesterday and that Santa was good to you. Our little Dudley was the focus of attention and presents here - so much so that Santa had to bring him a really cute Doggie Toy Box as well! Phew, at least that should reduce the risk of breaking an ankle stepping on one of his less squishy toys! Parsnip played Master of Ceremonies and handed Dudley's presents to him one by one ............. before carefully disposing of the wrappings! Having said that, we've kept a few items back for fear of overloading him with too much at once so he'll get a few more over the coming days. The star of the show for him is an Armadillo made of plush material and cord - which instead of squeaking emits a sort of loud grunt. It's absolutely brilliant! And, after we'd eaten and had settled down to watch a bit of TV - Dudley carefully brought each new toy one by one to show me and then trotted back with it to collect another one and do the same all over again. Almost as if he was saying a thank you! Bless him, he's shattered and right now is fast asleep - we're not far behind him either!

Keep checking for more prizes!

Pixie's Snippets Playground #342 - Prize C

Merry Christmas - hope you have a wonderful day! My card for today is actually Len's Christmas card, I managed to make it whilst he was out at archery last week - in a bit of a rush but I like the result anyhow:

I used:

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

- a layer of copper coloured matt/satin finish mirri card as a frame, glued in place

- a snippet of dark blue pearlescent card, trimmed just an eighth of an inch smaller all round to go on top of the copper layer of card later on

- then I used the gorgeous Lawn Fawn 'Birch Trees' set of dies to cut three birch tree apertures in the blue layer of card, and also die cut three of the same trees from a snippet of white pearlescent card 

- turned the blue layer over and stuck strips of normal sellotape down the trees, one at a time, flipping it over and carefully inlaying the white birch trees (had to be really careful as the fattest tree has a couple of teeny cutouts in the centre of the bark so I kept two little blue pieces of waste to add in afterwards

- once all three trees were stuck in place I glued the image panel onto the copper fronted card blank

- then die cut the deer using MFT's 'Deer Love' set of dies and Stick-It backed copper matt/satin mirri card

- stuck the antlers (first!) plus the deer in place and at least I had the basis of a card at that point! The little noses die cut separately so i also added those, using the same copper card

- dug around in my big box of adhesive backed gems and pearls and found some tiny gold gems which I added as the eyes

- then used a Signo white pen to add falling snow to the background 

- final touch was a little red cardinal (from the 'Birch Trees' set) and a couple of tiny hearts (from the 'Deer Love' set), cut from a Stick-It backed snippet of red card

I'd already decided not to add a sentiment to the front of the card - it really speaks for itself. I kept the slushy stuff for inside :) I prefer the eyes to be black but the smallest gems I have are gold and to be perfectly honest I was in a bit of a 'hampered hurry' so didn't stop to colour them with a black Pro marker before setting in place. I was using one hand to pet Dudley and the other to craft with!

I first spotted this super reindeer set over at Emma T's blog when she came to play with us for the first time and shared this card:

LOVE the design and will certainly be CASE-ing it before too long! Especially as I rarely use my own (the same) wonderful circular background die!

I had a casualty though when making my card. The die for the incy wincy cardinal flew (literally!) out of my hand as I was taking the die cut out of the die. I could almost swear I heard it drop onto the floor but both Len and I have searched and used magnets in an effort to retrieve it - no luck as yet. I rootled right through the waste bin - watched longingly by Dudley who would have loved to have given a helping paw. Sigh, it'll no doubt turn up - and thankfully Dudley is wise enough not to chew or eat anything metal. Poor Len couldn't be told exactly what he was looking for either as it was his card! Basically the other option is that it plopped in amongst some of the piles of stuff on my desk - which will be cleared away after Christmas - so I do hold out some hope of finding it. Eventually.

And of course you want to know what today's prize is:

It's the MFT 'Deer Love' set of dies as well as the Lawn Fawn 'Birch Trees' set of dies - same as I used for my own card. The red cardinal is still firmly in place! If you win then I'd advise not detaching the cardinal unless you want to use the birch trees for inlaying of course - which means they had to be snipped apart.

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post during this fortnight to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft. Mr Linky closes at 11am on Saturday 5th January so you do need to have added a snippets make by then to be eligible for the draw.

Just leave a comment on this post if you would like the chance to win today's prize. I won't be splitting it but do feel free to play and give part away if you win!

It's 9:30 pm on Christmas Eve and we're about to snuggle up with an old favourite film, 'Polar Express' on DVD ....... in bed. Everything is prepared for the big day, as far as it can be. Whew, all done within a gnat's whisker! The only issue is no white wine for a spritzer for me whilst cooking tomorrow - so it will just have to be a champagne spritzer I guess.

Ahem, little tinker Dudley learned a new trick earlier this evening - how to jump up onto a sofa on his own ................... then lie down and take possession! Len hasn't seen it happen yet - just that when he left the room and a still warm and vacant sofa, Dudley looked at me and am sure he winked before doing a couple of hops and then there he was up and all nicely settled! Not once, but twice for good measure ☺

Keep checking for more prizes!

Love from Di, Dudley and darling Parsnip of course! 

Pixie's Snippets Playground #342 - Prize B

Here's the second prize in the 'Snippets Playground Celebration' prize draw- I've actually posted this card on the blog already - but here it is again with a reminder about how I made it:

I used:

- 5'5" x 4.25" white card blank, tent style

- layers of gold and copper Xcut adhesive metal effect sheets for the borders. To add these it's easier to just peel off a little bit of the backing down one short side and line it up on the card blank before going the whole hog and peeling off the rest. tI helps with alignment of course and if you gently smooth as you peel off the rest it lies nice and flat

- then I die cut a white panel using a die from the Lil' Inkers 'Stitched Rectangles' set of dies

- then dug out snippets of the same adhesive gold and copper sheets (I never throw even the teeniest piece of these away - just store them in the packet with the rest of the sheets) and die cut the sentiment)

- for the sentiment I used the 'shadow' set of two dies which I've been itching to use, made by Pink and Main called 'Merry Christmas' - and cut one from a snippet of gold and the other from a snippet of copper

- layered the die cuts together and then popped them onto the stitched white panel

- **and before going any further, to make sure the sentiment was well 'bonded' I ran the whole white panel through the Cuttlebug using embossing plates and an unopened embossing folder

- glued the white panel onto the card front and added three sequins - one large copper one and two smaller gold ones

** I really do recommend this step with your die cutting/embossing machine if you feel there's any chance of the self adhesive sheet coming adrift at all - plus, it really does make the wording look as if it's been foiled almost into the matching shadow background!

And today's prize is:

A set of two dies made by Pink & Main called 'Merry Christmas. I do love dies with this shadow effect - they're very popular right now - so we actually have three of the sets on offer - yay! Three chances to be a winner of this prize!

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post during this fortnight to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft. Mr Linky closes at 11am on Saturday 5th January so you do need to have added a snippets make by then to be eligible for the draw.

Just leave a comment on this post if you would like the chance to win today's prize.

Hope you're all set for tomorrow - if not then what's not done will just have to not get done. One of my happiest Christmases as a child was when we'd only just moved back to the UK from Germany with suitcases only and our heavy crates didn't get to us in time for Christmas. There was no option but to make the best of things and it turned out to be really great. None of the last minute panic baking etc. - Mum just bought things like our Christmas cake (almost unheard of in those days!). And Dad and I sat for hours making paper chains and paper lanterns in the cosy kitchen.

Have a lovely day - and don't forget to keep checking in if at all possible - I have a lovely prize to celebrate Christmas Day!

Love from Parsnip, Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge 342 - and Prize A

Hi there and a warm welcome to the Christmas Snippets Playground. It's time to celebrate both the Christmas and New Year Holiday - plus, it's seven whole years on January 1st since I took the Snippets Playground over from the lovely Jules! I never thought it would still be going strong after all this time - so even more reason to celebrate with the Christmas/New Year draw!

Warning - this is a long post as it sets out how the draw will work in a lot of detail!

This is my snippets card for today:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- snippets of dark red slightly shimmery card stock for backing panels/frames plus a piece of white card stock for the larger white layer

- snippet of white card trimmed to 4" x 4" to fit the larger one of the two Gina K 'Wreath Builder' templates

- then, using the Misti and the Gina K template in a similar fashion to how I did it in THIS post, where I used my own home made template, I stamped a wreath using various Brilliance Pearlescent Dewdrop ink pads (even included a really tiny bit of gold) and a variety of stamps from two stamp sets by Inkylicious ('Mini Branches' and 'Mini Flowers') 

- then I stamped the sentiment using one of the green ink pads I'd used for the wreath and a stamp from Whimsy's 'Country Christmas' set of sentiment stamps.Coloured in the holly berries and also added some gold to the little stars before punching it out using SU's 'Extra Large Oval' punch

- now I had all the bits stamped I could just assemble the card using Collall All Purpose glue. I ran a deep red Whispers brush pen around the two red layers before adding them to the card to hide the white 'core' and a gold calligraphy marker around the two white layers as well as the oval sentiment - just to add a little bit of shimmer but not too much

- I backed the image panel with white fun foam and also added the oval sentiment using a thick foam pad - to add more dimension - finished!

In keeping with the sentiment and the twiggy stamps I used on the wreath I wanted to keep this card looking a little bit 'Country' so I resisted the urge to add a few Josy Rose 'Matt Gold' star shaped nail heads to the wreath.

So, here we have Prize A of the Christmas/New Year annual giveaway - and it's a bit of a bumper one to start us off:

Ooopsie, I also did a selfie reflected in the packaging!

On offer for the next two weeks is a Gina K 'Wreath Builder' template set, two Inkylicious stamp sets ('Mini Branches' and 'Mini Flowers') - and a Whimsy stamps 'Country Christmas' sentiments stamp set. The Whimsy set is on red foam backed rubber and stamps like a dream! And the sentiments themselves are such fun I think - a little bit different.

A little while ago I discovered a UK on line shop stocking the Gina K templates on their own/without being in a set with stamps, so it was a no-brainer really. Making your own template is fun and does save a lot of money but credit where it's due and I felt it was right to buy the real thing when it was obtainable very reasonably.

Anyhow, as in recent years, this is what's going to be going on with the Snippets Playground over the Christmas and New Year (aka Holidays) festivities.

As usual, the Playground Mr Linky which is below will run for two weeks and closing time will be 11am on Saturday 5th January 2018 and this post you are looking at right now is where to add any entries - with a maximum of one entry - over the fortnight. Loads of dithering here once again about whether to allow more entries but I want to keep things as level as possible plus I think you'll be busy enough with friends and family. One entry means you're in the draw - and the more prizes you say you'd like to win in the comments in each 'additional prize' post does increase your winning chances of course. You have two weeks to play (if you want to of course!) as no doubt the Christmas and New Year festivities themselves will be busy for you. Some of you will be busier than others I know and, for those of you who do find some quiet time to craft, it's a chance for you to play along for some rather nice prizes too. It also means I can clear the Playground toy box out of Christmas themed prizes.

So that I don't swamp and confuse you with a load of prizes to choose from in this post, I'll be posting at intervals (most, if not all days) over the coming couple of weeks like I did last year and adding more prizes of varying sizes into the pot as we progress through the holiday.

If you see a prize you'd like to be in the 'pot' for then please leave a 'Yes please' (or similar) comment in the same post where I show you the prize. AND, don't be shy about wanting each prize as it appears - that way you'll have more chances of winning something. So for today's prize, leave a comment below. For me, that's going to be a lot less confusing than me having lots of little lists here and there - especially as there are so many prizes coming up!  It will mean that if you would like to be in with a chance of every prize, then you need to comment on each one as it comes up - and please don't leave it right until the end and nip through all the prize posts adding 'Yes please' to each in one fell swoop. Remember, they will show up serially on my dashboard if you do that so I will notice and wouldn't feel that it's in the true spirit of the Playground. So, if you want to play then do try to pop in over the festivities plus the first week in January to see what's on offer :)

Also, just saying here on this post 'count me in for all prizes that are offered' doesn't count I'm afraid and will mean you don't go into the draw at all - other people are taking the time and trouble to check out the individual posts and prizes and leave comments so it wouldn't be fair to them. Again, this worked fine last year.

As I already said, there will only be the one Mr Linky for all entries - which is at the end of this post of course. I'll remind you where to go to link each time I post a new prize on the blog. Also, I'll run the prize draw using this Mr Linky as a basis for the random number generator and will then look at the relevant post on my blog to find out who said yes to the particular prize I'm running the random generator for.

I hope I've explained how the coming two weeks will work in the Playground? Please just say if it's left you confused.

The Christmas and New Year Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 5th January 2019. There will be a new Mr Linky on Sunday 6th January 2019. The picks and also the results of the multiple raffle/prize draw will appear one week later on Sunday 13th January.

Maximum of one entry and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. Remember, there's the prize today and others will appear over the next two weeks so keep your eyes peeled.

Do say in this post if you want today's prize. And, as it worked so well throughout the year, I won't be splitting any of the prize bundles. As the fortnight progresses you'll become aware that at the end of all this I will have a LOT of packages to post!! The packaging let alone the postage is going to be a considerable task/cost for me in January after the draw results are published. So, do feel free to play along for a prize if you really only want part of it and then spread the love by gifting what you might not want to a friend at your end of the line - I don't mind if you do that, although I've tried to select the stuff in the bundles to compliment one another. And please also remember to link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

Now, this is important girls, you can leap in throughout the whole giveaway and say 'yes please' to as many prizes as you like .... even if you haven't already made and entered your snippets make into Mr Linky at that point in time.

Your 'yes please' will certainly be in the pot when it comes to the grand draw, so long as you've entered into Mr Linky by the point at which is closes. At the end of this I'll be using today's Mr Linky as the focus for the random choices so please feel free to squeal with delight at as many prizes as you wish and say some 'yes pleases' on the way through the festive season - just remember to add just one snippets make into Mr Linky below to be in with a chance. 

Oh, and a few of the smaller prizes on offer will have three chances to win as I bought three of the same item a few times! 

Also, I think it's only fair that the way I do the draw is from A onwards. If your name comes out again later on and you've already won a prize then I just re-run the RN generator. I've thought long and hard about this and possibly also written about it before. Much as I like the RN generator there is a kind of biased good chance of repetition because of how the algorithm works. For instance, our UK Premium Bonds worked on sounds years ago and some sounds in any location will pop up regularly. Plus, although it ramps up the postage for me, I really do want as many happy dances as possible from winners! Any strong objections and I'm happy to listen but this is meant to be about spreading the love remember :)

Please let me know if you have any problems linking, it's easy for me to sort out so don't struggle on alone.

Sorry this is so wordy but I didn't want to leave any issue not covered!

Merry Christmas from Parsnip, Dudley and yours truly. The 'boys' are so excited about the imminent arrival of Santa - fun times ahead I can see :) Parsnip has asked for a smart new apron and chef's hat (he's been watching too many TV cookery programmes!) and Dudley truly doesn't much care so long as it can be played with, licked to death, chewed or eaten!

And here's the first photo we've managed to take of Dudley recently actually with his mouth open in that wry little smile that's developing (thanks Len!) - so a very special Merry Christmas from Dudley - and the doorstop doggie in Len's study, known as Woody and under close watch as Dudley has his beady eye on him as a chewing companion!

NB - at the moment it appears that thumbnails aren't showing up on Mr Linky below, either on my post here or within the relevant Mr Linky widget which only I can get to. They've also disappeared from older challenges on here as well! PLUS, I also checked a couple of other people's challenges and they are also affected. I've raised a ticket with Mr Linky as I think the problem is at their end - especially as older Mr Linkys are also affected. We can carry on and do still link your relevant images as I reckon with a tweak of  some code by the Mr Linky boffins they will all suddenly pop back up as thumbnails - but I thought I should mention it in case anyone is wondering!

And the answer ...................

........to the mystery of yesterday question posed by Dudley is:

'I lost another baby tooth - this time from the bottom! In fact, two are gone from the middle there - just as the top ones popped through and Mama just managed to grab the one you saw yesterday as I was about to munch it up. I finally opened my mouth for a photo - better one coming on Sunday as this makes me look quite ferocious dontcha think!? But it was just me showing off the double gap ............... mid-yawn!

Psst, that's Dad's study doorstop doggie in the background - called 'Woody'. He used to be bigger than me  but now I've got my beady eye on him as a chewing project :)'

From Di: The teeth are so sweet and very tiny, almost clover shaped with a long spiky root - I kept the one I salvaged to pop into a teeny poly zip lock bag which I'll tape inside the cover of Dudley's puppy 'record book' where I keep notes of all things important such as vaccination dates etc. And Carol L in USA - you were so quick off the mark! 

AND, since this was taken we've managed to have another peep and bless him, almost all his little bottom front teeth have gone - with new ones already popping through! x

A little quiz

Wonder if you can guess what this is beside the penny? Answers on a packet of puppy treats please, but no prize - although we have a sleigh full of them coming soon:

Answer will be here tomorrow. Woof from Dudley!

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #340 - results

Oh my gosh, time is galloping past and it's midday on Saturday and I haven't even started to write this post! I usually try to at least have the bones of Sunday Snippets posts in place during the middle of the week - but every single minute seems to be taken up right now. Thankfully all Christmas cards are on their way, including the ones I hand deliver - so that's a big job out of the way. We have a lot of non-perishables here for Christmas and the freezer is likely to burst if I try to squeeze anything else into it! One more grocery delivery due from Ocado this coming week and then I truly hope it's literally just a few very last minute fresh fruits and vegetables and at least we can forget about the outside world for a few days.

Dudley is coming along just great and those missing four front teeth popped straight through within three days! They look just like little pearls :)

Anyhow, time is precious so let's get straight on with the fortnight's picks. In keeping with the Feative Season I've chosen thee Christmas cards to highlight as my 'picks'. Every entry is always so lovely and it's certainly never easy to choose just three - but here you go:

I think this card, made by Kath B, is just so elegant! Wonderful leaping deer and the mix of shiny red and sparkly white snowflakes are perfect against the beautiful background. And the red bow and swirl on the deer - gorgeous! A good few snippets used here too!

Karen Ladd entered with this really pretty Christmas card - using a Flickr account. I can't always get to grips with copying images from Flickr and this is the best I can do - any bigger and it goes all blurred. Love the way Karen picked out the colours from the backing layer for that lovely bauble. Great use of snippets as well.

Alice of Scrapamondo really used some gorgeous snippets for this great Christmas card. i absolutely love the end result - lots of layers and combinations yet the overall effect isn't fussy or too busy - the sign of a good crafter!

No new Playmates this time and we had a total of 48 entries. Numbers seem to be down with a week to go on the current challenge - my bet is that I'm not the only one running round like a headless chicken! 

Now it's prize draw time, and our winner of the Stamping Bella 'sweaty chicks' set of stamps is:

Em (Fairley)

I know it's a year since Em won in the Playground - when I was giving away the big batch of sand erasers - so this is certainly due! Do please send me your address Em, with full name at the top as well so I can copy and paste or just write straight from the email onto the envelope - for speed and ease. It's also confirmation that you still would like the prize of course and I'll post your prize once I hear from you. Please put Playground Winner or similar in the subject line of your email in case it drops into my junk mail. Email address is on RH sidebar as always.

If you send your email quickly Em I'll nip out to a post box and send your prize straight off as I have a supply of UK stamps - so no need to queue at the Post Office. And, it might well mean you get your prize in time for Christmas as well!

Remember folks, there's still almost another week to run on Challenge #341 - you can find it HERE. The prize is a bundle of goodies the same as those I used to make a Wedding card recently - an Xcut 6" x 6" 'Polka Hearts' embossing folder, The Works 'Swirl Heart' die and a Creative Expressions 'Congratulations' die.

No photo of Dudley today - he's either zonked out asleep or running riot here! I'll try to make sure there's one ASAP - promise! He adores his walks and now knows what's coming as soon as there's any hint of his sweet little harness making an appearance. Len took him out yesterday in beautiful sunshine whilst I was busy doing other stuff and he said he was leaping around like a little Spring lamb. We won't let him off the lead as yet, at least until he's older and more sensible, but I did order a run-out/retractable lead yesterday (thanks to Amazon Prime it's already here) - and that's going to be such fun to see. More freedom to run and play yet still safe. Both of us have used them with previous dogs and feel the time is right to give it a try. Where Dudley generally walks is very quiet during the week - paths for humans and plenty of trees and grass either side. So funny, twice he's brought a twig/stick home - looking very pleased with himself! And, he still hasn't cottoned on that walks are also for toilet needs - he keeps it in until he's back home and then asks to go straight out onto the penned in patio! No doubt in time he'll get the idea! We've had a couple of chewing casualties this past week - certainly have to keep your eyes peeled. One was in the space of time it took me to brush my teeth on Wednesday morning! But, things can be replaced - little Dudley is irreplaceable and such a delight.

Do check in next Sunday to find out about the Annual Christmas and New Year draw! Lots of prizes to be won over the two weeks of the challenge which begins on Sunday 23rd December!

Hope you all have a lovely week ahead, and little Parsnip sends his love. He's  now fussing around over wrapping Dudley's Christmas parcels and what should go into a puppy's stocking! Dudley sends his love too! Woof!