Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #362

I did post on Thursday that Dudley is back to normal - phew! What a worry it's been and it's so wonderful to have him sticking his nose into everything. He's eating heartily and his 'system' is back to normal ...... so no need for Len to have to collect the dreaded samples after all! And his weight is back up to 6.4kg again.

We've had torrential rain here, like a lot of the UK has. Several places were flooded and a local cinema had to be evacuated during Tuesday afternoon's monsoon downpour. It's not something we're often affected by but when the rain is non-stop, after a long dry spell, it's bound to cause issues. At least the pathways and grass in our local park had a good 'wash down' which, if Dudley did pick up a bug on one of his walks, should lessen any future risk.

And here's my snippets card for this fortnight, using a set of stamps and dies I've had for a while, but not everything I used to make the card is duplicated in the prize I'm offering:

I used:

- 4" x 4" white card blank

- snippet of white card, die cut using the biggest (4" x 4") die from MFT's 'Stitched Square Scallop Edge Frame' set of dies

- snippet of white card, 'Broken China' Distress ink pad and Sugar Pea's 'Waves stencil. I used a Clarity stencil brush whilst the stencil was held in place on the piece of white card

- trimmed the 'background waves' panel to 4" x 4" and stuck it onto the card front

- then die cut a couple of snippets of Neenah 'Desert Storm' card using a stitched edged die from Spellbinder's 'Curved Borders One' set of dies, trimmed them and added them to the waves panel to depict the sand dunes under the sea - deliberately using a tape runner (the reason why is further down)

- next added the white scalloped frame using narrow red line tape, so that was the background piece all sorted out

- next I stamped the sentiment, seahorses, bubbles and a heart from the Lawn Fawn 'Sea-Horsin' around' set of stamps onto another snippet of white card using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- the seaweed is a solid stamp so I stamped four of the clumps using a couple of quite old, small, square SU green ink pads (Certainly Celery' and Old Olive')

  - die cut all the little stamped elements using the matching set of dies and carefully trimmed the sentiment down to the size I wanted

- then it was just a case of building up the little scene and adding the pieces using a glue pen. Having just used a tape runner on the little 'sand dunes' meant I could carefully lift them to tuck bottoms of the seaweed underneath - bit of forward thinking for once!

- finally, added the sentiment strip using red line tape

And the prize this fortnight is:

A Lawn Fawn 'Sea-Horsin' Around' set of stamps with matching dies - plus a Sugar Pea 'Waves' stencil - and all items in the photo make up one prize.

I'm sure most of you know that I stopped the option of splitting prizes a while ago  - which makes life easier and also helps to save some postage. But, a couple of very sweet people have said they were playing just for fun as they don't live in the UK. All prizes that I offer will be posted to anywhere in the World folks and I would hate for anyone to feel they shouldn't play along purely through living in a different country. This Playground is our 'happy place' and you should play for prizes if you want to win them, regardless of where you live.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 12th October. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

It's a maximum of ONE entry, please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. Please also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

Remember, if you link into the Playground and don't say clearly that you want to be in the draw in a comment on here, 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' on the blog post itself - just in case you're only playing for fun - otherwise I don't add you to my little list. I sometimes spot people saying in their blog post that they're playing for prizes but am afraid that I ignore that. As Scrappy Mo says over on her Rudolph Days challenge, it's not a lot to ask for people to leave a comment on the challenge blog post itself if they wish to be in the prize draw.

And finally, since his recovery, Dudley seems to have taken up smoking big fat cigars:

He looks a bit like Dracula here - I think his fangs look a bit scary! And yes, that is a hide bone chew. We know there are very mixed opinions about them but even before we had him from the breeder he was keen on them. We're very careful to remove any small pieces he manages to chew off as well as not leaving him alone with a hide bone chew. And to be honest, even when you do everything by the book as we did with Advantix, absolutely everything you can give to a dog has both good and bad reports. He loves them, and to us it showed how well he'd recovered when he finally became interested in a chew again.

Lots of love from us all - Parsnip, Dudley and of course me,

Rudolph Days Challenge - September 2019

Time once again for ScrappyMo's Rudolph Days Challenge. I really thought I'd miss it this time round, with Dudley being unwell, but found some spare time over the weekend after all. And, I'm entering this into Craftyhazelnuts Christmas Challenge too - where it's anything goes .... so long as you don't 'bare yer bum in Fenwicks' shop winder! Explanation below this post :

I used:

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

- piece of the same brand of white card, which I embossed using Craft-Too's embossing folder called 'Snowflake Banner', then trimmed to one eighth of an inch smaller all round than the card base and glued it to the card front

- stamped the bauble using Taylored Expressions' 'Iconic Wishes - Christmas' stamp and die set and Altenew 'Enchanted Gold' pigment ink pad (luscious, although I still think that Delicata has a slight edge!). Huge thanks to Mo for gifting me this stamp and die set last Summer - it's lovely!

- then die cut the bauble using the die which came with the set (in the UK, we call them baubles rather than ornaments in case you wonder if there's a difference!)

- glued the bauble die cut to the front panel of the card

- die cut a bow using Penny Black's bow from the fabulous 'Whirl Wreath' die set using a snippet of deep red satin mirri card and glued that on top of the bauble

- next, die cut holly leaves and berries using snippets of dark green plain and deep red satin mirri card - and, interestingly, my Poppystamps 'Stitched Holly Leaves and Berries' die was also a gift from sweet Mo!

- and called it done

Believe it or not I made six the same whilst Dudley was resting under my desk. Mostly as I needed to just do something a bit mindless for a couple of hours to relax, if that makes sense. He was quite poorly and it wasn't a happy time for us. Seeing your beloved pooch lying with a hot and dry nose just listless and almost where he's well out of the way is heartbreaking. The little monkey is making up for it now - racing round the house doing 'zoomies' and generally in 'Dudley Plus' mode!

BTW. I got the idea for using the Penny Black bow die cut with the bauble from Laurie's blog - thanks honey!

And now for a proper Dudley update. I certainly think we have our little bundle of mischief back on form! He's eating really well and is even tackling 'Naturo dinners for dogs' with chicken, rice and vegetables. And, his 'output' is nice and solid once again - betcha didn't need to know that really but the nurses at the vet's told us that it would be the last thing to return to normal. So, with fingers and toes crossed, we're living in huge hopes here.

Explanation of the 'bare bum in Fenwick's window'. My roots are North East of England, despite being a nomad all over the World for many years whilst Dad was in the UK Forces. I was born in Newcastle General Hospital eons ago (they're still in recovery, like me). We returned to the North East when my Dad had his final posting, just before I left school in Germany aged 18 - ha, they thought I wouldn't find them 'cos they moved during term time ...... but I did. And I lived, worked and married there until things in life changed so much that I sort of ran away to London and the South of England for a new job - and to escape a lot of hurt and sadness.

A Geordie's humour is raw and can be right to the basics, it took me some time to get used to it I admit - but they're mostly the most wonderful people I know. So, if there was an issue, people who spoke 'broad Geordie' which my Dad would most certainly have not tolerated, but I heard elsewhere and stored in my memory bank, would exclaim, to express disbelief, shock or horror some of the following 'Wey pet, ahl gan to the foot of ower stairs' (goodness knows what that meant! Why would one go to the lowest tread of the stairs and gawp upwards except to ask for help from above I guess?). And another one was 'Ahl bare me bum in Fenwick's shop winder' aka window - so it's pronounced like 'wind - err'. Basically - 'Good grief, I am so surprised I will drop my pants and show my naked rear end to everyone who has the misfortune to be passing the largest department store in Newcastle, based on Northumberland Street which is the poshest shopping area of its time'.

Fenwicks, which has branches throughout the UK, is in fact a Newcastle company family, despite the London and York connection, as well as elsewhere. 'Yer canna keep a Geordie doon pet, when ahl's sayed an' dun'. I'm evil really and, although not really brought up in the North East, I do love to tease my Len now and then with the local vernacular I picked up and saved in the memory banks when living and working up there - such as 'Hey ye ower there, hoy yer 'ammer ower 'ere - and divvent gi' me any sh*te either'. Which loosely translated means 'I say, my good fellow over there. May I borrow your hammer - if so, do please pass it across to me - and don't waste time arguing about it'.

Can you tell I'm a happy and very relieved bunnykins here?! Snigger.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #360 - results

Autumn certainly is on the way! Cooler at night and in the early morning, although the leaves on the trees here aren't turning to red and gold just yet.

It's been quite a week with Dudley. I spoke/wrote too soon last week and over last weekend he went really downhill. The vet was adamant it wasn't the tick treatment and diagnosed gastroenteritis. Not bad enough to keep him in the animal hospital itself on a drip but enough to give him an anti-sickness shot, a course of anti-biotics and some gel stuff to add to his plain boiled chicken to help to replace nutrients and also stop the 'turkey trots - putting it as nicely as possible'. He turned round pretty quickly and was loads better when we took him for a follow-up visit. And we saw a different vet who actually wouldn't rule out the tick treatment, although apparently there's a bit of a doggie gastroenteritis epidemic around these parts at the moment. The outlook was good though, however, yesterday evening and this morning he's slipping again. Sick yesterday evening and 'turkey trots' last night and this morning.

Len is calling in at the vets after archery to buy more of the gel stuff and to find out if they want us to take him back again, perhaps for blood tests. Edit: Len arrived home with a huge carrier bag of stuff for Dudley. Another lot of the gel, tins of food for poorly dogs, some liquid (which smells like chicken broth and is full of nutrients - and Dudley adores it!) and four little plastic sample bottles with spatulas fitted to the inside of the lids. You can guess what you need to spoon up with the little spatulas :) I almost cried laughing earlier because when the nurses gave Len the little sample pots, apparently his eyebrows shot up in horror at thoughts of running round after Dudley, trying to catch his 'turkey trots'. I've explained to him that you only need to swipe the spatula and then screw the lid back on with it safely enclosed for testing. He says that's my responsibility needless to say. I think the nurses were almost on the floor laughing at his horrified thoughts of having to chase Dudley round and catch things in a little sample bottle as they happened!

Right now the little chap is curled up under my desk dozing whilst I try and do a quick snippets post. Apologies if it's brief - we're a bit at sixes and sevens again here after thinking Dudley was improving. Feeling so helpless and seeing Dudley unwell is heartbreaking of course. What we're happy about is that we chose a vet where all the receptionists are trained veterinary nurses - and they were so helpful and knowledgeable when Len called in, and of course he provided their laugh for the day!

Let's get going with this fortnight's picks:

Kathy A made this darling card as the little chap reminds her so much of Dudley. I've picked it as I think Dudley needs to make an appearance (he's too unwell to pose for photos right now)- and it's such great use of snippets of course.

I just love this Christmas card - made by Jane W. What a brilliant way to use up lots of little snippets, particulary ones from the same set of patterned papers so that they co-ordinate as Jane's have. This is one idea I really would love to try when I have enough time to play.

Lynne made this wonderful card. Of course the sweet image is LOTV, so subtly coloured as well. I picked this card as it shows how well using angled layers of snippets can work and cutting a doily in two and spreading it out underneath a layer of card really adds such a lot of extra interest.

We also had two new Playmates this time:

Inkami

Aunty Sue

We had 53 entries and two new Playmates.

Time now for the prize draw which is for an MFT 'Gift Bags' set of dies and an MFT 'Brushstroke Expressions' set of sentiment stamps, and the winner is:

Aunty Sue

Well done Sue! It rarely happens that a first time player is chosen by the 'Random Number Selector thingy' right away, but with a one in 53 chance your number popped up! Just goes to show, one never can tell if Lady Luck will be smiling on you! Please send me your address, with your 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.

Remember folks, there's still almost another week to run on Challenge #361 - you can find it HERE. The prize is an Avery Elle 'Mimosas' set of stamps with matching dies.

Love from Parsnip, a little wag from Dudley - and of course hugs as always from me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #361

It looks as if Autumn is on the way here, although we do still have some hot days, mostly it's quite a comfortable temperature.

Huge thanks to everyone who so kindly sent Birthday cards, as well as good wishes via Facebook this past week. I've been very touched by all your kindness and only wish I didn't manage to miss a few of your Birthdays throughout the year. I have a perennial 'Birthday Book' - which is great ......... so long as I remember to actually check it!
  
And here's my snippets card for this fortnight, using stamps and dies I've had for months:

I used:

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

- snippet of white card, just a bit smaller than the card front, onto which I stamped the words of different fruits in different colours, using the Avery Elle 'Mimosas' set of stamps and glued it to the card front

- then added a rectangular snippet of pink card to the stamped panel

- used snippets of white card, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and stamps from the same set of stamps to stamp the pretty flowers and the cocktail glasses - all of which I coloured using Pro markers

- snippet of white card, onto which I stamped the main sentiment using a pink SU ink pad and trimmed it down 

- then die cut the cocktail glasses (I'd stamped and coloured two sets) as well as the pretty flowers and foliage. As I often do with more detailed dies, I cut a template first to make sure I positioned it properly - it take just a few minutes but can save a lot of heartache!

- then glued all the elements to the front of the card and called it done!

And of course the pinks match so well in real life but the camera often shows card and inks as being totally different shades, sigh. My card is a CASE of one I found on line needless to say. A lovely blog which you can find HERE, and a shop as well (in the USA).

So, the prize this fortnight is:

An Avery Elle 'Mimosas' set of stamps with matching dies - and of course both items make up one prize.

I'm quite conscious that currently I have a lot of stamp sets with matching dies in the Toy box as prizes. Don't let that put you off if you aren't into die cutting as the stamps can be used without die cutting - or you could even fussy cut them. It's just that sometimes I find good deals on matching sets of stamps and dies! 

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 28th September. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day. 

It's a maximum of ONE entry, please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. Please also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

Remember, if you link into the Playground and don't say clearly that you want to be in the draw in a comment on here, 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' on the blog post itself - just in case you're only playing for fun - otherwise I don't add you to my little list.

This week was busy with some good fun - I finally ordered a new car (prompted very much by Len buying me a personalised number plate for my Birthday). I'm really very sad to see my beloved convertible go, but it's time - as they say. Two seats plus a pooch in a dog booster seat just doesn't compute in a two seater sports car - unless Len sits up on the roof or hangs onto the boot/trunk of course :) Also, it's not the best car to get in and out of with wide doors and idiots people who park too close.

Before today I've had to resort to opening the roof and scrambling in that way in an underground car park in Brighton. The friend who was with me (business trip) was almost wetting herself as I scrabbled and cussed. My parting shot was to leave a note on the mean person's windscreen saying 'Next time you're stupid enough to park like this - leave me a can opener!' I was fuming - more so as I showed the whole car park my knickers! No doubt I'll shed a tear when the new one finally arrives in around November time.

No photos of Dudley today I'm afraid. We applied his Advantix tick prevention stuff yesterday to the back of his neck as usual and from just a few hours later he was very subdued. He's spent yesterday curled up under my desk, with his head on my foot a lot of the time as I was writing this, fast asleep after being really, really sick mid-morning. I almost joined in with him as I was cleaning it up!

He's always had a sensitive tummy, mostly as he gobbles his food down without properly chewing it. But this was different so we kept a close watch and just let him rest in a dark and quiet place whilst making sure he drank his water. After all the soul searching and avoiding ingested flea and tick treatments, it seems that whatever you use can still cause a reaction, sigh.

However, almost 24 hours to the minute after the medication, and as if a switch had been flicked, his cold damp nose returned, the lethargy disappeared, his eyes now have the usual sparkle - and basically he's into a bouncing bundle of mischief once again! Also very keen to give 'leg hugs these days'. And am I EVER glad to see that, my boy is back!

Lots of love from us all - Parsnip, Dudley and of course me,

'Sail away with me'

I've been playing with alcohol inks and Tim Holtz 'Sparkle' card again. Came up with two very similar cards suitable for chaps and this is one of them:

I used:

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

- piece of AI background made using Tim Holtz 'Sparkle' alcohol ink card stock and a mix of Stonewashed, Sailboat Blue and Aqua alcohol inks plus some blending solution to create a sort of ombre effect

- used Stick-It backed 200gsm white card to die cut a 'sea scene' using a die from China (one I couldn't resist so I pushed my conscience to one side) then popped it onto a rectangle of the background card. I was careful to add the background so that the darker part was at the top, with the lighter part at the bottom - making it look almost as if it's tropical shallows, just as you'd see in Thailand for example. Then ran the panel through the Cuttlebug using just the cutting plates to press it firmly down

- then stamped the sentiment using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from the Paper Smooches 'Sentiment Sampler' - plus the Misti of course

- backed the whole panel with white fun foam and glued it in place onto the card front, finished!

For the second card I only changed the sentiment to the words 'For You' from a Technique Tuesday set of stamps called 'Stems'. It's a set I love, sent to me a good while ago by Darnell. Mwah!!

I admit to being especially pleased with the background shading, which naturally looks better in real life. :)

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #359 - results

What a change in the temperature down here in Hampshire over the past few days. Last night the duvet even went back on the bed and this morning (Saturday) Len had a silly o'clock/early start for archery and popped the heating on for a couple of hours! One extreme to another it seems.

Let's get straight on with Playground business, starting with this fortnight's picks:

Meg brought two gorgeous Christmas tags to share with us - that llittle bird is just so, so cute! And great use of snippets as well of course..

And just another reminder that Christmas will be here in about 10 weeks (or so I read yesterday) - here's another Christmas card. This time made by Helen, and utterly adorable as well! Another  great way to use up lots of little snippets.

Ha, this is the third Christmas snippets make I've chosen as a pick this time - not deliberate in any way I promise. What caught my eye so much with Lynne's adorable card is of course the really cute image and beautiful colouring. But, I always look for different uses of snippets and think the scalloped border of paper at the top of the card works brilliantly! Love it!

And, for once I'm adding a fourth pick, as a change from Christmas:

I really think this is such a clever way to use up snippets strips, shared with us by Heather. Heather created the strips from scraps, which made for a lovely patchwork effect. Great stuff and one to try for sure!

We had 55 entries this time and no new Playmates. It's still good going, especially as (here at least) it was the end of the long Summer school holidays and many people will have been busier than usual.

Time now for the prize draw which is for a Sugar Pea 'Letter Board Messages' set of dies and a Lawn Fawn 'Scripty Hello' die, and the winner is:

 Viv

Well done Viv, doing a happy dance for you here! It's been some time since you had a win and these are great dies to play with. Please send me your address, with your 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.

Remember folks, there's still almost another week to run on Challenge #360 - you can find it HERE. The prize is an MFT 'Gift Bags' set of dies and an MFT 'Brushstroke Expressions' set of sentiment stamps.

Dudley was at the groomers on Friday afternoon and looked like a snowy white puffball when I collected him. They still aren't 'accredited' to do scissor work, although I think they're perfectly able. So he only had a spa session (as you do!), plus a deluxe pack of extras to trim his nails, apply mouth gel to his teeth to ward off plaque and a special conditioning and whitening shampoo. They did also trim round his paws as he was beginning to look like he was wearing furry boots. However, within literally a couple of hours and after playing 'zoomies' with a good rummage round the garden, his face was looking distinctly grubby around the mouth area!

This is my naughty smile when I know I've been into mischief

And then, I put both paws up on your knees Mama, look right into your eyes waiting for a treat -  and you just crumble

I'm beavering away trying to upload more Dudley's photos to his own dedicated page  - you can see it on the top sidebar. It's a long job and one I need to keep on top of once it's all done!

Love from Parsnip, Dudley - and of course me,

More ways to use the alcohol ink backgrounds

Whilst making the alcohol ink background for the Simon Says Stamp card I recently posted about, also made a couple of sheets more or less the same - so had some left over to play with using some Memory Box dies. Came up with two cards shown below - and AI stands for Alcohol Ink:

I used:

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

- piece of AI made using Tim Holtz 'Sparkle' alcohol ink card stock and a mix of Flamingo Pink, Amethyst and Aqua alcohol inks plus some blending solution

- used Stick-It backed 200gsm white card to die cut the Memory Box 'Starflower Frame' die then popped it onto a rectangle of the background card, adding the white panel from the die cut back into the centre as well and ran the panel through the Cuttlebug using just the cutting plates to press it firmly down

- then stamped the sentiment using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from the Penny Black 'Special Thoughts' sentiment set - plus the Misti of course

- die cut the frame using the biggest Avery Elle's 'Postage Stamp' frame die and more white card, a bit heavier weight than 200gsm this time, possibly 250gsm

- backed the frame with very narrow red line tape and then added the image panel face downwards onto the red line tape. The image panel had been carefully trimmed a teensy bit at a time to be just a tad bigger than the aperture

- backed the whole panel with white fun foam and glued it in place onto the card front, finished!

This is a lovely die, a first outing for it although I bought it with possible Christmas cards (poinsettias) in mind  and certainly before I got into sparkly alcohol ink backgrounds. Will have a play again and show what my original idea was - having said that, it's really great for using as I just did! Another example of existing dies in your possession being useful for trying out Jennifer McGuire's Tim Holtz Sparkly AI card stock ideas.

At the same time, I made this card - didn't catch the light as much, should have taken the photo sideways on :

I used:

- 5.75" x 4" white card blank, side opening again, a non-standard size to suit the panel and sentiment placement

- piece of alcohol ink background made using Tim Holtz 'Sparkle' alcohol ink card stock and a mix of Flamingo Pink, Amethyst and Aqua alcohol inks plus some blending solution ( I know, more of the same - for now!)

- the butterfly frame took a bit of thinking through. When I ordered it a few weeks ago, the image shows what you see on my card front (if you reach into your screen and lift the butterfly's wings up!) - a frame of card with a big flat butterfly sitting just above the centre - attached on either side. However, the die itself doesn't come with a frame, it's more of a panel to just cut a solid butterfly into a background I guess. My way round this was just to measure the 'panel' die and add quarter of an inch to the top and to one side, then use the trimmer to cut a white panel of Stick-It backed card(200gsm)

- and at that point you can go ahead and die cut the Memory Box 'Vivienne Butterfly Silhouette' from said rectangle and end up with exactly what the packet shows - but, it did puzzle me for a while I freely admit, and I bet my explanation wasn't very clear either! Sadly MB didn't even have any examples (even though it's been out for sale since 2017) when I searched, I'm sure there must be some other way of using this lovely die - watch this space kids!

- I'd bought the 'Vivienne Butterfly Silhouette' die as I already had the two 'free flying' matching butterfly dies (bought years ago) and could see that it would expand and possibly update the versatility of them as they've been little used I'm afraid

- so next I trimmed the piece of AI background to a teensy bit smaller than my 'self' made' butterfly frame and popped the frame onto the background then ran the panel through the Cuttlebug using just the cutting plates to press it firmly down

- then die cut a solid butterfly using the Memory Box solid 'Darla Butterfly' die from the last scrap of AI background

- die cut a lacy 'Vivienne Butterfly' die from 200gsm Stick-It backed white card and adhered it to the 'Darla' butterfly - and ran it through the Cuttlebug to make sure it was pressed firmly into place

- backed the whole panel with white fun foam and glued it in place onto the card front - just above the sentiment, which had been carefully placed in readiness when I stamped it (darned OCD - no, make that CDO!!)

- and then added the 'butterfly of two layers' with a little piece of red line tape in the centre so that the wings can be flipped up 

- and only at that late point in the whole proceedings did I spot that there was a wee dark blob of AI which drew the eye and spoiled the whole 'flow' of the card. So, out came the sequins and I added five (card makes like to work in odd numbers apparently) using Glossy Accents

- and that was it - end of story!

Or is it? Probably far from it! I have to admit to buying three dies recently from China - it's against many of my principles but I think I certainly do more than my bit to support UK and other Western craft manufacturers and suppliers so I figured I would just dip my toe in the water. In truth, it still doesn't sit easily with me - but I'm amazed to be honest. Price, quality and speed - phew! ANYHOW, one new die from China has led me to need more AI colours from the UK, costing several times more than the die did - so it's a knock on effect. And that, is what I meant when I said 'far from it'!!

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #360

Mixed week, some nights almost too hot to sleep and now it's dropped in temperature a bit. To be honest we're very grateful - and no doubt Dudley is as well. That little chap took to sleeping in the downstairs loo/bathroom at times. He'd obviously worked out the coolest spots in the house.

Good news on the gout front. The latest blood test showed the uric acid level to be just in the clear zone. To be on the safe side the dose is being upped one step further. I've had a few slight twinges to be honest, but that's to be expected as the crystals disperse from the joints in my feet and ankles........... and a quick gobble down of a couple of Colchicine pills knocked it on the head. Long may the good news last say I! For a while it felt as if every flipping blog post was gloomy on the health front - and that's not why you come here to play.

Plus, the new washing machine is brilliant - although I still have to refer to the instruction booklet at times. Sometimes appliances really are too clever and offer too much for their own good.
 
And here's my snippets card for this fortnight:

I used:

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

- almost a whole sheet of 'bokeh' style paper for the background, from the fabulous Carta Bella 'Beach Day' paper pack, trimmed to the exact size of the card front

- snippet of lime green (for the edge of the striped snippet) - both found in the back of the pad in an envelope pocket where I always store snippets

- layered the lime green topped by the striped strip using a small tape runner and set it to one side

- pulled out a selection of little snippets from the same paper pad and set to making the little gift bags using a snippet of black card for the handles. I used a super little die set by MFT (seems to now be discontinued, although I bet stockists might well still have them in their clearance) - called 'Gift Bags'

- I needed to make the little bags first so I could plan where to stamp the sentiment - I made the bags up using a teensy bit of very narrow red line tape to adhere the handles to the backs. On a couple of the bags I also added a handle dropping downwards and added a little bit of glue using a Zig glue pen to hold it down against the bag itself

- then I could check for the sentiment placement/spacing and of course used the Misti and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink along with a Happy Birthday stamp from MFT's 'Brushstroke Expressions' set of sentiment stamps

 - ready to assemble the card now so added the striped band to the background using a tape runner - letting the strip overhang on one side (I left it too long deliberately) so I could trim it right at the edge from the back of the sheet which ensures a nice straight line

- then glued the background sheet, now with striped strip and sentiment already done, onto the card front

- added the little gift bags using glue for a couple at the back and thin sticky pads for the two at the front - finished!

The card is more vibrant in real life, with very rich tones - sigh. It's a good idea to use little snippets from the same paper pad when using this die set as they would probably all complement one another nicely. And, I reckon the same design would be good to make Christmas cards as well - the bags could be cut from patterned paper (the pattern needs to be quite small), plain colours or even metallic or pearlised papers. Or even create your own using Distress inks or alcohol inks. Lots of potential - and of course you can switch the orientation of the bags around as you wish too! My card is similar to one I found on line, needless to say 😉

So, the prize this fortnight is:

An MFT 'Gift Bags' set of dies and an MFT 'Brushstroke Expressions' set of sentiment stamps. Both items make up the one prize BTW, I don't want to split them. Our postage seems to have rocketed for posting abroad and I'd rather not have to face possibly two lots of overseas postage for one single challenge as you never can tell what the Random Number selector will pick.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 14th September. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day. 

It's a maximum of ONE entry, please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. Please also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

Remember, if you link into the Playground and don't say clearly that you want to be in the draw in a comment on here, 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' on the blog post itself - just in case you're only playing for fun - otherwise I don't add you to my little list.

We've been removing more of the barriers to allow Dudley to roam more freely round the house when we aren't watching him. Fingers crossed that he really is totally toilet trained, has been for quite some time now, and isn't interested in chewing things indoors that he shouldn't. The garden is a different matter entirely - he loves to dig and also find stones and twigs to play with.

I managed to take a quick photo of him in between writing this yesterday (Saturday), lying in one of his favourite places now that the barrier across the top of the stairs has been taken away. He has a good view of the front door from his vantage point, across the first step down - where he also has a good chance of making you fall over him!:

Ha, he also has an appointment at the groomers on Friday (that came round quick) to look forward to, tee, hee! Not sure why I'm laughing, I have an appointment with the dentist on Monday - just the hygienist, but even that gives me the shudders.

Edit - sorry, I totally forgot to add Mr Linky. He's up and running now! Thanks for the heads up Val - have linked you in!

Lots of love from us all - Parsnip, Dudley and of course me,