Hope & Chances Charity Kit - October 2020

What a disappointment the other week when the October Hope & Chances Charity kit ran out mid morning on the day that Christine posted it on her blog. First Sunday of the month early morning UK time. Bit of an involved story but some of us were so upset not to be able to support her wonderful work (plus the kit is absolutely gorgeous!), and then Christine very sweetly set to and made up a few more. The girl is amazing to put in so much time and effort raising money for various charities. Sadly she had run out of the circular sentiments but I recognised them as Craftwork Cards die cuts and knew I had some squirrelled away and was able to share with Kath from the Playground as well - someone else who'd missed out. 

The kits were sold in aid of MNDA - Motor Neuron Disease Association - yet another very worthwhile charity to support.

Our Kath from the Playground has already published her card but I like to keep a record of cards I make so here's mine as well:

It's self-explanatory and everything came in the kit apart from the sentiment circle, glue, sticky pads (I used thin ones for the sentiment circle) - and clear Wink of Stella which I used on the very deep red poinsettia flowers, a tip I picked up from Kath - along with some tiny little clear gems.

In the end, Kath and I both bought two kits each (so perfect for special Christmas cards) and later I bought the last remaining one, rather then Christine be left with one unsold one (that's my excuse anyhow!). They even came with pretty silver envelopes to made them even more special.

Then I went on a mission to find the Spellbinders gatefold die that Christine had used. I think it's from a Spellbinders Club issue and the set is called 'Many Thanks' - and in the end did track it down on eBay - in the USA! And there it will remain I'm afraid. The price wasn't too bad but apparently eBay control the onward freight of a lot of items and they wanted to charge me almost $40 for that alone on top of the cost of the die set! Daylight robbery surely!

One tip if you do fancy buying Christine's Charity Kits - set your alarm for 7am UK time on the first Sunday of the month if you don't want to miss out. It was a close call this time.

And, this card is for ScrappyMo's Rudolph Days Challenge for October 2020. Still a few days to go if you want to join in!

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #388 - results

My trip to the hairdresser went well, albeit slightly stressful. They have lots of precautions in place and I feel loads better - literally as if a weight has been lifted from my shoulders :) What was a bit irritating was the arrival of the person who had an appointment following mine - quarter of an hour before she was due. What part of 'try to have limited contact' didn't she understand? I suppose at least she was wearing a mask! Sometimes I feel as if I'm turning into a Grumpy Old Woman, sigh.

Anyhow, let's dive straight in with my picks from the previous challenge - and we have a *Gold Star* winner this time:

 

This has to be one of the most amazing cards I've ever seen! Charlotte made it and if you look closely at the centre it's a 'reveal card' where, when you move the tab on the right, the centre opens up a bit like the aperture in front of a camera lens. It's used up a good few snippets and I think almost broke Charlotte's resolve when she was making it - but she kept on going and ended up with a masterpiece! That opening mechanism looks so incredibly complicated - if you hop over to Charlotte's blog post HERE you can see the aperture opened up - and there's also a great video of the whole process. I love watching Charlotte's videos - always really well explained and she has such a soothing voice. Feel free to collect your *Gold Star* winner badge from the RH side bar Charlotte - very well deserved.

 

I absolutely adore this card made by Val. Loads of snippets used and such a fun scene as well. If you look closely there's a lot of fiddly work here - love it!

Love this really cute card, brought to share with us by Karen L. It's another card using little snippets to make up a character - and I also think it's so fresh looking!  

I chose this card, made by Chris, as it uses a good few snippets and also sums up Autumn so well. Wonderfully colouring too, along with some 'schparkle' of course ☺.

We also had one new Playmate:

Helen F

I've had this fabulous stamp in my box of NBUS goodies for absolutely ages, and now I'm even more scared to use it - having seen what a wonderful job Helen did with her colouring!

Welcome to the Playground Helen - hope to see you playing along with us in future challenges.

We had 44 entries in total and of course one new Playmate, thank you everyone who came to play!

Now for the prize draw, which is a Cheery Lynn die called 'Santa's Laundry' plus a 6" x 6" paper pad by My Mind's Eye called 'Something Wicked'. And the winner is:

Liz

Congratulations Liz! Please send me your address, even if you know that I know it already, with your full name at the top as well so I can copy and paste for speed and ease. It's also confirmation that you still would like the prize of course and I'll do my best to post your prize ASAP this coming week. 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.

I'm doing a 'post box' trip out in the car on Monday so if I hear from you in time I'll post your prize then Liz!

Remember folks, there's still another week to run on Challenge #389 HERE and the prize is a set of Lawn Fawn's 'Be Hap-pea' stamps with matching dies.

Dudley is still very much in love with our Post Lady! There's no doubt he would trot off after her given half a chance! How far he would go is another matter though - hopefully not far, but we're not going to even try that one! He's curled up under the desk with one paw gently resting on one of my feet at the moment. Method in the madness there though - if I so much as move my foot it's his' wake up call' ready to follow me. Bit unnerving if you're perched on the loo and the door gently opens and there's a pair of doggy eyes with a black button nose peeping at you!

Since his check up at the vet, Dudley's been on a bit of a 'longer walks and less treats' regime. He only has a little bit of weight to lose but we want to nip it in the bud and we're already seeing results as he's lost 250 grammes, with the same amount left to go. We still dangle him from the luggage scales by his harness, poor little sausage! We're not talking big numbers I know - but proportionately it means he's really responded well to the increased exercise as well as reduced treats. We also have high hopes of possibly getting him to eat his kibble much more positively - along with a dish of carrots and mange tout to nibble at ........... and very reduced treats. It was a shock to read the fat content of some of the most innocuous treats I must admit. 20% fat? I don't think that's very healthy so I've bought a book about making your own doggy treats as well as some biscuit cutters (the treats all freeze well apparently - which is good else, I'd be selling them in our local Saturday morning market in the pub  car park!) and will be baking bone shaped biscuits just as soon as the final ingredients arrive in our next grocery order. Interestingly, I can easily do a taste test on anything I bake for his treats - which has to be a good thing surely. And to be honest, Dudley has adapted to the change and a stricter regime better then we have!

This photo was taken back in March and it still makes me smile ☺. The 'Stinky Monkey' toy has been sneakily replaced with a duplicate whilst he was out with Len a week or two ago and I could do a quick swap. So he's now onto 'Stinky Monkey the Fifth'!

Don't forget it's October's Rudolph Days Challenge over at ScrappyMo's - it runs from today until the end of the month.

If you haven't come across the new 'Let's Squash It' challenge which encourages you to use your embossing folders, do check out my post of Friday 23rd  which explains more and also has a link to the challenge itself.

And I hope, those of you who needed to, remembered to change your clocks - 'Fall back' - by one hour.

Love from Parsnip, a happy 'high-five' and woof from Dudley - and of course hugs as always from me. Stay safe, wear those masks - and keep on crafting.  

19th Birthday card

A rare afternoon post from me but I want to let you know about a new challenge run by Gail and Jo ASAP, if you don't already know of course.

It's one of Len's great nephew's Birthdays at the end of October - and he will be 19. How did that happen? It only seems like a handful of years since Ben was just a toddler.

As always, I struggle with male cards - then remembered a great new challenge I wanted to enter and so this was my starting point.

The challenge, called Let's Squash It!', is run by our lovely Gail (from the Playground) and her friend Jo. And the idea is to get us to use our embossing folders - mine have certainly been badly neglected for some while now and this new challenge is just the kick start I needed!

For Challenge #1 the theme is to use An Embossing Folder with a Geometric Pattern AND Metallic Card or Metal Sheets. You have from the 10th of each month to the last day of the month at 23:59 GMT to play along with the challenge. Isn't this a fun logo?!

This is my entry - I hope the design is sufficiently 'geometric' - I think so as the definition of geometric is regular shapes or lines ☺. It was a little tinker to photograph - the top left hand corner isn't crumpled in real life BTW, but taking a photo face on meant you could see me in my pretty pink fleece top reflected!

I used:

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

- piece of black card, die cut with a Waffle Flower 'A2 Layers Die' and glued to the card front

- piece of silver card which was made using an X-Cut silver foil sheet stuck onto a backing of white card then die cut using a smaller layers die

- then embossed the piece of silver card using Cuttlebug's 'Diamond Plate' embossing folder

- felt that just black, silver and white needed a pop of colour so dug out a snippet of deep red card, trimmed it and then glued it onto the piece of black card so that just the sides of the black background show - mostly as the red piece of card just wasn't wide enough for a full 'frame'!

- then glued the embossed piece of silver card onto the red layer

- stamped the sentiment onto a snippet of white card using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a sentiment from the Woodware 'Double Birthdays' sentiment set

- backed the sentiment with red and black card to show at the top and bottom - then glued it in place

The Woodware 'Double Birthdays' sentiment is a great way to make a bold statement without too much else needed. 

I did so enjoy using my embossing folders once again and have no idea how many are sitting in upright rows in the long Ikea CD storage box on the bookshelf behind me - suffice it to say it's stuffed to capacity!

Come and join in - Gail and Jo will make you feel very welcome - I have a feeling that their challenge is going to be a very friendly place to play. Happy dance! ☺

Mia is now a teenager

Grand daughter Mia recently celebrated her 13th Birthday. Her main interest is still ballet, so a die set I bought a while ago had it's first outing:

I used:

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

- snippets of lightly patterned lemon, pink and blue card - found tucked in the back of a Me to You 'Spring Chic' paper pack

- the lemon paper was trimmed to very slightly smaller than the card front and glued in place

- the ballet tunic with tutu was die cut from pink paper using a Marianne Creatables LR0467 set of 'ballet' dies - I then used a ball ended tool to add the embossing rather than get the Cuttlebug sout as well as the Altenew Mini die cutting machine I was using

- the hanger and little bow were cut from blue paper using the same set of dies as the ballet tunic and dress

- the sentiment was die cut from more of the blue paper using Joanna Sheen's 'Retro Happy Birthday' die

- stuck the sentiment in place first and then added the hanger, tunic, bow and tutu above at an angle

- a sprinkling of sequins and finally a row of clear gems across the waistline and one on the little bow to add more 'bling'

As it was a first outing for the ballet set of dies, I'm entering this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #19 HERE.

 

 

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #389

Dudley had his annual vaccination booster on Tuesday just gone - as well as his annual MOT. He hardly squeaked and was a bit quieter during the car journeys as well. Still huffing like a steam train a lot of the time but the yodelling only began when the car stopped at either end of the journey. Baby steps, baby steps.

Then, it was Len's Birthday on Thursday  and of course Dudley had to have a card made for him to give to his 'Best Buddy' - it's my snippets card for this fortnight: 

I used:

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

- white card from which I die cut the frame - the die is from the Avery Elle 'Postage Stamp Elle-ments' set

- snippet of yellow patterned paper found tucked into the back of a Memory Keepers paper pad, a magazine freebie eons ago, die cut at just an eighth of an inch larger, on all four sides, than the opening in the white frame

- then adhered the patterned paper to the back of the frame, using a glue pen

- glued the whole panel to the card front

- used  snippets of white card to stamp a load of little images, using the Misti, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad and Lawn Fawn's 'Be Hap-pea' set of stamps

- then stamped the sentiment and 'pea tendrils' using the same set of stamps and a Brilliance 'Pearlescent Ivy' ink pad

- coloured the images using Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils

- die cut all the little pieces using the matching set of dies - there's even one to cut the slit across the centre of the pea pod - also fussy cut the word 'birthday' and carefully popped them into an upturned lid from a little plastic box lest they made a bid for freedom! 

- then it was just a matter of positioning everything and adhering it to the card front using a glue pen

- finished!

Len loved the card although I had to point out the subtlety of the little faces in the peas - from the left, yours truly, Len in the middle (although his specs are rimless in real life) and Dudley poking his nose over the pea pod on the right ☺

The trickiest part was adding the stamped features to the faces and also the words in the speech bubbles - having said that, even with my usual 'cackhandedness', they worked perfectly straight away. I did sort of follow the layout of a card I spotted online - but there are umpteen ways to use the set of stamps. I only had a short window of time in which to make the card so I wasn't overly adventurous for a first play.

Also, I have a couple of new toys in my 'armoury' here which I think will make layering loads easier, especially when trying to line up patterned papers. I generally make A2 sized cards these days and during a browsing session I came across some Waffle Flower dies to die cut plain rectangles. There are two sets and I went a bit mad and got both - not cheap, but a really great way to always get perfectly cut rectangles for layering. I used one of the dies to cut the background for today's snippets card and found it so easy to align the pattern. My alignment is straight but not perfectly centred within the frame, that came about when I added the patterned paper rectangle to the back of the frame - the paper itself is lined up spot on thanks to the die, until Dumbo here gets it slightly adrift when glueing it in place! The sets are called 'A2 Layering Die' and 'Additional A2 Layers'. So, from the 5.5" x 4.25" size downwards - each set has 16 dies - going down in literally 16th's of an inch if you combine both sets. Certainly a non-essential addition for card making - but my OCD is 'happy as Larry' with them! I've spotted that they also make other shapes and sizes but for now I'll stick with the ones I have.

Anyhow, here's the prize for this fortnight - which has been waiting patiently in the toy box to be offered for absolutely ages:

Yup, it's a set of Lawn Fawn's 'Be Hap-pea' stamps with matching dies. I love how many different little faces there are - and so easy to stamp as well!

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 31st 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.

 

And as the Lawn Fawn stamps and dies were having their first outing, I can enter this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #19. 

In other news, not a lot is going on needless to say. 

The hedgehogs are still visiting, although less often so they must be getting ready for hibernation.

Whilst at the vet's I asked about seasonal doggy gastroenteritis - and it's around again this Autumn. So Len has changed Dudley's walk routes to avoid the more popular areas for the time being until we get a real cold snap - which will also kill off the last of the ticks as apparently they're out and about still. That's a mild and damp Autumn for you.

Lastly, with the country slipping back into lock down all over the place, I've made an appointment to have my hair chopped on Tuesday just in case Hampshire follows suit. The salon has loads of protective measures in place - but I'll still be glad when the appointment is over!  I think I need a good three inches lopped off and can't face a further six months or so.

Lots of love from us all - Parsnip, Dudley and of course me. Stay safe!

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #387 - results

Right now, I think the least said about COVID the better. Although it's all very worrying and most certainly not something to be taken lightly, as seems to be happening in some quarters.

It's been a busy week and I'm frantically typing this on Saturday afternoon so let's dive straight in with my picks from the previous challenge:

Our first pick is a *Gold Star* pick and it's wonderful! Great use of snippets and perfect in every way:

Susan S made this brilliant Christmas card - her colouring of the adorable image is absolutely fabulous and every single thing about it is so pleasing on the eye - I love it. Do collect your *Gold Star* badge from the right hand side bar if you would like it Susan! 

And my three other picks for this fortnight are:

Susan B made this lovely card, using only scraps/snippets from her UFO box. Wonderful background, topped with such pretty hollyhocks. And I do so love the current trend of adding a stamped sentiment on a strip of Vellum. 

 

I chose this card, made by Shannon (Shartl) for several reasons. First of all it's so pretty, then it's long and slim (another current trend) and last, but not least, it's a really great reminder that punched shapes are a super way to use up snippets. Before I had a die cutting machine, I amassed a large collection of punches .......... which I rarely think to use these days - shame on me!

And last, but not least:

This is a really eye catching Halloween card, made by Becca. Such a vibrant background, plenty of snippets used and it has everything going for it. Love how Becca added the Memory Box Fleur de Lis row to the fence - very imaginative and it also allowed her to comply with the Memory Box challenge for Halloween! That's called thinking outside the box.

We also had two new Playmates:

Deezy

Sarina

Welcome to the Playground ladies - hope to see you playing along with us in future challenges.

We had 52 entries in total. Which is really heartening - thank you everyone who came to play!

Now for the prize draw, which is a My Favourite Things (MFT) die called 'Stitched Ric Rac' and a Hunkydory Moonstone Combo sentiment die and stamps set called 'Essential Words - Celebrate'.Clarity Stamp 'Word sticker collection'.

And the winner is:

Jeanne H

Congratulations Jeanne, I think you've only ever had one Playground win (in a Christmas draw) so this is well overdue. Please send me your address, even if you know that I know it already, with your full name at the top as well so I can copy and paste for speed and ease. It's also confirmation that you still would like the prize of course and I'll do my best to post your prize ASAP this coming week. 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 another week to run on Challenge #388 HERE. The prize is a Cheery Lynn die called 'Santa's Laundry'. In answer to a couple of you who asked, the die is one complete die which also almost cuts out the collar, cuffs, hat trim etc. So you can either leave the outfit as it is in just one colour or also cut it out in white as 'fur' and then just snip across the ends of the slits and glue the fur trim in place on top of the complete die cut. 

Dudley is so in love with our Post Lady! To the point that if she's doing her rounds whilst he's out for a walk, he's up on his hind legs demanding to go and say 'hello'.

It's Dudley's annual vaccinations and check up this coming week - all to be done following distancing rules and wearing masks (us, not Dudley!). More yodelling no doubt!

Love from Parsnip, a happy 'high-five' and woof from Dudley - and of course hugs as always from me. Stay safe, wear those masks - and keep on crafting. 

Hope and Chances charity kit - August 2020

The August 2020 Hope and Chances charity kit has been languishing on my desk for ages - I finally knuckled down and made it yesterday:

Everything was cut, or die cut, ready to assemble. All it needed was glue, red line tape (my choice to layer as well as to adhere the flowers for its strength), a ball ended tool to shape the leaves and flowers (after I'd coloured them using my long neglected Aqua Markers and a water brush) and finally some sparkly gems in the flower centres.

The top paper has Happy Birthday printed on it, in different fonts.

A fun card to make!

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #388

Wow, that week just flew past! The biggest event was taking Dudley for his full grooming session. As usual - yup, I had to slide him along the floor of the store when we got there. Coming out HE almost had me sliding along the floor! He looks absolutely gorgeous and is so soft and white. As always, he was a bit unsettled by the whole experience but the girls say he did behave himself. Basically, he just isn't keen on being messed around with - despite me grooming him every evening. He still sits up like a little hare ready for a boxing match as soon as I begin the session!

As things have been all a bit upside down, I haven't managed to make a new snippets card so I'm showing you one from a few years ago - which also includes part of this fortnight's prize:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- a snippet of snowflake backing paper from the LOTV 'Frosty Christmas' paper pad

- the hillsides were die cut using a plain curved die from the Spellbinders 'A2 Curved Borders One' set, with Stickles 'Crystal Ice' along the edge

- the trees were die cut using a Marianne die (LR0136), snippets of white card covered with self-adhesive film which was peeled off after die cutting and sprinkled with Cosmic Shimmer 'Diamond Sprinkles'

- snippets of red and white card (plus a little scrap of white and red patterned paper for the long johns!) and the 'Santa's Laundry' die by Cheery Lynn, Then I attached the washing line to each of the trees and topped them with a Josy Rose silver star nail head

- the sentiment was die cut twice and layered, using a Crafts-Too 'Merry Christmas die'

This card actually featured a few prizes back in 2014. As I said, this time only one item from the card is a prize as I did begin to collect stuff for the Grand Christmas Draw, which I have definitely decided against - for this year at least. Now seems a good time to offer my first Christmas themed prize as many people are beginning to make their Christmas cards - now that we're into Autumn.

And, here are the prizes for this fortnight:

First of all, as I used on my card, it's a Cheery Lynn die called 'Santa's Laundry'. I was reminded that I had the die in the Toybox when I spotted a great Halloween card, made by Connie using Cheery Lynn's Witches Laundry die HERE.

And as Halloween isn't too far off, there's this as well:

Tara, of Seven Hills Crafts, kindly enclosed something extra for the Toybox with a recent order. It's a 6" x 6" paper pad by My Mind's Eye called 'Something Wicked'. What's extra nice is that the papers are double sided, and many have glittered accents as well.

I love Seven Hills Crafts, they're based in the UK and are one of the few stockists of most American craft brands. And Tara has been a blogging friend almost right from when this blog first began - a while before she and Rick her husband took over the business in January 2014.

I won't be splitting the prize - if you win and don't want one of the items I will still send you both, then do feel free to give it to a friend, once you receive it.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 17th 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.

Remember the football sized hedgehog? He's only gone and  only fallen asleep twice more on top of a feeding dish! So, we've had to abandon the covers for now as he really shouldn't be thinking about hibernating out in the open - even if he is underneath an upturned shelter. Thankfully, he's got the message now and seems to have retreated into the undergrowth and a nice leafy nest.

Dudley is such a little sweetie, he's curious of course but always leaves animals and birds well alone.

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

'Stacked Merry'

I've been catching up on a bit of Christmas card making and tried out a NBUS 'Stacked Merry' die by MFT, from their September 2020 release. I made four cards in a 'batch baking' session - two of each colour way:

I used:

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

- white card from which I die cut the frame - the die is from the Avery Elle 'Postage Stamp Elle-ments' set

- piece of plaid patterned LOTV paper from the 'Classic Christmas' paper pad, trimmed to just an eighth of an inch larger, on all four sides, than the opening in the white frame

- then adhered the LOTV paper to the back of the frame, using very narrow red line tape. The best way to do this is to align the top edge first and adhere it before then carefully removing the backing from the other three sides - if you try to do it in one go the odds are that it won't be straight (or as straight as you can get it!)

- glued the whole panel to the card front

- die cut the MFT 'Stacked Merry' from white card and glued it in place using a Zig glue pen

- die cut holly leaves and berries from plain green and red paper snippets, which were tucked in the back of the same LOTV 'Classic Christmas' paper pad. The die set I used is Poppystamps' 'Stitched Holly Leaves and Berries'

- glued those on place, again using a Zig glue pen

The background could be a little too busy for the leaves and berries to show up very well - but I had fun making them anyhow!

And as the MFT 'Stacked Merry' was having it's first outing, I can enter this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #19.