Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #401

Hello again! Glad you could drop into the Snippets Playground. Once again, we've had a week of mixed weather and more snow flurries interspersed with some lovely sunshine.

Time for another snippets challenge and also another lovely Guest Designer. This time it's one of our Playground Mischief Makers - my lovely friend, Mrs. A! Also famed for running The Butterfly Challenge of course. I'm a bad girl for not making the time to join in for ages, the themes are very varied and so well thought out.

Mrs A will tell you all about how she made this lovely card (with a picture tutorial too) when you hop over to her blog. All I'm going to say is that it takes a certain kind of mindset to painstakingly tear up small snippets of paper and then even more painstakingly layer them back together to create a pink 'decoupatch' style background to show off the gorgeous flower bouquet! I have the original card here and it's really beautiful.

Here's a photo of the prize from Mrs A for this fortnight:

 

A super stamp set made by Woodware, designed by Jane Gill, and called 'Bold Blooms - Isabella'. I love it and also think the sentiment is so perfect for a host of occasions.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 1st May. 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.

 

Please also remember that I only allow a total of nine other challenges, which makes 10 in total, when you enter a snippets make into the Playground.

 

Dudley loves his walks - once he has his harness on and accepts that there's no way he's not going for one! We have a routine when he gets back home - he always has a particular doggy treat that's his very favourite. Just this past week or two he's learned a new trick whereby if you hold the treat above him and sweep your arm round in a circular motion - he does a joyful 360 degree spin around on the spot! He's done three consecutive spins for one treat so far ☺ Today the spins, next week Crufts agility! I suspect not - he has too much of a mind of his own.

The other day Len brought a tray with mugs of coffee on up from the kitchen and deposited it on a furniture unit. When we looked, there was Dudley up on his hind legs - casually leaning with one front paw against the side of the unit whilst his other front paw hung limply in front of him - he really did look like a foppish 'dandy' from the Regency era! Of course he was just checking there wasn't a treat on the tray - it looked so funny but I couldn't grab my camera in time to take a photo. Priceless though.

This coming week, Len is going for his second Pfizer COVID vaccination, I follow him a week later. Here's hoping he fares better than he did first time round, my reaction wasn't good but nowhere near as bad as his - and absolutely nothing like Mrs A had.

We watched the funeral of HRH Prince Philip on Saturday, on TV. Very moving and our Queen looked so tiny and alone. Dudley couldn't understand why I spent a lot of the afternoon in tears - bless his little heart. Extra cuddles had to be given :)

What a lot of entries from people joining in the 400th celebrations - even a good few who haven't played for some while - great stuff!

Stay safe and be kind.

 

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

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #399 Ruby's Memory - Results

It's been a very mixed week here with one thing and another. We certainly have had a real variety of weather with it swinging from sunny and very warm, to  snow flurries and very cold - plus most options in between as well.

First of all, the picks:

We had a few coffee/cup themed entries this time due to it being a regular coffee lovers blog hop - all of them were great but this one particularly caught my eye - made by Suzanne. Super use of snippets and I love the mixing of gingham and dots - the little pegs on the 'wood' strip are genius!! 

I picked this lovely card made by Greta for a number of reasons. It's pink, pretty, took my breath away and the flowers were die cut from white snippets. Also Greta has included a link in her blog post to the background technique which is 'print making with die cuts'. Fabulous and certainly one to try - do hop over to find the link!

And here's another great technique, beautifully showcased by Jeanne. It's known  as 'the floating element card technique' and i do urge you to hop over to Jeanne's blog to take a look at the video link she has included in her post. Jeanne herself has said that it's easier to see the floating aspect in real life and I can well believe it having watched the video. A clue is that there's acetate involved - I bet that will get Mrs A wondering for starters! 

That's my picks from Challenge 399 in the Playground, been nursing a stinking cold (where did that come from then?) most of the week and am very tired so I've stuck to the three picks limit. 

I make no apologies for including a couple of new and different technique picks - they are great for using snippets and it's always so good to pick up new ideas. Certainly, both of these last two picks/techniques were totally new to me.

We had 42 entries and no new Playmates.

Now for the prize draw which is for a lovely Stamping Bella stamp set (called 'Tiny Townie: Dawn Loves Her Doggie'), donated by Ruby's Mum, Lynne in NI.

Helen (Helen's Craft Haven)

Congratulations Helen - I do hope your prize reminds you of Honey from your childhood! I always stick rigidly to whoever has said a yes please to the prize and is picked first - I think this time it was serendipity! Helen is often one of our picks and it's lovely to see her winning after a slightly dry spell! Many thanks again to Lynne in NI for donating the prize.

Please send me your address, even if you know that I know it already, with your full name at the top as well so it can be can be copied and pasted for speed and ease. It's also confirmation that you still would like the prize of course.  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 one more week to run on the current Challenge 400 celebration challenge which is HERE. The prize is a bit of a bumper one - a set of MFT 'Tall Tag Duo' dies, Clearly Besotted's set of stamps called 'All booked up' and also their 'Wise Owl' set of stamps - just perfect for making bookmarks, or cards if you wish. Plus, a Lawn Fawn 'Really Rainbow' 6" x 6" petite paper pack on order to complete the prize - it's been sent out so should be here soon. Good ole Frau Green! 

Do please see if you can share your inspiration and ideas for using up snippets, with them being the focus of the card if possible. 

Dudley is such a kleptomaniac! Len was working fixing something the other day and when it came to gathering up his tools to put them away, a block of very hard wood that he uses for who knows what was missing. Dudley had sidled up, pinched it and was hiding where he thought he couldn't be seen ....... having a sneaky test of it for 'chewability'. When this publishes he might not be on speaking terms with us - he needs a bath and it's pencilled in for Saturday (ie. yesterday). If we survive the deluge I'll add a bit here to say how it went! 

Edit: It went really well - we think he's certainly getting more used to the whole process and it's better for him than a trip to the grooming salon. The real secret is for me to sit waiting with a huge bath towel on my lap at the ready when he's finished to wrap him up like a burrito to pat the worst of the water away. He's currently lying beside me telling monkey all about his experience! It won't be too long before we'll need to give him another trim - we're keeping that news secret for now!

Finally, I just sent another £20 to USPCA in Northern Ireland,who rescued Ruby, as I didn't need to buy a prize or anything to make my own sample. With Gift Aid they get £25 towards their wonderful work - in memory of wee Ruby of course.

Love from Parsnip, myself and the usual happy 'high-five' and woof from Dudley.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #400

Happy Easter everyone! I hope the weather is being kind to you wherever you are and that you have a joyous time. 

We also have a couple of other things to celebrate - it's just over 11 years since I began this blog (literally just a matter of weeks behind Mrs A - and it's amazing how many parallels there are between us).

And thirdly, did you spot that this is Challenge #400? It was weekly for quite a while so the number of the challenge did rise rapidly back then.

By way of celebration, it's a slightly different prize this time. Still using snippets, as well as some die cutting and stamping - but a little bit of a different result instead of a card:

Second photo shows the reverse of a bookmark as well as the frog one with the image the right way up! And yes, the colouring IS much more vivid in real life!

I used:

- snippets of leftover white card which I die cut using both dies from MFT 'Tall Tag Duo' set of dies - to make bookmarks

- then I used the same dies to die cut snippets of paper from the Lawn Fawn 'Really Rainbow' petite paper pack as backings and to add more regidity, putting them to one side as I wanted to pick out the colours for the next steps 

- hunted out a couple of ribbon snippets which picked up the blue and also the mauve on the 'Really Rainbow' backing to the bookmark

- on one white bookmark I stamped a froggy image and a sentiment from Clearly Besotted's set of stamps called 'All booked up' which has frogs, bookworms and also a row of books as options, plus fun sentiments

- on the other bookmark I stamped two owl images plus a sentiment using Clearly Besotted's 'Wise Owl' set of stamps - which is (unsurprisingly) owl based with a selection of sentiments

- for both bookmarks I used my smaller Misti, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a piece of acetate with a grid printed onto it for alignment - easy to make your own with printer friendly acetate as there are plenty of grids online to print . I was really lucky when a good blogging buddy sent me her printer friendly acetate - I returned the favour by sending her some 'grid printed' sheets to use with her Misti :)

- it's probably obvious how it works but I placed the bookmark I was using onto the Misti so that I had the size of the stamping area to follow and popped the acetate grid on top with a magnetic bar on to hold things in place. Then I laid out the stamps using the grid lines for spacing and also making sure things were straight, picked them up on the lid, removed the acetate and held the bookmark in place with the magnetic bar before stamping as one usually would

- next coloured both bookmarks using Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils, picking out some of the colours from the rainbow paper tags

- glued the coloured front and the rainbow back of each bookmark together using Collall All Purpose glue

- threaded the ribbon snippets through the die cut slots at the top of each tag/bookmark

- tied the ribbon in place with little pieces of iridescent twine, trimmed the ends of the ribbon and called them finished!

I would have preferred to use Pro markers in some ways - cutting the rainbow paper as a backing was originally to cover the inevitable bleed-through you get with Pro markers in fact. However, Len was busy in the garden when I was at the point of wanting to colour the images and lifting down the huge storage rack of PM's was just not feasible until this shoulder is better than right now. Having said that - I do so love colouring with pencils now, and they can at least be erased if you make a mistake!

Here's a few photos of the prize for this fortnight:

 

Ha! You need to stand on your head to take a proper look at the bookworms on the left hand stamp set!

The prize is a set of MFT 'Tall Tag Duo' dies, Clearly Besotted's set of stamps called 'All booked up' and also their 'Wise Owl' set of stamps - just perfect for making bookmarks, or cards if you wish. Plus, I have a Lawn Fawn 'Really Rainbow' 6" x 6" petite paper pack on order to complete the prize. Rainbow papers are so popular that it took me ages to track a pack down - but it's on order and will be here (with luck) before it's time for the prize draw - from Frau Green who is often a great supplier of 'out of stock elsewhere' items in the UK.

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

 

Please also remember that I only allow a total of nine other challenges, which makes 10 in total, when you enter a snippets make into the Playground.

 

I do hope you will all join in and make this a special celebration of the Snippets Playground Challenge #400.

 

Dudley is still coming up with new things to entertain us - his prowess at sitting up on his hind legs perfectly balanced during his 'grooming resistance manoeuvres' is amazing and the look of very serious concentration on his face is priceless! Just a shame I don't have any extra hands to hold the camera as I do worry in case he topples sideways from the table, although I'm usually too busy laughing anyhow! 

One of Dudley's favourite places to lie during the day - apart from the table in Len's study where he can watch all the comings and goings from a window, or under my desk where he can sleep with his head on one of my feet - is right at the top of the stairs. It's a good spot for woofing at shadows and also spotting if anyone comes to the front door - as well as being a health and safety hazard to us humans stepping over him! His latest trick is to now leave monkey on guard duty at the top of the stairs if he's occupied elsewhere in the house or garden. It's not just left or dropped there but placed carefully - actually sitting upright facing, straight ahead down the stairs just like a little monkey soldier!

Stay safe and be kind. 

  

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 (-.-)
0_(“)(“)

I used this cute little bunny at the end of yesterday's post and at least one of you lovely Playmates remarked on it. I originally got it from our now departed Playmate Bernie who lived in Tacoma, USA. She left us in 2013 and I do so hope that she somehow knows just how loved and missed she still is, so many years later - now up in her huge, absolutely HUGE, craft room in the sky. She was one of our first Playground Pals and did her crafting in a 'closet' for so long and produced such lovely stuff - her first die cutting machine was, wait for it, a pasta rolling machine that she adapted! Those of us who knew her back then will no doubt recall that our lives were all the richer, as well as funnier, for knowing her. Who could forget her trials with the 'snow plow' guy who always came by just after she cleared the snow away from their driveway! RIP sweet friend, we won't forget you ........... and I'm sure you would be pleased to know that 'Bernie the Bunny Wabbit' strikes again :) x

 

Lots of love from us all to all of our Playmates - Parsnip, Dudley and of course me.

 

Happy Easter!

I make very few Easter cards, just for close family and a couple of school friends. This year I went 'Oddball' for a change from the more traditional Easter chicks etc:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" rose pink card blank, side opening

- piece of patterned paper from a DecoTime paper pad, the papers are slightly 'flittered' and do catch the light very prettily 

- trimmed the patterned paper and glued it to the card front

- stamped the image using the Misti, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and the Stamping Bella 'Oddball Easter Bunny' stamp

- coloured the bunny with Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils, picking up some of the colours from the backing paper

- stamped the sentiment using a sweet little stamp from 'Stamping All Day', the Misti and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- popped the image onto a backing of olive green, same as in the backing paper and then glued the panel onto the card front

Have a lovely Easter!

 /) /)
 (-.-)
0_(“)(“)

Rudolph Days Challenge - March 2021

Wow - I almost missed out on this month's Rudolph Days Challenge over at ScrappyMo's. That would probably be a first. As luck would have it, I came across an ancient Christmas card a couple of days ago which so far as I can see hasn't ever been posted on here, I was so proud of it too:

I used - bear with me whilst I think back:

- A6 pre-made hammered red card blank

- a silver window peel off stuck to clear acetate, which I then carefully trimmed so that the windows would open

- stuck a piece of craft stiffened 'gauze' with white spots on (like snow falling) to a scrap of dark blue paper, then onto a scrap of white card which I coloured with a dark brown Whispers pen for the 'window ledge'

- popped a silver star onto the background so it would show through the arch in the upper part of the window

- glued the window piece to the background piece then trimmed the background all round, in line with the peel off front

- glued the window to the card front

- added the two black kitties (a ready made die cut bought from Kirsty Wiseman at Dies to Die For - which might give some of you a clue how long ago I made this card!)

- then added the silver 'Seasons Greetings' sentiment strip along the top part of the card (bought from Lakeland back when they sold craft stuff) 

- a small red gem either end of the sentiment strip to finish off!

Gosh, this was a walk down Memory Lane. I realised as I was writing this post just how long ago this card was made (possibly up to 13 or so years ago, I had to give up crafting whilst the house updating/additions were being carried out and the dining room was out of action and used for storage) - and also how the craft suppliers have moved on as well. Added to which so has life here and it's almost like a piece of history! 

It was one of the very first cards I ever made for Christmas and I remember making a few the same or fairly similar at the dining room table using ready made die cuts from Kirsty Wiseman when she owned Dies to Die For, Lakeland made some lovely crafty items (they're back to being all household stuff now and have been for many years) and card blanks were ordered from a company based in Cheshunt. You could splash out and buy small swatches of the card they used - their website was basic and no colours or images. I don't even recall Hobbycraft from back then! A dedicated craft shop per se was a find indeed .......... it'll never catch on they thought! How wrong could they be?

The card was also made back in the days before we had die cutting machines of our own (as I recall), raising elements with sticky pads wasn't really 'in' yet, I was crafting in the dining room (long before I had a craft room or even this blog - I wouldn't have known a blog if it jumped up and bit me back then), I used wide double sided tape or UHU glue as adhesive, the acetate would have been (ahem) acquired from the office where we still used it for overhead projectors and I had some fancy edged scissors which I thought were the 'bee's knees'. The one thing is that, due to the lack of available inspiration, I did think up the design all by myself! 

Ironically, I found this card just four days after the 11th anniversary of me dipping my toe in the water and starting this blog up. How time flies!

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #398 - results

Did those of you over this side of the Pond remember to 'spring forward' your clocks?  Lighter evenings ahead!

First of all, the picks:

Alice always makes such intricate cards - this one is a perfect example. What really caught my eye though is the woven background. Mind you the whole card is gorgeous as usual. The background is made from packaging material saved by Alice - sort of woven strips, very environmentally friendly and also an extra gift for crafters if some is used in their parcel! I did receive some very similar wrapping protecting a Pyrex jug from Ocado  - and Dumbo here thought how environmentally friendly it was but she then just popped it into the recycling bin!

What a brilliant way to use up snippets of card strips! Janice is a whizz at coming up with new and clever ways to use up snippets, ways that we can all CASE. This one is on my list for sure!

Liz will happily fiddle around with tiny snippets and come up with a beautiful result. This card is so lovely, and bad me, am supposed to be on a 'craft budget' as I have far too much stuff yet to be used, just couldn't resist adding this gorgeous die to my collection. 

I call it 'enabling' when people use something new and others follow suit. Most, in fact 99%, of us are more than delighted to share ideas. Copying a card or make is different and shouldn't be done without following politeness and decency, but being so taken with a stamp, die or tool is quite different altogether, IMHO. That's why I always make sure I write in my blog posts exactly what I used to make something - I'm delighted when someone subsequently says they had to skip out of the Playground and go shopping!

That's my picks from Challenge 398 in the Playground, busy here today (Saturday) so I've stuck to the three picks limit. We had 42 entries and no new Playmates.

Now for the prize draw which is for a 'two-parter', both parts are by Stampin' Up and very kindly donated by Lesley. A 'Time of Year' set of stamps as well as a lovely bold' Happy Birthday' die, and the winner is:

Janice

Congratulations Janice! I did smile when your name popped out as you do finally seem to have broken the really long 'dry' run you had before winning a prize back in December - and once again, you're also a pick at the same time as being the prize winner!

Please send me your address, even if you know that I know it already, with your full name at the top as well so it can be can be copied and pasted for speed and ease. It's also confirmation that you still would like the prize of course.  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 one more week to run on the current Challenge 399 HERE, , which is in Ruby's Memory. The prize is a really lovely Stamping Bella stamp set (called 'Tiny Townie: Dawn Loves Her Doggie'), donated by Ruby's Mum, Lynne in NI.

Do please see if you can share your inspiration and ideas for using up snippets, with them being the focus of the card if possible.

Our post is finally back to normal thank goodness - some items sent just within the UK to me took over three weeks to finally be delivered here. With a return to 'normality' in the sorting office I've finally sent out all the overdue prizes - phew!

Next week it's the beginning of challenge 400. I have what I think is a special prize lined up and it would be lovely to see as many of you as possible coming to play.

Dudley is still patting and licking his 'babies' in the doggie bed. I do so wish I could take a photo of him when I'm doing his daily grooming session. If Len pops his head in the room where I groom him, Dudley sheepishly behaves himself so it's unlikely he could take a photo or three of the antics. And I need both hands free for the 'wrestling match'.

Dudley operates his resistance strategy like this:

Stage one: Lie flat on the table and tuck front paws firmly underneath body and keep rear end raised so back paws can also be tucked away. So the back gets brushed then combed

Stage two: Oh dear, she's going in for my ears so I now sit up and move my head from side to side like a demented doggy ornament on the parcel shelf of a car - I'm saving the frothing at the mouth trick for a real emergency!

Stage three: That's mean, sitting up means my underparts and front paws are accessible - so Mom aims for those after doing my ears and face

Stage four: Party trick time now - up onto hind legs like a sitting up bunny with front paws waving to either side out of reach and keep pulling first one back and then the other until we're both exhausted

Stage five: Ooooh, now my tummy's being groomed, watch where you use that comb! 

Stage six: Stand upright on all four legs as if posing for Crufts Dog Show judging - exposing sides and four legs - it's tiring sitting up like a boxing hare so slowly I'm allowing some leeway and they're now groomed

Stage seven: Just my plume of a tail and back end left now, it's interesting so I keep whipping my head round for a look - and perhaps a quick sniff at the same time

Stage eight: Uh, oh - eye pads are being reached for now to clean my eyes. Time to lie down again and see if I can put my paws over my face

Stage nine: Double uh, oh - big doggie wipe packet being flipped open - this is where I go into flat 'seal' mode again. Nope, still had my muzzle wiped, then up onto legs for my watering and pooping areas to also be wiped - so undignified

Stage ten: final check over then a squirt of conditioning spray, with the aroma of rosemary, quick final comb then I can leap into Mom's arms ready to be lifted down. All over ................. until tomorrow! 

At this point Dudley races around the house like a mad thing before settling down for a good session - grooming his beloved monkey. I wearily pack everything into the grooming basket and look forward to the next time - and a glass of restorative wine! And wonder if I can perfect the art of lifting him right down onto the floor without suffering a well aimed kick of his back legs as he leaps to freedom.

In fairness, although it's a bit of a battle with Dudley, it's a lovely time to cuddle and bond with him - plus I can't help but laugh much of the time as he's so flipping predictable! 

Love from Parsnip, myself and the usual happy 'high-five' and woof from Dudley.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #399 - Ruby's Memory

This our second challenge devoted to the memory of Ruby, Lynne in NI's adorable little Westie, who went to Doggie Heaven just before Christmas.

This runs very much like my usual challenges and the rules are exactly the same. The main difference you will notice is that I won't make sample card as the prize has been donated and I don't have a duplicate - although I've been sorely tempted to go and buy duplicates of many of the lovely prizes you've been sending for Ruby's Challenge I admit! Instead, I'm donating what I would have spent  to the rescue charity who saved little Ruby as a wee puppy.

So, here's an image of the prize this time:

 

It's a really lovely stamp set (image and sentiment which reads 'Love is a four legged word') called 'Tiny Townie: Dawn Loved Her Doggie'. Ruby's Mum, Lynne in NI, bought this and had it sent directly to me from Seven Hills Crafts. Although Lynne did give me a heads up in case I wondered what on earth I'd been ordering, I had no idea what the item was - and needless to say I cried when I opened the envelope! So very true and touchind as well. What a wuss I am. ☺ Many thanks Lynne.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 3rd April. 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 I won't be splitting the prize of course.

 

Please also remember that I only allow a total of nine other challenges, which makes 10 in total, when you enter a snippets make into the Playground.

I must say that having Ruby's challenge and also Guest Designer challenges is beginning to free up more time for me to do other things and also to play with long neglected goodies, without the self-inflicted pressure. I just need to find my missing mojo and I'll be flying!

 

I wrote the other day that our Connie is now out of hospital and back at home getting over COVID pneumonia. It was her Birthday on Wednesday and to perk her up she received a Simon Says Stamp Gift Voucher, with love from all of us in the Playground. She was delighted and says thank you to everyone.

 

Dudley really has had us almost crying with laughter here. Whilst he was out with Len the other day I washed three of his previous 'Stinky Monkey' toys in the washing machine. I often hide them away when doing a sneaky substitution with a new one (unless the ears are chewed off and such) and so far Dudley had no idea there was more than one in the whole wide world.They came out OK but what followed was hilarious - as well as very touching. I'd strung them up by their tails to dry on an airing rack in the conservatory and thought I'd disguised them enough by draping a couple of similarly coloured items, that I'd washed at the same time to balance the machine load, around them. Without thinking, Len later opened the door to the conservatory and of course little nosy parker followed him, His jaw dropped open as he immediately poked his head under the drying rack in case he was missing something - Dudley that is, not Len! His face was a picture when he looked up and spotted them and he wouldn't budge! So, in came the monkeys to sit on a double radiator that Dudley can't reach. Again, he wouldn't budge and just sat whining and looking at them. Plan C was to distract him (me) and Len to put the monkeys on a melamine tray and hide it well out for sight on top of a guest bedroom wardrobe so they could finish drying. Yup, he even sussed that! So down they came as, once again, he was crying for them. By this time it was bedtime and he settled down beside the tray for the night! 

We'd sat his current 'Stinky Monkey the Sixth' beside the tray to let him know that he was 'different', but even that didn't placate him ☺. He was just like a new doggy parent watching over a litter of puppies! As I say, we were practically weeping with laughter - in the end Len came up with the bright idea of sitting them in Dudley's doggy bed, in our bedroom. He rarely uses it - and so far that's worked. He did hop up and down off the bed to check his 'babies' out a few times during the first night - but thankfully isn't taking much notice of them any longer and 'Stinky Monkey the Sixth' still goes all over the house with him. So shortly the 'babies' will be quietly packed away totally out of sight once they're bone dry. 

This is the first photo I've managed to take of Dudley since we finished trimming him as well - I know a few of you have been asking to see him!

Stay safe and be kind.

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

An update from Connie!

Hi girls

I just found this from our Connie (NanaConnie) - wahoo!

Di and all who have emailed to wish me well - I'm home! Far from fully recovered; I tire quickly and am on oxygen for the time being but the home nurse says she sees improvement each day, even if I'm not seeing it yet. I'm sure I just have high (and unrealistic) expectations about how quickly I should be progressing. Nonetheless, being home with the fur babies is wonderful. :-D

Happy Dance here - thanks so much for letting us know Connie!

 Big hugs

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #397 - results

Happy Mother's Day folks, if it's that special day where you live. I had a lovely card from Dudley, a week early in fact, but who's counting!

First of all, the picks:

You would need to be hiding under a rock not to know about the current trend for slimline cards. Just look at this one - made by Katrina! It's absolutely lovely, such a clever design and of course a great way to use up snippets. 

I just had a delivery of DL card and envelopes from Amazon last week - if you can't beat 'em - join in with the trend!

Ooooh, I do love this very clever Christmas tree card made by Carol L. It uses lots of little green snippets punched with a little Christmas tree punch and then arranged to make the larger Christmas tree itself. I'm sure I have a little Christmas tree punch in one of my forgotten and neglected Really Useful Boxes, and this is certainly a great idea to CASE!

Jane W shared this wonderful snippets card with us. It's another really clever way to use snippets (you girls are on a roll right now!) and would work perfectly for both male and female cards. Jane says there are loads of ways to use circles in a similar fashion, which sent me off on a hunt and THIS is one Pinterest collection well worth checking out.Wow, most certainly playing with circles is on my list of things to do - especially as Mr Mojo has left town!

 

And, once again, we have a fourth card as I couldn't whittle the final choice down to three:

 

Vicky came up trumps with this gorgeous card. It's such a pretty card and a lovely way to use up snippets. The dies are from Stampin' Up's 'Wrapped Flowers', but although it would be trickier no doubt, I bet if you rootle through your dies and punches, plus some paper folding for the wrapping, you can come up with a CASE of this lovely card. 

That's my picks from Challenge 397 in the Playground, we had 46 entries and no new Playmates.

Now for the prize draw which is for an Indigo Blu 'Flower Heads - A5' set of stamps and the winner is:

 Bunny (Bunny's Cards)

Congratulations Bunny! I've done some searching and it's a good while since you had a prize win, so well done!

Please send me your address, even if you know that I know it already, with your full name at the top as well so it can be can be copied and pasted for speed and ease. It's also confirmation that you still would like the prize of course.  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 one more week to run on the current Challenge 398 HERE. The prize is a 'two-parter', both parts are by Stampin' Up and very kindly donated by Lesley who is our Guest Designer. A 'Time of Year' set of stamps as well as a lovely bold' Happy Birthday' die.

Challenge 399 beginning in a week's timewill be another Ruby's Memory Challenge and, without spoiling things, I have such a lovely prize here - sent by Lynne, Ruby's Mum. 

Speaking of prizes and post, our local mail sorting office has had an outbreak of COVID, some people are ill and a lot are having to isolate, so we've had no mail deliveries for a week. No doubt they have a huge backlog to sort and either deliver locally or send on its way to wherever it's destined for. Basically, that means I'm going to wait until things are more normalised before posting anything as it will just go into what's probably an overflow area. As always, I will email people when I post their prizes.

Dudley is fully groomed now although I suspect he might have one or two nails which need a little more taken off. I've found that he is very twitchy about his feet being touched and has an escape route if I'm sitting at the table to groom him - the one he likes to lie on to nose out of an upstairs window. His latest trick is to launch himself onto my front, almost sobbing, if I even touch his nails - and then he buries his head into my (ahem) chest trying to hide. So that's the end of me trying to do anything further to his nails on my own. I've learned to even leave touching his tootsies until the very end of a brush and comb session. Sometimes I do wonder if he's having us on a bit!

No direct news about Connie as yet but she was hoping to be home from hospital on Friday. 

Edit: Just had a comment from Connie - Di and all who have emailed to wish me well - I'm home! Far from fully recovered; I tire quickly and am on oxygen for the time being but the home nurse says she sees improvement each day, even if I'm not seeing it yet. I'm sure I just have high (and unrealistic) expectations about how quickly I should be progressing. Nonetheless, being home with the fur babies is wonderful. :-D

Brilliant news!

Love from Parsnip, myself and the usual happy 'high-five' and woof from Dudley.