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.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #398

Hello again! Mixed bag of weather here - but Spring is certainly trying hard to spring!

Time for another snippets challenge and also another lovely Guest Designer! This time it's Lesley G of 'Lesley's Craft Room' - and she's brought us more than one card plus a super prize to spoil us a bit: 

 

Oh my word - this is well above and beyond the call of duty - three cards! All three are fabulous of course and I know that Lesley has written a post with lots of detail about the making of the cards and also a video I believe.

Many of you will know Lesley as a Stampin Up Demonstrator - which is really a bit of an understatement. Lesley runs classes in her home (not during current times sadly), is super-talented, has a team of SU Demonstrators and many customers - all of whom love her for being such a lovely, caring lady. 

SaRn has been lucky enough to go to Lesley's on many an occasion. I live too far away but do look on her as a friend as well as my SU demonstrator. And on top of all this - she's one of our regular Snippets Playmates of course! Three cheers for Lesley - wave your hockey sticks girls!

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

 

Two lovely parts to this challenge's prize - which I won't be splitting by the way. First of all there's a 'Time of Year' set of stamps which Lesley showcased in the first card of the above series - super versatile for various occasions from 'Christmas' through to 'Birthdays' and also 'Thinking of You'. Secondly there's a super bold' Happy Birthday' die. Lesley made two cards using the die, shown as cards 2 and 3 above. Of course, both parts of the prize are Stampin' Up!

It's times like this I wish I could sneak an entry into the Playground incognito!

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 20th March. 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 is looking so smart right now - Len finally finished off trimming him after I did the bottom of his ears and end of his tail plume and he's done a great job! We've been working on clipping his claws 2-4 at a time - depending on how much of a fight Dudley puts up. Whenever possible, I prefer to do it on my own and just catch him at the right moment during his brushing and combing sessions. Some days it's obviously not going to be worth trying so this has been a real lesson in patience and 'dog psychology' for sure. 

 

Speaking of 'dog psychology' - late Saturday afternoon we were busy together with something, being watched by Dudley as usual. I said something that wasn't agreeable to Len and he spoke pretty sharply to me in response. Dudley gave out one single, quite low but warning, 'woof' ........ and glared right at Len. Great way to defuse tension for sure - we both cracked up laughing, although Dudley still looked pretty defensive on 'Team Pixie' - tee, hee. It's that invisible thread 'woof' string I had inserted in his back! I think we're all probably overdue some space right now!

Ruby's Memory, ......... I had one final try to donate on Saturday and it worked! Hooray :) A receipt and letter should come through this week - hopefully electronically as I think they need every penny. Our donation, including Gift Aid, was £25. Happy Dance here!

Rather worryingly, our lovely Playmate Connie of My Grammy's Attic is in hospital with COVID pneumonia - that was the situation as I typed much of this post this on Wednesday. She managed to send me a brief email and I know we all wish her a good and speedy recovery. I know for a fact that Connie has been so careful and it just shows that none of us are safe until we've been vaccinated and this wretched virus is finally beaten into submission. Yes, some of us have had side effects from the vaccination but none of us have grown a unicorn's horn ...........yet! And it's infinitely preferable to catching the 'real thing'! So if you're hesitating - please think of others and have the jab.

And, no surprise, with a rather busy week behind me I'm still playing catch up on commenting on Challenge 397. More than halfway as I rush off to groom Dudley then cook Saturday's evening meal - be patient, I will get there.

 

Stay safe and be kind.

 

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