Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #404

Hello again! At last - we have lovely sunny and warm weather here in the South of England! AND, it's a Bank Holiday as well - it normally rains over Bank Holidays. so the sunshine is a wonderful bonus.

Time for another snippets challenge and also another lovely Guest Designer. This time it's Susan B, all the way from Canada! And we have not one but two really sweet sample cards:

Susan will tell you all about how she made her lovely cards when you hop over to her blog, link above, and I do so love the pretty blues that Susan chose for her cards.

Here's the prize from Susan for this fortnight - images taken from the internet due to camera glare:  

The prize, VERY kindly donated by Susan, is a Hero Arts 'Knitting' stamp set and matching Hero Arts 'Knitting Frame Cuts'. Please be aware that the sentiment 'Sweater Weather' on the little girl card isn't part of the prize.What a great prize - especially with the surge in knitting during the past' year and a bit'. AND, it's pussy cats too. Thanks so much Susan!

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 12th June. 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.

 

My hair appointment earlier this week went off very smoothly with all the protective measures in place. I still didn't feel 100% comfortable despite that, but perhaps that's not a bad thing for the time being. Things are somewhat in the balance and we're all hoping the Indian variant of COVID doesn't go absolutely wild.

 

Today, Saturday, we bathed Dudley. Well, he's put in the bath with no water in and we just switch over to the shower mixer. Lesson learned from a good while ago when he was in a partly filled bath and made a bid for freedom ...... it was like a tidal wave! The little monkey managed to sit up doing his 'boxing hare' impression - which gave Len a great opportunity to wash his tummy with ease. He's like a lovely sweet smelling white ball of fluff now - currently sleeping off the experience under my desk ☺

Stay safe and be kind.

 

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

Rudolph Days Challenge - May 2021

Whilst hunting all over the place here for a particular stamp, with matching die, in order to make my Rudolph Days Challenge card for May, I opened my box of saved 'shop bought' Christmas card fronts and immediately spotted possibilities for three cards to make. What was all that about then? All of a sudden Mr Mojo came rushing back into the craft room and in about a couple of hours I came up with these three cards:

I used:

- 5.75" x 5.75" off-white square card blank, side opening

- gently removed the stocking topper from a lovely plum coloured Christmas card, then removed the thick sticky pads from the back of the topper and set it to one side

- hunted through my huge stock of Christmas papers and found a lovely beige paper with gold flittering from First Edition's 'Gilded Winter' paper pad

- trimmed it to 5.5" x 5.5" and glued it onto the card front

- then cut a plum coloured scalloped circle from some of the original card - using a very old Spellbinders scalloped circle die

- glued a round gold Christmas sentiment on top of the plum circle, made by Craftwork cards, and also pretty ancient

- then added bits of thin sticky pad to the backs of the stocking and sentiment and popped them onto the card front 

final touch - just three Lucy's Little Things 'Rose Gold' sequins, added using very narrow and tiny pieces of red line tape

I used:

- 7" x 5" white card blank, side opening

- a carefully trimmed piece of Kanban 'Christmas Wobbler' background card - glued to the card front - love this scenic pack for quick and easy backgrounds!

- the Christmas tree topper was removed from the original very simple white card, and the original sticky pads carefully removed. 

- then stuck the tree onto the card front using thin sticky pads

- nothing more needed, finished!

I used:

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

- silver mirri card for the first layer, glued onto the card front

- topped that with a trimmed piece of red and white paper from a Fizzy Moon 'Festive Fun' paper pack

- then die cut the 'frame' for the image panel I wanted to use, because it makes me smile, using a snippet of silver mirri card and a die from The Works set of 'stitched squares'. Cheap as chips and great quality dies

- trimmed the image to fit 'inside' the silver frame and glued it in place

- 'meep' - glue oozed onto the silver 'frame' and then smudged when I tried to remove it so I just went over it with clear Wink of Stella so it all looks a bit 'distressed' - just like I was at the time

- adhered the image panel to the card front using thin sticky pads - job done!

That amazed me to be honest. I recently did a radical 'cull' of Christmas card fronts I'd been saving, some went back years and years, and that was a huge help.

Also, hunting through my Christmas papers was an eye opener. There are so many lovely and untouched papers to be played with. I like to strike a balance between 'over fussing' upcycling, but then at least showing that I made an effort as well. 

If you save Christmas cards to upcycle, I do recommend that you don't keep too huge a selection to choose from. Be a bit brutal and ask yourself if the image itself shouts 1990's - if so then ditch it. Otherwise it really is likely to end up looking just like an old Christmas card that's been played with. Look critically at the images and ask yourself if they would look up to date once you've played around with them - if not, be ruthless and pop the rest into the bin! Then, spread out the cards you have left and look through your neglected Christmas papers - holding cards and papers alongside one another. You could be really surprised - I certainly was! I easily found the makings of these three cards  - with the assistance of Dudley watching in curiosity. I spread everything out on our bed so I could actually pick out paper pads and wave them over the card fronts.

I'm certainly no expert so the above paragraph is very much how I see things. It isn't necessarily right! Back in the dark ages I started off by using an old pair of pinking shears to make Christmas tags - very probably as a child to be honest. Some would say I never moved on very much! Grin.

I went a bit over the top with sequins when 'staging' the cards - but it's a lesson learned. Less is more in future. Mind you - it does show the lovely variety of sparkly bits in three different 'Lucy's Little Things' packets of shaker stuff/sequins. 

And, so far, I still can't find that missing stamp and matching die either. Sob.

Dragonfly Garden

I recently had a little splurge on some Stamping Up goodies, and one item was the really pretty 'Dragonfly Garden Bundle' of stamps and co-ordinating dies. I knew exactly who I first wanted to use the set for - a very special friend who loves 'flying and fluttering' pretty insect as well as the colour pink:

Here's the result:

I used:

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

- piece of smooth white card onto which i stamped the wild flower image using a Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad

- selected the pink papers from an Echo Park paper pad called 'Be Mine' so I could select the right shade of pink for the image colouring

- coloured the wild flowers image using Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils

- stamped the dragonfly onto more smooth white card using a Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad

- coloured the dragonfly image using Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils, including the silver one in the set

- then went over the wings using a clear Wink of Stella brush pen for some gentle sparkle 

- punched out the dragonfly using the co-ordinating punch, punched two more dragonflies from plain white card and layered the three together using a glue pen

- trimmed the plain deep pink and the script papers then glued the plain pink layer onto the card front

- punched one long edge of the image panel using an ancient Fiskars punch - as close as I could to making the punched out pattern  equidistant at the top and bottom.

- then trimmed the panel to sit properly aligned on the pink script panel and also trimmed the plain left edge. That panel trimming process was possibly the most fiddly part and I've since wondered if I should have created the blank panel first and then done the stamping and colouring as my heart was in my mouth lest I spoiled it!

- glued the image panel onto the pink script panel then added the result to the card front

- next I used a much loved Stamping Up wood mounted stamp to stamp the sentiment, die cut it using a die from the Lil' Inkers Stitched Rectangle A2 set of dies

- backed the sentiment with a trimmed snippet of left-over deep pink paper and glued it in place onto the card front

- added the dragonfly to the card front using little pieces of thin sticky pad, stood back and went 'Hmmmm' - I didn't particularly like the stark white border around the 'critter' so I went around the edge using a silver Wink of Stella brush 

- by this point I was now going 'Hmmmm' over the white area at the top left of the panel - it seemed to make the right hand bottom of the card look too heavy - so I added three sequins in a similar blue to the dragonfly (using Glossy Accents) onto the 'white space', which just pulled the whole card together, IMHO.

- stamped a sentiment onto an insert and added to the card - finished!

The sequins are from Little Things from Lucy's cards and the mix is called 'Bubblegum'. In the USA, Simon Says Stamp carries stocks of Lucy's 'little things'. They don't have her UK full range - but I bet you'd easily find enough to spend your pennies on!

Am entering this card into Darnell's NBUS #26 Challenge - HERE.

I used loads more pencils (for blending, especially on the dragonfly) than those in the photo - but didn't want them to overpower the card itself in the photo. Sigh, but I couldn't pick up the subtle glimmer of the dragonfly, still getting to grips with the new camera.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #402 - results

Well here we are, trotting through May, and I still haven't felt warm enough to dispense with the Liberty Bodice and Ladybird vest, sigh. Hands up who remembers those!

First of all, the picks:

 

Karen (Finkle) returned after being AWOL for a while - welcome back Karen! I really love this card - such a clever way to use up snippets. It would also be great for a chap, without a flower - those papers go together so well and such a great layout.

Valerija brought this great card to share with us. Herringbone backgrounds are always a super way to use up snippets. Love the colour combination as well. And, the strips were cut with a die - which cuts four straight narrow strips at once. Only problem is I don't speak Slovenian - found my way to the suppliers' website but there's no translation option. I can speak German and make a decent stab at most languages - but this stumped me. I wonder if any UK or USA manufacturers have a similar die? Anyone know? Edit:- I did some more searching and found a die set which cuts long slim strips in three different widths - four  of the same width per die. It's a Pinkfresh Studio Essentials Slim Stripes Die Set - stocked by Bumblebee Crafts here in the UK. Hooray!

I picked this card, made by Katrina, as I adore Gorjuss girls. Love how so many snippets have been used, love the layout - and the colours are just perfect! A really lovely card and one I could gaze at for hours on end.

I just had to add our very last entry of the challenge - Linby whizzed in waving this beauty! It's another lovely card and I do so love the layout with the frame and those pretty pink punched flowers. Little punched elements are a great way to use up snippets - I often forget I have so many really nice punches and just reach for one of the many folders of dies I have here. 

I loved the quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson on Lynn's card so much that I absolutely had to rush off and buy it. Not only the words but the fabulous font drew me to it like a moth to a flame. ☺ What really surprised me was that the stamp set it comes in (called Nottingham Lace) is made by Indigo Blu - and I would never have associated that style of font with their products. Bonus, I found the set on e-Bay - new - and a lot cheaper than other places are selling it for, also cheap postage. It always pays to check e-Bay I find! They still have three left - 'wink'. 🤣

That's my picks from Challenge # 402 - in Ruby's Memory. We had 42 entries and no new Playmates. I do know that one or two crafters are hovering on the sidelines, perhaps plucking up their courage to come and play with us. Come on in - you would be so welcome and I always feature your first entry on the following picks and prize draw post.

Time for the draw now - no hanging around this week! The prize is two lovely stamp sets kindly donated by Vicky. And the winner is:

Jackie T

Congratulations and a big 'hooray' Jackie! I've quickly skimmed back through prize winners names and it seems to be forever since you won a prize. I know that you're a fairly frequent 'pick' - but after so long playing faithfully with us I really was pleased to see your entry number pop straight out of the Random Number Generator! I have a hair chop booked for Tuesday and if you get your address to me on Sunday, or Monday at the latest, I can do a detour past the 'remote' post box on my way home.

Please send me your address, 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 #403 HERE. The prize is a Sweet Dixie 'DIY Tools' set of dies - perfect for those 'male' cards - as well as keen lady decorators of course.

We had a brilliant lady decorator during and for a while after after our extension was being built. Sue was married to the builder and totally fearless swinging around the scaffolding painting the barge boards etc. at the very top of the roof level. As often happens, she eventually moved onto his other jobs but boy was she good - really petite but what a little worker - as well as a perfectionist!

Our own news isn't very exciting really. Archery for Len is as safe as can be and people are abiding by the 'rules'. I decided against 'hoofing it' through the town's massive shopping mall, including lifts down from the multi-storey car park, a one way pedestrian system and also wearing a mask the whole time just to get to the optician. Partly in the light of growing Indian variant concerns and also as it was just too much exposure in some confined spaces. I've now found a different and very reputable optician with easy parking directly in front of their lovely new premises. I don't want to leave it too long as the hospital want an eye (see what I said there - hee, hee!) kept on these cataracts which were deemed 'no operation needed' yet - just before COVID lockdowns hit us. They don't seem any different but eyesight is the one thing not worth taking chances with.

Dudley is still into mischief here. The other day he managed to bring a smallish piece of branched twig into the house on the quiet. Little tinker left a decoy piece of it on the landing which was whipped up and disposed of right away - then we spotted him very focussed on something with his back to us. Yup, it was the other part which he'd hidden for later!

The donation I make to the charity that initially rescued Ruby as a little puppy has been done. Huge thanks once again to those who have donated goodies which enable me to transfer what I would have spent myself on prizes for Ruby's Memory Challenges. And of course to all of you who come to play in the Snippets Playground and make this challenge such fun. And also, although my bank manager might disagree, for 'enabling' even more goodies to somehow land in my online shopping baskets!

 

Almost forgot - it's Rudolph Days once again from Tuesday 25th until the end of the month over at ScrappyMo's blog.

 

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

Uniko Happy Birthday card

I love Uniko stamps, and a little while ago bought one of Bev's latest creations - the 'Floral Vines' set of an image plus four perfect sentiments:

I used:

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

- stamped the image and a sentiment onto a piece of white card using the Misti, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and stamps from the Uniko 'Floral Vines' stamp set

- coloured the image using Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils

- trimmed the image panel to 3.75" x 3.75"

- backed the image panel with a 4" x 4" square piece of deep purple Core'dinations card

- glued the finished panel onto the card front

You really do need a stamping platform of some sort to align this lovely set properly. I stamped the three parts separately using a piece of 'grid printed' acetate as an overlay to line things up as best I could.  Also, you have to reverse the floral image to stamp it a second time either above or below the sentiment - the set is designed to be used that way, so it's not my own idea. 

My card 'staging' needs practice although this time I also added the envelope plus the pencils I used for colouring. ☺

Still not stretching up to lift the Pro marker storage rack down so a lot of the time I'm using Polychromos pencils. I think Promarkers actually work better for quite solid blocks of colour, although the camera does exaggerate any variations. But it feels good to be doing a bit of card making - as well as replenishing my depleted stock of Birthday cards!

As the stamp set is having a first outing, I'm entering this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #26.

90 years young!

My wonderful and so young at heart 'Uncle Frank' is 90 years young tomorrow (how did that happen?!) and I really struggled with ideas for his card. In the end, I used a stamp set that's saved me a few times in the past and seemed so perfect for him as he likes a wry smile:

I used:

- white DL card, tent style

- backing paper from a 12" x 12" Studio Calico paper pack appropriately called 'Snippets' so kindly gifted to me a few years ago by a blogging friend - thanks B! x

- trimmed the paper to just smaller than the card front and set it aside

- then stamped the numbers and sentiments onto a piece of white card, using the Misti, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a really handy set of stamps by Woodware called 'Numbers'

- was going to paper piece the '90' but it just felt a bit messy when I'd fussy cut the numbers in readiness, so I coloured it instead, using a (perfectly matched to the backing paper) red Faber-Castell Polychromos pencil

- trimmed the sentiment/numbers strip and backed it with a piece of black card to show - just a narrow strip at the top and bottom of the sentiment piece

- added it to the patterned paper then glued it all in place using Collall All Purpose Glue - finished!

I had a couple of false starts with the stamping - used a new black ink Memento 'Tuxedo Black' pad - and forgot how lightly you need to use them when they're 'fresh'. Also did the background patterned piece twice as the first one didn't have enough red in the pattern where I'd cut it.

I've written here before about Uncle Frank and his late wife , the sweetest ever Auntie Alice, who were in fact my own parents best friends many years ago in Germany. When Mum and Dad 'ran away back to England', leaving me aged 16/17 at boarding school, they had to appoint guardians for me. 

Alice and Frank were their immediate choice and as as they weren't due to leave Germany until after I'd finished my final year at school it was just meant to be. Their task was to step in if, for example, a signature was urgently needed for something medical. Or, we kids were evacuated due to anything untoward happening (the Cuban Missile Crisis had not long ago happened - showing my age there!) and plans were in place to disperse 600+ children from the boarding school on the North coast of Germany overnight.

Plus, I spent half term breaks with them where they lived in Hanover, Germany - too short to return to the UK those days although always great fun and they were so very kind to me. Bearing in mind they didn't have children of their own, it must have been a bit of a shock having a teenager land on them - who couldn't usually see much beyond her fringe. Frank has subsequently confessed that he longed to take a pair of scissors to it ☺ Goodness me, good job he can't see my fringe right now!

Alice used to spend time baking, with me avidly trying to help - I always remember her with such fondness if I bake a lemon drizzle cake. Her orange drizzle cake would be topped with chocolate frosting and to this day I've never made another one. Why aim for perfection when you've already had it - but I do a lemon drizzle cake (no topping) instead.  Plus Frank and I probably wrecked their record collection by playing them at 45rpm, rather than 33rpm - to make them sound more trendy and rather like chipmunks on something akin to drugs! Such happy days.

We had to go to the NAAFI to restock my toiletries, writing paper and (ahem) certain personal items. Frank always made himself scarce for the 'girlie stuff' but did reappear for the 'tuck box' goodies selection process.

He really was such a sport - and still is. Most days I get a message on FB with a 'funny'. This is the one that arrived today, Tuesday:

And finally, this is me, with Alice and Frank in their Aberdeenshire back garden, a good few years ago, a photo I treasure so much:

My beloved surrogate parents - and I'm so very grateful to this day for their love and kindness. Have a wonderful day - my dearest Uncle Frank - and here's to the 100th Birthday telegram in 2031!

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #403

It's been a strange week really, very mixed weather. Sunny and quite warm then, chilly with rain. Len went back to archery on Wednesday morning for the first time for a year and it was a shock to Dudley for sure. He, Dudley not Len, lay at the top of the stairs, watching the front door for the whole morning until the 'aching archer' returned home.

I struggled to make some upcoming Birthday cards  - lack of inspiration didn't really help either. And my exciting outing of the week was a routine dental check-up.

This current challenge's 'snippets sample' card is actually a card made by the lovely Liz of 'Crafty Sunflower'. I spotted it linked into the challenge that just closed and loved it immediately, earmarked it as a 'pick' then rushed out to buy the set of dies for a Playground prize, plus one for me of course. I then  realised this shoulder really needs more TLC so I asked Liz if I could use her card image as a sample - and she very kindly said 'Of course'. And here it is:

I'm hugely grateful to Liz for coming to the rescue - I think we might have had a challenge with just a photo of my huge concertina snippets folder otherwise!

To find out how Liz made this clever card, you can find out all about it on her blog post HERE. I do so love the design and even the sentiment has that 'paint brushed' look about it. You can rely on Liz to come up with some clever ways to use dies and this is a perfect example.

And here's the prize on offer:

It's a Sweet Dixie 'DIY Tools' set of dies needless to say, with lots of depth to the die cuts as well. The image is from the internet as still I'm waiting for delivery of the sets of dies. Absolutely perfect for male cards - it's a while since we had a 'male' themed prize and Liz's design especially is so very clever.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 29th 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 is currently fast asleep under the desk, with his head resting on one of my feet. I'm convinced he's attached to us with invisible velcro! If I stand up, even to just get something from a cupboard in here, he's up and watching. Of course though, he's also incredibly nosy and hates to miss anything ☺

My week ahead includes a check-up at the optician's which means venturing into the centre of town for the first time in well over a year. Then the following week I have a 'hair chop' booked. With cases of the Indian variant of COVID on the rise it seems prudent to get a few appointments out of the way just in case we go into yet another lock down. I really think that would be utterly soul-destroying - certainly I'd be pretty devastated, particularly on behalf of so many people who've been apart from loved ones for so long. Let's hope for the best.

 

Stay safe and be kind. 

  

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

First slimline card for ages!

I've been seeing so many tall and slim, or wide and slim, cards lately, and finally set to the other day - when inspiration was out for a jog. It should be skinny as a rake with all the 'going out for a jog' it's doing these days!

Am really badly behind on Christmas card making so I decided to try out a new scenic paper pack from Whimsy Stamps - and this was the resulting card:

I used:

- UK size white DL card stock - 8.25" x 4" - tent style

- a sheet of paper from the Whimsy Stamps Slimline 'Frozen' scenic \9including igloo to keep the penguins warm!) designer paper pack. The really lovely background papers aren't matched to UK sizes, they're 8.5" x 3.5" - but a bit of pale blue pearlescent card as a 'frame', as well as carefully chopping off a bit from one side of the background Whimsy paper,cured that slightly 'unexpected and a bit disappointing' hiccup

- cut a piece of blue pearlescent card to 8" x 3.75" and then cut the background Whimsy paper to 7.75" wide and left the height at 3.5" so that it was even all round. BTW, the shade.colour of the card I used for framing the image panel will work with loads of the other image panels. Some of them do have mauve and pink tones so it might be that I'll resort to silver mirri or similar, if I can't find a good match

- had already chosen the stamps to use and they're from the Lawn Fawn 'Here we go A-Waddlin' set of stamps - love this set!

- stamped the three carolling penguins onto white card using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad

- coloured them using Faber-Castell Polychromos - mostly as right now I can't reach up to my Pro Markers without asking for help and Len was busy installing a new printer in his own 'den'

- then die cut the 'penguin choir' using the co-ordinating set of Lawn Fawn dies

- at that point I knew how the scene would fit together, so I was very brave/reckless and stamped the sentiment directly onto the background, using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink - admittedly having first checked for 'smudge-ability' on a small piece I'd trimmed from the background Whimsy panel

- then I got even braver and re-positioned the 'still not stuck down' penguin trio and worked out where some 'notes' would go - thank goodness for the Misti!

- stamped the notes using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' again

- then glued the pearlescent baby blue panel on to the card blank

- followed that with the Whimsy back ground panel

- finally, added the die cut penguin trio, using a glue pen!

It made sense to make two cards the same whilst everything was on my desk, particularly as the background images come in twos.

As the paper pack is having its first outing, I'm linking this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #26 HERE. It's ages since I played along, despite blithely using unused goodies as much as possible these days. Slaps own wrist.

I finally bit the bullet and switched over to using my new Canon camera that Santa brought - shame on me for taking so long! I hate change yet it's so similar, albeit much upgraded, that I kicked myself for taking so long to do the switchover. Basically I tend to use things until they're not working right and only then will I consider a change/upgrade. Err, although craft goodies are always an exception of course!

I also tried (following in the footsteps of others, as always) using some SU 'In Good Taste' wood effect background paper when I took the photo, with the card placed deliberately 'on the wonk'. A lovely friend sent me some to try out and then I plumped for buying a whole pack of varied effect patterns. My 'in-house critic' very much approved, so I may even advance to adding in an envelope behind the card, which possibly is more balanced as I've subsequently noticed a few of you doing this. And who knows - in time - perhaps the odd prop or two ☺ 

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #401 - results

Hello and welcome to the Playground once again - another week just flew by. A week of pretty grey and miserable weather - always the same when it's a Bank Holiday in Great Britain.

Let's get straight on with the picks:

Here's a great idea for using up snippet strips - brought to share with us by Lesley G. I love the 'parquet floor' effect and just by changing the colours and sentiment you could make a great card for male, female, adults and children alike. Very versatile design! 

Val shared this wonderful card with us - and another great way to use up snippets. It's called 'Bargello' and is made by creating strips of snippets and then offsetting the colours/patterns to create a lovely and interesting background. It's also a tapestry technique that I've used in the past. Great card Val!

Here's a card I made back in 2013 for the Playground - just to show how versatile the technique is:

Whilst we're on the subject of using up small snippets to create backgrounds - here's a really great tip from Mandy. The card you see above has a very pretty pink background - and Mandy made it by using the front cover (aka contact sheet) from a paper pad. Here it is before being cut up, so you can get the idea - very clever:

That's three picks but I have two more which I just can't leave out:

 

I really love the elegance of Kath's card. The patterned paper is a snippet and how clever to die cut the curve then add it to the corner of the card front, after die cutting the sentiment, then adding it back into the patterned part of the card using the 'camouflage' technique. 

And finally, I picked this card - made by Karen (Ladd) - it's so restful to look at and also uses a few snippets. Who would think that the beige background is an upcycled piece from an old envelope - good thinking there and such a lovely card. 

That's my picks from Challenge #401 in the Playground. We had 47 entries and no new Playmates. But some folk are returning after long absences, which is really nice to see.

So lets move right onto the draw which is for a Woodware stamp set, designed by Jane Gill, and called 'Bold Blooms - Isabella'. And the winner is:

Pat

Congratulations Pat! I know how clever you are with your colouring and am sure you will have fun using this gorgeous floral stamp. The way our weather is right now I can see a happy afternoon or two spent with your watercolours!

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 'Ruby's Memory' Challenge #402 HERE. The prize is being donated by Vicky and it's two stamp sets, Clearly Besotted's 'Dog Years' and W plus 9's 'Strictly Sentiments 2'. We've had a good few entries so far so if you haven't joined in yet, have a dig through your snippets and come and join in! 

We have at least two, probably more, hedgies coming to visit every night. Dudley loves to stop to say hello to them when he goes out for his last mooch around the garden just before bed as there's invariably one or two in the garden at that time. Len managed to take a photo of a smallish one having a drink, beside the feeding station, The water dish was scrubbed totally clean earlier, but the little scamps have a habit of standing in the water like a little foot bath!

On Friday, I heard Len return home laughing after Dudley's lunchtime walk. With lock down and distancing, Dudley has only seen his very best doggie pal from over the road - called Arnie - from afar. However, today they made up for lost time although neither Arnie's Mum nor Len managed to take a phone photo of the pair of them. I did a quick search on t'internet and found exactly what they apparently looked like when they greeted one another - by hugging - after so long apart:

Please remember this isn't actually Dudley and Arnie hugging hello - but Len says it could so easily be them - Arnie is black and curly, Dudley is white with peach coloured ears, both have plumes for tails and they're both about the same size as one another. Talk about cute - just wish I'd seen it for myself - who knows, it might happen again and phones will be at the ready to take photos!

 

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