Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #417 - Ruby's Memory

Hello again - thanks for calling by! It's time for another snippets challenge dedicated to sweet Ruby's Memory, in aid of the centre who originally rescued her, and this is our eighth one.

The prizes for this challenge have kindly been donated by two different Playmates! So there are two chances to win a prize as we'll be celebrating having donated £200 to the rescue centre once this challenge closes. Also the Playground toy box is overflowing with prizes here right now and I can't get the lid on properly! That should be a hint that we'll have a Grand Christmas/New Year Draw again this year ☺ 

From Linby we have Prize A:

Creative Expressions 'For you' edger die, Apple Blossom 'Flourish Clover' die and a set of Crafters Companion stamps called 'Craft Words'

And from a playmate who wishes to remain anonymous we have Prize B:

Tattered Lace Border Collection 'Floral' set embossing folders, Tattered Lace 'Blossoms' set of dies, Joanna Sheen Signature dies 'Holly Swag', Clear Stamp Boutique 'Just for You Vase and Flowers' set of stamps and a Hobby Art really sweet little Christmas Bear stamp.

 

What generous donations from two lovely people. Thank you both so much!

I'm afraid that I won't split or mix around the bundles. It might be that you already have something that's included in a bundle but please don't let that put you off playing. I'm sure that the donors will be just the same as me when I say feel free to pass anything onto a crafting friend - at your end.

Remember to always say if you're playing for the prize on offer - and this time please also say 'Prize A', 'Prize B' or 'Either'.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 11th December. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day - and the Grand Christmas Draw will begin!

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.

Dudley gave us a good few 'moments' this past week. On Thursday, he took a real dislike to the British Gas engineer who came to do the annual boiler service. In the end we had to 'gate' him in the craft room with me. To be honest, the guy was rather weird and never even asked if he could go upstairs to check the radiators - he just did it ... which set Dudley off again in protest! Only once the guy had gone did we realise what the issue had been. He was working in the garage where our boiler is housed and Dudley's store of food, treats and a little army of as yet unused toys are also housed in there! Once freed, he shot down into the garage to do a full inspection and audit!

Lots of love from Dudley Dog and of course me,

Rudolph Days Challenge - November 2021

Maureen's husband Al is thankfully making good progress after heart surgery and the November Rudolph Days Challenge is now up and running HERE. The best news of course is that Al is so much improved.

I made my card for the challenge about a week ago - it's a slimline one (DL size) using more from the Whimsy scenic paper pack:

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  designer paper pack. It's just a snowy slope with sky and mountains in the background - but a perfect foil for what I did next (IMHO)

- cut a piece of silver 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

- had already chosen the stamps to use and they're from the MFT 'Ready, set, snow' set of stamps - love this set!

- stamped the three really cute snow boarding 'critters' plus a couple of trees onto white card using a Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad

- coloured them all using Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils

- then die cut them, using the co-ordinating set of MFT dies

- at that point I knew how the scene would fit together, and also that it was safe to stamp directly onto the background (from making a couple of cards using the same scenic background pad back in May) so I added the sentiment directly onto the background, using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- then positioned the 'still not stuck down' snowboarding trio plus two trees and worked out where some ''flipped back snow swirls' would go - using the Misti of course

- stamped the snow swirls, using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' again

- then glued the pearlescent silver panel on to the card blank

- followed that with the Whimsy back ground panel

- added the trees using a glue pen and the snowboarding critters using thin sticky pads

The colours are actually brighter, but still quite pastel, the best I could get as it was so dull here this afternoon when I took the photo. And the little shadows you can see around the images and their snowboards were just picked up by the camera due to the light (I'm not clever enough to have added them deliberately), yet as they're slightly raised, you do get that effect when you look at the cards in real life. 

I'm a big fan of 'Ultratape' sticky pads and have used them for many years. They come in a sheet of 40 pads at approx. half an inch by one inch each in size. As they're lovely and thin, no worries about going into 'Large letter' postal rates - they're quick and easy to use, not messy and also snip into the tiniest pieces.  

It made sense to make two cards exactly the same whilst everything was on my desk, particularly as the background papers come in twos. I totally love the Whimsy 'Frozen' scenic background papers - and already have plans for more pairs of cards. 

As the set of stamps and dies is having its first outing, I'm linking this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #32 HERE.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #415 - results

Still no real sign of Winter just yet (vests and Liberty bodices spring to mind!) but Christmas is certainly peeking over the horizon so, perhaps once December arrives, Jack Frost will also put in an appearance.

First of all, the picks - and we have two cards as one pick first:

Two Playmates joined in this challenge with cards showing 'Disappearing Nine Patch' cards - a technique I subsequently found beautifully shown and explained in a SCS tutorial HERE. It's absolutely fabulous I think, very clever and so perfect for using up snippets. I had to let you see both cards - in fairness to the girls who made them - they're both beautiful and yet quite different. This seems to be a real trend sweeping across a few challenges right now - I love it. The cards were made by Suzanne and Sandy. Well done girls!  

Megan, above, had several snippets cards in one post using strips of patterned papers inside various shaped apertures and this is just one of them. They're all fabulous and do please go and have a look HERE for some inspiration. I love all of them Megan!

 

I immediately loved this card, made by Inkami (Franka). As Sarn rightly said in her comment, it's difficult to pull off the 'balance of striking as well as intricate' - and this card is a beautiful example of what a lovely die, carefully chosen colours and an eye for design can achieve when you're using up snippets.   

 

Two new Playmates this time:

 

Melanie H

Karen C

What a lot of fabulous inspiration from everyone, both new and existing Playmates - thank you all so much.

That's my picks from Challenge 415 in the Playground and I've stuck to the three picks limit, plus our new Playmates, very tough choosing - as always! We had 51 entries in total, it's so good to see the number of entries looking so healthy.

Now for the prize draw which is a Penny Black slapstick/cling stamp called 'full of glee', kindly donated by Darnell - and here's the winner:

Linby

Congratulations Lynn! I'm pretty sure this stamp will make an appearance before too long on one of your DT projects. 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.

Had a quiet smile here, Darnell's name popped out first - the giver of the prize in the first place ☺

As soon as I have your address Lynn, I'll pop your prize in the post the next time I'm out giving the car some exercise.

Remember folks, there's still almost one more week to run on the current Challenge #416 which you can find HERE. The prize is already proving to be very popular - it's a Pink Ink set of stamps and matching dies called 'Pigs Might Fly'.

Also, the Christmas Kickstart Challenge (Christmas Snippets), where I'm currently Jo's guest 'elf', is still running until the end of November.

At the moment, I don't know if Scrappy Mo will be running her Rudolph Days challenge this month (usually from the 25th) as her husband is recovering from a quadruple bypass. I suggest you keep an eye on Mo's blog HERE. My card is all ready and waiting but Al's health as well as Mo's own well-being must come first.

We had a Sainsbury's delivery during the week and the delivery man heard Dudley 'singing' to him from the top of the stairs and called up 'Where's your honking duck today little fella?'. He'd remembered that Dudders brought his duck down to show to him. Dudley's 'singing' is preferable to him barking when folk are at the open front door here - it's a cross between yodelling and varying notes of a sort of doggie song.

I was finishing off writing this post yesterday afternoon (Saturday) and Len reminded me it was time for Dudley's quarterly worming tablet. Something he hates and we dread as it's such a struggle - we've tried all disguises for the wretched pill and sadly even stinky blue cheese, which he loves, doesn't fool him. Len went to a high level drawer in the bedroom where 'special treat time' doggie choccie drops are kept hidden - Dudley was sitting on our bed being nosy as usual of course. As I moved onto the landing to go and help Len with the 'administering' I was almost bowled over. Dudley literally flew through the air off the bed, charged right past me, scampered down the stairs and belted into the lounge to hide. We both stood open mouthed thinking - 'what just happened?'. All we can think is that he associates choccie drops with medicine - right from three months ago - and he was having none of it. I almost cried laughing - it's about the fastest I've ever seen Dudley move! So far we haven't made any move at all to try again.

Only 15 minutes earlier Len had had to wake him up and carry him down to the garden for the toilet (ie. poo time) before rain arrived - and I took this photo. He was so sleepy and just dangling like a limp dishcloth and  that's Len's hand you can see under his chest/tummy to carry him:

I do NOT need to go to the toilet - let me sleep! I was all warm and cosy, sigh.

His legs and tail all seem to have merged into one another - but the grumpy sleepy look on his dishevelled face tells the full story! 

Right now though, the little guy is 100% wide awake and on high alert! No worming tablets today, thank you very much!

Edit - Len caught Dudley almost unawares just before bedtime, popped the pill in and gulp, down it went without a battle, for once - hooray!

Love from me - and a 'high-five' plus a woof from Dudley,

March of the gnomes - end result

Last week I posted about assembling 20 little Simon Says Stamp gnomes HERE. The little lady gnomes were kindly die cut and sent to me by Karen L all the way from the USA, along with some spare card so I could use my little 'gnome chap' die to make companions for them. Using my Altenew mini die cutting machine I ended up with a little army of 20 gnomes - eight lady and chap pairs and four lone ladies. And here's a peek at some of the finished cards:

I used:

- white card blanks - four @ 5.5" x 4.25" and eight @ 4" x 4" 

- die cutting the chaps then assembling the gnomes took forever, Karen must have the patience of a saint. The little chaps aren't too bad but the ladies are more painstaking to assemble. I cut the chaps from the spare snippets of card Karen had sent - so that the pairs would co-ordinate yet not have the same outfits (just by swopping the hats and lower body colours)

- all the gnomes were assembled using a glue pen and the little noses were all coloured with a Dusky Pink Pro marker - and the beards were flicked with a Warm Grey Pro marker

- quite rightly, Karen hadn't included any teeny bows for the little ladies' braids - so I rummaged through my own dies and found a bow from Marianne Creatables LR0467 set of 'ballet' dies which suited perfectly. Some of the snippets were too tiny even for that so a further rummage turned up a teeny bow shaped die from an Impression Obsessions set of dies called 'Kite' - result!

- backgrounds were trimmed down from three different scenes in the KanBan 'Christmas Wobblers' pack of pre-printed backgrounds - so that I could make 12 cards, four of each using each scene background, just wearing different colour combinations

- glued the backgrounds to the card fronts

- added the gnomes using thin sticky pads

- finally, added Craftwork Cards pre-printed and die cut sentiments to eight of the cards - the backgrounds are made using glossy card (as shown in some relection from my daylight lamp - sorry!) so I had to avoid stamping the sentiments

- finished!

I did love making these cards - they certainly took me quite a while in several sessions, just as and when I felt the inclination. A massive thank you to Karen - you're a star my friend!

I'm entering the current Allsorts Challenge #650 - where the current theme is 'Christmas'. Hooray, for once I made the deadline - I miss entering this challenge so often as I'm quite a slow thinker/crafter

Speaking of challenges, a little reminder folks that the Christmas Snippets challenge is still running over at Christmas Kickstart, where it's my turn to be 'Jo's Christmas Elf' for the month. Why not join in? So far a lot of you already have played - Jo is kinder than me though and you can actually play up to three times, with a maximum of seven other challenge entries each time you enter a Christmas snippets make. This is now another one of my favourite challenges.

Pixies Snippets Playground - Challenge 416

Welcome to a new Snippets Playground Challenge.The Winter is dithering a bit here, some days are relatively warm for the time of year and, as yet, we haven't seen our first frost. Having said that - time is certainly galloping towards Christmas. Len even started playing Christmas music on his guitar and is already asking me to decide what outdoor/indoor lights we'll have this year. No idea was the response - too soon for me.

And for this challenge we have another lovely Guest Designer. This time it's Amanda of 'Panda's Paper Playtime'!

To find out how Amanda made her fabulous card hop over to HERE. There are even step by step photos for you to see the process! I absolutely adore this card, needless to say as I'm a huge fan of Amanda's work and have been for a lot of years, the snippets are cleverly coloured leftover strips from a huge batch of Wedding invitation making. Many thanks for being our Guest Designer for this challenge Amanda, and also a huge thank you for making such a brilliant card to showcase the prize - it's great fun!

And, the prize from me this fortnight is:

It's a five piece stamp set, along with five matching dies, by Pink Ink called 'Pigs Might Fly'. Cute, quirky and something quite different. I particularly love how Amanda used the set with a 'rainbow' and also kept it so fresh.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 27th November. 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 had a trim (by Len) using the new clippers last Sunday and, thankfully, we seem to have finally found the right (and of course, almost most expensive) ones available. We also had quite a bit of work done on the gardens, front and back, earlier in the week. More on that in 2022. Dudley was in his element ,needless to say - once he got used to the guys. He really is such a nosy-parker and had to inspect everything. Good job he's so cute and can get away with it! Having had a bath last Saturday, of course he's a bit grubby ............ sooner than planned though!

 

I had good news from the new optician I went to during the week, the cataracts are still deemed to be minimal and no need for a referral. It appears that my previous optician over reacted about the cataracts two years ago (as confirmed by the hospital last year). For now it's a case of 'keeping an eye on things' - to coin a phrase! Yippee - bit of a relief at least for now, during the current situation.

Stay safe and be kind.

 

Lots of love from myself and a 'woof' from Dudley, 

Lest we forget

March of the gnomes - they're on the way

The only thing I can say for now, is that a lovely friend mailed the umpteen die cut pieces from the USA for the SSS lady gnomes so I could assemble them - plus some spare matching card to cut and assemble my own matching 'chap' gnomes', as I already have that male gnome SSS die set. Still with me?

There are 4 singles and 8 couples, enough for 12 cards which will appear later in the week - but, if you count, one couple is missing!

Caught them booking into the local Holiday Inn in disguise! Now returned to the 'fold' and ready to be placed onto various cards. Little tinkers!

Quite rightly, the hair bows were a step too far on my lovely friend's die cutting - but I found two little dies from other sets here and managed to only just squeeze what I wanted, from scraps left over from the card she sent! 

What fun I've had - full reveal and also who had such a big heart will be in a future post!

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #414 - results

Hello and welcome to another results post. As I'm typing this on Friday 5th November it's like WW2 out there - thanks to idiots who must have their fireworks, despite a huge local communal display on 6th November.

 

Anyhow - here are the picks for this time around:

 

What a stunning Christmas card this is, made by Val. Flags are always a great way to use snippet strips and I particularly love the idea of  the sentiment strip across the card, great thinking! 

Here's a super card made by Franka (Inkami). Again, a very elegant card and plenty of snippets used. Red and either gold or silver are such wonderful companions on Christmas cards.

And my final pick is this fun card, shared with us by Kitty - it looks good enough to eat really. Wonderful combination of snippets as well!

We had two new Playmates this time:

Jennifer H, with this fabulous male card

Pauline C with a lovely vintage card

That's the picks from Challenge #414 and we had 39 entries in total.

 

The rather sad part is that when I revisited potential picks on my little list to pick out the final three, one didn't mention what snippets they had used (even though I could hazard a guess, that's not fair to other entrants) - and another potential pick didn't have a link to the Snippets Playground in their post. Which disqualified them both from not only being a pick but also from the prize draw. I've said it so many times and find it such a shame when people miss out.

Now for the prize draw,which is an Echo Park 'Candy Cane Christmas' set of dies plus a Neat & Tangled 'Medallion Flower Builder' set of dies. Kindly donated by Kathy A. And the winner is:

Karen Ladd

Congratulations Karen! Knowing your 'love of die cutting', you'll love these dies. Kathy will post/mail it to you directly from her home 'across the Pond'.

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 a good prompt for me and 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 #415 which you can find HERE. The prize is a lovely floral Penny Black slapstick/cling stamp called 'full of glee', kindly donated to the toy box by Darnell.

Challenge #414 was in aid of Ruby's Memory and I just sent off a further donation to USPCA, the rescue charity who saved Ruby and gave her the chance of the wonderful life she had with Lynne and Greg. That means, thanks to your generous prize donations, and the addition of Gift Aid tax relief onto my donations in lieu of buying prizes, we've raised £175 for USPCA so far.

And, there is some really happy news over on Lynne in NI's blog, in case you missed it - take a look: 

Meet 'Miss' Molly, who has joined Lynne and Greg as their new little Westie fur baby. We all know that a new doggy can never, ever actually replace Ruby - but this little sweetie will surely help to heal the massive holes left in Lynne and Greg's lives and hearts, coming up to a year ago now - as well as becoming a much loved and very important member of the family. In time I think she and Ruby will blend together all the love in your home and almost become as one. We all wish you three loads of happy times ahead - and wee Ruby will always be in our hearts and watching over you all for sure.

Am currently doing a turn as Guest Designer over at the Christmas Kickstart Challenge - run by the very sweet Jo. The theme is Christmas of course - and it's snippets! Please come and join in HERE.

On Friday I had my COVID booster jab, with no reaction so far other than feeling as if someone punched me in the arm. The organisation was brilliant, unlike the local health centre's chaotic and hopeless 'organisation' of flu vaccinations six weeks ago. Hats off to the NHS - so that's both of us up to date with our flu and COVID jabs. Little Dudley has his doggy booster jab in December but we're keeping that under wraps! 

Dudley news: Poor little mite had a bath/shower yesterday (Saturday) which will be followed by a going over with yet another (third time lucky?) set of doggy clippers today if possible. If these don't do the job, then I'll be bundling Dudley into my car and whisking him off to the only local grooming salon that I trust. 

 

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

Birthday cards for Livi and Josh

I suddenly realised I needed three Birthday cards in a real hurry so LOTV Art Pads came to the rescue for two of them. Both cards are very similar in design, which certainly sped the whole process along:

Livi is still playing football and, even though she now has a really cute pixie cut hairstyle, I thought she'd like this card:

And Josh is at the age where I've previously covered all his interests - perhaps someday he'll take up fishing though:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blanks, side opening (how odd though, they look almost square in the photos)

- images from LOTV Art Pads - 'Annabel' and 'Vintage Boys'

- die cut both images using a die from the Presscut 'Oval Stitch Hole' inner and outer set of dies

- used patterned papers from the Lawn Fawn 'Really Rainbow' paper pad for both cards (Livi's also has a border of pearlescent 'Red Velvet' card), trimmed them and glued in place 

- glued the image ovals in place

- added sentiment ovals (Craftwork Cards) in the top left hand corners at an angle

- finished!

I whipped these cards up in no time, once organised  - time was getting short to post Livi's to Germany and it's amazing what you can do when a timescale is snapping at your heels! I rarely resort to ready made images these days but they can be a real lifesaver. To be fair to myself, it's a bit of a trial lifting things around and hunting for stuff - even though it's pretty well organised - so making cards isn't so easy physically as it used to be. Sigh, comes to us all though and I'd rather be here still, albeit struggling and groaning/creaking at the seams at times. 

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #56 - Christmas Snippets

I was really delighted a few weeks ago when the lovely Jo of Dotty Pudding Designs asked me to be November's Guest Designer over at the Christmas Kickstart Challenge. The theme is Christmas Snippets and I jumped at the chance needless to say! It's a long time since I was a Guest Designer and it's such a lovely compliment to be asked.

Mind you, actually deciding what to make for my GD card was so difficult - mostly as the possibilities for using snippets are endless (as we all know) and different ideas just kept on flooding into my mind. It was as if Mr Mojo had returned and brought along several of his friends as well!

This is what I made in the end: 

And these are the snippets I used for the paper piecing. I'm a bit of a 'neat freak' and do trim my snippets to squares or rectangles before storing them away. It works for me and also keeps my OCD satisfied:

I used:

- A6 Kraft card blank

- a layer of red poinsettia patterned paper - trimmed to just slightly smaller than the card front - from Wild Rose Studio's 'Annabelle's Christmas' paper pack

- a piece of pale green paper from the same pack, trimmed to a smidgeon smaller than the red 'frame' to use as the actual background

- used Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad and Woodware's 'Hanging Hearts' stamp set to stamp the image and sentiment - using the Misti for good luck!

- then stamped all the elements I wanted to paper piece onto the relevant pieces snippet of patterned paper. Used more of the red poinsettia plus some very dark green holly patterned paper - both were tucked inside'Annabelle's Christmas' inside the 'snippets pouch' I always add inside the back cover of patterned paper pads. Also found some perfect snippets inside the back pouch  of LOTV's 'Krafty Christmas' paper pad

- fussy cut all the paper piecing elements, did colour the robin's beak using a dark brown Whispers pen rather than go on a lengthy hunt for a snippet of dark brown paper but all the rest of the bird, the hearts, holly leaves and berries were paper pieced

- each piece then had a black Whispers pen run around the outside edge to hide any 'core' or mis-snips

- then glued all the pieces in place, making sure to add the glue (using a glue pen) to the images rather than to the fussy cut pieces of paper (an invaluable tip from Jules many years ago!)

- and the final touch, three teeny little self-adhesive diamantes onto three of the strings, just for a little bit of 'schparkle'

I had such fun making this card and indulging in one of my favourite ways to use up snippets. I adore both of these paper pads and eke out every tiny piece possible so really had to do some juggling to get what I wanted from the snippets/scraps ☺

Many thanks to Jo for inviting me to be a Guest Designer over at the Christmas Kickstart Challenge and I'd really love it if you would come along and join in with the challenge - this is the LINK. It's open until the end of the month so you have plenty of time - and you can also link your entry into the Playground of course! 

There's a £10 voucher to be won to spend over at Sticker Kitten and a 10% discount for all participants!   I hadn't come across Sticker Kitten before and absolutely love their online shop. I already have my eye on a few things needless to say, despite my self-imposed curb on craft shopping☺

I'd also like to enter this card into Darnell's current NBUS #32 challenge - HERE. The Woodware stamp set is one of a late Summer haul of Woodware Christmas designs I treated myself to a month or two ago!