Sunday 19 March 2023

Snowy Kisses

This is my snippets card to kick off challenge #450 in over in the Snippets Playground. Go HERE to join in the fun!

Bad 'lighting engineer' work means the right hand side of the card is a bit washed out - sorry, Dudley is still learning the ropes, wink!

Sizeable snippets, although I didn't use some of the white card or the piece of vellum in the end

I used:

- 6" x 6" white card blank, made using a sheet of Strathmore Mixed Media Vellum Finish card to match the image panel-  side opening

- used a snippet of the Strathmore card for the image panel (I keep every little scrap - it's not cheap stuff!) using a Sweet Dixie stamp called 'Snowy Kisses' and a VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' ink pad 

- then coloured the image using Arteza Watercolour pencils and a water brush - trying to pick up the background paper colours as much as possible

- added clear 'Wink of Stella' - to the snow on the trees, the snowballs on the ground and also the little poinsettia flower head - so cute!

- die cut the image panel using a 4" square die from Clarity Stamps 'Nested Square Heart Doodle Aperture Frame-Its' set

- stamped the sentiment onto the image panel using a die from Uniko's 'Most Wonderful' set of Christmas sentiments and a Hero Hues 'Granite' ink pad - the Misti was invaluable!

- then slightly trimmed a rather large snippet of holly patterned paper from LOTV's 'Woodland Wishes' paper pad down to 5.75" square and glued it onto the card front

- die cut a snippet of almost plain green paper from the same LOTV paper pad, using a Presscut die from their huge set of square dies. I did this having tried on a totally unusable piece of card first - to make sure both sizes lined up perfectly

- glued the green piece of die cut paper to the back of the image panel to highlight the pretty die cut edging around the image panel, I used a glue pen - two in fact, with different sized nibs for fear of spoiling all the work thus far!

- used very narrow pre-cut strips of double sided foam (from Amazon a while ago and very useful for a little more 'lift' than my much loved thin sticky pads) to stick around the back of the image panel with a few more pieces inside the area to add extra support

- then used Chrissie Stokes' tip, after removing the protection layer from the foam strips, I ran a glue stick over all the exposed 'sticky' to give it some 'wiggle room' rather than immediately setting itself firmly in place

- and that was it, all finished and one more for the 'Christmas Card box' - which is looking fairly healthy already!

Some things I encountered along the way:

- Arteza watercolour pencils are truly great and the more one uses them, the easier and more variable it becomes. I generally apply water colour pencil to the image and then 'draw it away' using a water pen. It's also a good option to pick up the colour with a water pen - directly from the pencil itself and darker colours tend to work best when doing this.

The use of the set of dies came about thanks to a snippets playmate Pat - I'd all but forgotten I have a set of these dies and one of Pat's recent lovely cards prompted me to dig it out for a first outing.The packaging is huge and it didn't fit into a NBUS basket so was languishing to one side. Thanks for that reminder Pat!

As always, my LOTV pads papers are continuing to gradually diminish in size. I had the foresight to buy some in digital form when it was apparent that digital was the route they were taking. I'm not keen on digital papers or images - but needs must when the devil drives!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #48 - my NBUS is the Sweet Dixie stamp I used for the 'Snowy Kisses' image and the set of Clarity frame dies

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #72  - the theme is 'Wrapped Up For Christmas' and my 'snow people' are wrapped up in their scarves - as well as in one another judging by the carrot noses! Cute! x

Dudley Pupdate - he discovered blueberries during the week. I'd read that dogs rather liked them and so gave him one to try whilst preparing a little dessert for us humans - of fresh blueberries with strawberry kefir yoghurt. Of course, Dudley then ran away with his first one, as he does, to explore and try out his new 'single berry treat' in peace - thankfully on a tiled floor as am sure they will stain both him and anything else they come into contact with! After two return visits to ask for more, the novelty wore off - thankfully! 

As it is, Dudley flings his diced carrots all over the place with wild abandon - mostly as he sifts through his 'veggie dog-bowl' to make sure his much loved diced sweet peppers have all been eaten first. We're not particularly vegetarian but do try to supplement his breakfast of more traditional semi-dry dog foods with evening meals of steamed chicken, other cooked meats - 'preferably grilled steak' says Dudley, the treat of a boiled egg as well as fresh raw and safe veggies at least. 

Fat chance of grilled steak here - the country is in financial meltdown right now and Dudley has to knuckle down ......... and might even need to get a newspaper round at some point. Ha, just try telling HIM that one though! Truth be told - he actually gives SO much more than he ever asks for, just like all dogs do.



26 comments:

  1. So Dudley discovered Blueberries, how about Strawberries, our's love to pick both when in season. And I discovered purely by chance when pickle making in the Autumn they adore cauliflower stem, thats seems to be a real treat and even better than carrot.

    Your Christmas card is very pretty as is the square die edging.

    B x

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  2. Such a cute and pretty card Di, adorable snow couple kissing noses xxx

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  3. Love the die cut square you used for the cute snow family. Good to hear you rate the Arteza pencils. As I just said over in the Playground - it’s a lovely Christmas card.
    I reckon you’re right about blueberries staining things if Dudley was messy with them!!! Xxx

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  4. Delightful make and what a lovely lot of snippets too!

    Happy Sunday to you

    Kathyk

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  5. Wonderful card Di, your little ‘snow people’ are so cute. I love the decorative die cut frame. Just Googled it and see it comes as a set of ten….. sitting on my hands here! 🤣

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    1. When I bought mine it wasn't a bundle Liz. X

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    2. It looks like you have the set which cuts the pattern in the card and not a complete die cut frame.... if you know what I mean. Is that right? xx

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  6. You've made a brilliant card with those cute snow people, beautifully coloured and finished off nicely with the borders etc. Great to read the Dudley 'pupdate' too.

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  7. Those snow people with their noses touching are just too cute and I love the die cut panel too. Sounds like Dudley has a well-rounded diet and I agree that dogs give so much back to humans. Many other animals do as well. Take care and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

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  8. This is a beautiful and elegant Christmas card Di using that sweet snow couple, incidentally one I was lucky enough to win over at the playground, and framed with one of the pretty edges in the set by Clarity, and thanks for the shout out. I was lucky enough to get three sets as a bundle when they were on sale a while ago so have all the variations in the square shape which is my usual preference. The LOTV paper is the perfect choice as a background too. I would never have thought that a dog would like blueberries, but just as well to feed one at a time as can imagine a bowl full would make a wonderful mess...lol. x

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  9. A lovely cute card Di. I love the dies you've used too - another one for my wish list!
    Kath x

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  10. This card is adorable, love so much the image and the snow-woman with the gloves and earmuffs crack me up! :) Beautiful water colouring!! The holly patterned paper is THE perfect match and love also the decorative panel with its good dimension. That double size foam seems just a winning!
    Your description of Dudley with blueberries, carrots and peppers made me smile, I have seen him with my mind eyes!! :D
    Financial crisis is becoming really strong for all, sadly. :( I just got word that Jane’s Doodles is closing, too, because she doesn’t sell enough to bear the costs. Yet her stamps are so lovely. Very sad for this.

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  11. Oooooo, what a sweet card, Di! That frame, your colouring, your choice of image... I'm loving them all! Thanks for joining Monika and me at Christmas Kickstart. Jo x

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  12. Awww lovely card Di, that's such a sweet image!
    I'll have to try Molly with a sweet pepper, she's never had one, does love boiled egg though, and she definitely wouldn't turn her nose up at a bit of steak!

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  13. I never knew that dogs would eat blueberries!! I have learnt something :) A sweet card Di, I love that fabulous die cut around the panel, as well as the image itself
    Blessings
    MAxine

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  14. Gorgeous Christmas card Di ... I just love the snow people stamp with such soft colours, and the fab square framing die. Who knew that dogs eat blueberries?? I absolutely love them myself and eat them every day on my porridge ... so if Dudley came round to our house he'd doubtless be in heaven! xx

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  15. It's gorgeous and that die does make it rather special. I've been weighing it all up and the aperture dies have fallen in my basket with something else too! I hope the blueberries don't stain Dudley's lovely white coat. My Westie used to love to chew on a whole carrot. L x

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    1. Ooopsie - sorry! Blame Pat! She reminded me I had a set still NBUS xx

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  16. Darling Christmas scene and that is a fabulous die you used!

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  17. Such a wonderful post, Di! Love hearing about Dudley, of course! Wish we could give Fritz some healthy people food, but the vet says only his prescription food. Of course, he has managed some bites as he can grab what I drop way before I can get it--haha! Just love this sweet card & I adore the die cut!

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  18. Sorry to hear that Dudley's "allowance" doesn't include steak often ... better for him though. So cute that he carries off his blueberries, aren't dogs funny?

    Happy to see I'm not the only person making Christmas cards throughout the year!

    Have a good day

    Kathyk

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  19. Adorable card! Also great is that sweet little die cut around the cuties. As for Dudley, and all dogs, I totally agree that they give us so much more so throw him another blueberry for me!

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  20. 💚🎅💗 This card is adorable! I saw this at the NBUS Challenge and came by for a closer look. I host a new challenge, Park Hopping My Happy Place Challenge. It is anything goes inspired by a theme park. Your snowmen remind me of Disneyworld’s Blizzard Beach, where it’s always winter. I’d love you to share this on Park Hopping My Happy Place. I hope you'll join the fun! Have a creative weekend. Join at https://parkhoppingmyhappyplace.com/. Cheers, Makira

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  21. I didn't know dogs liked blueberries. I learned something new today. Adorable card! Hopping over from Snippets Playground.

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  22. I must get on with some Christmas cards, usually, I've done a few by now. Thanks for the tips about the watercolour pencils. I'm just picturing Dudley with his blueberry!

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