Sunday Snippets and Rudolph Days Challenge

I made my snippets card for the current Rudolph Days Challenge HERE, as well as for my Sunday Snippets post.

The images were already stamped and sent to me by a lovely friend after I commented on her blog how much the stamp reminded me of Dudley. I tend not to publish names of friends who stamp images for me just in case the Copyright Police come knocking at the door - however - you know who you are and a massive thank you once again!  And not just one copy - there were 20 all the same in the envelope!

I used:

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

- have already explained about the adorable Penny Black 'Reindeer Pup' image  - which I coloured using Faber Castell Polychromos pencils then die cut using a die from the Penny Black 'Zigzag Stackers Rectangles' set of dies - I LOVE these dies!

- next I stamped a small sentiment directly onto the image - using my Misti and a VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' ink pad along with a stamp by Personal Impressions designed by Kirsty Wiseman from a set called 'Many Greetings' - this is possibly my most loved and used Christmas sentiments set of stamps! And I've had it for many, many years

- then took a piece of tartan paper, die cut to a smidgen under the size of the card front - leaving a lovely narrow border. I used the largest plain die from the Spellbinders 'Hemstitch Venise (sic) Lace Rectangles' set of dies and the paper is from Craft Consortium's Essential Papers 'Tartan' pad. The main reason for using the die was to centre the tartan pattern properly - OCD strikes again!

- glued the tartan paper and the completed image panel onto the card front using Collall All Purpose glue - and it was finished!

The images came on white card trimmed to around 4" square - and I'm counting those as my snippets. I have a further 19 images which are about two thirds of the way through a batch baking session - that will boost numbers in the Christmas card box for sure!

I'd like to add this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #51 HERE. The 'Penny Black 'Reindeer Pup' images as well as the paper pad were both having a first outing.

We have a new Challenge, run by Sarn, over in the Snippets Playground HERE - with a lovely prize made up of several goodies. 

Dudley Pupdate: The little guy has had yet another haircut - fast on the heels of his previous one, only four weeks ago! I think that Len is possibly a bit 'trimmer and scissor happy' - I'm going to start calling him' Edward Scissorhands'! 

Dudley put up the usual good fight but is now all nicely trimmed (aka scalped!) and even more able to cope with the heat here. He never bears a grudge, no matter how much of a fight he puts up at the time - he's such a sweet natured little pup and always looks so tiny for a couple of weeks. Until the hair grows back with a vengeance!

On the down side of life - Honka Duck had to be removed from Dudley, discretely, and hidden in the garden shed for now, as Dudley was being sick for no apparent reason. Len puts it down to poor manky ole Honka Duck. And I tend to agree as it stopped immediately he could no longer lick and mouth Honka. So right now we have a slightly bemused Dudley not actually 'taking' to the newest version of Honka - which has been within his range for months now! He's slightly bereft, to put it mildly! Watch this space. 😔

Love from Dudley - and of course me,  

Sunday Snippets - dancing in the rain

Here's my Sunday Snippets card:

It's a super quick and simple card this week - not even a photo of the two snippets I used!

I used:

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

- a snippet of black textured card stock for the backing, trimmed to 4.25" square and set aside

- a snippet of blue patterned card stock - found lurking in the front of my snippets concertina file - trimmed down to 4" square

- used a NBUS stamp set that I've had for absolutely ages - called 'Dance in The Rain' by Inkylicious - to stamp the girl and a sentiment onto the blue patterned card, using a VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' ink pad

- glued the black layer then the image layer onto the card front

- final touch - a few Memory Box self-adhesive clear Fairy Drops

I really love the sentiment I used for this card - just a few words, but very wise advice. 

I'd like to enter this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #51 HERE. The Inkylicious stamp set was having its first outing.

Sarn has posted the results of Challenge #455 over in the Snippets Playground HERE. As always, we had some really great entries - and numbers were good. We're well down in the current challenge but, given the current heat we're all trying to cope with, it isn't surprising!

Dudley Pupdate: First of all, thank you so much for your sweet comments about 'our Boy Dudley' and his photos last week. He's so difficult to catch on camera - basically he looks anywhere but at the flipping lens! Remember he took a tumble the other week when trying to leap onto our bed via a footstool placed there specifically for him? We've noticed that if he has his beloved Honka Duck in his mouth (most likely obscuring his view as he carries it sideways) - now and then (but not every time) he will stop and wait for help to get him and his 'Bestie' up onto the bed. It isn't that he's hurting - he's just got a very good memory and at times we think the memory of his tumble seems to stop him in his tracks. Wise little guy! Other than that - the pavements around here are way too hot for him to go out and about for daytime walkies so he's spending his time happily in the back garden or lying flat on his back indoors ..... in typical 'guard duty' pose!

There's still one week of the current Snippets Challenge to go, hope to see you in the Playground but we fully understand that this heat is deterring many from spending time crafting.

Love, as always, from myself and Dudley,

Sunday Snippets and a new challenge

Challenge #456 is now up and running over on the Snippets Playground folks! I loved Susan S's 'wave' card, which was one of my 'picks' last week. So much so that I set out to make my own for Len's G Nephew Bradley- similar but you really can vary this technique SO much:

My snippets

I used:

- card blank measuring approx. 5.5" x 4.25", tent style

- a snippet of dark brown card, trimmed to 5.25" x 4" and glued in place

- a snippet of white card the same shade as the card base - embossed using a Stampin' Up 'Textures' folder then trimmed to 5" x 3.75" and glued onto the brown layer

- used four circular dies from my Tonic Studios set of round dies, a quarter of an inch graduating down from the largest one I wanted to use - one circle from each of the four colours of dark brown, beige, cream and grey

- cut each circle in half using a trimmer then glued the 'halves' one on top of the other - lining the bottom and one side to the left of the biggest layer at the back (you can vary this for some interesting options!)

 

- die cut the sentiment from dark brown card using a 'Sentiment Strips Die' by Altenew then glued it onto a 3.75" wide strip of beige card to cover where the semi-circles would join up

- added three narrow strips of card to the back of the entire sentiment strip - to lift it to the height of the layered semi-circles and be able to tuck them in place

- then added the sentiment strip across the centre of the card front using strips of thin sticky pad snippets - before then tucking the layered semi-circles underneath the sentiment (just a smidgen), also raising them onto snippets of thin sticky pads

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley is none the worse after his tumble last week - he's just as adventurous and full of mischief. In fact, when he's quiet we tend to go hunting for him to check out what he might be up to!  

On Saturday, after his evening meal, we gave him one of his ice creams I bought last week. They're each a mixture of Strawberry, Banana and Apple but to be honest we think he was a bit underwhelmed. We even had to decant it into one of his little bowls before he would venture! I tried a little taste from the actual ice cream tub, it's very much a strawberry flavour and Len is sure that Dudley has turned his nose up at the offerings of a fresh strawberry in the Summer months:

However, it was an opportunity to take a few photos of him having cuddles on Len's lap later on:

This final shot is almost identical to the previous one - I've put it on here as it's the closest I could get to Dudley actually looking at the camera lens!

Love from myself and Dudley - as always

Sunday Snippets - Bee You

I bought the dear little Anita Jeram stamp set and outline die for today's snippets card a while ago - sorry, I forgot to take a photo of my snippets:

I used:

- card blank measuring approx. 5.5" x 4", tent style

- a snippet of green Altenew DP from the 'Acrylic Pour' pack, die cut using a die from The Greetery called 'A side of greens'. The paper is actually the reverse of a double sided snippet left from making another card and there's a little bit of variation in the shades of green .... if you press your nose right up against the screen 😉

- used a Uniko background stamp called 'Blocks Linear' and a Stampin' Up mini ink pad (Bashful Blue) to stamp the background

- then used a snippet of the same white card as used for the card blank and stamped the sweet little bee and flower image and all the words using VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' ink and the Colarado Craft Company's Anita Jeram Mini stamp set called 'Bee You'

- coloured the image using Faber Castell Polychromos pencils  and added a touch of clear Wink of Stells to the wings and the eye of the bee

- then die cut the image using the matching die - I also die cut a template to position the die rather than 'wing it' - see what I just said? 

- stamped the words 'Bee' and 'You' at the bottom right of the card - in fact I did that before stamping the Uniko background now I think back!

- hand cut the words 'Bee, happy, kind and brave' and ran a black Tombow pen around the edges for some definition 

- then used little pieces of thin sticky pads to adhere the image and words where I wanted them and called it done

I had such fun using this sweet little set of stamps, although you don't need to use all the words in one go, I did as it sums up the qualities of a busy bee. 

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #51 HERE. Every single stamp and die was having a first outing. Shame on me for sitting on purchases for so long before actually using them!

The results of Challenge #454 are over on the Snippets Blog for you.

Dudley Pupdate: Bit of a heart in mouth moment on Friday with Dudley. He went to jump up onto our bed, using the low footstool that's in place for him at the bottom of the bed - and misjudged. He didn't squeal but when he picked himself up off the floor he was limping.  However, the gift of one of his treats soon sorted that out and we think much of it was actually shock. Interestingly though, so far he hasn't tried to hop up again. We know he's fine though as we checked him over thoroughly and then as I followed him upstairs that lunchtime he bounded up them as normal, he's more cautious about the bed but has since hopped up a few times. Perhaps a set of doggy steps are in order.

Hope you all have a lovely week. I finally had 3" chopped off my hair on Wednesday - when Dudley first saw me, he barked! Appreciation? Or - perhaps as cheeky Len remarked - surprised at the younger version of his 'Mum' who came home from the hairdressers! 

PS - we finalised our Ocado order earlier this afternoon - we have Doggies Pup Icecreams coming for Dudley, when the weather is really warm. Err, they were on a 30% off deal, but don't whisper a word to him!

Love from myself and Dudley - as always