Sunday snippets and a Christmas card with a difference

I wanted a Christmas card to suit a couple of Christmas Challenges - and a stamp set from AALL & Create fitted the bill perfectly:

I used:

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

- snippets of plain lime green card - the larger one was used to create a narrow 'frame' for the patterned paper, which came from a Dovecraft 'Back to Basics Modern' set of Christmas papers  then both were glued onto the card front

- stamped the images onto snippets of plain white smooth card, using stamps from the AALL & Create 'HoliDEE' set of stamps using a VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' ink pad

- coloured the images using Polychromos pencils

- die cut the main image panel using a die from the Lil'Inkers 'Stitched Rectangles' set of dies

- fussy cut the Santa hat and also the sentiment 'cheers' before running a black Tombow marker around the edges of them both

- trimmed another snippet of the lime green card to just slightly larger than the image pane before gluing them both onto the card front

- used a medium nib glue pen to adhere the hat and the sentiment onto the image panel

- finally, a leftover strip of the patterned paper was begging to be used so I glued it across the flap of the envelope and trimmed each side

I really enjoyed playing around with this stamp set, although there's a lot of small detail on the tree - 'Hic!'. 

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

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #80 where the theme is 'It's Christmas, Jim, but not as we know it' - so a bit of a quirky take on Christmas should be fine

November's Rudolph Days Challenge over at ScrappyMo's 

Darnell's NBUS #56 - the stamp set is NBUS

Dudley Pupdate: A bit of a 'wild week' here with the boy! On Monday we jointly bathed him and to be fair, the water was actually pretty clean after all. Then came the wrestling match with him plonked onto my bath sheet clad lap and we patted the worst of the water away between us whilst he lay and peeped out of one end of the burrito wrap. Next came the blow drying session, which Len is stronger to manage. He also had some trimming the next day and then I re-brushed him and applied his anti-flea meds the following day - looking back it was probably too many sessions one after another. However, at every opportunity the little monkey took his chance to really glare, right until you looked at him - at which point he would very pointedly turn his back and lay down - leaving you staring at his tail! Typing this on Thursday and he's been left well alone for today - the air doesn't seems to be vibrating with doggie indignation as much! Although he's curled up well away from me at the moment! Guest bedroom I suspect as he can hide around the far side of the bed! 

A friend has just returned home to San Francisco after being away for a couple of weeks on a business trip to Norway (lucky lady) - and the photos of her Havanese when she returned are hilarious, he's almost bristling with anger at having been left for so long with his 'Dad'. Obviously something in Havi's genes! 

Finally, and very importantly, there's a new Challenge over at The Snippets Playground HERE - do come and play! Sarn and I put a lot of time and effort into running the Playground and it's lovely when you come to join in!

Love from both of us,

Di and 'Dudley de Avenger'!

Ho, ho, ho!

I recently saw Chrissie Stokes over on YouTube using a great 'HoHoHo' die and after a bit of sleuthing, found one the same being sold by Ali Express - as a bonus it actually comes with a second version as well. Then I wanted a die set to cut Santa's face, but in the end cheated and bought some ready made toppers from a lady on Etsy. The thought of all that fiddly assembling for the run of six cards I planned to make was certainly the deciding factor! 

Here's one of the cards:

I used:

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

- piece of Craft Perfect/Tonic 'Inca Gold' Mirror Card - trimmed to 5.25" x 4" and glued onto the card front

- a piece of the same white card embossed using Kaisercraft's 'Holly' embossing folder and trimmed to 5" x 3.75" then glued onto the the gold mirror card layer

- I'd already sat here one evening and made up a whole bunch of the 'HoHoHo' sentiments to use up a load of snippets - layered each one onto the same die cut only in white for additional stability 

- glued a gold 'HoHoHo' sentiment onto the bottom part of the card

- then added a ready made Santa using thin sticky pads, finished!

I made three gold and three silver ones and my sentiments on the whole batch of cards were made using snippets. As always, metallic card is a hard one to capture in a photo. The toppers all have a hole in the design so can also be used as gift tags.

Speaking of metallic card, it's impossible to find more of some of the Craft Perfect/Tonic range of mirror card - anywhere online. Notably 'Inca Gold' and also 'Firestone Red'. They've been on back order for ages now - just hope that Tonic aren't winding down their mirror card range!

I'd like to add this card into Darnell's NBUS challenge #56 HERE.

Also, into the current Allsorts Challenge 'Christmas Time' HERE. 

Sunday Snippets - Penny Black Christmas cards

I rustled up a pretty quick batch of Christmas cards, using some Penny Black 'Masterpieces made Easy' toppers, along with their fabulous 'Stick and Shine' stickers and foils:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blanks, all side opening

- die cut the 'frames' from snippet of white card using a die from the Avery Elle 'Postage Stamp' set of dies - cut eight to layer them for more dimension

- glued the frames together and set then aside

- dug out two gold and also two silver mirri card snippets, which I trimmed to fit just underneath where the white frames would sit

- glued the mirri card panels onto the card fronts then glued the white 'postage stamp frames' on top of them

- already had the chosen Penny Black Masterpieces Made Easy images set to one side and I knew that I wanted two to have gold borders of mirri card and the other two to have silver borders

- time for the sentiments to be added and I used some NBUS Penny Black sentiments from their Stick & Shine 'Xmas Classics' set of sentiments - one at a time - then rubbed Penny Black Gold/Silver 'Metallic Foil' over the top as I went

- added a couple of snowflakes to the 'robins' image then rubbed more silver foil on the top

- glued the image panels onto the already assembled cards - done! 

Four more Christmas cards added to the very healthy pile!

The 'Masterpieces' are printed on linen effect card, but the 'Stick and Shine' still worked great. Basically, it's like the old 'rub-ons' we used to love, only you're left with a clear sticky surface ready to adhere the foil. That sticky surface is why I foiled as I went of course, can be tricky to align straight and 'just where you want them' unless you have the right light and never fiddle with them once they touch the card! Ask me how I know this?! But, as always, nigh on impossible to get the gorgeous bright shine to show up well in a photo!

The images came from three different 'Masterpieces made Easy' sets, two from 'Reflections', one from 'Across the Miles' and one from 'Snowy Sensation'.

As it was a first outing for the Stick and Shine sentiments, I'd like to enter this into Darnell's current NBUS Challenge #56 HERE. 

The results of Snippets Challenge #466 are over on the Snippets Playground HERE.

Dudley Pupdate: I was woken up at around 6am the other morning, when it felt as if a little herd of  Mountain Goats with pointed hooves were tripping all over my shin bones - ouch! Yup, it was Dudley on our bed, trying to get up close and personal with me for a cuddle. He got his cuddle but oh boy, that did hurt! How can a small dog exert such pressure through his little legs legs?

There's still one week of the current Snippets Challenge to go, hope to see you in the Playground soon if you haven't played already - make a card, come and play. Look for the post just before this one. 

Love, as always, from Dudley and myself, 

Sunday Snippets and that leafy die set again

It's Remembrance Sunday today, always a rather sombre day as we think about those who gave their lives so that we might live. 

There's a new Challenge being run by Sarn, over in the Snippets Playground HERE. I really love the prize bundle - well worth playing along for a chance to win!

My snippets card was made for a friend's Birthday - hope you had a great day yesterday:

I used:

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

- a piece of silver mirri card, to make a frame die cut, using the larger die from the brilliant Maximum Crafts 'SF6 Square Frame' pair of dies

- then die cut a white frame from a piece of white card, also using the same set of frame dies but this time the smaller one of the pair

- glued the 'frame' die cuts together and then adhered them to the front of the card

- using snippets of white card I then die cut one solid leafy sprig and one 'skeleton' leafy sprig using the Pink and Main 'Leafy Dies #1' set of dies

- keeping the white 'fallout' from the 'skeleton' leaf carefully to one side I then glued the solid and the skeleton white leafy die cuts together - skeleton on the top of course

- then die cut various different parts of the leafy skeleton die using a snippet of mauve 'ombre' paper found in the back of Lawn Fawn's 'Watercolour Wishes' paper pad - sorry I threw the waste away before thinking to take a photo

- added a mix of white and coloured half leaves to the leafy sprig, using a glue pen

- glued the leafy sprig onto the card front

- added a sentiment strip from the very useful Creative Expressions 'Birthday' Wordies sentiment Sheets set. They are pre-printed in black on white and white on black and you DO need to cut them apart as they come in solid sheets - popping a little strip of card onto the back of the sentiment gives it just that little bit of 'lift' 

- final touch was some self-adhesive clear Memory Box 'Fairy Drops'

I absolutely love the frame dies made by Maximum Craft - and Linby, as is often the case, was the Playmate who sent me scurrying off to buy them! They add such a super finishing touch - a very clever idea.

I'd like to add this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #56 HERE. The Maximum Crafts frame dies were having their first outing.

Dudley Pupdate: I have to admit that I sneakily smelt his breath after the Playground Bonfire Night Party last Sunday. Not a whiff of 'choklit' or anything 'alkofrolic' I'm pleased to say! Just the lingering smell of peppermint toothpaste - hmmm. Dudley was absolutely brilliant throughout the local firework display here and didn't even flinch, not even at a few more brief bursts on private property. For once there didn't seem to be as many random boxes being set off in people's gardens - hooray! 

The other night, Dudley beat me to bed, as is often the case to be fair. If I say 'Bedtime' then he pops out from underneath my desk automatically, carrying Honka Duck of course! When I followed him a little while later he was sprawled flat on his back, front paws flopped down, fast asleep - right across my side of the bed, not even lying lengthways down the bed to leave some room for me to squeeze in. I just gently stroke him until he moves of his own accord otherwise he gets pretty grumpy. I thought cats were the ones who were meant to rule the home?!

Lastly, I've not mentioned the hedgies for a while - they are all absolutely fine and are gradually going into hibernation - probably sleeping in the bushes and plants in our front garden where there's plenty of shelter for them. Dudley is totally unfazed by them when they are out feeding, drinking their water and having a wander around the back garden. Bringing him up to get used to them from being a puppy has certainly paid off! 

Lest we Forget

I always have my own Father very much on my mind every single Remembrance Day. He joined the British Army aged 15 and spent World War Two over in Europe, helping to recover and repair British Army tanks. He didn't speak about the War much but it had left its mark and he, along with all of our Service men and women, will always have my undying admiration and gratitude.

We can but hope that it wasn't in vain and that, one day, peace will return to the various countries now embroiled in conflict.

Sunday snippets and cards for chaps!

I always struggle to make cards for boys once they're past the very early years - same with grown men. However, I decided to have a go at making a bunch of cards for chaps to have on standby - here are the first results, one of the cards is going to a young neighbour:

I used:

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

- snippets of Tonic Pearlescent card in 'Glazed Chestnut' and 'Majestic Gold' 

- a MFT 'Diagonal Strip Sentiment Cover Up' die was used to cut the backing panel - using the same die on both colours meant I could switch the contrasting colour around by using the 'fallout', which I did carefully keep to one side in the right size order 

- glued the backing panel onto the card fronts and inserted the contrasting strips of card into the apertures - using glue pens

- die cut the word 'Birthday' twice from more snippets of the same colours of card, layered them together then glued them onto the diagonal band across the width of the backing panel. I used the actual word part of a Whimsy Stamps die set called 'Birthday Word and Shadow Die' 

- finished!

Sarn has posted the results of Challenge #465 over in the Snippets Playground HERE.  As ever, there are some great choices from Sarn as 'Picks' - and a lucky prize draw winner too! 

Dudley Pupdate: Halloween - well, where do I begin! We joined in with the 'Trick or Treat' fun and games until rain stopped play at around 8pm. 

The sweetest part of Halloween around here is always early on when the little ones come around, usually singly with their Mums. There were some brilliant costumes and make-up and it was so nice to see the effort that had been made by parents for their kids, as well as a lot of the older kids too! We had a couple of younger ones wearing 'Wednesday Addams' outfits, complete with pigtails. The smallest caller almost made me cry when she, before even taking a treat, shyly handed me a little slip of torn paper on which was written very carefully 'Thank you'.

Dudley was in ecstasy, just lying at the front door in between callers patiently waiting with his nose against the door - his party piece was to then poke his nose and smiling face out when I opened the door a little bit. And of course, he stole the show as always - he wore a Halloween bandana - which was much admired! I overheard more than one group of people saying 'Go to that house, they have a cute little dog'! Afterwards, Dudley slept like a log right through the night - worn out by all the excitement. So did we, come to think of it!

There's still one week of the current challenge left to run! Make a card and come and play - there's a chance to win a nice prize if you join in the draw. See you on the swings!

Remember, remember the Fifth of November! Sarn has been working away making sure there's a veritable feast to be had in the Playground - Bonfire Toffee from Vicky plus Sarn and I will be dishing out soup & rolls, jacket potatoes - and some hot chocolate which I have my suspicions about. For a start, Dudley isn't allowed human chocolate - but if he was, I suspect there might be a little stagger added to his wiggle when he walks. Would that means he would walk with a 'staggle' I wonder? 

Sarn thinks I don't know 'peep' of course! And there's a huge bonfire - extinguishers are at the ready lest a spark sets the tree house alight! I also suspect that Dudley will be wearing a 'Fire Warden' Hi-viz jacket given half a chance!

With love from Dudley and myself,

'Because' by Lil 'Inkers .......

...... this is one of my favourite sentiment dies as it says so much in just one word. I needed a card for someone special so this is what I came up with:

I used:

- 4" x 4" white linen look card blank, side opening

- washi tape from AALL & Create called 'Summertime' - I adhered two strips to a snippet of white card ** and kept it to one side

- then die cut the word 'because' twice, using snippets of green Altenew 'Forest Glades' card stock - sadly I only bought one pack of this card and it's no longer to be found in the UK - such a lovely green as well. The die is discontinued of course since Lil' Inkers closed down a while ago, such a shame as their products were brilliant

- glued both sentiments one on top of the other and then I could work out what to do with the washi tape strip I'd made 

- in the end I settled for backing the washi strip with a snippet of the same Forest Glades card as used for the sentiment and gluing it onto the lower part of the card before then trimming off the side edges 

- glued the sentiment in place, above the washi tape

- added some self-adhesive 'Winter Berries Glossies' by Sweet Huni Designs

- to finish off, I added a single strip of the same washi tape to the envelope

** I do love the latest washi tapes over at AALL & Create. This particular tape does pretty much match when you add another 'off lined' layer on top, so that you can make at least a double height band using it, but not all of them do. Although, there is always some waste if you try the' matching' part so be aware of that !Ask me how I know, sigh.

I'd like to enter this little card into Darnell's current NBUS Challenge # 56 HERE - both the washi tape and the 'Winter Berries Glossies' were having a first outing. 

That's it from me for today - typing this on Halloween Eve, not even 8pm and the heavens have opened - thereby curbing all callers for the rest of the evening! And reeeeeelaaaaaax!