Sunday Snippets - and a Birthday card

When this publishes, we'll be almost ready to leave 2023 behind and see what 2024 brings with it! New Year's Eve has never been a favourite celebration for either of us and we'll just have some homemade soup for eats, with nibbles to follow as we have a quiet evening and watch the Thames Firework Display on TV. Bliss - with Dudley curled up with us of course.

This coming week, one of our little neighbours will celebrate his 7th Birthday - so I whipped up a quick snippets card for him, which is either a caterpillar or a centipede with invisible legs ....... perhaps it's a 'caterpede'?  😅 

The leftover snippet pieces!

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank, tent style

- piece of the same white card, trimmed to 5" x 3.75" and set aside for now

- a piece of rust coloured sparkly card, sent to me by a lovely friend, trimmed to 5.25" x 4" and glued onto the card front

- then glued the 'previously trimmed and set aside' white panel onto the card front and rolled up my sleeves to make the 'critter' and the sentiment strip - using a load of snippets and my mini die cutting machine

- die cut two of each colour of the plain card and glued them on top of one another - using a circle die from Tonic Studio's 'Circle Layering' set of dies

- then die cut the head from a snippet of the sparkly rust coloured card, using a slightly bigger die from the same Tonic Studio's circle set and backed it with a couple of plain white die cut circles

- to finish the head I added a couple of little, straight brown 'antennae' using red line tape to the back of the head, drew in a mouth using a black marker and added the goggly eyes, backed with punched circles of the brown card (using red line tape) so they didn't look too 'lost'!

- then added the 'caterpede' to the white panel on the card front - using thin sticky pads and also glue pen where the pieces overlapped ......... instead of sticky pad. to keep a more evenly raised layer 

- die cut the sentiment from the snippet of rust sparkly card - using an Altenew die from the 'Essential Sentiment Strips' die. Backed the strip with one die cut from plain white card and then backed that with a plain narrow strip of white card to show through the cut out lettering and also make adhering it to the card front easier

- stuck the sentiment in place on the card front using red line tape - with glue stick whisked over it, to allow for a little movement, before pressing it firmly in place

- finally, die cut the number 7 using a 'The Works' die from their 'Numbered Candles' set of dies, backed it with a plain white die cut - then snipped off the flame of the candle. Cruel I know but the set is much more versatile if you're prepared to have a little snip here and there!

- used very narrow red line tape to adhere the number onto the body of the 'caterpede'

- finished!

Sarn has posted the results of Challenge #469 over in the Snippets Playground HERE. As ever, she has some really great choices as 'Picks' - and a lucky prize draw winner too!  

Dudley Pupdate: Before Christmas, we had a stair lift installed here (aka the 'Ski Lift') and I cannot begin to explain how it's made going up and even more so, down, our stairs so easy as opposed to recent times! Dudley is getting much more used to it and is absolutely loving the fact that I'm spending a lot more time going up and down and also spending more time in the lounge (and kitchen!).He loves to race the 'Ski Lift' going up the stairs - and wins every time needless to say!  And of course over Christmas he sat and stared with his huge eyes hoping for teeny scraps whenever we sat at the dining room table to eat - hard to resist but also he needs to hold back a bit! For such a small dog I swear he would eat until he couldn't even move, given the chance!

There's still one week of the current challenge left to run! Remember, it's anything BUT Christmas as the theme! The challenge is below Sarn's results post over in the Playground. Do please make a card and come play with us. There's two chances to win a gift voucher for the online shop of your choice. 

With love from Dudley and myself,

Sunday Snippets - 'Yay!'

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! Ho, ho, ho!

My snippets card below was made from some bits and pieces, found in a basket on my desk - the silver panel, the white panel and a cello bag containing the decoupage flower spray and little sparkly butterflies all popped up, shouting to be used! I then also found the white card blank in the same basket/treasure trove! Sorry, I made the card without stopping to take a photo of the snippets:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.0" white card blank, easel style - a non standard size, which was why it was languishing unused!

- snippet of  pearlescent silver card and also one of white card, trimmed slightly to form the image panel then glued in place

- a Dufex decoupaged spray of flowers, made up eons ago, glued onto the panel using a glue pen

- the 'Yay!' sentiment is a pre-made one, silver on white from the PinkFresh 'Foiled Sentiments' pack - a lifesaver! Just glued in place using a glue pen

- three tiny sparkly butterflies which were in the cello bag with the decoupaged flower spray - glued here and there with the wings flicked up for added dimension

Dufex is probably one of the hardest things to photograph - apologies!

There's a new challenge #470 over in the Snippets Playground HERE. The theme is 'Anything BUT Christmas' - which should get you thinking a bit! AND, two special prizes from Sarn and myself!

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley has carefully watched every step of the tree and decorations going up with his usual fascination. The other day I spotted him gazing absolutely memorised at a lounge door covered in beautiful Christmas cards, slowly absorbing every detail - totally in a world of his own. Many of them are the hand made ones sent by good friends and I fully expect to find him hopped up onto my chair in the craft room searching through my basket of snippets!

Anyhow, we've bought him yet another soft toy and some doggie choccy drops from Santa! For Dudley, the real thrill is the rustling of wrapping paper if truth be told!

As usual he'll have his own little white dish of Christmas Dinner with us tomorrow.

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas and that you find time, after the dust settles, to join in with the new Snippets Challenge.

Lots of love from Dudley and myself,

Sunday snippets and a decoupage Christmas card

A short while ago I made up some Katy Sue decoupage Christmas image panels. Then, after making one card, they were set aside, ready to assemble onto cards to be hand delivered locally. And here's one of them, for neighbours with three boys:

A multitude of sentiments, all made well in advance from snippets to make life easier

I used:

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

- sheets of red and gold mirror card from a Craft Perfect 6" x 6" card pad - die cut using the Maximum Crafts 'SF6 Square Frame' pair of dies then glued in place onto the card front

- then used the red mirror card out fall from one of the dies to fill in the centre panel area and glued it in place - shucks, I originally thought I had a decent sized snippet for future use but it didn't look right without it

- then glued the decoupage square onto the centre of the card - always hard to capture the dimension of several layers, sigh. The black lines that looks rather like a set of jump leads on front of Santa's card are actually shadows cast by some of the edges of layers  

- final touch - a double layered sentiment in white from my huge pile of mini Merry Christmas dies - made in the evenings using snippets and my little Altenew die cutting machine to save time and effort later on. Glued to top left of the card.

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

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #81 where the theme is 'If it's Christmassy, link it up'

Dudley Pupdate: Len did a final trim of little Dudley - both of them can only take a certain length of time in one go and this second one was to whisk away any 'stragglers' from his first session. He looks enchanting and is so ready for his role in the Playground Pantomime Nativity Play! One big hint - if you do get to act with the little perisher - speak to me and I'll give you some scraps from his most loved Pedigree Calcium Bone Wrapped in 'Bacon' treats! He will be at your beck and call I promise! Little dog with an 'always looking for treats' attitude! 

Finally, and very importantly, the results of Challenge #468 are now published HERE. Do please come and play.

Love from both of us,

Di and Dudley (woof OR baa-baa-baa)!

Sunday Snippets and some teeny Christmas cards

There's a new Challenge being run by Sarn, over in the Snippets Playground HERE. We do hope you manage to find time to come and play! It's a busy time for most of us, but a little break to relax and craft often renews those energy cells!

I had a couple of NBUS dies which had been waiting for ages to step out and be used - and this is one of the cards I made:

I used:

- 3.75" x 3.75" square white card blank, side opening

- a snippet of the same white card, which was then die cut using a Penny Black 'snowflake stitch frames' die before being glued onto the card front - leaving a narrow border around the edge

- to add the backing to the tags I would be die cutting a bit later required a bit of pondering here but in the end I adhered the patterned snippet to some 'Stick It' sheet then backed that with some fairly lightweight white card (I made a whole batch of eight at once so in fact if wasn't as fiddly as you might think)

- the snippets of patterned paper came from two of my favourite LOTV paper pads 'Frosty Christmas' and 'Krafty Christmas' - I never ever throw out LOTV snippets!

- then drew around the outline of the tag die before trimming it to just slightly smaller then the outer edge - about .25" all round

- that left me with a tag shaped piece of reinforced LOTV paper on top of which I could then glue the die cut tag with the word 'Joy' across the middle

- then die cut a tag twice, using more white snippets, before gluing them together for dimension. The die is by Poppystamps called 'Joy Tag' - it's been around since 2016 so is most likely discontinued and knowing me I'll have picked it up on clearance!

- finished!

I'd like to add this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #57 HERE xxx. The dies I used were both having their first outing.

Also, Christmas Kickstart Challenge #81 HERE - where this the theme is 'If it's Christmassy, link it up'.

Dudley Pupdate:  Len gave Dudley a pretty thorough trim earlier in the week. He looks rather shorn and so small that it's like having a puppy back! 

I've said before that he always does a sand dance around the top of the grooming table to make life more fun/awkward. It's funny to watch but no fun to try and grapple with him and do the trimming at the same time! I think both Len as well as Dudley were exhausted at the end of the session!

The past couple of nights I've found Dudley pressed right up against me so I pop one arm out of the duvet and just cradle him in the crook of my arm holding him close. I don't think he's actually cold, he's just aware that his coat has had a thorough trim! By the time Christmas arrives his coat will have already sprouted beautifully.

With love from Dudley and myself, 

Sunday Snippets and a twinkling star

My snippets card for today is almost a direct steal from Chrissie Stokes over on YouTube - I already had a snippet of silver glitter paper handy and the star shaped die just 'happened' to fall into an online shopping basket! Such a sparkly outcome:

I used:

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

- piece of the same white card, trimmed to 5.25" x 4" then a star shaped aperture die cut using a Creative Expressions die called 'Aurora Star'  

- I then followed Chrissie's method to the letter and flipped the aperture panel over before sticking strips of narrow foam tape to each side of the star points as well as just inside the outer edges of the panel 

- stripped off all the backing from the foam tape then ran a glue stick over all the exposed adhesive surfaces, to allow some 'wiggle room' when doing the next steps

- added the trimmed down piece of non-shed sparkly silver glitter card behind the star itself, flipped the panel over and then adhered it onto the card front - BTW, the silver sparkle card is absolutely pure silver - utterly gorgeous. 

- final touch was a sentiment, die cut from the little piece of leftover silver glitter card as well as from plain white card as a backing layer

- layered the two together and glued the sentiment in place at the bottom right of the card, using a glue pen

- and of course, the die I used for the sentiment is my favourite Tonic Studios 'Mini Moments Merry Christmas'. At the moment I keep mine on the top of a small magnetic 'Surprise' box, which sits on my desk to stop me from losing small dies whilst working. Yup, another idea from Chrissie!

- finished!

A couple of things about the card. First of all, huge thanks to Chrissie for all the inspiration (and 'spend enabling'!) over on YouTube. This is the link to her channel - Val, myself, Brenda L, also pretty sure Darnell is .............. and no doubt quite a few of you are - already subscribed (which is free, it's just another term for following). I really loved making today's snippets card and the result is nothing short of stunning IMHO - all thanks to Chrissie and the idea of lifting the star aperture panel away from the main card itself. 

Foam tape - Chrissie uses Stix2 products and her roll of very narrow foam tape is mahoosive when new! I can't do wrestling whilst crafting - but a little search some while ago turned up some really great, very narrow self adhesive foam strips on Amazon. Here's the link if you feel tempted - they will probably last you for years!  

Card bases - I mostly use a stock of Craft UK 5.75" x 5.75" square card blanks to use 'as is' and  for trimming down to USA A2, plus various smaller square card, sizes. Over time, I've found that it's not necessarily the cheapest option - but it works for me as the card is so robust, pre-scored and a decent shade of white. For top layers, where water or alcohol isn't involved in the colouring - I will often use part of another (same range) card blank.The card will take a stamping directly onto it in any ink BTW, so it's really good to hold onto snippet strips. Then you can stamp your sentiment ....... either directly onto the card base - or do it onto the snippet and then die cut or trim down to suit. And of course the white strips are also super for die cutting a second sentiment to reinforce the top layer, coloured or not. I do have a variety of larger sizes from the same range.

Sarn has posted the results of Challenge #467 over in the Snippets Playground HERE. As ever, there are some great choices as 'Picks' - and a lucky prize draw winner too! 

Dudley Pupdate: I'm typing this late on Friday afternoon and, as he so often is, Dudley is curled up underneath my desk ......... doing his best to have a sneaky lick of my feet. Len has begun to put up some of the outdoor Christmas lights - and it's incredible how Dudley almost hops around in excitement when the boxes come down from the loft. It's probably the one place inside the house that he hasn't explored, so he possibly thinks that's where all the 'magical' stuff lives!

There's still one week of the current challenge left to run! Check underneath this post, make a card and come and play with us. I'm sure some of you will still be rushing to make those final Christmas cards so check those snippets! There's a decent chance to win a nice prize if you join in the draw. 

With love from Dudley and myself,