Rudolph Days Challenge - February 2024

Helen Nile has stepped up and taken over the Rudolph Days Challenge - hooray, well done Helen! And many thanks to Maureen (Scrappy Mo) and her DT for running it for so long.

I decided to try to get a bit further ahead with my 2024 Christmas card making and did an 'assembly line' run of 10 cards, same basic design, a mixture of various sentiments  - and 10 different Penny Black 'Masterpieces made Easy' ready printed images:

This card, using an image from 'Winter views' is my entry for the current Rudolph Days Challenge - HERE.

I'd also like to add it into Darnell's NBUS Challenge # 58 HERE - the sentiment stamp sets were having a first outing

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white linen card base, folded to be either tall tent style or side opening, on the short side

- used pieces of the white linen card left from cutting the card bases to die cut rectangles using a Lil'Inkers 'Stitched Rectangles' die

- used snippets of Tonic Pearlescent card in 'Majestic Gold' and 'Luna Silver' to cut rectangles to just add a narrow 'frame' around the outside of the stitched white layer

- stamped a sentiment onto each of the Penny Black 'Masterpieces made easy' images using VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' ink and stamps from two small Penny Black sets called 'song of peace' and 'winter vibes'. The sentiments are a little different to usual Christmas ones and there are times when I do need Christmas cards with more thoughtful messages and sentiments 

- assembly time!  Glued the images to the stitched white linen card rectangles, then glued the pearlescent pearlescent layer to the back of each stiched/image layer

- used very narrow double sided foam tape to stick around all four sides of the back of the completed front panels

- used a glue stick to allow some movement room and then adhered the completed panels onto the card blanks 

- 10 Christmas cards, finished!

This is another one of the cards, very typically Penny Black as you can see:

And here are the other eight cards - for my own records as much as anything:

I'm such a greedy little Piglet - I've bought every single set of Penny Black 'Masterpieces made Easy' over the years they've been producing them. They're rather addictive and I still have a bunch of unused ones to play with!

Both the hedgehog images came from the 'adorable amour' set and the rest came from five different sets - I won't list them but Buddly Crafts are a UK stockist and all images can be seen on their website. I do recommend them, for their stock of USA craft items, decent prices and great service! Click the link - I dare you! 😂

Sunday Snippets - 'hi'!

I finally had a play with some 'Lindy's Magical shakers' - 'London Summer Sage' and 'Butter the Bread Blue' from the 'Tea and Crumpets' shimmery range and some snippets of Strathmore Mixed Media card - it's expensive stuff so I never throw the tiniest scrap away! 

I love the gentle shimmer and the clever caps in these shakers. The best sprinklers I've come across. Had them ages and just never got around to playing with them, then used a couple of similar experimental pieces to make these cards, sorry the photo colour is a bit 'warm'. My desk light not only switches in intensity of light but also from warm white right through to white light - I forgot to change it as I was snuggled in the warm light setting at my desk during in a rainstorm on Friday!

Leftover snippets - some will live to fight another day! 

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank - side opening, on the short side

- first of all I put two snippets of white card out of harm's way for when the outline die cutting commenced

- then backed snippets of the green and blue 'Magical Shakers' backgrounds and also snippets of Tonic's pearlescent 'Majestic Gold' card with 'Stick It' double sided adhesive sheet 

- next, die cut the outline with the corner flowers twice, once from each of the sticky backed snippets (the die, possibly discontinued, is by Memory Box and is called 'Starflower Flower Frame')

- peeled off the protective backing then popped the outlines and the flower centres onto the pieces of white card before then filling in the petals with little die cuts left in the contrasting card - using a small brayer to ensure adhesion 

- then die cut the word 'hi' from the MFT 'Hello There' die set, using the centre pieces from the die cut frames as they would have been such a waste, layered onto white card (snippets again) before being glued in place and then brayered (a small step but really worthwhile - I keep my TH mini brayer handy in a large scissor 'whirly organiser') 

- next step was to die cut around the assembled 'image' using a die called 'Side Stitch Rectangle' made by Lil'Inkers, sadly discontinued as they closed down but what a perfect fit!

- next, I used very narrow double sided foam tape to stick around all four sides of the back of the completed front panel

- used a glue stick to allow some movement room and then adhered the completed panel onto the card blank 

- final touch, just three self-adhesive clear Memory Box 'Fairy Drops' per card

I made two cards at once as it made sense to 'flip' the outlines and the petals of the flowers in the two colourways, just by exchanging the card snippets. I really love these 'Magical Shakers' - particularly the gentle shimmer in the range and the new sprinkler caps - I'm hooked. Needless to say have raided my piggy bank to add a few more to my current meagre collection of three. The Brushos are destined for a hike into the land of unwanted craft goodies!

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

- Darnell's NBUS challenge #58 - HERE - the 'Magical Shakers' were having their first outing

Dudley Pupdate: Len whisked Honka Duck away in a plastic bag when Dudley was busy elsewhere and hid it in the garden shed. We'd had the new replacement one jumbled in amongst his favourite toys for well over a week in the hope that he would switch over of his own accord. Fat chance - so drastic action was called for. There have been some frantic searches all over the house made by a bereft Dudley. But, it was becoming a health hazard so the deed had to be done. It's heartbreaking to see but we do know that he took to Honka Mark 2 after a few days so hope springs eternal that the same will happen with the new Honka Mark 3.

Len is still making great progress - he says thank you for all the 'well wishes'! x 

Remember, the results from Challenge #473 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE. Hope to see you on the swings for the current challenge too!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - a Valentine card for Len

Here's my snippets card for this week:

I used:

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

- a piece of the same white card, cut using the largest cutting die from Penny Black's set of dies called 'zig-zag stackers'

- then used a NBUS 'Bunch of Hearts' die I've had for ages, bought from Positively Papercraft but no longer stocked. However, there are lots of unbranded dies just the same to be found online 

- used the same die, to die cut the bunch of hearts from the centre of the white panel to leave apertures and set it aside 

- used the same die and a snippet of Tonic 'Red Velvet' pearlescent card  to cut the bunch of hearts again 

- next step was to add a piece of Woodware double sided adhesive sheet to the back of the white panel apertures, flip it over and then, one at a time, insert the single 'heart flowers' before then running a small brayer over the panel to ensure they were adhered properly into the apertures

- trimmed another snippet of the 'Red Velvet' card to leave a narrow border around the white panel and glued them together using Collall All Purpose gluer

- added the sentiment across the 'Bunch of Hearts'. It came from a 'ready to peel and stick' (hardly used) used set of 'Words' sticker sentiments by Clarity - I did back it with a little strip of card to add some lif,t before using a glue pen to stick it in place

- next, I used very narrow double sided foam tape to stick around all four sides of the back of the completed front panel

- used a glue stick to allow some movement room and then adhered the completed panel onto the card blank 

- final touch, I used some teeny 'Red Velvet' snippets to die cut a few little hearts. The die was a 'freebie' included with an order not so long ago; and I used the little hearts on the envelope instead of a stamp!

A fun card to make and, although I stuck to red for the bouquet, it would be a great way to use up several different coloured snippet strips to create a bouquet of different coloured flowers!

I'd like to enter this card into a couple of challenges:

- Darnell's NBUS challenge #58 - HERE - the 'Bunch of Hearts' die I used is NBUS

- Double D Challenge 'Heartfelt' - HERE.

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley has settled down beautifully since Len came home from hospital and, if anything, is now less anxious when 'his Dad' leaves the house. I can almost hear his little doggie mind thinking 'I survived for three whole days once before just with Mama and didn't lack for food and love, so I can survive now, just so long as Dad eventually comes home!'! 

Len is making progress and so far it's all positive. He had the first of his local GP blood tests for kidney function on Monday and on Friday the results came back clear - cause for celebration here. So no more weekly blood tests after all - hooray! He's still eating plain and simple food, albeit gradually becoming more adventurous. I think things such as Chilli con Carne might be off the menu for a while though!

Remember, there's a new challenge over in the Snippets Playground HERE. Hope to see you On the swings!

Love as always, Dudley and me,

Sunday Snippets - Robin Christmas card

The lovely Sarn has taken over the Results post for this week - and I've just hopped in here before going to bed by 10 pm on Saturday to say a quick 'Hello' with a Katy Sue decoupage Christmas card from Christmas just gone - given to my Avon Lady:

The snippets are little ones I used to make the layered sentiment of course!

Dudley Pupdate and news from Hampshire: First of all, many, many thanks for all your kind wishes for Len. He was hospitalised for three days, on a drip in isolation, and finally came home on Monday - early in the evening. Dudley went crackers of course! Only now is he actually feeling that he can step down from the huge responsibility of being my protector 24 x 7! It's so nice to see him relaxed and back to lying spreadeagled on his back, displaying all his wares and snoozing peacefully - NB. I'm writing about Dudley folks!

On the subject of Len, at this point in time everything points to it being a viral infection and looking back he was so lucky to be admitted into hospital when he was. It's still causing issues so he's on a light diet until he feels he can cope with more substantial meals. But, he's back home with us. As a little extra gift, the severe dehydration has caused kidney issues and he's faced with weekly blood tests until things, hopefully, regulate back to normal. After that it's potentially six-monthly blood tests for a couple of years.  Right now he's drinking gallons of water to keep his kidneys working as much as possible. We'll get there - Team Dudley can do this!

I'd like to enter this card into the current challenge over at Christmas Kickstart # 83 'Out on a Limb'. It's a great theme with loads of potential - why not join in?

Very importantly, the results of Challenge #472 are now published HERE - huge thanks again to Sarn!

And to all of you, once again! 

Do please come and play in the Snippets Playground!

Love from both of us, and Len, normal service will resume as soon as possible!

Di and Dudley xxx

Sunday Snippets - wine anyone?

There's a new Challenge being run by Sarn, over in the Snippets Playground HERE. 

My snippets card for today went through a couple of rethinks, before I ended up making this:

Two small black leftover snippets after die cutting the bottle and glasses, twice

I used:

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

- first of all I die cut a ' wine bottle with wine glasses' outline shape twice, using an unnamed die that's been languishing here for ages waiting to be used, then layered them on top of one another using a Zig glue pen. I used some leftover snippets of black card, squirrelled away from a delivery of Royal Mail postage stamps a couple of Christmases ago! 

- piece of white card onto which I stamped the background words, using Gummiapan's 'wines' background stamp (bought in a sale and now seems to be discontinued) and VersaFine's Clair 'Tulip Red' ink pad

- next, stamped the sentiment using a piece of grid-lined acetate on top of the stamped background to line up the small stamp properly and do some test runs before actually printing onto the card panel - for which I used the 'Carpe Vinum - Seize the Wine' Gummiapan stamp and VersaFine's Clair 'Nocturne' ink pad

- only then, did I die cut the main panel (using a die from a lovely set by 'The Works' - bought a long while ago for minimal outlay and so useful)

- then used a snippet of silver mirror card - brand unknown - to trim a 'frame' to fit behind the main stamped panel. There was so little left of the piece I used that the slivers went straight into the waste bin

- added the 'wine bottle and glasses die cut' using Stix2 Micro Dots and gently rolled over them with a Tim Holtz small brayer to be sure they were fully adhered

- glued the front panel onto the silver outline using Collall All Purpose glue

- then added the entire front panel onto the card front using thin strips of self-adhesive foam tape - and the glue stick trick

- all finished!

The stamps are lovely, but they're unmounted red rubber - hence the extra things I had to bear in mind and do to line them up properly. Also having to use a glue stick or similar to adhere them to the Misti lid was more messy than clear stamps for sure!

I do love the clever background stamp (in hindsight, a deeper wine red might have been better but I didn't want to lose the impact of the die cut) and the sentiment did make me smile - a lovely play on Carpe Diem (Seize the Day).

I'd like to add this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #59 HERE. The 'wine bottle and glasses die' plus both Gummiapan stamps were having a first outing.

Dudley Pupdate: It's been a rough week here with Len becoming more unwell with what initially seemed like a tummy bug. He's now in hospital for at least a couple of days for tests etc. Dudley stayed beside him so much - providing his own special support - he certainly has a little invisible nurse's uniform hidden away! Right now, the little guy is spending most of his time sitting, or lying, at the top of the stairs watching the front door - just waiting for Len to come home. And he even left half his evening meal today, a sign that he's probably pining. 

With love from Dudley and myself,