Sunday Snippets - Easter Greetings

Happy Easter everyone! And, in many places, including the UK, we put our clocks forward at 2am on Sunday - easy to remember 'Fall, back, Spring, forward'. It always takes me a few days to get over that lost hour of sleep!

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

My snippets card for today used snippets of pale ivory linen card for the lily, leaf and the backing layer underneath the lily, as well as underneath the lilac coloured frame to peep through the die cut corners:

I used:

- 5.25" x 4" pale ivory linen card blank, tent style

- used Altenew's 'Layered Lily' stamp and matching die set for the flower and leaf- stamping them using a set of SU teeny stamp pads I've had for many years and of course the Misti to help with positioning the layers

- then die cut the flower and leaf before putting it to one side

- to create the lilac 'frame' I used a die from Penny Black's 'Stitched Frames' set of dies to cut into the centre of a piece of  5" x 3.75" lilac card stock

- for the centre panel I used the same Penny Black die to cut into a snippet of pale ivory card. just slightly bigger than the aperture 

- used SU's 'Old Olive' to stamp the Easter Greeting, using an unbranded stamp from a set of Easter stamps

- adhered the pale ivory centre panel to the 'fallout centre' piece of lilac card from when the lilac frame was die cut - this was to add more stability and the 'image panel' stands ever so slightly proud as a result, which is a nice effect in real life 

- still not finished with faffing with the frame, I trimmed a snippet of pale ivory linen card to a whisker smaller than the lilac frame and adhered it to the back of the frame so it showed through the corners of the die cut frame before flipping it over and popping in the centre panel

- used very narrow double sided foam tape, with a glue stick, to adhere both the framed image panel in place

- added the lily leave using a glue pen and then the lily flower was added using thin sticky pads

- finally, popped three Memory Box 'Fairy Drops' on and called it done!

Using the Altenew layering stamps and dies is good fun, once you get the hang of it. I bought them in a closing down sale, I'd hesitate to buy at full price what is effectively one flower and a leaf.

On the other hand, you do sometimes get what you pay for with unbranded goods. The Easter sentiments set is really lovely (Amazon UK) but the stamps are soft and floppy and clearly not polymer. I expect they won't stand up to rigorous use. However, they do stamp well plus it's a set I won't use very much anyhow so I can live with that.

I'm entering this card into Darnells NBUS #60 Challenge HERE. The Altenew stamps and dies, Easter sentiment stamps and also the Penny Black set of 'Stitched Frames' were all having a first outing.

Dudley Pupdate: I had a wry smile over in the Snippets Playground when I read that Sarn and I, ably assisted by Dudley, had been hiding Easter eggs! Dudley was doing the 'hole digging' apparently - and lately his doggie instincts have caused some fun here. He's a 'grazer' and likes nothing more than a dish of freshly raw chopped vegetables. Diced sweet (not hot) baby peppers go in a shot and he leaves the diced carrots to sustain him whenever he fancies a nibble, until the remainder are ditched each evening and a fresh lot prepared for him. Obviously he has other food at breakfast and for dinner and our vet is very happy about his diet. His teeth are doing fine but to continue along that road we recently decided to add a whole small carrot into the fun each day to encourage him to chew using his back teeth - which he loved. Err, until, Len found a day old one hidden away in the corner of his study, much as a dog would bury a bone! Dudley looked pretty sheepish when he realised he'd been rumbled and I'm currently standing beside the ladder up to the Playground Treehouse ............... waiting to have a little word in Sarn's ear! 

 /) /)

 (-.-)
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With love from Dudley and myself, 

March 2024 Rudolph Days - Little Town of Bethlehem

It's Helen's Rudolph Days Challenge HERE until the end of the month - and this is my entry:

I used:

- 5.75" x 5.75" square white card blank

- a piece (snippet) of Tonic 'Majestic Gold' card trimmed to 4.25" x 4.25" and set aside

- snippet of black 'velvet' card stock, die cut using Britannia Dies 'Bethlehem Scene' die, trimming away the lovely crescent shaped upper part to leave just the town itself - at 4" wide

- a piece of carefully chosen backing paper from the Altenew 'Celestial' paper pack, trimmed to 4" x 4" to form the background for Bethlehem. Basically, the background paper and some carefully chosen positioning is the real secret to this card with enough light to show through the windows and a pretty aura over the town with a starlit sky for the star to shine down from

- then glued the silhouette Bethlehem town die cut onto the backing paper using a glue pen. 

- glued that layer onto the Majestic Gold layer to form a frame - using Collall All Purpose glue

- die cut a star from a little snippet of 'Majestic Gold' card using the smaller die in the Memory Box 'Star of Wonder' set of two dies and glued it in place using a glue pen

- finally, used very narrow double sided foam tape, with a glue stick, to adhere both the panel onto the front of the card blank

- didn't add a sentiment, it speaks for itself - and there will be an insert of course

Len spotted it on the craft room desk the following morning and exclaimed -'Wow, that is brilliant'! So nice when chaps recognise your work without any prompting!

And of course, I made two the same whilst at it.  Thanks to Sarn for reminding me with one of her recent cards just how eye catching a wider white border can be!

Sunday Snippets - HB2U

I recently made a couple of colour swatches using 'Lindy's Magical shakers' - from the 'Tea and Crumpets' shimmery range. I kept the leftover strips as they're too pretty to just ditch. And this is my snippets card using them:

I used:

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

- then die cut a further piece of the same white card using MFT's 'Diagonal Strip Sentiment Cover Up' die and popped the diagonal strips out

- trimmed another piece of the same white card to just a smidgen smaller than the diagonal strip die cut, covered one side with Stick It adhesive paper, peeled off the second backing and carefully adhered it to the back of the diagonal stripes die cut

- that meant I had nine diagonal die cut apertures in the white panel, backed with a nice sticky surface for the next step

- sorted the Lindy's Magical Shaker strips into the order I wanted 

- then used my Cuttlebug to position the strips, mostly one at a time, into the corresponding positions on the back of the die. Die cut them and then popped them into the correct apertures in the die cut white panel

- a lovely friend recently sent me a gorgeous unbranded flora die and I used it to cut a layer of black velvet card then back it with die cut plain black card for stability - all snippets of course. Such a pretty die! 

- die cut 'HB2U' using a Gummiapan die from their fairly recent Mystery Bags offer, again with black velvet card which was then backed with die cut plain black card - all snippets again

- adhered the silhouette die cut and the sentiment across and onto onto the broad white diagonal panel on the card front - using a glue pen

- finally, used very narrow double sided foam tape, with a glue stick, to adhere both the panel onto the front of the card blank

It was a pretty time consuming process but quite rewarding not to have wasted those leftover little strips of Lindy's Magical Shaker samples!

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

- Darnell's NBUS challenge #60 - HERE - some of the 'Magical Shakers', as well as the two dies I used to cut the black velvet card, were having their first outing

Dudley Pupdate: We're all longing for some consistently dry and sunny days here. Meanwhile, Dudley is still snuggling up to us during the night - although I did spot him curled up in his own bed the other night. He seems to like to have a wander around and ring the changes particularly with the night temperatures being quite variable right now. Each day, when I make our bed, I carefully straighten the little fleecy paw printed cover that Dudley has in his bed - it's a good indicator of whether or not he's using the bed as it usually looks as if he's had a wrestling match in there if he has actually slept in it! When he came to us he travelled light with a puppy sized tennis ball, a much loved Monkey toy and his fleece blanket - plus some starter food. All from the breeder to try to help him settle into his new home. It all looked terribly sad looking back. But, he had to go to a new home and we three had chosen one another.

This was within an hour of us arriving back home with the tiny scrap and we, foolishly mistakenly, thought he'd settled in already! Fast forward to during that coming night ............. with Len ending up dozing on a sofa down in the lounge, with Dudley lying on his chest, wrapped in his fleece. so that the heart beat and warmth from Len along with the smell from his doggy Mum 'Dolly' would calm down one inconsolable and almost hysterical Havanese puppy. 

Such a little guy, who Len and I now realise, had a predetermined agenda ........... which meant absolutely NO intention of sleeping alone! EVER! Bless his cotton socks! 

Remember, the results from Challenge #475 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE. Hope to see you on the swings for the current challenge too - I fully expect Sarn to be gearing up ready for Easter in a week's time!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - Holly!

Here's my snippets card for this week:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4" pale ivory linen card blank, tent style 

- a snippet of the same pale ivory linen card, cut using the Memory Box 'Contempo Holly and Stencil' set die (I didn't try the stencil ......... for now!)

- then extracted, a tiny bit of snipping was involved to my surprise, the holly twig and leaves from the panel

- then glued the resulting panel with its various apertures onto the left hand side of the card front as a 'frame' for my next additions

- die cut the panel once again to end up with a mirror gold 'skeleton' of the holly twig - I used Tonic 'Inca Gold' snippets

- at that point I pondered and realised that it needed something to define the line down the centre of the card - so I added a strip of Altenew 'Golden Edge Trim' Washie tape (it's about .25" in width and very useful stuff). I used it because it's very thin and wouldn't cause any 'bumps' when I added the holly leaves

- then I felt safe to add the gold skeleton outlines of the holly twig - just using a fine glue pen  (there was one piece I'd kept back from the pale ivory die cut so I popped that in place at the same time)

- then used the holly die again to die cut the holly leaves - using some beautiful green mirror card by 'Italian Options' (Amazon UK) and added them, using a glue pen

- all that remained was to add a sentiment so I dug around in my pot of ready made Tonic Mini 'Merry Christmas' sentiments and added a red mirror card one (probably made using Tonic 'Scarlet Organza' card

- finished - and I actually made four the same......... in a little batch bake!

I now have four leftover skeleton white outline die cuts of the holly twig and leaves - begging to be used. I have plans as they're much too pretty to waste!

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

- Darnell's NBUS challenge #60 - HERE - the 'Contempo Holly' die I used is NBUS, I'm still battling on using 'Never Been Used Stuff' and yet it keeps on growing! I need therapy.

- Christmas Kickstart #84 - Get Your Grinch On HERE. Basically 'use green' - and I did! Love this challenge run by Jo - go and take a look if you don't already join in.

Dudley Pupdate: After the traumas of the previous week (he recovered well from the vet visit, 24 hours if that!)  we gave Dudley a 'pass' on the full trim that Len had planned for him. So, this week has been filled with tons of cuddles and playtime - even more than usual, if that's possible. If only it would stop raining - he hates getting even his paws wet! Mind you, drying him off with a towel, even after just venturing into the garden, is a game he loves!

Remember, I've just kicked off a new challenge over in the Snippets Playground HERE. Hope to see you on the swings!

Love as always, Dudley and me,

Sunday Snippets - Wishing you a Beautiful Day

Still playing with Lindy's Magical Shakers here:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" pale ivory linen card blank, side opening

- first of all I made the piece for the sunset - and used Lindy's Magical Shakers in three stripes of colours which I then gently swept across a snippet of Mixed Media card using a wet paint brush to blend and create an ombre effect. The colours are from the 'Tea and Crumpets' range and they contain a glimmer of mica - 'Crumpet Crumbs' (yellow), 'Pinkies up Pink' (a peachy pink)' and 'Pass the jam Jane' (the colour of my favourite seedless raspberry jam!)

- then die cut the 'sun' from a scrap of card to use as an aperture template to move around the Lindy's background and choose exactly where I wanted to die cut. The die is another unbranded one called 'Dusk sunset' (many thanks to our lovely Val 'the enabler' for the inspiration).

 

- snippet of black 'velvet' card, from which I die cut the palm tree using an unbranded die from a set of two in different sizes, called simply 'Trees' (imaginative huh?) 

- then cut into a whole piece of Lawn Fawn's yellowish 'Watercolour Wishes' ombre paper, using a Lil'Inkers 'Stitched Rectangles' die

- stamped the sentiment onto the top left corner of  the backing paper panel using a VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' ink pad and a stamp from an ancient set of sentiments by Whimsical Designs 'Whimsical Fun - Vol. 1' I wonder if they ended up calling themselves Whimsy Stamps?

- trimmed  a snippet of the same black 'velvet' card to just slightly bigger than the background panel and glued them together

- added the sun onto the panel then the palm tree (layered the tree onto a die cut snippet of plain black card for dimension) - using a glue pen

- finally added the whole panel to the card front using narrow foam tape and the usual glue stick - finished! 

I made this card for a good friend who lives locally and very recently celebrated her Birthday. A few years ago she joined Len and I when we went on one of our annual Autumn holidays to Thailand. We had a great time with loads of laughter and to this day she says it was unforgettable - in the nicest possible way I hope! So, I made my snippets card especially for Pauline, to bring back memories of a lovely holiday.........  and some beautiful sunsets.

I'd like to enter this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #60 HERE - the dies were having their first outing.

Also, the current Allsorts Challenge #771 HERE has the theme of 'yellow' this week. Hooray, so I'm entering my card there as well.

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley survived his week of a couple of small trim's, bath, drive in his new doggie seat in the car - and also his MOT at the vet's. He screamed and yodelled blur murder all the way to the vet's and then turned into a wriggling bundle of fluff once up on the table! However, he came through with flying colours and to my amazement still weighs practically the same as he did two years ago. He's still speaking to us - just! However, he's been very subdued and we've seen that in the past for 24 hours or so after a vaccination - poor little sausage! 

Very importantly, the results of Challenge #474 are now published HERE. 

Do please come and play in Sarn's current challenge over in the Snippets Playground! Let's try to beat 42 entries for our little satchel swinging mischief maker!

Love from myself and Dudley,

Sunday Snippets - Lindy's 'Have a Scone Heather'

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

My snippets card for today used a snippet of Strathmore Mixed Media 'paper' (it's actually heavier than 300 GSM card!) which had been given the Lindy's Magical Shakers treatment:

I used:

- A6 black card blank, tent style (it was a deckle edged card  but I guillotined the very edges off to give a crisper look

- I backed a snippet of 'black velvet' card stock with Stick-It double sided adhesive sheet then die cut it using a Creative Expressions 'Stained Glass Collection' die called 'Butterfly'

- the die doesn't have an outer border, so I just carefully trimmed all four sides of the piece to form one - I chose to trim before doing the die cutting but either way would be fine

- made sure the pink background was trimmed with squared off corners then, with a lot of care, slowly peeled off about a quarter of the backing from the die cut

- lined up the top and one side onto the pink background - you only really get one chance with Stick-It sheets if you're positioning something and it needs to be 'spot on', although they're very slightly less 'instantly stuck in place' easier than (say) Woodware Double sided adhesive sheets

- trimmed the remaining two sides of the pink background to line up and form an even border all round the panel

- used a little snippet of the 'black velvet' card to die cut the 'just because' sentiment (using an Altenew die from the 'Essential Sentiment Strips' set) then glued it onto a larger snippet of the pink background 

- finally, used very narrow double sided foam tape, with a glue stick, to adhere both the image panel and the sentiment in place

There was a lot of trimming during the making of this card! The snippets I had leftover were literally teeny-tiny ones.

The pink background was made during an initial play with Lindy's Magical Shakers - using 'Have a Scone Heather'. The range is called 'Tea & Crumpets' and, importantly, the colours also contain Mica for a gentle shimmer. NB. Not all of Lindy's ranges contain Mica! I did the 'spray with water then sprinkle' technique and then spray a little more. Then my little Mini Mister spray ran out of water so I grabbed a water brush (rather then disturb Dudley who was sleeping with his head on one of my feet!) and just swiped it across the whole piece a few times. It blended the colours more and is an alternative to a more splattered effect.

I'd like to add this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #60 HERE. The 'Stained Glass' die and also the Lindy's 'Have a Scone Heather' shaker were having a first outing.

One day, when I'm at a loose end with enough time to think about peeling a bunch of grapes, I'll dig out a ton of brightly coloured snippets and use the stained glass die to create a glorious piece of art work! One day, I said!

Dudley Pupdate: We have a fun week ahead of us. First of all, Dudley needs a bit of hand trimming done by yours truly, then he will have a bath as that's overdue with Len having been unwell. And then, to put the icing on the cake for the little chap - next Saturday he's off to the vet for his annual vaccinations and check up. That entails a first ride in his new doggy car seat - just to add some sprinkles on top of the icing - he absolutely hates going anywhere by car. We have to whisper all of this to one another - he'd be frantically packing his little back pack to run away from home otherwise! Wish us luck!

With love from Dudley and myself,