Rudolph Days - February 2026

Short month 'tis February - so here I am with a 'short on all sides' card for the February Rudolph Days Challenge HERE:

I used:

- 4" x 4" square linen white card blank, side opening. Just used a scrap but the back side of the card is at least the same shade as the front

- the image is upcycled from a Christmas card we received this year, trimmed down to 3.5" x 3.5"

- covered the whole front of the card with a layer of Amazon 'Stella Weds' dark green card (perfect for Christmas cards, IMHO)

- then glued the image panel onto a snippet of Tonic pearlescent 'Majestic Gold' card, slitghtly trimmed down to just a gnat's whisker larger than the image panel

- finally, added the framed image panel to the green card front using very narrow foam strips, and called it 'done'

Quick and easy - phew!

 

Sunday Snippets - 'When Santa got stuck up the chimney'

The current challenge over Christmas Kickstart is such a great theme  - 'A Christmas Sing-along'! My immediate thought was 'Driving home for Christmas' by Chris Rea, but Linby had already entered a super card with that as her song choice. Sooo, I came up with this card instead:

Most of my leftover snippets, some got lost in the tidying up!

I used:

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

- making the main feature of the card - Santa - was my next step as all the other placements depended on how he turned out in terms of size

- I used red, white, green and also flesh coloured snippets. The flesh colour was a Papermill Direct swatch sample. The die set was an Amazon buy last Autumn - unbranded with just 'Christmas Santa' on the packet

- die cut all 14 pieces and assembled them using a glue pen - also added a touch of pink Polychromos pencil  and a little Tombow pale grey here and there as I went 

- Santa's eyes were coloured using a deep blue Gelly Roll Glaze pen

- a snippet of Tonic iridescent  'Firestone Red' mirror card, trimmed to one sixteenth of an inch smaller all round than the card blank

- a piece of paper from an Amazon unbranded paper pack called 'Moonlit Reverie' - it has a slightly vintage look about it - trimmed to one eighth of an inch smaller all round than the red mirror layer 

- then took a sheet of brick patterned paper from another Amazon paper pack called 'Brick Wall Texture' and trimmed a 'chimney' measuring 2" wide x 1.5" high 

- glued the 'brick chimney' onto the moonlit sky paper then glued them onto the red mirror card layer

- glued the bones of the image layer to the card front

- used teeny red mirror snippets to die cut my favourite Tonic (discontinued) Christmas sentiment twice, layered them together then glued to the top left hand corner

- final step was to use thin sticky pads to glue Santa in place  - stuck in the chinmey!

I had intended using a small 'Ho, Ho, Ho' die for the sentiment but, given Santa's predicament I doubt if he'd have been chuckling out any 'Ho's right at that time! 

The song 'When Santa got stuck up the chimney' was very popular in the mid-70's. But, being somewhat vintage, I remember my Dad singing it to me when I was little and apparently it was first out in 1953!

I ended up with two cards the same - which was a bonus, given all the faffing around making up the Santas!

And now, drumroll! Take a bow Len! I originally intended to have Santa resting and looking out of a frame or a die cut circle and was half prepared to go down that route when Len spotted a Santa all made up and immediately said 'he needs to be partway out of a chimney'. Bingo! Many thanks for that inspiration, you clever chap.

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

- Allsorts Challenge #843 HERE  - under 'Anything Goes'

- Christmas Kickstart #107 HERE - 'A Christmas Sing-Along'

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #83 HERE - my NBUS items are the moonlit sky paper pack, plus the brick wall paper pad and the Santa die, both of which I've had a for a while

Dudley Pupdate: Recently, I remembered how good Schwartz Slow cooker mixes are - I'd used them in the past with much success plus we still had a selection of packets here. So, with some encouragement Len had a go using one for the first time a couple of weeks ago and on Thursday just gone he did a repeat performance - Beef Stew in Ale (he used Guinness, as I used to do). The Schwartz slow cooker mixes are almost all 'dump and go' - needing no pre-frying of anything. The 'Chicken in red wine' mix needs some bacon frying but if we use that one then this time I'd just add some snipped up pre-cooked bacon rashers from the supermarket! Just chuck it all in the slow cooker, turn it on and leave it! After about an hour, delicious smells were already wafting in the kitchen. 

Dudley promptly abandoned his sentry duties AND Honka Duck entirely, raced down the stairs and posted himself, sitting slap bang in front of the worktop where the slow cooker was doing its stuff with his nose twitching for ages! At times he would get up onto his hind legs like a white fluffy meerkat, but it's well out of reach - very funny to see. He was so intent on remaining at his 'guard the slow cooker' assignment - he even missed the post arriving! 

The results from Sarn's Challenge #525 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE.  

One last thing, Sarn has jokingly dubbed it 'skive-itis', but it is very noticeable how entry numbers are very low. It's been sliding for a while and I'm wondering what's wrong. Would you prefer a 'theme' each fortnight? Are you happy with 'Anything Goes'? Are we running out of steam? Let us know, by email if you prefer.

Love from Dudley and yours truly

Sunday Snippets - 2026 Valentine's Day!

My snippets card for today is a Valentine's Day card - from Dudley and myself to Len:

I used:

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

- trimmed a snippet of Tonic mirror 'Red Organza' card down to 4.5" x 4.5"

- trimmed a snippet of white card down to 4.25" x 4.25" and glued it to the front of the piece of 'Red Organza' card

- next embossed a snippet of Tonic pearlescent 'Luna Silver' card using a NBUS folder  by Arriettycraft called 'Hearts'

- trimmed the hearts embossed card down to 3.5" x 3.5" then cut across it diagonally using a guillotine

- glued the triangles to the top left and bottom right corners of the white layer of card. The card design sort of evolved as I went along, otherwise I'd have glued the triangles to the white layer before backing it with the red (easier to line up) . However, a blind man on a galloping horse wouldn't notice!

- then die cut the sentiment twice using another couple of snippets of the 'Red Organza' card and layered them together

- glued the sentiment onto the front panel and added five little hearts - die cut from teensy snippets using the same sentiment die, which is by Impression Obsession called 'Love'. I really like how the letter 'o' is depicted by a heart - another die that's on my long list of favourites!

- finally, the whole panel was adhered to the front of the card blank, using narrow foam strips - finished!

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

- Allsorts Challenge 843 HERE - under ''Embossing'

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #83 HERE - my NBUS item is the hearts embossing folder

Remember, I've just kicked off a new challenge over in the Snippets Playground HERE 

Dudley Pupdate: It's been a mostly damp, but uneventful, week here for Dudley. At least he hasn't refused point blank to go into the garden in the rain - clever little guy seems to know when there's a break in the weather! Saturday, yesterday was a gloriously sunny day and Dudley was delighted - zoomies galore!

It was also Valentine's Day of course, and the card from Dudley (below) was such a lovely surprise, so sweet:

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - for someone special

I recently bought a fabulous John Next Door 'pre-loved' 'Shaded Ivy' stamp and matching die. Here it is in use below:

I used:

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

- itching to try out the John Next Door stamp and die set, I picked out a snippet of Vaessen cardstock (love their products, available on Amazon!) in 'textured green' and used the reverse side of the card as the pattern/texture is 'softer' when stamping

- then used the *JND133 'Shaded Ivy' stamp and a Misti to stamp all the leaves in one go as it's a single stamp - the ink pad I used was VerseFine Clair 'Shady Lane'

- then die cut the ivy using the matching die - and that's where the magic happened. Two of the opposite corners have a triangle built into the stamp and the die has two opposing corners cut across for alignment! Therefore, the die can be perfectly  lined up with the stamped image, EVERY time! And then - you get a perfect cut of several pieces of inked and die cut ivy, in varying sizes with tow branches of ivy and plenty of different sized leaves, all at once - sheer genius!

- then I used two Papermill Direct 'Powder Pink Pearl' card from single and double sided swatches/snippets to die cut the Daisy-like flower heads - using a very old (one of my very first!) and favourite die set by Joy! called 'Daisy die set'

- used Nuvo glue to stick the flower layers together, gave the upper petals a flick and then glued them together before adding a large white pearl - from  Amazon of course-  and setting them aside

- next came a 5" x 5" white panel of the same cardstock as I had the die cut pieces to play around with by this point

- added double embossed lines around the outer edge to take away the plainess 

- backed the white panel with a very slightly larger snippet of Tonic mirror 'Inca Gold' card 

- then glued the whole panel to the card front

- next step was to juggle the pieces of die cuts around on the top layer of the card to work out just where the embellishents AND the sentiment would go 

- and then the plan just suddenly fell into place so, I stamped the sentiment! Onto the bottom right of the card front - using a well-loved stamp from Hero Arts 'Live Life' stamp set and the Clair 'Shady Lane' ink pad once again

-- next steps were to adhere the delightful ivy to the top left corner and add the pink daisies -  used teeny pieces of  slim sticky pads for the daisies! 

- almost there. I used a few blue hued butterflies from the Katy Sue set of 'Kaleidoscope of Butterflies'. Literally hundreds of double sided and already die cut little butterfly embellishments - after I'd tickled them with clear 'Wink of Stella'. Glued them in place with Nuvo glue and added some small ivy leaves at the bottom left hand corner

- finished!

* I totally adore the 'Shaded Ivy' stamp and co-ordinating die plate but, despite massively prolonged searches on your behalf, it seems that only the stamp is available - and even then it's extremely rare. For me it's a real 'winner' as a set . 

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge #842- HERE.  Under 'Anything Goes'

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #83 - HERE. It's the gorgeous John Next Door 'Shaded Ivy' stamps and dies of course!

Dudley Pupdate: The weather here has been awful lately, we had one lovely sunny day this week but heavy rain the rest of the time. Mid-morning yesterday, Dudley must have been desperate for a wee so Len opened the back door for him ................ at which the little guy screeched to a halt, looked out at the downpour, rolled his eyes until you could see the whites and raced to hide in the lounge. Undeterred, Len chased him round the downstairs of the house a few times and finally back into the kitchen. He'd invoked 'Toilet Emergency Plan B' and this was what a CCTV camera in the conservatory picked up:

I almost cried laughing as Len donned body warmer and wellies, then grabbed our biggest umbrella to hold over Dudley ................... whilst he followed the call of nature. 😂 You don't have to be crazy to live here - but it helps!

The results of Challenge #524 are now published HERE. SO hard to just pick three entries.

Do please come and play in Sarn's current challenge over in the Snippets Playground - just scroll down from the results post.

Love from myself and Dudley, xxx

Sunday Snippets - Criss Cross Technique

My snippets card for today (sorry, Christmas once again) uses a technique I hadn't come across before - perfect for using up patterned papers. It's called the 'Criss Cross' technique - and this is the link to the YouTube tutorial I followed, HERE:

And to show there's no waste:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" 'Silkweave 'Pale Ivory Linen' card blank - side opening

- added a layer of Tonic pearlescent 'Red Velvet' card to cover the whole of the card front to pick up the red in the patterned paper

- the papers, one patterned and one plain green are from the gorgeous Honey Bee Stamps 'Make It Merry' paper pad - a huge favourite of mine. 

- I followed the tutorial and 'sort of' managed to assemble the pieces evenly onto a snippet of 'Pale Ivory linen' card, using Collall All Purpose Glue for moveability. I used one patterned sheet and one plain green sheet - which actually gave me enough pieces for four cards in total - result! Double sided card such as SU card with one patterned and one plain side would work so well wth this clever idea!

- then adhered the 'criss cross' panel to the card front using narrow foam tape and a glue stick for moveability

- and now for the sentiment - I used a Penny Black 'song of peace' sentiment stamp and VersaFine Clair 'Shady Lane' ink pad to stamp the sentiment, using a 'jig' I made, as there were four to die cut/stamp identically

- the die I used is a Presscut 'Oval Stitch Hole' die - a huge set in many sizes!

No challenges this time. I'm Brenda's GD over at Allsorts right now - go me! And also I already used one stamp from the stamp set so it isn't totally NBUS for Darnell's challenge!

Dudley Pupdate: He's developed a habit of snuggling down all cosy between us in during the night, on what is thankfully a King sized bed. Even to the point of lying with his head snuggled into my neck. That's fine by me, but the other morning I was woken up by something gently stroking my hair. I thought it was Dudley at first but then, cracking me up, realised it was Len half asleep thinking he was stroking Dudley with his hand! Havanese pooches do have silky hair rather than fur BTW! It took all of my self control not to lick Len's hand in return - and give a loud 'WOOF'!!

Sarn has opened up Challenge #525 in the Snippets Playground HERE.

Do come and play with us in the Playground - numbers are back up after Christmas and we love seeing all of you - where the sun always shines! Goodness know - we need sunshine in our lives right now!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,