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,

Allsorts Challenge #842 - 'Create your own background'

I'm happy as can be to be asked to be the Guest Designer over at Allsorts Challenge #842 HERE. The theme is to 'Create a background' and eventually I decided to go back to the background technique I love ................. 'Herringbone' using snippets! This is what I made:

I used: 

- 5.5" x 4.25" cream Hunkydory  card blank - side opening

- a leftover snippet of the same sheet of Hunkydory cream card on which to assemble the herringbone background, covered with 'medium sticky' double sided adhesive sheet

- a selection of quarter inch wide paper strips, cut from snippets tucked in the back of LOTV's 'Country Gentleman' 8" x 8" paper pad - a variety of different colours/patterns

- spent a very contented time adding the strips to the sticky panel 

- the next step, once the herringbone was completed, was to snip off the overhanging ends of the strips - I'd done this after a fashion as I went along so as not to waste any small pieces but trimming the remaining ends from the back of the card panel evens it all up

- then I was faced with a panel which wasn't exactly equal on opposing sides where the chevrons finished - it's the nature of the beast and so I carefully trimmed the herringbone panel, a little bit at a time and ended up with a piece measuring 3.5" x 4.75" - which still kept the A2 card balance/proportions and evened up the pattern edges

- then layered the herringbone panel onto a larger rectangle of brown Hunkydory card as a frame add narrow frames

- glued the herringbone layer onto the card front, using Collall All Purpose Glue

-adhered the two layer front panel to the card blank using narrow foam tape for some lift

- then stamped the sentiment using a large stamp from a set by The Greetery called 'Opposites Attract' - and a Tsukeno Brilliant 'Pearlescent Poppy' ink stamp, onto  a snippet of the cream card I'd been using throughou

- made a cutting 'jig' and die cut the sentiment out, using a die from the same Greetery set

- then took a little snippet of the Hunkydory brown card and die cut it using a Lil'Inkers 'Stitched Rectangle' - tweaking it a little at each end by shuffling the die along by one stitch and re-cutting

- glued the sentiment together and then onto the brown rectangle - finally gluing it to the bottom right of the card 

- finished!

I loved making this card, especially the herringbone background. It's the selection and slicing of the snippets of  papers I found to be more onerous - actually building up the herringbone itself is very satisfying!

Do come and play in Allsorts - there's also an 'anything goes option', the challenge runs for two weeks - plus the prize is four background stamps from A&C. Go for it!

With love, good grief, I sound like Meghan Markle!!

Rudolph Days - January 2026

Wow, a bit like buses - three consecutive posts come along at once - and this first one is my entry for the current Rudolph Days Challenege HERE: 

I used:

- 7" x 5" white card blank, side opening

- the image is from a CAS Christmas card we were sent this past Christmas - die cut using a die from the Heffy Doodle A6 set of 'Stitched Rectangle' dies

- backed the image rectangle using a snippet of Tonic 'Firestone Red' mirror car, trimmed to leave just a narrow frame arounf the image

- glued the image onto the die cut panel and set it aside

- trimmed a bigger snippet of the Firestone Red card to 6.75" x 4.75" and glued it to the card front

- then trimmed a whole sheet of grey stars patterned paper from the Honey Bee Stamps 'Make it Merry' paper pad down to 6.5" x 4.5" - and glued it onto the front ot the red mirror card layer

- finally, I used thin sticky pads to adhere the image onto the card front - luckily it came with the sentiment as well! I used a slick of glue stick across the sticky pads and can't sing the praises of that tip from Chrisse Stokes enough!

- finished!

Quick and easy - once I realised that the greyish-green tree needed a grey background!

Sunday Snippets - CAS Christmas card

A couple of my USA crafting friends very kindly protect cards they send to me through the post with panels of embossed card - and I hoard them like a squirrel! This card uses one of the latest gifted panels - as they are indeed just that, a gift. A quick rummage through my snippets and a short while later this was the CAS result:

I used: 

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

- a snippet of Tonic pearlised 'Red Velvet' card, very slightly trimmed then glued onto the card blank front

- the deeply embossed deep cream (camera lied again!) panel of Christmas foliage, cones and flowers was trimmed by moi and glued on top of the red layer

- used a NBUS die set for the first time - by John Next Door called 'Bold Wishes - JND558', plus small snippets of Tonic pearlised 'Red Velvet' and pearlised 'Majestic Gold' - to die cut the sentiment and also its shadow background

- glued the gold sentiment onto the red background/shadow using a glue pen

- used Nuvo glue to adhere the sentiment panel to the card front, at bottom right

- finished!

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

- Allsorts Challenge #841 HERE.  - 'Anything Goes'

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #82 HERE - my NBUS item is the John Next Door sentiment and shadow die set

I'm sure that most of you will know, but in case you don't, NBUS stands for 'Never Been Used Schtuff'. You only need to be using an item for the first time to enter. It's run by our friend Darnell - who else would think up a challenge name like that!?

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley is beside himself with the dreadfully damp and dull days we're having right now. This weekend it's the Royal Society for Birds (RSPB) 'Big Garden Birdwatch' - and Len rigged up a CCTV camera covering much of our back garden so I could watch indoors for an hour in the warmth. 

I hit lucky with the chosen hour in that it was dry and bright - even threatening to be sunny! Logged a good few birds - to be reported back to the RSPB online. But nothing overly exciting in the great scheme of things ........ unless you count in a rather cute white fluffy four-legged critter that didn't fly. That would be Dudley (but of course) who kept on hopping in and out of the house and definitely didn't care for the pigeons ground feeding on the hanging feeders leftovers one little bit. Basically 'cos they flew away as soon as he bounced over to say 'hi' to them! Poor little 'Billy No Mates'. 😢 And it's almost as if he KNEW I wanted a peaceful, non-zoomies garden so that the smaller birds wouldn't be skittish! 'Nope Mum, not gonna happen on MY watch. This is good FUN!'

The results from Sarn's Challenge #523 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE.

Sunday Snippets - Christmas Bells

With the cold and miserable weather we're having right now, I'm still in Christmas card making mode as Summer seems just a hope on the wind. So I dug out some never been used (NBUS) bell dies that I've had for years and years. Bought before I learned the lesson to at least try out new dies before filing them away! And this is the result - which IS such pretty platinum pinks in real life:

 I used: 

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

- used a pad of Craft Perfect 'Moonlight Rose' card for the two backing layers, trimmed to 5" x 5" and 4.75" x 4.75" - 'Rose Platinum' and 'Frosted Silver'. 

- also used snippets in the same colours as above, plus 'Burnished Rose' from the same pad for the bells, bow and sentiment - all of which I cut out in readiness before launching into the actual assembly side of things

- the first thing to be assembled were the two bells, 'Burnished Rose' matt snippets for the main parts then the top 'filigree' layers plus the 'ringers' were die cut from shiny 'Rose Platinum' and then glued together. The die sets, unused and almost forgotten (shame on me!) are by Dee's Distinctively. They're 'Bell Silhouette and ringer' plus 'Bell No.1' and 'Bell No. 2'. If they are even available now, sorry!

- the bow was die cut twice and layered/glued together - using a snippet of 'Frosted Silver' card plus a glorious bow die from an unbranded set of seven different bows, from eBay ages ago

- the sentiment was die cut using a Technique Tuesday die set called 'Say-It-Noel' and used the matt pink for the shadow and the shiny pink card from the snippets pile for the actual word 'Joy' 

- much earlier on in the process, I'd die cut a plain white square mat for the image - using a 4'5' x 4.5" square stitched die by Heffy Doodle

- assembly time - gosh that sounds like the morning call at boarding school! So, I glued the largest background layer of card onto the card front

- then set to on the main panel assembly - starting by gluing the silver and white stitched die cut panels together

- used very narrow foam tape (and the very forgiving glue stick which allows some movement before pressing down hard) to apply to the back of the silver/white panel and gingerly stuck it onto the already adhered shiny rose panel on the card front

- and then, drum roll, time for the bells, bow and sentiment to be added!

- glued the bottom bell to the centre top of the panel. then popped the top bell on - and added the bow - all using snippets of very thin sticky pads to raise them a bit

- finally, glued the sentiment onto the bottom right of the panel and called it 'finished'!

Psst. Once again, no matter what daylight or artificial light I used - the pretty pinks tones of this card didin't wanna play ball!

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

- Christmas Kickstart Challenge #106 HERE - 'Dreaming of a Pink Christmas'

- Allsorts Challenge 841 HERE - under 'Anything Goes'

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #82 HERE - my NBUS items are the 'Bells' dies

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

Dudley Pupdate: A lot of Dudley's past few days have involved 'shouting at shadows'. When the sun sometimes (rare but it happens!) shines into our hall through the front door, the shadows seem to create rainbows and dance for him. Now and then, Len will open the front door to let him know that there's no-one there - might be a villain, either lurking to steal Honka Duck or even kidnap us all! He takes his 'Doggie Duties' very seriously!

Love as always, Dudley Dog and me

Sunday Snippets - Christmas Gift

'Santa Dudley' looked at my Christmas wish list and chose a die that I've liked for ages as his gift to me - go Dudley! Here it is in use below:

I used:

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

- a snippet of Tonic pearlescent 'Blue Cashmere' card which only needed a whisker trimmed off, ready to form the main backing element

- then I used some of my precious non-shedding silver glitter card - so kindly donated by a lovely friend - and used Dudley's Christmas gift of an Amazon die to cut what I saw as 'triple ribbons' on the front of a Christmas gift

- glued the silver die cut in place, slightly on the 'wonk' but I did my best! It did need a little bit of trimming once in place but worked fine, IMHO

- then die cut the leaf and shadow using snippets of parchment paper and dark green card along with Penny Black's 'leaf layers' pair of dies then glued them together

- next I used one of my favourite dies - from Sizzix 'Winter Wishes' to die cut the word 'Joy'

- glued the shadowed holly branch and the sentiment, both at angles, in place ........... using a glue pen

- and the final touch was a few SU red Glossy Dots to make the whole thing really 'pop'!

I think the 'ribbons' die would be perfect for a chap's card BTW! 

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge #840 - HERE.  Under anything Goes'

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #82 - HERE. The unbranded 'Gift ribbons' die as I call it and also the Penny  Black 'leaf layers' set of dies were having their first outing

Dudley Pupdate: Post-Christmas and New Year Celebration time has been a quiet time for Dudley. Catching up on his snoozes. I spotted him earlier this evening curled into a tight cosy little ball in one of his dog beds . So cute - but if I'd tried to take a photo he'd have woken up, so I just tiptoed past. 

Very importantly, the results of Challenge #522 are now published HERE. 

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 - Santa Train

Happy New Year everyone - Dudley and I wish you oodles of health and happiness throughout 2026. I left wealth out many years ago - it helps, but can't buy happiness or real health either!

I made my snippets decoupage card for today for Len - nine layers later I was like a wet dish cloth from the effort and concentration with so many fiddly pieces. But, he loves it, even though he threw the box away, so I gave him a spare one I already had made - just in case he wants to keep it for a while longer:

I used:

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

- Katy Sue's decoupage sheet called 'Santa Train' which I layered using very thin sticky pads

- used snippets of Tonic's pearlescent 'Majestic Gold' and 'Red Velvet' card to make a 'frame' and glued it onto the card front

- glued the assembled Santa Train image onto the gold layer

- final touch, added the words and little hearts and popped the card into a white card box, bought ready to assemble from Amazon - vastly superior to a well known card making company's offering!

Not entering any challenges this time - onto Christmas 2026 card making next!

Here's a peek at the Christmas card that Len gave to me:

It's absolutely stunning, stands at about 4" deep when opened up and is one to keep for sure. I know it's laser cut and pre-printed but the design is a delight too! Ha! Much as I'd love to compete I'll settle for it sitting on my desk right in front of me for the new few days.

Dudley Pupdate: There's a slight possibility of snow here before too long, as we live at about the highest point in Hampshire. Dudley has a very smart fleece lined new 'walkies' jacket as well as one for just romping around the garden without the need for a built in harness or some leg protection - both are red so we don't lose him in any snow drifts. What am I like, thinking back to Northumberland snow depths when that easily happened to my beloved Bichons! Just their coal black noses popping up out of two foot of snow in the fields behind where I lived at the time. Meanwhile, Dudley and I are watching the skies for any white flakes! Len is praying we don't get any!

Sarn has opened up Challenge #523 in the  Snippets Playground HERE.

Do come and play with us in the Playground - for now, we're back to normal - or at least as normal as one could hope for!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,