Rudolph Days Challenge - August 2019 - and a trip to Hazel's challenge!

In the midst of all that heat recently, I made a batch of Christmas cards all the same. And Dudley took a starring role:

I used:

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

- piece of white card, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a totally adorable stamp plus sentiment (recently sent to me by my lovely friend Greta, thank you so much - it's Dudley for sure!) - the stamp is by Hot Off The Press called 'Dog with Antlers'

- once stamped, the image needed very little colouring - just touches of red and green - and pale peach on the doggie's ears :)

- then die cut the image panel using a Lil' Inkers 'Stitched Rectangle' die

- cut SU red card stock for a panel very slightly larger than the image panel and glued them together so that the image has a red 'frame'

- added white fun foam to the back of the panel and then glued it onto the card front at a jaunty angle

Made 10 cards in total, which has helped towards my (somewhat reduced since i accepted I will need to send some shop bought cards) target for Christmas. And I really loved using this cute stamp - it's certainly a real keeper! Big woofs to Greta and Fritz from Dudley :)

I'm entering into ScrappyMo's August 2019 Rudolph Days challenge. AND, at long last, I'm also taking my card to join in with Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge. Yippee!!

Rudolph Days Challenge - July 2019

So here we  are in a heatwave - making Christmas cards! And of course. they're for a challenge I don't like to miss - it's ScrappyMo's Rudolph Days challenge, which you can find HERE.

And this is my entry:

I used:

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

- piece of red mirri card, which is an eighth of an inch smaller on all sides (ie. 5.25" x 4"), glued onto the card front

- then I did the image panels using a really lovely stencil which a very sweet friend recently sent to me - it's by Kaisercraft and is called 'Flourish Tree'

- used white card stock, trimmed to 5" x 3.75" and placed the tree stencil onto the panel using purple tape - leaving room for a sentiment at the bottom of the panel

- used a Brilliance Dewdrop ink pad (Pearlescent Ivy) and an Inkylicious 'mini smoothie' foam pad to add the ink through the stencil 

- next I die cut the sentiment using a Tonic Studios 'Mini Moments Merry Christmas' die and Stick-It backed gold mirri card

- popped the sentiment in place and then ran the panel through the Cuttlebug again just using the die cutting plates but without the die - to adhere the sentiment properly to the panel (works a treat!)

- then glued the image panel on top of the red mirri card panel

- finishing touches are hot fix Josy Rose nail heads, gold stars and red round ones for 'berries' - and to pick up the red of the mirri card frame

Not a great photo - had to turn the card slightly to one side to pick up the mirri card shine, plus the camera was fighting bright sunshine so it's slightly out of focus.

Whilst at it I made four cards all the same. There were a good few bits and pieces to get out to make this card so (to me) it made sense to make four. 

The stencil is so lovely, thank you again my lovely friend! And, I spotted the sentiment die over at Elizabeth's blog the other week - and instantly knew I had to have it! So many people are to blame/thank for my ever-increasing craft stash.

It's sweltering here in Hampshire - thank goodness we got Dudley a puppy cut the other week!

Oh deer - I think I over dosed on deer!

A while ago, in one of the Facebook 'craft de-cluttering' groups I'm in, I spotted a bargain load of Nordic themed Christmas papers for sale. And, one design with little deer across really stood out - as the memory of a deer die I bought late in 2018 came to mind.

And this is what I ended up making - times 12! Mostly because I wanted to make the most of some of the sheets of paper along with the die I'd remembered - and (being truthful) am realistic enough to know that I'd be unlikely to repeat the same design if I didn't battle on and make a big batch first time round:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" off-white card blanks, side opening for a change. I chose the off-white as it was less stark against the backing paper

- the 'slightly Nordic' paper (it's quite heavy duty although I have no idea of the make), trimmed slightly smaller than the card front and glued in place

- an oval shape die cut using a Spellbinders die and more of the off-white card stock

- lots of snippets of very slightly metallic deep rusty red card stock, backed with 'Stick-It' and then die cut using a deer from the MFT 'Deer Love' set of dies

- peeled the backing off and adhered the die cut deer to the oval panel, then ran it through the Cuttlebug to make sure it was well stuck down

- then just filled in the eye with a black fine liner pen and also drew his black nose. There are tiny little dies in the set to use for the nose and eye, but by this time I was flagging .............. just a tad

- decided not to add a sentiment

- glued the oval panel onto the card front (all 12 of them) - and then went and lay down under the desk with Dudley for a rest!

Still, it bumped up my target a bit - now have 55 cards in the Christmas card box. Very unlikely I'll get away with not having to resort to some shop bought cards this year - although a friend did just point out that when she did the same, folk were wondering what they'd done not to be sent a hand made card. Ooopsie! My hope is to be able to send hand made cards to crafting friends and some close friends/relatives only - and shop bought ones to the rest, but we'll see how things go.

Rudolph Days Challenge - June 2019

It seems quite a while since May's Rudolph Days challenge - run by the lovely ScrappyMo HERE. I like the monthly prompt to add to my stock of Christmas cards, and this time round managed to make seven cards for the June challenge, all the same:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank, side opening on the short edge for a change

- a piece of slightly shimmery silvery grey card, trimmed to an eight of an inch smaller than the card front, all round (ie. 5.25 x 4") for the backing to frame the finished image panel

- white card onto which I stamped the tree background and falling snow from the Stampin' Up 'White Christmas' set of stamps, using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- then added the sentiment, also from the same set of stamps, trimmed the image panel down to just slightly smaller than the silvery grey layer as I wanted just a narrow silver grey frame and set the panel aside for now

-  next stamped the car and added the tree on top onto slightly thinner card as I was going to fussy cut them after colouring - thank goodness for the Misti, brilliant for 'batch baking' a load of cards all the same

- coloured the car with the tree on top using my much loved Whispers brush markers and then spent what seemed like a lifetime carefully fussy cutting seven of the little perishers! Why seven? Ah - that would be telling (basically there was a casualty when stamping the tree background which I couldn't save early on in the process - not even using the Sand Eraser)

- then I returned to the background itself and used a grey Whispers marker to colour the trees then tickled them with Clear Wink of Stella

- used a glue pen and some glitter dust to add some sparkle to the snow line and the snow in the sky area

- layered the image panel onto the silvery grey card then added that to the card front

- finally, stuck the car in place using a thin sticky pad

Despite almost losing the will to live with the fussy cutting, it was good fun making these cards and it also boosted my 'tally' to 43, wahoo!

I'd been hankering for this set of stamps for a while (I think they first came out in 2014) and was lucky enough to find a totally new set on a Facebook De-cluttering site a while back. Plus, they're clear polymer which, in combination with the Misti, did take a lot of the 'angst' away from the stamping process when building up the scene for the background and the tree on top of the car so it could all be cut in one piece.

We have a neighbour with a very similar car - but perhaps the sentiment isn't right for folk you see more often than some :)

I saw a few very similar designs on the Internet using this stamp set - the one I followed is by a SU demonstrator but I can't find it again, sigh. But, thank you - whoever you are :) One thing I would change - I would not add the glitter blobs to the falling snow, better to have left them well alone and she did. AND, that car has no driver!!

Cross stitch Christmas card

Recently I was thinking about what crafts I could do easily that are small and easy to take on holiday. Knitting and cross stitch have been past favourites. And then I spotted a tag that I made last July and wrote about HERE (an MFT 'Cross Stitch Tag' die set the same as I'd used was a Snippets prize as well). It's worth taking a peek at the post if you didn't see it first time round - there are some tips on using the die set. However, coming up to a whole year later, the finished tag was still on the desk waiting to be used on a card, shame on me. So this is what I ended up with:

I used:

- A6 (UK size) white card blank, tent style

- a piece of slightly smaller patterned 'Merry Christmas' paper from the LOTV 'Krafty Christmas' paper pad - just glued onto the card front

- and then my ready made tag glued on top - finished!

In truth, this was so fast it's almost embarrassing to write a post about it - but I like to keep a record of each card I make ☺

Next job is to make up a little box with some die cut cross stitch blanks, patterns, the relevant embroidery floss, couple of needles and a small pair of scissors ready to grab whenever I feel the urge - a great way to make some Christmas toppers.

Rudolph Days - May 2019

Crumbs, the month since Scrappy Mo's previous Rudolph Days challenge absolutely flew by - and am now racing in at the last minute for May's RD challenge!

I went mad and made eight cards in one sitting - four each of two designs:

I used:

- white card blanks, both side opening, in sizes 5.5" x 4.25" and 4" x 4"

- then I stamped all the images using the Misti, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and stamps from Inkadinkado's 'Christmas Silhouettes' set of stamps - given to me by a lovely friend (thank you again, I love them!)

- stamped the sentiments, using the Misti, the same black ink and stamps from the Creative Expressions 'Festive Traditions - Sentiments' set of stamps

- next trimmed the image panels down to a size that would leave an even spacing around them when they were put onto the card fronts

- ran a 5mm Sakura Calligrapher pen around the edge of each image panel - silver for the angel and gold for the reindeer, just using the chisel centre along the sharp edge (if that makes sense!). This is a tip I picked up from Barbara Gray years ago and it does add that something extra when you tilt the card sideways

- backed each image panel with a piece of deep red satin mirri card (sadly Joanna Sheen's shop doesn't stock this any longer)

- then glued the image panels onto the card fronts - all done

I worked so hard stamping the images in particular, over and over using the invaluable Misti, to make sure I got a lovely even black finish - then took the photos in bright sunlight, which promptly made them look a bit faded in parts - hey, ho!

We're having the soffits and fascias renewed here at the moment and Dudley is so funny. If a shadow appears at an upstairs window, he almost piddles himself and then launches into a barking frenzy - until he's happy that no-one is breaking into the house .......... via an upstairs window in broad daylight!

Rudolph Days - April 2019

ScrappyMo's Rudolph Days Challenge is one event I won't miss - it helps to boost my very small (for me) supply of cards for Christmas 2019 for a start! And Maureen is such a sweet lady you really should join in if you don't do so already! I can still see me buying a lot of cards this year - and having come to terms with that - do feel less stressed about targets etc. Amazing what we put ourselves through isn't it?!

This is what I made - hopefully 'simple but effective':

I used:

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

- a 'ready made up' topper, which was included in an order from Tracey at 'Dies To Die For' some while ago. Am not sure that my recent orders have included little 'freebies' - but this one from an old(ish) order has been on my desk for quite some time, patiently waiting to be used

- backed the topper with a scalloped circle, using a snippet of matching red card and a scalloped edged die by Spellbinders, then glued both layers together

- time to look at the card blank and, though I wanted to keep it simple, it was too plain. So, I used my Scor-pal to run tram lines down the right hand side and across the bottom of the card front

- then stamped the sentiment using a stamp from Uniko's 'Most Wonderful' set of sentiment stamps and my usual Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad - and the Misti of course. I did need two stampings for the intensity I wanted, so thank goodness for the Misti!!

- finally  just added the little topper using thin sticky pads. The pads are so thin that, although they add dimension, they also post as a normal letter rate card! Mine are usually made by Sellotape and I buy them online

So that's my total now up to 27 cards made for Christmas 2019.

Rudolph Days - March 2019

Despite Mr Mojo taking a hike here, I was determined to join in with ScrappyMo's Rudolph Days challenge which runs until the end of this month.

Whilst laid up in bed, I did manage to find time to keep a little eye on a couple of Facebook 'de-cluttering' groups and snapped up some bargains. To be honest, this place is bursting at the seams but I did only buy items I'd use a lot and/or had wanted for some time. And all items were unused as well! The SU set of stamps and really complementary dies I used for this Christmas card were on my wish list:

I used:

- 5.5 x 4.25" white card blanks, I made four cards the same and three are tent style and somehow I managed to make one with a side opening, which I do quite like as a format. I buy 6" x 6" white cards from Hobbycraft and trim them down to size - and also trim the envelopes to use as notepaper in the craft room so not as wasteful as it may sound

- 5.25" x 4" red satin card (from Joanna Sheen) - which always looks so rich and is top of my list for Christmas card stock

- 5" x 3.75" white card for the front panel

- used the SU set of dies called 'Hometown Greetings' to die cut the house and tree and that gave me the size I needed for the aperture I was going to die cut next

- used two circle dies, one inside the other, to cut out the circle from the white card. The inner die was a Tonic Studios plain one and the outer one was from the 'Stitched Circles' set by The Works. That left a circular aperture as well as giving me a stitched white ring to use later on in the making of this card

- at that point I could stamp the sentiment, so I used SU 'Smoky Slate' and a sentiment stamp from the SU 'Hearts Come Home' set of stamps

- then ran the white panel through the Cuttlebug with SU's 'Softly Falling' embossing folder - I love this folder and made sure I used it so that the wider spaced 'dots' were at the bottom of the panel so they didn't interfere with the sentiment too much

- the next thing was to assemble the little 'photo frame' by using a tape runner to add the die cut as I wanted it to the back of the frame and then carefully snip away any excess from just under the frame

- rummaged round in my ribbon boxes and found a snippet of narrow silver lurex ribbon and wrapped a piece around the top of the aperture

- glued the red layer onto the card, topped by the white layer

- added the circle frame (which I guess is really rather like a bauble/tree ornament) using teeny snippets of thin sticky pads

- then tied a teensy weensy bow using the same silver lurex ribbon and stuck that in place using Glossy Accents as a strong glue

- final touch was to use the SU 'Owl Builder' punch to punch out a tiny little heart  - from a snippet of the red satin card and glued it in place, again using Glossy Accents purely as it was already open on my desk

I got this idea from another blog and am so grateful to Dawn Griffith who is a Stampin' Up Demo lady, she made it all so easy - easy enough for me to make four the same as I was at it! Her blog post is HERE as well as a link to a video Dawn made. Dawn did use a length of narrow ribbon along the lower part of her card but to be honest, not only was I short of the silver ribbon, but I thought the card was fine without it.

She also changed the coloured layer for dark blue and also soft baby blue on other cards using the same design - all of which look lovely! Thanks Dawn!

Rudolph Days Challenge - February 2019

I was determined to join in this months Rudolph Days challenge over at ScrappyMo's. My card is very simple, and I have a sneaking feeling I've made a fairly similar card in the past, but it's the best I could do this time around:

I used:

- 5.25" x 4" 'off-white' card blank, tent style (I chose 'off-white' as the image I was using looks better than it would against bright white) - and the size of the card is quarter of an inch smaller top and side than a USA A2 card, which is usually my preferred size but the top panel just looked a bit lost on the bigger size so I chopped the card blank down

- another piece of the same off-white card, die cut using the second from largest die in the Lil'Inkers 'Stitched Rectangles' set of dies

- I'd already had a quick look through my box of saved shop bought Christmas cards from family and friends and picked out the sweet robin image I wanted to use

- then die cut an aperture in the stitched panel using a die from the MFT 'Inside Out Stitched Square STAX' set of dies (bought just before I was attacked by the dreaded gout). It's a great set in that each die will cut an aperture with a faux stitched edge to it as well as the centre 'waste' square also being edged with faux stitching - so you can make toppers or apertures, very versatile!

- then added the sentiment using the Misti, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from Uniko's 'Most Wonderful' set of Christmas sentiment stamps

- used the aperture to very lightly pencil around the portion of the card I wanted to up cycle and then trimmed round leaving an overhang of about 0.25"

- added narrow red line tape right around the reverse of the aperture itself (in the front panel) and then stuck the robin part of the image in place

- finally assembled the card by using Collall All Purpose glue and a sandwich of thin white fun foam between the image panel and the card front

Phew - all done!

AND, thanks to Susan B for the heads up - I'm also adding this card into the current 52CCT Challenge, which is basically to re-use something you've been hoarding! I cannot believe I've missed this challenge for all these years. Slap my wrists, especially as our Alison is heavily involved. I aim to put that right just as soon as I'm running on all cylinders once again.

I do hope to be able to make a snippets card for Sunday's new challenge (#347). This foot is taking its time to allow me to be as mobile as I want and any time spent crafting or sitting without it raised causes it to shout and tell me off. But, each day brings an improvement - and regardless, snippets card from me or not, we'll have a fresh challenge on Sunday!

This has to be the coolest die I've seen recently!

I'm a sucker for new stamps and dies - sometimes I think I need help, BIG time! And now and then a stamp/set or a die comes along which just blows me away to the point of almost obsessively neeeeeding it, right NOW, this VERY minute!

It has to be MFT's 'Christmas Tree Window' for me right now. I found out about the die when Lynne posted her card in the Playground and also linked to where she'd seen more cards using the same die. I recently had Lynne's card as a fortnightly pick - if you missed it then go HERE to Lynne's blog and take a look! It's fabulous!

And, I then looked at the link Lynne had added to her post and found a very talented blogger called Dana Kirby. Now, I 'realised' that Dana had only been blogging since August last year (2018) and has just 23 followers. How could this be? Dana is soooo talented and I just knew you would love her work! So, I commented and encouraged Dana to come and play with us in the Playground, she very sweetly replied by email to thank me for the kind words and said she certainly would try to join in with us. Not a hint of anything more. Duh, later on though, the asses ears went up here! Whilst browsing I discovered that Dana began her blog after and in addition to using Instagram for ages - I guess mostly to be able to write more about her makes (I think IG sets a word/character limit?). Uh, huh - asses ears for sure. Dana has over 2,000 IG followers (including Gina K) - meep, I did feel a bit stupid when the penny pound coin dropped.

However - I had Dana's blessing on doing a very close CASE of her cards she made using the die that started all this off! And of course - I would love to CASE Lynne's design at some point as well, I need the 'teeny scallops' square die that Lynne used though - it's so pretty! Lynne - can you please enlighten us as to who makes it? Spellbinders perhaps?

Right, end of the mahoosive background story - they should have called me 'Mouth and Big Foot In It' - here's my card:

And in fact I made eight of them in total (whoop, whoop!) - two of each colour mix:

I used:

- A6 white card blank, cut down from a 5" x 7" card blank I confess as I find I rarely use them lately

- half a 5" x 7" card blank which I then die cut using a die from the Creative Dies 'Wonky Stitches - Nesting Rectangles' set. One reason I chopped up card blanks for the die cut layer was to make sure the white shades are exactly the same - we all know about how many shades of white there are out there - and also sometimes it's just as cheap in the end as using fresh sheets of white or other coloured card!

- then used a stamp from the Crafters Companion Gemini range of stamps called This bag is not a toy' - oops, should have looked closer - 'Festive Phrases' and a good old Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad. Plus the Misti of course, even more useful as I made eight at one time

- before embarking on making the card(s) I had already spent a really happy couple of hours sorting through my XCut self adhesive glitter sheets, finding snippets and cutting half inch wide strips from little saved pieces, which I then mixed around and stuck onto rectangular snippets (approx 2.5" wide and 3.5" high) of white card (any colour of card would do, just make sure you don't leave any gaps between the strips)

- next I used my current favourite die that I've been banging on about - it's by MFT called 'Christmas Tree Window - MFT-1429' - and then die cut the window in the edge stitched panel

- my method to fix the panels behind the apertures is as follows. I used red line tape around glitter sides of the bottom and both side edges of the rectangular glitter paper covered panels - NB. NOT the card front panel itself - too risky! My glittered panels were actually a bit close to the height of the tree once I'd jiggled the sparkly piece around so that the star is cut from one colour only (not essential but you know me!) - and so I added a small strip of red line tape on either side of the star on the reverse of the die cut white aperture piece of card to hold the top portion together on the card front

- that worked just fine and it was then a matter of holding the die cut panel over the sparkly striped rectangle of card with the red line tape protection removed ONLY from either side of the star and carefully lining it up so that the stripes were horizontal and also the star was only showing one colour - and then pressing it in place

- at that point the panel and glitter striped rectangle could be firmly pressed into place by slowly removing the red line tape backing with pointed tweezers on the sides and along the bottom and carefully pressing the panel into place

- then just added the panel to the card front using red line tape again - peeling off the top and one side only until it was lined up properly.  Sometimes glue will ooze through faux stitched edges, I found this out the hard way some time ago - a Woodware or SU adhesive removing rubber will clean it away but I just didn't want the hassle to be honest. I love using glue but this worked fine as an alternative - so long as you always bear in mind that once you press down that really is IT

- eight cards, finished for next Christmas - wahoo!

There is one thing I really still envy about Lynne's card - she was precise enough to have her star all of one colour and ALSO the tub is one colour. That takes some working out - well done! My advice is to do half inch strips all the way up the piece of card but make the top one just that little bit taller and so your star will sit higher on the glitter strips background and then your tub will also sit higher with some room to play. I do hope some of this makes sense - it will if you're actually making a card I promise!

Another thing you could do would be to get three tree shapes from one wide stripey piece of card by flipping the centre one upside down - but I so wasn't into trying that one! 

I do think this die is a stunner - for instance, Len doesn't like black Christmas cards (Victorian old values still come home to roost after generations). I'm fine with them and just bet that a plain black card with the tree die aperture cut and then backed with gold plain or glitter card and a sentiment in gold would look stunning!

And soooooo, the Playground Toy Box is already off to a start for Christmas 2019's prizes, needless to say! Ha, if you can wait that long of course.

A card for Hazel's Christmas card challenge!

It's absolutely ages since I joined in with  Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge. It's always anything goes with an optional theme if you wish - this time it's 'no sentiment' but my card was already made by then. Shame really as I do have issues with getting some die cut sentiments absolutely straight!

I also made this card for Scrappy Mo's Rudolph Days challenge but most of you will know that Mo has just undergone knee replacement surgery and decided to not run January's challenge. A wise move, hope you're recovering well Mo!

The idea for the card began when I was rootling through a box of Christmas toppers and embellishments and found a packet of two sets of embellishments that date back goodness knows how long - so the card evolved from there.

I made two cards exactly the same:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- die cut the aperture using a Spellbinders 'Labels 18' die

- made the background using snippets of pearlescent card in baby blue and white, using a die from the Spellbinders 'A2 Borderabilities' set to cut the curve on the white snippet of card

- then adhered the blue and white panel behind the aperture and backed the inside of the card front with a layer of white card, just marginally smaller than the card front itself

- added the tree and deer embellishments to the panel, adding some fresh glue to the pads which were well stuck on but I wanted to be sure they also stayed stuck to the background panel

- then found some perfectly matching purple sparkly glitter sheet from the XCut A5 Adhesive sheets pack (Darks) and die cut the sentiment using a Britannia 'Seasons Greetings' die

- stuck the sentiment in place (it looked straight to me at the time!) and there was one finished card! Two in fact :)

Hmmm, looks as if I have two thick cards due to the sticky pads on the back of the embellishments. I think these will be hand delivered!

AND - I got the biggest surprise ever on Sunday when, following a hint, I discovered that Superwoman Darnell had organised a blog hop to celebrate seven years since I took the Playground over from the lovely Jules. We've been a bit busy here and still are but I fully intend to take the time to visit every single one of you who joins in. But in the meantime, thank you from the bottom of my heart - I admit I cried and even typing this am still quite overwhelmed. Who knew what wonderful people I would find when I dipped my toe into the wonderful world of blogging! Big hugs to you all!

I'll write more in my post on Sunday - hopefully I'll find some time to make a snippets make before the weekend.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #343

Back to normality with the first fortnightly challenge of 2019. And we've officially hit the seventh anniversary of when I took the Snippets Playground over from Jules - which means, as Jules ran it for a year, we're actually eight years old!

Let's crack straight on with my snippets card:

I used:

- 4" x 4" square white card blank, side opening

- a snippet of the deep blue pearlescent card I've been using quite a bit recently onto which I embossed the background using a Creative Expressions 'Snow Flurry' stamp and that clumpy WOW 'White Detail' embossing powder.

- set the background panel to one side and then stamped the little snow family using a Wild Rose Studio 'Snowmen' stamp and Memento 'Tuxedo Black ink

- coloured the image using Faber-Castell 'Polychromos' pencils and then very carefully fussy cut it out by hand - I adore this stamp, quite similar to a Penny Black one I have admittedly but it's so cute!

- stamped the sentiment using a stamp from the Crafters Companion Gemini 'Festive phrases' stamp set (some lovely ones in this set and a beautifully flowing font as well) - using the Misti as always and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- die cut the sentiment using a die from The Works 'Stitched Circles' set of dies - and they seem to have stopped selling those. As I've said, with The Works I think they move on very quickly with their ranges

- then trimmed the background 'snow flurry' panel to 3.75" square and glued it onto the card front as by now I knew how much space I needed

- glued the little family of snow people in place and also the sentiment circle

This fortnight's prize, as usual, is very much connected to this week's snippets card and it's a bit of a bumper prize to celebrate seven/eight years - ha, plus I just couldn't fit it into the recently closed Grand Draw! Once again though, I really don't want to split this prize so the same applies - if you win and don't want eveything then feel free to gift it to a friend, at your end of course. And yippee - the Playground Toy Box is now devoid of all things Christmas themed! Did I hear a muttering of 'thank goodness for that!?!

The prize is selection of goodies, all stamps, that I used for my snippets card. Creative Expressions 'Snow Flurry' background, Wild Rose Studio 'Snowmen' and Crafters Companion Gemini 'Festive Phrases'.
 
As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 19th January. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

It's a maximum of ONE entry and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. Please also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

Remember, if you link into the Playground and don't say clearly that you're wanting to be in the draw in a comment on here, then you will be bypassed if your name comes out of Mr Linky. I'm sure you all know I ask for a positive 'yes' on the blog post itself - just in case you're playing only for fun - otherwise I ignore you on my little list. Happily, some playmates who thought they couldn't comment have found out how to do it for the Grand Draw so the same will apply of course - I will only check comments on here for 'yes for the prize'.

Mr Linky is below - please let me know if you have any problems linking, it's easy for me to sort out so don't struggle on alone :)

With love from Parsnip (now resting as he's been licking a pencil and taking notes for the Grand Draw) but he did hop up to the plate and help me with taking the Christmas decorations down, Dudley who frankly doesn't care much unless it's food, will give him cuddles, or is something he can chew - and of course me

Pixie's Snippets Playground #342 - Prize M

Phew, we made it! This is the final prize in our Grand Draw for Christmas and New Year 2018.

Without further ado - here's my snippets card:

I used:

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

- a snippet of LOTV patterned paper from the 'Frosty Christmas' paper pad - I never throw out any leftovers from my little stock of LOTV pads! It was already trimmed to 4" so I just had to trim the short edge down to 5.25" - and of course I kept the bit that was left

- then stamped the owl, sentiment and hearts all in one go onto a snippet of white card using the Misti - and at the same time stamped a second owl. I used Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and stamps from the adorable Lawn Fawn 'Winter Owl' set of stamps

- then coloured the image, plus the extra one, using Pro markers - before die cutting the extra owl using a matching 'Winter Owl' die

- die cut the image panel using a very old Spellbinders Nestabilities Oval die and ran a ball ended embossing tool around back of the inner lip whilst it was still in the die to add the extra 'frame' - it's a trick I use loads as I like the extra finish it gives

- glued the paper onto the card front and then glued the oval topper in place

- finally, popped the die cut owl on top of the other one using thin sticky pads - and the card will still go at standard letter rate 

Really, I could have saved myself the trouble of colouring the owl on the main panel as he ended up covered by the die cut one - but it was a chance to check that the 'Cornflower' Pro marker was the best match for the snowflake backing paper ☺

Of course, today's prize is:

A final set of Lawn Fawn Christmas stamps with a matching die and this time it's the turn of 'Winter Owl' - hoot! Plus, once again, there are three of them to be won!

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post during this fortnight to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft.

Mr Linky closes at 11am on Saturday 5th January (tomorrow!) so you do need to have added a snippets make by then to be eligible for the draw. AND, you won't be able to leave any comments on the prize posts either after 11am - as I explained yesterday.

Just leave a comment on this post if you would like the chance to win one of today's three prizes. You have 35 hours after this post goes live - which should be plenty of time (it worked last year).

And there you have it, a total of 23 prizes to be won (counting the ones where I have three of the same items)!

That's me - I'm done! Ready to lie down in a darkened room for a week now - if only.

Hope you've enjoyed this mammoth draw - I really loved putting it all together for you, even if there were a few times I thought I'd bitten off more than I could chew. When this was planned we didn't have a manic puppy around to be looked after and he's certainly made a huge difference to any thoughts of 'me' time for the moment!

I'm managing to keep up with the 'yes please comments' as I have a system going - but so far am only just over two thirds of the way through all your lovely entries making my own comments and noting down possible 'picks'. I'll get there though - and it's so good to see the thumbnails back in town as well!

Love from Dudley, Parsnip and of course me -

Pixie's Snippets Playground #342 - Prize L

Right girls, I had to give some thought about my hint that there might be a final prize on Saturday. But, although (thankfully) I've managed to get all the sample cards made - there is so little time in which to write up posts, try and visit you all, keep track of 'yes please comments' - as well as make a fresh card for our return to the fortnightly challenge with just a single prize and of course set that new Mr Linky post up as well. I need to get to collect a prescription from the Docs and do some shopping as well as take down the decorations from Christmas as well. So much to do and something had to give a little bit - we never even got to have our roast beef dinner I had planned to cook for New Years Day yesterday, although luckily the joint will keep until the weekend.

My solution is this - I'll keep the prize I'd intended for Saturday to cover the next fortnight. It's a multiple part one and I think there will be a fair bit of interest although of course it is Christmassy!

The Grand Draw will close as planned at 11am on Saturday, after that Mr Linky which began on 23rd December won't allow any further entries. The final prize for the Grand Draw will be in a blog post tomorrow (Friday) as I originally intended when planning the draw - AND I'll do as I did last year and will turn off the facility to post new comments on all the prize posts at 11am on Saturday. That does give you 36 hours almost to take a peek at the final prize - which is rather cute and you do have more than one chance to win! I'm saying no more - it's up to you to look!

Anyhow, here's today's snippets card:

I used:

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

- snippet of deep blue card

- a while ago the lovely Val sent me two Sheena Douglass products to offer as a prize, with duplicates for me as well. Thank you so much Val!

- first of all I used a couple of sentiment strips from the 'Winter Snowflakes' stamp set and heat embossed them onto the snippet of deep blue card - which has a pearly finish. I used WOW 'Detail White' embossing powder and to be honest am not too happy with the result, despite using an anti-static bag and following all the rules for heat embossing. Whether the powder is getting old or what I don't really know but it's gone lumpy despite being stored in the dark with the lid on tight but of course it was too late to rush out and buy more - plus this card is as much to show you what can be done with today's prize (Len really likes it which was heartening!)

- then I hit my next issue, originally I'd planned to work totally on the deep blue card but it was too narrow (height wise). Rather than try to join two pieces of deep blue (I'd packed away the embossing tools etc. by this point) I dug out a piece of red card 

- then die cut the SD 'Winter' die from a snippet of white pearlised card, backed with Stick-It adhesive sheet and stuck it onto the snippet of red card

- then carefully trimmed both pieces of card to 4" width

- easiest way to ensure the pieces were perfectly close together across the centre of the card was to glue the red strip on first and then the blue strip - which has quite a healthy overlap

- finished!

And of course, courtesy of Val, today's prize is:

A Sheena Douglass 'Winter Snowflakes' stamp set and a 'Winter' die. The stamps are grey rubber and you do need to snip them apart - I actually like rubber stamps and didn't find it too hard to line the two sentiments up - using the Misti is a huge help.

Although I've used both items on the one card I do think they would work beautifully on their own as well. And of course the two items make up one prize.

I've debated about whether to mention this but I'm sure a few of you are aware of recent issues with copyright over images that Sheena had claimed were her own. The whole business has been very unpleasant but do please rest assured that neither of these products comes into that category.

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post during this fortnight to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft. Mr Linky closes at 11am on Saturday 5th January so you do need to have added a snippets make by then to be eligible for the draw.

Just leave a comment on this post if you would like the chance to win today's prize.

Do remember to check back for the final prize tomorrow!

And hooray - I just spotted that the Mr Linky glitch has been fixed so we can see thumbnails once again!

All is quiet on the Western Front here, Dudley had a very restless night but we think that's due to him teething. Bless.

Pixie's Snippets Playground #342 - Prize K

Here's the next prize in the 'Snippets Playground Celebration' prize draw - I posted this card on the blog way back in April 2013 and it's still one of my very favourite images for Christmas cards although I don't use it enough, so here it is again with a reminder about how I made it. It's so long ago that I didn't even have a watermark - and in those days I added ribbon, charms or buttons and pretty twine to most of my cards! A technique I still love but rarely have time for these days:

I used:

- 5" x 7" white card stock

- Nellie Snellon image called 'Hokey-pokey', stamped in Memento 'Tuxedo Black', coloured with Pro Markers and tickled with Glamour Dust here and there

- SU glittery silver card, scallop die cut for behind the image and then cut with the 'scallop' blade on my Woodware trimmer for behind the patterned card and sentiment

- Kanban's 'Merry Mistletoe' patterned card - I love the soft blue and lovely pattern of this card for a change and still use it loads - even almost six years later!

- sentiment is by Hero Arts called 'Twinkle Border', bought for a 'snip' and then bravely embossed with Stampendous 'Sterling Silver' without any mishaps

- iridescent ribbon wrapped round the patterned card and topped with a 'looped bow thingy' then an iridescent sparkly snowflake button, threaded with doubled iridescent cord tied in a bow - that's a lorra iridescent :)

And today's prize is:

Three chances to win one of these adorable little stamps - which are a delight to colour in. Remember, it's called 'Hokey-pokey' by Nellie Snellon. Took a bit of tracking them down as the stamp was first made at least six or so years ago but I'm sure the winners will absolutely adore this little poppet! She looks really lovely in traditional red and green of course.

In case anyone is wondering if I robbed a craft shop or a bank, apart from one prize coming up later which was donated by a very sweet friend, I bought all the prizes out of Parnip's illicit earnings from selling hooch behind the Playground bike shed! Joke! I already said that I look for the best deals I can find over a lot of the year, without going for cheap stuff. Only offer prizes I really like, am happy to use and would have chosen for myself - which is why 99% of the time I make a sample card to show how you could use your prize if you win. Just thought you might be imagining me with a pair of tights over my head, Pro marker masquerading as a pistol, Parsnip with a Zorro mask on waving a pokey tool as a weapon .............. and Dudley keeping lookout, ready to run away and leave us if needs be, or just to flop down flat and disguise himself as a sheepskin rug ☺

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post during this fortnight to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft. Mr Linky closes at 11am on Saturday 5th January so you do need to have added a snippets make by then to be eligible for the draw.

Just leave a comment on this post if you would like the chance to win today's prize.

Hope you've recovered from New Year celebrations by now. Dudley has, but it was a bit too close for comfort. We went to bed early and at 10:30pm as it was all still quiet Len took Dudley into the garden for a toilet trip ........... and with brilliant timing someone let off a really loud firework/banger. Poor little chap shot back into the house like a rocket himself and was shaking like a leaf for a while. Ha, ha - Dudley wasn't too happy either ☺☺ So, Dudley spent the night on our bed once he'd calmed down. We had the TV on to muffle the outside noises and of course he's so soft and cuddly there was a lot of hugs for him. We don't think there's likely to be any long term effect although his head was popping up every time there was another outburst of fireworks. Needless to say I'm absolutely furious - I've always thought it so unfair and of course, since I last had dogs, things have become much worse. Ha! It remains to be seen if he thinks he's sleeping on the bed tonight though, have given him a fresh 'milky flavoured' nylon puppy chew bone and that may well help! He's teething and those bones plus a couple of others we have (thanks Sarn, he loves and uses his red rubber one in the patio pen!) are so valuable.

Keep on checking in - more to come :) I need to clear this Toy box of all that is Christmas - and also give the ladies at the Post Office the vapours when I trundle in with a huge bag or three of packages to post!

Love from Parsnip, Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground #342 - Prize J

Happy New Year everyone! Here's hoping for good health and much happiness to be yours during 2019.

Despite it being New Year, I'm still ploughing on with Christmas cards here - making samples for the Christmas/New Year prize draw and here's my snippets card for today:

I used:

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

- a snippet of backing card that I found lurking in a box of Christmas paper and card stock - made by Kanban depicting a snow scene (that saved me a lot of work I can tell you!), trimmed to just a fraction smaller than the card blank but not adhered to the card front just yet

- snippets of white card onto which I stamped a lamp post. row of three penguins plus a single guitar playing penguin - using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and stamps from a super-cute Lawn Fawn 'Here We Go A-Waddling' set of stamps and sentiments

- coloured the images using Pro markers and then die cut them using the matching Lawn Fawn set of dies

- before permanently sticking down the die cuts onto the scenic background I wanted to stamp a sentiment directly onto the card front so I tried it first on a little trimming of the same piece of card just in case it 'spread' - phew, it worked fine so I added the sentiment and the FA-LA-LAs using the Misti

- then added the images using a glue pen before sticking the image panel onto the card front

- final touches, with heart in mouth a bit, was to add some musical notes - success, without a single smudge!

I really do love this set of stamps and dies - there are so many different sentiments to choose from - I even spotted a card made with this set which used the wavy sentiments to create a back ground ........... somewhere on the internet. I want to have a good play with more time to spare and come up with some other designs as there's just so much potential!

And of course this is today's prize and it's one of the top prizes:

It's the Lawn Fawn 'Here We Go A-Waddling' set of stamps and a matching set of dies.

Lawn Fawn does feature quite a bit in this year's draw - one reason is that they do stop production of older lines after a finite amount of time and lil' ole me is always on the lookout. Often I have to pay full whack for prizes but if I see a bargain that I like and think you would also like (not just any old thing) then I'm 'in like Flynn' as they say!

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post during this fortnight to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft. Mr Linky closes at 11am on Saturday 5th January so you do need to have added a snippets make by then to be eligible for the draw.

Just leave a comment on this post if you would like the chance to win today's prize. Obviously it won't be split!

Ahem, little tinker Dudley learned a new trick the other day. Len has a sofa at the far end of his study and now, games of chase between Len and Dudley are punctuated by Dudley taking a flying leap onto said sofa and using it like a trampoline. As Len wryly observed, that's now two sofas he's taken over, both of which are Len's rather than used by me very much. So far our bed is much too high for him to jump onto ........ so far of course!

Keep checking for more prizes!

Love from moi, Dudley and Parsnip of course!

Pixie's Snippets Playground #342 - Prize I

And before we knew it, it was New Year's Eve! Not our favourite celebration in many ways so we generally have a quiet evening at home. The days of crazy parties, almost dancing on the tables and then tottering to bed at about 4am are long gone! Plus of course, the whole neighbourhood erupts with fireworks so we need to be home and calm with Dudley. He was fine over Guy Fawkes so let's hope he's still 'Joe Cool' about the mayhem. Woof!

Meanwhile, let's have another Christmas/New Year 'Snippets Playground Celebration' prize:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank, side opening

- snippet of deep blue, almost midnight in some lights, shimmery card, trimmed only slightly smaller than the card front - but not glued in place yet

- snippets of plain white card, die cut using the following dies - The Works 'Joy Message' and The Works 'Snowflakes' 

- then added the Joy followed by the snowflakes to the piece of deep blue card - using just a fine glue pen and making sure a couple of the snowflakes were placed 'off the edge'

- snipped the excess from the overhanging snowflakes from the back

- glued the deep blue panel to the card front and popped on a scattering of self-adhesive diamantes to add some sparkle 

This was a fun card to make, didn't take too long and the dies are gorgeous! The big snowflake at top left would stand very well on its own on a smallish card and they're the prettiest set of snowflakes I own for sure. The only thing I found is that die cutting the Joy word needed some small shims added to the snowflake part to cut right through, which isn't uncommon when you have a portion of a die within a circle - I just use little pieces of paper to build it up and keep running through my Cuttlebug until the cut is completely through. Everything else cut like a dream and everything also popped straight out of the dies. The Works dies really are very good quality - but as i said previously, they do keep changing their range so if you see a die or set of dies you want then do go ahead and get them at the time!

So, here's today's prize:

It's The Works dies, same as I used, 'Joy Message' and 'Snowflakes' which is a set of four (five if you include the centre spokes of the huge snowflake in fact as they pop out separately).

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post during this fortnight to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft. Mr Linky closes at 11am on Saturday 5th January so you do need to have added a snippets make by then to be eligible for the draw.

By the way - I realised that if all goes to plan there will even be a prize on Saturday 5th January. I'll be leaving the comments open on later prizes for at least a couple of extra days to give folk a chance to check what's on offer and say if they're wanting to play for those prizes. I can't leave them open for too long though as of course I want to publish the draw results on Sunday 13th January and it's going to probably take me days to sort out the draw results and write them up. Whoever thought this was a good idea she asks herself?!

Just leave a comment on this post if you would like the chance to win today's prize. The prize isn't going to be split. But, if you have one of the dies/sets or only want one or the other than, as I always say - you can gift what you don't want to a friend at your end! Can't be fairer than that.

Keep checking for more prizes! Am still working on samples for upcoming prizes here but there seems to be a little chink of light at the end of the tunnel ☺

Pixie's Snippets Playground #342 - Prize H. Plus Challenge #341 - results.

This is likely to be a bit of a bumper post - first I'll do the latest prize to go into the Christmas/New Year Grand Draw pot, followed by picks as well as letting you know who won the 'Wedding card' goodies from two weeks ago. Which to be honest feels like a lifetime ago!

Here's my snippets card first of all:

I used:

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

- a piece of already trimmed paper for the backing layer which I'd tucked into the back of the My Minds Eye 'All is Bright' paper pad - so it does count as a snippet. I'd obviously trimmed it for another card and then changed my mind

- glued the backing paper onto the card front

- then I dug out a load of little white snippets for the rest of the card

- first of all I stamped the little birds, branch, leaves and also the sentiment onto snippets of white card - using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink for all bar the branch which I stamped using VersaFine's 'Vintage Sepia'

- the stamps are all from a really sweet little set of stamps by Lawn Fawn called 'Winter Sparrows'

- then used a mix of Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils and Whispers brush pens to colour the little sparrows and the leaves

- out came the Cuttlebug and first of all I die cut the branch, leaves and sparrows using a matching Lawn Fawn 'Winter Sparrows' set of dies (taking great care not to drop any of them after the red cardinal incident!)

- now I had an idea how the sizing would be when the little critters etc. were lined up so I dug out a very old Spellbinders oval Nestabilities die and using another snippet of white card die cut the oval as a 'scene background'

- before adding the little die cut elements, stamped three little notes using a teensy stamp from the 'Winter Sparrows' set of stamps and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- then glued all the little die cuts onto the oval ready to add to the card front

- before going any further, die cut the sentiment using one of the MFT 'Stitched Oval Word Window' dies - the sentiment is actually on what would really be the waste part from the stitched window but it fitted perfectly

- then I could position the oval 'scene' and the sentiment as I wanted before gluing them in place

More haste less speed certainly applied when I was making this card on Saturday morning (just yesterday so you can see I was cutting it really fine!). The sand eraser came to the rescue twice, sigh.

And today's prize is:

Lawn Fawn 'Winter Sparrows' stamps and dies - times three! So you have three chances to win these adorable stamps and dies as there are three lots lined up waiting for new homes.

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post during this fortnight to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft. Mr Linky closes at 11am on Saturday 5th January so you do need to have added a snippets make by then to be eligible for the draw.

Just leave a comment on this post if you would like the chance to win today's prize. The post I did on Sunday 23rd December has all the detail you might want to know about this bumper draw and how it works.

Now let's do our usual fortnightly results bit - and here are the picks from Challenge #341:

 

Donna F shared this gorgeous Christmas card with us - loads of impact and also great use of snippets of course!

I really love these sweet little boxes made by Helen - and more wonderful use of snippets too!

I know, I know! This card looks so very professional that you would happily think it's a shop bought one made using computer wizardry! But, it isn't - our lovely Playmate Trina made it herself and I think it's just stunning! Lots of snippets were used as well!

And, although I'm in a hurry (nothing new there!) I absolutely must include one more pick as there's also a great tip for you:

This card was already on my list of potential picks, made by Alison C. It's so pretty and the soft blues and pinks work so well. The tip from Alison is that she added dimension to the flower (and maybe the leaves?) by adding little scraps (snippets) behind them instead of sticky pads - which often take cards into outer space pricing as they become liable to the rate for 'thicker' letters!

No new Playmates this time and we had a total of 38 entries. Numbers were down and I'm not at all surprised as it was headless chicken time for most of us!

Now it's prize draw time for Challenge #341, and our winner of the Xcut 6" x 6" 'Polka Hearts' embossing folder, The Works 'Swirl Heart' die and a Creative Expressions 'Congratulations' die is:

Liz C

Liz is one of our most stalwart Playmates and rarely, if ever, misses a challenge - I often pick her work for you to see as well. I was quite taken aback when my records appear to show that it's about year since Liz won in the Playground - when I was giving away the big batch of sand erasers (same as Em our previous winner in fact!) - so this is certainly due! Do please send me your address Liz, with full name at the top as well so I can copy and paste or just write straight from the email onto the envelope - for speed and ease. It's also confirmation that you still would like the prize of course and I'll post your prize once I hear from you. Please put Playground Winner or similar in the subject line of your email in case it drops into my junk mail. Email address is on RH sidebar as always.

Do keep on checking for more prizes, the grand draw is still in full swing! I'm struggling to make sample cards but will certainly do my best - it's good to have something really pressing, reminds me a bit of working to tight deadlines in a previous existence!

Love from me, Parsnip - and Dudley sends his love too! Woof!