Sunday Snippets - A Valentine card from Dudley!

Being totally loopy here I followed, which makes me doubly loopy, Dudley's 'morse code woofed request to make a Valentine card from him - to Len! I had the perfect little set of stamps and dies, pleading to be used once again and this is the result:

I used:

- DL sized white card blank, tent style

- a sltightly smaller piece of the same card as the card blank, and then die cut the three square apertures using Just Rite's Frame Set 'Three in a Row'

- backed the frame piece with a snippet of light blue card, using red line tape

- glued the whole piece onto the card blank using Collall All purpose glue 

- next onto the dear little 'Dudley' puppies - using a set of stamps and matchng dies by Clearly Besotted called 'Puppy Love'. I still feel very sad that Clearly Besotted just faded away as it did, their paper products and maching stamps and dies were such a joy and this particular set is probably my most loved and used one - I wonder why?

- stamped the three little puppies and a couple of sentiments onto snippets of white card and gently coloured their ears, paws and tails a little with a pale peach Polychromos pencil before die cutting the puppies and hand cutting the sentiments

- next I punched out a few small hearts using the same SU mini heart punch that I used for Len's card from me - and another snippet of the same Tonic pearlescent 'Red Velvet' card to have a little play before positioning the puppies into the frames

- added the puppies into the frames using thin sticky pads. followed by the punched hearts and two sentiments - using a glue pen

- final touch was to die cut a row of hearts from another snippet of the 'Red Velvet' card and just use a glue pen to add it underneath the puppies in their frames above. I used Positively Papercraft's 'Two Piece Heart set'. And speaking of Positively Papercraft. Ann seems to have given up her own Positively Paper Craft online shop and has teamed up with one of the UK shopping channels - I loved how she had such a good eye for different dies to many of the run of the mill ones and her prices were extremely good, so that's another loss it seems. 

As I had to make this card in secret, with Len likely to see what I was up to - I got rid of the snippets as I went along so as not to leave any clues!

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

- Allsorts Challenge #817 HERE under the 'Anything Goes' theme. The main theme is 'Shades of Blue', which I hope to add a second card to during the challenge

Dudley Pupdate: I did have a few happy smiles when making this card as the three 'puppy poses' are our Dudley down to a 'T'! 

From left to right they are: 'Hello there, I smell food and am looking hopeful'. Middle one is 'Oh well, that didn't work, so am going into full pleading, begging and how cute am I then mode' and the final one on the right is 'You mean I have to actually wait until you finish eating to see if there's a little morsel left? Sigh.' Later .......... 'Am still in pose three in the puppy begging book and my tummy is now quite flat - get a move on!'. Len really laughed when he saw the card on Friday - no explanation needed!

Remember, I've just kicked off a new challenge over in the Snippets Playground HERE. It's yet another special one to celebrate our 500th challenge in The Snippets Playground! There is a mandatory theme if you wish to play and be a pick and/or be in with a chance of winning one of two mystery prizes, each to contain five items. The theme is 'Celebration'. 

Hope to see you on the swings - Sarn and I are waiting for you to come and play as well as join in our celebrations!

Love as always, Dudley Dog and me

Pixie's Snippets Playground #393 - Prize I

Here's the ninth  and final prize in the 'Snippets Playground Celebration' prize draw (huge little sigh of relief here):  

I used:

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

- snippet of white card for four squared frame, which I die cut using JustRite's'Set of Four in a Frame' die set - which I've had for years and this is its first outing, shame on me!

- I then cut a snippet of Whimsy's ''Blurry Flurries paper to fit behind the 'windows, which I then backed with another snippet of white card

- then stamped the owls onto another snippet of white card, using a Clearly Besotted 'Christmas Hoot' set of stamps and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- coloured the images using Faber-Castel Polychromos pencils then fussy cut them using a very small pair of Fiskars scissors 

- before going any further, I stamped the sentiment, using another stamp from the same set and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and also the 'window frame as a guide to positioning the sentiment

- then glued the 'frames panel' on place

- added the owls so they're standing on the dotted outline of the frames, using thin sticky pads, and called it done!

Phew, the final card for the challenge - made in the nick of time. I happened to have the Whimsy snippet of paper lying on my desk but just plain coloured card would have been another option as the owls do fill out the squares. I did eyeball positioning the 'frame panel' but, as suggested by Shaz in Oz when I was whining about my Uniko tree being 'on the wonk', I actually DO have a T square here bought years ago - which I'm generally in too much of a rush to use even though it's in a drawer right beside me! Believe it or not, it's the second one I purchased. The first one was out of alignment and it was a well known brand - so much for precision tools. Once I got the new one I offered the original one to Len - who rightly commented that it would be as much use as a chocolate fireguard!

I do love this set of Clearly Besotted stamps, sadly it doesn't have matching dies but the owls are really easy to cut round. I also  think it would be fabulous for making Christmas gift tags. It has a few other sentiments, including  the rather cheesy 'Owl I want for Christmas is you'.

And of course today's prize is this:

It's the Clearly Besotted 'Christmas Hoot' set of stamps, the same as I used today, and once again you have three chances to win a set!

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes (21 in total if you include the multiples with three chances) using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE along with details of exactly how to join in - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post during the three weeks that the challenge runs for 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 9th 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.

So we're at the end of the prizes now, although you will still have until 11am on Saturday to add your ONE entry to Mr Linky and also to comment on any prizes you would like to win ................ where I haven't yet turned off commenting yet. Sadly I had to do that due to a rush of consecutive comments from a few people - which is exactly what I didn't want to happen. My faith has been rocked and I don't know what will happen this coming Christmas.This final prize will show who's actually checking the Challenge out regularly I suspect ☺

On Sunday we have a Guest Designer with a snippets card featuring the prize they've donated to the challenge - and we'll be back to a new challenge every fortnight. 

The results from this Grand Draw will be published on Sunday 17th January. And, although I've been closely watching comments and keeping very meaningful notes, I admit to being woefully behind on commenting on your entries. I aim to put that right sharpish!

So far this new lock down seems no different to us - Dudley is cosy and we're staying safe. Hope you are too! Apparently panic buying has reared up again and the toilet roll bandits are out and about! 

Dudley, the little monkey, has a new trick, he finds a new hiding place as evening approaches and time for his daily groom looms up. How he knows is beyond me as the grooming basket isn't in place and life is just the same as usual until it's 'that time of day' - but he certainly knows! 

He's getting quite inventive with the hiding part and yesterday we were really worried he'd managed to get out of the back garden as he was nowhere to be found - and there was absolute silence despite us calling all around the house and garden. It would be impossible for him to 'do a runner' from the back garden, unless he managed to get a set of ladders out, but everything goes through your mind. I eventually found him, pressed absolutely flat lying along the far side of a coffee table, hidden by the lower solid wood shelf. Just a pair of dark brown eyes were peeping at me above said shelf. So hard not to laugh and a huge relief as well. The little scamp actually showed me his teeth when I bent down to pick him up - so I bared mine right back at him! Nicely of course but I do hope the message got home!

Love from Parsnip, Dudley the Dodger - and of course me,

Penguin parade!

Determined to enter into this month's 'Let's Squash It' challenge, open until the end of the month, I had a little play the other day. The theme is to use a Christmas embossing folder and stamps - and this is what I came up with:

The light here was dreadful when I took the photo, but needs must when the devil drives as they say.

I used:

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

- piece of white card stock, embossed using Crafts Too's 'Snowflake Banner' embossing folder - as I wanted to stamp my image and sentiment directly onto the card and it's the only Christmas folder with a plain centre panel that was suitable here

- then trimmed the original A6 embossed piece right down to 4" x 4" - leaving a border of snowflakes around the edges

- next stamped the penguin and sentiment onto the embossed piece of card using the Misti, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and stamps from Clearly Besotted's 'Let it Snow - CBSLE470' set of stamps. I made six cards in total, two of which are repeats of a couple of the hats.

- stamped a selection of hats and then coloured the penguins and hats using Pro markers

- then fussy cut the little hats ready to begin assembling the card

- trimmed a silver mirri card background 'frame' to an eighth of an inch bigger all round than the image panel and glued them together using Collall All Purpose glue

-then glued that panel onto the card front, using Collall again

- added the little hats using a Zig glue pen

- after dithering I decided against adding white fuzzy fun flock to the hats as I just liked them as they are, left plain. Plus, being a bit OCD, I worried that the two shades of white (the fun flock and the background) wouldn't be exactly the same. I know, I know - need to get out more!

I was mooching around Clearly Besotted's website recently and this set of penguin stamps popped up in their clearance section. It doesn't have matching dies but fussy cutting the little hats was fun anyhow. The stamp set seems to have disappeared altogether now from Clearly Besotted, I possibly got the very last one - sorry. I wonder if it's because penguins don't live at the North Pole after all Jane? ☺ Clearly Besotted have also stopped adding matching dies to their new stamp releases which is such a shame IMHO. 

 

Apart from the Let's Squash It challenge -

and as it's a first outing for the 'Let it Snow' stamp set I can add this into Darnell's NBUS challenge#20 HERE.

Another six for the 'Christmas box of cards' and, apart from making a few more IF I have time, that's it for the moment as time is ticking on. The rest will be charity cards. Just need to write and post them all now!

On Wednesday morning I set to and for the first time ever made a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, even though we don't celebrate the day over here, I thought it would be fun to make. Wow, so easy if you cheat and use a bought pastry case from M&S! It smells and tastes absolutely gorgeous and  the 'two-legged' mouse, aka Len, loves it - as well as the leftover filling which I baked in a Pyrex dish - and neither of them ended up with cracked surfaces either. Nom, nom.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #380

The weeks seem to be flying past, and we're into a good routine with grocery deliveries, quarantining all post that arrives here, keeping the car batteries charged with solar chargers (as well as giving them a run out once a week to blow any cobwebs away). And, restrictions continue to be eased, which is a hopeful sign that we'll be back to some 'new kind of normal' before too long. So long as the current demonstrations don't scupper that. I try never to get involved in polititcs and such on here - but it does strike me that some people are just 'ripe for a fight' - whatever the cause or opposing views may be.

I'm all set to bake Len's Mum's 'Boiled Fruit Cake' as well as some more cheese scones this coming week. Self raising flour still isn't easy to find but I hit lucky about three weeks ago - phew.

Here's my snippets card for this fortnight - kinda cute:

I used:

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

- a snippet of cloud patterned paper from LOTV's 'Up, Up and Away' paper pad, trimmed to 5.25" x 4" - bit of luck finding that!

- snippets of white card to make the balloons

- stamped three balloons using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and stamps from Clearly Besotted's set of stamps called 'Best Balloons'

- coloured the balloons using Pro markers

- die cut the balloons using the matching set of 'Best Balloons' dies, by Clearly Besotted

- stamped the sentiment from the 'Best Balloons' stamp set, using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and the Misti. I did a test stamp on a little snippet of the 'cloud' paper first, just in case it bled - but it was fine. My 'gut feeling' was that Clair 'Nocturne' would have been a step too 'juicy'

- placed the die cut balloons where I wanted them to go on the cloud paper layer and positioned the 'strings' in place, one at a time, to stamp them directly onto the paper rather than use the matching dies

- glued the cloud panel to the card front - and yes, I did check with a little snippet in case the glue showed through (OCD once again) - shame I positioned the cloud panel not quite in the centre (OCD once again)

- stuck the balloons in place on top of the 'strings' using small snippets of thin sticky pads

This was another fun card to make - the hardest part was choosing just three balloons from the ten balloon stamps in the set! It's a set that I'm sure is discontinued as, looking at Clearly Besotted's on line shop, it's a much smaller set that pops up now under the name 'Best Balloons' with just six balloons and no matching dies. It's in their sale folks if you're super-keen. I would love to know why the girls who run Clearly Besotted switch horses in the middle of a design. I have a feeling it could be connected with their decision not to sell matching dies for the time being. Which is a shame, but I was lucky and bought my stamps with the matching dies ........ before the stamp set was so reduced in options.

I was slightly stuck choosing a sentiment to be honest as a few are for new babies and it's rare I need cards for newborns. So I used 'Party time' rather than use a stamped sentiment from one of my many sets! Generally I would hunt through my other sentiments for a more suitable sentiment.

And needless to say, here's the prize for this fortnight:

It's a Clearly Besotted 'Best Balloons' set of 18 stamps and a matching 'Best Balloons' set of 12 dies (no dies were included for the sentiments). It's a lovely prize and certainly, for the moment, possibly one of the last times you'll be able to get your little paws on a brand new, unopened CB set of stamps with matching dies. I bought it a year or so ago I think and it's been waiting in the toy box for me to be brave and colour those balloons! 

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 27th June. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

It's a maximum of ONE entry, 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 want 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 only playing for fun - otherwise I don't add you to my little list.

Dudley is still a little pickle - he's taken to digging in the garden and if possible will run indoors with a twig which he then merrily shreds all over the floor! He did that a few minutes ago and, now I've cleaned his mess up, butter wouldn't melt in his mouth - he's on his back on the upstairs landing with all his 'boy bits' on display. Not a care in the World. No photos for now - it's pooch porn!

Dudley is finally sending 'Stinky Monkey the Fourth' to the great monkey cloud in the sky. Basically, Monkey has been sucked and licked almost to death and one ear is now becoming loose (must chop that off ASAP). Len says he'll report me to the RSPCA ..... for cutting an ear off a toy monkey? Sheesh! Amazon literally just arrived as I'm typing with a back up replacement for the new one we'll give him shortly. Yup, we keep at least one totally spare on the back burner all the time. And so far, right from being a wee puppy, Dudley has never questioned how and why he suddenly gets a new and fresh 'Un-stinky Monkey' about every six months or so. Ha, let's hope he doesn't question why he suddenly is taken for a groom in a week's time eh?

I haven't posted off Overseas prizes as yet - but a darling friend did some 'enabling' and I hope to do so shortly. I'll pop a quick post on here when they've been safely posted.

And, as I used a new stamp and die set for the very first time, it means I can join in with Darnell's NBUS #15 challenge HERE - wahoo! You could have knocked me down with a feather duster when my snippets herringbone card popped out as her random pick last time. It did remind me of how lovely it is to be picked - even randomly. A bit like looking through a telescope from the other end when you run challenges :)

Stay safe my lovely friends.

Lots of love from us all - Parsnip, Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #377

Hi again! Things are looking up here - we finally have eggs, yeast, strong flour for bread making and even antibacterial hand soap. I'll keep this short and sweet - running a bit late once again, sigh.

Here's my snippets card for this fortnight, and let's hope the sentiment is 100% right, both in reality as well as metaphorically:

I used:

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

- a snippet of  deep turquoise card stock onto the top portion of which I stencilled some raindrops (badly at that - so badly that with time against me I had to go over the droplets using a white marker pen, which didn't really work very well either). The stencil is by Clearly Besotted, called 'Rainy Day' and I used a Hero Arts 'Unicorn' white ink pad

- trimmed the blue background to 3.75" x 3.75" and set it aside for now

- then stamped umbrellas and flowers using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink, the Misti and stamps from the Clearly Besotted 'April Showers' set of stamps - which is now discontinued and replaced by a very similar set with a couple of additional sentiments added in

- coloured the stamped images using Pro markers

- then die cut the umbrellas and flowers using a set of matching dies. It looks to me as if Clearly Besotted are no longer having dies made to match their newer stamp sets - such a shame as they do work together so well for crafters with dexterity issues

- then I could work out where the stamped wording should go by placing the umbrellas temporarily onto the stencilled panel, using the Misti to place and lift the words onto the lid, removing the umbrellas and then stamping the words

- glued the stencilled panel onto the front of the white card blank, using Collall All Purpose Glue

- added the umbrellas then the flowers, using a Zig glue pen - finished!

I loved making this card mostly as the umbrellas were such fun to colour in rainbow hues (very topical right now!), although given more time I would have scrapped it and started over for a few reasons. I mucked up the rain drops - partly as the lovely stencil wasn't held in place firmly enough so it lifted before I'd applied a decent amount of ink and then I went over the droplets with a white gel pen, which spoilt the effect IMHO. Then I could only really salvage a small panel for the card front, which meant less space to work on of course. It would have been so much wiser to have applied pale blue droplets on a white background in the first place - but I needed to use more than just white snippets so opted for the blue snippet - caught out by my own over zealous interpretation of the rules there as white snippets are perfectly acceptable! (NB I edited this as it originally implied that white snippets don't count - they do, whether left white or coloured over. Sorry for the confusion Liz!). I also wanted to use/showcase all the umbrella images - and I think the end result is too crowded. Not to worry, it does the job :)

I'd seen the set of stamps, with and without the dies, being used in Blogland for some considerable time before I got round to buying them - and even then I sat on them for ages. One of our Playmates uses hers quite frequently and in a much less crowded way than I did. Hope over to Jane W's blog HERE and then just type April into the search box at the top left of her home page and some lovely examples will pop up.

Shame on me for not using them sooner - but it does mean I can enter this card into our lovely Darnell's NBUS Challenge #14 HERE. I do encourage you to join in if you haven't done so already - now is an ideal time to crack open some Never Before Used Schtuff and this current challenge runs to the end of May.

And here is the prize for this fortnight:

The stencil packet is sealed and my own stencil is tucked away again, but here's an image from the Clearly Besotted website so you can see properly what it's like out of the packet:

 

It's Clearly Besotted's Rainy Day stencil with their 'April Showers' set of stamps and matching dies.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 16th May. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

It's a maximum of ONE entry, 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 want 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 only playing for fun - otherwise I don't add you to my little list.

Dudley is doing fine, still totally free of matts and now allowing me to hold his front legs one at a time to groom them - much easier than the prancing act! Then, to have his 'undercarriage', tummy and such brushed and combed - he's learnt to sit up on his hind legs rather like a bunny rabbit, with his front paws outstretched as if in surrender! It looks really cute - would be so hard to take a photo as I reckon he'd sit back down if I wasn't brushing and fussing him - and I only have two hands - but I'll see if I can manage it sometime soon. Len hasn't seen him doing it yet - looks so, so sweet, but he's easily distracted so Len keeps out of the way when it's 'groom o'clock' each afternoon!

This afternoon's grooming session will be fun - Len just mowed the back lawn and Dudley's favourite game is to roll in the freshly cut grass if he can get away with it! 

Edit: After Dudley got himself covered with little pieces of stray grass, Len had decided to brush him before he came back into the house. Not long after that, Saturday, I'd lifted Dudley onto his grooming spot and remembered to say to Len, who was fetching his basket of grooming tools for me, that he absolutely had to see his latest trick. 'I know already' said Len - 'Dudley sat up like a rabbit in the garden to be brushed so I thought Mama had been teaching him some new moves!'. No secrets in this house! x

Stay safe my lovely friends. It's proving to be a long haul and so many things have had to be cancelled or put on hold for now. Many friends have had to miss Birthday celebrations, holidays and other fun things, as well as being unable to even meet new babies born into their families. Two lots of people I know have had to postpone their Weddings. It's a tough time - but one we will get through with patience and common sense. And the occasional G & T perhaps!

Lots of love from us all - Parsnip, Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - #368 - Prize L

Today is the final prize in the Grand Draw - and this is the sample card I made:

I used:

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

- then chose a little green plaid strip snippet from the envelope stuck in the back of LOTV's 'Classic Christmas' paper pad - so I could match the colouring of the images

- snippets of white card stock onto which I stamped the biggest Christmas puddings, holly leaves and berries using Brilliance Dewdrop ink pads in 'Coffee Bean', 'Pearlescent Ivy' and 'Rocket Red' and stamps from Clearly Besotted's 'Christmas Pudding' set of stamps

- then stamped the 'yummy little pudding' words using the 'Coffee Bean' ink pad again - took the risk and just eyeballed it so I could use the pudding die to cut it out, and it worked out fine

- die cut the pudding pieces and the sentiment using dies from the matching set

- assembled the puddings using very narrow pieces of red line tape to add the holly leaves and berries and put them to one side

- added a very slightly wider strip of red (another snippet from the same paper pad) to two plaid strips - using a tape runner

- then added the strips to the top and bottom of the image panel using a tape runner again and trimmed off the excess at both edges, from the back

- finally, popped the two puddings and the sentiment in place using thin sticky pads and I chose to add the puddings lower than the sentiment, partly to balance it out and partly as I didn't trust myself to get all three absolutely level - at least I give you the warts and all background!

The set includes three smaller puddings and I just thought, whilst typing this, one pudding on its own, flanked by capital letters (stamped or die cut) could spell out the word JOY for a rather different Christmas card. I have some letter dies that that I think could work quite well. Watch this space :)

And today's prize is another one where there are three chances to win:

A Clearly Besotted set of stamps with matching dies called 'Christmas Pudding'. I wasn't too sure about them once I'd bought them, a while ago now - but they're good fun to use and make for some pretty quick and funky cards.

I've said previously that Clearly Besotted have some cracking clearance deals fairly regularly - in fact, I've just nipped in and ordered a couple of future prizes as the Playground toy box is getting a bit low now that all the Christmas stuff is out of it. So, I make no apologies for the frequency in which they've appeared in this draw - and will continue to appear in future challenges. Disclaimer, I have no connection with Clearly Besotted - my only connection is that I buy from them and at one point they did give me a gift voucher to offer as a prize to you lovely ladies. I got their written gratitude for showcasing their products - which is all I ever want. They're a small company, basically run by two sisters with a lovely lady who does the dispatching side of things - and I like to support small businesses when I can. Plus, they do make wonderful stamps and die sets! Regarding the clearance deals, keep an eye on them if you're interested as, if you like matching dies, those seem to run out first.

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 along with details of exactly how to join in - 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 4th January so you do need to have added a snippets make by then to be eligible for the draw.

Commenting for all prizes will also be turned off at 11am on Saturday 4th January to coincide with the draw closing.

I just added up and there are 18 prizes in this draw (some are three chances to win the same thing, mostly Clearly Besotted needless to say). So that's pretty good odds I think!

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

We were really lucky on New Year's Eve, no fireworks nearby to speak of (after the first burst at 6pm) and Dudley was fine all evening. We did pop his onesie on just in case though, towards midnight, as a precaution.

And, even better news is that we've now gone 36 hours without the RCD tripping out the power sockets. By the process of elimination we're as sure as can be that it's some outside lighting in the front garden (post lamps on the garden walls). And, it can be sorted out apparently - Len is on the case! We are a bit concerned that all this wet weather will have played a part so Len is going to change the lamp bulbs for low wattage and use a transformer where they plug into in the garage. Ha, the last thing we need is some local nosy eedjit to get an electric shock. So strange, we always thought the guy who installed them when the wall was built as part of the extension about 10 years ago was a bit stupid using an existing ring main power socket instead of adding them into the lighting circuitry - now, we're very glad he actually did that!

Got the giggles here at the thought of some trespassing eedjit - shaking, teeth chattering, hair on end, eyes revolving in their sockets, lighting up the whole street thinking 'Whaaaaat just hit me?'. Snort. Oooer, I do have a bit of an evil streak :)

Love from Parsnip, Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - #368 - Prize K

Happy New Year! At the time this publishes, the clock will just have ticked into 2020. We might be up and about, or not - depending on the fireworks situation. I've never been overly keen on New Year celebrations - they often seem so forced, IMHO.

And, the hunt for the thing that's tripping the RCD continues. It tripped again this morning around 7:30. We're closing in on the cause - it seems to be connected with dawn and dusk (Little Miss Marple suggested that but of course can't take any credit, sheesh) - and Len has removed all the time switches which operate things such as lights, cameras etc. We know some of the parameters, yet still haven't pinned it down. Having said that,we didn't have the usual 4pm one today (dusk here in Hampshire) - which seems to be narrowing it down. It's a bit like playing Sherlock Holmes really. Gonna buy Len a deerstalker hat, cape and a Holmes style pipe when he's managed to sort this mystery out!

Anyhow, I did manage to make a sample card for today's prize - yay!

I used:

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

- snippet of white card stock onto which I stamped the image and sentiment using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and stamps from a Clearly Besotted set of fun stamps called 'Drink & Be Merry', including the sentiment and also the snowflakes

- then chose a little strip snippet from the envelope stuck in the back of Lawn Fawn's 'Really Rainbow' petite paper pack - so I could match the colouring of the images

- coloured the images using Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils and the snowflakes with a Signo Silver pen

- then very carefully trimmed the image panel to fit the complete card front

- added a narrow strip of red to the striped snippet - using another snippet which is two shades of red - with careful juggling and trimming I managed to get a narrow strip with the darker red at the top

- added the striped strip of paper to the red strip I'd just created, using a narrow tape runner

- then added the whole strip to the bottom of the image panel using a tape runner again and trimmed off the excess at both edges, from the back

- finally, glued the whole panel onto the card front - finished!

Important - I did wonder if I should have 'grounded' the bases of the glasses but as the card was totally finished, photographed and this post written I left it....... but have since added some grey shadow, which does make such a difference. They're no longer levitating like alcofrolic balloons:).

These images were an absolute delight to colour using pencils - and safer for this flipping shoulder! When I coloured the Clearly Besotted reindeer with Pro markers the other day, I managed to lift the big acrylic purpose made stand they live in from the top of a fairly high book case onto my desk - but really don't think I did myself any favours stretching to put it back afterwards! It's quite heavy as it's fully loaded with around 150 markers. Lesson learned and not one I'll repeat. Got my wrists slapped by Len for that one!

And today's prize is:

Here's the image from CB's website so you can see the sentiments properly:

A Clearly Besotted set of fun stamps called 'Drink & Be Merry'. This is so weird, I only bought these very recently and yet the set shown on their website actually has one or two fewer stamps such as the 'snowflake' and the word 'Hic'. I do think the girls 'tweak' their products and add more things as they think of them. The stamps are produced here in the UK, and  their dies are made in the USA - I admire them for that. The sentiments are good fun and one of them is especially great - 'Jingle bells, gin-gle all the way' - perfect for Jane W who has some fun 'gin based' stamps? :)

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 along with details of exactly how to join in - 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 4th January so you do need to have added a snippets make by then to be eligible for the draw.

Commenting for all prizes will also be turned off at 11am on Saturday 4th January to coincide with the draw closing. To give people a fighting chance of checking and commenting on today's prize and the very final one, I will be adding the last prize on Thursday 2nd January 2020.

Here's a little 'heads up' that the forthcoming fortnight's prize is very likely going to be Christmas related................. again, I hear you sigh. It's too good to rush the making of a sample, and I so want to make one for it, plus I think it stands on it's own as a fortnightly prize quite nicely.

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

Hope that 2020 is kind to all of you - with happiness and health at the top of the list! Followed closely by crafting, and trying to reduce 'Mount Snippets' of course, grin :)

Edit - would you believe it - 6pm and already the fireworks have begun. Thankfully in the distance, but one little chaps 'onesie' is being popped onto a radiator nearby,  in case we need it as a sort of thunder shirt.

Love from Parsnip, Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #357

At last - we have rain here. It sort of was half-hearted yesterday but this morning (Saturday) it tipped it down! So the water butts should have at least filled up a bit. But, more sunshine is forecast for later in the week.

And here's my snippets card for this coming fortnight:

I used:

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

- snippets of striped patterned paper from a real favourite paper pad of mine,  Lawn Fawn's 'Really Rainbow', cut to size and kept to one side for now

- piece of white card, also a snippet, which would form the 'image layer of the card - I deliberately cut it to the same height as the card itself, but just a bit narrower to emphasise the dimension when it was added using fun foam

- then stamped a selection of images from the Clearly Besotted set of stamps called 'Puppy Love' and coloured them using Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils and Sansodor Blending Solution

- used the matching die set to cut out the images and set them aside whilst I pondered the sentiments in the set

- once I had the design sorted out in my mind stuck a strip of striped paper across the top and the bottom of the image panel then stamped the sentiments using stamps Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- next backed the whole panel with a snippet of white fun foam and adhered it to the card front

- also die cut a The Works 'Candle Number' from a snippet of yellow paper in the same paper pad, three times and layered them together for dimension before sticking it in place and adding a little tickle of clear 'Wink of Stella'

- added the die cuts (little doggies and a bone and ball - Dudley has a red rubber bone) using thin sticky pads

The Works are out of stock of those lovely candle dies - another shop where it pays to buy something when you see it as their lines change quite rapidly.

I know the card is very 'busy' but I wanted to try out all three of the little doggies, plus most of the other stamps - being a big kid as usual!

Tomorrow is Dudley's First Birthday - so of course this card is for him! I know we've had a few Clearly Besotted prizes lately but I just can't help myself - and this set in particular is just so Dudley, I even tickled their ears with a bit of peach. Although I bet it will be discontinued before long to make way for new designs.

The prize this fortnight is:

Of course it's a Clearly Besotted 'Puppy Love' set of stamps with matching dies.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 3rd August. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.
 
It's a maximum of ONE entry, 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 want 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 only playing for fun - otherwise I don't add you to my little list.

So, Dudley will be one year old on Monday 22nd July - although we didn't meet him until he was six weeks old and he didn't come home with us until 27th September. How time has flown, and who could dream that he would bring so much happiness and laughter. As well as some anxious moments needless to say.

His coat is already growing in nicely and yesterday I even had to give around his eyes a little trim. He'll 'blow coat' again at about 18 months old so until then, and perhaps even afterwards, he's going to keep a puppy cut. He certainly has a mind of his own at times. When I went to lift him onto the table to be trimmed he obviously realised it wasn't gonna be more playtime and, I have no idea how he does it, his feet seemed to be almost glued to the spot. ☺

No photos this week of him but no doubt we'll take some tomorrow. Of course he has a little Birthday cake shaped treat waiting for him, a new game where he has to flip some tubes to get at treats or some of his dry food - and of course yet another new cuddly toy, called Benjamin Bear. I arrived home last week with wrapping paper, tissue paper and a spare card in case I didn't manage to make the Clearly Besotted one in time. Len just rolled his eyes and said 'Only you Di, only you'! More eye-rolling when I explained that the shop bought card wouldn't go to waste as it can be from Spike the Hedgehog and family!

Lots of love from us all - Parsnip, Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #355

Here we go again, a new challenge fortnight in the Snippets Playground - and this is my card:

I used

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

- slightly smaller piece of white card

- snippets of white card onto which I stamped three little piggies using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and stamps from Clearly Besotted's 'Perfect Pigs' set of stamps

- coloured the piggy images with Pro markers and then die cut them using the matching set of dies. I love Clearly Besotted dies as they don't need templates, I just eyeball the alignment (not always perfectly but that's down to operator error)

- then I took the piece of card which I'd trimmed to slightly smaller than the card front and die cut three circles - and at that point realised that there would be too much of a gap at the top of the image panel so I trimmed that, and the card blank down by quarter of an inch. leaving the side to side measurement the same size

- backed the piece of white card with a snippet of Dovecraft Back to Basics patterned paper - which only just fitted, phew

- then stamped the sentiment using the same black ink again and also stamped three small hearts from the same set of stamps, which I then coloured using Pro markers

- backed the image panel with some fun foam and glued it to the card front

- finally, stuck the three little piggies in place using thin sticky pads

Really enjoyed making this card - it would look every bit as good just using one little piggy (perhaps with the 'Miss You Pig Time' sentiment from the set), but I wanted to show more than one pig as it's naturally up to be won!

So, the prize this fortnight is:

A Clearly Besotted  'Perfect Pigs' stamp set along with a matching set of 'Perfect Pig' dies. These really sweet stamps and dies are now discontinued, which is such a shame as they're so cute! As usual, I bought them a little while back and only now got round to digging them out to have a play, as well as offering duplicate items from the toy box. I've noticed that Clearly Besotted do move on quite quickly with their designs, so my advice is to buy as soon as you can - or keep a really close watch for up and coming discontinued items. Unlike a few other stockists, Clearly Besotted themselves do some amazing end of line discounts!

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 6th July. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.
 
It's a maximum of ONE entry, 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 want 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 don't add you to my little list.

I thought there would be no photos of Dudley again - but on Thursday we took some after his regular brushing session. A video clip would have been such fun but you'll get the idea from the photos that were taken in quick succession:

Looking so cute and his coat perfectly brushed

We really ought to be more aware when Dudley grins - it means that mischief is coming

Sure enough - he made a dash for the sofa at the far end of Len's study and started to dig for Britain! Thank goodness we have a protective cover in place :)

Phew - that was exhausting - digging over and all your hard work undone Dad!

But - when I look at you like this - you just melt ... and I know it too!

He certainly is likely to always be like a puppy - one minute he's pristine and the next he makes a dive for anywhere he can mess himself up again! Hard to believe he was 11 months old yesterday though. Along with being such a little pickle, Dudley is now quite happy to trot out onto the back lawn whilst the hedgie is feeding. In fact, we think there are possibly three hedgies - mostly taking it in turns to come and feed but sometimes more than one will arrive and generally they wait patiently until the first arrival has finished eating - so cute!

Lots of love from us all - Parsnip, Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #350

Easter is almost here! The local kiddies have already been off school for a week now. Mixed weather for them so far but the past couple of days have been gloriously sunny and quite warm.

Dudley didn't have his trim as planned on Thursday (although I finally had my own hair trimmed etc. on Tuesday - at last!). But, Dudley's 'Auntie Steph' has moved to another branch and that leaves the local groomers without anyone qualified to do a scissor trim at the moment - so we're off down to Winchester on Thursday with 'a no doubt yodeling his head off' Dudley to see Auntie Steph for a trim. Recently the little chap has started to develop mats of hair where his harness rubs. We're doing out best to keep on top of them but it's a lot of extra work and probably not all that comfortable for Dudley - although we're both very gentle when working on him. So he might come home with a puppy cut of sorts - but certainly not shaved which is the only option at the local branch right now! Watch this space for more news after the visit :)

And here's my snippets card for this fortnight:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank, tent style to make a step further on that bit easier

- a snippet of Kate Knight's 'Totally Tropical' paper, which was free with a magazine ages ago. I was reminded that I still had some snippets of this gorgeous paper when Sandra H entered a card into the Playground just recently

- a snippet of blue card to add to the strip of patterned paper - later on

- snippets of bright pink, blue and green card - which do match the patterned paper better than in the photo needless to say

- onto those snippets I stamped a selection of nine sweet little pandas from the Clearly Besotted 'Panda Planner' set of stamps. Three pandas for each colour, stamped using the Misti and a Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad

- then used my SU 1" square punch to punch out the little images into squares

- gently did some pencil lines on the card front and adhered the nine squares using a tape runner - then rubbed out the pencil lines

- at that point I could see just how much room I had left at top and bottom of the card and trimmed down the patterned paper into two strips, leaving overhangs at either side

- popped them onto strips of the blue card using the tape runner

- final touch was to flip the card front over and, from the back, trim off the excess from the strips at the sides of the card

I do so love this sweet little set of panda stamps, some very clever touches in the designs if you look closely (eg. the panda holding the heart has hearts in his eyes) - and there are actually 12 stamps in the set to choose from. So, you could make a lovely little planner with a different panda for each month! I didn't add a sentiment as my box of 'ready finished cards' is sadly very low on general cards.

And of course, the prize this fortnight is this:

It's a set of stamps, same as the ones I used, made by Clearly Besotted called 'Panda Planner'. AND, there's more as well!! I bought these stamps whilst laid up and scouting round for nice bargains for the Playground toy box. There was a little hiccup with one of the Clearly Besotted orders and they were so quick to put things right. During our email exchanges I mentioned that the reason I buy two of so many of their products is for the Playground - purely as it can trip sellers up when I order two of things. And guess what - ping - back came another email with a gift card code for £15 worth of Clearly Besotted goodies to offer to you girls as a prize. So - rather than adding something else to this little stamp set from the toy box - the prize now is the stamp set AND £15 worth of Clearly Besotted goodies for you to choose for yourself! I might even enter as well this time, snigger :)

How great was that then, such a lovely gesture. I would like to offer both parts of the prize as one complete prize - betcha all love those dear little pandas anyhow! So you would receive the panda stamps directly from me and I would also forward the Clearly Besotted email onto you for you to use at your leisure - I've checked and there's no time limit on the validity of the gift card code.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 27th April. 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 don't add you to my little list.

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 ☺

I'm still having a few leftover aches and pains after the dreaded gout - but nothing like it was and each day generally brings a step forward - so to speak, basically it's probably the long term arthritis having a moan!

And, as Dudley is having what might be more of a trim than usual - I took a few photos on Thursday late afternoon when we were in the garden with him:

This is the routine - which I look forward to each evening. First of all, a couple of treats from Mama. It's the big brown eyes they can't resist :)

And then, doing my impression of a baby polar bear - and dancing as well - for treats from Daddy too. I can dance on my two back legs perfectly - a throw back to the days of my ancestors being street entertainers

No harm in lying here looking soulful in the hope of more treats is there? What? You're gonna wash my face when I get back indoors? I'll have you know, I worked hard to get it this grubby!

OK, point taken. Not too many treats at once - so now I'll just curl up and have forty winks. BTW, I know it looks just like a fluffy rug but it really is me - head with peachy ears nearest the camera and tail at the far end. It's my 'isn't he tiny and doesn't he look cute' look!

 

It's true, Dudley does look tiny when he's curled up asleep - on the other hand he looks just the opposite when splayed out on a cool tiled floor like a starfash! And yes, he really does feel as soft and silky as he looks. Len says he's a great accessory for a chap out walking with him - all the ladies stop to coo and make a fuss, of Dudley of course!

Lots of love from us all - Parsnip, Dudley and of course me -