Sunday Snippets - 'Hello Spring!

We've finally had a few days of lovely sunshine here - and Spring is in the air! Fingers crossed it lasts. Meanwhile it set me off making a bright and cheerful card as my snippets make:

I used: 

- 4" x 4" sunshine yellow card blank, made using a snippet of HunkyDory card - side opening. The camera lied and changed the bright yellow card base to lemon, whilst leaving the other colours as they are in real life!

- the image is a Penny Black Stickeroo, from their 'Gentle Blooms' sheet

- backed the image with a black square - trimmed down from a snippet

- glued the image panel onto the card front 

- added a simple sentiment from a Clarity Assorted Sentiments set of stickers

- quick and easy! 

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

- Allsorts Challenge #845 HERE  - under 'Anything Goes'

Dudley Pupdate: It's been a week of bouncing about doing zoomies for Dudley - amazing what a tonic some sunshine is! Mind you, he's awake with the larks with the earlier sunrises but tends to quietly occupy himself by grooming Honka Duck like a fastidious Mother!

The results from Sarn's Challenge #527 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE.  

It's way too soon for the paddling pool but Dudley has been earning some pocket money washing down the swings and see-saw!

Love from Dudley and yours truly

Sunday Snippets - Sympathy cards

Not so long ago I had the heartbreaking task of making a Sympathy card for the widow of a much loved neighbour - we four have been friends for over 30 years, which is quite some time. I really struggled with our own grief and decided earlier this week that it isn't impersonal to have a few Sympathy cards to hand after all. And so I made a set of three cards - all following similar processes, just with different images and card sizes/orientations:

Here's the three I made!

I used:

- 4.75" x 4.75" plain white card blank, side opening, The other two cards are USA A2 size, in different orientations, both side opening as well

- the images are all from the Penny Black Stickeroos sheet called 'Timeless', stuck onto snippets of  card ages ago and this time they were trimmed right to the edge before running a black TomBow brush pen around all four sides

- fun time next! Linby aka our Lynn, got me fired up to try out some new sentiments - ready stamped and die cut. The best part is that the sentiment itself can be foiled, in my case I used my laminator and spent a couple of hours doing a whole batch of them to have on standby. The sentiment pieces are by Julie Hickey from the 'Assorted Sentiments #2 Die Cut Foilables' set (116 in the set!). I did push the boat out and bought 'WOW' Fab foil in Glitter Gold and Silver. I do not recommend the glitter gold as the end results can look rather 'bitty' due to the different tones of gold - just my opinion though - you might love it, as I thought I would! In fairness, I do have some reservations - one or two of the sentiment pieces were badly printed, some quality control issues there perhaps plus some other minor things. Overall, I'm very pleased and huge thanks to Lynn for once again being an enabler! Needless to say, both the silver foiling and the silver mirror card look black in the above photos! Usual story

- so, I foiled some appropriate sentiments in silver and just glued them onto the images - it DOES make sense to foil a batch of sentiments in one go - unless your laminator is sitting there ready and waiting, 24/7of course

- then glued the images onto slightly larger snippets of white card before backing them with slightly larger snippets of silver mirror card

- all that was left was to add each image panel onto the relevant card blank, using narrow sticky foam strips ...... finished!

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

- Allsorts Challenge # 819 HERE -  under 'Anything Goes'

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #72 HERE - the Julie Hickey Foilables sentiments and also the 'WOW' Fab Foil were out to have a first play  

Dudley Pupdate: Excitement here - mid-week could see Dudley on a real pupdate here with his beloved Tilly. Tilly's Mum Kim is possibly bringing her round for a pupdate and, earlier on Friday afternoon I was talking to him, as per usual and said 'Do you know that Tilly is coming around for a pupdate?' I kid you not - at that point he'd been sitting quietly beside me doing quality control on the dicing of his fresh veggies as part of his evening meal - but he literally stood up, raised his ears and stared straight down our garden as if to say, 'I KNOW where she lives and sleeps Mama, we already have a direct line!' He sure cracks me up! Whatever else, the week also holds a clip, bath and annual vet visit for Dudley! Little does he know as yet. 👀

Remember, the results from Sarn's Challenge #501 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE.

Do come and play with us in the Playground - the Spring clean-up has been completed (Sarn is a slave driver when the wind is behind her sails but it looks wonderful) and everything is ready to roll! It's the second week of Challenge #502, so do please come and  and play if you haven't already done so. 

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - two cards in under an hour

My two identical snippets cards today were made in literally under an hour, on Friday just gone. That's a miracle for me as I'm a slow crafter at the best of times! My starting point was a couple of Penny Black Stickeroos that I'd already popped onto some gold pearlescent snippets. In the end I trimmed the gold off altogether, leaving just the images and taking it from there, although I did add a gold layer behind the image in any case later on. Basically, it's probably easier to pop Penny Black Stickeroos onto plain white card, trim to the edge when you need them and then work from there. Trying to trim totally even borders when a Stickeroo is on a snippet piece of card, which isn't even straight edged, is tricky-woo!! And none of my dies came near to helping me either. Anyhow, this is the end result:

I used:

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

- a piece of green backing paper, which is covered in little pine tree branches and snowflakes, from the Honey Bee 'Make It Merry' paper pad - trimmed to just an eighth of an inch smaller all round than the card blank itself. I LOVE this paper pad!!

- glued the 'Make it Merry' background paper to the card front using Collall glue

- after trimming the Penny Black Stickeroo, from the 'Woodland Splendor' set, back down to the image itself, I then cut a properly measured snippet of Tonic 'Majestic Gold' pearlescent card to form a narrow border around the image piece and glued them together

- the Stickeroo came with the word 'noel' as part of the design, thus I didn't need an additional sentiment on the front of the card, yay, a time saver!

- final step was to add the whole panel to the card front, using narrow strips of thin foam tape, at an angle for a change, which does seem to show off more of the lovely patterned paper - finished!

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

- Allsorts Challenge # 809 - HERE -  the theme is 'Winter Flowers & Fauna'. I don't have actual flowers but from Brenda's wording she seems to imply that trees and greenery are fine - othrwise it's the 'Anything Goes' theme!

Dudley Pupdate: The moment of truth finally arrived and Len trimmed Dudley on Thursday, before he turned into a little Yeti! But, someone pinched our ball of fluffy white fur and left a tiny puppy in his place! Still got the same smile and beautiful eyes - and he insists that he really IS Dudley! He looks very small and also vulnerable right now. So cute.

Remember, the results from Sarn's Challenge #493 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE. 

Do come and play with us in the Snippets Playground - Sarn and I are gearing up ready for the Christmas celebrations. She's Little Miss Organised and I'm more like Little Miss Scatty! I did spot her dragging a load of Christmas decorations, for inside as well as ouside, behind her in the Playground during the week. I kept my head down and stayed indoors keeping warm and dry, sorting through the Toy Box for our forthcoming bumper challenges. Sshh, I say no more! However, Dudley can be bribed to spill the beans for treats ...... no doubt!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - 'Merry Merry' Christmas cards

My snippets card(s) today use some Penny Black Stickeroos that I'd already popped onto some gold pearlescent snippets. In the end I trimmed the gold off altogether, leaving just the images - and I made four cards in total, two of each design/image:

I used:

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

- a piece of green backing paper, which is covered in little pine tree branches, from the Honey Bee 'Make It Merry' paper pad - trimmed to just an eighth of an inch smaller all round than the card itself

- glued the background paper to the caerd front using Collall glue

- then die cut the corner sentiment using a NBUS die (found on eBay recently) called 'Merry Merry' from the Corner Concepts range by Die-Versions - I think the whole range is now discontinued, sigh. The card I used came from a whole bundle of snippets, tucked into a Tonic packet of pearlescent card called 'Red Velvet' 

- glued the sentiment onto the top left corner of the Penny Black Stickeroo image (both designs came from the 'Woodland Splendor' sheets - somehow I had two sheets!

 

- final step was to add the whole panel to the card front, using narrow strips of thin foam tape - finished!

NB The cards and images are exactly rectangular - I just wasn't positioned centrally to take the photos so they appear to taper off a bit at the right hand end!

I'd like to enter the first card, with the birdie on, into the following challenges:

- Darnell's NBUS challenge #68 - HERE -  the 'Merry Merry' die was having a first outing

- Allsorts Challenge #805- HERE -  the theme is 'Magic of the Season' ie. Christmas 

Dudley Pupdate: We had quite a change of direction  on Halloween this year! Although we had everything ready - we actually left our hallway in darkness and just lurked! Len was remotely operating all the lights etc. IF anyone did decide to call. However,  not one single person came to the door. It might seem a lot of trouble for nothing but it actually achieved the aim, which was to see if people would bypass houses that weren't decorated, something that is always publicised around here as being the polite thing to do. In recent years the kids have been getting older (and greedier) and we decided to see if we call time on what was becoming much less fun than it used to be. So, little Dudley was fed earlier than usual that evening, much to his delight. His world seems to revolve around food and cuddles - oddly enough, he really has to be coaxed out for walkies. Other dogs I've known used to go scatty just at the sight of their lead!

Remember, the results from Challenge #491 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE. 

Do come and play with us in the Snippets Playground - the Tree House is loaded with leftover Halloween goodies! Some of the spooky eyeballs have popping candy in - not tried one of those yet!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - Penny Black 'JOY'

Bit of an odd week, Len's Birthday was on Tuesday - we had a quiet day, but to celebrate, the dishwasher decided to give up the ghost and ping its buttons across the kitchen! Finally - after almost two years of Len and his Heath Robinson fixes, it was beyond redemption - hooray!

For those of you in the UK, we use AO Appliances online store and true to form they arrived on time on Thursday, disconnected the old and connected and tested the new machine. Then tootled off, taking the old one for recycling and all the packaging. So quick and easy - I like it when things actually go to plan as it's a rare thing here and always has been. 

  

I used: 

- 5.5" x 4.25" cream linen blank - tent style

- a teensie bit smaller snippet of Tonic pearlised 'Majestic Gold' card  to form a narrow 'frame' for the hammered cream layer

- 5.25" x 4" snippet of  cream hammered card

- glued the hammered card onto the gold 'frame' and set it and the card blank to one side

- using Tonic snippets of satin mirror card 'Scarlet Organza' I then die cut two of the word 'JOY', using a NBUS Penny Black die called 'immense joy'

- glued both layers of the die cut 'JOY' together for dimension

- die cut the 'O' from a card mounted Penny Black Stickeroo from the 'Berry Delight' sheet - this was quite tricky with little room to play but I managed, with hiccups along the way! 

- added the word 'JOY' and the centre of the 'O' to the cream hammered card panel using a glue pen

- adhered the finished panel to the card front, using narrow foam strips for a bit of 'lift' - and it still can be posted at UK's Standard rate - finished!

I can see fun times ahead using this very big die - it's just right for using Penny Black's 'Masterpieces' ready printed images - and the world is your prawn oyster for going to town with die cut foliage etc. And, not forgetting the many delightful PB Christmas stamps lurking here.

I'd like to enter this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #67 HERE as the Penny Black 'JOY' die was having a first outing.

And, I's like to enter it into the current Allsorts Challenge #803, under the 'Anything Goes' rule. The theme for this week is 'Patterned papers' and as I have a ton of those, despite having culled a lot - I might even try to play a second time! Perhaps, maybe. Why don't you have a go though?

Dudley Pupdate: As happens over time, Dudley has 'loved' his Honka Duck to the point that before long the stuffing will appear so we've duly placed the brand new replacement next to the old Honka whenever possible over the last couple of days - and will do so until the day comes when the swop will be made. Much like the Stinky Monkey toys in his puppy days, it has to be done for Dudley's health and safety. However, the traumatic first few days are tough until he stops searching the house and accepts that 'old' Honka has gone to the big duck pond in the sky ........... so he might as well knuckle down with his replacement. Sigh. 😟

Very importantly, the results of Challenge #490 are now published HERE. 

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

Love from myself and Dudley, xxx

Rudolph Days Challenge - September 2024

I truly thought this entry would never happen - breaking a really long run of joining in with the Rudolph Days Challenge. However, here's my card, last minute, for September's Rudolph days challenge:

I used:

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

- a piece of the same white card stock. trimmed to 4.75" x 4.75" and set aside whilst I did the patterned layer

- for the patterned layer I used a very pretty pink piece of snowflake paper from Whimsy's 'Blurry Flurries' paper pack, die cut using a 4.5" x 4.5" die from the NBUS Penny Black 'snowflake stitch frames' set of dies

- then added the pink patterned layer to the white piece, before gluing the panel to the card front

- for the sentiment 'NOEL' word I used dies from the Creative Expressions 'Stacked Noel Layering Die' set - cutting three layers in solid white, solid black and then detailed white - and glued them together in that order (the set also comes with a backing 'shadow' die but I didn't feel it needed that)

- glued the sentiment onto the pink paper layer 

- added a double cut and layered white snowflake, using the same set of dies, on top of the letter 'O'

- final touch - a single little diamante gem in the centre of the snowflake just to add a tiny touch of sparkle - finished! 

It was a first outing for the 'NOEL' die set so I'm linking into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #66 HERE!

Phew, that was touch and go, I need a lie down! And, being a bit loopy, I did make two cards exactly the same! I might hunt out bigger diamantes and check if a slightly larger size would be better in the middle of the snowflake.

Sunday Snippets - 'smile'

A fairly pink card from me:

I used:

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

- used an Altenew 'Bold Floral' stamp and Clair VersaFine 'Morning Mist' inkpad to stamp the flower onto a snippet of the same white card as the card blank (I have a 'thing' about whites being the same shade)

- then coloured the flower using Arteza Watercolour pencils and a fine brush

- die cut the flower using a matching die and set it to one side

- die cut a lattice panel from a snippet of Tonic pearlised 'Luna Silver', using a lovely unbranded die gifted to me by a kind friend and also set that to one side

- die cut the pink frame from a 5.25" x 4" snippet of pink linen effect card, using a die from Penny Black's 'stitched frames' set of dies - which left me with the centre as a further snippet for future use

- backed the pink frame with a 5" x 3.75" snippet of the same white card using very narrow red line tape

- at that point I could pop the frame with the white centre panel into the Misti and juggle the silver lattice die cut and the flower about to position the 'smile' sentiment, before removing the lattice and flower then stamping the sentiment using 'Morning Mist' again. The sentiment is from the Funky Fossil 'Making Memories' set of stamps that were part of the prize in Challenge #480 

- then stuck the lattice panel onto the front panel using Stix2 micro dots

- adhered the flower using thin sticky pads

- finally, stuck the front panel onto the card front using very narrow foam tape - and the glue stick trick of course

And, whilst everything was out on the desk I made a second card almost the same, just changing the colours:

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

- Darnell's NBUS challenge #63 - HERE- the lattice die was having its first outing

- Allsorts Challenge #785 HERE - under the 'Anything goes' option

- Creations in Pink - Challenge #71 HERE

Dudley Pupdate: The other day, Len spotted a new bit of cooperation between Dudley and myself that I'd been keeping quiet until we both perfected it. Honka Duck is a pretty big thing for such a small chap to carry at the same time as he uses a strategically placed footstool to hop up onto our bed. So, if I'm sitting either in or on the side of our bed he brings Honka to me and holds him up in the air. That's my signal to take Honka from him and put him onto our bed so that Dudley can then skip around to the foot of the bed and hop up. It worked so seamlessly and Len's jaw did drop. 'How did he learn that one? was his question, at which I just shrugged as if it was the simplest thing in the world! Little does he know how long we've been working on it!

It was my turn for a little surprise on Thursday when I couldn't find Dudley anywhere - suddenly I spotted him and had to grab my camera to take this photo:

Len was sitting at his desk playing the guitar and Dudley was on his 'lookout' fleece covered table beside him .......... with his head resting on Len's arm as he dreamily absorbed some Spanish melodies! Apparently he was like that for around 20 minutes, I wonder it it's in his DNA? Havanese are descended from dogs of the Bichon variety that were originally taken to Cuba (hence the Havana link) by Spanish Traders many years ago. Len says my theory is 'barking' mad - ha, ha!

Remember, the results from Challenge #481  are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE 

Hope to see you on the swings for the current challenge as that runs for almost another week.

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - all I see is magic

A fairly quick card from me, using a couple of NBUS items: 

Just a couple of snippets left, the outline from the stamp die (close call there!) and a piece of the green backing card

I used:

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

- first step was to use a snippet of pale ivory linen card to die cut the stamp outline - using a die from Penny Black's 'posted cut out' set of dies

- then trimmed the Penny Black 'Masterpieces Made Easy' panel, from the 'take me away' set down to 3.25" x 2.25" to fit neatly inside the stamp serrations outline, and glued it in place

- stamped the post mark onto the image panel using a stamp from the matching Penny Black 'posted' set of stamps and a VersaFine Clair 'Morning Mist' ink pad

- at that point I could work out where to stamp the sentiment, using a VersaFine Clair 'Morning Mist' ink and a stamp from the Funky Fossil 'Making Memories' set of stamps (part of the current Snippets Challenge prize)

- then mounted the 'stamp' panel onto a rectangle snippet of toning green card, measuring 4" x 3", using thin foam strips and the 'glue stick trick'

- finally, glued the front panel onto the card front - and called it done!

I used a few snippets. The pale ivory linen card base is not strictly a recognised size, but it works for me as it's left over after cutting a tent style A2 sized card AND saves on A4 card wastage too. The pale ivory linen card for the stamp shaped outline was a snippet - as was the green backing card.

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

- Darnell's NBUS challenge #62 - HERE - the Penny Black die set and the matching stamp set were having their first outing.

- Allsorts Challenge # 781 .... see more below!

The Allsorts Challenge are celebrating their 15th Birthday this week! Lots of lovely prizes to be won as well - do please join in with the fun. Brenda and her team are amazing and your support would be lovely! 

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley forgot himself and did a little puddle on Friday when Len returned after a short trip out. Basically over excitement at seeing that his Dad hadn't run away ..... for all of 30 minutes! He wasn't chastised at all - but he sure knew he'd broken a house rule and sat to one side as Len cleaned up, with his head bowed in shame, whilst I had to resist picking him up to comfort him, not allowed anyhow for the time being.

It's been a stressful week for him with me having my first cataract surgery 10 days or so ago (hence the sentiment I used on today's card) as he still hates travelling in the car to and from the Hampshire Clinic treating me.

Me? Doing really great - one down and the other one to be replaced at the end of May! What a fantastic difference already! Who turned on the bright light and opened the yellow net curtain? Happy Bunny so far. 

Remember, the results from Challenge #479 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE. 

Hope to see you on the swings for the current challenge too as that runs for almost another week.

AND, my card today used another one of the Funky Fossil sentiment stamps in the current Challenge #480 prize bundle. I really love this sentiment, obviously! 

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - Penny Black Stickeroo to the rescue

It's been another one of those weeks here, where time just flies by. I suddenly realised on Friday that I needed to make a snippets card - having been focused on other cards, as well as other stuff going on here. I reached out for the little packet of Stickeroos that I keep close at hand, already mounted onto snippets of toning card - and within 30 minutes had produced this:

I used:

- 4.75" square pale ivory linen card blank - tent opening

- then die cut the Penny Black Stickeroo on its snippet backing layer of SU 'Certainly Celery' card using a Marianne Craftables 'Stitched Circle' die - CR1360. The Stickeroo is from the Penny Black 'Gentle Blooms' sheet of stickers BTW

- I then used a NBUS die from Gummiapan called 'Scalloped Pointy Border', bought a while ago in one of their sales, and cut part of the bottom of the card front away

- found a piece of deep teal blue card to pick out the colour of one of the flowers, trimmed it to 4.75" square and glued it to the inside of the card front

- finally, used thin sticky pads (and the glue stick trick) to adhere the image to the pale ivory portion of the card front - didn't add a sentiment as it's a 'general purpose' card

- finished!

I only used one snippet - the backing layer for the Penny Black Stickeroo.

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

- Darnell's NBUS challenge #61 - HERE - the Gummiapan Scalloped Pointy Border was having its first outing as well as the Marianne set of stitched circle dies. 

Dudley Pupdate: Before long, Dudley will need a bath as a slight doggy 'hum' is faintly there when you snuggle up really close to him. He has hair, not fur, therefore is less prone to 'doggy hum'. But, he's due an application of anti-flea and worming meds between his shoulder blades and we like to leave a week either side of that before any baths. So, I bought some proper 'doggy cologne' - which actually smells like baby powder, very much like his shampoo. On Friday I gave him a couple of sprays down his back to test it out and the result was hilarious. 

As a result we had wild 'zoomies' all around the house - followed by a lot of rolling and rubbing, same as after a bath! As well as some well choreographed wiggly hip moves! So funny .......... I half expected him to get up on his hind paws and launch into a John Travolta Saturday Night Fever Bee Gees 'You Should Be Dancing' routine! Never a dull moment. Check the link then imagine Dudley in John T's place! Snort. 😉

Remember, the results from Challenge #477 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE. Hope to see you on the swings for the current challenge too as that runs for almost another week.

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Rudolph Days Challenge - February 2024

Helen Nile has stepped up and taken over the Rudolph Days Challenge - hooray, well done Helen! And many thanks to Maureen (Scrappy Mo) and her DT for running it for so long.

I decided to try to get a bit further ahead with my 2024 Christmas card making and did an 'assembly line' run of 10 cards, same basic design, a mixture of various sentiments  - and 10 different Penny Black 'Masterpieces made Easy' ready printed images:

This card, using an image from 'Winter views' is my entry for the current Rudolph Days Challenge - HERE.

I'd also like to add it into Darnell's NBUS Challenge # 58 HERE - the sentiment stamp sets were having a first outing

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white linen card base, folded to be either tall tent style or side opening, on the short side

- used pieces of the white linen card left from cutting the card bases to die cut rectangles using a Lil'Inkers 'Stitched Rectangles' die

- used snippets of Tonic Pearlescent card in 'Majestic Gold' and 'Luna Silver' to cut rectangles to just add a narrow 'frame' around the outside of the stitched white layer

- stamped a sentiment onto each of the Penny Black 'Masterpieces made easy' images using VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' ink and stamps from two small Penny Black sets called 'song of peace' and 'winter vibes'. The sentiments are a little different to usual Christmas ones and there are times when I do need Christmas cards with more thoughtful messages and sentiments 

- assembly time!  Glued the images to the stitched white linen card rectangles, then glued the pearlescent pearlescent layer to the back of each stiched/image layer

- used very narrow double sided foam tape to stick around all four sides of the back of the completed front panels

- used a glue stick to allow some movement room and then adhered the completed panels onto the card blanks 

- 10 Christmas cards, finished!

This is another one of the cards, very typically Penny Black as you can see:

And here are the other eight cards - for my own records as much as anything:

I'm such a greedy little Piglet - I've bought every single set of Penny Black 'Masterpieces made Easy' over the years they've been producing them. They're rather addictive and I still have a bunch of unused ones to play with!

Both the hedgehog images came from the 'adorable amour' set and the rest came from five different sets - I won't list them but Buddly Crafts are a UK stockist and all images can be seen on their website. I do recommend them, for their stock of USA craft items, decent prices and great service! Click the link - I dare you! 😂

Sunday Snippets - Penny Black Christmas cards

I rustled up a pretty quick batch of Christmas cards, using some Penny Black 'Masterpieces made Easy' toppers, along with their fabulous 'Stick and Shine' stickers and foils:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blanks, all side opening

- die cut the 'frames' from snippet of white card using a die from the Avery Elle 'Postage Stamp' set of dies - cut eight to layer them for more dimension

- glued the frames together and set then aside

- dug out two gold and also two silver mirri card snippets, which I trimmed to fit just underneath where the white frames would sit

- glued the mirri card panels onto the card fronts then glued the white 'postage stamp frames' on top of them

- already had the chosen Penny Black Masterpieces Made Easy images set to one side and I knew that I wanted two to have gold borders of mirri card and the other two to have silver borders

- time for the sentiments to be added and I used some NBUS Penny Black sentiments from their Stick & Shine 'Xmas Classics' set of sentiments - one at a time - then rubbed Penny Black Gold/Silver 'Metallic Foil' over the top as I went

- added a couple of snowflakes to the 'robins' image then rubbed more silver foil on the top

- glued the image panels onto the already assembled cards - done! 

Four more Christmas cards added to the very healthy pile!

The 'Masterpieces' are printed on linen effect card, but the 'Stick and Shine' still worked great. Basically, it's like the old 'rub-ons' we used to love, only you're left with a clear sticky surface ready to adhere the foil. That sticky surface is why I foiled as I went of course, can be tricky to align straight and 'just where you want them' unless you have the right light and never fiddle with them once they touch the card! Ask me how I know this?! But, as always, nigh on impossible to get the gorgeous bright shine to show up well in a photo!

The images came from three different 'Masterpieces made Easy' sets, two from 'Reflections', one from 'Across the Miles' and one from 'Snowy Sensation'.

As it was a first outing for the Stick and Shine sentiments, I'd like to enter this into Darnell's current NBUS Challenge #56 HERE. 

The results of Snippets Challenge #466 are over on the Snippets Playground HERE.

Dudley Pupdate: I was woken up at around 6am the other morning, when it felt as if a little herd of  Mountain Goats with pointed hooves were tripping all over my shin bones - ouch! Yup, it was Dudley on our bed, trying to get up close and personal with me for a cuddle. He got his cuddle but oh boy, that did hurt! How can a small dog exert such pressure through his little legs legs?

There's still one week of the current Snippets Challenge to go, hope to see you in the Playground soon if you haven't played already - make a card, come and play. Look for the post just before this one. 

Love, as always, from Dudley and myself, 

Sunday Snippets & remembering Janis Woolbright

There's some fun and games going on over at Jo's 'Christmas Kickstart Challenge #79'. Jo is running a 'Cat Lover's Christmas Challenge HERE, in memory of Janis Woolbright, who died suddenly in January of this year. Janis and her helpers ran the annual 'Cat Lovers Blog Hop' tirelessly every October and it's such a wonderful tribute to a beautiful soul.I1

The sponsors have been incredibly generous and what nicer way to remember a talented and well loved crafter?

Confession, being a doggy person, I did initially struggle to find any Christmas cat stamps but so far have unearthed a couple. Still need to go back and have another look through the Really Useful box of Penny Black Christmas stamps - there could be more lurking! 

This is my first entry - made very much with Janis, a cat loving crafter, in mind: 

I used:

- A6 white card blank

- a sheet of paper from Craft Consortium's 'Frosty & Bright' paper pad, trimmed to A6 size and glued to the card front

- stamped the image onto a snippet of white card using Versafine's Clair 'Nocturne' ink pad and a Penny Black wood mounted stamp called 'Xmas Crafts' 

- then coloured the image using Polychromos pencils, before die cutting it using a Heffy Doodles die from the set called 'A6 stitched rectangles' 

- I had a snippet of Tonic Pearlescent'  'Navy Dazzle' card lying on my desk so I used that to create a narrow 'frame' by trimming it a little, then gluing it behind the die cut Penny Black image

- glued the whole image panel onto the card front 

- finally, added the sentiment, in the same Tonic 'Navy Dazzle' from my little pot of small 'ready to roll' layered die cut sentiments

- stepped back and called it done!

Another one for the 2023 Christmas Card box here.

Of course, I'm adding this into the Christmas Kickstart Cat Lovers Challenge! Do please join in and help to make this a success! Well done Jo & Co.!!

It also qualifies to enter into Gail's Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge, which is being run within the whole Janis event. My line is the right hand side downwards one of patterned paper, scraps and stamp. Brilliant idea!

Sarn is at the helm in the Playground this coming fortnight with a new Snippets Challenge - #465 to be exact. Go HERE to join in.

Dudley Pupdate: I'm sure some of you will recall the saga of the 'Stinky Monkeys' when Dudley was younger and how we had to secretly 'replace the old with the new'. Eventually, Dudley's affections switched completely over to Honka Duck and we were left with some brand new unloved neon pink and green monkeys! One of them he keeps in his cocoon of favourite toys .......... but there were several other brand new ones in need of affection. 

Around 10 months ago, during the back garden revamp, we had a 'proper' log cabin built in one corner of the garden. A while ago, when Dudley was out there with us having a little snooze, we decided that one of the spare monkeys would be company for him in the cabin rather than it languishing in a drawer unit containing 'all things Dudley' in the garage. He knows that Honka Duck lives indoors thank goodness and so far, so good apart from the very occasional sneaky try to take his beloved Honks for a quick tour of the garden!

However, now - whenever either of us goes towards the cabin during the daytime - Dudley is there in a flash waiting patiently to be let in to see his 'Garden Monkey' for a quick 'Hello' lick and to check he's still there safe and sound, tucked into one of the chairs! We prefer to think it's his 'maternal instincts' rather than paranoia! 

Today is Len's Birthday and we plan to just have a quiet day with a pleasant evening meal at home. And possibly some cabin time with Dudley .................. and Garden Monkey!

 

Take care, with love from Dudley and myself,