Sunday Snippets and a thank you card

We're seriously thinking of building an Ark here! The rain has been torrential and temperatures have dropped radically.  I'm not complaining though as it's an improvement on some of the steaming hot weather we had prior to that.

My snippets offering for today is a Thank You card with a really heartfelt sentiment:

A close-up of the sentiment - my camera didn't capture the gorgeous shine of the embossing too well on the main image

The snippets I used for the leaves and the sentiment

I used:

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

 

- a selection of snippets from the Dalton Manor 'Pearlescent Greens' card pack 

- for the stamped images and sentiment I used MFT's 'Geometric Greenery' set of stamps

- stamped and heat embossed onto the snippets of various shades of green card, using an ancient 'Emboss' pink tinted ink pad and Stampendous 'Pirate Gold' embossing powder (such a true gold!). The embossing pad was so old I had to totally revive it using some of the refill bottle of 'pink refresher gloop' but it worked really well and I will happily carry on using it if/when I do more heat embossing **

 

- die cut the stamped leaves using the matching set of MFT dies and then the sentiment using a die from the MFT 'Mini Mail' set of dies. The sentiment die was a tad too long so I die cut it then replaced it in the die with it partially poking over the straight end to die cut the straight end to suit

- time to assemble the card - bit of a heart in the mouth event after all the work thus far

-  trimmed a piece of white card to a bit smaller than the same size as the card front

- then used a NBUS Penny Black die called 'Curved Stitch' to cut right across the piece of white card, ending up with two curved pieces to use

- dived into the packet of Dalton Manor green pearlescent card and, shudder, had to slice off the end of a piece of A4 unsullied card to used for the 'separation' piece area of the two white curved edge panels held in my sticky paws

- at that point I went for broke and guillotined the right side of the bottom curved layer so that the pattern ended without partial holes

-then did the same with the upper portion of the white panel and glued both parts onto the strip of green card I'd cut just earlier - making sure it was lined up at the right hand end

- then trimmed the complete left hand side, complete with the backing piece of green card to the closest complete holes

- so now I had the width measurement and just trimmed the top of the curved panel to make an exact square

-  ran a gold calligraphy pen around the square front panel and also the sentiment strip for some definition

- glued the unadorned but waved panel onto the card front 

- used easy peel masking tape for a straight line for the leaves across the top portion of the card, which I added using snipped up thin sticky pads 

- did the same with the sentiment strip and called it a wrap!

** That was my first foray into heat embossing for absolutely ages - and I know why! So much of my craft stuff is tucked away on shelves behind custom made sliding doors in categorised and accessible Really Useful Boxes but it's quite a palaver hauling all the bits out to heat emboss the likes of a single card. I just can't craft in total chaos and having everything to hand would probably discombobulate me!

I'm entering this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #54 HERE.  The MFT stamps and dies as well as the Penny Black die, were all NBUS items.

The results of The Snippets Challenge # 462 are over on the Snippets Playground blog HERE.

Dudley Pupdate: The change in the weather here has made Dudley very reluctant to venture out in the rain unless it's really essential. We have to literally push him outside at times - any chance of Dudley ever entertaining a proper walk for sheer pleasure in the rain is not in his DNA! I suspect that Len doesn't mind that to be honest - and there's no way I could easily give Dudley a run around the block!

Earlier in the week I had all of Dudley's numerous grooming tools, sprays etc. spread all over our bed to be sorted more logically into additional baskets for easier access and then loaded into a wheeled trolley to be kept in Len's study/small lounge where much of the day to day grooming takes place. And one little guy must have been watching me with growing horror and the fear of an impending grooming session 'cos he went missing! He eventually was located - tucked right down by the hidden side of a guest bed! By that time the sorting out was finished and he had nothing to worry about after all - what a silly sausage! BTW, his new dew claw is doing really well - hooray!

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. No doubt Sarn is getting ready to dispense hot chocolate drinks the way the weather is going! 

Love, as always, from myself and Dudley

Penny Black Masterpieces Made Simple - Thank You card

There's a new challenge over in the Snippets Playground - below is my snippets card and how I made it.

We have so many generous and kind Playmates - I received a package here last week and this card is being sent to a very generous lady who sent me a package stuffed with brand new prize goodies very recently (the toy box is stuffed to the brim and looking super healthy!):

I used:

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

- the really pretty image is from the Penny Black 'vintage beauty' Masterpieces Made Simple set of images (no apologies for using these lovely images such a lot lately)

- left the image at full size and used a Penny Black set of dies called 'zig-zag stackers' to cut a panel from a snippet of white linen card, the same I used for as the main card body

- then stamped the sentiment directly onto the image panel. Used the Misti, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and the Clearly Besotted 'Say what?' set of stamps for the 'Thank You greeting

- mounted it onto a very slightly larger snippet of Olive Green card - just to give a narrow and simple border

- then added it onto the card front before gluing a couple of 'Raindrop' gems in place - finished!

- ha, took the photo before the glue was fully dried so the raindrop gems look a bit milky 

Dudley's coat is growing back nicely - he had a bath this week and is still a fighter. Possibly it's getting to be easier as at least he didn't run and hide beforehand! 

His beloved Honka Duck goes almost everywhere with him. The other morning he was hunting for Honka and nosed open my craft room door, which I'd pulled too the evening before without realising that Honka was in there. Dudley slipped in and whisked Honka from under my desk and (you have to imagine this bit) there was Dudley with the almost life sized Honka Duck, crossways in his mouth, stood at the partly open door with his eyes almost rolling in puzzlement. He couldn't get through the space in the doorway as it opens inwards and of course didn't think to drop the duck!

Then, a sweet friend popped round with an Easter egg for us and whilst I was talking to her, Aslan rolled up. Aslan is the most beautiful Persian cat and super cool and laid back. He doesn't deign to use our gardens as his toilet so he's always very welcome. He decided to take a stroll round the downstairs of our house - a thorough inspection was carried out. Fortunately, Len had Dudley upstairs and I reckon there would have been mayhem had he realised that Aslan had come to visit. Purely interest on Dudley's part as he loves cats - but it could have been fun and games. Thankfully, Aslan doffed his cap, bade me farewell and moseyed off out of the front door again! 

 

Hope & Chances kit card

Anyone here remember Hope & Chances, run by Christine Emberson? She's now closed her on line shop (before the current situation arose) but is continuing to sell monthly kits to raise money for charity. Here's the link to her blog page telling you more about the kits.

This is the card I made using the kit for March 2020. It comes with everything you need, including a card blank and envelope if the project is a card. All components are already trimmed and die cut (Christine was a Spellbinder Ambassador for a long while). Plus you get comprehensive, illustrated instructions as well. All you need is some form of glue, double sided adhesive tape and - sometimes - sticky pads:

Really it's self explanatory so I won't go into detail about how I glued and stuck it together :) Ha - although I lost one of the smaller black dots for the rear lights - and a sheet of black peel off dots sent to me by a lovely friend came to the rescue! Pretty isn't it - all the kits are rather special. April's kit will be available from Sunday 5th April.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #349

Today is 'Mothering Sunday' here in the UK - dating back to when young girls and boys in service were given the day off to go home and visit their Mothers, most likely taking a bunch of Spring flowers with them, picked from the hedgerows nearby. In fact, the term Mothering Sunday dates back to centuries ago when people returned to their 'Mother Church' for a service on that day. Of course, it's now more commonly referred to as Mother's Day, but I still like the term 'Mothering Sunday'..

And, the clocks here also changed - at 2am on Sunday they 'Spring forward' by an hour meaning we lose an hour's sleep but that the evenings will suddenly be lighter of course.

Lets get right on with my snippets card - it's a fairly plain one but took longer to make than I expected. One of those ideas you have in the early hours of the morning when you can't sleep - so it was made early this week! The main thing driving me was the idea of how to match up the die cut sentiment with the background paper:

I used:

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

- a slightly smaller snippet of SU's 'Certainly Celery' green card

- a snippet of 200gsm white card (the 200 gsm is important I think) and MFT's 'Stitched Diagonal' Cover-up die to cut the main white panel piece

- next die cut the same panel piece from a sheet of  Dove Craft's 'Back to Basics II' paper

- and this was the step that had been keeping me awake thinking as I wanted the 'Thanks' sentiment word to exactly match the stripes in what would be the infill to the white panel

- so, I put the patterned paper die cut on top of the white card die cut, lined them up, held them in place on the cutting mat with low tack tape, put the Impression Obsession 'Thanks' die on top and ran them through the Cuttlebug - and that was why I'd used just 200gsm card, in case I was asking too much of the Cuttlebug in terms of thickness 

- it worked just fine - no cogs and springs taking flight!

- then I die cut the sentiment twice more from a couple of little snippets of SU's 'Certainly Celery' card 

- by now I had four little sentiments so I popped the white one back into the place on the card where it had come from, holding it in place with normal sellotape at the back, then layered two green sentiments and finally the striped sentiment on top for dimension using a fine glue pen. Note, it's important to make sure you have the inner parts of the letters on the white layer

- next, glued the green background layer to the card front and glued the white panel (complete with sentiment) on top

- finally popped the striped pieces of patterned paper in place  - a perfect match to the sentiment, even if I say so myself!

And of course, the prize this fortnight is this:

I have offered the same MFT 'Stitched Diagonal' Cover-up dies previously, but I just think they're such a useful die to have that I added a further one to the Toy Box a few months ago, really with the Grand Draw over last Christmas in mind. It didn't get offered but it goes so well with this sentiment - which of course is the Impression Obsession 'Thanks' die ............... on offer as well!

The prize is both items, but this time I would split them as I know that a few of you already have the Diagonal cover up die. This is very much an exception of course! Just say if you want to be in the draw for both dies, or state which one of the two you would like to win - and we'll take it from there.But, as I always say, you can play for both and give one item to a friend if it's a duplicate or you really don't fancy it.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 13th 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 ☺

Before we get into the latest frivolities here, I have to tell you some sad news - our very much loved, and talented Jenny Lawrence's husband passed away on Friday morning. They were such a very happy couple, finding love 'second time around'. Our thoughts are with Jenny and also her family right now. So very sad and also sudden - we send our love and sympathy Jenny. x 

Dudley continues to keep us on our toes here! The latest thing we've had to contend with is that the hedgehogs spook him if he happens to go out for the toilet when they're around. And a little dog with a big woof in the early hours of the morning isn't gonna win him many fans. Havanese dogs have quite a deep bark, which always sounds as if he should be a much bigger dog - until you see him. 

Clever Len found a hedgehog garden ornament in an attempt to get Dudley used to seeing at least the shape and colour of a hedgie - but without the smell or any moving around sadly. Over time, he's getting more used to Art (the ARTificial hedgie!) and the other day went so far as to give one of his favourite doggie chews to Art - who of course didn't move a muscle. ☺

Then, later on that day Len managed to take three photos of Dudley cosying up to Art - and this is the one I like the best:

The look on Dudley's face almost says -' You really must think I'm stupid, of course I know he isn't the real thing!' 

Dudley was looking a bit grubby after we finally let him out into the main part of the garden once various borders were 'Dudley-proofed' (he loves to dig, even just at grass). So on Friday we felt he really needed a bath so it was all hands on deck here. Cleared one end of the bathroom - and Len brought up a spare garden chair for me to sit on beside the bath, plastic so it didn't matter if there was a deluge.

The following photos are on Facebook so you might already have seen them!

First of all, Len filled the bath, quite shallowly as we mainly used the spray attachment - and this photo makes me really smile - the little innocent, with no idea of what's to come. 

'Hey Daddy - I love you so much - whatcha doin' there?'

Ha, Dudley soon found out what was going on:

WHAT?!?! You mean I have to sit IN HERE where it's wet and be rubbed with shampoo all over - this IS a joke, right? Let me out - right now - or I begin to do my Havanese yodel performance!

I did giggle when Darnell remarked on Facebook that he had 'a bed head' - that's because I took his topknot out and gave him a thorough brushing right through before the wet stuff started! Len wouldn't let me take his photo when he was soaking wet as it seems undignified somehow - but there's a very small dog underneath all that hair!

We were drenched, although the bathroom wasn't flooded at least. Then came the drying and more brushing, plus a new topknot - and he was good as new, smelling lovely and looking as gorgeous as ever! And all three of us were totally whacked!

Lots of love from us all - Parsnip (quiet these days, but  has a business on the side selling photos of Dudley!), Dudley and of course me -
 

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #345

Well! What a week that's been for sure. I was totally blown away by the wonderful blog hop that Darnell arranged in such secrecy to celebrate 7 years since I took over the Snippets Playground - and of course it's 8 years since Jules started it all off. Who knew it would still be going from strength to strength all this time later? And I certainly didn't realise the wealth of love and gratitude there is for having the Playground to share your snippets in. I've smiled like a Cheshire cat, laughed out loud at some of the outrageous shenanigans going on ..... and also shed a few tears of pure joy to know that you like it here! A huge thank you - and also, don't forget that we do have some lovely Playmates who at times send prizes for the Playground as well. Am not asking for more, can only just close the toy box lid right now - but it's important that we also remember their kindness.

I see the hop carries on for another week as well - I'm doing my best to comment and will get round to every single one of you I promise! A HUGE thank you also to Darnell of course who arranged this, mwah, you really are the best! Reaches for fresh box of Kleenex.

Friday was a blizzard here in North Hampshire for most of the day and in the end the whole area (our closest motorway stretch and other local roads) was totally gridlocked - and a lot of it still is apparently. We'd already decided not to budge and had done all our trips out before yesterday thankfully. We saw people trudging home on foot having abandoned their cars in the lane at the top of our road, or even further afield. Len fought a constant battle to keep the penned in part of the patio near the house clear so that Dudley could go to the loo without being up to his chin in snow. We only had about 9" in total and both of us have seen much worse when we lived in other places - but this is the very worst we've had in the whole time we've lived here and frankly much of the UK is just not geared up for such conditions. Both of us have previously been caught in sudden snow storms in our cars here when we were commuting and it can be pretty scary stuff! Today (Saturday) the sun is shining and folk are out clearing their driveways etc.

Here's my snippets card - and in fact this week you get two for the price of one - special offer (BOGOF, Buy One Get One Free):

This card is for all of you girls, with love from me!

And this card is also for you girls. From some of the comments I've been reading as I hopped around' I can see that the surprise visit from one certain little Miss Mischief precipitated a load of sneaky sips and even some moonshine!

Both cards were made in a fairly similar fashion so am covering them both  in my usual 'I used' blurb.

I used:

- a black snippet of thick card, scored and folded into an A6 sized card blank - tent style and a snippet of Strathmore Mixed Media paper (which is actually 300gsm!), which (once the image panels was ready) I scored, folded and trimmed to 4" x 4.25" - side opening

- then I used a couple of snippets of the Strathmore Mixed Media paper (I never throw any offcuts of that out, it's too expensive!) and stamped the image panels

- I used a Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad and stamps from the Woodware 'Smile On My Face' single stamp set and also the Woodware multiple stamp set called 'Time to Wine Down' (one image and two sentiments)

- before the ink dried, embossed both image panels using WOW clear embossing powder as I wanted to use my Zig brush markers and knew it would spread over the lines otherwise. Really dithered about using a Versamark pad and black embossing powder instead but, even using my anti-static pad, I felt that both panels had such a lot of detail on them it would be all too easy to end up with a stray grain of black embossing powder. Clear embossing at least wouldn't show up!

- spent a happy time colouring both image panels with my Ziggies - word of warning, the red is really easy to pick up on a finger or the side of your hand and then leave a little smudge - ask me how I know this, thank goodness for a sand eraser!

- trimmed and backed the 'thinking of you' panel with a snippet of green card most likely 'Certainly Celery' and glued it onto the white card front

- then trimmed and glued the 'wine' panel directly onto the black card front

I had been going to change the card sizes and add a stripe of patterned paper to both cards but in the end decided they were already busy enough.

I've had both these stamps for a good while now but to be honest, colouring the 'wine down' one always seemed really daunting but in fact it was great fun! When I use the 'smile on my face' stamp again with Ziggies I'll do the backgrounds first so they can be mottled with a mix of colours.

And of course, this fortnight's prize is the same as the stamps I used:

The Woodware 'Smile On My Face' stamp and also the Woodware 'Time to Wine Down' set of stamps. I will be offering these as a bundle and won't separate them, but do feel free to give one or other away if you don't want them both.
 
As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 17th February. 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.

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 :)

Last minute edit! After the snow clearing, Len took Dudley out for a walk. I managed to take a quick photo when they got back, but he just won't look at the camera so this is the best I could do. In fact, he's really keen on eating as much snow as he can! At least he's showing off his new jacket though:

With love from Parsnip, Dudley - and of course me, stay warm and safe!

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 269 and 270

And it's another fresh fortnight in the Snippets Playground! Thank you so much to everyone who came to play - loads of brilliant entries too!

This is my snippets card for the fortnight:

I used:

- 4" x 4" square white card blank

- snippet of white card, embossed using Darice's 'Picket Fence' embossing folder, then trimmed to slightly smaller than the card front

- next added the sentiment using Memento 'Gray Flannel' ink and a stamp from the Hero Arts 'Good Friends' set

- then die cut the flowers using Stick-It backed snippets of card and a Poppy Stamps 'Wildflower Patch' die. First of all I die cut the whole flowers from a green snippet, left the flowers in place in the die, carefully peeled the Stick-It backing away, popped the die on top of the embossed picket fence and then gently poked each flower straight onto the fence through the holes in the die - thus keeping them perfectly lined up

- next die cut the flowers again from snippets of Stick-It backed peach and mauve card, snipped off the flower heads and popped them alternately on top of the green complete flowers

- once that was done all that was left was to back the image panel with white fun foam and glue it onto the card front, using Collall all purpose glue 

And here's this coming fortnight's prize:

MFT 'Wildflowers' two- piece die set and a Darice 'Picket Fence' embossing folder. These were both kindly donated by the lovely Darnell - absolutely AGES ago! The die is similar to but not absolutely the same as the one I used today. It's lovely in that the flower heads die cut separately ready to just pop onto the complete flowers, and the embossing folder is the same of course. Plus, I've added a further Darice embossing folder to the bundle called 'Clouds' (you can see the design on the top right hand side of the packaging). I thought the clouds folder could be used as an alternative to the picket fence folder - or maybe in conjunction with it. I haven't worked out how the two folders could be combined - I'll leave it to the winner to have a play :) For that reason I don't want to split the prize up.

The Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks from now on and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 4th March. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

It's still a maximum of ONE entry and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. The prize is all three items as a single 'bundle' as I already said. Please also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

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 :)

Be sure to call back next week to see the winner of last fortnight's prize (the papers, flowers, bows, buttons and LOTV 'baby' stamp) and my picks from the past two weeks as well! And we also have another Guest Designer as well! The standard is so high I might have to do the final whittle down of my short list of picks by drawing straws - amazing stuff girls.

Look forward to seeing what you come up with this fortnight, I think this place is a real hotbed of crafting talent!

Psst, I made this card on Friday afternoon - I think my mojo put in another brief appearance, yay! 

Love from Parsnip and me,

Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - 'Thanks or Thank you'

I'm home again but spent all day yesterday sorting out the craft room and finding homes for all those new supplies that 'one cannot possibly do without'! We had a really great few days away and needless to say it wasn't without a few incidents! And a LOT of laughter.

I'll be round to see all your Playground entries as soon as possible and would like to also send another huge 'Thank You' to Jane for looking after things so well last week.

Time for another Cuttlebug Mania Challenge and the theme this time is 'Thanks or Thank you'. Very appropriate!!

You do have to use a manual die cutting/embossing machine for Cuttlebug Mania entries (it doesn't need to be a Cuttlebug but it must be manual, not electronic). And, you can't mix the two, it must be all manual please. Then make your entry, link into the challenge, link to the challenge in your own blog post and and make sure that you also say what products you used for any die cutting/embossing.

Details of our sponsor can be found over on the Cuttlebug Mania Challenge blog.

This is my DT card:

I used:

- 5" x 7" white card blank, tent style

- next I used a Frantic Stamper 'Thanks Card Band' die to cut out the word 'Thanks'. What's great about this die is that the word mostly is cut away but the card remains attached at the top and bottom of the letters - really neat

- then covered the top and bottom sections of the card blank with patterned card fromthe lovely DCWV paper stack called 'Quince Blossom' that I won a while ago I deliberately left a white border round both the pieces of DP

- then I backed the cutaway 'Thanks' with a snippet of black card - just glued at the top and bottom behind the word.

- then backed the inside of the card front with a full sized panel of white card to hide the band of black

- the top panel looked too bare but I still wanted to keep it quite fresh and simple so I stamped LOTV's Just to say....' (from their General Greetings - Small' set onto a snippet of black card using VersaMark and then embossed it using white Stamp n Stuff embossing powder 

- then die cut the sentiment panel using a Spellbinders Oval die and ran a ball tool round the inside of the die before removing the piece of card

- using a snippet of leftover white card then drew round the outside of the die with a pencil, then cut round the shape and rubbed out any pencil marks before gluing both pieces together. I use this trick loads as it does give a smaller border than going up to the next size of die

- glued the sentiment panel in place and there was just something lacking so I rescued a snippet of the patterned paper and cut out a single flower and glued that in place. Aaah, that's better :)

We'd love to see you over at Cuttlebug Mania and the challenge runs for two weeks.

Aperture and apricot card

Apricot card stock is rare as hens' teeth here but I found a paper pad with apricot/peach papers in so went with those, and came up with this (it was such a sunny day when I took the photo that the colours look paler than they are in real life):

I used:

- 6" x 6" square cream card blank

- covered the front of the card with a slightly trimmed sheet from Wild Rose Studio's 'Peach Blossom' paper pack and then die cut the centre aperture using a Spellbinders round Nestie

- using the same sized round die plus a compatible scalloped round Nestie die cut the pale green scrolled patterned frame to go around the aperture and glued it in place

- added a script patterned sheet of paper from the same paper pad to the inside of the card

- then stamped the sentiment onto a scrolled patterned sheet of paper from the same paper pack using a VersaFine ink pad and an Inkylicious stamp called 'Thank You Calligraphy'

-  die cut the sentiment panel using the same plain round die as before and glued it in place behind the aperture. Easiest way to do this is to close the card front then apply the circle through the die cut hole to ensure it sits perfectly behind the aperture

- cut another pale green scrolled patterned frame to go around the circle and glued it in place, to echo the front of the card

- die cut a plain cream butterfly using a solid Memory Box butterfly die called 'Isabella', then topped it with a lacy cream matching butterfly which was cut using Memory Box's 'Pippi' die (using snippet backed with Stick It adhesive sheet)

- then die cut two 'Pippi' butterflies from snippets of Stick It backed leftover apricot and green paper and then inlaid pieces into the butterfly  (that was my moment of crafting madness as it took ages, I really should have listened to what Lindsey said about her using the same technique on a card I featured in the Playground the other week). You live and learn :)

- layered the butterfly's body twice to add dimension and then stuck that in place before adding the butterfly to the edge of the aperture

For what I thought would be a quick card, this took much longer than I thought - but it was good fun to make!

Di 
x

Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - 'May Flowers'

Time for another fortnightly challenge over at Cuttlebug Mania - and this time the theme is 'May Flowers' (ie. have one or more flowers on your card).

You do have to use a manual die cutting/embossing machine for Cuttlebug Mania entries (it doesn't need to be a Cuttlebug but it must be manual, not electronic). And, you can't mix the two, it must be all manual please. Then make your entry, link into the challenge, link to the challenge in your own blog post and and make sure that you also say what products you used for any die cutting/embossing.

Details of our sponsor can be found over on the Cuttlebug Challenge blog and this is the card I made:

I used:

- 5.5" x 5.5" square pink card blank 

- piece of white card, embossed using a 6" x 6" Embossalicious Die'Sire folder called 'Swirl Corner' and trimmed to just slightly smaller than the card front 

- the next step was to add the sentiment, using the Stampendous 'Happy Messages' set, having worked out the placement of the rose and leaves just by using the metal dies as a guide. As I was using the Misti it meant I could draw a faint pencil line onto the piece of embossed card as a guide for the two part sentiment - when you use the Misti you place the stamps face down onto the card stock where you want them to end up and fold the lid onto the card with stamps on - the lid then picks them up ready to ink and stamp. Then I inked up the stamps using a Delicata 'Silvery Shimmer' ink pad and stamped onto a spare piece of paper to double check that the alignment was right. It was, so I popped the embossed panel back in place, after rubbing out the fine pencil line, and re-inked then stamped the sentiment

- glued the embossed panel to the card front

- a lovely friend had sent me a surprise package the other week and I couldn't wait to use one of the die sets she enclosed - it's by Ultimate Crafts and is from the Magnolia Lane Collection, called 'Rose Cutting. Thank you so much once again :)

- the die set is in three parts, a solid shape for the body of the rose and two 'skeleton' dies for the rose detail and the leaves. I didn't want the rose background to be just one shade of pink so first of all I used Tim Holtz Distress Markers (Spun Sugar and Picked Raspberry), a perpex block for picking the colour up from and a waterbrush to wash right over a snippet of Crafters Companion Watercolour Card. Then using the 'Picked Raspberry' I scribbled more colour onto the perspex block and picked it up with the water brush to add swirls of the deeper pink onto the piece of card - ending up with this:

- it only needed to be 'rough and ready' (and perhaps a tad rude?) as a lot would be hidden by the 'skeleton' shape. Once it was dry I die cut the solid piece of the rose and found a snippet of card the same as the pink card front, backed it with Stick-It, die cut the skeleton detail for the rose and popped it in place

- found a snippet of green card stock, backed it with Stick-It then die cut the skeleton leaf spray and added it to the embossed panel

- added the rose itself using thin sticky pads

- final touch, five pearlescent sequins, glued in place using Glossy Accents

We'd love to see you over at Cuttlebug Mania, it's a great theme with plenty of scope! Come and play :)

Di
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Less is More - Week 274 - Designer Paper in a CAS Style

Lovely challenge over at Less is More this week, especially for those of us with snippets of designer paper to use up!

'Designer paper in a CAS style' is a little more tricky than you might think if you intend to paper piece. You need an image large enough to make a statement, but not too large in case it swamps all that important 'white' space. Initially my card was going to be roughly A6 sized but once I'd paper pieced the image there would have been a lot less white space than I wanted - so this is how I got round it:

I used:

- 5" x 7" white card blank, tent style

- a piece of white card stock onto which I stamped the Penny Black 'pin-striped' image using a Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad

- pink and green snippets from the Tatty Teddy Me to You 'Spring Chic' paper pad onto which I stamped the flowers and leaves before fussy cutting them out

- used a Whispers marker in the same shade of green to colour the flower tems on the main image

- then paper pieced the leaves and flower heads in place using a glue pen. Always add the glue to the main image, not to the fiddly paper pieces - it's much easier and ensures good cover with no risk of wrinkling your paper pieces. I got that tip from Jules years ago :)

- that's when I realised I needed the larger card blank so I die cut the image panel using a Lil' Inkers 'Stitched Rectangle' die and glued it in place on the card front - leaving even amounts of space at the top and sides and a bigger space at the bottom for the sentiment

- added the sentiment using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and a stamp from the Hero Arts 'Messages' set - and once again the Misti was invaluable

Finito!

Edit: Sam (Whisper) suggested I link this card into the May challenge over at Penny Black and More, where it's currently 'Anything Goes'. I'm linking, but do feel a bit guilty as this is such a simple rendition compared to the amazing DT cards - albeit using a fabulous PB Stamp :)

Di
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Hooked on die cutting

Although I still get a lot of pleasure out of stamping and colouring, lately I've been playing with more and more dies and very recently made a card using a die from the utterly fabulous Memory Box Open Studio 'Baptisia Distressed Collage' die set. I know that Liz (see this card!) has been playing with this lovely set of dies recently (and I just fell in love with it!) - and am sure I've seen it being used elsewhere in the Playground. This is my first play ......... as I did wait a little while before giving in to temptation:

I used:

- 4" x 5.75" white card blank, tent style

- slightly smaller piece of white card stock, with opposing corners die cut using a die from the Memory Box Open Studio 'Baptisia Distressed Collage' die set

- worked out where I wanted the sentiment to go and stamped it using Memento 'London Fog' ink and a stamp from the 'SU 'Sincere Salutations' set (discontinued) 

- used a Memory Box 'Geneva Vine' die to cut out the central die cut, then inlaid it with green and pink die cuts, from snippets

- backed the whole piece with double sided adhesive sheet and layered it onto a piece of pink card

- the corner die cuts now had exposed sticky (as intended!) so I then sprinkled Crystal Glamour Dust over and gave it a good brush over with a soft brush to remove the excess. I use a long handled Avon blusher brush for this - bought specially for the purpose

- finally, added tickles of clear Wink of Stella to the pink flower heads. In real life I like that the corners really twinkle and it's when you turn the card for the light to catch it that the more subtle shimmer shows on the flowers

Edit: Thanks to Andrea for pointing this out to me - this card fits in with the current Memory Box # 10 challenge which is blossoms and/or bunnies. Where have I been all this time, what a great challenge - especially if you adore Memory Box products as much as I do!

And, thanks to Sarn's encouragement HERE, I hopped out into the sunshine yesterday and bought some Cadbury's Creme Eggs. Did a few bits of shopping elsewhere (including buying the bunnies in Hobbycraft) and then came home and quickly made these:

We have a lovely young neighbour who usually calls by with a small Easter egg for us. So there are three of these little 'eggs on thrones' waiting for Hemma - one for her, and one each  for Gerry and Nina, her Mum and Dad. Ha! And there's two left over in the box of five to be scoffed too :) Well I never!

Thanks Sarn for the idea - nice one :) 

And slap my wrist, due to going out to play in the sunshine I neglected the Playground today - will catch up ASAP! 

Di
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Pink poppies thank you

Looking through my Penny Black Stickeroos the other day, I came across a lovely sheet of 'totally unused as yet' images and so this is what I made:

I used:

- 5.5" x 5.5" creamy white card blank

- snippets of baby pink card stock, one as the main backing which was trimmed down and glued to the card front

- a patterned sheet from Pink Paislee's 'Butterfly Garden' collection, trimmed down to size and glued in place

- popped the Stickeroo onto a snippet of baby pink card stock and then trimmed it down to leave a narrow border of pink showing - the Stickeroo is from the Penny Black  'Promise of Spring' sheet

- glued the image panel onto the card front

- added the 'Thank you' sentiment which was die cut twice from baby pink card snippets and stuck together (used double sided adhesive sheet) then added to the card. The die I used is a freebie which came with 'Papercraft Essentials' magazine
not that long ago

- three baby pink self-adhesive pearls to finish off

As I said, the die was free with 'Papercraft Essentials' magazine not so long ago and, unlike the other free Christmas die I recently had such a disaster with, it cuts beautifully, releases the die cut without a fight and is really robust. It's one of my favourite dies and up there with the Penny Black 'Hooray' set in terms of quality, which is praise indeed!

Some you win and some you lose I guess - this was a win :)

Di
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Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 203

What a weird week, at one point I thought the toe/foot was on the mend here - then I got too ambitious and ended up going backwards! Orders to rest properly and also double dose of pills - nice, not!

Anyhow, I've managed to keep up with the commenting side of the Playground as well as noting down the picks of the week. But, my snippets card has already appeared (on Tuesday's post for the new Cuttlebug Mania challenge) - so if it looks familiar then you wouldn't be too far wrong!

It leads us into the prize for this coming week  though:

I used:

- 4" x 5.25" white card blank, tent style

- piece of white card from the same sheet as the card blank was made from, embossed using Cuttlebug's 'Scrollwork' embossing folder and trimmed to exactly fit the card front

- the sentiment is a luscious scrolled sentiment by Inkylicious called 'Thank You Calligraphy', stamped using SU's 'Mossy Meadow' ink onto a snippet of the same white card

- then die cut the sentiment using a Spellbinders die from the 'Labels Eighteen' Nestabilities set (snigger, I had tried stamping directly onto the centre of the card and made a boo-boo, so making this panel covered it up

- finally, added a couple of Prima ready embossed coloured paper flowers, with the centres 'dollied up' with brads - and some punched foliage behind - made using a snippet of SU's 'Mossy Meadow' and a Martha Stewart foliage punch

Let's roll straight into the picks for this past week now - and as always you came up with some really stunning snippets makes. My 'first cut' list of possible picks was absolutely huge - and cutting it down became almost impossible. But, it had to be done so here are just some of the makes I'd originally listed - I do so recommend that you try to find time to go and peek at last week's makes, every one should have been included and there are some stunning and very clever ideas!

This darling card, made by Jenni, really made me smile. I love those little penguins - and all the little hats are snippets - a real test of patience there Jenni, with a wonderful result.

Maura brought us this amazing Wedding card to share - I absolutely love it! Plenty of snippets and such a gorgeous design with the two lovely birds in reversed colourways.

I think this card, made by Viv, is absolutely amazing. A perfect example of a really stylish CAS Christmas card using snippets - as my in-house critic would say, it's shop quality. Which IS a compliment!

Karen P has been struggling with health issues more than usual lately, so it was especially good to see her hop into the Playground with this amazing mixed media card. LOVE the dimension and how those flowers just pop off the card at you :) Hope you feel more settled with the new meds soon Karen.

Kitty is a really regular player in the Playground, often three times in a week - and her makes are so varied too. This gorgeous tag really caught my eye, wonderful colours and such a great design too.

We had a lot of tags this past week - and all of them are absolutely fabulous!

I adore this card, lots of snippety snowflakes - always a great use for white scraps. But, on top of that, do please check out the amazing colouring of that Mo Manning beautiful angel image. Susan (Eden Land Designs) is one of the most talented colouring artists I've ever come across. The tiny details and so many different colours and shades that Susan used are just stunning.

And I thought we'd finish off with a snippets make with a difference:

Last week was little Daisy's 2nd Birthday, and Jane J made this totally fabulous 'jungle themed' Birthday cake for her party. The level of detail is just amazing - obviously loads of little snippets of fondant icing were used in the process :) To see plenty of photos, taken during the making of this masterpiece, do hop over to Jane's blog - one very talented lady indeed!

So folks, it's actually late Saturday afternoon as I'm adding the final touches to this post - it's taken a lot longer than anticipated but I do hope you enjoyed the scamper through the few picks I had time to write about.

And now for the winner of last week's prize, the Hobby Art 'Have a Very Mice Christmas' stamp set:

 Sue (Zouave Cards)

Oh well done Sue! I'm almost positive this is your very first Playground win, after playing along for quite some time. Wahoo - and I know you've been have a rough time for a while now so I do hope the little meeces will make you smile.

Can you please drop me an email with your address in and I'll post your prize off as soon as possible. My email is di_wray@hotmail.com.

And, you girlies probably already know fine well that this coming week's prize is linked to my snippets card for today/last Tuesday. It's a real shame but I can't get hold of the Cuttlebug 'Scrollwork' embossing folder for love nor money (I've searched high and low on the internet as it does go perfectly with the sentiment).

BUT we do have an Inkylicious 'Thank You Calligraphy' stamp exactly the same as the one I used plus, a set of Spellbinders Nestabilities 'Labels Eighteen' dies. The white die cut itself doesn't show up too well on the photo of my card - I did confess that I'd used it to cover up a bit of a boo-boo with the sentiment. But, it's a real all time favourite shape of mine so I decided to add a set to the prize. Although I'm pretty sure a good few of you already own the same set, it's such a classic style for all types of cards and the sizes are so useful that - if you don't already own it - then maybe you should keep your fingers crossed this week and try to enter up to three times :)

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 21st November. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. Do say if you only want one or other part of the prize (the stamp or the set of dies) but both are up for grabs as one prize of course and will only be split if the first name out only wants one or other of the items, in which case I'll do a second draw for the other part of the prize. And please also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

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 :)

Thank you for all the lovely get well messages - they've brightened some pretty sore days here.

Di and of course, Parsnip!
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