Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #367

I'm sure many of you know that we got Dudley's results back on Wednesday, late afternoon. I wrote a little post about it HERE, and thank you again for all your lovely and very supportive comments. As you can imagine, the relief is enormous and now we just need him to have the outer stitches removed on Monday (the inside ones dissolve on their own of course) and what we hope is his final check up for this little adventure we've been on. I think he's going to miss wearing his sweet onesie! He's been totally amazing as well as really patient and now we want to just put this behind us and move on, whilst doing regular little checks of course. As a few of you have said, knowing your dog's body and then acting fast if you find something untoward is certainly what helped with a happy outcome in Dudley's case.

So, happy thoughts here and we're finally feeling a bit like Christmas is in the air!

Here's my snippets (very un-Christmassy) card for today:

I used:

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

- snippets of white card - and I have  tons of those - trimmed to the same size as the card front

- then die cut the aperture in the piece of card for the front, using an MFT Peek-a-boo Window' square die - placed that piece of card onto the card front and lightly penciled in the frame I could position the stamp I wanted to use for the image

- before setting the front panel to one side I used the Misti to line up a sentiment from the Clearly Besotted 'Hot Stuff' set of stamps and stamped it using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

 - then stamped the image I wanted to use onto the card front itself, within the square I'd penciled in earlier

- rubbed out the pencil marks and coloured the little 'newly hatched dragon' using Pro markers

- because the Pro markers had bled very slightly through to the inside of the card front I covered that with another snippet of white card, trimmed to slightly smaller than the card front

- time to assemble the shaker element. On the reverse of the front panel I ran some red line tape right around the die cut aperture, then right around the sides of the panel and a couple of strips across as well

- working from the bottom I added the panel to the card front, leaving the top of the shaker punch aperture, the very top of the card and also one side open - don't ask me why I didn't put the shaker bits into the punch and gently place the card front straight on top, hindsight being 20/20 vision this might have worked better but I didn't want it to be 'wonky'. The result of me choosing this tortuous route is explained below

- used some Lucy's Card 'Little Things' 'Bubblegum' sequins for the shaking element - I almost drowned the poor little dragon - note to self, use a LOT less another time!

- due to a bit of an issue I had to rootle though my ribbons and add a  knotted length of ribbon down one side of the cards - not really by choice but there you go!

I've had the lovely set of stamps for over a year now, and the aperture die and shaker elements almost as long! For some reason I didn't get matching dies - either they weren't available or I was still on the fence about dies which leave a white margin around the images when they're die cut, I'm fine with them now! And of course have also had the same as a duplicate waiting in the Playground toy box.

Lack of concentration thinking about Dudley meant that I managed to get a couple of really tiny clear sequins trapped in between the card front and the die cut layer with the shaker pouch in place as I was filling it. Grump, grump! Also, it showed all the more as I'd picked a snippet of quite thin white card stock for the die cut front. What an eedjit, lesson for the future there, sigh.

Of course this 'boo-boo happened right at the  very end and I just didn't have the heart to tackle another card - so found a snippet of lilac ribbon and tied it in a knot, around and running down the side where the teeny sequins were trapped to cover up the two very slight bumps. Job done - although I'd have preferred a more CAS card, without the ribbon.

I love Lucy's sequins mixtures, but every single packet I have is discontinued, I think Lucy moves onto new mixtures very frequently. Sequins are easy enough to find but her mixes are quite special - Simon Says Stamp used to stock them I think. In the UK you can buy directly from Lucy.

And here's the prize for this fortnight:

A Clearly Besotted 'Hot Stuff' set of stamps (can be used for babies, friends and Birthdays with the sentiments provided in the set), an MFT Peek-a-boo Window' square die and a packet of 10 MFT Square Shaker Pouches (quite why they call them replenishments I don't know - possibly as they're 'consumables'). And it's all one prize - sadly no sequins though, explanation above.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 21st December. 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.

The little hedgie seems to have gone into hibernation - we haven't picked it up on CCTV footage for a good few days now. I hope it survives the Winter and we'll still be keeping watch.

And just a quick 'heads up' - I'll be running the Grand Christmas Draw again this year. The format will be the same as it always is and it will run from Sunday 22nd December, closing on Saturday 4th January. During that time you have to enter just one snippets make to cover the whole fortnight as usual, it also keeps a level playing field, but you'll need to comment on each individual prize that you would like to be in the draw for as they appear day by day - and there are a LOT of prizes to be won. So, as I keep saying, you will need to comment over here if you want to be in the draw. And do try to comment as the days go by - not all at the end. I know that we have busy family times over the festivities so I will allow some leeway of course! Comments show up on Blogger's dashboard in date and time order so it's really easy to spot a 'cluster' of comments from one person all made at the same time so you would be found out. This is to be fair to people who do take the time to hop in regularly.

No photo of Dudley this time round - he's fast asleep right now and I don't want to disturb him.

Edit: Huge apologies! First of all this post was still marked as draft so it didn't publish on time - and secondly, I totally forgot to add Mr Linky! It's all sorted out now - just shows my state of mind recently!

Lots of love from us all - Parsnip, Dudley (woof, woof!) and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 287 and 288

Oh it's been a fun time here in Hampshire! At one point we had six fans running in the house when the heatwave was at its height! Phew - I love Summer, sunshine and hot weather but even that almost had me beat!

Anyhow, here's my snippets card for this fortnight:

I used:

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

- image from the Crafters Companion 'Baby Bamboo' stamp set and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink - this adorable stamp set was a gift from Val some time ago, and it's a real joy to use!

- I also stamped 'Wish upon a star...' from the same set - plus the letters for the word 'BABY' much further up on the piece of white card I was using

- then coloured the image and word 'BABY' using Promarkers

- used a die from the brilliant The Works 'Stitched Squares' set of dies to cut out the image with its sentiment

- then glued the image onto a snippet of blue card

- had already picked out a couple of patterned snippet strips for colour matching so they were trimmed and glued to the top and the bottom of the card. They were tucked in the back of a lovely paper pad which came free with QCME magazine ages ago (called 'Let's Fly'). As always, I left some overhang at either side of the strips and then trimmed them down from the back so they were flush with the card front

- then glued the image panel to the card front

- added a tickle of clear Wink of Stella to the small stars

- cut out the 'BABY' letters and fixed them to the image panel using little thin sticky pad pieces - finished!

I loved using this sweet set of stamps - all we need now is for someone to have a baby! And, of course the stitched square dies are such fun to use - there are eight in the set and the largest one is an impressive 'almost' 4.5" across!

As is often the case, no need to really spell out what this fortnight's prize is made up of:

It's a Crafters Companion 'Baby Bamboo' stamp set (Val kindly sent me a set for the toy box as well as mine!) - plus from me there's a set of The Works 'Stitched Squares' dies. The stamp set is made of unmounted rubber but is easy peasy to snip into relevant pieces and I adhere mine onto the Misti by swiping a stripe or two of removable glue runner across the back of the stamp when setting it in place. It easily wipes off the rubber and the Misti with a baby wipe. Plus, I found this in the toy box as well - a Bow-Easy bow maker:

Mine is lurking somewhere safe but I thought it was time to offer this one - such a useful piece of kit for those of you who love to add bows to your work! It beats using the prongs of a fork for the teensy bows, as I used to :)

I will split the stamps, dies and the bow maker if you only wish to play for one or two parts of the prize - but feel free to play for it all as a single bundle :)

The Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks from now on and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 8th July. 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 together as a single prize, unless you really do only want to try for a 'split' - in which case I'd do a further draw for the other item(s). 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 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' just in case you're playing only for fun. Thanks!

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 Clearly Besotted 'elephant stamps and dies' and the Spellbinders Borderabilities dies) plus my picks from the past two weeks.

Once again, it's the monthly Rudolph Days challenge over at ScrappyMo's. Time to make a Christmas card girls!

Love from Parsnip and of course from me,

A couple of challenges today

It seems like ages since I joined in with Less is More where the current challenge of 'New Beginnings' really appealed to me. So many 'new' themes to play with - in the end I went with 'new baby' and this is the card I made:

I used:

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

- panel of smaller white card stock, die cut using a die from the Lil' Inkers 'Stitched Rectangles' set

- then die cut the apertures for the waves using a Memory Box 'Breezy Waves' die and backed the apertures with medium strength double sided adhesive sheet

- die cut the waves again from a snippet of pale blue card and then inlaid them into the wave apertures

- using the Misti, I then stamped the sentiment using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from the Simon Says Stamps set called 'Handwritten Borders'. I had to mask off the right hand end of the sentiment area on the card so that it balanced out - it worked too!

- glued the panel onto the card front using Collall All Purpose glue

- die cut the adorable little set of Mama duck plus her three offspring from a snippet of yellow card, backed with Stick-It double sided adhesive sheet and stuck them in place. The die set is NBUS and is a Joanne Sheen Signature set called 'Toy ducks'

- the 'adult' eyes which come in the little die set are massive so I used a smaller eye die cut from a teeny snippet of black card (meant for a baby duck) for Mama duck and just gently added dots to the babies eye areas using a black fine line marker

My in-house critic pointed out that the little duckies might be good for Easter cards - there's a thought.

It's also Darnell's NBUS #9 Challenge right now - and it's a first outing for the little duck dies.

I could have wept as I originally made another card specifically for Darnell's challenge and then at the very last knockings realised that whereas it very carefully covered the optional parts (CASE and camouflage) I hadn't used anything new/unused (NBUS)! The air was just a little bit blue here :) You'll see the card at some point and then will know why I was so upset - one of my better efforts, ain't it always the way though.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 229

We've had a mixed bag of weather here - although the latter end of the week was warm and sunny in the Playground. It's certainly not time yet to totally discard warmer clothes though!

This is my snippets card for the week, still on a 'cute' run:

I used:

- 5.75" x 5.75" off-white card blank

- snippet of SU's 'Smoky Slate' card stock for the first layer, topped with an 'eighth of an inch all round' smaller square of off-white card stock

- then a snippet of pink patterned card was added, again cut to an 'eighth of an inch smaller all round' than the off-white layer. I love this patterned card, it's been in the snippets folder for ages and the time was finally right to use it

- next I used snippets of SU's 'Smoky Slate' plus tiny snippets of pink, blue and black to die cut the baby elephant and the flowers - using a die set I've been itching to use by Marianne Collectables called 'Eline's Elephant'. I gently edged the body pieces using a finger dauber plus a cotton wool bud for the fiddly parts and a Memento 'London Fog' ink pad

- punched the leaves using a Martha Stewart foliage punch and assembled the little elephant straight onto the card front before adding the flowers/foliage. The Woodware Ultra Fine Tipped glue applicator containing Collall glue was invaluable!

- even used the applicator on the very fine die cut sentiment - which was cut from a snippet of SU's 'Smoky Slate' using a 'New baby' die by Craft Essentials

- finally added self adhesive pearls to the flower centres and then three down the top right hand corner

I totally LOVE this little elephant die set, it's so sweet. It also comes with a decent sized balloon die (1" x 0.75") as part of the set, which would be great to use either with the elephant or on other cards. And of course it's not just for baby cards! Can you tell I'm trying to sell you on this die set? Tee, hee :)

I'd like to enter this card into Happy Little Stampers May Anything Goes With Dies challenge.

Time for this week's 'peek at the picks'  and this has been one of the very hardest weeks ever to choose just a few from all your fabulous snippets makes. I had a very long list of possibles and in the end I closed my eyes and stabbed at the list with my pen!

What a stunning bunch of flowers Eve created using snippets! A lovely card and it's so perfect against the white brick wall background too.

I really love this beach scene, made by Lia. It has such a dimensional look to it, even when you take into account that it's a sort of easel card shape/style. Look how those waves draw you away from the shore for example. Love it! And it was published in Dutch craft magazine recently and also featured on the cover. I do a happy dance when any of you end up in print :)

one current challenge is 'recycle and/or ruby red. And I wanted wanted to show you the fabulous card that Kath made using cardboard from a croissant box! Isn't it gorgeous?!

I loved this card, made by Renata as soon as it popped up in the Mr Linky thumbnails. And was blown away when I hopped over to take a closer look. First of all, Renata drew and coloured the poppy herself - without a stamp. She hand wrote the sentiment perfectly and then she did one last thing that I'm still stunned over. See those circles, they were cut by hand without the use of a die! Amazing!!

I've seen quite a few similar cards to this one, made by Theresa - at least the idea of the bride and groom hearts part. Isn't it clever - it's been on my list of things to try for ages? Certainly a brilliant idea for a Wedding card, love it!

A huge double WOW from me when I hopped over to comment on this beautiful butterfly card, made by Lindsey. Every little piece of the coloured card was painstakingly inlaid into the white butterfly die cut - so pretty, and so worthwhile too!

Gosh that was really tough to just have six picks (which is actually double the three I always say I'll show here) and in the interests of still limiting time sat sitting at the desk here I'll stop right there. As always, last week's thumbnails are still there for you to go and have a nose around!

We have one new Playmate this week:

Jacky P came to play with us for the first time, after peeping over the fence for a while now apparently. Needless to say I adore this sweet card (we had the same stamps and dies as a prize recently) - and I do hope you'll hop over to say 'Hello' to Jacky. She also loves bears, so Parsnip is lining up for a cuddle next time she visits! :)

Welcome Jacky and we hope to see you again soon.

Now for the prize draw, for the Penny Black 'gifts for you' stamp plus the sentiment stamp by Inkylicious called 'Some Moments'. And the winner is:

Janes Journal

 

Jane does fabulous artwork and journaling. Her 'Moments' which sum up special occasions and events in her life are always so beautifully thought out and made with great skill. So I think the sentiment stamp especially, which says 'Some moments are worth holding in your heart forever' is just perfect for Jane  - and no doubt the little PB mouse will put in an appearance at some point in the future :)

It's been almost seven and a half months since Jane last won, so this prize was well due as well. I still have your address Jane and will post your prize off this week!

This coming week's prize is made up of a couple of items, the same as I used for my snippets card:

You guessed! It's a couple of die sets, the same as I used today (Marianne Collectables 'Eline's Elephant' and Craft Essentials' 'New baby')

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

A maximum of ONE entry and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. If you only want to play for either of the sets of dies, just say so in your comment and if you win then I'll do a further draw for the other item. 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 :)

Hope you all have a lovely week, hopefully with more sunshine, and I look forward to seeing you in the Playground.

Di and, of course, Parsnip
x

Hello - welcome baby

Recently I spotted THIS card in the Playground made by Helen (it was also one of my weekly picks), and I just had to have the wonderful swirly sentiments stamp set she'd used as stems with the Tim Holtz 'Tattered Florals' die cut flowers. The other day I was browsing through a craft magazine and spotted a similar idea, this time using swirly sentiments as strings hanging from balloons. And this is what I made - one for a baby girl and one for a baby boy:

I used:

- 4" x 5.75" white card blanks

- snippets of matt pale pink and pearlescent baby blue card stock

- cut one layer of the pastel colours for each card as a backing 'frame' - just slightly smaller than the card itself, then glued it to the front of the card blank. I ran a clear Wink of Stella brush around the edge of the matt pink card just to give it a little bit of shimmer beforehand

- cut a further layer of card, this time using Centura Pearl white card stock

- die cut two blue and two pink heart shaped balloons (used a Marianne Creatables 'Heart Balloon' die with their strings snipped off afterwards) then embossed them using a tan mat and also covered the pink balloons with clear Wink of Stella

- then it was just a case of positioning where I wanted things to line up and lightly marking the positions with a soft pencil before first stamping the two Simon Says Stamp 'Handwritten Borders' sentiments using Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink onto the white pearlescent card pieces I'd cut earlier

- next glued the hearts in place

- finally added some iridescent sequins

 Called it a day :) Now I just need some new babies on the scene!

Di
x

'Hedging your bets' baby card!

We knew that our neighbours' new baby had arrived but, to use Len's expression, we didn't 'know what flavour'! So, rather than put one or two feet firmly in it - I was chivvied/nagged encouraged by himself to make a 'gender neutral' card. And of the three options we'd ended up with (boy, girl and neutral), the in-house critic liked this 'neutral' one the best - so all's well that ends well:

I used:

- plain white card stock to cut a stepper card using the Presscut 'Step Card Cutting' die

- the patterned papers are from the Prima 'Fairy Rhymes' pad - used to decorated the front of the card and also the inside - more of a beige colour in real life

- the baby image is a pre-coloured one from LOTV which I've had for ages, die cut using a Spellbinders 'Labels One' die

- the image was then mounted onto a backing of a pale mink coloured pearlescent card snippet, die cut using a Spellbinders 'Luscious Labels One' die

- to the front patterned paper strips I then added 'Valencia Border' swirls, die cut from white pearlescent card (thank Kath for enabling me!) plus three butterflies die cut from a snippet of the mink coloured card using SU's Embosslits 'Beautiful Wings'. Just added a few white pearls to the butterflies to finish off

- the inside had a sentiment added using Memento 'Toffee Crunch' ink and a stamp from the really useful set called ' Set 61 - Quotables - Celebrate'. It was then die cut and mounted the same as the front, with more butterflies and pearls added

The card was delivered by Len yesterday - and the baby is a little boy. Everyone is recovering well :)

Quick hospital update, a visit which I didn't feel was very helpful. Managed, just, to get shoes on which obviously was good. The outcome for now is basically I have to wait until I have another one or two gout attacks before they'll put me on preventative meds (that cheered me up no end you can imagine!). But, the 'nasties' levels have come down nicely in the (ahem) fluid samples - which in fact IS encouraging. I still say that stopping some other meds that I'd only been on for a few months has been a huge factor in that result! I need to stay on the anti-inflammatories etc. for now due to residual osteoarthritis. I politely refused the offer of a steroid injection into the toe joint - for now at least. When they want someone up there with a paint brush to decorate the ceilings and if it appears to be a last resort then I may take up the offer. I think that's really enough detail - suffice it to say I've bounced back today from feeling quite let down. No other option is there :(

Slipped a bit on commenting in the Playground, oops - and today I should be able to post the last of your prizes off. Most went on Tuesday to those who replied with addresses right away - and some of you in the UK already have received them. Then I needed a few more padded/hard backed envelopes and the last address to post off the final five this afternoon. Yay - marathon over!

Now, where's me pogo stick so I can have a quick bounce around the Playground?!

Di 
x

Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - 'New'

We're celebrating the New Year over at Cuttlebug Mania with a fun challenge - the title is 'New' and that can cover all sorts of themes such as new house, new baby, new job, new craft goodies (bet you all have some of those so soon after Christmas!).

You do have to use a manual die cutting/embossing machine (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.

For my card I went for a New Baby card - a neighbour is expecting a new baby any day now. With two boys already I suspect they would love a little girl - I already have a baby boy card to hand so I made a girlie one - just in case:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square, white, scalloped edged card - made by Craftwork Cards - tent style

- green backing card made by SU - 'Certainly Celery' - for the main backing and the scalloped circles

- patterned paper is LOTV, from their 'Perfect Pair' paper pad, free with a magazine - probably Quick Cards Made Easy knowing me!

- the image is a pre-loved Penny Black stamp called 'Baby Hammock', stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and coloured with Pro markers. Have had it for ages and this is its very first outing here! As usual, I chose the paper first and matched the colouring to that

- die cut the image using a plain circular Spellbinders die and then popped it onto a 'Certainly Celery' scalloped circle, again die cut using a Spellbinders die 

- stamped the sentiment 'A New Baby Girl' using Memento 'Gray Flannel' ink and a LOTV stamp, die cut the sentiment and layered it onto a 'Certainly Celery' scalloped circle

- at that point I could see the proportions of the card layout properly so I stuck a strip of lace across the plain and patterned card (with pink ribbon threaded through the centre of the lace) and the ends wrapped round the backing card. glued it to the card front and added the image and sentiment with sticky pads - and a small ribbon bow using the glue gun

- some gaps needed filling so I die cut two pretty white corners (die was free with 'Papercrafts Essentials' magazine in 2015)

- then added a few white pearls here and there

- final touch, a tickle of clear Wink of Stella on the image, daisies and the butterfly

So now it's your turn! Remember, you can also use up some snippets at the same time as following the 'New' theme - along with manual  die cutting and/or embossing. As always, snippets are ideal for die cutting (and embossing) so you can also play in the Snippets Playground!

Di
x

Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - Tic-Tac-Toe

The current challenge over at Cuttlebug Mania is 'Tic-Tac-Toe'. From the grid below, just choose a straight line - horizontal, vertical or diagonal - and away you go:

Then all you need to do is to make your entry using a manual die cutting/embossing machine, it doesn't have to specifically be a Cuttlebug machine BTW, say in your post what products you used to die cut and or emboss, link to the challenge in you blog and then add your link to the Cuttlebug Challenge HERE. This fortnight we're being sponsored by Digi Scrap Kits who are donating a prize for the winner, and of course there will be three runners up as well.
So, from the Tic-Tac-Toe grid I chose the bottom horizontal line for my card - baby theme, use ribbon and include a bird die cut/make your own with die cuts. Luckily I had a fairly new set of dies here with a darling little stork in, just shouting to be played with again - and this is what I made:

I used:

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

- background card is SU's 'Pink Pirouette', trimmed just a bit smaller than the card front and the corners punched with a Woodware 'Fancy Corner' punch

- then I stamped the sentiment using Memento 'London Fog' ink and a lovely stamp from LOTV's gorgeous  'Set 61- Quotable' stamps, bought the other week when Kath and I met up at LOTV for a mooch and a natter :)

- the dies are from the Little B 'Baby' set, with the stork cut from a snippet of white card and the 'precious bundle' from a teeny snippet of SU's 'Pretty In Pink' (the card snippets had been backed with 'Stick-It' adhesive sheet before die cutting) - and I added a little dot for the stork's eye, using a black fine liner

- then attached the pink gingham ribbon by just wrapping it across the front of the pink piece of card and adhering it underneath each side using ultra sticky tape

- once the card was assembled I then added a little pink gingham bow on top of the strip of ribbon

A couple of tips about the ribbon today.

First of all, I do like to use ultra sticky tape to attach ribbon onto the back edges of card which is going to be stuck onto a card base. For ages though, I struggled with placement of the piece of card onto the card base, even using Collall glue, 'cos once the ultra sticky stuff touched down it hung on in there fast! So, now I put a little strip of ordinary sellotape over the area where the ribbon is stuck with that ultra sticky tape before spreading Collall glue about the place, on the card back and over the sellotape. it works wonderfully and allows the whole piece of card to be gently manoeuvred into place.

Secondly, still on about the ribbon. Quite often, as on this card, I make the bow separately - not even wrapping the ribbon around the ribbon strip as I often find the bow then wants to sit sideways on :) So, I made the little bow on its own then decided where I wanted it to sit. Before sticking it in place I took a little piece of thread and used it to tie and then knot round the strip of ribbon to 'pinch it in' - just as it would be if a bow had actually been tied around the ribbon. A very small detail I know, and probably not so important on this particular ribbon, but it does look much better if the ribbon is quite fine (organza say) and your knot in the bow is quite small compared to the width of the ribbon itself. OCD strikes again!!

So, here endeth the lesson - why not come and play over at Cuttlebug Mania?

Di
x

Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - Buttons

We have another fun challenge over at Cuttlebug Mania this fortnight, called 'Cute as a button'. Loads of scope there peeps, I'm sure everyone has at least one spare button hanging around! Just so long as you use a manual die cutting/embossing machine that's fine, and also do remember to say which embossing, die cutting products you used.

Our sponsor this fortnight is Ooh La La Creations - and there are some gorgeous goodies in their store, including charms, embellishments, bling, CDs and of course some absolutely fabulous buttons!

So this is the card I made, using my trusty Cuttlebug - it all started with the 'buttons' embossing folder I used, and the card just evolved round that:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square scalloped white card blank (Craftwork Cards)

- sandy coloured backing card, which was a bit of a find. I totally love 'Crumb Cake' by Stampin' Up but the other day I found, in my box of card kept especially for stamping and colouring, some Neenah 'Desert Storm' card - which is a perfect match

- the image is a pre-coloured LOTV one from way back when, but I see it's still included in their current 'Toddlers' Art Pad. I just trimmed a whisker from each side and rounded the corners with a Woodware punch

- mounted the image onto a 'Desert Storm' square, die cut using a die from the Spellbinders 'Scalloped Squares' set

- the patterned paper came from Dovecraft's 'Back to Basics II' paper pack

- as already said, the white panel on the lower part of the card was really my starting point when I designed the card. I've used this embossing folder (Boofle tri-boss embossing folder 'Mixed Buttons' just once back in 2013 and was determined to give it an outing

- then I mounted the patterned paper and the embossed panel onto a square of 'Desert Storm' card - rounded the bottom corners before doing any sticking down

- that gave me a nice firm backing which I could pop a piece of beige ribbon on, to hide the join between the patterned card and the embossed panel, then just knotted a snippet of the same beige ribbon round the ribbon band

- added the image on its scalloped backing using thin sticky pads

- the sentiment was stamped using Memento 'Paris Dusk' ink and a sentiment from the Lawn Fawn 'Sew Lovely' stamp set - I think this set is worth it for that sentiment alone! Hand cut the 'banner' and a slightly larger backing one from 'Desert Storm'. Again the sentiment was added to the card using thin sticky pads

- final touch, a beige button threaded with blue embroidery thread - stuck on using the hot glue gun

Your turn to play now - as I said, everyone must have a button to hand. I was just lucky that I had the embossing folder - and it was happy to come out and be used :)

Di
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Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 172

And another week just flew past, probably due to it being a lovely, long Easter weekend. And we've had some fabulous sunshine in the Playground, although today (Saturday) it's raining cats and dogs :(

My snippets card this week was triggered off by a really sweet die set I spotted on a blog not that long ago. I really should make a note of just where I see these goodies as am sure it was a playmate who 'enabled' my purchase, once again!

This is my version:

Front view

Back view

I used:

- SU's 'Wisteria Wonder' card stock - cut to 12" x 4.5" initially. So do be aware that you will need 12" long card stock, our UK A4 isn't long enough :(

- then I scored and snipped the card, using my Hougie Board and just some sharp scissors

- then the 'step shape' was stuck together as per the tutorial mentioned above - I used the ultra strong red line sticky tape, with care as it's very unforgiving if you get it wrong!

- after that was done, I cut a selection of one and three eighths squares of paper from snippets tucked in the back of a Tatty Teddy paper pad called 'Spring Chic' - ahem, I had to rethink that one after the next step!

- then took the new die set called 'Baby' by Little B and cut out a selection of white die cuts from snippets, plus a little bit of 'Wisteria Wonder' for some extra infill on the balloon which is on the back of the block step card

- and then I gawped at the block step card and had a funny turn. The dies, albeit really small, mostly are too big for a square of one and three eighths of an inch - grrrrrrrr

- but, undaunted, out came more snippets and this time I cut two panels which would cover four squares in one go (each one of the pieces measures two and seven eighths of an inch) so I could use two of the larger die cuts. Bingo!

- next all the paper squares were stuck on using Collall All Purpose glue, and the die cuts were added as per the revised plan

- the top of each 'step' is also covered in patterned paper and I popped flowers on top of those - just punched (using SU's 'Petite Petals' punch) from a snippet of the main spotty green background colour and slightly shaped on a foam pad using a round ended shaping tool

- then added a circle of 'Wisteria Wonder' in the centre of each flower, punched using an ordinary office file hole punch

- final touch, so the stork could see where he's going, I added an eye using a black fine liner (did it in pencil first to be sure he looked ok)

So, out of the jaws of disaster I think I snatched victory - so long as purists don't insist that the blocks really should all have equal sized squares on 'em!

OK, onto this week's picks now:

I just love this clean and simple card, made by Anita (Neets) - and it's a great example of how just a couple of little snippets can go a long way.

And there again, you can use lots of snippets and come up with this wonderful bird house - made and lovingly decorated by Vinita. Lots of instructions how to do this over at Vinita's blog too.

Lynn (Jimlynn) can always be relied upon to give us a smile - such a cheeky card, love the sentiment and the snippet of hay patterned paper down one side :)

Lucy makes the most beautiful cards and her colouring is just stunning - how could I not pick this little sweetie? Lucy is (very deservedly) Guest Designer over at 'I ♥ Promarkers' - well done chick!

This card, made by Pat, just leapt out at me this week. It's absolutely beautiful and such a perfect Golden Wedding design. I love it!

And last, but not least, Carole brought us this lovely sunny card to show. And, as Carole says, she also has enough leftovers from the die cut chevron border to make a card in reverse colours too :)

We had two new playmates this week:

Scrapcat whizzed in during the week waving this adorable gift bag.

And, right at the last minute, April dashed in with this cute card.

Welcome to the Playground - and I hope you come back and play again soon!

And now for the winner of the Art Stamps 'Owls':

Jenny H

Well done Jenny! I've just hopped over to your blog and know that you love owls, and that you've used the 'tree bark' embossing folder to cut out a hole for an owl previously - bet that's where I got the idea :) So I can already see these owl stamps having a good workout :) Can you please let me have your address - I know you won back in week 130 but I can't find your email letting me have your snail mail address. (di_wray@hotmail.com) I'll post your prize off this week!

OK ladies, you might already have guessed what this coming week's prize is:

Yup, it's a die set exactly the same as the one I used today - 'Baby', made by Little B. The set comes in its own magnetic folder (some of the dies could easily be lost otherwise) - I've placed my little dies underneath the flap on the set - I think they're out on display purely until bought. They all cut beautifully with no release paper or such needed to remove the cut out dies as well :)

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 18th April. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say 'Yes please' (or similar) in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize.

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

Di and of course, Parsnip!
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