Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 170

If you live in the UK, remember to change your clocks (2am Sunday) - sigh, an hour's less sleep but the evenings will be lighter of course :)

My snippets card this week is also my second entry into Darnell's NBUS Challenge, where you have to use something for the first time. There are really generous prizes to be won and you have until 31st March to nip in with up to three entries.

 

I used two NBUS items on my snippets 'Congrats' card - yay:

I used:

- 4" x 4" square white card blank

- snippets of turquoise and green card stock for the outer 'frames' to tone with the main panel

- the main panel was a lot of angst in some ways, made over a few weeks to be honest as I couldn't decide just where it was going - it almost went in the bin a couple of times! First of all I took a snippet of watercolour card and played around with blue and green Brushos. The result was much too dark so I put it to one side

- the next play was with a template of circles I'd made from acetate and a white stamping pad in an effort to emulate the 'bokeh' technique. Ack, still too dark and the white hardly showed at all so I put it to one side - agaaaaaaaaaaaaain

- then I spotted a lovely card over at Kathy K's blog the other week here and was fired up to have another try. This time I used a new stencil for the first time (a Clearsnap ColorBox Art Screen called 'Rounded' - I bought mine from The Stampman here in the UK). I stuck the stencil in place for the first pass but then wiped it and added more circles afterwards - using a foam makeup sponge and Daler Rowney's White Graduate Acrylic Colour. Finally things were looking up, albeit not as well defined as Kathy's fabulous work

- at this point I decided not to mess about with the background any more - always another day to try again :) So, I got out another NBUS item and proceeded to make a 'camouflaged die cut' word, the NBUS die I used is Sizzix 'Phrase, Congrats #2'

- I've explained in more detail how to do this previously - here. Basically you cut the die out of the coloured background and then cut (say) three more words the same just from ordinary card and layer them up into the die cut aperture you created before topping off with the top layer of the patterned word/ shape or whatever you're using. The main thing to remember is to keep any solid little pieces that might be cut from the top layer - on this card it was the middle of the 'O', the inner of the 'R', a couple of pieces in the 'A' and a bit within the loop of the 'S'. Do not throw these away - you'll need to add them once all the layers have been built up, they just popped into place down inside the letters at the same level as the background

- then I just added a few clear 'bubble' domes here and there

OK, let's move onto this week's picks:

Kathy bounced right into the Playground waving some great ATCs - gotta love those Tim Holtz 'Bird Crazy' images - given the Kathy treatment :)

Just look what you can make with a variety of punches and some snippets! Kim brought this fabulous butterfly card to share with us.

I immediately fell in love with this beautiful layout, made by Vinita. So dimensional and that little poppet in the photo is our very own Vinita, aged two - soooo cute!

I love, love how Laura used little snippets to make this clever card - and all the details of how to make one the same are there on Laura's blog with step by step photos too!

Diane H skipped in at almost the last minute, with this beautiful card - what a splash of Summer!

And the winner of last week's prize, the Dovecraft goodies of paper, doilies and felt embellishments kindly donated by Jane is:

Kath (of Handmade by Kath)

Well done Kath, I have your address here and will post your prize off to you during  this week.

This coming week's prize is linked to my snippets make for today:

Yup, it's the same as the die and stencil I used today - no acrylic paint I'm afraid. It's bad enough not being able to send liquid goodies abroad but even within the UK they've cracked down. Certainly it's like a cross-examination whenever I go to the Post Office these days - I don't mind if it makes life safer for folk but it does curtail some goodies I'd like to offer as prizes here.

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 4th April (Easter weekend folks!). 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. If you only fancy one or other of the items in the prize then just say so - I could then do a second draw for the other part, but the two items are up for grabs as one 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!
x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 167

Over at Mrs A's, the current Butterfly Challenge is to use one or more butterflies as usual - with added the twist of 'H is for hexagons'. And this is 'wot I made' using some scraps/snippets of card left over from a Brushos session:

I used:

- A6 white card blank, tent style

- a piece of DP from BoBunny's 'Barefoot and Bliss' paper pad

- the orange card had been coloured (much too heavily!) with Brushos and then sprayed with Perfect Pearls 'Heirloom Gold'. I just ran it through the Cuttlebug using SU's 'Honeycomb' embossing folder and snipped a few outer hexagons away

- the small turquoise hexagons came from another snippet of Brusho'ed card, again run through the Cuttlebug using the 'Honeycomb' folder and this time I just snipped out half a dozen of the hexagons to stick here and there on top of the embossed orange piece of card

- also held a turquoise piece back when doing the embossing and just die cut that with a solid Memory Box butterfly die called 'Isabella', then topped it with a lacy white matching butterfly which was cut using Memory Box's 'Pippi' die

- finally popped three little turquoise gems onto the butterfly's body

Snigger, Len saw this and said 'If that's a honeycomb shouldn't the insect really be a bee?'. 'Not according to Mrs A's rools' said I - 'them butterflies gets everywhere'.

Mrs A's challenge is open for a few days more BTW, can't wait to see what letter we have to play with next!

I need to knuckle down again with the Brushos and get the 'teensy little sprinkle' technique worked on too :(

Righty-ho - onto this week's picks:

I picked this card, made by Laurie, as it's truly so Spring-like and it made me smile. We have loads of snowdrops blooming along the lane as you leave here, and there are crocuses and daffodils out in the Playground too.

Sue J makes such gorgeous cards, and I just adore all the blues here - loads of snippets used and such a darling image too!

Brilliant use of snippets by Eve, for her Nan's 94th Birthday card. A really tactile result with all those lovely flowers plus the snipped grass :)

I think this card is super! Made by Jackie T for Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge, the patchwork effect of the pretty hexagons is a perfect background for the lovely butterfly. And doesn't the sentiment sit beautifully too.

Oh gosh, that's four picks and there are still so many others I could show - but not enough time I'm afraid. Although - just feast your eyes on this final card:

How clever is  that beautiful dress, made by Carol L, from loads of snippets and a tiny flower punch?! I know from comments left over at Carol's that this is a real hit - and it's my 'top pick of the week' :)

Moving swiftly onto the draw for the 'Flowering Spring' embossing folder - the winner is:

 Sandy J

I'm almost sure this is Sandy's very first Playground win, so well done Sandy! Can you please drop me an email (di_wray@hotmail.com) with your address and I'll post the embossing folder off to you ASAP this coming week.

And, totally unrelated to my snippets card, here's the prize for this coming week - kindly donated by Eve:

I think this is such a darling Penny Black stamp (called 'Hide-out')  - and if memory serves me right it was an accidental duplicate purchase by Eve. Luckily for us I say!

I haven't mentioned our own little Playground hedgie recently. He tailed off on his visits to feed about five weeks ago now - and then he quit calling altogether. Until the weather warms up a bit more we don't know if he went into a very late semi-hibernation or what. And we daren't check the hedgie shelter just in case he's fast asleep in there. It's a case of 'watch this space' for now.

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 14th March. 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!
x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 163

SCREAM!!! No idea how it happened but I managed to lose the weekly snippets post on Tuesday evening while I was composing another unrelated post !! Most of you will have already seen it and here's the snippets make I did - using the Spellbinder Chevron die (with a Brushos background inset)

And this is this week's prize of course:

All your comments are safe, Janis knows she won last week, the rules are the same and I have to see if I can retrieve the previous Mr Linky entries OK (phew, managed that too!!) - oh poo - I do so NOT need this!! Am sorry but have no time to re-do the weekly picks though. Good grief, what a pickle!!

Di (Parsnip is under the duvet in shock and shame!)

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 144

It's all go right now with my favourite challenges, it's Rudolph Day over at Sarn's, Merry Monday, Hazel's Christmas Card Challenges and of course Mrs A has her fortnightly Butterfly Challenge running.  I've been good and already joined in all the Christmas ones that were 'live' on Friday (the details and links are in my blog post here) - so for my snippets card today I chose to go with Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge which is 'Autumn Colours'.

In fact, Mrs A said to use Autumn colours in your butterfly (eek plural colours and singular butterfly?). Dumbo here might have misinterpreted 'cos I have several single coloured butterflies - the idea behind this card is that it's meant to depict the butterflies as Autumn leaves - tee, hee :)

I used:

- white DL card blank

- a plain orange piece of card from the snippets folder as a backing

- the background was me going totally slightly crazy with Brushos (brown, scarlet and yellow) - which were then sprayed with 'Heirloom Gold' Perfect Pearls and also 'Pearl' Glimmer Mist, eek, that really spread the colour around. In a panic I grabbed a couple of pieces of kitchen roll and folded them to blot the puddles up - and although it won't show in the photo - ended up with a lovely light gold textured effect. It's so true what Sarn and Kathy say - you have to just play about with Brushos and often there will be surprises!

- more snippets of orange/yellow were used to punch out the three butterflies (using a SU punch) before running them through an embossing folder called 'Bon Jour' by Couture Creations. The folder has a leaf pattern on, so that was my nod to continuing the idea of the butterflies looking like Autumn leaves :)

- once on the card they looked a bit odd without bodies, so I grabbed a snippet of gold mirri card and die cut three bodies using a Memory Box 'Isabella' die

- final touch - gold sequins tumbling down with the leafy butterflies. The sequins were die cut using a snippet of mirri gold card and a really useful die made by MFT Die-Namics called 'Sequins'

Right, a quick gallop through this week's picks:

I just love the simple elegance of this card, made by Jenny H!

Cathy R had been playing with metal sheet and alcohol inks - what a stunning result too.

So, I know a few of you have been running little production lines this past week - largely for Christmas. Sharon rocked me on my heels with her offering of 20 cards just like the one above. It's a tri-fold and those always take a good while to make. Great way to use up snippets!

This card by Liz really caught my eye - one that stands out in the crowd I think. See how cleverly the background embossing and the dots on the ribbon echo one another?

I picked this card, made by KT Fit Kitty because it's great use of snippets of course, but also I love how everything sort of 'pulls together'. 

That's the picks for this week I'm afraid. Things are busy here and it does take an age to do this weekly post, so I hope you won't mind it being shorter than usual. I have thought about changing the format but haven't reached a decision yet.

One thing I have noticed, and I've just checked again, as a result of last weeks picks only a total of four additional comments were left for the 'picked' snippets makes. I know it doesn't mean you don't go to visit but it does make me wonder if it would be just as easy to allow you to use the thumbnails in Mr Linky - without my intervention and the lengthy time it takes me each week to draw up the list of picks, whittle it down and then write and link into this post.

Anyhow, maybe there will be some feedback from you? I'm open to suggestions.

And now for the winner of the Papermania stamps set, glitter and ribbons:

 Mrs A

Well done Mrs A - especially after you've been having such a rough time lately. Obviously, I have your address and will pop the goodies in the post ASAP this coming week as I'm likely to be 'incarcerated' for a while due to work being done on the house.

And this coming week's prize:

Yup, it's a die cut set the same as the one I used today - MFT Die-Namics 'Sequins'. As I already said, these are great dieswith several sizes of plain and embossed sequin cuts which can be used on either mirri or plain card to perfectly compliment the rest of your creation.

As usual, the Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 4th October and will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say 'No thank you' or 'Yes please' in a comment if you wish to still play but not be the winner of the prize.

Important note - last week I had problems as peeps had forgotten to say 'No thanks' to the prize on offer. I'm not sure how to address this but it caused me quite a bit of extra work so, for now, unless you positively say 'Yes please' then I'll have to assume that you don't want to be in the prize draw.  Of course feel free to say no thanks just to reinforce things :)

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 :)

Have a great week!
 
Di (and the usual happy wave from Parsnip of course)
x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 143

It's been a funny week for weather in the Playground, sometimes really quite hot and sunny yet at other times dank and misty. Autumn is on the way - and Spike thinks so too as he's visibly slowing down with less visits, and also he's eating less and less. Hibernation is beckoning him and the other little hedgies who pop in from time to time.

Anyhow, here's my snippets card for this week - and for a change the forthcoming this next week prize is totally unrelated. I was playing with Brushos the other day just using them as watercolours - and this was the result:

I used:

- an 8" x 8" card blank, cut down to make a tent style A6 sized card - and part of what was chopped off will now make two little 4" square cards as well

- a snippet of white watercolour card (Crafters Companion), Penny Black's 'Letters and flowers stamp and Ranger 'Jet Black' archival ink for stamping

- Brushos for the water colouring (a mix of turquoise and ultramarine plus emerald green and leaf green)

- the main image was die cut using a Spellbinders 'Resplendent Rectangles' die

- the image was then mounted onto a snippet of SU 'Wild Wasabi' backing which had been cut with the next size up Spellbinders 'Resplendent Rectangles' die

One thing worth mentioning about these dies, they really are fabulous but are very intricate so waxed paper or some similar method of releasing the card from the die is a must. I was in a bit of a rush and skipped that step, not a wise move!

So, let's have a quick skip through this week's picks:

I do try to spread the weekly picks around, but just had to include Val for two weeks running - isn't that the sweetest little robin? Made using the quilling technique and as if that wasn't enough - the holly leaves are also quilled! Wonderful and so intricate too.

Right, most of us know about Brushos now and loads of you have bought them and are playing - have you thought about using them with shaving foam as Sue did? What a fabulous background - I love this card!

 

And here's another technique - 'cracked ice' from Jean. There's a really good and detailed explanation over on Jean's blog if you fancy having a try - stunning results!

I do so love it when playmates come to show what they made with their Playground winnings - Bonnie won this sentiment stamp a while back, and didn't she use it perfectly?!

I know that lots of you have already seen and commented on this beautiful card, made by Carol L - so pretty and I think anyone would feel better if they received such a gorgeous make.

Making cards for men is something I always struggle with so this card, made by Kim, really leapt out at me. And that wonderful map background is actually stamped (must be one huge stamp for sure!).

And here's someone else using their Playground prize, gosh what a fabulous way to use the burlap background stamp Maarit - I absolutely think this deserves to be a winner over at Less is More!

So that was a pretty fast scamper through the picks, as always though, each entry was fabulous girls!

And let's welcome a new playmate:

Isn't this just super? Apparently it's the very first time that Carole has entered a challenge but surely it won't be the last?! Hi Carole, lovely to see you here and let's hope you come and play again really soon!

And, the winner of the three little stamps from last week is:

Sarah (Sazzle Dazzle)

Congratulations Sarah, I'll pop your stamps into the post this week, I still have your address from your last win, which I think was about a year ago.

And the prize for this coming week is:

As I said at the beginning of this post, totally unrelated to my snippets card for once, it's a selection of Papermania Christmas goodies, kindly donated by Viv. There's an Urban Stamps set, four little pots of glitter and a packet of felt ribbon - just the thing for getting you going on those Christmas cards :)

As usual, the Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 27th September and will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say 'No thank you' in a comment if you wish to still play but not be the winner of the prize. As always, if you only fancy one or two parts of the prize then just say and I would do further draw(s) if your name pops out.

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 :)

Have a great week!
 
Di (and the usual happy wave from Parsnip of course)
x

Using a favourite stamp and Brushos

I absolutely love Penny Black's 'Hello sunshine' stamp and also wanted to play at using Brushos as watercolours instead of 'sprinkle and spritz' for a change - although that technique gives such amazing results.

This was the result of just tapping the teeniest bits of Brusho colours into a watercolour palette and adding water before painting using a very fine brush:

I used:

- A6 off-white card blank
 
-white watercolour card (Crafters Companion), Penny Black's 'Hello sunshine 'stamp and Ranger 'Jet Black' archival ink for stamping

- Brushos for the water colouring (lemon, yellow, orange, brown and leaf green)

- the green backing card is SU's 'Mossy Meadow'

- the main image was die cut using a Spellbinder Labels Eight die then the sentiment was stamped using a teeny stamp from a (sadly discontinued) set by Elzybells and SU's 'Mossy Meadow' ink pad

- the image was then mounted onto a SU 'Hello Honey' backing which had been cut with a Spellbinders Decorative Labels Eight die

The more observant amongst you might twig that I've been using new card and ink pads from SU's In Color 2014-2016 collection. I love, love, love them!

I haven't been playing much lately for various reasons - but will be doing the Playground as usual for Sunday! Make sure you tune in :)

Di
x

A touch of sunshine

I literally had about 10 minutes craft play the other day (if you don't include drying time) and rustled this up:

I used:

- a snippet of SU's 'Daffodil Delight' card stock to make the small card blank (it's about 3.75" square)

- black backing card, die cut using a Spellbinders square die

- a snippet of water colour card, sprinkled with little touches of lemon, yellow and orange Brushos, then lightly misted with water and left to dry

- a cone flower stamp which came free with Craft Stamper magazine, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad - then I die cut the whole Brusho'd square, again using a Spellbinders square die

- three black round glossy Josy Rose nail heads

Job done :)

Di
x

Brushos and Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge

A couple of weeks ago I joined in with one of the latest crafting fads 'fun things to do' and bought a set of Brushos. For those who don't already know, they are little drums of highly pigmented water colour ink powder - and when they come into contact with water/moisture the results are amazing! You can use them for water colour painting, ink and wash, stencilling, wax resist - the list goes on. For my first play I just did a 'spray and sprinkle':

I used:

- 5" x 7" white card blank

- a piece of Crafter's Companion 300gsm water colour card (I'd forgotten I had that!), a Ranger Mini Mister and just three or four of the Brusho colours. First I liberally sprayed the water colour card with water and then very gingerly tapped a teeny bit of the colours here and there onto the damp card (safest way is to poke a hole in the top of the little pots and use them much like pepper pots). Then I misted a bit more - and that's the result above :) 

- after being left to dry naturally, I trimmed the piece of water colour card and then divided it into three, mounting each rectangle onto a mat of deep pink card stock

- those were popped onto the card blank - then I sat and gawped for a couple of days, unsure how to finish such a vibrant explosion of colours

- white won the day - die cut 'smile' from Penny Black's 'Hooray' set plus four small butterflies die cut/embossed using SU's 'Beautiful Wings' Embosslits

- final touch - a few small pink gems on each butterfly

Gosh that was a fun first try, what's amazing is that each 'colour' is actually made up of several colours so when the water hits them they spread out like a little explosion.

Care is needed when using Brushos as they will stain if you have any mishaps. I just used some newspaper to protect the desk, an apron, kitchen roll and disposable latex gloves. I don't believe you need to work outside (say in the garden) - I'm the clumsiest crafter around yet I managed fine.

As this really reminds Len of a Summer garden, I chose to add butterflies so I can enter it over at Mrs A's current Butterfly Challenge where the theme is (appropriately) 'Summertime Butterflies'.

Di
x