Sunday Snippets - Christmas Angel

Happy Snippets Sunday, and it's another Christmas card from me today as I'm trying to catch up a bit:

I used:

-  a Craft UK 'A6 3 fold white oval aperture' card blank 

- snippets of white card, whole sheets of 150 gsm vellum and also whole sheets of double sided sticky papers

- I had a set of Christmas Angel stickers from Temu and so I made a run of six almost identical cards, only the sticker images vary slightly

- first the Christmas Angel sticker was adhered onto a piece of vellum.  Trial and error had previously proved that vellum is much more forgiving than card if you need to peel off the clear protecting layer of some stickers and it just lifts card the surrounding card, ask me how I know! And I did try various ideas but came back to vellum being the best solution

- then backed the vellum with double sided sticky paper, flipped the image over, peeled off the protective backing and popped a piece of white card onto the sticky. This gave a solid white backing adhered to the image sitting on top of vellum 

- used red line extra sticky tape to adhere the image behind the aperture and also to adhere the folded front panel over the image piece of the card  

- the finishing touch was a few stars added from an Anita's outline sticker sheet - called 'Rose gold sparkling stars'. Very delicate and pretty stickers too.

-finished!

I'd like to enter the following Challenges:

Allsorts #858 HERE - under 'Anything Goes' - the main theme of the challenge is an empathetic one of 'Sympathy/Get Well/ Thinking of You'. As so often is the case, I do hope to make a card to fit the actual theme theme in the coming two weeks

Darnell's NBUS Challenge September 2026 - HERE  - the stickers are from a Temu craft haul 

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley now snoozes quite easily on our car excursions. But we're still working on his manners when folk visit us!

A friend from my working days came over on Friday for an afternoon picnic in the cabin, before Summer ends - and Dudley thought it was a splendid idea! A new potential girlfriend!! Len had to bar him out in the garden with a movable barrier - but he remained there sighing and looking hopeful of the chance to be allowed in to eye up said friend plus our picnic! The whole event was punctuated by a little white fluffy drama queen resorting to poking his nose through each of the barrier bars, pacing to and fro, to and fro!! Dudley - not Len!! 

Many thanks for your Birthday cards and kind wishes for today (Saturday) - I appreciated every single one! 

Sarn has opened up Challenge #541 in the Snippets Playground HERE. I love her snippets card and there's a very nice prize bundle to be won as well! See you on the swings!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - 'Christmas Wreath'

I made a couple of identical Christmas cards the other day - and here's one of them:

I used:

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

- added a 3.75" x 3.75" square of paper from the Honey Bee 'Make it Merry' paper pad

- for the wreath I used a NBUS set of dies by Memory Box called 'Bountiful Wreath' which I die cut from snippets of dark green card for the back layer Then cut some fresh sheets of paper from the Crafters Companion 'Ink Drops - Organic' paper pad - all gorgeous shades of green, shot through with touches of gold coloured ink. They did add some variation but the papers from that range are mostly best suited to backgrounds

- after gluing the two wreath die cuts together for stability, and gluing it to the card front, it needed more dimension. So out of the packet came a single die with two little leaf sprigs of the same ilk as the main wreath. I die cut the double sprigs from four different little snippets I found lurking stored in the back of the paper pack

- then added four of the sprigs around the main wreath - I'd tickled the sprigs with clear Wink of Stella before gluing them on, for a touch of sparkle

- popped eight Marianne 'Duotone Red' enamel dots onto the wreath and it, in turn,  popped into life!

- final touch, a Craftwork Cards pre-printed Christmas Sentiment was added to the centre of the wreath using a large sticky pad

For the first time in months, and certainly not since I hurt my arm whist attempting a triple flip along the upstairs landing here and falling badly, I used my Cuttlebug for much of the die cutting! Happy days indeed.

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

- Allsorts Challenge #857 - HERE - under 'Anything Goes'

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #90 HERE - the NBUS 'Bountiful Wreath' was pre-loved and unopened. Very few examples seem to pop up when doing a search on Google but I suspect it's at least six years old

The results from Sarn's Challenge #537 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE. 

Dudley Pupdate: this little tale is from a few weeks ago now in one of the scorching heatwaves. Len dropped me off at our dentist, just for a routine appointment - then he came back later on to collect me. It gives the car a reasonable run and helps with getting Dudley used to the car. When he came back to collect me he drove into a spot right beside the front door and reception - I was waiting outside catching a few rays as they say! 

So, this car quietly glides past the wide open reception area window and there is Dudley, riding shotgun in the back, happy as can be to see me, hidden from reception's sight, with his  paws up looking out of the one third partially open rear passenger but well harnessed so still very safe. One of the receptionists came flying out of the dental surgery then burst out laughing. She'd been sitting working at the reception desk and had glanced up to see a white fluffy face and two little white paws glide past her window almost at human height - what's more she could see that the dog was smiling! She truly thought she was losing the plot and raced out ............. to be confronted by Dudley! Hard to imagine but so funny in real life! 

There's still a week left in my current Snippets Challenge if you haven't already joined in!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - 'Merry & Bright'

I overheard someone pronouncing that it's 17 weeks until Christmas whilst out and about on Friday. "Don't panic Di, don't panic" - runs around the walls screaming!! 

 

Anyhow, here's my Snippets card for today, and it so happens it's a Christmas card - pre-planned I promise:

I used:

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

- a host of different coloured card snippets, some from card swatches still, all die cut twice using MFT's Dynamics set of dies called 'Merry & Bright - all the Trimmings' - then glued together to make each letter and trimming double layered. Very intensive work as the sentiment is a single die - took me the best part of a whole evening using an Altenew  'Blossom' machine and lots of careful positioning of card pieces for each individual letter and trimming

- snippet of blue card for the framing layer, trimmed to 5.25" x 4" then glued onto the card front

- snippet of unbranded silver sparkle card, trimmed to 5" x 3.75"

- die cut the outline of the sentiment into the silver sparkle card, using the large lettering die - carefully making sure to keep the silver fallout from letters such as capital B to reinsert later

- flipped the silver sentiment panel over and covered the back of the die cut area with strips of sellotape

- turned the sentiment panel back over and one by one popped in the double layered letters, then the single infill pieces, into the waiting sticky apertures. That's where the double layering proved to be really worthwhile as the letters proud of the silver sparkle and add some dimension

- added the silver sparkle panel with lettering onto the blue panel using very narrow foam strips, sadly slightly on the 'wonk' and of course exaggerated by the wretched camera!

- final touch was to add the little trimmings such as the two hats, orange part of the candle flame and of course Rudolph's nose!

- finished! That left me with the same cut out letters in sparkly silver which I'll use on a different and much faster card!

It's so good to be able to make a card with plenty of die cutting - but perhaps I overstretched in the fiddle-faddle aspects.

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

Rudolph Days August Challenge - HERE

Allsorts Challenge #857 - HERE

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #89 - HERE

Remember, I've just kicked off a new challenge over in the Snippets Playground HERE.

Dudley Pupdate: It finally rained! Hooray! The first real downpour was overnight. Dudley was only half awake when he waited at the back door for his pre-breakfast tinkle - he hopped onto the grass and without thinking flopped onto his tummy, expecting to hear morning birdsong in the sunshine to gently wake him up properly. Instead he got a very wet tummy and after the essentials made a bolt into the lounge where he could rub all over the carpet and his favourite rug to dry off! No wonder he looked so ruffled when he came bounding back up to leap onto the bed beside me!  An indignant Havanese is such a funny sight  to wake up to!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - Candy cane Christmas

Happy Snippets Sunday, from an absolutely roasting hot Hampshire. Somehow, in all the unrelenting heat, I thought about Christmas for my card today:

I used:

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

- deep blue snippet of Creative Expressions' 'Deep Blue' card, slightly trimmed to 5.25" x 4" then glued onto the card front

- snippets of white card from the snippets basket along with coloured snippets from the Papermill Swatches that I still cant bear to part with - two greens, two reds and a maroon!  Yup, maroon - not brown I promise!

- spent a happy time die cutting the pieces for the decorated candy cane using my little Altenew die cutting machine and a set of Crafter's Companion dies called 'Retro Christmas - Candy cane and foliage'. A pre-loved item bought from Facebook

- assembled the candy cane and foliage using a glue pen then added the bow using very narrow red line tape

- then, using a small unbranded NBUS stamp from a good friend, I stamped the 'Special friend' Christmas sentiment using Clair Nocturne, then die cut it using a little label die, which was another gift! 

- just stuck the label into the assembled bow using very narrow red line tape

-- final step was to add snipped pieces of thin sticky pad for dimension to the back of the assembled candy cane, bow and stamped label, then gently press it in place on the card front 

- finished!

I'm entering the following challenges: 

Allsorts #856 HERE - 'Embossing or dry heat- or 'Anything Goes' , which is where I'm entering this card. I did dry emboss a background using the Gemini originally but the embossing wasn't sharp enough to use and I was wilting in the heat  .... so cut my losses and opted for the plain deep blue!

Darnell's NBUS Challenge August 2026 - HERE  - all the dies, from two sets, plus the label stamp for the sentiment came from my stash of NBUS goodies! 

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #113 - HERE - the theme is 'Friendship'

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley is such a wise little chap! He lies just inside the shower room door off our bedroom - cannily catching a nice down draft from the bedroom air-con unit. We'll be on bread and jam when the electricity bill comes in, and that's on just one appliance - so it has its down side. If you see Dudley sidling around the Playground offering to help out with any odd jobs then it's because he doesn't fancy living on jam sandwiches!

Him taking up residence in the shower room to cool off at various times of the day and night is 'fun' when I need to use the toilet. He now knows the trigger word for 'please vacate your spot for a short time' It's 'Pigeon'!! 

Born from Len's observation that, like most pigeons, when approached he always seems to move in any direction other than OUT of the way! Which is uncannily accurate! So I can be found during the night whispering 'Please move PIGEON' as I approach the shower room! And, I kid you not - it works, but he's NOW taken to very pointedly sitting outside the room, almost rolling his eyes, just waiting for me to get the heck out of his cool place so he can lie down again!  

Sarn has opened up Challenge #539 in the Snippets Playground HERE. A brilliant and fun prize bundle to be won too. See you in the paddling pool! There could be a long queue/line!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - 'Beware of Dog' ATC

I made a super-fast ATC, using snippets and a NBUS stamp I've had for years:

I used:

- a snippet of black card trimmed to 3.5" x 2.5" for the ATC base

- trimmed a snippet of patterned card from the 'All & Create A6 #7' pack of Design papers to a smidgen smaller than the black ATC card

- stamped the dog and sentiment in one go onto the patterned card - using a small Misti platform and a little bit of mystery to sort of align it properly. The ink-pad is Clair's 'Nocturne' of course - could have done with more inkings but my arm was telling me off. The stamp is by Katlzekraft - called 'Dog 03 - Mimi 031'

- glued the two layers together 

- finished off by adhering three toning SU domed sticky back gems in the top left- hand corner

I do love this stamp and sentiment. Steve, our lovely postman saw Dudley on the stairs barking at him the other morning and wryly remarked with a chuckle 'Oh NO, it's that terrifying wild dog again!'  Hard to keep a straight face with a ball of protective white fluff kicking up a fuss, with his duck beside him!

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

- Tag-along (and ATC's) August Challenge HERE - under 'Anything Goes'' 

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #89 HERE - the Katzelkraft stamp is having a first outingl

The results from Sarn's Challenge #537 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE. 

Dudley Pupdate: apart from car outings. playing endlessly in and out of the back garden whilst it's so hot and the doors are left open - Dudley is facing a new challenge. 

Recently I spotted that Dudley would sometimes stop just before using the low tapestry stool to jump onto our bed. Having watched for a while we agreed that he might benefit from a set of steps as our bed is quite high. So, we now have a gently sloping set of soft material covered foam stairs by the bed - and he's loving the training. For now we're not risking them at night but they are there during the day and the little monkey has worked out that little pieces of treats are used to coax him up and down each step. He CAN and also is able to do it. But, oh boy - he's deliberately making the most of extra treat nibbles right now! 

There's still a week left in my current Snippets Challenge if you haven't already joined in!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - brilliant Eclipse technique

Happy Snippets Sunday, from a blisteringly hot Hampshire. I am SO excited about a 'new to me' technique for creating Eclipse cards using a stamping platform. I'll add some links below to tutorials and here's my 'first attempt' card:

Voila!

Slightly 'side on' shot to see the raised parts more clearly!

I used:

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

- a backing snippet of plain black card, cut to 5" x 4"

- the image layer of white card ended up at a whisker under the size of the back layer - I was juggling a bit as the card evolved

- stamped the image using Clair 'Nocturne' ink and the main stamp from SU's 'Postage Due' stamp set, a set I've never used despite having it since goodness knows when!

- at this point two things are absolutely vital - do not move the just stamped image from your platform of choice - and do not remove the stamp from its position on the lid of your stamping platform!  Put it out of harm's way for now!!

- next I cut 18 x quarter inch strips of card from a couple of the same card stock white snippets - they breed here!  BIG tip, decide the length you want them to be beforehand and trim your card to height before slicing into strips. My strips were quarter of an inch wide and 3" tall

- then sit................. idly watching the World Cup football or similar ..................whilst glueing those strips together - three strips at a time - leaving you with six 3-layer strips

- I also made a three layer 'spacing strip' about 4" in length and .5" wide. It might work for you but I ended up just eyeballing as it was very fiddly to manage. If you eyeball - work from both outside edges inwards - little tip there! 

- next step is to adhere those three layer strips as you wish across the stamped image, still sitting safely in the platform - unless you used a corner for positioning. I do that so could pop the image layer back into the exact same place later on - which always helps if you don't have a sticky mat in your platform

- once the layers are glued in place - it's 'Show Time!'

- however you get there, the base image with its white strips MUST be in exactly the same position as when the initial stamping was done

- then you ink up the original stamp which is still in situ on the platform lid and lower it back onto the image, press and BINGO! For me it was truly a 'Wow' moment as the image sprang into 3-D life! Obviously you ink as many times as you see fit

- finished! 

I truly think this is a real game changer! I used my strips offset, one placed up and one down across the base image - but you can use any shape you like - discs, squares - whatever! I've given the detailed measurements in my step by step above - but they're really for my own use as much as anything as I do plan to make more of the same card - perhaps using a different colour ink pad. Sepia, Green and Maroon are three that spring to mind. 

I first came across the technique the other day on 'Jenn's Crafty Makes' (Facebook) HERE.  Jenn found the technique HERE on YouTube, only posted a couple of weeks ago. It's a long video by 'Heidi - The Yorkshire Crafter' - 46 minutes or so. So, I suggest you watch Jenn's video first - that probably is enough to get you going. It's concise and straight to the point. Both crafters are worth keeping an eye on as they keep pushing the boundaries and coming up with fresh ideas.

I'd like to enter these cards into the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge #852 HERE under 'Anything Goes'

Darnell's NBUS Challenge # 87 HERE - the SU stamp set is out for a play for the very first time - shame on me!

Dudley Pupdate: We've been out and about in Len's car a fair bit recently - and it seems that, at last, Dudley is more resigned to his fate. Obviously the more frequent journeys are making it more 'normal' for him!

He stiill 'chunters and grumbles', but the yodelling has all but ceased. He'll be eight in July so it's taken us a while to get him this far! 

Sarn has opened up Challenge #534 in the Snippets Playground HERE. Another great prize too!

See you on the swings! The temperature is set to soar mid-week so bring your cossie!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - 'Pen and Ink' tag

I made a super-fast tag - using a Penny Black Stickeroo, paper and card snippets plus small snippets of ribbon:

I used:

- a snippet of pink SU paper (from many years ago) that I'd already topped with a Penny Black Stickeroo from the 'Pen and Ink' sticker sheet, leaving a decent sized outline

- a snippet of white card which I die cut using a die from the Sizzix Framelits 658784 set of label dies

- then used the waste from the white label to choose where to die cut the stickeroo panel. The PB Stickeroo was exactly the same width as the label die - what luck! 

- then glued both labels together - this was to add stability to the thin top image layer

- threaded snippets of pink and green ribbon through the tag hole and tied them together with another little snippet of very narrow black ribbon

- finished!

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

- Tag-along (and ATC's) June Challenge HERE - under 'Add some Text' 

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #87 HERE - the Sizzix set of label dies is having a first outingl

The results from Sarn's Challenge #531 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE. 

Dudley Pupdate: Yesterday lunchtime, Len came upstairs carrying a tray with hot drinks plus a few of Dudley's treats to replenish the little upstairs poly bag 'Dudley's pantry'. . 

Dudley was pre-occupied munching a chunk of diced carrot at the time - until one of the treats decided to make a bid for freedom! The chunk of carrot flew into the air - abandoned - as Dudley immediately pounced and quickly gobbled the 'escapee' straight down, practically before it hit the floor. Then, he returned to his carrot munching as if absolutely nothing had happened! Talk about being a little pocket rocket! 

There's still a week left in my current Snippets Challenge if you haven't already joined in!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - the hum of bees ....

I used a new stamp set I've had for absolutely ages for my snippets card below - and, you can win a duplicate of the same set over in The Snippets Playground HERE: 

I used:

- an A6 white card blank, side opening 

-  snippet of white card measuring 5.5" x 3.5" for the image

- stamped the image and sentiment using a Clair 'Nocturne' ink pad and two stamps from the 'Foxglove and Bees' stamp set by Creative Expressions

- coloured the foxglove using Polychromos pencils and tickled the bees' wings with clear 'Wink of Stella'

- snippet of 'Soft Amethyst' satin mirror card measuring 5.75" x 3.75", which I glued onto the white card blank front

- then just popped a few SU gems in the bottom right hand corner to finish off

I've hesitated to use this new stamp set for ages, yet it was a breeze to colour in the end!

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

- Allsorts Challenge #851 HERE - the theme is 'Anything Goes from the Garden, just perfect! 

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #87 HERE - the foxglove and bees stamp set is my NBUS

Remember, I've just kicked off a new challenge over in the Snippets Playground HERE.

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley is certainly happier now that temperatures have dropped here - but now we have rain so he's shooting out and back into the house as fast as his little paws will carry him!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - Live life in colour

Happy Snippets Sunday, from a blisteringly hot Hampshire. Here's my snippets card:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4" yellow card blank, using  a sheet from the HunkyDory 'Garden Treasures' card pack, tent style

- an Aall & Create A6 background paper from their A6 'Papyrus Vert' #7 Design Paper pack. Trimmed down to 5.25" x 3.75" and glued onto the card front

- a snippet of white card, with a 'sunflower sticker' popped on then die cut using a die from SU's' Stitched Shapes Framelits' dies .............. a lucky pre-loved find not so long ago. The sunflower stickers were a Dutch brand sent to me by a very sweet blogger some time ago - but I can't find a maker's name on the packet

- then adhered the sunflowers image circle onto the card front using thin foam sticky pads

- added a Clarity pre-printed and cut sentiment to the lower left corner of the card - super handy buy ages ago!

- finished! 

I made two cards practically the same at the same time - the other one just has a slightly different sunflowers image. As always, the camera bleached the background somewhat - the paper and image blend together more in real life, sigh.

I'd like to enter these cards into the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge #850 HERE - Brenda and her wonderful Team are celebrating 17 years 🎊🎉🎋 since the challenge started - well done Ladies! All entries are 'Anything Goes' this time!

Darnell's NBUS Challenge # 86 HERE - the pre-loved SU stitched die set and the sunflower stickers had their first outing

Dudley Pupdate: As many of you will either know, or are experiencing, we currently have a Bank Holiday heatwave over much of the UK! And a little guy is feeling the heat for sure. This evening (Saturday) as the sun had just gone down, he disappeared through the 'currently left open for him' kitchen door to the enclosed garden. Len found him some time later - spreadeagled on his tummy - back paws straight out behind him and front paws out the front. Just flopped like a little sheepskin rug, fast asleep on the lawn. 

We left him to enjoy the cooler evening. A clip might be on the cards if this heat carries on - but he looks absolutely gorgeous right now and his coat is so fine and silky that I'm not sure it really would make a lot of difference. Decisions!

Sarn has opened up Challenge #533 in the Snippets Playground HERE. Great prize too!

See you on the swings! I reckon the paddling pool will be well occupied - and Dudley has my full permission to hose anyone down if they're still too hot! He's been itching to use the water hose for ages! Just don't let the little scamp charge you for the privilege! 

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - Season's Tweetings

My snippets card for this week is a quick make, another one for the 2026 Christmas card box:

I used: 

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

- a Penny Black Masterpiece 'Birds in Snow' image from one of their Christmas themed sets ('Home for Christmas' to be exact)

- die cut the image using a die from Hunkydory's 'Extended Hexagons' then backed it with a die cut layer using the next size up hexagon die, in pearlescent pale blue - cut from a snippet. For a change I used the die in landscape style

- trimmed a snippet of pearlescent gold card for the back layer on the card

- trimmed a snippet of 'script' paper from LOTV's 'Frosty Christmas' paper pad then adhered a snippet/band of blue 'snowflake' paper from the same pad across the centre and trimmed the edges to size

- glued the gold card and patterned layer onto the card front

- added the image panel to the card front, using thin foam sticky pads 

- glued a snippet strip of the snowflake paper to the back flap of the envelope- finished!

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

- Allsorts Challenge #849 HERE  - under 'Anything Goes'

- Christmas Kickstart Challenge #110 HERE - 'Season's Tweetings'

Dudley Pupdate: Another mixed week weatherwise, but more and more Dudley loves to do a little spot of sunshine worshipping, when it shows up! The other day, when it was time for his brush and comb session, Len took him into the sunny garden first for a wee. The little monkey had spotted the grooming table standing in the hallway - so he promptly lay on his back on the lawn for a snooze! I suspect one eye was slighty open though! Luckily he gave up after a few minutes with a shake and a sigh and headed back indoors to meet his doom. He certainly knows most of the tricks of the trade.    

The results from Sarn's Challenge #531 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE. 

Love from Dudley and yours truly

Sunday Snippets - Have a Beautiful Birthday

To be fair, the Beautiful Birthday has already been and gone, but I wanted to share the card I recently made for a very special friend - and I used snippets of course:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" purple card blank, using  a sheet from the HunkyDory 'Garden Treasures' card pack, side opening

- a piece of 'white brick wall' patterned paper from the 'Brick Wall Texture' pack - brand unknown, from Amazon - trimmed to 5.25" x 4" and set aside

- a snippet of purple card, leftover from making the card blank, which I die cut using a Craft Addiction's set of dies called 'Slatted Arch'

- piece of white card, also a snippet, onto which I stamped the adorable Newton's Nook 'Dainty Daisies' using Clair 'Nocturne' ink

- then coloured the 'daisies' image using Polychromos pencils before die cutting the bunch using a co-ordinating die 

- that meant I could sit and sort of juggle the flowers and arch around a bit until I was happy where the sentiment would go with it

- stamped the sentiment onto the bottom left of the card using Clair 'Nocturne' ink again and a NBUS stamp from Penny Black's 'super day' stamp set

- then glued the brick wall panel onto the card front, along with the die cut arch

- then adhered the bunch of daisies in place using thin snippets of foam sticky pad 

- finished! 

I'd like to enter this card into:

Allsorts Challenge #848 HERE - under 'Anything Goes'

Darnell's NBUS Challenge # 85 HERE - the set of slatted arch dies are my NBUS items

Dudley Pupdate: With warmer weather the past few days, Dudley is beginning head to cool, tiled, floors to lie on. By this time, late on a Saturday evening, he's usually cuddled up on our bed. Looks like a warm night ahead as he seems to be sprawled in the tiled hallway. Clever little guy! Doubtless with Honka Duck keeping him company.

Sarn has opened up Challenge #531 in the Snippets Playground HERE . See you on the swings! I think I heard mutterings about needing a new paddling pool earlier today!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - Have a great day

My snippets card for this week is very simple:

I used: 

- 4" x 4" Silkweave 'pale ivory linen' card snippet 

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

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

- glued the image panel onto the card front 

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

- quick and easy! 

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

- Allsorts Challenge #847 HERE  - under 'In the Garden'

Dudley Pupdate: The other day I had a routine dental appointment so Len took me there, and later collected me - with Dudley riding shotgun 'harnessed and secured' in the back of the car. He 'sang' all the way there and for Len 'exclusively' when returning home, and even did an encore when coming back later to collect me. Opening the back windows a few inches does help him as he's such a curious little guy and also loves to be able to smell and feel the fresh air rushing past.

However, on the way back home, after hugs and licky greetings, he just flopped down and dozed off. Happy in the knowledge that his 'tribe' were together again and we were heading back to his favourite place!  

The results from Sarn's Challenge #529 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE. Three perfect picks and one lucky prize winner - what's not to like?

Love from Dudley and yours truly

Sunday Snippets -Through the window

First of all, did you remember to change your clocks to leap forward by an hour, if that applies to where you live? If not, then I hope you enjoyed a bit of extra sleep rather then losing an hour in one fell swoop as most of us felt impelled to do! 

My snippets card for today used a very clever set of dies that Linby (Lynn) has used a few times - but which was sold out whenever I tried to get my sticky little paws on them! I succeeded eventually but it took about three or more months. However, here's the result of a first outing:

I used:

- 5.75" x 5.75" white square card blank

- the Maximum Crafts 'Picture Window Easy Frame' comes as a pair of dies. One outer, and one inner. The outer one has the thicker outlines to the frame and the inner one is smaller and fits beautifully on to of the outer frame

- I die cut a snippet of Tonic Pearlescent 'Majestic Gold', using the 'chunkier' outer frame die and set it to one side

- then die cut the 'finer' inner frame from a snippet of the white same card as the card blank. Admission here, ever trimmed down a card blank and at the final cut, sliced through the 'spine' by accident? Hence, I do have quite a few saved mis-cut panels, aka snippets in my 'box of daft mistakes'

- then glued the 'white layer frame' onto the gold one and then the whole frame onto the card blank

- the final die cut was to use the chunkier die and, as I was actually making two cards the same, I cut through two identical patterned paper scenes in one go from an Amazon paper pack called 'Glacie' which features general Winter scenes but only the one design actually has a log cabin in the centre. I do have ideas for the other papers, never fear. It was a lucky break when I found the log cabin one whilst browsing a couple of days ago!

- with hindsight, I could just have laid/glued the patterned paper behind the frame, but die cutting is more accurate and also fun to see the card come alive!

Like Linby, I can see so many uses for this Picture Window die set. I feel a play with some much loved snippets coming on! I didn't add a sentiment, die cut a couple and decided against it and left it as is rather than spoil the pretty scene. I'll be sure to add a special Christmas sentiment inside - this year I'm doing them as I go. Hollow laugh!

I'd like to enter this card into:

Allsorts Challenge #846 HERE - under 'Anything Goes'

Darnell's NBUS Challenge # 84 HERE - the paper pack and the set of window dies are my NBUS items

Rudolph Days Challenge - March 2026 - HERE 

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley is such a little chancer! I carefully slipped out of bed very early the other morning for a quick trip to the loo and made a point of really pulling up the duvet right up to pillow level to keep him away. Did it work? Not a chance, I came out of the en-suite in super fast time, to the sight of Honka Duck languishing on my pillow - and a wagging tail and wiggly bum sticking out of the top of the duvet as Dudley happily explored the warrmth and no doubt human scent of where I'd just vacated. The look on his face when I lifted the duvet and whispered 'Hello Dudley'. He seemed to drop his jaw at being rumbled, grabbed Honks and flew off the end of the bed like a little pocket rocket! 

It never lasts though as needless to say, when I woke up later on at 'ups time' he was lying like a little angel with his back pressed against mine. He never bears a grudge that's for sure!

Sarn has opened up Challenge #529 in the Snippets Playground HERE . See you in the Playground!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

 

Sunday Snippets - 'Hello Spring!

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

I used: 

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

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

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

- glued the image panel onto the card front 

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

- quick and easy! 

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

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

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

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

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

Love from Dudley and yours truly