Birthday cards for Livi and Josh

I suddenly realised I needed three Birthday cards in a real hurry so LOTV Art Pads came to the rescue for two of them. Both cards are very similar in design, which certainly sped the whole process along:

Livi is still playing football and, even though she now has a really cute pixie cut hairstyle, I thought she'd like this card:

And Josh is at the age where I've previously covered all his interests - perhaps someday he'll take up fishing though:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blanks, side opening (how odd though, they look almost square in the photos)

- images from LOTV Art Pads - 'Annabel' and 'Vintage Boys'

- die cut both images using a die from the Presscut 'Oval Stitch Hole' inner and outer set of dies

- used patterned papers from the Lawn Fawn 'Really Rainbow' paper pad for both cards (Livi's also has a border of pearlescent 'Red Velvet' card), trimmed them and glued in place 

- glued the image ovals in place

- added sentiment ovals (Craftwork Cards) in the top left hand corners at an angle

- finished!

I whipped these cards up in no time, once organised  - time was getting short to post Livi's to Germany and it's amazing what you can do when a timescale is snapping at your heels! I rarely resort to ready made images these days but they can be a real lifesaver. To be fair to myself, it's a bit of a trial lifting things around and hunting for stuff - even though it's pretty well organised - so making cards isn't so easy physically as it used to be. Sigh, comes to us all though and I'd rather be here still, albeit struggling and groaning/creaking at the seams at times. 

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #392

What a week of tail chasing here! It ended on Friday with the delights of a routine blood test at our local surgery, with the nurse having several attempts to find a co-operative vein - oh deep joy.

In between it all I managed to make a snippets card for this challenge - at one point in Thursday afternoon it was looking a bit 'touch and go'. However, this is the result:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank

- piece of white card - trimmed to 5.25" x 4" for the panel I wanted to work on

- snippet of white card which I die cut using a Spellbinders Shapeabilities 'Chevron Border' die

- glued the die cut in place onto the white panel using a Zig glue pen, leaving some of the die cut hanging over at either side, to be trimmed off later 

- rummaged around in my overflowing snippets folder amongst the 'fifty shades of brown' and pulled out four different snippets (forgot to take a photo, although I was watching the clock as it was almost time to groom Dudley)

 - then die cut the snippets using the same chevron die, one colour at a time to avoid getting in a muddle

- then added each shade of the brown chevron die cuts into the white chevron frame on the card panel using a Zig glue pen

- trimmed the overhanging sides of the chevron with the inserted chevrons, from the back using small sharp scissors

- next I found some metallic twine in gold and brown and twisted two lengths together (couldn't decide between gold and brown so I mixed them!)

- sellotaped the twine strands to the back of the card and snipped off the excess

- backed the whole white panel with a piece of fun foam trimmed to  5" x 3.75" - using Collall All Purpose glue

- glued the panel onto the card front

- final touch, added a Craftwork Cards pre-made and die cut gold on white oval Birthday sentiment on top of the chevron panel - little tip, I used thin sticky pads and made a sort of bridge with two pieces of sticky pad so that the twine wasn't squashed down at all

And there you have it - what I hope is a card suitable for a chap. I'd originally intended using blue snippets but couldn't find four shades of blue snippets which really worked together.

Let's move onto the prize for this fortnight's challenge - which you will no doubt have already guessed:

My 'sample' card is very much based on a card I found HERE - a lovely blog with several clever ideas how to use the Spellbinders Shapeabilities 'Chevron Border' die (I went for the quickest one and also one using snippets of course!). The prize is also the same die that Christine used for her Hope & Chances Charity kit card that I published HERE not so long ago. I loved the die cut in the kit so much I ran out (metaphorically speaking) and bought the die, one for me and one for the toybox! It's a super die and I've seen it used in red and gold for Christmas cards - stunning!

A couple of points about the die - I reckon you really should use waxed paper or similar for easy release of the die cut. I find this with Spellbinders dies, particularly more intricate ones. I didn't use waxed paper and struggled a bit, but got there in the end - I have a roll of the stuff but was too lazy involved to get it from a cupboard literally just behind me in here, which would actually have saved me time in the long run. Also, I had to use shims (just card or paper) - which is often the case with a long and fairly intricate die cut. Don't let that put you off joining in the draw - it's a great die for male cards and would be lovely (for example) for a baby card, made in advance in pink and blue all ready for you to add a sentiment or whatever you fancy.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 19th 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.

 

Please also remember that I only allow a total of nine other challenges, which makes 10 in total, when you enter a snippets make into the Playground.

 

One little task this weekend is to make Dudley some more doggy treats as he's just finished the ones I made a few weeks ago. Knowing the things he particularly likes (cheese and carrots top the list!) I'm going for a recipe which uses wholemeal flour, polenta, grated cheddar cheese and grated carrot, egg, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and a touch of black pepper. It's from a book I bought fairly recently called 'Homemade Dog Treats Recipe Book' published in the UK by Wet Nose Publishing. How sweet is that for a publisher's name then?! I'll let you know the outcome and whether Dudley approves!

 

BTW - we thought Dudley had stopped hiding toys in our bed, but last night Len found that Benjamin Bear was safely tucked under the duvet! Absolutely no idea when he actually does this - his second name is 'Stealth' we've decided!

Lots of love from us all - Parsnip, Dudley and of course me. Stay safe.

 

'We'll be gnome for Christmas'

That's one of the 'punny' sentiments in a NBUS set of stamps and dies that I cracked open to make six of these cards a couple of weeks ago, before the shoulder incident:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank

- layer of SU 'Real Red' card, cut to an eighth of an inch smaller all round than the card blank and glued to the card front

- a 'scenic' background, one eighth of an inch smaller all round - trimmed down from a KanBan scene in the 'Christmas Wobblers' pack of pre-printed backgrounds and glued on top of the red layer

- the little gnomes were bought from Amazon ages ago - mostly as it was the first time I'd seen a little lady gnome stamp quite like this one. Stamped using the Misti and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- coloured the two gnomes using Pro markers

- then came time to die cut them and my asses ears went up! The set of matching dies only has dies for the two other gnomes, which I'd decided against using (as well dies for a toadstool house, signpost and circle for the 'pom pom')!!

- so I had to set to and fussy cut them using small scissors - whilst quietly grumbling to myself then glued the two gnomes in place. Discovered I was one male gnome short and everything had been packed away (so one card in the set of six has just a little lady gnome and a slightly different layout)

- by this time I was VERY just a tad fed up so I skipped using any of the sentiments from the stamp set and dug out a Craftwork cards 'white on black pre-printed' circular sentiment which I snipped the little retaining 'pips' from and then ran a black Whispers pen around the edge to cover the white edge core at the edge

- glued the sentiment onto a background of more 'Real Red' card (punched using a one and a quarter inch SU circle punch) which was then added to the right hand top corner of the card using thin sticky pad snippets

- final touch was to use a SU 'Itty Bitty' round punch to punch out white pompoms rather than use the little die in the set of dies. Then add Stampendous 'Fuzzy Fun Flock' by covering with glue from a glue pen and patting the fun flock onto the pompom

- glued the pompoms in place using Glossy Accents and breathed a sigh of relief

I now have a really uneasy feeling that the dies themselves might have been a starting point for the set of stamps (gulp, hopefully not copyright theft?) and the manufacturer (in China) added the two very cute stamps I used - but didn't design and manufacture extra two dies for those stamps. The set was very cheap, despite a bit of a wait, and it's fun to use although, that'll teach me not to do enough homework before ordering and then using goodies!

The background is seriously chopped down from the original 6" x 9" one. But I knew this when I ordered them - some of them come with really quite childish looking parcels in the snow - as my background did. So that got chopped off straight away and then I nibbled away with the trimmer until I was happy with a final, fairly simple, background. The pack has 36 backgrounds in (6 each of 6 designs) and to be honest saves such a lot of time and effort when you're at the middle of November knowing you just can't make many more cards.

As this is a first outing for a few things (the KanBan backgrounds, the stamps and dies as well as the Fuzzy Fun Flock) I'm adding this into our lovely Darnell's NBUS Challenge #20 HERE.

And of course, I'm adding it into ScrappyMo's Rudolph Days Challenge for November!

Get your skates on - more Christmas cards

I know, with a further heatwave forecast, there I am making more Christmas cards in August! But, I wanted to enter some Christmas challenges, as well as make this card:

I used:

- A6 white card blank

- silver mirri card, trimmed to slightly smaller than the card front and glued in place

- turquoise, white and silver 'snowflakes' paper next - am sure this was a free gift with a magazine - trimmed and glued in place

- white Centura pearlescent card stock, die cut using Marianne's 'Ice Skates' die. It's really important to also emboss this die using a rubber mat so that all the details on the boots and skates show up properly - which they do in real life, I promise!

- glued the die cut in place onto the card front and added a shiny silver Josy Rose nail head in the centre of the bow

- the sentiment is by Craftwork Cards, layered onto a silver oval, punched using SU's 'Large Oval' punch then glued onto the card front

Given more time it would have been fun to add little laces and a bow to the boots, as well as silver 'blades' - next time maybe!

Made three cards practically the same whilst at it and would like to enter the following challenges:

Merry Monday 'Christmas In Summer' - I chose #120's theme of 'Skis, skates or sleds'

Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge #292 - 'Anything goes'

Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for August - 'Always anything goes'

Winter Wonderland for August - 'Gold/silver and/or embossed background' - I chose silver.

Di
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Trainee chef?

Len's great-nephew apparently has himself a placement working in a restaurant kitchen, yay for Edward! After the difficulties he's faced all his life, this is such an achievement and everyone is really proud of him. Plus, it's a restaurant working towards its first Michelin Star, so it's very much a case of 'Yes chef' and 'No chef' :)

It was Edward's Birthday recently and, as with all teenagers, I was a bit stumped until, whilst trawling the internet, I came across a fairly appropriate free Clipart image. And this is the card I came up with:

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank

- snippets of plain backing card, SU's 'Blackberry Bliss' - one cut to make a mat just slightly smaller than the card front

- the striped white, grey and black paper came from a LOTV paper pad called 'Mr & Mrs - it reminded me very much of the butchers style aprons I like to wear when cooking :)

- the image, as I said is by Clipart, re-sized and printed onto white card before being die cut using a Spellbinders 'Wonky Rectangles' die

- then mounted the image onto a slightly larger panel of SU 'Blackberry Bliss' card stock, cut to shape by drawing round the outside of the same die used to cut the image and then cutting it by hand

- the sentiment is by Craftwork Cards, already printed and ready just to pop out of the sheet. I did go round the edges with an emery board to smooth off any pips and rough bits, then ran a black Whispers marker round the edge to cover the white edge which would have shown from a sideways view

- mounted the sentiment onto a circle of 'Blackberry Bliss' card, punced using SU's 
1 3/8" round punch

- glued it all together and called it a wrap

By golly though, Clipart has come a looooong way since I first used to liven up conference presentations and training material, in a previous life back in the Dark Ages! Always worth checking Clipart when looking for images.

Edit: Luckily I made this card and wrote this post weeks ago - always handy to have a post or two in reserve!

Di
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Merry Monday #180 - Use a reindeer

The current challenge over at Merry Monday is 'Use a reindeer' - I guess that two or more would be acceptable as well :)

I'd recently added some Penny Black Stickeroos to an on line order and they were still sitting on my neglected desk here - and amongst them was the sticker I used on this card.

Edit: AND, Brenda dropped me a huge hint that a Stickeroo is acceptable over at the current Penny Black and More challenge (which is 'Anything Christmas') so I'm also joining in the fun over there - thanks B!

Here's the card I made:

I used:

- 5" x 7" white card blank

- a piece of SU's 'Hello Honey' card stock for the little frame around the embossed layer

- a piece of white card stock, embossed using Darice's 'Snowflake Background' embossing folder and trimmed to just slightly smaller than the 'Hello Honey' layer

- stuck the 'Hello Honey' and the white embossed layer together and then added a strip of netting ribbon across the front before adding the panel to the front of the card blank

- stuck the Penny Black Stickeroo onto another piece of SU's 'Hello Honey' card stock, which I then trimmed to have a narrow border before adding it onto the card front using thin sticky pad strips

- the sentiment is a pre-printed one, made by Craftwork Cards - stuck onto a larger oval of SU's 'Hello Honey' which was punched using SU's 'Larg Oval' punch (a perfect fit with a border for the Craftwork Card oval messages)

- final touch is a Josy Rose gold heart shaped nail head just above the two reindeer :)

Di
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Doily card

I wanted to use a die cut doily on a card so out came the folders of dies and I realised I had quite a little selection to choose from, this is what I made:

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank

- a snippet of raspberry card stock, which by pure fluke matched the butterfly and patterned backing paper so well

- the patterned backing paper is from a LOTV 'Perfect Pair' paper pad, free not too long ago with a magazine

- the doily was die cut using a Marianne Creatables die (LR0130), from a snippet of white Centura Pearl card stock

- the sentiment is a Craftwork Cards one - as is the raspberry coloured butterfly (ready printed and die cut)

Quick and easy,

Di
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Little notebooks

Around Easter time I finally sent a notebook (that I prettied up ages ago) to our DIL in Germany, covered with paper and decorated with ribbons down the spine. Of course, two little girls went wild over it so I dollied these very similar ones up to send:

I used:

- A6 sized, lined, paper mache note book - details of supplier are below

- papers from Craftwork Cards ''Kitsch Collection'

- owl and elephant toppers from the same collection - and a patchwork flower one on the back cover

- Papermania dome stickers for the girlies names (Mia and Livi)

- then I trotted off into Hobbycraft clutching the notebooks to find the best match of gingham ribbon I could to just knot around the spirals

The notebooks can be had from from eBay HERE. The original place I bought mine from on eBay is now out of stock so these are a tiny bit more expensive. I know that I was given a tipoff where else to find the little books to cover, needless to say I've lost the details!

No doubt they will be filled with scribbles in no time, but they're such fun to do anyhow :)


Di 
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Silver Wedding Anniversary

I do love making cards on request, even though Len will be the first to say that I stress myself out wanting them to be just perfect.

This card was made for a friend's husband, they celebrated their Silver Wedding Anniversary yesterday. And of course, as you probably know, I fret even more over making cards for men! Anyhow, I'm glad to say that Kim was delighted with the resulting card for Graham, her husband:

I used:

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

- a pre-coloured topper by LOTV, based on their adorable stamp called 'Love Boat' - chosen by Kim when we were planing the basics 'cos she usually buys cards with animals on :). I trimmed it a teensy bit and re-rounded the corners before adding it to a backing of silver mirri card - also with rounded corners

- the number 25 was die cut from a snippet of silver mirri card using a Memory Box 'Classic Numbers' die

- silver mirri card from the snippets folder for the main backing on the card front

- a white layer of card, embossed using a Quickutz 'Diamonds and Dots' folder. This was slightly 'tricky-woo' 'cos it's just an A6 folder and I had to emboss in two passes to create a square - thankfully the pattern repetition, along with the depth of the impression, makes it quite easy to line up  and sort of 'lock into' the embossed design to emboss further down the piece of card for the second pass. The trick is never to actually go over the edge of folder at the point where your patterns will join - have an overlap that allows you to stop short of the folder edge whilst still achieving the additional embossing. Ha! Bet that was clear as mud!!

- Kim had chosen the words, which I produced on the printer, trimmed to size and then layered onto a backing of silver card stock

So, although it took me almost the whole of an afternoon to make, it's a very clean looking card and not a flower in sight - just right for a chap I hope.

Di
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Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 160

Yet another very easy snippets card from me this week:

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank

- snippets of plain SU 'Melon Mambo' and 'Pistachio Pudding' card stock

- patterned paper from the Wild Rose Studio 'Butterfly Garden' paper pack

- stamped roses were done using a snippet of white card, SU's 'Melon Mambo' ink pad and a stamp from the Personal Impressions Lindsay Mason 'Rose Galore' stamp set. I love this particular stamp as it looks so three-dimensional and have seen cards where it's been used to stamp all over a background and then just had a sentiment popped on top - very pretty effect

- the butterfly brad came with my craft carousel - each drawer had a little packet of embellishments in and they've been sitting in a little box on my desk whilst I decided whether to keep them or not :)

- sentiment is a Craftwork Cards one with bright pink foiling

Lots of pink on this card needless to say, and the pinks are a perfect match in real life too :)

Right, this week's picks are as always so hard to choose. A few of you had been playing with Brushos this week, each card was fabulous and so I don't favour any particular one all I can suggest is that you girls hop over to see them for yourselves.

Anyhow, these are my other picks for this week:

Feathers are really popular just now, stamped and/or die cut - but I'd never seen a feather stamp used to create an almost fern-like background as Val did here. Brilliant idea!

Laura brought this fabulous layout to share. I just love how all the greys work so well together and it's such a super use of lots of snippets of course :)

Cornelia came to play, bringing this fabulous card with a bokeh background - something I've not tried yet. And just look at all the heart confetti falling down the card - love it!

Still with hearts, I picked this card made by Pat. I love the hearts die cut partly off the page and the apertures backed with patterned paper. And just look at the perfection of Pat's hand drawn faux stitching around each heart- brilliant isn't it?

No apologies, here's yet another heart themed card - made by Brenda L. It's absolutely fabulous, called a triple swing card I think. There are other views over at Brenda's blog that are well worth looking at - absolutely loads of work must have gone into this beauty!

There's been a 'layered embossing' challenge going on this week and I know that others brought some really lovely cards using the technique but felt that this card, made by Janis, ought to be a pick. It's absolutely gorgeous, hope you agree.

And now for something different, which I think we could do with in the tree house right now:

Kate made a fabulous blanket, using snippets of wool. Each square seems to be knitted using a different pattern and the effect is just fabulous. I picked this close up photo so you could see just how textured it is.

And we have four new playmates this week:

Hands up everyone who remembers Spirograph? That's what Bobbi used for this beautifully vibrant card.

And we had another trip down Memory Lane when Tracey brought this great retro style card, featuring a juke box :)

Darlene brought this totally stunning card to show.

And finally Dawn Louise skipped in with this terrific owl tag - love all the bright colours!

Thank you for coming to play with us - hope to see you again soon!

Now the draw for the Spellbinders A2 Distressed Edge dies - chosen by the random number generator:

Cathy R

Wahoo, well done Cathy. Sometimes I have to run the draw more than once to find someone who said they wanted the prize - your name popped straight out on the first run! I have your address and in fact nipped into my local Post Office and posted your die set off to you yesterday.

And I also got Viv's paper pad and pokey tool posted at the same time :)

The prize this coming week is probably a smaller one than usual. Partly as I felt we needed a change from dies (although I have quite a few waiting in the toy box and secondly, I bought the stamp set ages ago and it's been pleading with me to be offered as a prize every time I peek into the toy box:

Yup, it's the 'Rose Galore' stamp set, same as the one I used today. I did originally buy the set for the stamp I used today but do love the row of tall stem roses as well as the single rose as well.

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 24th January. 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. I know it might not be to everyone's taste but I do hope you'll still come and play!

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 :)

On the Playground news front - some of you will know that Elizabeth has been in hospital with pneumonia, she's back home now and has to rest for a few weeks, big hugs from all of us! Also, our absentee Princess Judy skipped in on Friday to play (at number 72) - yay! And, Gillian who used to play here but has moved onto a few DTs is gonna be a Mummy! Wahoo - congratulations.

Di and of course, Parsnip!
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Craftwork Cards Notebook

A while ago I bought a big set of papers and toppers by Craftwork Cards, called the 'Kitsch Collection'. Have used some for cards but then my eye fell on them plus one of the notebooks I recently bought to decorate - and this was the result:

I used:

- A6 sized, lined, paper mache note book - details of supplier are below

- papers from Craftwork Cards ''Kitsch Collection'

- owl topper from the same collection - and a patchwork flower one on the back cover

- Papermania dome stickers for the word 'Notes' and also the name of the recipient (the Mama of our two little grand daughters)

- snippets of pink spotty ribbon just knotted around the spirals

The notebooks came from eBay HERE.

A little birdie did kindly tell me somewhere else you can buy them, but I haven't had a chance to check that out as yet.

Wednesday was a lovely day out, we trolled up to London for a retirement 'do'. It was fabulous catching up with so many friends/ex-colleagues - but, despite coughing up to travel First Class, it was soooooo good to think we don't have to do that round trip every day any longer :)

Di
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Rudolph Day - November 2014

Today is Sarn's final Rudolph Day Challenge, where we have to make not just one but two cards:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blanks

- backing paper from Wild Rose Studio's 'Annabelle's Christmas' paper pack

- white sparkly ribbon from my ribbon box

- printed panels to match the paper backing, just die cut with a Spellbinders die

- sentiments by Craftwork Cards

Quick and easy cards today - thank goodness for papers with matching toppers :)

I'd like to say a HUGE thank you to Sarn for all her hard work! It's been such fun playing along, as well as getting a head start on Christmas cards. The very first time I played along with Rudolph Day was back in July 2011- that shook me I must admit!

I expect most of you will also know that the lovely Scrappy Mo is taking the Rudolph Challenge over from Sarn, so it will continue after Christmas - yay!

I'd also like to add these cards into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge, where the current theme is 'Getting Ready For Christmas' (posting cards and dressing the tree is a most important/essential part of pre-Christmas activities) - as well as Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra, where it's always 'Anything Goes'.

Di
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High flying Warren the Wabbit

Today is the 6th Birthday of a little neighbour of ours and up until children are eight or so ( sometimes beyond that) I do like to incorporate their name onto their Birthday cards. With this card I started out with the idea for how to do the name as a banner and then rummaged round to find stuff to suit. This was the result:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- SU 'Real Red' card stock topped with a sheet of 'clouds' paper from a paper stack called 'Let's Fly Away', free with Quick Cards Made Easy magazine in 2012

- the bunny in the basket started out as a Craftwork Cards round topper featuring Warren the Rabbit, ready to colour as you choose. I chose badly, the turquoise I used on part of the balloon was a horrible clash with the cloudy background paper and for a minute or two I thought all was lost. By then I'd already fussy cut round the image anyhow, it took quite a while to get round the ropes holding the basket and would have been such a waste of time and effort! But, I already had a snippet of dotty patterned paper (from the My Mind's Eye 'Quilting Bee' paper pad) ready for the banner and realised it could save the day. All I did was to die cut a circle (using the Tonic circular die set I recently raved about) just slightly larger than the balloon, gently snip around part of Warren's ear, then glue the dotty circle over balloon wreck leaving Warren's ear to overlap the front :)

- used a Memory Box 'Classic Numbers' die to die cut the number 6 and a round die for the red circle to stick it onto then adhered the balloon onto the card with thin sticky pads

- the trailing banner 'tail' was fun to make - first punched banners from the dotty paper using SU's 'Banner' punch. Then stamped the letters onto white card using stamps from a See-D's (NBUS, shame on me) alphabet set and SU 'Real Red' ink pad, punched them out using the super useful SU Itty Bitty round punch and stuck them onto the banners. I'd already  tied a length of yellow and white bakers twine to the balloon so all that was needed was to add thin sticky pads to the back of each banner and place them evenly along the twine

- the sentiment was stamped onto a snippet of white card, using SU's 'Real Red' and an Inca 'Dot Birthday' stamp which is especially good for kids cards. Then to cut the cloud shape using using MFT 'Cloud Trio' - the largest cloud in the set I used a useful trick to correctly position the cloud over the already stamped sentiment. All you do is to die cut yourself a template using the die you want to use and some spare card (paper is too thin for the next step I reckon). Place the cloud shaped aperture which is left in the spare piece of card you just die cut over the sentiment exactly where you want it to sit and stick in place using removable tape at the edge, not at the aperture though, Then, take the die, sit it face down and gently wiggle it into the die cut shape - that's why I reckon you need to use card and not paper for your template as it's easier to feel the die sort of drop into place. Tape the die to the card to stop it from moving, again use removable tape. Run the die and both layers of card through the die cutting machine and hey presto, one perfectly positioned die cut sentiment - if all of the above drivel made any sense to you of course :) 

The Memory Box number dies are new goodies, the lovely Sarn has been kindly keeping me stocked up with Olivia numbers (and letters) but I thought it was time I coughed up and bought my own number dies for a start. I don't like the Britannia Letter dies I already have (waaaay too fussy for my taste) so might even order the Memory Box letters next :) Or put them on my 'Santa, I've been a good girl' letter - tee, hee.

Di
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The 'Frozen' craze

Over in Germany, two little girls are absolutely crackers about the film 'Frozen' and anything remotely linked. Their Birthday gifts from us are 'Frozen' related - and I also sent a box full of 'Frozen' themed disposable party plates, cups, napkins, cake toppers, party bags etc. to cover both their Birthday parties - they are only a couple of weeks apart. At least Mum can just whisk the disposable stuff into a bin bag after each of the parties :)

At aged seven (a week ago today), Mia is absolutely enthralled with Elsa which meant that making this card was a no-brainer - Elsa would be in charge:

I used:

- 8" x 8" square white tent style card blank

- pale blue snowflake backing card from the Christmas box of card stock - it's probably KanBan. Used a Martha Stewart PATP corner snowflake punch just to add interest to the bottom corners and popped aurora borealis gems in the centres

- the image of Elsa came from the internet, there are loads to be found with no copyright issues, including Disney ones such as this one - just Google and be amazed! Printed it onto photographic card, trimmed to size and added a few small aurora borealis gems to the image (as you do) 

- the striped and spotted organza ribbons came from my ribbon box and I tied a silver snowflake charm to the bow using silver cord

- at three corners added a punched snowflake (from a snippet of white card which had been covered with self adhesive sparkly film) and topped them with aurora borealis gems

- Sarn to the rescue, I used a die cut number 7 she sent me a while back and popped it onto a punched circle of navy card which I just edged using a silver calligraphy pen

- the 'Birthday Wishes' sentiment is by Craftwork Cards, popped onto a punched oval of navy card

- the little alphabetic squares that I used to spell out MIA are also by Craftwork Cards and I just popped them onto 1" squares of navy card before adding some small Aurora Borealis gems

Although the in-house critic gave this a huge thumbs up - I suspect he doesn't realise that it's always so much harder to make a card to a specific theme, especially including some personalisation. But, he did refer to me as a 'Fairy Godmother' later on when I was clearing up the mess from making this card, so maybe he knows there was a bit of magic used :)

The feedback from Mia? She absolutely loved this card - nice to know it was a hit :)

Di
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Happy Silver Wedding Anniversary!

Today it's the Silver Wedding Anniversary of a very special friend and of course her hubby! With luck she might have opened this card before she sees this post:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- silver sparkly self adhesive film added to white card for the backing

- Centura white pearl card embossed with Crafts-Too's 'Lattice' folder

- the heart was die cut first using white Centura pearl card and a plain Memory Box die called 'Cupid Heart'

- then I cut the top layer using a Memory Box die called 'Heart of Hearts' and more sparkly silver film card. I do love this die but if you fancy it, do be aware that it doesn't actually cut the main heart shape, I had to run the card through the Cuttlebug again using the Cupid Heart. I reckon that another time it would be best to cut the main heart shape first and then use the die for all the little hearts - but time wasn't on my side and I only had a little bit of the silver film left which wasn't enough to play with

- then I cut a couple of red hearts using the same 'Heart of Hearts' die and popped them back into a couple of cut outs on the big heart shape

- after adding the big layered heart to the card I gathered up the little silver heart shaped cutouts and popped them onto each intersection of the white embossed background

- the sentiment is Craftwork Cards - I have no Silver Wedding stamps or peel offs, but there's plenty of silver going on anyhow :)

- ribbon from my ribbon box with a heart shaped charm added using silver cord

Hope you're both having a fabulous day - and here's to the next 25 years!

Di
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Less is More- Week 188 - Colour Challenge

For this month's colour challenge over at Less is More it's

CHOCOLATE MINT

For a couple of days I thought that was it for me, inspiration had gone for a looooong walk, sigh.

Then, yesterday morning, I stumbled across a pre-printed sentiment - out of which this card was born washed out piccie but I weren't up to doing a whole repeat routine, sorry:

I used:

- Hunkydory slightly 'flittered' mint coloured card stock, just folded into A6

- plain chocolate satin ribbon, topped with narrower chocolate/white spotted organza ribbon

- the sentiment that started it all off - made by Craftwork Cards (many years old now!) and it just about sums up my view on dark 'chocklit'

- five Craftwork cards Candi dots in different shades of chocolate :) You can take the creamy white one if you like - me no likey dose ones - ack, bleurgh!

Di
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Just saying Hello

I tend to get through a fair few 'general' cards here and yesterday I found a coloured image lurking on the desk which seemed fine for one such card:

I used:

- A6 tent style white card blank, right hand bottom corner rounded using We Are Memory Keepers Corner Chomper

- backing paper from Papermania's Capsule Collection 'Aqua' paper pack, cut to size and the corner rounded to match the card blank

- the image was a pre-printed oval from Craftwork Cards which I coloured with TH Distress Markers. The image is on pearlised card which meant that the distress markers sort of 'ran' a bit but I quite like the sort of 'accidental cloisonné' effect :)

- then the image was just layered onto an oval of white card, die cut using a Spellbinders 'Floral Oval' die

- the sentiment is a discontinued Elzybells sentiment, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and punched with SU's 'Modern Label' punch

- a couple of black Josy Rose nail heads to finish

Isn't hindsight wonderful, I discovered Elzybells not long before they had their massive closing down sale but only bought one of everything I could lay my greedy little paws on. Just think of the Playground prizes we could have had - sigh :(

Di
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Quick and easy - in a hurry

Things are busy here right now, so I'm possibly late commenting if you came to play in the Playground - and I'm certainly not spending very much time in the craft room. But, I did sneak in yesterday for a quick play:

I used:

- 4" x 4" square white linen card blank

- a square snippet of plain pink card topped with a square snippet of white linen card

- an uncoloured topper (sadly cut a bit off centre during manufacture - in fact the whole set was a bit like that which is perhaps why they lay forgotten for so long) and a pink oval scallop, both from Craftwork Cards, bought ages ago - I coloured the flowers and leaves using TH Distress Ink markers

- the topper had space for words of your own choosing so I stamped 'Just for You' in Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink using a stamp from the 'Everyday Words Happy Birthday' set by Personal Impressions

Isn't it funny, I thought the uncoloured topper was very ordinary (even allowing for it being die cut off centre) and only picked it out for speed - but in fact do quite like the end result.

Many thanks to those of you who kindly left your thoughts, and some links, regarding the white tool storage 'carousel' I asked about the other day. I should have said at the time - Samuel Taylor's in the UK stocks them - the jury is still out here though. So many really valid pros and cons were put forward - still more thought needed. As Len keeps saying about me, I used to be indecisive, now I'm not so sure!

Di
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Merry Monday - pink, white and silver

I love the combination that Merry Monday #113 are asking for  on this week's challenge - pink, white and silver - this is the inspiration photograph from the challenge:

And this is what I came up with - which I suddenly realised also qualifies for Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge #181 (include gold/silver or both) - plus of course Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for June, where it's always 'Anything goes':

I used:

- A5 white card blank

- silver textured card stock, snippets of pink card stock and some white pearlescent Centura card stock

- first of all I used the Memory Box 'Glowing Candles' die to cut the same die cut from silver and pink card

- next I die cut an oval from white pearlescent Centura card using a Spellbinders 'Floral Oval' die

- the trickiest part was putting the silver part of the candles die cut onto the oval background and then putting the little pink pieces in place without losing any of them :)

- Kate came up with a great trick last week on her Playground Pick Briar Rose card, which I pinched. I drew round the outside of the Floral Ovals die and cut it by hand using scissors to make a mat behind the white lacy edges oval. I do love the effect, many thanks Kate!

- all that was left was to add a snippet of matt silver ribbon, patterned with shiny silver scroll work, down one side when layering up the card then add a Craftwork Cards sentiment which was popped onto oval snippets of pink and silver card (punched using SU plain and scalloped oval punches)
  
Di
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Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 129

Wahoo, it's been hot and sunny in the Playground for the last few days - maybe Summer is finally here. Spike the hedgehog comes to feed each night, in fact we think there might even be two of them - but despite all my efforts I haven't managed to take a decent photo as yet. Having said all that about hot weather, we had a massive downpour on Friday night, complete with thunder and lightning, it went round in circles for hours here :(

My snippets card this week is a really quick and easy one:

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank

- Penny Black's 'Overdressed Duck' stamp, stamped with Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and coloured using Faber Castell Polychromos pencils, Derwent blending stumps and Sansodor blending solution - then die cut using Nesties Labels Eighteen die

- a snippet of SU's 'Rich Razzleberry' card stock - so small I couldn't even cut a shaped mat to back the image with - but I kinda like the rectangle touch for a change :)

- snippets of patterned paper from LOTV's 'Woodland Wishes' paper pad, which were tucked inside a pocket (a sealed envelope cut in half makes two pockets, one each for two pads) inside the back cover

- sentiment is by Craftwork Cards, just popped onto a snippet of 'Rich Razzleberry' which was punched using SU's 'Curly Label' punch

OK, swiftly onto this weeks' picks:

Kanda (Andrea) made this adorable card, just look at the little girl hiding behind that huge bunch of flowers :) And how well the colouring picks up the colours in the snippets of paper.

Mo is one of our most prolific card makers, even whilst away from home, and I just love this snippets card. The blues certainly do it for me!

Now how clever is this 'double zig-zag' card, made by Debs? Absolutely stunning (apparently it all slots together) - only for the brave to try I suspect.

This 'dogwood' card, made by Mary H, is just fabulous.Tons of work went into making this card, and Mary even dyed the ribbon using a re-inker on one of the colours she used to colour the flowers. I call that real dedication!

Eve brought something a bit different to show, a pair of really lovely tissue holders! Made for a Craft Fayre - and I just bet they sold in double quick time. Eve kindly put a link to a tutorial on her blog post if you fancy having a try :)

I love this Wedding card, made by Hazel - such a happy image, even though the knife looks a tad lethal :) I've noticed a few people using vellum lately, and I'm a sucker for luscious ribbon of course!

And almost right at the last minute, Kate nipped into the Playground with a card that just couldn't be left out of the picks (picked two weeks running Kate!). Isn't it absolutely beautiful? The attention to detail is just amazing, you can read all about it on Kate's blog post - love it!

Apologies if we seem to have a lot of pink and flowers this week - purely coincidental I assure you! And each and every single snippets make was lovely as ever, you truly are such a sweet and very talented bunch.

We have one new playmate this week:

Cara hopped by, all the way from Arizona (where our lovely Princess Judy lives of course) - a beautiful snippets card Cara and do please come and play regularly!

And the draw for last week's prize (paper pad, sentiments and 'Happy Birthday' stamps) - our winner is:

Pat

Well done Pat, can you please remind me of your snail mail address (di_wray@hotmail.com) and the goodies will be on their way to you ASAP.

Now a drum roll for the winner of the Spellbinders 'Shell Beauty' embossing folder. 12 of you submitted (and flagged up) three or more entries during the past couple of weeks so I just numbered all the qualifiers and then ran the Random Number selection thingy again - and the winner is:

 Sarah (Sazzle Dazzle)

I've found your address Sarah and will post the folder off to you ASAP. And before you squeak anxiously, it's actually 38 weeks since your last win :)


And of course, this coming week's prize is:

A Penny Black 'Overdressed Duck' stamp, the same as I used on today's card. This is one of my all-time favourite PB stamps :)

As usual, the snippets challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 21st June 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.

BUT, I'll be out playing on Saturday 21st June at the local village carnival with Len and the archery club. That means a small change to my posts 'cos I won't be able to do the prize draw as I would normally do on the Saturday.

On the Sunday I'll post my snippets card and a new Mr Linky as usual - then on Monday 22nd, I'll publish the weekly picks and the Random number draw for last week's prize.That gives everyone a fair chance right up to when the gates close.

Mind you, last year's carnival was pretty wet and miserable with little shelter and we were drenched right through soaked a few times. So I've said that I'll go and help on condition the weather is dry - getting wet through at a village fayre is exactly how my back problem originally kicked off a few Summers ago! I might look daft but am not totally stooopid, rain remotely expected and I'll be here at home keeping warm and dry!

Mr Linky is below - please let me know if you have any problems linking, I can sort it out for you quite quickly and am always happy to do so.

Have a great week!

Di (and a wave from Parsnip)
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