Snowy Kisses

This is my snippets card to kick off challenge #450 in over in the Snippets Playground. Go HERE to join in the fun!

Bad 'lighting engineer' work means the right hand side of the card is a bit washed out - sorry, Dudley is still learning the ropes, wink!

Sizeable snippets, although I didn't use some of the white card or the piece of vellum in the end

I used:

- 6" x 6" white card blank, made using a sheet of Strathmore Mixed Media Vellum Finish card to match the image panel-  side opening

- used a snippet of the Strathmore card for the image panel (I keep every little scrap - it's not cheap stuff!) using a Sweet Dixie stamp called 'Snowy Kisses' and a VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' ink pad 

- then coloured the image using Arteza Watercolour pencils and a water brush - trying to pick up the background paper colours as much as possible

- added clear 'Wink of Stella' - to the snow on the trees, the snowballs on the ground and also the little poinsettia flower head - so cute!

- die cut the image panel using a 4" square die from Clarity Stamps 'Nested Square Heart Doodle Aperture Frame-Its' set

- stamped the sentiment onto the image panel using a die from Uniko's 'Most Wonderful' set of Christmas sentiments and a Hero Hues 'Granite' ink pad - the Misti was invaluable!

- then slightly trimmed a rather large snippet of holly patterned paper from LOTV's 'Woodland Wishes' paper pad down to 5.75" square and glued it onto the card front

- die cut a snippet of almost plain green paper from the same LOTV paper pad, using a Presscut die from their huge set of square dies. I did this having tried on a totally unusable piece of card first - to make sure both sizes lined up perfectly

- glued the green piece of die cut paper to the back of the image panel to highlight the pretty die cut edging around the image panel, I used a glue pen - two in fact, with different sized nibs for fear of spoiling all the work thus far!

- used very narrow pre-cut strips of double sided foam (from Amazon a while ago and very useful for a little more 'lift' than my much loved thin sticky pads) to stick around the back of the image panel with a few more pieces inside the area to add extra support

- then used Chrissie Stokes' tip, after removing the protection layer from the foam strips, I ran a glue stick over all the exposed 'sticky' to give it some 'wiggle room' rather than immediately setting itself firmly in place

- and that was it, all finished and one more for the 'Christmas Card box' - which is looking fairly healthy already!

Some things I encountered along the way:

- Arteza watercolour pencils are truly great and the more one uses them, the easier and more variable it becomes. I generally apply water colour pencil to the image and then 'draw it away' using a water pen. It's also a good option to pick up the colour with a water pen - directly from the pencil itself and darker colours tend to work best when doing this.

The use of the set of dies came about thanks to a snippets playmate Pat - I'd all but forgotten I have a set of these dies and one of Pat's recent lovely cards prompted me to dig it out for a first outing.The packaging is huge and it didn't fit into a NBUS basket so was languishing to one side. Thanks for that reminder Pat!

As always, my LOTV pads papers are continuing to gradually diminish in size. I had the foresight to buy some in digital form when it was apparent that digital was the route they were taking. I'm not keen on digital papers or images - but needs must when the devil drives!

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

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #48 - my NBUS is the Sweet Dixie stamp I used for the 'Snowy Kisses' image and the set of Clarity frame dies

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #72  - the theme is 'Wrapped Up For Christmas' and my 'snow people' are wrapped up in their scarves - as well as in one another judging by the carrot noses! Cute! x

Dudley Pupdate - he discovered blueberries during the week. I'd read that dogs rather liked them and so gave him one to try whilst preparing a little dessert for us humans - of fresh blueberries with strawberry kefir yoghurt. Of course, Dudley then ran away with his first one, as he does, to explore and try out his new 'single berry treat' in peace - thankfully on a tiled floor as am sure they will stain both him and anything else they come into contact with! After two return visits to ask for more, the novelty wore off - thankfully! 

As it is, Dudley flings his diced carrots all over the place with wild abandon - mostly as he sifts through his 'veggie dog-bowl' to make sure his much loved diced sweet peppers have all been eaten first. We're not particularly vegetarian but do try to supplement his breakfast of more traditional semi-dry dog foods with evening meals of steamed chicken, other cooked meats - 'preferably grilled steak' says Dudley, the treat of a boiled egg as well as fresh raw and safe veggies at least. 

Fat chance of grilled steak here - the country is in financial meltdown right now and Dudley has to knuckle down ......... and might even need to get a newspaper round at some point. Ha, just try telling HIM that one though! Truth be told - he actually gives SO much more than he ever asks for, just like all dogs do.

'Tis the Season to be jolly .........

Here's my  card for ScrappyMo's Rudolph Days Challenge for August:

I used:

- white DL card blank, tent style

- first of all I coloured the pre-stamped Penny Black 'Snow Family' image using Polychromos pencils and Sansodor blending fluid - matching the colouring to the background paper 'scene' I'd selected to use

- die cut the image using Penny Black's 'Snow Family' set of dies and tickled the pale grey fluffy pom poms on their hats using Clear Wink of Stella

- used a piece of SU 'Wisteria Wonder' card for the main backing - die cut using a die from Phill Martin's Slender Collection set called 'Elegant Eyelets' and glued onto the card front

- the background paper is from Whimsy's 'Frozen' Slimline paper pack - LOVE this set of papers so much! Trimmed the paper to nicely sit on top of the die cut backing card - just a sliver from the top and sightly over 3/4" from one side

- stamped a sentiment onto the bottom left of the 'scenic' panel using the Misti, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from Clearly Besotted's 'Simply Said Christmas' set of sentiments 

- glued the 'scenic' panel onto the card front so that the 'Wisteria Wonder' layer formed a frame 

- then added the die cut 'Snow Family' using thin sticky pads to add a little dimension (but still keeping it under the limit for standard postage letters) 

- the 'Snow Family' die comes with some lovely snowflake dies and I used the three smallest ones to die cut a selection of flakes from the leftover card that the main image had been stamped onto, then tickled them with Clear Wink of Stella on a scrap of paper and left them to dry

- finishing touch was to add a scattering of said snowflakes using a glue pen to 'lift' the background

In real life the colours are a little more vibrant and of course, just to make life easier when the Christmas panic sets in, I made two exactly the same. Partly as I found two ready stamped images and couldn't bear not to use both of them. I suspect that a sweet friend sent me the stamped images ages ago. Before I bought the same 'pre-loved' stamp several years later ............. then I followed it up with the matching set of dies, probably within the last 12 months or so. Funny what you come across when looking through boxes of stuff you've almost forgotten about. ☺

Another Christmas Challenge that I love is 'Peace on Earth' - it's always 'Anything Goes' but their mood board does have a snowman on it. So I'd like to play along with their current Peace on Earth Challenge #22.   

And, I just found 'Christmas with the Cuties' Challenge #62. Anything cute and Christmas, with an optional theme of 'Frosty the Snowman, was a jolly happy soul'. I just had to join in as my sentiment includes the word 'jolly' - as all snowmen should be! I think it's my first time playing over there - but there's at least one familiar DT name! Hi Sarah. ☺

As both the 'eyelets' DL dies as well as the Penny Black 'Snow Family' die set are NBUS - I'd like to join in with Darnell's NBUS Challenge #41. 

The results of Challenge #434 are over at the Snippets Playground HERE. 

Dudley alternates between being very solemn and then running round like a crazy dog! On Thursday evening Len sneaked up the 'bedtime treat chalk bone' as Dudley was snoozing in the hallway. Swiftly, Len popped it onto my desk and whispered 'Hide it' - and we reckon it truly could have been done in one massive bound from downstairs - there was Dudley beside me waiting, paws up on my desk chair, tongue out with a cheeky smile, literally as I reached out to pick up the treat! He's a total scamp!

Then there are the times he looks at life through the serious end of the telescope and spends time almost meditating with some of his most loved toys, and of course his 'bestie' Honka Duck. On Friday, whilst taking a piccie of today's card by placing it on our bed (hunting for light!), I looked up and Dudley was steadily watching me, from his position surrounded by toys on the bed! Usually he would move, but this time he didn't and I managed a quick and sneaky photo:

I really love this 'spur of the moment' photo of him. Dudley isn't a dog who poses nicely when asked - you have to take 'pot luck'. He has one paw on top of, and protecting 'Honka',peeping from behind him is a cheeky chick toy and beside him are an upside down flying squirrel .......... plus a much loved hedgehog, sent by his much loved 'God-dog Mum' when he arrived here almost four years ago now. Yup, he still has it and uses it as a little pillow often during the night, so cute. Version 2 is on my desk, 'awaiting Mama's surgery' as it's got a  split seam (ouch!), but let's not tell him that!

The thing that really gets me is the depth, wisdom, and even a tinge of sadness in the look in his eyes, talk about 'Let me look right into your soul Mama'!

Or, to look on the bright side, most likely, 'Hey Mama, where you gonna try and hide the next treat?'!! Let me try my pensive look on you - ha!'.

He (Dudley) knows I'm typing about him as he just popped out from under my desk to say 'a big hello, from your Friendly Security Guard'. His timing always cracks me up!

Love from both of us - Dudley and of course me,

The fence peeker!

Dudley is totally the most nosy dog I've ever come across - just the rustle of a piece of wrapping paper - even if it's not the rustle of a packet of cheese - and he's there beside you, watching. It's the same with all deliveries and, apart from food, it's a ritual that he has to be shown everything as it's unpacked. The same when I make a card - he has to look very seriously at the end product and gently bow his nose to it, before it can be put to one side.

Earlier in the week, he was mooching around the back garden and homed in on his favourite place to have a 'nosy' into next door's garden - through their fence. There's a small gap where the fence panel meets the horizontal gravel board (their house and garden is built lower than ours) and Dudley likes to spy on next door's garden, family, children etc.

So there he was, bent down with his rear end and plume of a tail in the air to have a good 'gander' when all of a sudden he literally shot up into the air, hastily backed off and then began barking at the fence.

Len was in the garden and had seen the whole performance, so he went over to quieten Dudley down. Then, he too, bent down to look through the horizontal small 'gap'. And there, staring right back at him, was a pair of very angry looking eyes ........ belonging to 'Teddy De Shih Tzu' who lives next door! You don't mess with Teddy, so whether he'd tried a little snap at Dudley's nose we don't know - but it was quite comical! That'll teach Dudley to be a 'fence peeker'!

Then, the other day, I was thinking about the incident and remembered I made this card as a result of Len and I spotting a different neighbours' cat, spying on us through a knot hole in the fence - well away from Dudley's 'sneaky peek' position:

This was made way back in January 2012 (HERE on my blog if you really want to know more). At the time, using lots of flowers, pearls and lace was 'the thing' that many aspired to when making their cards. 

Life is much simpler now as new ideas, tool and techniques have entered the card making arena! But, at the time a good few of us thought they were very pretty. And I didn't have a clue about image manipulation - what I took on the camera was what I published!

I prefer how we are now, but suddenly remembered that I have a load of really lovely flowers stored in here. Wild Orchid crafts was a favourite place to shop! Plus lots of flat silk ones, leaves, lace, ribbons and bows - plus more for sure.

IF anyone reading this, sorry UK only though, would like me to fill and post a parcel box of flowers etc. to them - please feel free to email me, using my own email address on the right hand side bar. I would love to send you some totally free Happy Mail.

The Really Useful boxes currently housing all those embellishments are never touched these days and would be better put to use storing other stuff. If there are no takers within a couple of weeks or so then I'll try some online sites that I know of - otherwise they will be heading for the bin, which would be a shame.

Remember, the results of Challenge #429 can be found HERE. And there's still a week to play on the current Snippets Playground challenge!

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #415 - results

Still no real sign of Winter just yet (vests and Liberty bodices spring to mind!) but Christmas is certainly peeking over the horizon so, perhaps once December arrives, Jack Frost will also put in an appearance.

First of all, the picks - and we have two cards as one pick first:

Two Playmates joined in this challenge with cards showing 'Disappearing Nine Patch' cards - a technique I subsequently found beautifully shown and explained in a SCS tutorial HERE. It's absolutely fabulous I think, very clever and so perfect for using up snippets. I had to let you see both cards - in fairness to the girls who made them - they're both beautiful and yet quite different. This seems to be a real trend sweeping across a few challenges right now - I love it. The cards were made by Suzanne and Sandy. Well done girls!  

Megan, above, had several snippets cards in one post using strips of patterned papers inside various shaped apertures and this is just one of them. They're all fabulous and do please go and have a look HERE for some inspiration. I love all of them Megan!

 

I immediately loved this card, made by Inkami (Franka). As Sarn rightly said in her comment, it's difficult to pull off the 'balance of striking as well as intricate' - and this card is a beautiful example of what a lovely die, carefully chosen colours and an eye for design can achieve when you're using up snippets.   

 

Two new Playmates this time:

 

Melanie H

Karen C

What a lot of fabulous inspiration from everyone, both new and existing Playmates - thank you all so much.

That's my picks from Challenge 415 in the Playground and I've stuck to the three picks limit, plus our new Playmates, very tough choosing - as always! We had 51 entries in total, it's so good to see the number of entries looking so healthy.

Now for the prize draw which is a Penny Black slapstick/cling stamp called 'full of glee', kindly donated by Darnell - and here's the winner:

Linby

Congratulations Lynn! I'm pretty sure this stamp will make an appearance before too long on one of your DT projects. Please send me your address, even if you know that I know it already, with your full name at the top as well so it can be can be copied and pasted for speed and ease. It's also confirmation that you still would like the prize of course.  Please put Playground Winner or similar in the subject line of your email in case it drops into my junk mail. Email address is on RH sidebar as always.

Had a quiet smile here, Darnell's name popped out first - the giver of the prize in the first place ☺

As soon as I have your address Lynn, I'll pop your prize in the post the next time I'm out giving the car some exercise.

Remember folks, there's still almost one more week to run on the current Challenge #416 which you can find HERE. The prize is already proving to be very popular - it's a Pink Ink set of stamps and matching dies called 'Pigs Might Fly'.

Also, the Christmas Kickstart Challenge (Christmas Snippets), where I'm currently Jo's guest 'elf', is still running until the end of November.

At the moment, I don't know if Scrappy Mo will be running her Rudolph Days challenge this month (usually from the 25th) as her husband is recovering from a quadruple bypass. I suggest you keep an eye on Mo's blog HERE. My card is all ready and waiting but Al's health as well as Mo's own well-being must come first.

We had a Sainsbury's delivery during the week and the delivery man heard Dudley 'singing' to him from the top of the stairs and called up 'Where's your honking duck today little fella?'. He'd remembered that Dudders brought his duck down to show to him. Dudley's 'singing' is preferable to him barking when folk are at the open front door here - it's a cross between yodelling and varying notes of a sort of doggie song.

I was finishing off writing this post yesterday afternoon (Saturday) and Len reminded me it was time for Dudley's quarterly worming tablet. Something he hates and we dread as it's such a struggle - we've tried all disguises for the wretched pill and sadly even stinky blue cheese, which he loves, doesn't fool him. Len went to a high level drawer in the bedroom where 'special treat time' doggie choccie drops are kept hidden - Dudley was sitting on our bed being nosy as usual of course. As I moved onto the landing to go and help Len with the 'administering' I was almost bowled over. Dudley literally flew through the air off the bed, charged right past me, scampered down the stairs and belted into the lounge to hide. We both stood open mouthed thinking - 'what just happened?'. All we can think is that he associates choccie drops with medicine - right from three months ago - and he was having none of it. I almost cried laughing - it's about the fastest I've ever seen Dudley move! So far we haven't made any move at all to try again.

Only 15 minutes earlier Len had had to wake him up and carry him down to the garden for the toilet (ie. poo time) before rain arrived - and I took this photo. He was so sleepy and just dangling like a limp dishcloth and  that's Len's hand you can see under his chest/tummy to carry him:

I do NOT need to go to the toilet - let me sleep! I was all warm and cosy, sigh.

His legs and tail all seem to have merged into one another - but the grumpy sleepy look on his dishevelled face tells the full story! 

Right now though, the little guy is 100% wide awake and on high alert! No worming tablets today, thank you very much!

Edit - Len caught Dudley almost unawares just before bedtime, popped the pill in and gulp, down it went without a battle, for once - hooray!

Love from me - and a 'high-five' plus a woof from Dudley,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #412 - results

Time for the prize draw and of course the fortnightly 'picks'. Autumn is still hovering with variable weather from day to day. Today (Saturday) is lovely and sunny, with a turn for the worse forecast for this coming week. Wish it would make its mind up!

First of all, the picks:

This is one of my all time favourite dies and Lynne has used it so beautifully. Very CAS and so pleasing to look at - and that could be snippets from a LOTV paper pad I reckon!

I absolutely love this card, made by Janice! So many pretty snippets used for the flowers and foliage - all echoing the patterned paper used for the welly - really clever.

 

 

And April raced into the Playground waving this delightful card featuring a polar bear in a jar! It's gorgeous and lots of lovely snippets used! Beautiful shading on the snippety foliage too.

One new Playmate this time:

I've seen Cara's name a lot around Blogland, she's a very talented card maker and I'm delighted to welcome her to the Snippets Playground. What a gorgeous card - do come back and play again soon Cara!

That's my picks from Challenge 412 in the Playground and I've stuck to the three picks limit, plus our new Playmate. My list of potential picks was so long that I had real difficulty whittling it down to three - some really fabulous snippets makes to choose from! Can I please remind you to give an indication of what snippets you used - I don't need the 'full works' but if there isn't any indication then I have to exclude your entry as a possible pick as well as from the prize draw. I even had to do that with a couple of really lovely potential picks. We had a bumper 53 entries in total. When you think about it, that's all the more impressive as I limit the number of entries per person to just one per challenge.

Now for the prize draw which is an Altenew 'Poured Acrylic' paper pack and a Lawn Fawn 'Giant Happy Birthday to You' die - and here's the winner:

SaRn

I just couldn't believe my eyes when Sarn's name popped out as I ran the Random number generator! The first person whose name came out wasn't playing for the prize so I ran it for a second time and I can't think of a more deserving winner. Sarn, who is our current Guest Designer, has been such a stalwart in the Snippets Playground, especially whenever I've got myself into a pickle and she's stepped in to help out - and she doesn't usually play for a prize so I think this truly was serendipity! And, we also have another reason to celebrate Sarn's luck as she is now on the Allsorts Design team over HERE. Quick - get thee hence Sarn and purchase a Lottery ticket - good things run in threes!!

Congratulations Sarn! Please send me your address, even if you know that I know it already, with your full name at the top as well so it can be can be copied and pasted for speed and ease. It's also confirmation that you still would like the prize of course.  Please put Playground Winner or similar in the subject line of your email in case it drops into my junk mail. Email address is on RH sidebar as always.

As soon as I have your address I'll pop your prize in the post. I have a trip planned to the post box on Tuesday morning if you get back to me quickly!

I think this is one of the most popular prizes I've offered for some time and 45 of you actually played for the prize!

Remember folks, there's still almost one more week to run on the current Challenge 413 which you can find HERE. The prize is a really great set of Stampin' Up stamps featuring topiary and vertical greetings - kindly donated by Sarn our much loved 'Head Prefect' who is also our Guest Designer for Challenge # 413. I happen to know that Sarn has posted another card using the same set of stamps - which you can see HERE.

One of Dudley's favourite treats is to be given the 'inner tube' from either a kitchen roll or a toilet roll. He doesn't really rip them to shreds as he would have done as a puppy but still gets some fun out of tearing a few pieces off - leaving one of us 'pawrents' to clear them up of course. I gave him one the other day then once he lost interest I popped it into the craft room waste bin ready to go into the main recyling bin. A good while later, there was Dudley having another chew at it - having slipped past me to underneath my desk whilst I was sitting there, and then quietly rootled around in the waste bin to help himself before sneaking back out with it! His middle name ought to be 'Stealth' - silent and very subtle with it.

Love from Parsnip, myself and the usual happy 'high-five' and woof from Dudley.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #403 - results

Well, at long last we seem to be really moving into Summer! About time too as well.

First of all, the picks:

I picked Vicky's card firstly as I love the design, colours and freshness. The snippets element totally sealed it though - I adore those lovely flowers! Vicky used a heart shaped punch and snippets of designer paper and see how perfectly the flowers are aligned with the polka dot pattern. Perfection - and such a lovely way to create flowers.

Here's another card using snippets very imaginatively - made by Shannon (SHartl). It's a sunburst card and always such fun to make, there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube if you fancy having a go! I particularly love how Shannon has used black as a contrast to the lovely pinks and greens - and the vertical sentiment is just perfect!

And last, but not least, Jane W hopped over with this gorgeous card - more pinks and greens. This is a really lovely example of playing with a load of snippets, a couple of dies and arranging them in a design that's a real delight to the eye. I really love how Jane used the beautiful flower spray and also tied it together so neatly by stamping some leaves on the sentiment panel. Gorgeous!

That's my picks from Challenge # 403. We had 39 entries and no new Playmates. Number of entries in the current challenge are disappointingly low so far - just 18. Still one week left to play along though - and Susan has donated not only her time but also a really great prize. Where are you all hiding?

Time for the draw now - no hanging around this week! The prize is a set of Sweet Dixie 'DIY Tools' dies, and the winner is:

Vicky

Congratulations Vicky! After your generous prize for the 'Ruby's Memory' draw recently I was so pleased to see your name pop out. Along with being a pick as well, buy a lottery ticket as these things often come in threes ☺

Please send me your address, with your full name at the top as well so it can be can be copied and pasted for speed and ease. It's also confirmation that you still would like the prize of course.  Please put Playground Winner or similar in the subject line of your email in case it drops into my junk mail. Email address is on RH sidebar as always.

Remember folks, there's still almost one more week to run on the current Challenge #404 HERE. The prize is a really lovely Hero Arts 'Knitting' stamp set and matching Hero Arts 'Knitting Frame Cuts' - kindly donated by Susan B our Guest Designer.Perfect for knitters as well as cat lovers.

Dudley is still into mischief here. Need I say any more? I did some baking yesterday afternoon and he never left my side, every time I looked down there was a little hopeful face gazing up at me. It was compounded by the fact that at the same time I was cooking a joint of pork in a sauce in the slow cooker for 'pulled pork' - it smelled and, later on, certainly tasted delicious. Yes, he did get a little taste put to one side before I returned the shredded pork back into the sauce. Talk about cupboard love ☺ By the way, I actually cheat and use quite a lot of the Schwartz range of slow cooker packet mixes since I got back into the swing of using a slow cooker at least once a week. It takes away all the measuring out of herbs and spices etc. - I only had to add tomato ketchup, cider vinegar and brown sugar for a delicious barbecue style sauce.

Right now he's lying on his back with his front paws sort of 'flopped' and head to one side having 40 winks - at the top of the stairs. I'm sure he's plotting on one of us tripping over him and all the way down!

Love from Parsnip, myself and the usual happy 'high-five' and woof from Dudley.