Christmas Kickstart #62 - Mini-Slimline

The current challenge for May 2022 over at Christmas Kickstart, HERE, is 'Mini-Slimline'.  Really great theme and I literally just had the very thing to hand ........ raring to go! And, I was homed in on sparkle - right on cue for the current Allsorts Challenge - yay!

A good while ago, I think before Al was so unwell, I won a very 'tricky-woo' looking die over on Rudolph Days Challenge. My Cuttlebug was playing up like it had lumbago and, with everything else that Mo was coping with, I sort of wrote the prize off. However, last week, right out of the blue it arrived here! Thanks again Mo! A lovely surprise!

I set to and quickly made this card for my entry:

I used:

- mini slimline white card blank - sized 6.00" x 3.25"

- snippet of silver pearlescent silver card (looks more grey in the photo), backed with 'die cutting double sided adhesive paper' then die cut using the Gemini. Used the new die from Mo, by Nellie Snellon, called 'Forest with deer and squirrel', and then put to one side

- knowing the full size of the die cut, I could then trim down another snippet of card - this time black with tiny little pieces of silver sparkle embedded all over - to just a little bit bigger than the landscape die cut - it was a close call as well, even with extra full sheets of the stuff here!

- peeled off the sticky backing then adhered the die cut to the black semi-sparkly background and put it to one side for now. It's always best to either run the whole assembled panel through your die cutting machine (slight risk of distortion there to be honest) - OR, do as I did and flip it face down onto your glass mat then give it a really good rub with the Stamping Pressure gadgets that so many of us are loving right now. Bingo - adhesive backing stuck perfectly!

- then stamped the sentiment in the bottom right corner of the card, using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from the Woodware 'Tall Tree Gnome' set - happened to be available waiting to be stored away and also the size etc., so itt seemed right

- then glued the image panel onto the card front

- finished off with some different sized clear diamante gems to either side of the sentiment, for extra sparkle!

I really adore this new die, how cool would it look with poinsettias or snowflakes at one of the corners huh? It does take patience to cut, then place the die onto the background. I learned some things I probably would do differently along the way. eg. in future - place the die cut and then trim the outer frame to fit. But - really worth the effort and, SO many different colour combinations can be used as well! Len doesn't like black on Christmas cards so this got the thumbs down for colour but he did like the overall design and die cut.

I would like to enter this into Christmas Kickstart #62.

AND, of course into the current Allsorts Challenge # 676 'Add some sparkle'.

And, equally, into Darnell's NBUS #38 HERE.

And there's another one done for the Christmas card box. Fair to say, the die did intimidate me so I only planned on making a single card - but, would be very happy to make a batch now!

Of course, Mini-Slimline envelopes are as rare as hen's teeth here in the UK. All envelopes and suitable envelope dies are out of stock everywhere I've looked (and so expensive too!) - so here goes with my 'envelope maker scoring gizmo'! Always summick!

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 311 and 312 - results and Weeks 313/314 Prize E

Yup, those prizes just keep on coming!

As this is a 'Results and Picks' week we'll stick to that aspect but, without a Designer Guest.

I had to make my own snippets card which makes up Prize E. I knew before I set out that this was gonna be a leetle bit 'tricky woo' to work out - so I actually wrote down the steps before setting off. And this is the result, all gold and sparkly in real life - I hate my camera in Winter! It might show up better if you click on the image - otherwise please just take my word for it:

I used:

- 6" x 6" (actually just slightly under) square white card blank

- piece of white card stock, die cut using the largest (5" x 5") die from the Creative Dies 'Wonky Stitches - Nesting Squares' set

- sheesh, I sat and gawped at the task ahead! So, a bit of thinking and scribbling of notes, then off we went - with Parsnip popping up now and then from underneath the desk to offer advice, sigh

- in my mind I could already see the layout, so a first step was to stamp the poinsettia 'head' from the gorgeous Altenew 'Poinsettia Pine' stamps set onto a scrap/snippet of white card in any old black ink then trim around the edges it before setting aside (note, if you're braver than me and want to risk wrecking the actual red poinsettia than be my guest - am sure it would work OK with care as my template came out good as new!)

- used snippets of pearly red and deep green card to stamp and heat emboss the poinsettia head plus three green leaves - using a Delicata 'Golden Glitz' ink pad (these are so juicy!), an anti-static bag of course beforehand, and then Ranger 'Liquid Platinum' embossing powder before spending time carefully fussy cutting the pieces out. I think there are matching dies but, possibly due to the cost if I'm honest, I felt the images were able to be successfully cut out by hand compared to the additional cost of a set of dies

- then I set to with the Misti and used the idea I'd had whilst thinking during the wee small hours in bed about making this card. First of all I swiped the white panel all over with an anti-static bag of course - this step saves so much heartache when using embossing powder, and put it into the Misti ready for action

- my approach was to then add a teeny spot of removable tape runner to the back of the poinsettia card template I'd cut earlier and position it onto the 'Wonky stitches' square white background which was set up in the Misti as I just said

- placed the white poinsettia template onto the bottom left corner of the piece of card and set about positioning the sentiment (bearing in mind the wavy stitched edge) and the pieces of foliage and berries stamps in place. I just thought of an alternative way to do this and will write a few words below. I was able to gently tuck them underneath the poinsettia template and at the same time check that the already stamped and die cut 'green leaves' would sit properly once the piece came together

- when happy with the layout I carefully removed the poinsettia template, leaving the sentiment and foliage stamps in place and then firmly closed the Misti lid to pick them up

- then I stamped and embossed them all in one go using the Delicata Delicata 'Golden Glitz' ink pad and Ranger 'Liquid Platinum' embossing powder - phew, perfect result

- the sentiment is another one from the Inkylicious 'Seasons Greetings' set of four stamps

- next I backed the white panel with a square of very slightly sparkly gold card and added it to the card front

- used a red Ziggy water colour brush pen to colour in the berries

- glued the green leaves and the red poinsettia in place (using a Woodware Fine Line bottle) and then breathed a huge sigh of relief

The closest I came to disaster was when I got a little smudge of the red Ziggy on the white background of the card - thank goodness for the Tombow Sand Eraser!! It came off easily and I'll be doing the draw for those in the next few days by the way.

And using the Misti really helped so much in placing the foliage underneath where the poinsettia and green leaves would be glued. I subsequently thought that just stamping the poinsettia onto a piece of acetate, with the card front in place underneath it, would also allow correct placement of the foliage and sentiment without the need to stamp and cut out a template or tuck the stamps underneath. Then when you pick up the stamps with the lid just remove the piece of acetate and carry on as usual. I use grid marked acetate a lot when placing sentiments as it's about the easiest way to get them straight :)

So, that was a rather long winded explanation - as much for my own benefit when I come to make more of these cards, as I surely will.

And of course, Prize E is very much connected to this card:

I think this bundle is one of the biggest and best in this year's big giveaway and it's the Creative Dies 'Wonky Stitches - Nesting Squares' set, the Altenew 'Poinsettia Pine' set of stamps and another Inkylicious 'Seasons Greetings' set of four stamps.

Quick whip though the fortnight's picks:

Sonia always makes the most delicious cards, and also provides loads of tips and such about making them. So I chose this card pop-up card to share with you. It seems very much like a variation on a 'bridge' card which is also a popular design right now - love it!

Majda worked long and hard on this gorgeous baby album! What a beautiful result - it's sure to be treasured for a lot of years.

I actually still have my own baby album, which was carefully written up by my own dear Mum all those years ago. It's one of those cream leather bound pre-printed ones with gaps to fill in about height, weight, Christening gifts etc.,first words, first steps and so on. What is so very cute is that she even took a little footprint from me as a baby - bless her. Such a tiny foot - and so many steps through life ahead of it :)

And last but not least, I picked this lovely Christmas card made by Lynne in NI for her hubby. Wonderful use of snippets - and also such a clever idea to mask off the PB 'Snowy' snowman and give him a partner! Brilliant!

I could have gone on and on with picks, but there are only so many hours in a day to spend sitting here tapping at the keyboard.

We had 45 entries and no new Playmates - not a bad turnout considering the fact that most of us were flying round doing last minute preparations for Christmas - which I hope you all are recovering from :)

So, now for the winner of the Lil'Inker Designs 'Christmas Words Tree' die - who is:

Greta

Well done Greta! I know that I definitely have your latest address, so for speed and ease I'll post the die off to you as soon as I can. And of course this win is entirely separate to the current big giveaway so good luck there as well. It's all the luck of the draw folks!

On that subject, because of an inquiring mind as well as knowledge of how random number generators work from my IT background (man and boy from aged 19 when it was almost steam driven stuff!), I don't have total faith in the one I use - although it's the best publicly available (and free) one around. If you run it often enough, or even just a couple of times - you may get the very same numbers popping up again. I suspect it's due to what they use as a 'root' to trigger the algorithm - perhaps local sound, atmospherics etc. etc. That means I will happily use the first winning number each time during the draw, but for subsequent prizes, then I hope you agree that one prize is great per person and the next one(s) should be spread around.

We still have a further week to run on the big 'Christmas/New Year' giveaway but those prizes won't be posted as quickly as I will need to get all the addresses etc. sorted out. Our local Post Office is likely to be very busy straight after the holidays and queues (lines to our 'Over the pond' friends) will probably be long and tedious. I don't relish that as a thought for sure - plus it's going to take time to package things up etc. Oops, and of course there's also the sand eraser giveaway which ends at midnight today (New Year's Eve).

Crumbs, it's all go here! I feel like I'm juggling plates right now.

So all that remains for this post is to remind you to watch out for a few more prizes, say so in the relevant posts if you want to be in with a chance (whole or part of a prize is fine) and remember to make and link up a snippets make HERE before the Playground gates slam shut at 11am on Saturday 6th January 2018. I'll also be turning off comments on the prize posts around the same time so do make sure you've commented in good time on any prizes you want to play for.

AND, we also wish you all a Happy and Healthy 2018 - with love from Parsnip and of course me.

Oh good grief, I just spotted him scurrying off with the gas lighter we keep for outside candles - he was cackling and muttering 'Fireworks at midnight - heh, heh, heh - stand by with those extinguishers'. Help!

Happy Birthday Super Hero

A couple of weeks ago I realised that a little neighbour's 7th Birthday wasn't too far off, so my in-house critic asked his Dad what his favourite 'things of the moment' were. Last year it was Spiderman, which was a challenge in itself - this year it's the Avengers film! Talk about a challenge and a half - one of those times you wish you never asked a question :(

Anyhow, I poodled around the internet looking for free downloads and, after truly spending almost a full day on it, this is the card I ended up with. The image governed the card from the word go and there was an awful lot of compromising along the way. Not least as the in-house critic kept on throwing in suggestions:

I used:

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

- backing layer of silver card stock, trimmed to just slightly less than the size of the card front and glued in place

- then a slightly smaller layer of SU's 'Raspberry Ripple' card, trimmed to slightly smaller than the silver layer and glued in place

- the image was trimmed and mounted onto a backing of silver card - then kept to one side as I fiddle-faddled around with the rest of the card

- using snippets of silver card, backed with Stick-It adhesive sheet I cut the letters for the 'Taylor' panel using the Tattered Lace 'Anniversary - Classic' set of dies

- then the words were constructed onto a snippet of 'Raspberry Ripple' card and backed with a snippet of silver card. Tip for positioning letters when you don't want to risk using faint pencil lines, especially when the card itself is dark anyhow - use a strip of removable tape as a guide. I use the almost clear stuff but it's good enough to still see where you're going - and I've learnt the hard way over time to always press it onto whatever trousers or top I'm wearing first, just to get rid of any excess sticky - even removable tape can rip some card stock :(

- die cut the 'Happy Birthday' from silver card, again backed with Stick-It, using a new die by Paper Smooches called 'Birthday Words'

- then cut a number seven using a left over snippet of sticky backed silver card

- glued everything in place and just felt there were some gaps to fill so out came the box of confetti and sequins and I just added three silver stars to finish off

Almost went into total meltdown when I realised that the two stars on the 'Taylor' panel were just slightly out of alignment with one another and I'd stuck them in place using Glossy Accents so absolutely no hope of re-positioning them :( Isn't it always the way, if you're gonna do a boo-boo then you'll do it right at the last knockings! I know it's just a fraction, but it might as well have been a mile at that point in what had been a looooooooooong day!

The Paper Smooches 'Birthday Words' die set was 'enabled' by Jules when she used it on a card the other week. She used it 'inlaid' - which I actually think is more effective but I'm not unhappy with the way I used it. It comes with the Happy Birthday words plus two other celebratory words - and of course when I nipped off to buy one set, a second one fell into the basket for the Playground toy box so watch this space at some point in the future :)

Jane W made a really interesting point recently. With dies becoming more and more intricate we're almost creating our own peel offs when we back card with adhesive sheet and then cut fiddly dies. It look like Little Claire have twigged this and apparently they've got some really great peel offs in stock - who knows, perhaps peel offs are due to return into favour. Hop over to Jane's to see what I mean - HERE.

As it's another very important 7th Birthday this week, I'd like to enter this into the current 7th Birthday celebratory challenge over at Allsorts. Well done to Brenda and the team for all your hard work and wonderful inspiration!

And - I'm pleased to report that little Taylor was delighted with his card! He must have wonky eyes like me :)

Di 
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