Sunday Snippets - 'Easter'

Happy Easter everyone! Naturally, my snippets card had to be an Easter one, albeit a very simple design:

I used:

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

- all the card I used for the die cutting came from one of the Papermilldirect card swatches I wrote about recently

- used an unbranded die set and three different shades of card swatch to die cut the 'Chook Family' 

- then die cut the unbranded 'Happy Easter' sentiment, using a green swatch sample, before double layering it

- trimmed a snippet of the white linen card to a square just big enough to line up the chicken family

- at that point I knew a little 'frame' was needed and so I cut one using a snippet of Tonic 'Soft Amethyst' satin mirror card

- to add something different I rounded two opposing corners on both the white panel and the soft amethyst one, using a small X-Cut 'corner rounder' punch

- glued the two front panel layers together and then added the chickens using thin sticky foam pads and a glue pen to add the sentiment - the wings of the chickens can be flipped up again once the card is taken out of the envelope

- added the front panel onto the card front using narrow foam tape

- finished!

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

- Allsorts Challenge # 821 HERE -  under 'Anything Goes'

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #73 HERE - all of the dies I used were out to have a first play  

Dudley Pupdate: to be honest, it's been a pretty normal week here with Dudley. He and I had our regular 'Clash of the Titans' yesterday when I groomed him then applied anti-flea treatment. It's funny how he gets the 'vibes' immediately beforehand and sidles off to keep his distance. We went to the local pharmacy on Tuesday for Covid boosters and, as we had Dudley, we took it in turns to go in whilst the other one of us stayed with 'trouble' in the car. He loves to have the window down and made sure that he said woofed 'hello' to every unsuspecting shopper who had the audacity to return their shopping trolley to the collection point  ............ right next to Dudley!

His coat and ears are growing really well - he's not far from looking like a proper Havanese once again.

Remember, the results from Sarn's Challenge #503 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE.

Do come and play with us in the Playground - there's an Easter Egg Hunt under way. Dudley will be kept well away from anything chocolate as always. We do keep a packet of doggie choccie drops to hand as an occasional treat ...................... for the rare times we indulge in eating the human version! 

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

 /) /)

 (-.-)

0_(")(")

A little memory of the lovely Bernie - a dear friend in Blogland, gone too soon. She used to sign off with this bunny at Easter, and I've done the same ever since she died, back in 2013. Not forgotten.

Sunday Snippets - Easter Greetings

Happy Easter everyone! And, in many places, including the UK, we put our clocks forward at 2am on Sunday - easy to remember 'Fall, back, Spring, forward'. It always takes me a few days to get over that lost hour of sleep!

There's a new Challenge being run by Sarn, over in the Snippets Playground HERE. 

My snippets card for today used snippets of pale ivory linen card for the lily, leaf and the backing layer underneath the lily, as well as underneath the lilac coloured frame to peep through the die cut corners:

I used:

- 5.25" x 4" pale ivory linen card blank, tent style

- used Altenew's 'Layered Lily' stamp and matching die set for the flower and leaf- stamping them using a set of SU teeny stamp pads I've had for many years and of course the Misti to help with positioning the layers

- then die cut the flower and leaf before putting it to one side

- to create the lilac 'frame' I used a die from Penny Black's 'Stitched Frames' set of dies to cut into the centre of a piece of  5" x 3.75" lilac card stock

- for the centre panel I used the same Penny Black die to cut into a snippet of pale ivory card. just slightly bigger than the aperture 

- used SU's 'Old Olive' to stamp the Easter Greeting, using an unbranded stamp from a set of Easter stamps

- adhered the pale ivory centre panel to the 'fallout centre' piece of lilac card from when the lilac frame was die cut - this was to add more stability and the 'image panel' stands ever so slightly proud as a result, which is a nice effect in real life 

- still not finished with faffing with the frame, I trimmed a snippet of pale ivory linen card to a whisker smaller than the lilac frame and adhered it to the back of the frame so it showed through the corners of the die cut frame before flipping it over and popping in the centre panel

- used very narrow double sided foam tape, with a glue stick, to adhere both the framed image panel in place

- added the lily leave using a glue pen and then the lily flower was added using thin sticky pads

- finally, popped three Memory Box 'Fairy Drops' on and called it done!

Using the Altenew layering stamps and dies is good fun, once you get the hang of it. I bought them in a closing down sale, I'd hesitate to buy at full price what is effectively one flower and a leaf.

On the other hand, you do sometimes get what you pay for with unbranded goods. The Easter sentiments set is really lovely (Amazon UK) but the stamps are soft and floppy and clearly not polymer. I expect they won't stand up to rigorous use. However, they do stamp well plus it's a set I won't use very much anyhow so I can live with that.

I'm entering this card into Darnells NBUS #60 Challenge HERE. The Altenew stamps and dies, Easter sentiment stamps and also the Penny Black set of 'Stitched Frames' were all having a first outing.

Dudley Pupdate: I had a wry smile over in the Snippets Playground when I read that Sarn and I, ably assisted by Dudley, had been hiding Easter eggs! Dudley was doing the 'hole digging' apparently - and lately his doggie instincts have caused some fun here. He's a 'grazer' and likes nothing more than a dish of freshly raw chopped vegetables. Diced sweet (not hot) baby peppers go in a shot and he leaves the diced carrots to sustain him whenever he fancies a nibble, until the remainder are ditched each evening and a fresh lot prepared for him. Obviously he has other food at breakfast and for dinner and our vet is very happy about his diet. His teeth are doing fine but to continue along that road we recently decided to add a whole small carrot into the fun each day to encourage him to chew using his back teeth - which he loved. Err, until, Len found a day old one hidden away in the corner of his study, much as a dog would bury a bone! Dudley looked pretty sheepish when he realised he'd been rumbled and I'm currently standing beside the ladder up to the Playground Treehouse ............... waiting to have a little word in Sarn's ear! 

 /) /)

 (-.-)
0_(“)(“)

With love from Dudley and myself, 

Bunny is going on holiday

'cos he's tired out and demanding a rest from all this fancy posing stuff - so this is the last card with him on for now. No doubt, he'll pop up again at some point but meanwhile:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" tent style card blank, cut from 'Syntegro White Linen Silkweave' textured card

- assorted sizes of snippets of the same white card for the image panel and all the little die cuts

- cut the following die cuts: the flowery border/grass strip using the Charlie & Paulchen die called 'Flower and grass border', unbranded sitting bunny, window opening panes by The Greetery called 'Fresh Air Window Frame' and finally, all from Gummiapan, a nest and a couple of chicks from the 'rooster, hen and chickens' set plus three eggs from the 'Easter Branches' set

 - once again lots of little die cuts to colour in using Distress Oxide ink pads and a water brush

- then used a large ball ended embossing tool to slightly round/shape the bunny, nest, eggs and chicks to add some dimension

- rubbed some Ranger 'Micro Distress Glaze' onto each of the 'rounded' pieces

- the image panel was trimmed to 5" x 3.75"

- then die cut the window into the image panel using a die from The Greetery 'Fresh Air Window Frame' set and backed it with a snippet of yellow patterned paper (the camera is telling fibs and showing it as almost green!)

 - stuck the flower & grass border onto the front panel using red line tape across the bottom section and a glue pen for the blades of grass

- used a die from The Greetery's 'Brick Layer' set of dies to cut a stencil from 125 microns Mylar and stenciled the brick pattern in one corner of the window, using a mix of Distress Oxide inks on my glass mat, all mixed up with a squirt of water 

- glued the arched open windows in place using a glue pen

- built up the rest of the little scene using some teensy pieces of thin foam pad behind the nest, chicks and bunny. The eggs had already been stuck to the back of the nest using red line tape prior to me touching the Micro Distress Glaze BTW

- adhered the front panel onto the card front, using strips of narrow foam tape to raise it up a bit

- finally, using a pencil, I added the eye and little nose to the bunny's face

Didn't add a sentiment this time, it would have knocked the layout to pot.

I'd like to enter this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #49 - the floral grassy border, nest and eggs, window and shutters plus the 'brick work' stencil were all having their first outing.

Dudley Pupdate: We've had such a mix of weather this past week - Dudley just loves to roll around on his back on the 'easy maintenance' grass in the back garden when it's sunny. I sat out with him for a while a couple of times and when I was then fussing him and stroking his back Len said - 'you DO know that he's probably been rolling on a worm?' Very nice trick Dudley. Been a few 'zoomies' of course - Spring is in the air even though it's teasing us a bit this year.

Hop, hop, hop - he's back again!

The Easter bunny is back yet again - to wish you all a very Happy Easter:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" tent style card blank, cut from 'Syntegro White Linen Silkweave' textured card

- assorted sizes of snippets of the same white card for the image panel and all the little die cuts (not worth taking a photo)

- cut the following die cuts: grass strip using an MFT die called 'Grassy Fields', unbranded sitting bunny, Charlie & Paulchen 'wheel barrow', plus the following Gummiapan dies: 'small tulips', 'tiny daffodils'  plus a hen and chick from the 'rooster, hen and chickens' set

 - once again lots of little die cuts to colour in using Distress Oxide ink pads and a water brush

- then used a large ball ended embossing tool to slightly round/shape the bunny, barrow, the flower heads, Mama and her chick to add some dimension

- rubbed some Ranger 'Micro Distress Glaze' onto each of the die cut and coloured pieces

- the image panel was die cut using a Lil'Inkers 'Stitched Rectangle' die

- stamped the Easter sentiment into the top right corner of the panel using a stamp from the Clearly Besotted 'Say What?' set of stamps and a VersaFine Clair 'Morning Mist' ink pad

- die cut the bottom edge and sides of the grass strip using the same 'stitched rectangle die for continuity - a small detail but worthwhile - then stuck it onto the front panel using red line tape across the bottom section and a glue pen for the blades of grass

- built up the little scene using a glue pen, red line tape, tweezers, pokey tool and some teensy pieces of thin foam pad behind the wheel barrow, bunny, flower heads and  Mama hen plus her baby. The flowers had already been stuck to the back of the wheelbarrow using red line tape

- adhered the front panel onto the card front, using strips of narrow foam tape to raise it up a bit

- finally, using a pencil, I added the eye and little nose to the bunny's face

I'd like to enter this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #49 - the wheelbarrow, tulips, hen and chick dies were all having their first outing.

At last, after endless driving rain we had some wonderfully sunny and dry days in Hampshire! Hooray, we certainly feel all the better for it. It's good that the decent weather arrived in time for the kiddies Easter break from school as well. 

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley is absolutely loving the sunshine - he keeps wanting to go into the garden just to stand and sniff the sweet Spring air, play chase the ball for a while and then do a few celebratory zoomies around the garden! We have our very own Spring lamb! Ahem, although we now know that rain is forecast for the coming week, I spoke too soon. Sigh.

The results of challenge #450 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE. 

Remember, Sarn is halfway through her current Snippets challenge - HERE. 

Hope you're having a pleasant Easter - those who gave up chocolate for Lent will be no doubt having a little feast! We just have some of the small 'hard icing coated' Easter eggs to share here (Dudley has his own doggy choccy drops) - ooer, plus an Easter egg which a sweet little friend brought here a a gift, well in advance of the day! IF Len hasn't scoffed it on the quiet of course.

 /) /)
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It's that Easter Bunny again!

Here's my Sunday snippets card - all using white linen snippets to start off with:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" side opening card blank, cut from 'Syntegro White Linen Silkweave' textured card

- assorted sizes of snippets of the same white card for the image panel and all the little die cuts (not worth taking a photo)

- cut the following die cuts: unbranded sitting bunny with the stool he came with plus the following Gummiapan dies:  a vase from the 'set of vases', three 'Easter branches', and daffodils from the 'tiny daffodils' set of dies. Also, the bow for the bunny - from an unbranded set of seven different bows 

 - so, there I was once again with a lot of little die cuts to colour in - and out came the Distress Oxide ink pads and water brush. Even coloured the little green buds all ready to burst forth!

- after colouring all the pieces, I then used VersaFine Clair 'Morning Mist' ink and a small Indigo Blu stamp appropriately called 'Crackle' to add some interest to the stool. In order to be sure to position the stool so that it was all covered in the 'crackle' in one go, I popped the stamp onto my glass mat, then inked it facing up before positioning the ready 'die cut and coloured' stool on top - then pressed down with a large acrylic block - perfect!

- then used a large ball ended embossing tool to slightly round/shape the bunny and his bow tie, along with the vase and the flower heads, just to add some dimension

- rubbed some Ranger 'Micro Distress Glaze' onto each of the die cut and coloured pieces - word of caution, be sure to keep it away from the back of the pieces as you handle them otherwise sticking them down might prove tricky - ask me how I know this

- the image panel started out on a bigger snippet of white linen card - and to 'ground' the image I stenciled what might pass for a rug onto the bottom edge of the panel - using 'Lost Shadow' Distress Oxide and a stencil I'd cut myself using a die from the Memory Box 'Baptisia' set of dies

- stamped the Easter sentiment into the top right corner of the panel using a stamp from the Clearly Besotted 'Say What?' set of stamps and a VersaFine Clair 'Morning Mist' ink pad

- glued the front panel onto the card front, using strips of narrow foam tape to raise it up a bit

- built up the little scene using a glue pen, red line tape, tweezers, pokey tool and some teensy pieces of thin foam pad behind the vase, daffodil heads and the bunny. The flowers and Spring branches had already been stuck to the back of the vase using red line tape

- finally, using a pencil, I added the eye and little nose to the bunny's face

Cutting my own stencil was inspired by Chrissie Stokes of course. After a false start with 250 microns Mylar, I switched to 125 microns which cuts like a dream - even coping beautifully with the very tricky die I used on this card. In real life, the colours are stronger than in the photo - and there is a third daffodil hiding somewhere in my craft room - it did a runner just before I assembled the card and I certainly wasn't going to go through the whole process of making a replacement.

I'd like to enter this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #49 - the stool, bunny bow, vase and Spring contents dies were all having their first outing. Oh, and the 'stencil making' was a first too!

I actually have two more 'Easter Bunny' cards to one side here. One is fully made and 'waiting in the 'wings' - a bit of the die cutting is done for the final one, but having been one degree under for a few days during the week I'll wait and see how things go.

I've been having problems with some of my blog commenting lately - when using Firefox it was often, but not always, only allowing me to comment as 'Anonymous'. I've been into Privacy and security in Firefox on my laptop and have changed a pop-up setting to allow them - it seems that the latest Firefox update made this an option and not the default. It's little things like that lurking to trip us up. So do keep an eye on your browser settings. BTW - Blogger works much better on Chrome (both Google products). Quelle surprise!

Dudley Pupdate: It's been a quieter week than usual here but Dudley has never been far away from my side - keeping watch and offering cuddles of course. 

Dudley is such a joy. His morning 'treat hunt' is so funny. He adores 'calcium bones wrapped in dried chicken by Pawsleys or similar. We're not up at the crack of dawn all/showered washed, dressed and on parade at our age (yay, I actually felt right saying that and not explaining to builders why 8am is not on our radar these days!). 

Once breakfast is over and he's 'ready' for the day, Len makes us a second cuppa - mug of coffee for him and one of peppermint tea for me. And that's when Dudley knows it's 'treat time'. No matter where we conceal or hide it - that boy is on the hunt. The only way we can confuse him is to handle the treat between ourselves - and then he's a bit confused. Hands, smell, WHO? HE always wins - and in pretty short time as well.

Sarn has a new Snippets Challenge up and running in the Snippets Playground! Do have a look at her lovely snippets homework and join in with the fun - HERE. Nice selection in the prize pot as well!

It started with a swing .......

...... and just grew from there:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" tent style card blank, cut from 'Syntegro White Linen Silkweave' textured card

- assorted sizes of snippets of the same white card for the image panel and all the little die cuts

- the image panel was die cut from a snippet using a Penny Black set of dies called 'zig-zag stackers', then set aside

- out came my 'recently set up' dedicated storage folder for teeny dies and then the fun began!

- I cut, all from white card snippets, the following die cuts: Memory Box 'Woodland Branch' and a standard hanging swing from 'Set of Swings', unbranded sitting bunny (he also came with a stool). Plus the following Gummiapan dies: one bird from 'Seagulls', crocuses from 'Spring Flowers' and the biggest pot from 'Set with Pots' 

- so, there I was with a lot of little die cuts to colour in - and out came the Distress Oxide ink pads and water brush

- spend a lovely, relaxing time just rubbing a little of each colour in turn onto my glass mat and picking it up from there with the waterbrush to colour the die cut. For my own reference, I used: 'Walnut Stain' for the branch, 'Vintage Photo' for the swing, 'Tea Dye' for the bunny, 'Lost Shadow' for the bird, 'Villainous Poison' for the crocus flowers, 'Peeled Paint' for the crocus leaves and stems - and a mixture of 'Fired Brick' and 'Spiced Marmalade' to get a terracotta for the pot

- then used a large ball ended embossing tool to slightly round/shape the bunny, along with the pot and the flowers, just to add some dimension

- rubbed some Ranger 'Micro Distress Glaze' onto each of the die cut and coloured pieces - just using a finger then buffing it with a clean tissue. It doesn't add a shine but it does 'lift' the 'matt' look - if that makes sense

- stamped the sentiment into the lower left corner of the panel using a stamp from the Clearly Besotted 'Say What?' set of stamps and a SU 'Perfect Plum' ink pad cube. Obviously, I'd checked and double checked the layout and positioning of the other little elements  

- then glued the front panel onto the card front, with a layer of thin foam sheet backing to raise it up a bit

- heart in mouth I then built up the little scene using a glue pen, tweezers, pokey tool and some teensy pieces of thin foam pad behind the pot and the bunny. The trickiest part was adding the swing and piece of tree branch to make sure they were in the right place and trimmed as I wanted them

- finally, using a pencil I added the eye and little nose to the bunny's face

Phew - bit of a marathon and I do need practice using Distress Oxides to colour with but it was huge fun! I think this card might go to Germany for the grand daughters and their Mum.

The swing die set that started it all off was a little gift from a friend a while ago - you know who you are - mwah! x

I send very few Easter cards but do have plans for two different designs for a couple of friends from my school days. More 'scene building', more Gummiapan -  and more of the sitting bunny I suspect.

So grateful to Chrissie Stokes for her YouTube videos, I've learned loads since finding found her channel round about Christmas time.

Out of interest, the micro glaze I used to finish off the coloured die cuts could just work on top of Zig pen colouring - I need to have a play. To be honest, I bet good old fashioned petroleum jelly might work in much the same way - at a fraction of the price?!

I'd like to enter this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #48 - all of the dies, apart from the 'Woodland Branch' and the 'Zig zag' edging die , were having their first outing.

Dudley Pupdate: It's been an exciting week for the little guy, we've had four different lots of people here doing various things - and once he's been introduced, and is certain that stealing Honka Duck isn't the reason for their visit, he thinks it's great fun. A couple of times he thought it might be a nice change to go home with them when they were leaving!

EDIT: Bad me, I just realised five days later that I didn't tell you that our Sarn has a new Snippets Challenge up and running in the Snippets Playground! Do have a look at her lovely card and join in with the fun - HERE. She's got a super prize on offer as well.

 

Floral Penny Black Masterpieces for Easter

Finally, finally, finally - I've done some moving around of stuff here and have found the perfect home for my much neglected Gemini Junior die cutting machine. 'Hooray' it shouted, with a sigh of relief! Shame on me - it's taken over six months for me to have it properly and permanently located beside my curved L-shaped desk. It's quite a heavy wee beastie when you have to watch your back - did it all alone without shouting for help once, and am a very happy bunny right now.

To put the machine properly through its paces I decided to use a set of dies that I very much doubt my almost defunct Cuttlebug would have touched. Along with using some new Penny Black 'Masterpieces Made Simple' card toppers - floral images this time, nice too.

And here are three Easter cards, for a couple of my besties from schooldays plus grand daughters and their Mum in Germany - we only send three Easter cards each year nowadays:

I used:

- three 5.5" x 4.25" white linen card blanks - all horizontal and side opening

- the images are from (top row) the 'vintage beauty' set and the one below with the lovely tulips is from the 'bright bouquets' set of images

- left all the images at full size and used a 'new to me' Penny Black set of dies called 'zig-zag stackers' to cut panels from white linen card, the same I used for as the main card body

- then stamped the sentiments directly onto the image panels. I used the Misti, the pressure tool which I love, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and the Clearly Besotted 'Say what?' set of stamps for the Easter greeting and, as always, the greeting stamped perfectly onto the linen. In fairness, I did test run the stamping alignment, using grid lined acetate!

- mounted them onto very slightly larger snippets of  SU 'Certainly Celery' card, which matched so well - just to give them narrow and simple borders

- then added them onto the card fronts - finished!

I'd like to add these cards into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #37 for April. NBUS goodies were obviously the fabulous Penny Black 'zig-zag stitches' die set. The Penny Black Masterpieces sets are also new but that may be cheating a little.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #409

Once again, quite mixed weather here - it's pleasantly warm but not unbearably hot. Plus we've had some pretty spectacular downpours, along with hailstones at times. I always remember my Mum telling me that when she and my Dad lived in India, it wasn't unknown for them to have hailstones the size of mothballs! To clarify for anyone who might misunderstand - mothball were used in the 'olden days' to basically keep moths out of clothing and linen - about the size of a large marble and they ponged of some sort of camphor. My granny always had that faint whiff of mothballs about her when wearing her 'Sunday best' for an outing. She was almost Victorian in many ways - always, but always, wore a severe black hat to go out, even to the corner shop .......... as well as to the beach! Little black lace-up boots or shoes, thick stockings, hat pin holding hat firmly in place and more often than not a black tailored coat. Memories - I do so wish I could have bottled some of my granny's soft cuddles and her sweetness.

Anyhow, that's away from why you're here. I posted my snippets card on this blog back in April. It's an Easter card but the timing wasn't right for folk to receive the prize in time to use if for Easter, so I bypassed offering the prizes I had waiting - but here it is now:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" rose pink card blank, side opening

- piece of patterned paper from a DecoTime paper pad, the papers are slightly 'flittered' and do catch the light very prettily 

- trimmed the patterned paper and glued it to the card front

- stamped the image using the Misti, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and the Stamping Bella 'Oddball Easter Bunny' stamp

- coloured the bunny with Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils, picking up some of the colours from the backing paper

- stamped the sentiment using a sweet little stamp from 'Stamping All Day', the Misti and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- popped the image onto a snippet of olive green card, same as in the backing paper and then glued the panel onto the card front - finished

I used just the one snippet on my card, for the backing behind the image.

And here's the prize(s) on offer - not one but three chances to win one of these stamps:

It's a Stamping Bella 'Oddball Easter Bunny' stamp. I used very similar colours for my card, just veering towards peach rather than pink for the bunny's cute little 'romper suit'. I thought, if I offer it now, you have plenty of time between now and next Easter - plus, truth be told, I slipped a bit behind with making a snippets card. Sigh. Shame on me really as I only make one proper snippets card for the playground every six weeks at the moment, thanks to Guest Designers and also Ruby's Challenge of course. However, it's a great stamp and I do love the Stamping Bella Oddball range of stamps - always make me smile.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 21st August. 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. Remember - there are three chances as I have three stamps here! 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.

 

Gentle reminder. Can I please ask that you do put a link to the Playground challenge in your blog post when you enter a snippets make into the challenge. If you don't do that, then I don't include you in the prize draw. It would also help me a lot if you could mention, even generally, what snippet or snippets you used. I don't need the full details but sometimes I do struggle to work out what snippet(s) were used. And if I'm totally lost then, again, no entry into the draw. I'm aware that this challenge is pretty easy going and also that some folk do throw their cards made for other challenges in for a chance to be a winner. So please do at least acknowledge that it's a card using snippets and also link into the challenge on your blog post. I know that most of you already do this and I thank you kindly. ☺

 

Dudley is such a sweetie, I went to bed really early the other evening and twice woke up in the night to find him on the bed, wide awake and 'sat sitting' - staring anxiously at me! Am such a night owl he probably was worried I was unwell. 

We bit the bullet and weighed him the other day - phew, he's not as heavy as we thought - we must be getting weaker as we grow older! He could lose 500g or so but that's not a lot in the great scheme of things. That can be done before his Autumn annual check up with 'Auntie Georgina the Vet'.

Stay safe and be kind. 

  

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

Happy Easter!

I make very few Easter cards, just for close family and a couple of school friends. This year I went 'Oddball' for a change from the more traditional Easter chicks etc:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" rose pink card blank, side opening

- piece of patterned paper from a DecoTime paper pad, the papers are slightly 'flittered' and do catch the light very prettily 

- trimmed the patterned paper and glued it to the card front

- stamped the image using the Misti, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and the Stamping Bella 'Oddball Easter Bunny' stamp

- coloured the bunny with Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils, picking up some of the colours from the backing paper

- stamped the sentiment using a sweet little stamp from 'Stamping All Day', the Misti and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- popped the image onto a snippet of olive green card, same as in the backing paper and then glued the panel onto the card front

Have a lovely Easter!

 /) /)
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Easter cards - 2019

It's been a long haul recently as you no doubt know (sigh) and making Easter cards wasn't the easiest of things to do. I have loads of Easter goodies but somehow felt a huge lack of enthusiasm. Possibly, it's because I only make very few Easter cards anyhow, but I came up with a fairly simple design which I used to make four very similar cards - only one of which you need to see:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" off white card blank - chosen as the image has a soft look about it and I thought pure white would be too harsh 

- Penny Black 'Oh Spring' Stickeroos - popped onto snippets of white card and then trimmed down to suit (daffodils on all four that I made). To be honest these are among my very least favourite Stickeroos ever in terms of usable images - so I only picked a few out

- snippet of SU 'Old Olive' card which was die cut using a really pretty label die by Marianne Creatables (LR0154) - bought many years ago

- at that point added the sentiment using my favourite Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink  and a 'Happy Easter' sentiment from Stamping All Day. They have a lovely variety of sweet sentiments - HERE.

- then just stuck the image panel onto the label and added a lemon ribbon tie (using thread to pull the ribbon through the hole). Narrower ribbon would have been better but at that point I was on a mission and had no wish to hop around our local Hobbycraft!

- finally, used thin sticky pads (which are great to cut down as you wish) to adhere the label to the front of the card

In the end, these were made with care and love, for sure. And I know I've said it before - but I have a swatch of all my SU card stock, which is how I can put a name to SU snippets!

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #348

Whoop, whoop! Over the past few days, I'm almost there! Practically ready to venture out wearing shoes and without a walking stick! So, taking Dudley to the groomers possibly extended thing by two weeks in the end. But, a lesson learned and I won't be doing that one again!

Lets get right on with my snippets card - it took me two days, day one to stamp and colour the images and then the following day I did the rest of the work. Partly as I seem to get tired quite easily right now - need to get out and about, that'll be a good tonic. Anyhow, here's the card:

I used:

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

- a slightly smaller snippet of white card on which to build the little scene layer

- snippets of white card, onto which I stamped the images using the Misti, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a sweet little set of stamps by Clearly Besotted called 'Hoppy Easter'

- then coloured the images trying wherever possible to match the colours with a snippet of striped paper I found tucked in the back of Echo Park's 'Hello Summer' paper pad. The pad is almost finished and I'm really sorry about that as it's so bright and cheerful

- next I die cut the images out, having made six carrots, using the matching set of dies

- only then did I spot that there's even a teeny die included to cut out some little clumps of grass - I'd missed that when stamping and colouring! So, I just found a titchy snippet of toning green card and die cut some grass  clumps as the Misti etc had been put away after the previous spell of stamping and colouring the images

- and then it was just a matter of assembling the card really, topping the front panel with the striped paper on a backing of red card just to define the edges

- the little die cut pieces were just added using a Zig glue pen

- then, with heart in mouth I remembered I needed to stamp the sentiment! So out came the Misti, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad and the 'Hoppy Easter' sentiment from the set of stamps - phew, success as well!

- to give the card more dimension, I backed the front panel with some thin white foam sheet before gluing it to the card front - job done!

And of course, the prize this fortnight is this:

A set of Clearly Besotted 'Hoppy Easter' stamps, along with matching dies. The carrot and grass dies are very small so I was really careful when making my own card!

Naturally the prize is both items, not to be split. I've have these for ages and really wanted to offer them a couple of weeks ago, well in time for the winner to use them for this Easter. Still, it's such a sweet prize and you can always get a head start on next Easter's cards :)

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 30th March. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

It's a maximum of ONE entry and 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're wanting 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 playing only for fun - otherwise I don't add you to my little list.

Mr Linky is below - please let me know if you have any problems linking, it's easy for me to sort out so don't struggle on alone ☺

With luck and a following wind (and we have plenty of that in the UK right now) I plan to post off prizes this coming week! It might be too much information but originally I had a slight flare up in my left foot about a week or so before the massive one in the right foot. So it seems like I get a warning but thought I'd knocked it on the head by taking some emergency Colchicine (as much use to me as a chocolate fireguard it seems). One thing I should have done was to cut my toenails as soon as that first one kicked off. However, my lovely Len very carefully and gently trimmed them for me yesterday - and not one squeal from me either!

No photo of Dudley this week, he's just as mischievous as ever needless to say. But, he's slowly getting more used to being brushed and groomed by yours truly - and Len sometimes brushes him over if he's lying on the table beside him. And, I'm getting better at putting Dudley's little topknot in as well. Len still has to hold him but sometimes he'll just lie his head down as if to say 'Get on with it Mama!'. The doggie latex bands we use are really tiny, smaller than loom bands if you remember that craze. On my second go at doing the topknot I was struggling and dropped a band onto the table beside Dudley. That boy really is a Hoover - he was onto it right away in a split second, sort of grinned at us when Len was trying to open his mouth, gave one gulp and there it was gone. Looking back. it's funny but of course we were worried - in fact Len was almost dangling the little chap by his back legs! Needless to say, nature took its course and he's just fine - little tinker!

And lastly, recent events around the World, NZ in particular, have totally shaken us here. Senseless and such a waste of precious life - I really have no words to express how very sad it is. 

Lots of love from Parsnip, Dudley - and of course me,

'Bunny Friends'

I bought a really sweet Penny Black stamp ages ago and it just had its first outing. To be honest, the colouring scared me - a lot! So, although I'd always loved the stamp, once it was in my hot sticky paws it was quietly put away for a rainy day when I had time to spare! The snowy weather we had earlier this month was an ideal opportunity to have a play - especially with Easter on the horizon.

I'm adding this to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge - where the theme is 'Anything Goes ... Optional Easter or Chocolate Brown'.

This is being posted on Good Friday, a day I was brought up to consider as a day of rest and reflection - certainly no work, and the shops were all closed as well. We usually went out for a hike in the hills when I lived in Northumberland from leaving school, right up until I moved down to the South of the UK, 20 plus years ago. We used to take boiled eggs, little buttered rolls and (cold) hot cross buns - with a flask of coffee or perhaps some cold drinks as a little picnic, whilst looking to see where there were newly born lambs out in the fields. If we had sticky fingers after our picnic, there would always be a fresh mountain stream available to wash our hands in ( before the days of Wet Wipes!). Happy memories! 

I kept the card very plain and let those little bunnies do most of the work:

I used:

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

- a piece of the same white card stock, cut to exactly the same size as the card front and then the stitching lines added by using the largest die from the Lil'Inkers 'Stitched Rectangles' set - which is purely the stitched lines (it doesn't actually cut - if that makes sense!)

- then set the white panel to one side for later

- stamped the Penny Black 'Bunny Friends' onto white card using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- coloured the image using Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils - with some Sansodor blending fluid just on the little plant pots as larger areas generally show up pencil strokes otherwise, and the blending fluid just smooths any lines away

- then did a fair bit of measuring before trimming the image panel to suit and backing it with a piece of yellow card stock

- used the Misti to stamp the sentiment onto the white stitched panel, using a Pink Gem Designs 'Easter Wishes' sentiment and Brilliance 'Pearlescent Thyme' ink pad

- then just glued the image and backing 'frame' plus the white stitched panel to the card front

Happy Easter! 

An Easter wreath - 'Circle of Spring'

I seem to be really into making cards with wreath shaped stamps or just creating my own wreath shapes right now! I think it's probably the symmetry that lures me in :)

A good while back I bought the NBUS Stampin' Up 'Circle of Spring' stamp set - mostly with Easter cards in mind. And, already had the Stampin' Up 'Wondrous Wreath' Christmas layering stamp set plus the matching dies - so those dies would also work with the 'Circle of Spring' set.

However, I had serious doubts once the 'Circle of Spring' image was stamped and coloured. Sure the dies fitted fine (I already had some previously cut templates to try against the image), but something just wasn't right IMHO. Off I hopped around Pinterest to look for other cards for comparison and the Spring image is just too delicate and pretty to spoil by die cutting it - the die cut versions look a bit clumsy compared to those left to their own devices. Again, this is just my opinion - but I think those dies are best kept just for the 'Wondrous Wreath', which is altogether bolder and can take it better.

Anyhow, this is the card I came up with:

I used:

- 4" x 4" square white card blank

- white card onto which I stamped the Stampin' Up 'Circle of Spring' wreath and also, into a small snippet of the same white card, 'Happy Easter' from the same set. Used Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and of course the Misti

- chose SU's 'Wisteria Wonder' mauve coloured card for the backing so used that as a guide when picking the colours from my Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils to colour the image

- once the image was coloured (I didn't use Sansodor blending fluid for such little bits of colour - I find it's only really necessary on bigger areas of colouring) I then die cut it using a die from The Works 'Stitched Squares' set

- layered the image panel onto a slightly larger square of SU's 'Wisteria Wonder' card

- had fun finding the right die to cut out the sentiment into the right sized circle and was almost on the point of giving up the search when I came across (hidden in the back of one of the folders I keep dies in) a lovely set of dies by Just Right called 'Four in a Square'. It comes with four circular dies included - absolutely perfect size and also with a stitched line running around them, success!!

- die cut the sentiment and popped it onto the centre of the card using thin sticky pads

Really enjoying colouring using pencils these days - takes me back to my childhood!

Easter Egg card

I've written on here before about a beautiful Easter Egg I was given as a child, made from sparkly sugar paste. It was beautifully moulded in sparkly white with little piped pink roses - and through a little window you could see a scene inside. I think it was possibly Cinderella's coach - I know, not really Easter but sure to delight a little girl who believed in magic! It was far too pretty to eat and I kept it until it eventually went yellow and a bit sticky, sigh.

I had that lovely egg in mind when I set out to make this card - didn't quite capture the delicacy but I had fun playing:

I used:

- 4.25" x 5.5" white card blank

- piece of SU 'Certainly Celery' card stock, embossed using a favourite Cuttlebug folder called 'Scrollwork' and then trimmed down on all four sides

- glued the green panel to the card front

- then die cut the Easter egg shape using a pair of Spellbinders 'Filigree Egg' dies and a snippet of white Centura pearl card stock

- next, I covered a snippet of the same white card stock with 'medium sticky' double sided adhesive sheet and, using the solid die from the same set, cut a plain egg - with the sticky sheet uppermost 

- peeled off the adhesive sheet backing from the 'solid' egg piece and mounted the 'filigree cut' egg on top - pressing it in place using the piece of wax paper I'd just peeled off the die cut. That left the apertures nice and sticky for the next step

- poured iridescent glitter all over the egg front and patted it into place in the sticky apertures to emulate the sugar sparkle. Sheesh, glitter sparkling everywhere ........ as well as on the card of course - that stuff travels!

- glued the egg onto the card front

- had a rootle through my long-neglected floral embellishments and found one that reminded me so much of the pretty roses on that egg I had as a child - so I stuck one in place using the hot glue gun

- still needed a sentiment and stamped 'Happy Easter' onto a white card snippet (left over from when I made the card blank) using Memento 'Grey Flannel' ink and a Stamping All Day 'Happy Easter' stamp

- punched the sentiment out using SU's 'Modern Label' punch and popped it onto the card front using snipped up thin sticky pads

- added a little Mei Flower white pearl to either end of the sentiment label - finished!

The other memory was when I rummaged through the (several) RUB boxes of flowers in the craft room. I really thought those little ribbon rose and bead embellishments were the height of sophistication for card making ........... a long time ago! Time for a bit of a blitz here I think!

Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - 'Easter and include a bunny'

It's time for a new challenge over at Cuttlebug Mania and this fortnight's theme is 'Easter' and we're looking for a project which includes a bunny - or even more bunnies!

Details of our sponsor/the prize to be won can be found over on the Cuttlebug Mania Challenge blog.

You do have to use a manual die cutting/embossing machine for Cuttlebug Mania entries (it doesn't need to be a Cuttlebug but it must be manual, not electronic). And, you can't mix the two, it must be all manual please. Then make your entry, link into the challenge, link to the challenge in your own blog post and and make sure that you also say what products you used for any die cutting/embossing.

This is what I made:

I used:

- 6" x 6" white card blank

- then covered the card blank front with yellow Core'dinations (looks like green/lime in the photo but it's a true daffodil yellow !)

- next, I embossed a piece of white card using the Crafts-Too 'Leafy Tree' embossing folder and trimmed it to the size I wanted

- yay, time to die cut the grass, a snippet of green card and using a Stick-It backed MFT die called 'Grassy Fields' - I finally moved on from always using my 'icicles' die :)

- aw, next came the sweet little 'bunnies'. A cute family of them, die cut using the Joanna Sheen 'Rabbit Family' set, cut from SU 'Smokey Grey' card snippets and then coloured the tails on a couple of them with a Signo white pen

- added the  stamped sentiment using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a 'Happy Easter - small script' stamp from 'Stamping All Day' 

- mounted the image panel onto a piece of SU 'Smoky Grey. card so there was a narrow border down each side (the height of the image panel is deliberately the same height as the card front to fit the tree plus extras on!)

- finally, glued the image panel to the centre of the card front

I got the idea of using an embossed tree from Diane H, over here. I have a sneaking feeling this is the very first outing for that tree folder and I bought it back in the dark ages!

So, I used all NBUS goodies on my card today, the folder, grass die, bunny dies and also the sentiment stamp! Which means I can join in again with Darnell's latest NBUS challenge. She really would like to see some of our 'boo-boos' - but wouldn't you know it, I don't have any to show. Unless you count the fact that I originally die cut the grass with the Stick-It sheet on the front - it went into the waste bin and was gone before I thought to take a photo though! 

Easter is almost here so I hope lots of you are beavering away making cards and will find time to join in with the Cuttlebug Mania challenge.I'm a fine one to talk really as I only send a couple of Easter cards each year!

A final Easter card

I almost forgot to blog this Easter card:

I used:

- 4" x 5.75" white card blank, with a teeny bit trimmed off the bottom so that the fancy die cut sits at the very edge

- image from LOTV's 'Bunnies' paper pad, die cut using a Spellbinders 'Labels Eight' die. Leaving the die cut still in the die I then ran a ball ended tool round to create the 'lipped edge'

- the sentiment stamp I used is an old favourite by Pink Gem Designs, stamped using SU's 'Certainly Celery' ink

- piece of white card stock, die cut using a Spellbinders 'Labels Eight Decorative' die

- glued the layers onto the card front and called it done

Di
x

Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - Happy Easter

It's time for a new challenge over at Cuttlebug Mania - and this time it's 'Happy Easter' (make an Easter project). I opted to make a pretty simple card card but there are lots of lovely things you can make to contain Easter eggs or chocolates :) The choice is yours!

You do have to use a manual die cutting/embossing machine (it doesn't need to be a Cuttlebug but it must be manual, not electronic). And, you can't mix the two, it must be all manual please. Then make your entry, link into the challenge, link to the challenge in your own blog post and and make sure that you also say what products you used for any die cutting/embossing.

Our sponsor this fortnight is 'A Day for Daisies' - more details of the prize are over on the challenge.

Here's the Easter card I made:

I used:

- 4" x 5.75" white card blank

- snippet of SU's 'So Saffron' card stock, embossed using a Quickutz 'Flowers' embossing folder - one of the very first ones I ever bought - and trimmed to just slightly a smaller than the card front

- wrapped milk and dark chocolate coloured ribbon across the embossed panel and adhered it to the card front, then added just a knot of the dark chocolate coloured ribbon

- the image was stamped onto white card using Memento 'London Fog' ink and a Crafty impressions stamp set called 'Eggstra'

- die cut the image using a Spellbinders 'Floral Ovals' die and fixed it to the card using thin sticky pads

- tickled the chick with clear Wink of Stella just to add a bit of shimmer

- stuck three pearls at the bottom of the image panel just to finish off

I didn't have a true egg shaped die but thought this pretty oval die would look fine. It reminded me of the most wonderful Easter egg I was ever given as a child - made of sparkly white sugar paste and so intricately iced. It was bought for me by a lovely couple who had no children of their own and maybe liked to spoil other people's kiddies. It had a tiny little scene from Cinderella inside which you could peek at through an oval 'window' and it was  absolutely exquisite. I never sampled it and kept it for ages. I think it eventually went yellowed and sticky with age!

I hope you join in with the challenge, remember it runs for a fortnight so plenty of time to play!

Di
x