Sunday Snippets - 'Happy Birthday'

For a change from Christmas cards, my snippets card this week is a Birthday one:

I used: 

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

- snippet of the same white card, trimmed to 5.5" x 4.25" and then run through the Gemini using a pierced edge die from the Spellbinders 'Pierced Rectangles' A2  set of dies. A very kind blogging friend gifted the set to me a little while ago. It's hard to see in the photo but I left the die in place and, from the back, ran a ball-ended embossing tool around the inner edge of the die to raise the centre portion. What a difference it makes (in real life, unless you press your nose against the screen for a closer look!)

- then stamped the background using a VersaFine Clair 'Morning Mist' inkpad and a Gummiapan 'Happy Birthday text'  stamp I've had for ages, waiting to be used

- next, I stamped the flower onto the card front panel using a VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' inkpad - and at the same time stamped it onto a snippet of Strathmore Mixed Media card. The stamp is unnamed and by Crafty Roo

- the 'Strathmore' flower was coloured using a cute unbranded set of 24 metallic watercolour paints - having its first outing

- I added a little green to the lower part of the flower on the actual card front before fussy cutting the leaves and flower head and running a black Tombow pen around the edges

- then paper pieced the flower head and leaves onto the stamped flower on the card front panel using a glue pen

- glued the whole front panel to the card front

- final touch was the addition of five SU purple glossy dots in the bottom left corner - finished! 

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

- Allsorts Challenge #839 HERE - under 'Anything Goes'

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #81 HERE - my three NBUS items are the Gummiapan and Crafty Roo stamps - plus the set of metallic watercolour paints

Remember, I've just kicked off a new challenge over in the Snippets Playground HERE.  It's our second December Prize Draw with mystery prize bundles to be won!

Dudley Pupdate: With Christmas fast approaching Dudley has found plenty to shout bark at - the postman both delivering and collecting post, umpteen delivery drivers, neighbours popping cards through the letterbox and so on. Dudley certainly knows that something's afoot!

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas! 🎅🎄🎄🎄🎄🎅

Love as always, Dudley Dog and me

Sunday Snippets - 'Art Deco - take two'

I really liked the Altenew card I made previously in an 'Art Deco' style - so when Altenew then brought out a set of 'Art Deco' frame dies, I was pushing my way to the front of the queue, of course:

I die cut the black flower outline using the fall out from cutting the frame

I used:

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

- a snippet of Tonic satin effect 'Black Velvet' card, literally just a tad larger than the size of the card front

- die cut it using Altenew's 'Deco Cover' die set  (three dies in the set BTW) - the largest one fits the USA A2 size perfectly. I used the satin effect 'Black Velvet' card to do this step and struggled a LOT. The usual issue of intricate dies cuts not wanting to leave the die itself was problem but I used waxed paper and that really helped a lot. Then the card itself wanted to keep 'peeling' its layers even as I gently worked with it. In future I think a perfectly plain and black all through card would work best with this particular naughty die! To be fair, it's the first Tonic card stock item I've ever found to be difficult - and thinking back, the same one on more than one occasion as well!

- once done, and  after lie down in a darkened room, I then glued the frame to the card front using a glue pen

- next came the flower - using a die by Altenew called 'Streamlined Sprig' and first I die cut the outer lines of the flower sprig, using the fallout from cutting the Art Deco frame - worked really fine just using my baby Altenew die cutting machine

- backed the flower heads and the leaf using little mauve and green snippets of shaded paper I found in the back of my much loved Lawn Fawn 'Watercolor Wishes' paper pad - I never throw a scrap of that paper out, so useful!

- then I could play with the Misti and the assembled 'sprig topper' to work out the right place to stamp the sentiment - using a piece of square printed clear acetate for alignment before doing a test  stamp onto the acetate to check, and then stamping a stamp from Woodware's 'Deco Sayings' onto the card itself (also used VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' ink). All inking was easily wiped off the Misti and the acetate with a Lawn Fawn Shammy  BTW

- finally, I then glued the flower sprig in place and called it a wrap!

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

Darnell's NBUS Challenge # 73 - HERE. The Altenew 'Deco Cover' set of dies were out for a first play

Allsorts Challenge #820 - HERE. The current challenge is 'Spring Flowers' but I doubt if these are any season really - so am entering under 'Anything Goes' 

Dudley Pupdate: This week Dudley (on Monday morning) was sick after spending time sucking his beloved Honka, sure sign it needs to be changed. Len just grabbed old Honka and marched off with him, Honks, to the bin. Monday is collection day so no second chances there - poor old Honks! And then he came back with ..... yes, another duplicate fresh Honka from Mama's store in the garage and plonked it in front of Dudley - no arguments allowed. Talk about 'tough love'. Dudley was almost sat in shock - me too kiddo! Dudley and I were just looking at one another for a while.

But how odd, an hour or so later, the postie called with a delivery - and Dudley always runs for his precious Honka before he goes into meltdown. He was so distraught that he grabbed new Honka without even thinking .................... and they've been best friends ever since!  Hmm?!

Very importantly, the results of Challenge #502 are now published HERE.

Do please come and play in Sarn's current challenge over in the Snippets Playground - we have glorious sunshine right now and need help with putting up a gazebo or two, to protect those little freckled faces! Dudley, on his little stilts, will be at the ready for you to pay attention to his 'barked' directions. 

As if! That always reminds me of the indignant image of a sweet little white puppy, with the caption 'Today I barked at the postman ................... then he laughed'!  Oh, and already - Dudley's hair is growing back at a rate of knots! Hooray!!

Love from myself and Dudley, xxx

Sunday Snippets - 'Wonky' Christmas tree

It's a Christmas Snippets card from me today - using a NBUS stamp set that cost me all of £1, along with some snippets of my most treasured LOTV papers :

I used:

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

- snippet of textured 'black velvet' card. measuring 5.25" x 4" - set aside for now

- snippet of the same white card as the card blank, measuring 5" x 3.75" - onto which I stamped the image and sentiments using stamps from an un-named Crafty Roo set bought ages ago - along with a VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' ink pad  

- faffed around for ages thinking the images hadn't stamped correctly - until I realised that the sentiments are deliberately meant to look sort of shaded and broken. Also, there were a couple of stray dots of ink on the card around the tree - caught me again! It's part of the design so I just held the stamp up to the light and added the missing ones in, using a Stabilo black fine line pen

- once happy with the main panel, I set to with a selection of small snippets from LOTV's 'Krafty Christmas' paper pad to stamp a variety of layers for the paper piecing stage

- started at the bottom by trimming a piece at a time, running a black TomBow brush marker round the edge and then glueing it in place with a Zig glue pen until the tree was completed 

- then glued the black velvet card backing and the image panel together

- finally, added the whole panel to the card front using thin strips of foam tape - done!

I've 'earmarked' the card for a male friend come Christmas as it does have a more masculine look to it due to the colours I used.

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges

- Allsorts Challenge #819 HERE under the 'Anything Goes' theme. 

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #72 HERE - the Crafty Roo stamp set was having a first outing 

- Christmas Kickstart Challenge #96 HERE - 'Not the norm' - not red, gold or green but non-traditional colours

Dudley Pupdate: Our neighbour and good friend Kim called by the other afternoon on her way home from walking Tilly, the sweetest corgi ever! Dudley dashed out to say hello and then Tilly batted her eyelashes at him ........ one closer look by Dudley and suddenly true love landed! 💓🐶💓 They had so much fun playing at zoomies on the front lawn - we could have started up our own wind farm as their tail were wagging hard enough to almost drop off! They've met previously of course, but somehow this meeting seemed to be 'the one' for him, as well as Tilly! So cute! 

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

Hope to see you on the swings - Sarn and I are waiting for you to come and play as well - we've been having some sunnier days recently and are looking for volunteers to join in with the general Spring tidy sessions! Can't afford to pay you but Dudley is happy to offer his services as a cuddly toy!

Love as always, Dudley Dog and me

Sunday Snippets - Large Iris card

I was sent some happy mail recently by a lovely friend, many thanks again - you know who you are! I wanted to dive in and use one of the stamps right away - fetch your sunshades folks if things are a bit too bright for you:

 

I used:

- 7" x 5" 'Pale Ivory' linen card blank, side opening

- a snippet of 'Pale Ivory' linen card measuring 3.75" x 5.75" for the embossed background - which I embossed using a NBUS Penny Black embossing folder called 'noted'

- a snippet of 'black velvet' card stock to back the embossed layer as a frame, measuring 4" x 6" - then glued both layers together and set them to one side

- used the iris stamp from the newly gifted Oakwood 'Joys of Spring - Snowdrop and Iris' set of stamps plus a VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' ink pad to stamp the entire flower and stem onto another snippet of 'Pale Ivory' linen card and carefully trimmed right around the image using small scissors

- then used the same stamp to pick out three distinct parts (main part of the flower, deeper centre and the green stem) using the same 'Nocturne' ink pad and a single sheet of paper from the Honey Bee Stamps 'Team Tie Dye' paper pad 

- ran a black TomBow brush pen right around all the pieces, patterned ones as well as the plain one

- trimmed the flower and stem parts and glued them onto the previously stamped image using a glue pen

- glued the completed flower onto the backing layer of 'black border with embossed script' - and once again the camera plays tricks, the embossing is really clear in real life!

- then, used a pre-lettered and ready die cut sentiment from a Lou Collins Epheremera 'Words and Letters' pack of sheets, NBUS as well - gently coloured it using a soft brush and swipe of Distress Oxide 'crackling campfire' onto the Tonic glass mat that I always work on. Spritzed the Distress 'swipe' with water to tone down the density before picking it up with the soft brush and gently colouring the sentiment

- the iris stem obviously stood proud of the embossed layer so I used small pieces of thin foam tqpe pads to build a 'bridge over the stem' on the back of the sentiment before then popping it onto the card

- finally, added the finished panel to the card blank using thin foam tape strips - finished!

Normally I stamp straight onto a panel or the card front when paper piecing - but figured out that the embossing was going to cause issues if I didn't add the flower as one entity with a flat backing ......... and I wanted to use the embossing folder, so there! It did add to the process - didn't think that one through beforehand though.

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

Darnell's NBUS Challenge # 72 - HERE. The flower stamp, embossing folder plus the pre-printed and die cut sentiment were all waiting for an outing - a happy trio 

Allsorts Challenge #818 - HERE  The current challenge is CAS but I think I'd better add this in under 'Anything Goes' as it is pretty much in your face!

Dudley Pupdate: This afternoon, Saturday, Dudley pulled such a cute trick before he went into the back garden to help Len with replenishing the bird seed etc. The hedgies are already stirring and coming looking for food, so that means extra work keeping them clean and fed/watered. Dudley stood right at the top of the stairs really to go outside, and all you could see was Honka Duck in Dudley's mouth - with a pair of bright eyes peering over the top. Len and I were talking about something else at the same time as Dudley was waiting and it was just as if he was at Wimbledon! Duck in mouth and head swivelling from side to side as he looked up at us! Just a little vignette - but a really sweet moment, sometimes small things can be the most precious.

Very importantly, the results of Challenge #500 are now published HERE.  

Do please come and play in Sarn's current challenge over in the Snippets Playground - we're back to our usual routine after so many mystery prizes and special giveaways.

Love from myself and Dudley, xxx

Sunday Snippets and Celebrating 12 years of the Playground!

There's a new Challenge being run by Sarn, over in the Snippets Playground HERE. We're celebrating 12 years since I took over running the Snippets Playground from our lovely Jules. And there are two bumper prizes to be won - the theme for the two week long challenge is still snippets of course, along with 'Celebration'. Of course we'll revert to our usual 'just need to use and say which snippets' afterwards but it's such a lovely couple of prizes I'm sure you'll want to join in!

It's also two years since this 'New Snippets Playground' blog opened with the lovely design created for us by Loll. AND, most importantly, after Sarn worked for some time behind the scenes it was a delight to officially welcomed her as my partner in crime in March of 2022! I can't begin to thank her enough for her unwavering support every single step of the way and I couldn't wish for a better co-owner of our Playground - thank you my lovely friend!

 

OK, enough of the 'soppy stuff' although every single word came from my heart. Let's move onto my snippets card -  I actually made a set of four - to include when sending out prizes to celebrating winners of the challenges run by me:

The snippets, left from stamping then fussy cutting, the paper piecing elements

I used:

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

- I used some almost full sheets of patterned paper - details below - to add a layer measuring 5.25" x 4" onto the card front as a background for the image panel and glued it in place

- used a selection of snippets pulled out of the halved envelopes I glue into the back of paper pads and packs so I can keep patterned snippets fairly easily with the original designs. The packs are both made by Dovecraft called 'Back to Basics' and 'Back to Basics II' and are ancient!

- then used some smooth white card to stamp the image and bubble sentiment, using VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' ink. The snail image and actual speech bubble surround stamps are from Woodware's 'Happy Snail' stamp set - and the 'huge congrats' sentiment is from a Clearly Besotted sentiments set called 'Speaking out' - bought not too long ago on clearance 

- used the Misti to stamp the snail image onto a small snippet of white paper - held in place using a sticky sheet and then, one at a time I placed snippets of the desired papers over the relevant pieces of the image and then stamped the image onto the snippet - by far the best way I know to position stamps for paper piecing images 

- fussy cut the different pieces, edged them using a black Tombow brush marker and used a glue pen to adhere them onto the main snail image images. I always try to add the glue to the main image and then lay the fussy cut patterned paper on top as I find there's less chance of spoilage

- die cut the image panel using a much loved Lil'Inkers 'Stitched Rectangles' die

- then added two 'goggly eyes' - which I very recently bought from Amazon. They're self-adhesive, come in a huge selection of sizes in a divided plastic case - AND, even include some eyes with coloured 'lids' and also some with coloured lids and the sweetest eye lashes. Bargain really!

- added thin strips of sticky foam tape around the back edges of the image panel, swiped them with a glue stick for a bit of wiggle room - then stuck the panel onto the card front

- final touch, used a glue pen to add a leftover green snippet strip across the envelope flap , trimmed either side - and called it a wrap!

I'd like to add this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #58 HERE. The two stamp sets - and the googly eyes were all having their first outing.

I showed Len the little batch of cards and he said 'Just perfect for kids, although how many do you know?'.  Once Dudley and I stopped holding one another up to control our hysteria, I managed to blurt out 'Only the Snippets Playground, full of them!'. 

Dudley Pupdate:  With perfect timing, our hot water side of the central heater boiler went 'kaput' the other day - and it's driven Dudley almost crazy! He hates unexpected visitors at the best of times, but engineers three days running almost had him climbing up the walls - we weren't far behind him I admit! We're convinced he thinks they're out to murder us or, even worse, steal Honka Duck! 

He has his annual vet check up due in February and I'll be asking for advice about his anxiety. We don't want a 'doped up' dog but something that can safely and gently calm him down would be a help. Mind you - that was sort of spooky - my mobile phone had a stream of messages coming in and on Thursday morning, when another came in, he retreated to the other end of the room and just stared at the phone. Almost as if he just knew it was the reminder from our vet to book him an appointment! 😰 I admit, we did chuckle at the timing!

With love from Dudley and myself, 

Sunday Snippets and a 'less than boring' dress!

I wanted to use a stamp set that I was sent a while ago by a lovely friend - and this current 'Snippets Sunday' seemed to be the ideal time:

These are my snippets, only thought to take a photo when they had been stamped onto. But, perhaps it gives you an idea of the basics of paper piecing - and also how my indecisive mind works!

I used:

- mini slimline card blank measuring 6" x 3" white card blank, side opening

- a snippet of white card for the image, which I stamped using VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' ink and the main image and a sentiment at the same time (go me!) from Woodware's 'Little Black Dress' stamp set

- then die cut the image using a die from Lawn Fawn's stitched border 'Large Mini Slimline Stackables' set of dies and kept an off cut for doing 'pencil colour trials' whilst colouring the stand

- grounded the stand and coloured the 'body form' and stand using Polychromos pencils with a little bit of their silver pencil where the top of the body meets the top 'knob'

- then I stamped the outfit, using the same main stamp plus a few snippets, found in the back of some old and treasured LOTV paper pads. I used the Misty but in hindsight think that using an acrylic block would allow for easier eyeballing and positioning when you're trying to pick out pieces on the paper for paper piecing 

- fussy cut the pieces for the dress then glued them in place with a glue pen - finished!

I'd like to enter this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #53 HERE. The stamp set was having its first outing. 

Sarn has posted the results of Challenge #459 over in the Snippets Playground HERE. As always, we had some really good entries, which always makes life tricky when the picks are done. We mostly pick our own for our own challenges - but now and then a scream for help will go up. And it always amazes me how close we are in our choices of the eventual picks!

Dudley Pupdate: Rhetorical question - when you have a poo - do you run around in circles doing 'zoomies' to celebrate? Hmm, thought not! That's fine - just wondering, that's all. 

That was a question from Dudley, by the way! Did I even need to say that?

And then of course, later on, you gobble down your evening meal in double quick time just in case it gets stolen by the 'doggy dinner thieves' before crashing out - partly on the landing and also blocking the exit from Mama's craft room! Having managed to already mess up the freshly cleaned carpets throughout the house just for good measure. It's all in a day's work for a canine security guard! 

    

I gave him a 'Modesty Watermark'! Just in case he sues me for publishing very personal piccies.  He slept soundly and very deeply like that for quite a while, even with me moving around and taking piccies and wot-not. To me, that's when he looks so very vulnerable and yet contented, with a full tummy. 'Forget any intruders - I'm having a snoozelet'! And of course, Honka Duck Mark II is, as always, close by!

There's still one week of the current challenge left to run! Make a card and come and play - there's a chance to win a nice prize if you join in the draw! See you on the swings!

Love, as always, from myself and Dudley,

Paper piecing once again!

OK, who opened the rain floodgates? Non-stop rain here for what seems like weeks and no end in sight. I know that the UK isn't the only country suffering - all I can advise is to move your snippets upstairs ...... out of harm's way - and keep life jackets close beside you. It would be funny, if it wasn't so serious for a lot of people!

My post for the picks and winner of Challenge # 444 can be found HERE in the Playground.

Meanwhile, I made a snippets card to give us some hope of Spring and Summer to come:

And these were my snippets:

This was a second try at stamping onto patterned paper - I lost the first stamped images on different papers by placing my trust purely in the Misti bar magnet. Then, when I went to stamp again due to a first weak stamping - wham! The wretched paper moved and I ended with a blurred stamped flower image. Lesson there is only trust a corner and the magnet(s) - not just one side and the magnet bar. So, I raced ahead and promptly forgot to take a piccie of my newly chosen snippets - until they'd been stamped on. BTW, when stamping a sentiment which will be trimmed I always stamp at least one spare in case of any 'cutting wobbles'. ☺

I used:

- 5.25" x 4" white card blank, tent fold

- stamped the flower image onto a snippet of white card using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a NBUS stamp set by Woodware, called 'Bold Blooms - Vivian'

- to add the leaves to the flower image I used a piece of acetate over the stamped flower to position the two leaf stamps and stamped onto the acetate first - got it right first time - then removed the acetate, leaving the flower panel in place, re-inked the stamps and stamped onto the stem of the flower

- stamped the sentiment from the same set onto a snippet of white card

- next I botched stamped the flower head and the leaves onto snippets of patterned paper (found in the back of a Honey Bee paper pad called 'Team Tie Dye' - one of my favourite paper pads)

- fussy cut the flower bloom and the leaves using small Fiskars embroidery scissors, which are kept purely for paper

- ran the side of the brush end of a black Tombow marker around all the edges patterned fussy cut edges then glued them onto the main image using a Zig glue pen

- trimmed the image to size and mounted it onto a snippet  piece of black card to give a narrow border

- glued the image panel onto the front of the card

- covered the sentiment with a piece of clear adhesive film before trimming away the edges to leave a shiny sentiment strip - much easier than faffing around doing clear embossing when it's only one small item and it really shines beautifully in real life

 - added the sentiment strip to the card front using very narrow foam strips to raise it for some dimension

- final touch, three Memory Box clear self-adhesive 'Fairy Drops'

At one point I almost gave up on this card, especially when the Misti also played up - my fault entirely - glad I soldiered on though.

I have another card to make shortly, and in fact bought the clear adhesive film for that (if my idea works) but it's absolutely super for adding a glossy look to sentiments - yay, hopefully a double win situation!

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

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #46 - the stamp set was having a first outing, also the clear self adhesive film

Allsorts Challenge #711 - the theme is 'A/G with the option of Winter Blues' - I chose anything goes  

We Love Stamping - the theme is 'Favourite Colours' and I adore pink and cream together

Dudley Pupdate - nothing much to report, with the wet and gloomy weather he's not keen on venturing too far. He did meet a friend's new Corgi puppy during the week - but I can't see Arnie being replaced as his 'Bestie' anytime soon! If ever.

Just before bedtime, he always has one of his favourite 'calcium bone wrapped in dried 'chicken' treats'. This evening, Saturday, Len was in bed watching a film and I was across the landing just catching up on some internet browsing and beginning to close down for the night. All of a sudden, I glanced down at Dudley and saw a very cross little face glaring right back at me. He's so sweet and loving that it's a really rare occurrence for him to be upset with us - then we realised - he hadn't had his evening treat! Treat given and all is well again! Little monkey!

 

Pink daisy for a friend

It's time for a new Challenge (#436) over at the Snippets Playground HERE. My turn to host and give Sarn a bit of a break.

For various reasons my snippets card was made fairly quickly - using bits and pieces within easy reach - late into the week just gone, so it ain't gonna win any prizes - but it's rather sweet:

 

The end result is the first image, and the snippets I grabbed to work with are just above here.

I used:

- 6.25" x 3.25" mini slimline sized white card blank, tent style

- a couple of snippets of the same white card were lying abandoned on my desk and the Lawn Fawn 'Watercolor Wishes' pad, with the envelope of snippets inside the back cover, was literally within arms reach - so I collected those I wnted to use together

-the card background was made using trimmed down blue for the sky and green for the grass - all from the Lawn Fawn paper pad - I just hand cut a sort of 'gentle wave' across the piece of green paper to make it look a little more natural then glued both papers onto the card front

- used my Altenew mini die cutting machine (oh, how I truly love this little baby!) to die cut the daisy from plain white card and coloured snippets of paper - all using Lawn Fawn's adorable 'Delightful Daisy' set of two dies. It's such a simple die design but I love it!

- used a glue pen to adhere the 'skeleton outline' of the daisy onto the solid white die cut background piece

- then carefully added all the coloured pieces, using a glue pen, to fill in the skeleton outline 

- time to add a sentiment and I had an old favourite in mind from the Stampendous 'Happy Messages' set of sentiment stamps - which I stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- already knew where the daisy die cut was to sit - so just glued it in place using a glue pen

The set of daisy dies is having a first outing, so I'm adding it into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #42 - HERE.

A Dudley tale - he's done it for ages now, but it's one of his first routines of the day. It's the same every time, a little gallop, a spring onto a low footstool at the bottom of the bed , a launch and then the 'thump' of him landing on the bed when I stir in the morning. Eeek, followed by as good a wash as he can manage to give any exposed part of me as I wake up. It's certainly the fastest way to get one sitting up .......... fighting a crazy smiling licking Havanese full of joy wanting to kickstart aother day of fun and frolics - or should that be frolicks perhaps?!

Remember to come and play in the Snippets Playground Snippets Playground, please tell us what you use and post your entry - over on our new challenge HERE!

With love from Dudley Dog and me,

Through the window snippets card

I recently bought a few Stampin' Up goodies and couldn't resist the 'Better Days' set of stamps. I loved the rather versatile and classic look, and to me it instantly shouted 'paper piecing!' (Hello Lesley!!) - even though it does come with some gorgeous stamps to create the stamped hills using inks, a background stamp and also a couple of sentiment stamps.This was my first play with the set - which is perfect for snippets of course!

 

The lovely ombre shaded Lawn Fawn coloured paper snippets, waiting to be 'fussy cut', main image is at top left and also my rough paper  'template for placing snippets' - is at the top right hand side

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25 white card blank, tent style (for a change)

- the rustic brick/stone background was created using a Sizzix Tim Holts rustic brick wall die given to me some years ago, embossed onto white card and then rubbed over with a soft brush and Stampin' Up 'Smoky Slate' ink, just to tone down the white

- trimmed, then glued the brick work panel onto the card front

- the centrepiece 'window' was created by stamping the main image onto a snippet of white card using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink then fussy cut leaving a narrow border

- whilst the mini-Misti was out, I also selected a few snippets from my usual 'envelope inside the back cover of a pad storage' - from Lawn Fawn's 'Watercolor Wishes' pad, photo of them above, and stamped the relevant parts of the main stamp onto them

- this was made really easy to do by stamping the full image onto a snippet of white printer paper and nestling it into one corner of the Misti then used that to eyeball and position the snippets one after the other to stamp the most relevant parts that I wanted - it worked really well and a great way to save even MORE snippets! A photo is shown above of my pre-fussy-cut snippets. Top left it the main image and the other main image ws on spare paper to use a a guide

- fussy cut all the coloured paper snippets for the sky, sun and three layers of green fields and then ran a black Whispers brush pen around the edges to cover any white edges

- used a glue pen to adhere each piece onto the backing image, always adding the glue to the main image. All these years later I always think of that tip from Jules when paper crafting

- then fussy cut around the 'window' image outline, put that central panel aside and basically went off to bed to dream about the next steps i wanted to take!

- I'd stamped the sentiment whilst doing the other pieces so that was waiting

- before then, I ran a sumptuous gold calligraphy pen edgewise right around the main panel and set it to one side

- then hunted right through my dies and couldn't find a die, even with tweaking, to suit the sentiment - drat!

- so, I careful trimmed the stamped sentiment, also from the SU set, but left plenty of spare white card at either end

- a bit of measuring and some pencil marks and then punched the ends of the sentiment using a 1" SU punch to create the 'tails'

- then ran the same gold calligraphy pen around the whole sentiment strip and we were good to go!

- added the main panel to the card front using thin sticky pads

- then added the sentiment strip, at a jaunty angle, using the same brand of thin sticky pad

At first I hated the result as it just wasn't 'me', and the sentiment still doesn't 'do it and just seems a bit odd, or am I too old to understand?'. BUT, the scene is exactly what I wanted. The rolling fields and the shaded sky were all stamped onto and then fussy cut around pieces of Lawn Fawn's 'Watercolor Wishes' pad, utilising the differences in shade both for the fields and most of all for the sky - with no additional shading added! So, technique won over prettiness I suppose!

And now we come to Dudley's week. Fine - apart from me discovering he'd done a sneaky piddle indoors! I spotted the area with my beady eye and, having a 'nose like a bloodhound check' identified it right away! I doubt if Len is doing sly little piddles, so it had to be Dudders and I know the smell of his wee too! No chastising as he wasn't caught in the act. A dog does a little pee and then moves on, IMHO! Oh Dudley, you scamp! Luckily it was easily sorted out and the repellent de-odouriser spray to get rid of any odour after cleaning in case either of them Dudley makes a return visit, is a godsend! 

My Dad used to tell a tale, supposedly from his childhood, about a teacher in a class, constantly finding little puddles in the classroom, where a child had been 'caught short'. Eventually she addressed the whole class and told them that the culprit needed to own up, in secret, and they and the teacher would then work out how to deal with the problem. No punishment and no worries. So all the children dutifully closed their eyes after the teacher said that when their eyes were closed, the culprit for the puddles had to come and wrote their name of the back of the blackboard which sat on an easel, as they did in the olden days! Everyone closed their eyes - silence. Then after a short while a chair was scraped back from a desk and little feet pattered to the front of the classroom. The seemingly endless sound of chalk squeaking on the back side of the blackboard was heard - and then the little feet pattered back to their desk. Teacher said the kids could all open their eyes but she couldn't resist taking the look for the name that had been so laboriously written on the back of the blackboard. Whereupon she skidded in a fresh puddle and landed flat on her back. As she tried to raise herself up she saw the name of the 'culprit' scrawled on the back of the blackboard ........ 'THE PHANTOM PIDDLER STRIKES AGAIN'.  ☺ The end.

Sometimes this blog is a bit like my life history! Sorry if you only came for the 'how I made the card' bit!

Good grief - I almost forgot to tell you - we're back to any kind of snippets in the Snippets Playground, please tell us what you use and post your entry - over on our new challenge HERE! xx

Allsorts Challenge # 675

The current challenge over at Allsorts Challenge# 675 is 'Favourite stamps and/or dies'.

I have loads of stamps and dies that I really love, as am sure we all have. But, there's 'that special one'  - a wood mounted stamp that I return to more than most. It sits on a narrow set of shelves, with some other favourites, right above one side of my curved desk. Straight in my line of vision when I'm swiveled round to work at the laptop. I've had it for more years than I can recall - it's so old it doesn't even have a name and I'm almost sure it was pre-loved when it came to live here! I have loads of other, much more intricately designed, stamps - but this one just sings to me! And this is the, admittedly quick, paper pieced card I rustled up the other day for the current Allsorts Challenge, see link at top of this post:

I used:

- A6 white card blank, side opening

- snippet of plain white card, onto which I stamped the image, using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and an Anita's 'no name' stamp - probably collecting its pension by now! 

- stamped the same image onto a snippet of patterned paper, found in the back of Wild Rose Studio's 'Annabelle's Meadow' paper pack

- used another sheet from the same pack to die cut the patterned darker blue layer, using the Heffy Doodles A6 'Stitched Rectangle - Outside In' set of dies

- die cut the image panel, using a smaller die from the same Heffy Doodles set

- fussy cut the 'gift box' sections out of the image,which I'd stamped onto patterned paper, quick run around the edges with a black Whisper brush pen and then glued them in place, using a glue pen

- glued the patterned paper and then the image panel onto the card front

- finished!

Last week, I spent some time fairly very ruthlessly blitzing my huge stock of patterned paper pads and packs. However, one paper pack, a constant favourite, which escaped 'the cull' - is the one I used today. In fact - I even have a spare paper pack plus a pack of the lovely 'Annabelle's Meadow' co-ordinating toppers. And hooray - vindication for saving the papers at the very least, when I found them to make today's card! 

I'm always dubious about mixing patterned papers - it can work well, but it can also end up looking 'like a dog's dinner' if you don't have the knack of mixing various papers properly. Use them from the same pad/pack is my advice, if you want to have a chance of it working, as the colours will co-ordinate nicely - and the dyes will at least all change similarly in the camera's eye!

Ah, unless of course it's a dedicated snippets project, then the whole idea is to use up those scraps! ☺ Almost a 'home goal' there!

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #56 - Christmas Snippets

I was really delighted a few weeks ago when the lovely Jo of Dotty Pudding Designs asked me to be November's Guest Designer over at the Christmas Kickstart Challenge. The theme is Christmas Snippets and I jumped at the chance needless to say! It's a long time since I was a Guest Designer and it's such a lovely compliment to be asked.

Mind you, actually deciding what to make for my GD card was so difficult - mostly as the possibilities for using snippets are endless (as we all know) and different ideas just kept on flooding into my mind. It was as if Mr Mojo had returned and brought along several of his friends as well!

This is what I made in the end: 

And these are the snippets I used for the paper piecing. I'm a bit of a 'neat freak' and do trim my snippets to squares or rectangles before storing them away. It works for me and also keeps my OCD satisfied:

I used:

- A6 Kraft card blank

- a layer of red poinsettia patterned paper - trimmed to just slightly smaller than the card front - from Wild Rose Studio's 'Annabelle's Christmas' paper pack

- a piece of pale green paper from the same pack, trimmed to a smidgeon smaller than the red 'frame' to use as the actual background

- used Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad and Woodware's 'Hanging Hearts' stamp set to stamp the image and sentiment - using the Misti for good luck!

- then stamped all the elements I wanted to paper piece onto the relevant pieces snippet of patterned paper. Used more of the red poinsettia plus some very dark green holly patterned paper - both were tucked inside'Annabelle's Christmas' inside the 'snippets pouch' I always add inside the back cover of patterned paper pads. Also found some perfect snippets inside the back pouch  of LOTV's 'Krafty Christmas' paper pad

- fussy cut all the paper piecing elements, did colour the robin's beak using a dark brown Whispers pen rather than go on a lengthy hunt for a snippet of dark brown paper but all the rest of the bird, the hearts, holly leaves and berries were paper pieced

- each piece then had a black Whispers pen run around the outside edge to hide any 'core' or mis-snips

- then glued all the pieces in place, making sure to add the glue (using a glue pen) to the images rather than to the fussy cut pieces of paper (an invaluable tip from Jules many years ago!)

- and the final touch, three teeny little self-adhesive diamantes onto three of the strings, just for a little bit of 'schparkle'

I had such fun making this card and indulging in one of my favourite ways to use up snippets. I adore both of these paper pads and eke out every tiny piece possible so really had to do some juggling to get what I wanted from the snippets/scraps ☺

Many thanks to Jo for inviting me to be a Guest Designer over at the Christmas Kickstart Challenge and I'd really love it if you would come along and join in with the challenge - this is the LINK. It's open until the end of the month so you have plenty of time - and you can also link your entry into the Playground of course! 

There's a £10 voucher to be won to spend over at Sticker Kitten and a 10% discount for all participants!   I hadn't come across Sticker Kitten before and absolutely love their online shop. I already have my eye on a few things needless to say, despite my self-imposed curb on craft shopping☺

I'd also like to enter this card into Darnell's current NBUS #32 challenge - HERE. The Woodware stamp set is one of a late Summer haul of Woodware Christmas designs I treated myself to a month or two ago!  

Rudolph Days Challenge - October 2021

Mo, over at the Rudolph Days Challenge, is (in addition to her usual lovely prize) giving away an extra prize this month, as a tribute to our lovely friend Kath, who we lost in August of this year. To qualify for a chance to win a great Woodware 'tall and slim' stamp set, you have to use paper piecing on your RD entry. That was one of Kath's favourite techniques and she also loved Woodware stamps. So very fitting Mo - a lovely idea!

I pondered about using my own 'identical to the prize' stamp set but, in the end, the lure of a NBUS and totally unopened stamp set won! Even though I'm not playing for the Woodware stamp, it seemed right to use paper piecing.

And this is the card I made:

I used:

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

- piece of white card stock, onto which I stamped the really huge holly outline and also one of the many sentiments in the same set which is Colarado Craft Company's Big and Bold 'Holly and Berries', using a Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad plus the Misti

- next, used a few snippets of paper from LOTV's 'Woodland Wishes' Christmas paper pad, onto which I stamped the holly leaves and berries

- inked in the tiny pieces of branch, using a dark brown Whispers pen, no way were they being paper pieced ☺, then fussy cut the three holly leaves and the berries before running a black Whispers pen around the outer edges

- actually adding the fussy cut magenta berries and two plain and one patterned leaves using a glue pen was easy in itself but they did have to go on in a particular order due to some overlapping teensy details as well as a couple of little slivers of white background at the edge of one of the berries

- trimmed, trimmed and trimmed the image panel down until I thought there'd be nothing left of it - it ended up at 5" x 3.75" in the end, just the right proportions for a USA A2 sized card

- then cut into a fresh sheet (shock, horror), of 'almost plain' magenta paper from the same LOTV pad and trimmed down a backing 'frame' just an eighth of an inch bigger than the image, on all sides

- glued the 'frame' layer to the card front and then added the image panel - using Collall All Purpose glue

You can probably tell that with some cards I begin with the image, before deciding on the final card size. Just as well, as I had one problem after another making this card. I even lost the first set of 'stamped berries' to be paper pieced and no end of searching would reveal where they'd hidden. Edit: Needless to say I found the missing set of stamped berries the following day, on the floor behind my chair! I also accidentally tore up a holly leaf whilst searching! Needless to say I'd already packed away the stamps set ink pad, Misti etc - I know - too confident right? In  my defence, I was only being good and tidying up as I went along - but yet another lesson learned.

The card was originally to be a totally different shape (square), and much larger size, but the 'forces' were against me - sigh. However, I will have another bash, possibly for a batch of them - next time using Pro Markers! It has to be one of the trickiest paper pieced cards I've ever made. 

I'm quietly pleased with the fact that it's not 'quite' traditional Christmas green and red and think you could only really get away with that by doing paper piecing.

Kath - I promise you - I battled on down here and, at times, only the love kept me going.

I'd also like to enter this onto Darnell's NBUS #31 Challenge HERE - the stamp set was new and unopened.

Birthday card for Mia - 2021

Mia, the eldest 'not so little', grand daughter over in Germany just celebrated her 14th Birthday. It only seems like yesterday when she was a little tot!

Mia is still very much into dancing and I used a 'pre-loved' stamp set, bought from a de-cluttering FB group, for her card - I just love the pure joy of the dancing figure:

 I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank

- snippet of white card onto which I stamped the dancing figure from SU's fabulous 'Beautiful You' set of stamps - using the Misti and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad

- dotty patterned paper from Dovecraft's 'Back to Basics 11' paper pack in lilac and soft green, the green was snippets and also cut into a whole sheet of lilac

- next stamped the dancing figure onto a snippet of the dotty green using the Misti and Memento 'Tuxedo Black', fussy cut it and edged right round the cut edge, sideways on, with a black Whisper pen

- used a glue pen to adhere the fussy cut dress and hat portion of the figure onto the white panel

- then, and only then, did I die cut the image panel using a Creative Dies 'square 'Wonky Stitches' die

- used SU's 'Certainly Celery' for all the plain green 'frames', again - one snippet and then cut into a whole sheet

- first layer onto the card was a slightly smaller piece of 'Certainly Celery' as the main 'frame'

- then backed the image panel with a slightly bigger frame of 'Certainly Celery' and set it aside

- trimmed a piece of the lilac dotty paper to just a bit smaller than the green frame and popped a strip of green dotty paper over the lower area to 'pull' the image and rest of the card together. I glued it in place and then trimmed off the excess from the back

- then I took the second try at a stamped sentiment, from the same set - which in truth had stamped way to heavily at first attempt, just below the dancing figure, sob - thankfully before I actually decided on the die cutting size and shape

- die cut the sentiment, using a very useful 'flag' shaped die from the MFT 'Mini Mail' set of dies

- then used the waste from the die cut 'flag' to draw around the inside edge onto green card and trim/fussy cut to just a bit bigger than the sentiment - making sure I didn't chop the longer end too short

- glued the image panel in place followed by the layered sentiment 'flag'

- mused for ages and just couldn't find a lilac gem to match so settled for a Lucy's Little Things 'Bubbles' domed embellishment as a change from a white pearl, glued in place using Glossy Accents, as a finishing touch

I do so love this stamp set of SU's and will certainly use it more frequently. It has three 'figures' in total and each one lends itself to paper piecing. Plus lots of lovely sentiments.

I'm linking into Darnell's current NBUS challenge #31 - it was a first outing for me using my 'Beautiful You' stamp set, and possibly only its second ever outing (the previous owner had only used it once).