Sunday Snippets - Thinking of you

I made a Sympathy card for a blogging friend who has just lost her husband. They often took their dogs to the beach so I chose to make a seashore themed card:

I used:

- 4.75" x 4.75" square white card blank, side opening

- a snippet of white card - from my snippets basket, die cut to  4.5" x 4.5" for the top layer, using a square stitched die by Heffy Doodle

- then used an unbranded 'Seagulls' die (NBUS) to cut an aperture into the top layer. It was slightly tricky as it's a solid die but I solved that by running a strip of low-tack tape right across the die where it splits into parallel cutout lines to make sure it sat level on the card

- then added a piece of patterned paper to the back of the aperture, slightly trimmed from full size, so it's not a snippet, using a glue pen. It's from a lovely paper pack called 'Sea Wave' from Amazon. Just ask if you would like the link folks!

- next came the silver sentiment, which came from my little stock of ready-foiled sentiments. I made a few using the laminator, WOW Fab foil and sentiments from Julie Hickeys 'Assorted Sentiments #2 Die Cut Foilables' set (116 in the set!) 

- added the whole completed scenic panel to the card base using narrow strips of self-adhesive foam - finis!

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

- Allsorts Challenge #829 HERE - the current challenge is 'Animals'

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #77 HERE - the seagulls die was having a first outing

Dudley Pupdate: I did my usual 'ten rounds in the ring' with Dudley the other afternoon - also known as a grooming session. Trimmed around his eyes - his blonde eyelashes are so pretty - gave him a really good brush and comb from nose to tail and his coat looks so fluffy and white, especially lovely right now. Quick spritz of doggie freshner and he was good to go! 

Remember, the results from Sarn's Challenge #511 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE.

Do come and play with us in the Playground - refreshments will depend on the weather over here in England. They do say the temperatures will soar this coming week - out with the paddling pool again! Summer isn't done with roasting us yet it seems!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - Sympathy cards

Not so long ago I had the heartbreaking task of making a Sympathy card for the widow of a much loved neighbour - we four have been friends for over 30 years, which is quite some time. I really struggled with our own grief and decided earlier this week that it isn't impersonal to have a few Sympathy cards to hand after all. And so I made a set of three cards - all following similar processes, just with different images and card sizes/orientations:

Here's the three I made!

I used:

- 4.75" x 4.75" plain white card blank, side opening, The other two cards are USA A2 size, in different orientations, both side opening as well

- the images are all from the Penny Black Stickeroos sheet called 'Timeless', stuck onto snippets of  card ages ago and this time they were trimmed right to the edge before running a black TomBow brush pen around all four sides

- fun time next! Linby aka our Lynn, got me fired up to try out some new sentiments - ready stamped and die cut. The best part is that the sentiment itself can be foiled, in my case I used my laminator and spent a couple of hours doing a whole batch of them to have on standby. The sentiment pieces are by Julie Hickey from the 'Assorted Sentiments #2 Die Cut Foilables' set (116 in the set!). I did push the boat out and bought 'WOW' Fab foil in Glitter Gold and Silver. I do not recommend the glitter gold as the end results can look rather 'bitty' due to the different tones of gold - just my opinion though - you might love it, as I thought I would! In fairness, I do have some reservations - one or two of the sentiment pieces were badly printed, some quality control issues there perhaps plus some other minor things. Overall, I'm very pleased and huge thanks to Lynn for once again being an enabler! Needless to say, both the silver foiling and the silver mirror card look black in the above photos! Usual story

- so, I foiled some appropriate sentiments in silver and just glued them onto the images - it DOES make sense to foil a batch of sentiments in one go - unless your laminator is sitting there ready and waiting, 24/7of course

- then glued the images onto slightly larger snippets of white card before backing them with slightly larger snippets of silver mirror card

- all that was left was to add each image panel onto the relevant card blank, using narrow sticky foam strips ...... finished!

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

- Allsorts Challenge # 819 HERE -  under 'Anything Goes'

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #72 HERE - the Julie Hickey Foilables sentiments and also the 'WOW' Fab Foil were out to have a first play  

Dudley Pupdate: Excitement here - mid-week could see Dudley on a real pupdate here with his beloved Tilly. Tilly's Mum Kim is possibly bringing her round for a pupdate and, earlier on Friday afternoon I was talking to him, as per usual and said 'Do you know that Tilly is coming around for a pupdate?' I kid you not - at that point he'd been sitting quietly beside me doing quality control on the dicing of his fresh veggies as part of his evening meal - but he literally stood up, raised his ears and stared straight down our garden as if to say, 'I KNOW where she lives and sleeps Mama, we already have a direct line!' He sure cracks me up! Whatever else, the week also holds a clip, bath and annual vet visit for Dudley! Little does he know as yet. 👀

Remember, the results from Sarn's Challenge #501 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE.

Do come and play with us in the Playground - the Spring clean-up has been completed (Sarn is a slave driver when the wind is behind her sails but it looks wonderful) and everything is ready to roll! It's the second week of Challenge #502, so do please come and  and play if you haven't already done so. 

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - Sympathy card

It's been a tough week, and I'm badly behind with commenting on Challenge 500 - I'll be with you ASAP! What a fabulous turnout - huge thanks for all your entries and really lovely comments! Here's my snippets card:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" linen 'Pale Ivory' card blank, side opening

- a layer of the same 'Pale Ivory' card (a snippet), die cut using a Spellbinders die from their 'Venise Lace' set of rectangle dies - shame on me, a first outing for them as I filed them into a magnetic storage folder and just kept bypassing them! They are pretty subtle

- stamped the 'With Sympathy' onto the bottom left hand corner of the card, using VersaFine Clair 'Morning Mist' ink and a stamp from 'Clearly Besotted's' 'Say What?' stamp set - sadly discontinued

- then used a die set by Charlie & Paulchen called 'Rambling Rose' or similar to cut the main stem and leaves, the pot and flowers - all from Papermilldirect card swatches ..... which I think count as snippets as well!

- much like Gummiapan, with some careful trimming, the main die really lent itself to then die cutting just the plant pot, carefully trimming some snips along the top and adding it to the pale green main die cut using a glue pen

- added the main stem with pot in situ to the front panel using Stix2 Micro Dots - perfect for such an intricate die cut

- added a sprinkling of die cut flowers, from a pink pearlescent sample - glued in place using a glue pen. I didn't add tiny pearls to the flower centres to keep it simpler

- final touch was to add the panel to the card front using very narrow foam tape for a bit of a 'lift'

I remembered to take a photo of my snippets as well! One tip IF you do think it's a neat way to get your paws on a very wide selection of cards samples, not free though - they are a generous size at 4.5" x 3". However, the company name and card/colour details are on the front of the samples. Many of the samples are double sided so you can just use the reverse, but the single sided pearlised is printed on the front which is limiting and a few of the glitter cards samples as well. They were sitting in a basket here and I knew I wasn't in the market for buying even more card just now so it's a fun way to use a few of them up. Don't hold your breath - at over 290 samples, it could take a while! 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge #818 HERE - under the 'Anything Goes' Option.

Darnell's NBUS Challenge # 72 HERE - both the Charlie & Paulchen and the Spellbinders sets of dies came out to play for the first time 

Dudley Pupdate: We're having some sunnier days right now and, unusually for him, Dudley has been pretty excited whenever it's time for walkies. Usually, he looks on walks as 'OK', but a bit of a nuisance as Honky can't go along too! Perhaps, when I go along on the Purple Peril with the 'boys' we should pop Honky in the wee basket thing on the front of the scooter for Dudley's reassurance! Crazy or what? Friday was a particularly lovely day and I was about to send out a search party as Len and he were away for so long! I would have made them a packed lunch ............ had I known in advance! When it was time for bed, Dudley was already sprawled on his back across our bed giving it the big Zzzzzzzz's - almost impossible to wake him uo enough to gently lift or move him over!!  

We have a new Challenge #501 being run by our lovely Sarn over HERE. As always, Sarn has a lovely selection of items in the themed prize bundle! And no doubt, there will be delicious goodies on offer in the treehouse! 

Love from myself and Dudley, 

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #339

It's 100 years ago today since The First World War ended and it seems very fitting that my snippets card for Armistice Day should be a poppy. 'Lest we forget'.

I used:

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

- snippet of pale green card from the snippets folder

- snippet of white card onto which I stamped the poppy using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and two stamps from the Stamping Bella Straight Up' Floral stamp set. Had to do a bit of fiddling and testing using the Misti and the leaf stamp to get it positioned properly but it wasn't too much of a job (in fact, afterwards I sort of wished I hadn't used it anyhow)

- coloured the flower and leaf using Pro markers then added a little bit of grey shadow at the bottom of the stem

- cut the panel to fit onto the green panel and added them both to the card front using Collall All Purpose Glue

- then backed a couple of snippets of black card stock with Stick-It adhesive sheet before die cutting using an Impression Obsession 'Thoughts' die and layering the two together (Note: it's much easier to do this if the bottom die cut is left inside the piece of card so that it holds its shape whilst you press the two together)

- added the word to the card front and that was my main card done

I then decided to make a second card along similar lines, using the third stamp in the same set:

- I used different colours for the flower, which comes with the leaves already part of the same stamp, and toning coloured card for the border layer and a deeper shade for the sentiment, all snippets again of course

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, once the cards were finished ready for the sentiments to be added I realised that square (either 5" or 6") card would have allowed better placement of the sentiment die cuts - more to one side. I did see some wonderful samples using this stamp set at a Dies to Die For event earlier this year, made by the super-talented Faye, and she had made square cards I'm almost sure! However, as is still the case, a certain little white fluffy ball of fun does tend to curtail things and to be honest I was just glad to have made a couple of cards in the first place - never mind re-doing them! I would have liked to also add Glossy Accents to the sentiment words before adding them to the cards - but didn't have the time.

Am also finding that my mind is easily distracted right now (again, blame Dudley) so I don't always think things right through before diving in!

The prize, as usual, is very much connected to this week's snippets card:

It's a Stamping Bella 'Straight Up' Floral set of stamps plus an Impression Obsession 'Thoughts' die. I won't split this prize so if you play and want to be in the draw remember that you will receive both items - but you can always give one part away to a friend at your end if it's a duplicate or you just don't really want it for yourself!
  
As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 24th November. 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 ignore you on 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 :)

Love from Parsnip who is busily making shopping lists for Christmas - thank goodness one of us is organised! Mind you, his lists look suspiciously as if he's gonna set up a cocktail bar in the Playground for the Christmas party!

And I really did try to get a decent photo of Dudley, but he just never keeps still unless he's asleep! Even then, his tail will wag, he will give out little 'woofs' and his paws will move around as if he's playing in his dreams. But, I did manage to catch this photo - he came into my craft room as I was fiddling with the camera to drop a favourite toy beside me before going down on his 'hunkers' asking me to play for a while. So it was a very quick slightly out of focus piccie taken from above - before launching into yet another game of 'throw me the monkey so I can chase it'!!

Love as well from Dudley, and of course from me. By the way, we have to wait until the hair around his eyes grows longer of its own accord, if you trim it when he's a puppy (which we've been tempted to do I admit!) then it just grows back with blunt ends and takes even more time to become long and smoothed down. I guess he looks like he's winking at you here!

 And then I washed his grubby whiskers! A G A I N ☺

Allsorts Challenge - Week 460 - Black and White only....

...with a hint of flesh colour if you like.

I stuck totally to just black and white and am so pleased I finally managed to play along at Allsorts. Still suffering from a loss of mojo here so thought it might be best if I try to enter some of my favourite challenges, without sitting for hours pondering and dithering about.

I used:

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

- next I trimmed a piece of white card for the image panel, an eighth of an inch smaller all round  than the card front

- then die cut the bottom edge of the panel three quarters of an inch shorter using a Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Scallops' edge die

- trimmed a black and white striped piece of paper from the Back to Basics 'Monochrome' paper pack down to the original size of the image panel. A strip just for the bottom would have done but no way will I ever get through all the patterned paper here as I don't use it much these days - so I could afford to be liberal

- next used the Misti and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink to stamp the water scene followed by the sun in the sky. It was a little tricky as the stamps are from a NBUS set by 'Stamp-It' called 'Luscious Landscapes' and they're made of unmounted grey rubber. I used a combination of a piece of acetate with a grid of squares printed on to get the alignment right and a couple of test stampings onto scrap paper

- added the sentiment using the Misti with that piece of acetate again plus Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp set called 'Handwritten Borders'

- final stage was to glue the image panel to the patterned paper before then gluing them to the card front - that way you do get a chance to do any adjustments if you're a gnat's whisker out :)

This didn't start out to be a 'Thinking of you' card - but, once I was at the point of picking a sentiment, things were a bit limited. That'll 'larn me' to leave a comment on the lovely Kath's blog in which I said something along the lines of such cards not always needing either 'Sympathy' or similar sentiments. But, the gap was crying out for a sentiment and all my other 'long and squiggly ones' just didn't look as balanced. Plus, the scene seemed to lend itself to the sentiment anyhow - there, just talked myself into it.

And here's a prompt folks - I'm so mad I'd kick myself but then I'd fall over! From 25th to the end of each month it's always Rudolph Days over at ScrappyMo's - and this month's challenge is already rolling along. I wanna be there on Thursday and you still have plenty of time to play!

Sympathy card

I needed a Sympathy card straight after holiday:

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank

- piece of baby pink backing card just slightly smaller than the card front, glued in place

- piece of white card, cut just slightly smaller than the pink layer of card - but not yet glued onto the card front

- snippet/band of SU's 'Pear Pizzazz' card stuck across the white panel (using tape runner all over the area green card for a firm stick)

- then I used a Memory Box die called 'Geneva Vine' to die cut across the green panel, reserving two of the green pieces which fall out in the process

- backed the cut out aperture with medium strength double sided sticky sheet

- die cut the same 'Geneva Vine' from a snippet of dark green card and pressed that into the sticky backed aperture, also filled in the two spaces with the light green card

- at this point I added the sentiment using the Misti, SU's 'Old Olive' ink pad and a sentiment from the Stampendous 'Happy Messages' set

- die cut the same die shape from a snippet of the baby pink card and tickled each flower with a pale pink Zig watercolour brush whilst it was still in the die itself, just to add some deeper pink to the flowers for definition

- snipped each flower from the die cut and glued them in place using a glue pen

- glued the whole front panel onto the pink backing panel (which was already on the card front)

What's different about using the die as I did is that the green single layer die cut piece sits quite embedded, as the backing is cut two layers deep. Then, adding the flowers on top, brings them level with the backing layer. A little point but in real life it certainly adds some dimension.

Less is More #336 and #337 - OLC coloured Cardbase

The current challenge over at Less is More had me chewing my thumb nail for a while, not the one layer stipulation - but because I very rarely use coloured card as a base these days.

This is what I came up with - not very adventurous but rather pretty in real life (despite being an absolute 'piggy-wiggy' to photograph!):

This photo has slightly picked up the shimmer from the Brilliance ink layers

I used:

- 4" x 5.75" card blank, made using Neenah 'Desert Storm' card stock

- Penny Black stamp called 'dreamy' and the Misti to position the stamp first of all

- tapped all over the stem using VersaMark 'Hint of Pesto' chalk in pad and stamped it a couple of times

- tapped Memento 'Summer Sky' dye ink all over the wispy fronds and stamped

- next added some Brilliance 'Pearlescent Lavender' to the middle part of the wispy fronds and over stamped 

- then added some Brilliance 'Pearlescent Orchid' to the lower section of the wispy fronds and overstamped

- added a sentiment from the Paper Smooches ''Sentiment Sampler' set, using VersaMagic 'Hint of Pesto'

I'm always in a quandry here over Sympathy cards. When you need one you generally need it fast. But if you make one or two in advance to have ready, then it maybe doesn't seem as personal (to me at least). I guess the balance is to keep one or two on standby for those times when you just wouldn't be able to produce one quite quickly.

Simple thinking of you card

Made for a friend who recently lost her husband:

I used:

- 5.75" x 5.75" square white card blank

- a snippet of peachy pink card stock for the 'frame'

- snippet of white card stock for the top layer

- 'Thinking of you' stamped sentiment is from a now discontinued SU set called 'Sincere Salutations' - stamped using Memento 'London Fog'

- I'd already worked out where the textured floral rub-on poppy was to go before stamping the sentiment so it was just a case of rubbing the flower in place. It's from a set called 'The Tracy Hollins Elegance Collection' that I bought from QVC many years ago - sadly no longer available anywhere that I can find

The light has picked up what looks like an odd crease on one of the petals, in fact all the rub-ons in this set are textured with ripples here and there on all the petals to add dimension. They're best left well alone, if you rub too hard to try and flatten the 'creases' then you risk tearing the rub-on :(

Di
x

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #6!

Yay! Darnell is running one of her NBUS challenges - to the uninitiated that's where you join in the fun and make sure you use something that's been languishing waiting for a first outing on your project. NBUS is short for Never-Before-Used Schtuff BTW :) The challenge runs from 1st to 10th March 2016 - you can see the rules of the game over HERE on Darnell's blog.

I have tons of NBUS items, but most are lined up to be used on my Sunday Snippets cards as 'samples' for that week's prize so I had to pick something new, unused and also without a duplicate waiting in the Snippets Playground toy box. I found a few items in fact, and this card was made using one of them:

I used:

- 4.5" x 5.75! white card blank, cut and scored to size after I'd made the embossed front panel (often easier that way if it's an embossed panel with a set border!)

- piece of white card stock approx. 4.5" x 6" in size, with the flower sprig then die cut from the centre - making sure I kept a couple of the white 'insert pieces' for later. The die is by Memory Box, called 'Geneva Vine' - LOVE this die and can see it being used a LOT

- then die cut using the same die and SU's 'Certainly Celery' snippet and also a snippet of SU's 'Rich Razzleberry' and put those aside for now

- piece of white card stock, embossed using Cuttlebug's 'Pinking Stitch' embossing folder and then trimmed to size

- then I backed the centre of the panel, behind the die cut area with medium adhesive sheet - leaving the sticky part showing at the front of the panel but leaving the backing piece on so that I'd be able to slide the panel about as I glued it to the card front later

- next I slotted the greenery in place into the die cut aperture, followed by a couple of white pieces I'd saved (mentioned above)

- snipped off five flower heads from the 'Rich Razzleberry' die cut and then glued them in place, using a glue pen

- next stamped, with heart in mouth, the 'With Sympathy' sentiment using Memento 'Elderberry' dye ink and a sentiment from the Paper Smooches 'Sentiment Sampler' set

- finally just glued the front panel to the card blank and called it done

Had toyed with the idea of snipping off the flowers on the green die cut before just setting the stems and foliage in place 'cos it would have made sticking the flower heads in place easier but it's swings and roundabouts really. Always the risk that when you then snip off the flower heads from the 'Rich Razzleberry' you just might end up with a little gap (if you're me!) - plus, I quite like the fact that the flower heads are just that little bit 'prouder' on the card front than the greenery.

I might make another NBUS entry - just spotted a recently purchased stamp looking sadly at me here, and it doesn't have an identical chum in the Playground toy box either :)

Do try to join in, Darnell works really hard on her cards and also her fun blog. She has a whole ton of followers, her cards are always fabulous (and often quite wicked) - what's to lose?

Di 
x

Forget Me Not challenge over at Double 'D'

Diane, who comes to play in the Snippets Playground, has just joined forces with a friend named Darlene to run a new challenge called (appropriately) Double 'D'. The current challenge ends on Sunday and the theme is 'Forget Me Not'. 

I knew what I wanted to make, and thankfully the die I'd ordered arrived in time - but what a scrabble I had to find some forget me not blue card. Thankfully there was a little snippet hiding in the snippets folder - but of course, hindsight being 20/20 vision, I later remembered that I could have just coloured a snippet of white card with an appropriate blue Pro marker.

This is my very simple offering - do hop over to see the DT cards, as well as the entries to date, there are some real beauties there!

I used:

- slightly smaller than 5" x 7" white card blank

- a snippet of white card, embossed using a Couture Creations 'Compassionate' embossing folder, trimmed to just slightly smaller than the card front and glued in place

- a white snippet, die cut using Spellbinders 'Labels Eighteen' and then a medium ball ended embossing tool run round the edge of the die whilst it was still in place to form a sharpened outer frame. Quicker than digging out the tan mat and then embossing the piece through the Cuttlebug

- snippets of green and blue card, plus a Joanna Sheen Signature 'Forget Me Not' die

- I'd backed the coloured card with Stick-It adhesive sheet prior to die cutting which made it really easy to pop the blue flowers on top of the green layer and also to add the teeny little blue buds

- added the spray of forget me nots to the large die cut panel

- stamped a sentiment from SU's (sadly discontinued) set called 'Sincere Salutations' using Memento 'London Fog' ink

- die cut the sentiment with a smaller Labels Eighteen die and did the edging same as the larger piece

- the die set comes with a little extra sprig of flowers (plus some little flower heads which I didn't use) - so I added that below the sentiment

- used a yellow sparkly gelly pen for the flower centres and then glued the two panels onto the embossed front of the card

If you like the forget me not die, make sure you check out the Snippets Playground on Sunday :)

Di
x

In my thoughts and in my heart

We all know that Sympathy cards are so very difficult to make, especially when they're for someone you just wish you could scoop up in yours arms and hug.

I recently made this card for our blogging friend Brenda, after hearing that her much loved husband Dwayne had passed away:

I used:

- approx 4.252 x 5.75" white card blank

- next cut a piece of white card, slightly over sized and embossed it using a Cuttlebug 'Pinking Stitch' embossing folder and trimmed down to size

- worked out where I wanted the sentiment to fit and before stamping it I die cut the flower aperture using Penny Black's 'Bashful' die

- next, added the sentiment using Memento 'London Fog' ink and a stamp from the Inky Doodles set called 'In my Heart'

- used the die cut flower from the card front and also die cut another flower head, coloured both with Whispers markers

- then added some sticky film behind the aperture and popped the whole flower in place followed by gluing on the top layer - to make the flower look fuller

- stuck the whole image layer onto the card front, still using Collall glue until I find out how to use tape without positioning it wonky

- added three plain sequins

- final touch, clear Wink of Stella on the petals and leaves - then some 'Tea Dye' Distress Stickles to the centre of the flower

Made with a heavy heart but a whole lot of love.

Di
x

A very odd archway

This stamped image almost makes me cross-eyed! Shame as it's lovely otherwise:

I used:

- 4.25" x 5.5" white card blank

- white card stock, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp I've had for ages made by Inca, called 'Church Window'. I've inked it up before but always discarded the results - tell you just why after I finish listing what I used

- coloured the image using Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils and Sansodor blending solution

- stamped the sentiment using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from SU's 'Sheltering Tree' set

- die cut the image panel using a Lil'Inkers Stitched Rectangle die then layered it onto a snippet of pale blue card stock

- die cut a teeny butterfly using SU's Embosslits 'Beautiful Wings', added it to the card, tickled with clear Wink of Stella and then added a single little pearl 

It's always hard to make sympathy/thinking of you cards so it's good to have one on standby.

Now, why d'you think that image makes my teeth itch so much? It might be me, but am sure the whole perspective of the archway is 'off'. It appears to be leaning to one side a bit for starters (that's 'cos it narrows in on the left hand side) but it's the right hand side that bugs me most - almost as if the stone arch switches from being an outer to an inner without reason. It's always struck me as somewhat 'odd' anyhow - and not a stamp I'll be using again in a hurry :(

Di
x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 175 and 176

And it's now May in the Playground! Don't time fly when you're having fun?

Len's Uncle Charlie passed away recently and this is the card I made to send to his family:

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank

- green backing card from the snippets folder

- Penny Black 'Poppy Poem' stamp, stamped using black Archival ink and coloured with Tim Holtz Distress inks ('festive berries', 'forest moss' and 'gathered twigs') plus the very fine end of a matching green Whispers marker. I just touched the distress markers here and there on the petals, buds and leaves then dragged the colour out using a water brush. Added a tickle of light grey Pro marker as shadow/grounding

- the sentiment was stamped using SU's 'Thinking of You' sentiment from their 'Sincere Salutations' set and black Archival ink

Although the 'Sincere Salutations' sentiments set is discontinued, and has been for some time,  SU's 'Wetlands' set (still available) has three sentiment stamps in it, which are of similar fonts (scroll and block capitals).

Given Uncle Charlie's Armed Forces background, which included years as a Prisoner of War in Poland, the poppy seemed so appropriate. He had a long (94 years), full and interesting life for sure!

Onto this week's picks now:

Kate was first into the Playground last week, and went straight onto my list of possible picks. I do whittle the list down a bit later in the week, but this gorgeous bauble card so deserves to remain a pick! I've had to sit on my hands to resist buying the stamp and co-ordinating die!

I truly think this is one of the very best male cards I've seen for a long time, brought to us by Eve (who is currently recovering from pneumonia!). The dogtooth paper is such a perfect background.

Kath almost caught me out here with this beautiful card - the background is DP, I thought Kath had stamped it until I read the list of materials properly. I wish there were more gorgeous papers like this one to be had!

Sarah (Craft Nerd) showed us a few cards in one blog post, with the most darling Easter scenes. What absolutely stunned me was the intricacy and smallness of the details she added - especially the fabulous little flowers. The flowers on this card actually have a micro bead in their centres - now that really IS working small! Do please hop over to look at the close-ups!

I just love this scene that Lynn (Linby) created! And, some of the die cutting was actually done using an old brochure - very imaginative and a great success too.

I totally adore this card, made by Carol L. Of course, it's pink for a start, uses those lovely stitched dies and the background is so beautifully water coloured. But, it's how Carol used the Memory Box 'Prim Poppy' die that really makes this card stand out for me - firstly using striped paper but also splitting up two die cuts and arranging them so well.

So those are my picks, I hope you like them and that they give you some inspiration. I do try to give everyone a little turn to be a weekly pick, but sometimes there are perhaps more appearances by some playmates - and that's because it would be a shame to leave them out :)

And, we have three new playmates this week:

Firstly, Joan W hopped in with this lovely Christmas card - using one of my all time favourite images. So pretty!

And then Joanne arrived, immediately after, waving this gorgeous sunshine card - I love the design and such a great sentiment too!

And, much later in the week, Kikka Cards brought this adorable trio to share - so cute!

Welcome to you all, and I hope you come back to play with us again!

Straight onto the draw for last week's prize of the Cuttlebug 'Pinking Stitch' embossing folder and the Joanna Sheen Signature 'Daffodils' die. Gosh this was a popular prize, one of you really wanted just the embossing folder and 27 of you would have loved both parts of the prize. And, drum roll, the winner is:

Carol L

Well done Carol, it's quite ironic really as you use your dies and embossing folders so beautifully, plus once again (purely coincidence) a pick of the week got chosen by Mr Random too! I do have an address for you from a previous win, but can you please confirm that it's right? (di_wray@hotmail.com)
 
So here's this coming week's prize, which isn't connected to my snippets card for once. There are two chances to win a Sheena Douglass 'Simply Sweet' stamp set. Those of you who are familiar with Sheena's 'Paint Fusion' technique will know that the general idea is that you stamp the 'bones' of an image and then add the extra detail using brushwork techniques. The sets come with stamps, full instructions and a laminated practice sheet. A chance to get arty without having to start right from scratch :)

This time, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 16th May. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

I'm sorry to mess folk about but we need to be away for Uncle Charlie's funeral for a couple of days at the end of this coming week as it's at the other end of the UK to where we live. That means I won't have time to do the write-up on Saturday as I usually do, and will have comment catching up to do as well. So it seems best to let this current challenge run over two weeks instead of just the one.

I'm leaving Parsnip in charge and he has my mobile number on speed dial! And Sarn will have her prefect's hat on - I hope :)

Maximum of three entries (over the two week period) and please say 'Yes please' (or similar) in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. As I already pointed out, there are two of these Sheena Douglass stamp sets to be won (both the same) so there will be two winners.

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


Di, and of course, Parsnip!
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Sheltering Tree - Take One

Recently I bought SU's 'Sheltering Tree' stamp set - and at the weekend I found time to have a little play:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- snippet of SU's 'Smoky Slate' card stock, cut just slightly smaller than the card and then run through the Cuttlebug with Die'Sire's 'Swirl Corner' embossing folder

- a snippet of 'Annabelle's Meadow' paper from Wild Rose Studio's paper pack

- the image was made up using stamps from SU's 'Sheltering Tree' set and mostly Tim Holtz Distress Markers. Using the brilliant Fiskars 'Compact Stamp Press', first I stamped the grass using 'Mowed Lawn', next the tree trunk and branches using 'Gathered Twigs' - followed by the blossom using firstly 'Victorian Velvet' and then 'Picked Raspberry'

- I then added the swing by colouring the stamp using a Whispers Black marker - the jury is still out on this one to be honest as I think the swing looks much too chunky. It could be the marker I used (maybe an ink pad would be better) - or I pressed too firmly on the stamp press. OR, it's just made that way :( I need to have a play with ink pads when time allows - failing that it would be easy enough just to draw a swing using a fine liner

- the sentiment also comes with the set, stamped using Memento 'London Fog'

- finally I die cut the image using a Lil'Inkers 'Stitched Rectangle' die and just stuck the whole card together using Collall All Purpose Glue

Job done - and I think this card would be fine as a sympathy card or to wish someone well who is under the weather. I still need to work on that swing stamp though!

Di
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Cuttlebug Mania - Freeze Frame

We have another fun challenge over at Cuttlebug Mania this fortnight, called 'Freeze Frame'. This time you have to use or make a frame, basically any shape with the middle removed to make a frame. Loads of scope there ladies! Just so long as you use a manual die cutting/embossing machine that's fine, and also do remember to say which embossing, die cutting products you used.

Our sponsor this fortnight is Digi Scrap Kits- and the artwork over there is fabulous!

So this is the card I made, using my trusty Cuttlebug:

I used:

- A6 white card blank - tent style

- a layer of SU 'Smoky Slate' card stock, topped with a layer of white card stock which had been embossed using a Couture Creations 'Compassionate' embossing folder

- to make the 'Smoky Slate' oval frame I first die cut it using a Spellbinders 'Big Scalloped Oval' die (I love the gentle curve on this set of scalloped dies) and then I die cut the centre out using a plain oval die.

- too funny though, having so carefully made the scalloped frame with two dies I realised that the sentiment needed to be stamped onto plain, non-embossed card, sigh. So, after stamping it onto plain card, I die cut it using the plain oval die. But, my frame truly is a freestanding frame - I promise! The sentiment is a discontinued SU one from their 'Sincere Salutations' set, stamped using Memento 'Gray Flannel' ink

- then added the foliage - Cheery Lynn 'Mini Fanciful Flourish' die and a snippet of green card stock

- the flowers were stamped using SU's 'Petite Petals' stamps and SU pink inks in 'Pink Pirouette', 'Pretty in Pink' and 'Regal Rose' then punched with the matching 'Petite Petals' punch. I just gently curved the petals a bit and added the flowers to the card using small pieces of thin sticky pads

- finishing touch, a Mei Flower pearl in the centre of each flower

Now it's your turn to play, as I said before, there's loads of scope!

Di 
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Less is More - off the page

..........and one layer at that! Eeek, bright butterflies and big bold flowers sprang to mind right away - but both the DT and quite a few entries already had gone down that route. Mutter, mutter, scratch, scratch here. Then I looked up and noticed a stamp sitting quietly on a shelf right in front of me - and this was born:

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank

- SU's 'Smoky Slate' ink pad and Penny Black's 'letters and flowers' stamp - angled off the card edge and positioned using SU's Stamp-a-ma-jig

- a 'Thinking of You' sentiment stamp, made by Hobbycraft, and SU's 'Perfect Plum' ink pad

Deciding what to use/make probably took ten times as long as actually doing the card in the end and I do wonder if it ended up too Less is More and not inspired enough. It was one of those days, sigh :(

As I said, this card is for Less is More's current challenge.

When Len saw it, his comment was 'I'd pick that one in a shop' - which I think is his way of saying it's OK.

Now for a question - ignore if not applicable.

I have loads of upright desk containers and mugs/pots of craft 'implements' such as brushes, pens, pencils, hammer (don't ask!), markers, pricking tools etc. etc. on the desk here. All the scissors are in a brilliant wooden carousel which originally held fancy edging scissors. But the other stuff is driving me nuts - the neat freak in me has been looking at a hexagonal storage carousel, the same as this one:

It seems to be very similar to the original Memory Keepers carousel. I've worked out that there would be space for one on the desk here but would really love to know if anyone has one and has any opinions/pros/cons to offer please. I've done loads of research but always value what you lovely folk have to say.

Di
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Pixies Snippets Playground - Week 113

I made this card for a friend's husband. His wife, Sue, lost a long battle in our local Hospice last Sunday - and I lost a special friend:

 I used:

- 6" x 6" square cream card blank

- Penny Black 'Hello Sunshine' stamp, stamped using VersaFine 'Vintage Sepia', partially coloured with Whispers pens then mounted onto a snippet of brown card. The butterfly was die cut/embossed from a snippet of brown card using SU's Framelits 'Beautiful Wings' and three little amber coloured gems added down the body

- sentiment stamped using a stamp from SU's 'Sincere Salutations' set and VersaFine 'Vintage Sepia'

- to 'balance' the card I scored lines along one side and the bottom using the Hougie board. All I did was measure on the front where I wanted the lines to end to one side and above the sentiment then drew pencil lines to those measurements on the back as a guide to where to finish the score lines

Let's move onto this week's picks. As ever, tricky to decide :(

I picked this card, made by Sue J (Olliesmam) because it just screamed STUNNING at me. A beautiful example of white on white.

Here's another creation that brought me up with a real start - made by Sarn. Fabulous 'dangling' and I just love this really artistic card.

Again, I just went 'Wow' when I saw this card, made by Kate P!  Amazing use of lots of snippets - I totally LOVE it!

This card, made by Bonnie is soooo clever - it really does look like a patchwork quilt.This is definitely on my list to try!

I adore this fun card, made by Sam! It just made me feel very happy - so funny too! Some wag even asked how the chicken rode the bike when its legs wouldn't be long enough to reach the pedals :) Snigger.

Our Elizabeth has been missing in action lately due to a virus - but she managed to come and play with this beautiful creation. It's the dragonfly that used a snippet - but the detailed description of how Elizabeth made the fabulous background is sooooo worth reading!

And last, but not least, I picked this really eye catching card, made by Liz W. Such a clever way to use hearts and wonderfully effective don't you think girls?

And this week we also had two new playmates come and join us - please say hello too:

Jackie - who brought not one but three snippets cards in the same post!

And Shazsilverwolf who had been playing with gilding flakes - look, there are still some on her cutting mat below the easel :)

Lovely work ladies, and I do hope you will come back to play with us again!

OK, so now for the winner of last week's prize of the two 'Wild Rose Studio' stamps:

Jenny L

Well done Jenny! I do still have your address and will post to you ASAP.

And this week's prize is a stamp the same as the Penny Black 'Hello Sunshine' one I used today:

Please don't think this stamp is just suitable for Sympathy cards - it looks fabulous and very cheerful paired with sunshine yellow background papers or whatever floats your ark boat.

As usual, the snippets challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 1st March and will open again at midnight UK time on the same day. Maximum of three entries and please say 'No thank you' in a comment if you wish to still play but not be the winner of the prize.

Please NEVER be afraid to say you're just playing for fun - it doesn't offend me at all, and the Playground is first and foremost for us to have fun, the prizes are just a thank you for playing :)

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

Also, the two-week Mr & Mrs die draw still runs during this coming week so if you haven't already qualified by entering three times you can make your total up to three and be in with an equal chance. Do please remember to add a 3 after your name when you link your third entry!

And finally (will she never shut up) - do remember that it's Sarn's Rudolph Day Challenge this coming week as well, beginning on Tuesday and running to the end of the month. It's a short month so you might want to start thinking - already so soon :)

That little lot will keep you out of mischief!

Di (and a wave from Parsnip)
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