How time flies

I was laughing at blog comments between Kath, SaRn and myself yesterday about a very 'girlie' Penny Black image Kath had used on a card. It was the style I so wanted when I was trotting out to discos in my late teens/early twenties ... and a lot later if truth be known!

It got me thinking about some of the few scanned photos/slides I have from my (ahem) much younger years. This was taken when I would have been around 19 years young - Dad and I had just finished a lawn mowing session as I recall. At the time I was fairly fresh from boarding school, settling into life back at home in the UK with my parents and just working out how to stretch those wings :)

And then - hold onto your hats girls - a couple of years later I'd found out about really 'dolling up', ready for what I seem to remember as a Christmas dinner dance, probably a 'company do':

By now I was just turned 21 and mini skirts were all the rage. Was also newly engaged (pre-Len, shame we didn't meet earlier and just cut out the 'middle people' and all the angst they brought us both - but that's life isn't it). It was still me underneath all that glamour and glitz and dolling up like 'Miss Congeniality' (as I once described it to Darnell) was an event more than a regular occurrence - and also worth my Dad capturing on film apparently!

I can clearly recall making that dress sitting at the dining room table. Back then I made most of my own clothes and happily spent hours working on them - maybe that's why I now love paper piecing so much :) Of course it was pink (what else!) and made of shimmery and very silky chiffon over a taffeta lining - and, if I may say so, an absolute p*g to work with!

Of the two photos, I'm sure I know which 'look' my Dad would have preferred - Len too for that matter. But, it still was fun to dress up and party now and then :)

Ooops, the reason I wrote this post was really to say that yesterday flew past and so far I haven't knuckled down to commenting on Playground entries - I can see you've been busy and will get to you as soon as possible!

Di 
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Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 212

And we had yet another really busy week in the Playground, with lots of lovely entries shared - 65 in total. As always, it's gonna be tough doing the weekly picks!

This is my snippets card for this week. I spotted the idea in 'Die-cutting Essentials' magazine and must confess I thought it would be really quick to CASE/make. But, I hadn't bargained on the lack of any measurements in the instructions so just had to play around with plain white paper templates until I was happy enough to cut into any snippets. Because I really wanted to use a new die on this card it became a mission and I wasn't gonna give up - otherwise I think the waste bin would have come into play:

I used:

- 7.75" x 7.75" square white card blank

- covered the whole front with Neenah 'Desert Storm' card stock

- the 'shirt' is made using SU's 'Whisper White' card stock. The layer for the shirt itself is just a square with a slit cut to the top left, lines embossed to make folding crisper and the 'collar' folded back and held in place with narrow slivers of thin sticky pads

- the 'tie' was drawn freehand and hand cut from a snippet of LOTV's 'Country Gent' patterned paper - after some fiddling around with a couple of prototypes!

- the pocket was cut from a snippet of SU's 'Whisper White' card stock - and to create the pointed end of the pocket I used a Spellbinders hexagonal die

- gosh it took umpteen tries to get the folded handkerchief right - cut from a fresh sheet of the same patterned paper as the tie in the end and I was almost at the point of despair

- the sentiment was die cut using another snippet of patterned paper, backed with 'Stick-It' adhesive sheet, and using a really great Joanna Sheen Signature die called 'Retro Happy Birthday', I'm sure I first spotted it over on a playmate's blog - as is usually the case!

Finito! And I'm not sure I'd ever make another one - but if you'd like to have a try here are the measurements for my attempt. I was a bit hog-tied by the size of the sentiment as it's 3" x 2" - pick a smaller sentiment and you could reduce the size of the card for sure.

Card blank, 7.75" square. Neenah layer, 7" square. Cut slit for the collar, 1.25" in from the left hand side and 1.25" in length - folded by approx 0.5" from the top edge tapering down to the end of the cut slit. Tie is 6" long overall and 2.25" wide - it tapers down for the point from 2" above the bottom of the tie. The pocket started off as a 3.125" square and after cutting the bottom point using the hexagon die it measures 3" from top to bottom. The handkerchief started off with much smaller snippets than I eventually used - in the end I used a 4.5" square piece of paper from a fresh sheet and sliced it across diagonally to form two triangles to get enough overlap - just chopped off the bottoms before sticking it to the reverse of the pocket.

The sample in the magazine had faux stitching drawn round the 'sewn' sides and bottom of the pocket - I really liked the effect but to be honest was at the stage where I'd have cried if it hadn't worked out properly! Just thought, I could have pricked holes down the edges maybe - too late now. 

Let's whizz through some weekly picks now:

I've had such lovely messages thanking me for your weeks 208/209 prizes - and just have to show you this card, made by Val using the stamp she won:

I really love how Val has used the same paper as the background sheet to paper piece the number 25. Really clever idea and it pulls the whole card together so well.

I just love this butterfly canvas - made by Cathy. It's truly inspiring and certainly makes me want to break out the mixed media box again and get mucky!

Kathleen made this absolutely adorable baby card, using a Woodware stamp and paper piecing. It's just so lovely and a great way to use up lots of toning snippets!

Love this card, made by Eve - such gorgeous colours and great paper piecing too. We seem to have a bit of a roll on paper piecing in the Playground right now :)

We have another Baby card, this time made by Sam (Whisper). I adore this stamp, my own one sits on a shelf right in front of my desk. It's a 'centre swing' card and is one of the few fancy folds on my quite short list of ones to try - so much so that I have a 'Card School' article beside me as I type - kept from a recent QCME magazine. Really so effective!

Janis brought this fabulous card to share - I think it's just stunning! Do hop over to see just how Janis achieved the look - using her 'molten technique'. Certainly one to try out here!

Isn't this a great card - made by Jane W. What a terrific way to use up lots of different snippets, punched into circles. I'm sure you'll all agree that every single week here brings yet more inspiration!

And last but not least of the weekly picks:

Sandma scampered into the playground with this perfect scene - I really love it. Such a beautiful depiction of the Northern Lights - yet another technique I want to try!

I have little scraps of paper here and there with notes about ideas to try out. Jannie of the Cuttlebug Mania challenge made me a beautiful covered A6 sized notebook for my Birthday - rather than just admire it, I've literally just now written this idea/technique in as one to try! So that's a perfect use for such a pretty notebook and a great way to tidy the desk a bit too..

We have three new Playmates this week:

Lia brought this card to share - I love the effect of the little butterflies soaring across the sun!

These darling ATCs were made by Susan (Renshaw) - so pretty.

And Jo L was encouraged to come and play with us by our own Jenny L. I just love this tag - gorgeous background, made using an inky snippet and those beautiful stamps. That reminds me, I have some similar stamps in the toy box here - for another week's prize.

Welcome to the Playground girls! We do hope you'll come back to play with us again.

And now for the prize draw for last week - the two embossing folder strips, kindly donated by Viv - and our winner is:

Susan (Renshaw)

Wow, it's first time lucky for Susan! What a welcome to the Playground - do please send me an email with your address in Susan and I'll pop the embossing folders in the post to you ASAP. My email address is shown in the right hand sidebar.

And now for the next prize on offer - this coming week it's two Joanna Sheen Signature dies:

They are: a 'Forget me not' flower die, the same as I used on Friday's card HERE, and a 'Retro Happy Birthday' die, the same as I used on the pocket on my snippets card for today.

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 23rd January. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. As these dies are quite small I would prefer to keep them as one prize but if you have a burning desire for only one or the other then just let me know in a comment - and if your number comes up then I'll do a further draw for the remaining die. Please also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

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 :)

Have a good week - I think we have a strong possibility of snow here in the UK. Let's wait and watch the whole country grind to a halt after a few flakes huh?

Better news on the 'foot front'. After the slight despair I felt after the hospital visit (which proved to be as much use as a chocolate fireguard) I had a progress appointment with my GP. He's begged to differ with the hospital 'experts' and says that it was in fact two flare ups of gout - back to back. Plus, he actually saw me laid up in bed - unable to do more than hop to and from the loo - right in the throes of the worst one of course. So, knowing first hand the state I was in, he will be putting me on preventative treatment. Yay! Sometimes I wonder if am my own worst enemy with hospital visits and putting a smiley face on! I don't like taking meds but almost bit his hand off!

It's a real balancing act to get the dosage right versus the acid crystals so it will involve blood tests before starting treatment and certainly regular ones thereafter to monitor progress and keep an eye on the dosage. But such a small price to pay. It isn't a guarantee, there may still be flares or I may never have another one - but any chance of prevention is fine by me.

Di and of course, Parsnip!
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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
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Made for Twofers challenge

I suddenly became aware of the 'Twofers' challenge - probably because our Jane W from the Snippets Playground is on the challenge DT and gave me a little nudge. The current theme (#11) is 'Birds' - and did I have some fun making my entry, even though I already spotted the same stamp set had been used by the DT as well as at least one entry.

I dug out my Tim Holtz 'Bird Crazy' stamps and dies as they'd been very neglected - plus the accessories set (Crazy Things) along with their matching dies. Cleared a big space on my desk and had a wonderful Sunday afternoon playing with the stamps, dies and Pro markers.

It seemed much easier to have a session like this with everything out at once - even though I didn't have individual cards in mind. I stamped, coloured and die cut one of each of the birdies and then stamped, coloured and die cut a variety of matching accessories. For my card I just used one of the 'sets' and now the other five are slipped into their own little card packaging cellophane bags and are sitting in a basket within reach, ready for use another time.

Here's my entry for the Twofers Challenge:

I used:

- 4" x 6" white card blank, tent style

- a snippet of SU's 'Wisteria Wonder' card stock - trimmed to just slightly smaller than the card front and glued in place

- a slightly smaller snippet of white card stock, with the corners punched using a Woodware Decorative Corner punch

- next I stamped the sentiment - using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a couple of stamps from the fabulous SU 'Just Kidding' clear set (sent to me by a lovely blogging buddy for my very own use - thank you again, mwah!)

- then I used one Tim Holtz 'Crazy Bird', tucked a bunch of flowers under one wing and cut a slit in the hat so it sat properly before adhering it to the card front - before that I'd used a Cool Grey Pro marker to form the 'grounding' area for the birdie

- a touch of the same Cool Grey for where I planned to add the parcel - and then just stuck the parcel in place

I had to explain the sentiment to my in-house critic - and even then I don't think he really 'got' it. Am convinced that men are wired differently to women!

Next job is to make a card for the new Double D challenge where the theme is Forget-Me-Nots.  I have a plan, if something arrives here in time - otherwise there's gonna be a last minute scramble for an alternative! 

Di
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Upcycling Christmas cards - yet again

As usual, I carefully went through our 'shop bought' Christmas cards when it was time to take them down and selected any that might be useful for a spot of upcycling. I thought pickings seemed a bit lean this year - or perhaps I'm looking more critically and only keeping cards where I truly can see potential? All the hand made ones we were sent are treasured and tucked in a safe place needless to say!

The current challenge over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge is 'Red'. And this is what I came up with:

I used:

- 4" x 6" white card blank

- an upcycled off cut from a Christmas card (complete with the word NOEL), die cut using a die from the Lil' Inkers 'Stitched Rectangles' set and mounted onto a slightly larger snippets of SU's 'Lost Lagoon' card stock to pick out the colour of the birdie

- another snippet of SU's 'Lost Lagoon' card stock, trimmed just a smidgen smaller than the card front

- a snippet of white card, embossed using the Darice 'Snowflake Background' embossing folder and trimmed down

- at this point I could work out the spacings for the image and the ribbon so next I wrapped a snippet of brown ribbon, edged with turquoise, around the lower part of the embossed piece of white card then stuck that piece of card to the larger snippet of 'Lost Lagoon'

- stuck that whole panel onto the card front and popped the image panel on top

- tied a knot of ribbon around the ribbon strip and (as always) to keep it in place I just tucked a little piece of double sided red line tape behind the knot 

Really quick and easy card - but I do think the image could pass for being hand stamped and coloured :)

This is also for Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for January, where it's always 'Anything Goes'. I love both of these challenges run by Hazel - a great way to steadily produce Christmas cards throughout the year rather than have a big rush in November time.

And there's also Rudolph Day each month over at ScrappyMo's plus Merry Monday every week - two more challenges I love to join in with.

Although I accept that some folk just can't face even thinking of making Christmas cards much before November, being well ahead certainly saved my bacon this past Christmas!

Di
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Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 211

We're getting back to normal now folks! All prizes from the 208/209 Celebration have now been posted off - some went on Tuesday, the rest went on Friday and quite a few have arrived at their destinations - even as far as New Zealand.

My time has just flown by this week for some reason. I needed some cards for friends and family, hospital trip, doctors trip, a spin around the local supermarket just to pick up a couple of things (all on my own, yay!) and of course trips to the Post Office. I found I was slipping with Playground commenting and certainly had a hard time producing a snippets card. Anyhow, this very simple offering is what I came up with - in real life the colours are much richer:

I used:

- 4" x 5.5" white card blank

- a snippet of yellow card trimmed slightly smaller than the card front and glued in place

- a piece of patterned paper from a fairly recent craft magazine, trimmed to just slightly smaller than the yellow card layer and then glued in place. I can't recall the magazine's name but strongly suspect it was a 'Tattered Lace' one - bought as a back copy for an alphabet die :) Mostly I just ditch the free patterned papers in magazines but these were lovely and thick and also matt rather than shiny.

- so far so good - and then I really stretched myself (not!). Die cut a yellow butterfly using a couple of teeny yellow snippets from the snippets folder and the Memory Box 'Pippa' and 'Isabella' butterfly dies - then fixed it together and stuck it to the card front

- added a little line of white pearls down the butterfly body to finish off

- went and had a lie down to recover from such a complicated exercise :)

OK, now lets' see what this week's picks are:

 

A stunning pop up card for a 101st Birthday made by Liz. And, this wonderful card is for a lady who is a football supporter - so clever to cover a Birthday, football and yet retain the femininity as well.

One of those cards, made by Viv, that just made me gasp here. I think it's absolutely perfect for a Golden Wedding!

I just love the fresh elegance of this card, made by Jane W. Wonderful use of snippets too!

On my long list of possible picks I marked this one as 'a must'! It's such a lovely canvas made by Andrea (Kanda) - really pretty and I just adore it.

What a gorgeous card, made by Hazel (My Card Attic). So clever how the snippet of striped paper just pulls the whole card together - and isn't that a wonderful WRMK basket weave embossing folder?! I worked out that it's too wide for my Cuttlebug - looks as if sometime soon I just might need a bigger cutting machine :) Although, Hazel is brave and does often cut her actual embossing folders down!

These lovely cards, made by Mo and her grand daughter, are really lovely I think. So fresh and such a fabulous way to use up lots of snippets too!

Isn't this a pretty card? So much lovely detail and loads of snippets used too. It was made by Diane H and is also to launch a new challenge called Double 'D'. The current them is 'Forget Me Not' and it certainly seems like a fun challenge - one I hope to join in with!

You know how we seem to 'enable' one another in the Playground? Well, this sure was one enabler and in fact I have the very same stamp now sitting in the toy box - ordered when I spotted this fabulous card made by Barb. So it will be a prize before too long. I do have a little growing all the time list of Playmates who come up with many fabulous goodies that I/the toy box just can't live without. You mostly know who you are girls :)

Back to Barb's card, I just love the rustic colours - and of course the snippets used, plus the super way the parchment based sentiment has been heat embossed and then stapled in place. Beautiful!

Phew, once again I managed to work out how to copy a Flickr account photo into here - because I really wanted you to see this fabulous card/gift voucher holder made by Karen L. What a lovely scene and great use of snippets too!

As always, Sonia came up with a stunner here! It's a beautiful step pop up card with so much gorgeous detail - and I love it.

I think this card, made by Greta, is such a clever way to use up lots of little snippets. Love all those tiny tags and the matching streaks of colour for the background!

And last but not least:

Meg nipped in just before the gates closed yesterday with this super House Mouse card. Everything about it is just so right - a darling image (and the little bowl is paper pieced), super design - and even a couple of real paper clips to finish off! Perfect!

And the draw for last week's prize of the 'Calabria' dies donated by Viv - our winner is:

Barb

Well done Barb! I have your address here and will post the dies off to you ASAP this coming week. 

And here's the prize for this coming week - again kindly donated by Viv, and also nothing to do with my own snippets card:

It's two 12" Cuttlebug border embossing folders called 'Botanicals' and 'Caged Bird'. They're lovely folders and even if you're not into scrap booking and 12" layouts - remember that you can always cut the borders down to suit or use shorter pieces of card :) Also, even if your die cutting machine doesn't have a long set of plates and you do want the whole 12" embossed strip, all you do is hold the folder in place using removable sticky tape and then just emboss from either end. Simples!

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 16th January. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. I've already trotted out and bought suitable packaging for these folders to be posted together and won't be splitting them - so if you play for them you will get both folders if you win. Please also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

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 :)

Have a good week - so many folk have suffered during this recent heavy rain, and now we're told there's colder weather on the way! Someone had better tell Spike the hedgie - he's trundling round the garden most nights and feeding well. He's very healthy so we think it can only be the mild weather that's woken him up - I checked with out local wildlife sanctuary just to confirm that this can happen, even though it's a bit disconcerting at first 'cos you worry a hedgie is unwell. It could also be that his Winter nest got a bit damp but we're comparatively dry here so perhaps he moved his lodgings! Little scallywag, causing us to fret!

Di and of course, Parsnip!
x

'Hedging your bets' baby card!

We knew that our neighbours' new baby had arrived but, to use Len's expression, we didn't 'know what flavour'! So, rather than put one or two feet firmly in it - I was chivvied/nagged encouraged by himself to make a 'gender neutral' card. And of the three options we'd ended up with (boy, girl and neutral), the in-house critic liked this 'neutral' one the best - so all's well that ends well:

I used:

- plain white card stock to cut a stepper card using the Presscut 'Step Card Cutting' die

- the patterned papers are from the Prima 'Fairy Rhymes' pad - used to decorated the front of the card and also the inside - more of a beige colour in real life

- the baby image is a pre-coloured one from LOTV which I've had for ages, die cut using a Spellbinders 'Labels One' die

- the image was then mounted onto a backing of a pale mink coloured pearlescent card snippet, die cut using a Spellbinders 'Luscious Labels One' die

- to the front patterned paper strips I then added 'Valencia Border' swirls, die cut from white pearlescent card (thank Kath for enabling me!) plus three butterflies die cut from a snippet of the mink coloured card using SU's Embosslits 'Beautiful Wings'. Just added a few white pearls to the butterflies to finish off

- the inside had a sentiment added using Memento 'Toffee Crunch' ink and a stamp from the really useful set called ' Set 61 - Quotables - Celebrate'. It was then die cut and mounted the same as the front, with more butterflies and pearls added

The card was delivered by Len yesterday - and the baby is a little boy. Everyone is recovering well :)

Quick hospital update, a visit which I didn't feel was very helpful. Managed, just, to get shoes on which obviously was good. The outcome for now is basically I have to wait until I have another one or two gout attacks before they'll put me on preventative meds (that cheered me up no end you can imagine!). But, the 'nasties' levels have come down nicely in the (ahem) fluid samples - which in fact IS encouraging. I still say that stopping some other meds that I'd only been on for a few months has been a huge factor in that result! I need to stay on the anti-inflammatories etc. for now due to residual osteoarthritis. I politely refused the offer of a steroid injection into the toe joint - for now at least. When they want someone up there with a paint brush to decorate the ceilings and if it appears to be a last resort then I may take up the offer. I think that's really enough detail - suffice it to say I've bounced back today from feeling quite let down. No other option is there :(

Slipped a bit on commenting in the Playground, oops - and today I should be able to post the last of your prizes off. Most went on Tuesday to those who replied with addresses right away - and some of you in the UK already have received them. Then I needed a few more padded/hard backed envelopes and the last address to post off the final five this afternoon. Yay - marathon over!

Now, where's me pogo stick so I can have a quick bounce around the Playground?!

Di 
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Favourite Five Cards of 2015

'My favourite five cards of 2015' is an annual challenge run by Debby of 'A Scrapjourney'. If you don't already follow Debby then you're missing a treat - she's very talented and makes some beautiful cards and layouts.

2015 was the year I got into 'punch art' - and had such fun making ninja's, dragons, Santas .............. and minions.

Lots of us went a bit mad over the really whimsical 'Crazy Birds' by Tim Holtz. As usual, I was late to the party but got there in the end! LOVE these stamps and the accessories are just such fun.

I really enjoy building little scenes using dies and this was my favourite scenic card of the year.

Len celebrated a special Birthday, and I made this guitar card for him, just love the clean lines (not my original idea I hasten to add!).

I returned to my 'old style' of image, ribbon, charm and flower to make this card - for a friend's grand daughter. I'd forgotten quite how many different boxes of craft stuff gets hauled out of the cupboards in the process!

That's my offering of favourites - have you done yours yet? Be quick as I think Mr Linky over at Debby's will close very soon.


Di
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Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - 'New'

We're celebrating the New Year over at Cuttlebug Mania with a fun challenge - the title is 'New' and that can cover all sorts of themes such as new house, new baby, new job, new craft goodies (bet you all have some of those so soon after Christmas!).

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

For my card I went for a New Baby card - a neighbour is expecting a new baby any day now. With two boys already I suspect they would love a little girl - I already have a baby boy card to hand so I made a girlie one - just in case:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square, white, scalloped edged card - made by Craftwork Cards - tent style

- green backing card made by SU - 'Certainly Celery' - for the main backing and the scalloped circles

- patterned paper is LOTV, from their 'Perfect Pair' paper pad, free with a magazine - probably Quick Cards Made Easy knowing me!

- the image is a pre-loved Penny Black stamp called 'Baby Hammock', stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and coloured with Pro markers. Have had it for ages and this is its very first outing here! As usual, I chose the paper first and matched the colouring to that

- die cut the image using a plain circular Spellbinders die and then popped it onto a 'Certainly Celery' scalloped circle, again die cut using a Spellbinders die 

- stamped the sentiment 'A New Baby Girl' using Memento 'Gray Flannel' ink and a LOTV stamp, die cut the sentiment and layered it onto a 'Certainly Celery' scalloped circle

- at that point I could see the proportions of the card layout properly so I stuck a strip of lace across the plain and patterned card (with pink ribbon threaded through the centre of the lace) and the ends wrapped round the backing card. glued it to the card front and added the image and sentiment with sticky pads - and a small ribbon bow using the glue gun

- some gaps needed filling so I die cut two pretty white corners (die was free with 'Papercrafts Essentials' magazine in 2015)

- then added a few white pearls here and there

- final touch, a tickle of clear Wink of Stella on the image, daisies and the butterfly

So now it's your turn! Remember, you can also use up some snippets at the same time as following the 'New' theme - along with manual  die cutting and/or embossing. As always, snippets are ideal for die cutting (and embossing) so you can also play in the Snippets Playground!

Di
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Pixie's Snippets Playground Weeks 208/209 Celebration - Prize Results

At last, it's time for the prize draw which so many of you entered over Christmas and New Year. A HUGE thank you to everyone who played along - and I only wish every single one of you could be a winner. Here we go!

PrizeA - Curved Merry Christmas die & Lawn Fawn 'Happy Holidays' stamp

#59 - Elly 

Prize B - Woodware 'Christmas Date' stamp - 6

#84 - Carol L
#76 - Glennis
#11 - SaRn
#100 Lynne in NI
#33 - Val
#94 - Eemeli

Prize C - Woodware 'Tipsy Tree' stamp set

#58 - Lucy

Prize D - Creative Expressions Sue Wilson 'Festive Collection Joy' die set & Memory Box 'Lindeman Snowflake' die

#135 Janis in ID


Prize E - Penny Black 'Xmas Crafts' stamp & set of Lil' Inkers 'Stitched Rectangles' dies

#73 - Lesley G

Prize F - Sheena Douglass 'Christmas Greetings' embossing folder & Crafter's Companion Die'Sire 'Christmas Stocking' die set

#5 - Donna

Prize G - Woodware 'Tweet Birds' stamp set- 3

#47 - April
#74 - Kitty
#44 - Jane W

Prize H - Penny Black 'Monkey in our Tree' stamp  & Spellbinders 'Wonky Rectangles' Nestabilities dies

#32 - Jenny H

Prize I - Poppystamps 'Ornament Trio Cutout' die

#69 - Vinita

I know this is gonna sound weird, after I'd done the draw I felt really very sad and quite 'down' that not everyone could be a winner. And also, it was interesting that in the end I didn't need to split any of the prizes (say between a stamp and a die set or whatever) and no-one won two prizes. Sometimes that Random number thingy spooks me a bit!

So all I need now please is your addresses so I can post the goodies off to you. Rather than highlight whose addresses I already have can I please ask, for this once, that regardless, you do drop me an email (my address is on the RHS sidebar) with your address and also confirming that I haven't got in a muddle and you really do want the prize you won. It'll make sure I don't make any errors and also means I don't have to hunt for 16 addresses stored in three different places in emails and on my laptop. If you put WINNER in the email subject line then I'll be able to spot them quickly too.

Thanks girls - and a huge thank you to everyone for joining in the fun! It did end up beong more work than I'd thought here - but who said that spreading a little bit of sunshine has to be like a stroll in the park?

Talking of strolls in the park - day by day I'm more mobile despite the trotter still swelling and the pain is much more bearable too. I have a hospital appointment on Wednesday morning and hope we perhaps can then plan a way forward to stop this happening again. Tee, hee - I might have to wear a pair of Len's Padders slippers to hospital - or perhaps flip flops if it's dry weather. Still can't get a shoe on that foot, sigh.

Anyone remember Goofy and his huge feet?

Need I say any more? One thing, it could cheer up the rheumatology outpatients department if I wade in wearing a pair of 'boats'. I think Len is planning to wear dark glasses and a large hat pulled down to hide his face :) 

Di (and Parsnip of course)
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