Sunday Snippets - Nativity Christmas card

My snippets card for today is a Christmas card. Last year I was woefully short of cards depicting The Nativity etc., so I decided that this year I'll make sure they are made really early:

My leftovers

I used:

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

- piece of Tonic Pearlescent 'Majestic Gold' card, die cut using the largest die from the Taylored Expressions 'Petite Scallop Rectangle Stacklets' set of dies then glued onto the card front 

- whole sheet of Crafters Companion 'O Holy Night' paper*, trimmed to 0.25 inch smaller than the scalloped layer, corners rounded using X-Cut's small corner rounder punch then glued onto the gold scalloped layer

- then dug out several snippets from the pack of Tonic Pearlescent 'Majestic Gold' card and used the Altenew mini die cutting machine** to cut out two each of the figures in the Crafters Companion 'O Holy Night' set of dies before layering them together - using a 2mm Zig glue pen

- glued the nativity scene pieces in place

- I'd gone right through my Star of Bethlehem dies cutting different ones early in the process and kept coming back to this one I used - again, double layered - which I glued in place above Baby Jesus in the Manger. The die is from the Memory Box 'Star of Wonder' set of two dies, the one I used and also a smaller version

- no sentiment needed as the scene says it all really

* The 'O Holy Night' paper pad is absolutely gorgeous - the front of each sheet bears scenes relating to the Nativity and could easily be trimmed for some really quick and easy cards. All really sumptuous colours too. The reverse of each paper is equally rich but much plainer and great for backgrounds. I used a reverse for today's card.

** I know I keep mentioning my sweet little Altenew 'Blossom' die cutting machine, but it's one piece of kit I would now hate to be without. Brilliant for sentiments and smaller dies, without digging out plates for the larger machines I have. I don't have a dedicated cutting station for the Cuttlebug, although I do for the Gemini Junior. Just planting a seed there folks! Not cheap but worth every penny!

I'd like to enter this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #58 HERE - the paper pad and the Nativity figures were new-ish - I take ages to use things for the first time!

And, Christmas Kickstart Challenge #82 - The Midas Touch HERE.

Also, Scrappy Mo's Rudolph Days Challenge HERE. This is the final Rudolph Days challenge that Mo will run - thank you so much to you and the DT, and good luck to you and Al with your house move and future plans!

Dudley Pupdate: Sarn and I were having a telephone 'team meeting' and Dudley needed to be in on the act of course. Eventually, he went into the garden to play with Len and, just as Sarn and I were wrapping things up - then in shot Dudley, totally in 'party time mode' fresh from garden 'zoomies'. Jumping, trying to get up onto my lap and also frantically calling 'Hello' to his Aunty Sarn in 'dog speak yelps'. I could imagine her rushing off off to scribble in her diary - 'that dog is loopy, rather like his Mum'!

Very importantly, the results of Challenge #471 are now published HERE.

Do please come and play in in the second week of my current challenge over in the Snippets Playground!

Love from both Dudley and myself,

Decoupage donkeys!

I made another Katy Sue image 2023 Christmas card which was hand delivered to a friend who loves horses. I thought these donkeys were really cute, even though they aren't exactly show jumpers:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank

- a backing piece of Tonic 'Firestone Red' mirror card 

- then the decoupaged image - the dark line above the robin shows the shadow from one of the umpteen layers 

- the double layered sentiment in 'Firestone Red' mirror card was made using a Tonic Studios 'Mini Moments Merry Christmas' die

- final touch was a 'stamp' on the envelope, from the same Katy Sue decoupage set

I'm posting these on here for the record - this next Christmas I may do it all again and just make sure that different friends receive different cards. Me not totally daft! 

Sunday Snippets - Eclipse technique

Wow, what a cold week we've had, down in the minus temperatures a lot of the time. Little Dudley has slept right through every night ............ on the fleece bed cover between Len and I, and has barely stirred!

Here's my snippets card for this week:

I used:

- 4.75" x 4.75" square white linen card - side opening ( let me know if you want the supplier)

- two pieces of the same white linen card, cut to 4.5" x 4.5" square - I used a die from the Presscut 'Nesting Square Die' set - which has 32 dies in!

- then used the Misti to stamp the same image onto both pieces of card, in the exact same position several times, using a VersaFine Clair 'Monarch' ink pad and an orchid stamp from the Marianne 'Floral beauty' set of silhouette stamps (not the best of solid stamps I have to say) 

- next step was to take one of the identical square panels and use a die to cut the Altenew 'Window Sphere' cut, centralised into the orchid image

- grabbed a little snippet of white linen card and stamped the sentiment - using the same 'Monarch' ink pad and Clearly Besotted's 'Speaking Out' set of sentiment stamps

- then trimmed it and glued it to another small snippet - of Tonic's 'Majestic Gold' card and trimmed that to fit behind the stamped part of the sentiment

- added the sentiment piece directly onto the die cut part of the front panel using a glue pen - very carefully with a glass mat underneath - then whisked it up pronto!

- next, I used very narrow double sided foam tape to stick around all four sides and also right around the central 'aperture' of the die cut image

- used a old glue stick to allow some movement room and then adhered the top die cut layer onto the identical bottom layer

- then added the whole front panel onto the card blank - using Collal glue as I so often use - finished!

I LOVED making this card, such a fabulous technique and certainly one I'll repeat for sure. I did first spot it on Christine Stokes' YouTube Channel, ask if you want the link - although Chrissie didn't add foam tape underneath the die cut layer and for me that extra bit of lift is what absolutely makes this card so special. Despite additional postage I guess!

I forgot to enter this into a couple of challenges! So here goes:

- Darnell's NBUS challenge #58 - HERE - the stamp set and the die I used are both NBUS

- We Love Stamping January 2024 challenge - 'Something new' - HERE (the stamp set and the eclipse die are both new) 

Dudley Pupdate: Apart from sleeping on our bed during the night, Dudley has decided that it's his current general lookout place! Underneath the desk is now forgotten, sigh, and I miss my boy. From the end of our bed he can see me in my craft room, see Len coming and going, me travelling downstairs and back up on the 'ski lift' - and also be within easy reach of the top of the stairs, his warning post for any callers who could be intent on running away with Honka Duck! 

We've battened down the hatches here in readiness for the forecast high winds due on Sunday. Fingers crossed it isn't as wild as they say it will be.

Remember, there's a new challenge over in the Snippets Playground - hope to see you there!

Love as always, Dudley and me,

Sunday snippets and a Birthday Celebration card

During a slightly busy week I made a last minute snippets card for today - and this is the result, sorry no snippets piccies this time - I emptied my waste bin earlier, sigh:

I used:

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

- snippet of Tonic Pearlescent 'Majestic Gold' card trimmed to 0.25 inch smaller than the card blank and set aside for now

- snippet of green mottled paper from my snippets basket, which I die cut using the Simon Says Stamp 'Circle of Leaves' die

- then die cut a circle, using a Tonic Studio's circle set,  from a snippet of cream hammered card I'd trimmed to 5" x 3.75" to form the main top layer. I really loved that there was a smidgen of difference between both circles as it forms just the whisper of a green inner edge 

- next I trimmed and glued the die cut leaves panel behind the circular die cut cream panel - rather 'tricky woo' to centre it I admit

- then glued the cream layer onto the gold one, which was already on the card

- then die cut the sentiment using a die with no name, but so like Poe script, using snippets of snippets of cream and 'Majestic Gold' card 

- glued the gold layer on top of the cream layer to form a more robust sentiment

- added the sentiment using a glue pen 

- topped the main image off with a few sprinkles of small clear self adhesive  clear gemstones - finished!

I'd like to enter this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #58 HERE - the 'Circle of Leaves' die was having its first outing.

Dudley Pupdate: A friend and I went out for a trip on Thursday morning and when we came home and were trying to relax with teas and coffees, Dudley was anxious beyond belief. We think that in his mind that I was just calling in to say 'Hello' and would be off out again! He settled down more as less as soon as my lovely friend, who he does bond with, set off for home. WAY to shame your Pawrents Dudley Dog! 

We bought a new throw for our bed - it's very soft and velvety and Dudley absolutely loves it! I lost him on Friday evening and found him curled up on our bed, in the dark, having forty winks on the throw!

Very importantly, the results of Challenge #470 are now published HERE. 

Do please come and play in Sarn's current 'Celebration' challenge over in the Snippets Playground!

Love from both of us,

Di 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, 

Baby deer decoupage

I really had such a lovely time making up a bunch of Katy Sue decoupage images, for cards to be hand delivered to some of our neighbours. This card was given to a lovely couple - partly as the gentle deer reminds me somewhat of Yvonne. My nickname for her equally nice husband is 'Billy the Fish'. He's a keen fisherman - sea trips mostly (barf!) and he often trots around giving away his 'catch'. I've made a umpteen potato topped fish pies, courtesy of his generosity. I learnt to always have some frozen prawns in the freezer, in expectation of a delivery!

So, here's Yvonne and Billy's card:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank

- a backing piece of Tonic's mirror card in 'Rose Platinum' - cut to just a little bigger than the image itself. It looks silver, but is the prettiest shade of pale pink in real life

- the image had been assembled by 'moi' using thin sticky pads, glossed over with glue stick for a little bit of wiggle room - and then I just added it to the card, using Collall All Purpose glue

- the double layered sentiment in 'Rose Platinum' mirror card was made using my cherished Tonic Studios 'Mini Moments Merry Christmas' die

- final touch was a 'stamp' on the envelope, from the same Katy Sue decoupage set

I would like to enter this card into the current Allsorts Challenge #760/1 HERE. The theme is 'cold and ice' - or anything goes.  I think that a snow scene is cold enough? Brrrrrrrrr!

Speaking of cold, a lot of the central South of the UK has had power cuts today (Tuesday 2nd January) due to Storm Henk and Hampshire was hard hit. We were in the midst of it and at one point there were 181 areas affected - including us. Thank goodness for engineers who were obviously out in the thick of it, switching supplies to try and provide a continuous service, whilst they repaired the faults.

Hope you all had a good beginning to 2024 - and that it's a brilliant year for all of you.  Dudley seconds that too!

Sunday Snippets - and a Birthday card

When this publishes, we'll be almost ready to leave 2023 behind and see what 2024 brings with it! New Year's Eve has never been a favourite celebration for either of us and we'll just have some homemade soup for eats, with nibbles to follow as we have a quiet evening and watch the Thames Firework Display on TV. Bliss - with Dudley curled up with us of course.

This coming week, one of our little neighbours will celebrate his 7th Birthday - so I whipped up a quick snippets card for him, which is either a caterpillar or a centipede with invisible legs ....... perhaps it's a 'caterpede'?  😅 

The leftover snippet pieces!

I used:

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

- piece of the same white card, trimmed to 5" x 3.75" and set aside for now

- a piece of rust coloured sparkly card, sent to me by a lovely friend, trimmed to 5.25" x 4" and glued onto the card front

- then glued the 'previously trimmed and set aside' white panel onto the card front and rolled up my sleeves to make the 'critter' and the sentiment strip - using a load of snippets and my mini die cutting machine

- die cut two of each colour of the plain card and glued them on top of one another - using a circle die from Tonic Studio's 'Circle Layering' set of dies

- then die cut the head from a snippet of the sparkly rust coloured card, using a slightly bigger die from the same Tonic Studio's circle set and backed it with a couple of plain white die cut circles

- to finish the head I added a couple of little, straight brown 'antennae' using red line tape to the back of the head, drew in a mouth using a black marker and added the goggly eyes, backed with punched circles of the brown card (using red line tape) so they didn't look too 'lost'!

- then added the 'caterpede' to the white panel on the card front - using thin sticky pads and also glue pen where the pieces overlapped ......... instead of sticky pad. to keep a more evenly raised layer 

- die cut the sentiment from the snippet of rust sparkly card - using an Altenew die from the 'Essential Sentiment Strips' die. Backed the strip with one die cut from plain white card and then backed that with a plain narrow strip of white card to show through the cut out lettering and also make adhering it to the card front easier

- stuck the sentiment in place on the card front using red line tape - with glue stick whisked over it, to allow for a little movement, before pressing it firmly in place

- finally, die cut the number 7 using a 'The Works' die from their 'Numbered Candles' set of dies, backed it with a plain white die cut - then snipped off the flame of the candle. Cruel I know but the set is much more versatile if you're prepared to have a little snip here and there!

- used very narrow red line tape to adhere the number onto the body of the 'caterpede'

- finished!

Sarn has posted the results of Challenge #469 over in the Snippets Playground HERE. As ever, she has some really great choices as 'Picks' - and a lucky prize draw winner too!  

Dudley Pupdate: Before Christmas, we had a stair lift installed here (aka the 'Ski Lift') and I cannot begin to explain how it's made going up and even more so, down, our stairs so easy as opposed to recent times! Dudley is getting much more used to it and is absolutely loving the fact that I'm spending a lot more time going up and down and also spending more time in the lounge (and kitchen!).He loves to race the 'Ski Lift' going up the stairs - and wins every time needless to say!  And of course over Christmas he sat and stared with his huge eyes hoping for teeny scraps whenever we sat at the dining room table to eat - hard to resist but also he needs to hold back a bit! For such a small dog I swear he would eat until he couldn't even move, given the chance!

There's still one week of the current challenge left to run! Remember, it's anything BUT Christmas as the theme! The challenge is below Sarn's results post over in the Playground. Do please make a card and come play with us. There's two chances to win a gift voucher for the online shop of your choice. 

With love from Dudley and myself,

Sunday Snippets - 'Yay!'

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! Ho, ho, ho!

My snippets card below was made from some bits and pieces, found in a basket on my desk - the silver panel, the white panel and a cello bag containing the decoupage flower spray and little sparkly butterflies all popped up, shouting to be used! I then also found the white card blank in the same basket/treasure trove! Sorry, I made the card without stopping to take a photo of the snippets:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.0" white card blank, easel style - a non standard size, which was why it was languishing unused!

- snippet of  pearlescent silver card and also one of white card, trimmed slightly to form the image panel then glued in place

- a Dufex decoupaged spray of flowers, made up eons ago, glued onto the panel using a glue pen

- the 'Yay!' sentiment is a pre-made one, silver on white from the PinkFresh 'Foiled Sentiments' pack - a lifesaver! Just glued in place using a glue pen

- three tiny sparkly butterflies which were in the cello bag with the decoupaged flower spray - glued here and there with the wings flicked up for added dimension

Dufex is probably one of the hardest things to photograph - apologies!

There's a new challenge #470 over in the Snippets Playground HERE. The theme is 'Anything BUT Christmas' - which should get you thinking a bit! AND, two special prizes from Sarn and myself!

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley has carefully watched every step of the tree and decorations going up with his usual fascination. The other day I spotted him gazing absolutely memorised at a lounge door covered in beautiful Christmas cards, slowly absorbing every detail - totally in a world of his own. Many of them are the hand made ones sent by good friends and I fully expect to find him hopped up onto my chair in the craft room searching through my basket of snippets!

Anyhow, we've bought him yet another soft toy and some doggie choccy drops from Santa! For Dudley, the real thrill is the rustling of wrapping paper if truth be told!

As usual he'll have his own little white dish of Christmas Dinner with us tomorrow.

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas and that you find time, after the dust settles, to join in with the new Snippets Challenge.

Lots of love from Dudley and myself,

Sunday snippets and a decoupage Christmas card

A short while ago I made up some Katy Sue decoupage Christmas image panels. Then, after making one card, they were set aside, ready to assemble onto cards to be hand delivered locally. And here's one of them, for neighbours with three boys:

A multitude of sentiments, all made well in advance from snippets to make life easier

I used:

- 5.75" x 5.75" white card blank, side opening

- sheets of red and gold mirror card from a Craft Perfect 6" x 6" card pad - die cut using the Maximum Crafts 'SF6 Square Frame' pair of dies then glued in place onto the card front

- then used the red mirror card out fall from one of the dies to fill in the centre panel area and glued it in place - shucks, I originally thought I had a decent sized snippet for future use but it didn't look right without it

- then glued the decoupage square onto the centre of the card - always hard to capture the dimension of several layers, sigh. The black lines that looks rather like a set of jump leads on front of Santa's card are actually shadows cast by some of the edges of layers  

- final touch - a double layered sentiment in white from my huge pile of mini Merry Christmas dies - made in the evenings using snippets and my little Altenew die cutting machine to save time and effort later on. Glued to top left of the card.

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

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #81 where the theme is 'If it's Christmassy, link it up'

Dudley Pupdate: Len did a final trim of little Dudley - both of them can only take a certain length of time in one go and this second one was to whisk away any 'stragglers' from his first session. He looks enchanting and is so ready for his role in the Playground Pantomime Nativity Play! One big hint - if you do get to act with the little perisher - speak to me and I'll give you some scraps from his most loved Pedigree Calcium Bone Wrapped in 'Bacon' treats! He will be at your beck and call I promise! Little dog with an 'always looking for treats' attitude! 

Finally, and very importantly, the results of Challenge #468 are now published HERE. Do please come and play.

Love from both of us,

Di and Dudley (woof OR baa-baa-baa)!

Sunday Snippets and some teeny Christmas cards

There's a new Challenge being run by Sarn, over in the Snippets Playground HERE. We do hope you manage to find time to come and play! It's a busy time for most of us, but a little break to relax and craft often renews those energy cells!

I had a couple of NBUS dies which had been waiting for ages to step out and be used - and this is one of the cards I made:

I used:

- 3.75" x 3.75" square white card blank, side opening

- a snippet of the same white card, which was then die cut using a Penny Black 'snowflake stitch frames' die before being glued onto the card front - leaving a narrow border around the edge

- to add the backing to the tags I would be die cutting a bit later required a bit of pondering here but in the end I adhered the patterned snippet to some 'Stick It' sheet then backed that with some fairly lightweight white card (I made a whole batch of eight at once so in fact if wasn't as fiddly as you might think)

- the snippets of patterned paper came from two of my favourite LOTV paper pads 'Frosty Christmas' and 'Krafty Christmas' - I never ever throw out LOTV snippets!

- then drew around the outline of the tag die before trimming it to just slightly smaller then the outer edge - about .25" all round

- that left me with a tag shaped piece of reinforced LOTV paper on top of which I could then glue the die cut tag with the word 'Joy' across the middle

- then die cut a tag twice, using more white snippets, before gluing them together for dimension. The die is by Poppystamps called 'Joy Tag' - it's been around since 2016 so is most likely discontinued and knowing me I'll have picked it up on clearance!

- finished!

I'd like to add this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #57 HERE xxx. The dies I used were both having their first outing.

Also, Christmas Kickstart Challenge #81 HERE - where this the theme is 'If it's Christmassy, link it up'.

Dudley Pupdate:  Len gave Dudley a pretty thorough trim earlier in the week. He looks rather shorn and so small that it's like having a puppy back! 

I've said before that he always does a sand dance around the top of the grooming table to make life more fun/awkward. It's funny to watch but no fun to try and grapple with him and do the trimming at the same time! I think both Len as well as Dudley were exhausted at the end of the session!

The past couple of nights I've found Dudley pressed right up against me so I pop one arm out of the duvet and just cradle him in the crook of my arm holding him close. I don't think he's actually cold, he's just aware that his coat has had a thorough trim! By the time Christmas arrives his coat will have already sprouted beautifully.

With love from Dudley and myself, 

Sunday Snippets and a twinkling star

My snippets card for today is almost a direct steal from Chrissie Stokes over on YouTube - I already had a snippet of silver glitter paper handy and the star shaped die just 'happened' to fall into an online shopping basket! Such a sparkly outcome:

I used:

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

- piece of the same white card, trimmed to 5.25" x 4" then a star shaped aperture die cut using a Creative Expressions die called 'Aurora Star'  

- I then followed Chrissie's method to the letter and flipped the aperture panel over before sticking strips of narrow foam tape to each side of the star points as well as just inside the outer edges of the panel 

- stripped off all the backing from the foam tape then ran a glue stick over all the exposed adhesive surfaces, to allow some 'wiggle room' when doing the next steps

- added the trimmed down piece of non-shed sparkly silver glitter card behind the star itself, flipped the panel over and then adhered it onto the card front - BTW, the silver sparkle card is absolutely pure silver - utterly gorgeous. 

- final touch was a sentiment, die cut from the little piece of leftover silver glitter card as well as from plain white card as a backing layer

- layered the two together and glued the sentiment in place at the bottom right of the card, using a glue pen

- and of course, the die I used for the sentiment is my favourite Tonic Studios 'Mini Moments Merry Christmas'. At the moment I keep mine on the top of a small magnetic 'Surprise' box, which sits on my desk to stop me from losing small dies whilst working. Yup, another idea from Chrissie!

- finished!

A couple of things about the card. First of all, huge thanks to Chrissie for all the inspiration (and 'spend enabling'!) over on YouTube. This is the link to her channel - Val, myself, Brenda L, also pretty sure Darnell is .............. and no doubt quite a few of you are - already subscribed (which is free, it's just another term for following). I really loved making today's snippets card and the result is nothing short of stunning IMHO - all thanks to Chrissie and the idea of lifting the star aperture panel away from the main card itself. 

Foam tape - Chrissie uses Stix2 products and her roll of very narrow foam tape is mahoosive when new! I can't do wrestling whilst crafting - but a little search some while ago turned up some really great, very narrow self adhesive foam strips on Amazon. Here's the link if you feel tempted - they will probably last you for years!  

Card bases - I mostly use a stock of Craft UK 5.75" x 5.75" square card blanks to use 'as is' and  for trimming down to USA A2, plus various smaller square card, sizes. Over time, I've found that it's not necessarily the cheapest option - but it works for me as the card is so robust, pre-scored and a decent shade of white. For top layers, where water or alcohol isn't involved in the colouring - I will often use part of another (same range) card blank.The card will take a stamping directly onto it in any ink BTW, so it's really good to hold onto snippet strips. Then you can stamp your sentiment ....... either directly onto the card base - or do it onto the snippet and then die cut or trim down to suit. And of course the white strips are also super for die cutting a second sentiment to reinforce the top layer, coloured or not. I do have a variety of larger sizes from the same range.

Sarn has posted the results of Challenge #467 over in the Snippets Playground HERE. As ever, there are some great choices as 'Picks' - and a lucky prize draw winner too! 

Dudley Pupdate: I'm typing this late on Friday afternoon and, as he so often is, Dudley is curled up underneath my desk ......... doing his best to have a sneaky lick of my feet. Len has begun to put up some of the outdoor Christmas lights - and it's incredible how Dudley almost hops around in excitement when the boxes come down from the loft. It's probably the one place inside the house that he hasn't explored, so he possibly thinks that's where all the 'magical' stuff lives!

There's still one week of the current challenge left to run! Check underneath this post, make a card and come and play with us. I'm sure some of you will still be rushing to make those final Christmas cards so check those snippets! There's a decent chance to win a nice prize if you join in the draw. 

With love from Dudley and myself,

Sunday snippets and a Christmas card with a difference

I wanted a Christmas card to suit a couple of Christmas Challenges - and a stamp set from AALL & Create fitted the bill perfectly:

I used:

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

- snippets of plain lime green card - the larger one was used to create a narrow 'frame' for the patterned paper, which came from a Dovecraft 'Back to Basics Modern' set of Christmas papers  then both were glued onto the card front

- stamped the images onto snippets of plain white smooth card, using stamps from the AALL & Create 'HoliDEE' set of stamps using a VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' ink pad

- coloured the images using Polychromos pencils

- die cut the main image panel using a die from the Lil'Inkers 'Stitched Rectangles' set of dies

- fussy cut the Santa hat and also the sentiment 'cheers' before running a black Tombow marker around the edges of them both

- trimmed another snippet of the lime green card to just slightly larger than the image pane before gluing them both onto the card front

- used a medium nib glue pen to adhere the hat and the sentiment onto the image panel

- finally, a leftover strip of the patterned paper was begging to be used so I glued it across the flap of the envelope and trimmed each side

I really enjoyed playing around with this stamp set, although there's a lot of small detail on the tree - 'Hic!'. 

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

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #80 where the theme is 'It's Christmas, Jim, but not as we know it' - so a bit of a quirky take on Christmas should be fine

November's Rudolph Days Challenge over at ScrappyMo's 

Darnell's NBUS #56 - the stamp set is NBUS

Dudley Pupdate: A bit of a 'wild week' here with the boy! On Monday we jointly bathed him and to be fair, the water was actually pretty clean after all. Then came the wrestling match with him plonked onto my bath sheet clad lap and we patted the worst of the water away between us whilst he lay and peeped out of one end of the burrito wrap. Next came the blow drying session, which Len is stronger to manage. He also had some trimming the next day and then I re-brushed him and applied his anti-flea meds the following day - looking back it was probably too many sessions one after another. However, at every opportunity the little monkey took his chance to really glare, right until you looked at him - at which point he would very pointedly turn his back and lay down - leaving you staring at his tail! Typing this on Thursday and he's been left well alone for today - the air doesn't seems to be vibrating with doggie indignation as much! Although he's curled up well away from me at the moment! Guest bedroom I suspect as he can hide around the far side of the bed! 

A friend has just returned home to San Francisco after being away for a couple of weeks on a business trip to Norway (lucky lady) - and the photos of her Havanese when she returned are hilarious, he's almost bristling with anger at having been left for so long with his 'Dad'. Obviously something in Havi's genes! 

Finally, and very importantly, there's a new Challenge over at The Snippets Playground HERE - do come and play! Sarn and I put a lot of time and effort into running the Playground and it's lovely when you come to join in!

Love from both of us,

Di and 'Dudley de Avenger'!

Ho, ho, ho!

I recently saw Chrissie Stokes over on YouTube using a great 'HoHoHo' die and after a bit of sleuthing, found one the same being sold by Ali Express - as a bonus it actually comes with a second version as well. Then I wanted a die set to cut Santa's face, but in the end cheated and bought some ready made toppers from a lady on Etsy. The thought of all that fiddly assembling for the run of six cards I planned to make was certainly the deciding factor! 

Here's one of the cards:

I used:

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

- piece of Craft Perfect/Tonic 'Inca Gold' Mirror Card - trimmed to 5.25" x 4" and glued onto the card front

- a piece of the same white card embossed using Kaisercraft's 'Holly' embossing folder and trimmed to 5" x 3.75" then glued onto the the gold mirror card layer

- I'd already sat here one evening and made up a whole bunch of the 'HoHoHo' sentiments to use up a load of snippets - layered each one onto the same die cut only in white for additional stability 

- glued a gold 'HoHoHo' sentiment onto the bottom part of the card

- then added a ready made Santa using thin sticky pads, finished!

I made three gold and three silver ones and my sentiments on the whole batch of cards were made using snippets. As always, metallic card is a hard one to capture in a photo. The toppers all have a hole in the design so can also be used as gift tags.

Speaking of metallic card, it's impossible to find more of some of the Craft Perfect/Tonic range of mirror card - anywhere online. Notably 'Inca Gold' and also 'Firestone Red'. They've been on back order for ages now - just hope that Tonic aren't winding down their mirror card range!

I'd like to add this card into Darnell's NBUS challenge #56 HERE.

Also, into the current Allsorts Challenge 'Christmas Time' HERE. 

Sunday Snippets - Penny Black Christmas cards

I rustled up a pretty quick batch of Christmas cards, using some Penny Black 'Masterpieces made Easy' toppers, along with their fabulous 'Stick and Shine' stickers and foils:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blanks, all side opening

- die cut the 'frames' from snippet of white card using a die from the Avery Elle 'Postage Stamp' set of dies - cut eight to layer them for more dimension

- glued the frames together and set then aside

- dug out two gold and also two silver mirri card snippets, which I trimmed to fit just underneath where the white frames would sit

- glued the mirri card panels onto the card fronts then glued the white 'postage stamp frames' on top of them

- already had the chosen Penny Black Masterpieces Made Easy images set to one side and I knew that I wanted two to have gold borders of mirri card and the other two to have silver borders

- time for the sentiments to be added and I used some NBUS Penny Black sentiments from their Stick & Shine 'Xmas Classics' set of sentiments - one at a time - then rubbed Penny Black Gold/Silver 'Metallic Foil' over the top as I went

- added a couple of snowflakes to the 'robins' image then rubbed more silver foil on the top

- glued the image panels onto the already assembled cards - done! 

Four more Christmas cards added to the very healthy pile!

The 'Masterpieces' are printed on linen effect card, but the 'Stick and Shine' still worked great. Basically, it's like the old 'rub-ons' we used to love, only you're left with a clear sticky surface ready to adhere the foil. That sticky surface is why I foiled as I went of course, can be tricky to align straight and 'just where you want them' unless you have the right light and never fiddle with them once they touch the card! Ask me how I know this?! But, as always, nigh on impossible to get the gorgeous bright shine to show up well in a photo!

The images came from three different 'Masterpieces made Easy' sets, two from 'Reflections', one from 'Across the Miles' and one from 'Snowy Sensation'.

As it was a first outing for the Stick and Shine sentiments, I'd like to enter this into Darnell's current NBUS Challenge #56 HERE. 

The results of Snippets Challenge #466 are over on the Snippets Playground HERE.

Dudley Pupdate: I was woken up at around 6am the other morning, when it felt as if a little herd of  Mountain Goats with pointed hooves were tripping all over my shin bones - ouch! Yup, it was Dudley on our bed, trying to get up close and personal with me for a cuddle. He got his cuddle but oh boy, that did hurt! How can a small dog exert such pressure through his little legs legs?

There's still one week of the current Snippets Challenge to go, hope to see you in the Playground soon if you haven't played already - make a card, come and play. Look for the post just before this one. 

Love, as always, from Dudley and myself,