Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 134

Oh how my snippets card for today makes me smile and think of the Snippets Playground and all you playmates getting up to your antics :)

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- snippets of plain pale blue, white, red and green card stock from the snippets folder. The white card was die cut using Lil'inker Designs 'Stitched Rectangles'

- one sheet of blue gingham paper plus a red and a green snippet of gingham (popped onto the white Stitched Rectangles) - all from Wild Rose Studio's 'Gorgeous Ginghams' paper pack

- a LOTV pre-coloured image from their 'Here Comes Annabel' Art Pad, trimmed down and then die cut across the top using MFT's 'Notebook Edge' die

- sentiment is LOTV, from the General Greetings - Small' set, stamped using SU's 'Marina Mist'

- final touch - Josy Rose nail heads

I do already have three of the LOTV 'Here Comes Annabel' stamps but two of these Art Pads happened to 'fall' into my shopping bag at Newbury the other week. Partly as the images will be just perfect to use on the cards I always send out with Playground prizes, they're quicker than colouring in an image from scratch when you want to make a few cards - and also there's at least one especially cute image in the pad that's not yet available as a stamp :) That's MY excuse anyhow!

Right, let's move onto this weeks picks:

Val makes some fabulous cards using die cuts, this is just one example - perfect way to use snippets and so elegant!

Anne is another playmate who uses die cuts so beautifully. If you look closely, this is actually four triangles used to make the background - absolutely gorgeous!

We all love a bit of whimsy and this card made by Hazel caught my eye. Partly because of the great use of a LOTV Art Pads topper with such appropriate backing snippets but also the cute twist of the bike shaped paper clip :)

I love the simplicity of Sue's card - everything about it is just beautifully balanced (and those SU 'Work of Art' stamps just shot even further up my wish list!).

I'm always on the lookout in the Playground for great ideas to show you for using up various snippets in one fell swoop - and this week Elizabeth ticked the box. Lovely makes my friend!

Mary Anne makes some terrific cards, and I gather she's also friends with Carol L. My guess is that they don't live too far apart and also they have the same sense of humour :) I love this card, Cocoa the Mouse is a perfect addition to a lovely make!

And, as if to prove my point, Carol hopped in later with this great card - using a stamp set borrowed from Mary Anne :) Not many of us playmates live close enough to one another to share our goodies like that. 

Sam made a fabulous upcycled box - absolutely loads of gorgeous embellishments and snippets used too. Do go and peek for more photos!

Darnell came to play, fresh from a little blogging break, with this card above. It's great as it is but just wait until it opens:

Voila - it's a heart! Now how clever is that then?

So that's this last week's picks, every single entry - picked or not - was fabulous girls!

We had no new playmates, in fact I was stunned that as many as 60 peeps joined in. Mwah!

And now for the weekly draw, we had on offer the Darice Snowflake Swirl embossing folder and also a Woodware Corner Rounder punch - and the winner is:

Sue J

That's brilliant Sue! For those who don't know, Sue plays along with us loads and yet, having just checked back in my little notebook, it's 45 weeks since she last won a prize. I do think that Mr Random comes up with such fair results! I do need you to remind me of your snail mail address please Sue (di_wray@hotmail.com) and the prize will be en route to you ASAP. Congratulations!

This coming week's prize is of course linked to my own snippets card:

It's the MFT Die-namics 'Notebook Edge' die. I know that since I first used mine a while ago I've seen a few other cards made by playmates using this die. The beauty of it is that, unlike another one by MFT, you can make the size of the notebook sheet as wide or narrow as you wish - IMHO :) PLUS, there's also one of the LOTV 'Here Comes Annabel' pre-coloured Art Pads which has 30 images in (three of each of 10 designs). Of course I adore the little scallywag hanging upside down in the tree and here's a peek at some of the other designs:

There's also a little girl carrying a saddle (perfect for horse riding peeps) - and the bottom image of Annabel playing 'camping out' in the above photo is one not yet out in stamp form.

As usual, the snippets challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 26th July 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. And of course, if you're only interested in one or other of the items, then feel free to say so as well.

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 :)

Also, it's week two for the Penny Black 'Soft Wings' butterfly stamp draw. Remember there are three of them on offer and all you have to do to be in with a chance is to enter a total of three times, over last and this current week. That's not three per week - just three spread between the two week although you can of course enter three times each week if you like :) In fact, according to my calculations we have seven peeps who have already qualified. Of course, even if you didn't play last week - three entries this week will still make you eligible for the draw.

When you add your third entry, if you want to be in the extra draw (which I'll do this coming Saturday 26th July) for the butterfly stamp just leave me a comment or add a 3 after your name on the third entry. I won't be checking right through and counting entries so do remember to let me know if you qualify please.

Have a great week!

Di (and a wave from Parsnip)
x

Saturday Supper - Warm Pak Choi, prawn and lentil salad

It's been a while since I posted a recipe, this one is just perfect for the current warm Summer evenings we have here:

Warm Pak Choi, prawn and lentil salad

Serves 4

180g cooked large king prawns
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
30g pack fresh coriander, finely chopped
2 limes, zest and juice of 1, and 1 cut into wedges
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp runny honey
2 x 410g tins green lentils, drained and rinsed
2 x ripe and ready to eat avocados, peeled, stones removed and sliced
200g pack radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 small heads of Pak Choi, ends trimmed

Put the prawns, ½ the chopped chilli, ½ the coriander, the zest of 1 lime and ½ the juice in a bowl. Stir together gently and leave to marinate for 10 minutes.

In a separate bowl, mix the soy sauce, remaining chilli and coriander (reserving some to garnish), honey and the remaining lime juice together.

Put the lentils, sliced avocados and radishes in a large bowl, then stir through the soy dressing.

Heat the sesame oil in a frying pan, then stir-fry the pak choi for 1-2 minutes until just wilted. Add the prawns along with the marinade for a minute to heat through.

Divide the lentil salad between 4 bowls, top with the prawns and pak choi and serve garnished with the remaining coriander.

Things I do: For a start, I forgot to sprinkle some chopped coriander over the salad before taking the photo :) But, on a more serious note, yet again I think this recipe needed adjustment - either we're very piggy or there is a serious under estimate of the amount of prawns.

I doubled the quantity of prawns and halved the amount of all the other ingredients, as this was a meal for two. And it was just right! Had also prepared some Thai fragrant rice in advance and left it keeping warm - a perfectly delicious meal and (apart from the preparation of course) it all comes together really fast.

Enjoy!

Di
x

Just because I felt like it

............that's why I made this card:

I used:

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

- backing paper from Wild Rose Studio's 'Always and Forever' paper pack

- a snippet of black 'spiders web' trim

- a silk and organza flower, ages old and probably Prima

- a couple of black feathers

- die cut 'enjoy' from the Penny Black 'Hooray' set, kindly given to me by Sarn

- one black pearl as a dot above the letter 'i'

And there you have it, a card for no reason - just because I felt like it :)

Di 
x

Hunting for sequins

The current challenge over at Merry Monday is 'Sequins'.

Somehow, somewhere, I just knew I had some sequins from long ago so went into full ferret mode in the craft room. Out came the sewing goodies - no luck. Drawers were searched - no luck. And then I decided to look in the box where I store pearls and gems. And there I found some little boxes with 18 little compartments in each containing small embellishments, teeny pegs, large non-adhesive gems, google eyes etc. etc. AND, lovely shiny sequins! Yay! Goes to show that this place is really much more organised that I thought :)

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank

- a slightly smaller piece of gold mirri card

- a slightly smaller again piece of white card stock, die cut using a Memory Box 'Large Circle Burst' die which was adhered to the gold card using thin sticky pads

- the white centre of the 'circle burst' was then stamped using a dotty circle 'Paper Smooches - Potpourri stamp set' and a gold ink pad before being set flat inside the circle burst

- a circular sentiments topper from Craftwork Cards was just popped in the centre of the stamped dotty circle, using sticky pads

- finally, those all important gold sequins - just a sprinkle in opposite corners, using Glossy Accents as glue

A couple of points, first of all, I did find that the Memory Box die kinda 'bows the card outwards a bit' - am sure this is due to the design rather than operator error - and so I used sticky pads to fix that panel to the card and quite like the effect.

Secondly, I know I had spotted a couple of folk using the same die but the idea for the dotty stamped centre came from Rebecca of MellyMoo Papercraft (LOVE that blog name!)

And of course, I made a second one the same whilst at it!

Edit: Hazel prompted me that this card is also in line with the theme of 'Glam it up' over at her Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge. At the time time I'm also joining in Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for July. 

Also, Carol pointed me in the direction of the latest Simon Says Stamp challenge, which is 'spots and dots' - so I'm hopping over there to play as well, especially as I used the Paper Smooches 'Potpourri' stamp set.

Di
x

In praise of coffee

Coffee is my caffeine 'fix' of choice, strong and black.

A first outing for a Stampin' Up set here, so I made two cards very much the same apart from the wording:

So funny, I stamped the coffee cup and second sentiment three times before peering closely at the stamp itself and realising it's actually meant to look smudged! Duh :(

I used:

- 5.75" x 5.75" square cream card blanks

- plain rusty brown card stock, topped with brown corrugated card stock (to emulate coffee cup holders!)

- stamps are from SU's 'Perfect Blend' set, the cup stamped using Versafine 'Vintage Sepia' and the words using SU's 'Real Red'. Then the cup was just fussy cut and popped onto the card using thin sticky pads

- red and cream gingham ribbon from my ribbon box 

Di
x

Christmas card - upcycling again

The current challenge over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge is to 'glam it up' with sparkle, glitter, bling, shine etc. I used the lot after starting out with a Christmas card from last year's 'received cards' box:

 I used:

- 6" x 6" square cream card blank

- Christmas card front which was about 6" square until I trimmed it down a bit - shiny with gold sparkle on, a great starting point! To finish off the edge of the image I ran a Sakura Calligrapher 5.00mm gold pen around the edge - a trick I picked up whilst looking at a Joanna Sheen tutorial

- the red backing card I used is lovely deep red matt mirri card, just bought from Joanna Sheen's shop and it's called 'Red Velvet'. Not overly cheap at £2.49 for 3 sheets but really lush. Had actually bought it with die cut poinsettias in mind (as suggested on the website) so that would be more economical use in future 

- next was the sentiment, although me not daft and did it before assembling the card. Instead of sparkly embossing, I found a packet of lovely gold Papermania Glitteration's Sentiments hidden away - much to my delight!

- next I assembled the card and gawped at it for a while before realising that a touch of gold holly (Anita's Dimensions sticker) plus a few red blingy gems for the berries would sort of balance it more

- the one thing I'd forgotten to do was to run the gold pen around the edge of the Red Velvet backing card so I took a huge gamble, bearing in mind that the card was finished by then. As I use Collall glue there was just enough 'play' to allow me to slip a piece of paper just marginally underneath each side in turn for protection and to run the gold pen down the side of the red card. Not a perfect result - but what's a little wibble wobble on a hand made card :) Plus, it certainly taught me to always do that part first!

So there we have sparkle, glitter, bling and shine all together :) Plus, I'd like to enter this card into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for July.

Len spotted the card on my desk and asked where I'd bought it (in the middle of July?!) - praise indeed though!

Di
x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 133

It's been a mostly sunny week in the Playground with just a couple of spells of rain - thankfully in the evenings.

Here's my snippets card for this week, and I made two the same in the ongoing quest to make 12 Christmas cards per month:

I used:

- A6 white linen card blank

- white linen card for the embossed layer, embossed using a Darice folder called 'Snowflake Swirl' and the corners rounded using a Woodware corner punch

- snippets of Christmas green and white card for the tree. The tree was die cut using a 'Winterland Tree' die as well as a 'Winterland Tree Background' die - both by Memory Box. After some thinking I decided the tree needed a little slightly rounded 'pot', which I punched using SU's 'Word Window' and then just cut the bottom flat

- the sentiment is an old favourite made by Funstamps called 'Small Merry Christmas', stamped onto a snippet of white card then layered onto a snippet of Christmas green - both punched using SU oval punches

I liked how the swirly embossing is similar to the tree die :)

I'd like to enter this card into this week's Merry Monday #116 challenge which is 'Green and white'. The green looks very dark in the photo, it's actually what I'd call a real Christmas green!

Swiftly onto this week's Playground Picks:

Annie called by early on in the week to share this beautiful card. I love the use of snippets but was also blown away by the fabulous colouring - we have a great artist in our midst girls! It's also lovely that Annie is already hopping round to say Hi to you - that's what I love about the Playground, such a friendly and supportive place to play.

This card was made by Cathy, using snippets of metal sheet as well as shimmer paper. I do love the effect of the alcohol inks on the metal and such a lovely design.

So many of you absolutely loved this simple but so clever card made by Sarn. As always, a terrific make!

I'm still giggling over this wonderful Wedding card for a farmer, made by Sam! So many snippets used - as well as some very careful masking of the 'lower region' of one of the cows to ensure it was miraculously transformed into a 'boy cow' - err, as opposed to a cowboy, groan :(

Each week I could show more than one of Carol's cards, and I think a few of you will have become aware of a lady called Edith who is fighting really hard against devastating illness right now. This gorgeous card is for Edith - to find out Edith's story and to make a card to send - you can visit Carol, Mary H, and I'm sure other playmates who are joining in.

I absolutely love this card, made by Kate. What a great way to wish someone a Happy 60th Birthday, so clever Kate!

I just love this card, made by Cornelia, using an abstract stamp set and combining three of the stamps so cleverly. BTW, the tiny hearts are the snippets here :)

I'm wondering if Cornelia will enter the Less is More challenge this week where it's one layer and 'Adapt a fingerprint'? I bet with such an imagination we'd be in for a real treat from Cornelia. So far, I'm stumped and will probably be sitting on my clean and very un-inked hands all week here!

But, I was tickled pink to see that this card of mine was showcased in Less is More:

I tend to hit lucky about once every 13 months or so - not a very good record but nonetheless I'm always absolutely delighted!

And finally, I thought we'd finish with another giggle:

Sue J had me in a spin on Friday, rattling out card like a machine gun - this one cracked me up, and of course the plaid papers are just so perfect for the whole theme of the card!

No new playmates this week but it was great to see so many of you nipping in and out of the Playground!

Right, now for the draw for the Penny Black 'Soft Wings' stamp from last week. And the winner is:

Jenny L 

Jenny hasn't been too well lately so I squealed when her name popped straight out - especially as I do know from Jenny's blog, that she's a huge fan of butterflies! Ahem, unlike our Kath of course :)

I know that a few of you really loved this beautiful stamp (about two thirds the size of SU's very similar Swallotail Butterfly stamp) and really wished I had more to give away, sigh.

So, I just ordered a further three stamps for one of the 'two-week draws' I sometimes do as I found a place selling them at half what I paid for the original ones!

All you have to do to be in with a chance is to enter a total of three times, over this coming week and the following one. That's not three per week - just three spread between the two week although you can of course enter three times each week if you like :) Then, when you add your third entry, if you want to be in the extra draw for the butterfly stamp just leave me a comment or (preferably) add a 3 after your name on the third entry.

And, the prize for this coming week is, as almost always, related to my snippets card:

It's a Darice 'Snowflake Swirl' embossing folder and a Woodware corner punch - both the same as I used for my card.

As usual, the snippets challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 19th July 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. And of course, if you're only interested in one or other of the items, then feel free to say so as well.

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 great week!

Di (and a wave from Parsnip)
x

Tell me if I need to get out more

Last weekend at Newbury I discovered 'Loom Bands' and just made this:

Seriously worried to find how therapeutic it is playing with little elastic bands, a plastic loom plus crochet hook thingy to make bracelets.

Second childhood just around the corner?

Di
x

'Greetings from the Wise'

I love this stamp and was ashamed to realise it's only had one serious outing before now - so I made two cards the same:

 

I used:

- 7" x 5" card blank, tent style

- layer of the same white card, embossed using Crafts-Too's 'Lattice' folder

- Penny Black 'Greetings from the Wise' stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and coloured with Pro Markers and die cut using a Spellbinders circle.When the card was finished I added a generous amount of Glossy Accents to his eyes which suddenly almost brought him to life even though it doesn't really show in the photo :)

- snippet of red satin mirri card behind the image, hand cut into a slightly larger circle in the usual way

- snippet of red satin mirri card, die cut using a 'Stitched Rectangle' die by Lil'inker Designs (sadly can only be ordered directly from the USA even though some of their products are available over here) and topped with a snippet of designer paper from LOTV's 'Classic Christmas' paper pad

- the sentiment was stamped in Brilliance 'Pearlescent Ivy' using a stamp from the Personal Impressions 'Many Greetings' set then die cut using a Spellbinders 'Nested Pennants' die, which I ran a ball ended tool round before removing it from the die to create the bevelled edge

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

Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge - 'Make your Mark (use pens, inks etc)

Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for July - 'Anything Goes'

and a challenge that's new to me, I found it on KathyK's brilliant blog. It's called Stamplorations and they run a few challenges. I've gone for the bi-weekly sketch one:

That's me for today! TGIF - the weekend beckons!

Di
x

Die cut donations

When Sarn, Debs, Sam and I met up the other week, Sarn had thoughtfully die cut some shapes for us - using her new dies that we'd been admiring online. Yesterday I squeezed in found time to play with a couple of them:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- patterned backing paper from Wild Rose Studio's 'Always and Forever' paper pack

- plain white card panel

- Memory Box 'Glorious Gerber' die cut - it was white so I coloured it using a TH 'Mowed Lawn' Distress Marker and once it was stuck onto the white panel the petals were coloured in using a TH 'Picked Raspberry' Distress Marker and 'Mustard Seed' for the flower centres. I then tickled over the colouring in using Clear 'Wink of Stella'

- the sentiment was another die cut from Sarn, it's from the Penny Black 'Hooray' set, coloured using TH 'Picked Raspberry' with just a little yellow/gold coloured gem as the dot above the letter i

Thanks again honey - I did have fun using these die cuts :)

My plan for this morning is to sit here with a cup of coffee and catch up with the Playground, before doing anything else! 

Di
x

A rose for you

On Sunday, a friend and I trotted off to the ArtStamps Show at Newbury. I'd already been told it was a bit disappointing but we went anyway - and were both so glad we did! Yes, there were fewer stands but those that were there offered much of what we were looking for looking for - and of course more stuff I really had no idea I even needed in the first place :)

Amongst the haul were a couple of sheets of ready die cut decoupage that caught my eye, so yesterday I had a little play and made this card:

Coo, there's a funny yellow reflection on the bottom photo - no idea where that came from!

I used:

- 7" x 5" white card blank

- white card stock embossed using the Couture Creations 'Bon Jour' embossing folder - love how you can use this folder in portrait or landscape to have the plain panel up/down or across the centre

- a grey and silver single rose from one of those decoupage sheets, layered using thin sticky pads

- aubergine ribbon bow

- sentiment is LOTV from their 'Small General Greetings' set, stamped using Adirondack 'Purple Twilight'

- purple Josy Rose nail heads, one heart and two dots

That was just a quick play yesterday then I had to go running round doing various errands, today looks like being the same as well. I'll be playing catch up with the Playground ASAP (and of course a couple more prizes for the toy box happened to fall into my shopping haul on Sunday).

Di
x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 132

What a week! It's been really warm and humid here and of course Dumbo, with perfect timing, has been up to her eyes in sorting out, rearranging and cleaning round the house. So, my snippets card is a super fast one this week:

I used:

- a snippet of SU's 'Pool Party' card stock, folded to make a 5" x 5" card blank (so it was really a sizeable piece I found in the snippets folder but I make the 'rools', tee, hee)

- Penny Black's 'Soft Wings' stamp - stamped using Memento 'Teal Zeal', just off the edge of the card. Just a little bit of purple and yellow colouring using Whispers Markers - which I then tickled over with clear Wink of Stella

- the sentiment was also stamped using 'Teal Zeal' and the Winnie and Walter 'The Big, the bold and the Happy' stamp set

Super fast card as I said. I do love this stamp, it's very similar to SU's 'Swallowtail' butterfly stamp but only about two thirds of the size

Scampering quickly onto this week's Playground Picks:

Jules always makes fabulous cards - this Christmas one used plenty of snippets and so cleverly too.

Another Christmas make, this time it's a great Christmas Calendar made by Andrea. Love how the little discs will just flip over - one to copy I think!

Seeing the hedgie above, in case I forget to mention, Spike the Hedgehog is still visiting several times during the night to feed and have a drink but won't stand still once the light goes on outside and I appear waving a camera. Sigh :(

Oh wow, Jenny L made one of her amazing Wedding cards with a box to match -it's absolutely gorgeous! Do be sure to hop over to Jenny's to see the inside of this lovely card, plus the box.

I love this card, made by Mo - such a cheeky crab and all the seashore additions are just perfect. A card to make you smile I think :)

Another Christmas card, this time made by Cornelia. Such a fun design - love it! And what stunned me is that one of the challenge Cornelia entered this into required string, corrugated paper, plastic, a stamp and a hole - crumbs, no waaaaay could I have tackled that!!

Only five picks this week - out of 50 fabulous makes! It's busy here (Saturday as I'm typing) and after finishing and scheduling this I need to run out and do the weekly shop as I'm out playing on Sunday (Art Stamps at Newbury even though I already heard that it's not as good as usual from peeking at blogs, sigh). 

We had one new playmate this week too:

 aNNie (from Oz) made this adorable card and I persuaded her to come and join us in the Playground. Welcome and let's hope you came back and play soon Annie!

And the winner of the draw for last week's Penny Black 'Tree Treasure' stamp is:

Karen P

 

Well done Karen! Can you please let me have your address and the prize will be posted to you ASAP!

And, of course, this week's prize is linked to my snippets card:

It's a Penny Black stamp - same as the one I used today called 'Soft Wings'. We seem to have had a little run of stamps as prizes lately, I'll see about rectifying that next week :)

As usual, the snippets challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 12th July 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.

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 great week! I've noticed a few more Christmas cards arriving in the Playground, it's almost as if once we reach the middle of the year a teensy bit of anxiety sets in :)

Di (and a wave from Parsnip)
x

Pillow box bags

Last Friday (crumbs, already a week ago now!) I met up with Sarn, Sam and Debs for lunch in Southampton. As things were so busy here I did fear I'd end up going empty handed and that really stressed me out. However, lying in bed on the Tuesday night, I had a sudden little brainwave for at least a starting point. Then I remembered some little 'cuties' I had here and this was the end result:

Sigh, the contents were such a tight fit that the pillow boxes did get a bit distorted but I still thought it was worth showing a different way to use the pillow shape.

I used:

- papers from DCWV's 'Preppy Princess' paper stack - I've had them since the beginning of time (almost!)

- Sizzix 'Box, Pillow' die - Sarn will remember how I went totally crackers trying to source this discontinued die about a year ago:)

- after assembling the box sides I used SU's 'Large Oval' punch to create the handles, I got the idea from here, and then popped the other ends inwards and fixed them with double sided tape because the contents were gonna be little bit weighty and also a tight fit

- the little tags were just circles die cut from snippets of card and a teeny butterfly (punched with a Woodware punch) added then topped with a little pearl

- the sentiment came from a discontinued Elzybells 'Mini tag' set, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad

- the little 'cuties' were popped into the 'bags' with a teeny scrap of tissue then the handles were tied together with pink gingham ribbon and the tags attached with iridescent cord

And here's one of the 'cuties'. I'd bought these teeny carved stone elephants in Thailand last October as little gifts:

He's only about 1" high although I have to say, his Mummy didn't teach him to clean his ears did she?! 

Len and I both tend towards Buddhism due to our frequent trips to Thailand, plus I'm a bit superstitious and do believe that elephants are lucky, especially white ones.

Elephants are often associated with good or bad luck and, in Buddhism, they are also regarded as a symbol of strength, wisdom and prudence. The elephant is a sacred animal in Buddhism because it was said to have offered flowers to Buddha. According to Buddhist beliefs, elephants should be placed high on a mantel or shelf, or on an altar.

Superstitious people believe that an elephant can bring bad luck if its trunk is pointing downwards towards the ground. When an elephant's trunk is facing up it is supposed to bring good luck. Even if the elephant's trunk is facing down, with a little upturn at the end, this should still bring good luck.

The elephant's luck-bringing properties are now even better known because of the increasing interest in the Oriental practice of Feng Shui. This set of ideas, based on the principle of yin and yang, attempts to improve balance and harmony in man-made environments, particularly with the positioning of furniture or objects in the home. According to Feng Shui beliefs, the trunk of an elephant should point toward the front door or to any door to the outside. It is believed that this can draw in money and prosperity. 

Mind you, I did have a bit of a giggle when I found the above explanation on the web - some wag had responded 'You could stand it on its head and that wouldn't change what's in store for you'. Maybe so, but perhaps every little bit helps :)


Di
x

Less is More - recycling

The current challenge over at Less is More is to recycle something - which was the perfect opportunity to try out something new, making flowers using the plastic packaging from a set of Spellbinders dies. I just know I've seen these on blogs I follow, and haven't been able to fully track where I saw them. Also, there are tutorials on the web showing how to make the flowers, either using proper heatable acetate or packaging, I just looked at a few and then cobbled my own version together :)

 I used:

- 7" x 5" white tent style card blank

- SU 'Tempting Turquoise' card stock plus another piece of white card stock

- the flower was such fun to make! Just trimmed the edges off the Spellbinders clear plastic packaging and, using Tim Holtz's 'Tattered Florals' die, die cut four flowers. My guess is that you really do need to use one of the thick and sturdy Sizzix dies for the cutting process. Folk had used alcohol ink refills in the tutorials I'd looked at but there aren't any of those here so out came the Pro Markers. Found that by using just a couple of Pro Markers in the same colour family to colour the plastic flowers I could still get a nice mottled effect as the ink sort of 'pooled'

- next, after letting the ink dry for a short time, poked a hole in the centre of each flower ready for a brad and, using long handled tweezers and the heat gun on low just heated the flower layers one by one. The plastic softens really quickly and you can tease it to curl which way you want very easily - if it misbehaves you can just gently soften it again

- once all four layers were shaped, just assembled them with a clear glass domed brad then attached the flower to the card with hot glue

- the 'swirl' is from SU's 'Everything Eleanor' set - stamped using Memento 'Teal Zeal'

- the sentiment is from Winnie and Walter's 'The Big, the bold and the Happy' stamp set (really like how you get three huge words and lots of small ones to mix and match) - again stamped using Memento 'Teal Zeal'

And I made a spare flower at the same time:

Just love how they look like delicate glass!

And, Happy Birthday Darnell, mwah! I was one of the fortunate winners in Darnell's recent NBUS draw - as per usual I'm dithering, between online classes or more goodies.

Di
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