Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 137

Hi and welcome to another week in the Playground! We've had pretty good weather most of the week, with one really torrential downpour a few nights ago. Spike the hedgehog is visiting each night (he skipped the night of the huge downpour though) and is also bringing either a girlfriend or a youngster with him. Of course 'he' could be a 'she' but Spike's far too wily to hang about if we're picked up on the radar! We do know that we're being eaten out of house and home by them, and also we're slug and snail free as well! Which means they must be eating more than just what we leave out for them :)

Anyhow, it's a Christmas snippets card this week:

I used:

- 5" x 7" white card blank

- silver holographic backing card from the snippets folder

- white card also from the snippets folder

- another snippet of silver holographic card, die cut using a fairly recently released Memory Box die called 'Tall Taper Candle' . I love this die and have seen it being beautifully used on a blog I follow and visit regularly, but for the life of me I can't recall whose blog it is

- the 'poinsettia' was made from some red Ribbonbox 'Poinsettia Red' Drawstring ribbon, with a few pearly white stamens in the centre then added to the card using hot glue

- the sentiment was stamped using SU's 'Real Red' and a Woodware 'Merry Christmas' stamp - designed by Francoise Read

- the sequins were die cut from another little snippet of the silver card using MFT's 'Sequins' die

- final touch, a 'tickle of Stickles' for the candle flame (I mixed up my own colour using gold and a touch of coffee Stickles on a scrap of paper and added it with a paintbrush)

So, onto this week's picks:

Beginning with such a pretty and beautifully made frame, which will have a mirror tile in the centre. Val, who made this little beauty, wisely left the mirror off until after she took this photo :)

I love the fresh. crisp look of Sarn's cards - and here we even have her using ribbon and a charm - yay!

And here's another really fresh and crisp card, made by Meg. Each one of those stars on the Christmas wreath was carefully folded five times to get the dimension and to shape them - sheesh!

LOVE this Oriental card, made by Shaz in Oz. It's so rich and just beautiful and the fan is made using Oriental Quilting - a great way to add dimension.

Cornelia totally wowed me with a set of cards, all made using rainbow colours and a fabby STAMPlorations stamp set. Plenty of ideas over at Cornelia's - and this first card used little snippets for the centre circle and the word 'happy'.

Jenny L came up with yet another of her stunningly detailed cards - and the inside is equally as gorgeous too!

I spotted this wonderful BBQ invitation over at Julie C's and asked her to come and play with us again - thankfully Julie did just that! I think this is a brilliant idea - and what's even better, Julie has a full explanation of how she made the invitation in her blog post.

That was a fairly swift canter through my weekly picks - as always, every single entry whether picked or not, is well worth a visit - there are always great tips and tricks to learn as well.

And we had two new playmates join us this week - wahoo!

Isn't this adorable camper/caravan just great? Brenda L made it and I was so pleased she came to play as I've seen Brenda's name popping up on so many blogs I visit. Am now following you Brenda!

Love this really cute Christmas card made by Ciska! Those darling little musicians reminded me so much of Hummel figures - and really I wasn't surprised to read on her profile that Ciska is from Holland. Welkom op de speelplaats Ciska!

Phew, that seemed to take me ages this week, probably 'cos I was multi-tasking like there was no tomorrow!

Now it's time to do the draw for the Acid Drops and Whatnots stamp set plus the little 'cats eyes' ink pads - and the winner is:

 Liz (Cavill)

Well done Liz, can you please drop an email to me with your address and I'll post the goodies to you ASAP (di_wray@hotmail.com). What's really lovely is that Liz only joined us a couple of weeks ago and is already a regular playmate :)

OK, so onto this coming week's prize:

All connected to today's snippets card, plus this card I recently made here. Of course it's the Memory Box 'Tall tapered candle' die, plus some of the red drawstring ribbon and double ended stamens (just fold them in half). I've also added some of the white drawstring ribbon plus 14 glass and silver dome headed brads in seven different colours in case you get hooked! Each length of ribbon will give you seven flowers BTW and I'd enclose the instructions of course, not that it's rocket science stuff!

Sorry, there IS a My Favourite Things 'Sequins' die in the toy box ....... being kept for another week though, to spread the chances of prizes out fairly :)

As usual, the snippets challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 16th August 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. I'd just run a second/third draw for whatever you don't want.

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 :)

A couple of things are imminent, tomorrow I'm joining in the Creative Blog Hop so I hope you come to call - even if only to see who is following on after me :)

And also. speaking of following, I just spotted that I'm almost at 300 followers! I've no idea how that happened but of course it's lovely and must be celebrated with some sort of candy, so that'll be appearing sometime soon when I hit the magic 300 as well. Fun times ahead :)

Have a great week!
 
Di (and the usual happy wave from Parsnip of course)
x

Twiggy star

The current challenge over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge is 'reach for the stars'. Instead of going down the route of traditional stars in the sky I opted to upcycle a tall and thin Christmas card from 2013:

I used:

- SU's 'Smoky Slate' card stock to make an A6 sized card

- the upcycled card front, just trimmed down to suit the A6 card blank - I actually cut a smaller twiggy heart from the bottom of the card - mounted onto a piece of red glitter card  (bargain pack from Hobbycraft)

- the image was already tickled with red sparkle (hence my choice of the red glitter backing card) so all I added was a few clear sparkly gems here and there

And as always, this card is also for Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra where it's always 'Anything goes'.

Tell you what, that red glitter card sheds like crazy - no wonder it was cheap!

Di
x

Just in case

.......you think me very rude for not commenting on your Playground entries and other work - Blogger is playing up BIG time! I just checked and it's been raised by numerous other bloggers - the difficulties range from being unable to comment, writing a comment and then getting an Error 502 message, when writing posts (which I truly don't recommend right now!) you can end up with nine or more draft posts - I think this is due to the pink bar appearing on top of the post you're trying to write saying you had an error.

It's even more twisted up than that but I think you get the drift.


All in all it's a 'reet old muddle'. I for one am gonna check now and then but really it's soul destroying trying to comment on your blogs right now - even when, as Sarn also does, I now always copy my comment to the clipboard before pressing 'publish' - just in case!

So, once it's sorted out I then need to backtrack through and see which comments worked in the Playground and on other posts.

See you on the other side!! Ha, ha - I don't expect any comments on this post :)

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, that was my laptop flying through the window earlier!

Di
x

Playing with stencils again

This time, instead of using embossing paste (got some Sparkle Medium on order so thank to all of you who suggested I ought to try that!) - I used ink pads:

I used:

-  5" x 5" black card blank

- piece of white card stock, just brushed over with VersaColor 'Narcissus' ink pad, using a Clarity stencil brush

- Clarity 'Bird table' stencil (the solid piece that had been cut out to form the stencil so it could be used as a mask) first before laying a sunburst stencil by Stamposaurus - bought at Newbury ArtStamps show last month - over the top. Then added SU's 'Daffodil Delight' stampin' pad for the rays of the sun with the stencil brush

- after the stencil and the bird table mask had been removed I was left with a very pale lemon bird table, backed by the sunburst - so I just popped the bird table stencil itself onto the bird table image and brushed over with Memento 'London Fog' to make it grey

- after removing the the bird table stencil, I decided the very pale lemon centre of the sun wasn't working for me so I die cut a mask using a round Spellbinders die. Then replaced the bird table mask so that the grey 'London Fog' ink was protected, popped the die cut round aperture on top and then added more 'Daffodil Delight' to fill in the centre of the sun - ah, that was better

- then, using Memento's 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad and Clarity Stamps 'English Garden Elements' stamps I created a little scene

- the sentiment is by Kaisercraft from the 'Friendship Sentiments' set, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad

- trimmed the image down and then backed it using SU's 'Daffodil Delight' and 'Smoky Slate' card before mounting onto the black card blank

Not long ago I was enough lucky to win some lovely blog candy over at Maggie's - and the Bird Table stencil and the SU 'Daffodil Delight' ink pad were part of the prize. And what was such fun and so very thoughtful was that I'd actually bought the Clarity English Garden Elements stamp set (plus a bird table stamp) from Maggie at the WOYWW crop. So she knew exactly what would make up such a lovely and so complimentary prize! Thanks again Maggie!

I really enjoyed this first venture into layering up stencils - it did need a bit of planning about what order to do things in and also to make sure the right bits of the background were protected, but it gave the little grey cells a workout!

Di
x

Less is More - Colour Challenge

The current challenge over at Less is More is a 'colours' one - using this palette as inspiration:

I usually run away from colour challenges, but I love the fresh colours here - and the fact that it reminds the DT of a Mojito (which I love!) got me going with this:

I used:

- A6 cream card blank - much more of a lemony colour than shown in the photo above, sigh

- SU 'Smoky Slate' for the background, which I then ran through the Cuttlebug using Memory Box's 'Chloe Stem' die to cut an aperture, the one to the left as you look at the card

- I then die cut two further 'Chloe Stems' from snippets of green card - closest shades to the palette I could find in the snippets folder without chopping into fresh sheets

- next step was to apply a piece of double sided sticky to the back of the piece of grey card and use that to adhere it to the front of the card blank

- that left an aperture in the grey card which was backed with sticky -  into which I popped the paler of the green 'Chloe Stems'. If you try this at home, do remember to carefully save the little whole pieces cut from the (grey) backing card - in this case there were four - as you need to also pop these in, to totally fill the aperture

- now that the paler green stem had been 'countersunk' into the aperture I could add the darker green stem across the paler green stem. This is not my idea, I saw it on another blog (sorry, forget where) and it struck me as neat way to cross things over one another without having a 'bump'

- I cut the word 'Smile' using a die from Penny Black's 'Hooray' die set (thank you Sarn for sending me on a spend, but it's a set that will be used loads I know!) - four times. I know, four times - this is another technique I've also spotted on blogs lately although perhaps four layers isn't necessary! Just layered them up using a Zig glue pen - for fine work it's got more 'stickability' than a Quickie glue pen and the barrel is squeezable which makes it easier to control

- once the glue had dried I added the 'Smile' to the card and then carefully painted it using a fine brush and Glossy Accents

- ahem, teeny little bit of glue got onto the card so I die cut three sequins using MFT's 'Sequins' die and a little snippet of cream card. One 'sequin' was placed to hide the mark and the other two just to add balance

In case anyone loves the MFT sequins die set, there's also one in the Playground toy box waiting its turn as a prize! So if you'd like it but don't need it right away - why not wait and see if you're lucky in the draw, when it appears?

Di 
x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 136

After a beautiful week here, down comes the rain - right on cue for the weekend as I'm typing this on Saturday morning. The Playground has been busy again this past week - and as always I have a huge list of possible weekly 'picks' to choose from.

My snippets card this week was made on Friday, when it was hot and sunny here:

I used:

- white DL card blank

- snippets of white card for the stamping and snippets of navy behind the white card

- the image and sentiment are from a stamp set by 'Acid Drops and Whatnots'. The set came free with Papercraft Essentials magazine at least a year ago and this is its first outing. Both the image and the sentiment were stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' and the image was coloured with Pro Markers

- the papers also came free with the magazine - and I make no secret that my card is almost an exact copy of one of the samples they showed in the magazine (if it ain't broke why fix it?)

So, I stretched it a bit with the snippets this week - just the white and navy card, sorry!

And onto this week's picks:

Nicky came back to play after a little absence - and I love the use of snippets on this card. AND how the papers and petals of the flowers are edged with faux stitching to match the ribbon. What a neat touch!

Isn't this THE most adorable gazebo ever? Made by Hazel - the detail is perfect, right down to a little fountain behind the girlies - I love it!

Cornelia hopped in to play three times in quick succession and almost had me dizzy - I could have included each one of her snippets makes - in the end I plumped for the one shown above.  Such a clever way to make a shaker card!

Amanda popped in with this fabulous card and such great colouring - what drew me to it all the more is the really clever use of paper piecing on the dress to pick up the background!

I love this Get Well card, made by Lesley G. A perfect example of how just a few snippets can go a long way :)

I picked this card, made by Jean, because it's gorgeous and I love how the backing papers and the flowers and butterflies are just so perfectly matched.

I just love this stunning card, made by Sandra H - tons of snippets used of course and it's so beautifully balanced with a real flurry of snowflakes.

Sue J hopped in on Friday with this fabulous Wedding Card - I love the tones of apricot and obviously there are lots of beautifully die cut snippets here.

And this card, made by Kath, is absolutely gorgeous isn't it. Very elegant peel offs and some beautiful gems really make for a perfect Anniversary card!

So that was a canter through my 'picks' and we also have two new playmates this week:

Veerle and I have recently become online friends, she is a lovely lady and it didn't take long for her to come and play, bringing this gorgeous card. What is so beautiful, besides the card already being a stunner - notice how the placement of the surface of the water where the girls are paddling just seems to draw your eye into the world below. So clever!

And Liz Cavill (Liz C for ease as we already have at least one Liz) came to play and couldn't stay away - we had three lovely entries using snippets from Liz! I picked this stepper card, and Liz has given really easy to follow measurements and instructions on her blog.

Liz has had her blog since 2012 and has only just added a followers gadget - so far she has three followers and Veerle has 38. How many of us remember when we longed for more followers to find us? And how much and each and every comment was treasured - of course they still are, and always will be, but I'm sure you know what I mean about the early days when sometimes you wondered if there was anyone out there or were you talking to yourself!

So it would be really lovely if you could hop over to say hello to both Veerle and Liz - pretty please :) 

And the winner of last week's prize of the Clarity 'We 3 Kings' stamp and the Cosmic Shimmer 'Diamond Sprinkles' is:

Mary Anne K

 

Well done Mary Anne! I still have your address here and will post the goodies this coming week.

And this coming week's prize is, not surprisingly, an Acid Drops and Whatnots stamp set exactly the same as the one I used on my card. Now, there's a little tale about the stamp set, when I went to Newbury ArtStamps the other week, Acid Drops and Whatnots were there and on the end of their stall was a basket containing new and unused sets of these stamps. That woke me up when I remember that I still hadn't used my own set! Apparently they designed the set for the magazine but the magazine had them produced. Then, much later, Acid Drops and Whatnots actually bought back the excess stamps from the magazine! But, I was warned that they aren't the same thickness/quality as 'kosher' Acid Drops stamps are. I found that they have quite a bit of 'give' in them as you remove them from the backing acetate and need to be handled with care and gently pulled away from the acetate although they still give a lovely crisp image. But they really are such quirky images and sentiments I thought they'd make a fun prize anyhow!

And to add to the prize there's a lovely vibrant set of six Colorbox Cat's Eye ink pads - called 'Fiesta', shown in the top piccie and kindly donated to the toy box by our lovely Debs. Thank you Debs!

As usual, the snippets challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 9th August 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. I'd just run a second draw for whatever you don't want.

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 much cooler wave this week from Parsnip)
x

Wrestling with embossing paste

I decided not that long ago it was time to try out some new (to me) techniques. At the Newbury ArtStamps show I was entranced at the Poppystamps stand and their stencils plus embossing paste and came away with some new goodies. The other day I had a first play - out of four attempts this was the final successful result:

I used:

- A6 black card blank

- a snippet of matt black card stock, embossed using a Poppystamps stencil called 'Christmas Holly', embossing paste and then sprinkled with fine gold glitter after the stencil was removed but the paste was still wet. After it dried I trimmed it down and ran a Sakura Calligraphy gold pen round the edges

- a piece of patterned paper from Papermania's 'Elegance' paper pad (thanks for pointing me in the direction of this luscious paper Sam!)

- Josy Rose black nail heads

It looks very simple but trust me I even had embossing paste in my hair (mental note not to sweep hair behind my ears before checking hands for paste!)

And why pray tell did it take Dumbo four attempts? OK, laugh your socks off if you must - the first three goes were on Clarity black glossy card stock. Mostly 'cos I was too impatient to hunt out matt black card stock. Think about it, glossy slippery card stock, a stencil and embossing paste - impossible not to get smudging no matter how much I taped the stencil down and no matter how carefully I removed it. Finally I twigged!! Sigh - we live and learn.

Di
x

Drawstring flower card

At Newbury ArtStamps show I was mooching round the Ribbonbox stand with a pal and got my eye on the demonstrator and what she was working on. The most beautiful flowers, just made from petal edged satin ribbon with a drawstring through the back along the straight edge:

Needless to say I was 'In like Flynn' and bought some white and also some cream to have a play. They have red too I found out today so stay tuned as some is on order, for me as well as the toy box:

 

I used:

- 5" x 7" card blank, made using SU's 'Wisteria Wonder' card stock

- Memory Box 'Grand Happy Birthday' die and a couple of sheets of mauve spotted paper from 'Wild Rose Studio's 'Wintry Christmas' paper pack - it's contemporary mauve, pink and aqua stripes and spots and ideal for non-Christmas cards

- to make the flower I snipped a length of seven petals from the white ribbon and then pulled them into a circle using the drawstring which runs along the straight edge before tying the string tightly. Then used Pro Markers ('Amethyst' and 'Orchid') to lightly colour the petals before popping a little dab of 'Icicle' Stickles on each one and rubbing it around with my finger

- finishing touch, a mauve glass and silver brad through the centre of the flower before sticking it onto the assembled card using the glue gun

I try most weeks to make a Christmas card for Merry Monday - this week they threw me just a tad - the theme is actually a Birthday Hop to celebrate LeAnne of the Design Team's Birthday. So this is my contribution - Happy Birthday LeAnne! What a lovely lady she is - do go and check her blog out :)

I'd also like to enter this card into the current Less is More challenge, where it's 'Anything Goes' this week.

Di

x

Upcycled Christmas cutie

In the box of 'received Christmas cards' there's been one really cute image pleading to be re-used. She finally got her turn 'cos the current challenge over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge is 'Cute' - and she's also going to play in Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for July, where it's always 'Anything goes'. Tell me she doesn't pull at your heartstrings:

I used:

- A6 cream card blank

- the adorable label 'topper' which I carefully prised off the front of a Christmas card - just look at her twiddling her toes :) The label has been used absolutely as it was, ready sparkled with the ribbon and bow already there. The only addition I made was to add a teeny snowflake and little sparkly gem to her 'slipped halo'

- used snippets for the background layers, pale pink, snowflake patterned then white sparkly card and a teeny snippet of some cream Christmas sentiments paper which dates back many years

- just added a few more snowflakes, punched using different Woodware punches from the original card the little angel came on and topped off with sparkly gems 

Not sure quite why I'm still bashing away at Christmas cards as am well on target - at this rate I'll have run out of steam when other challenges start their Christmas themes :(

Di
x 

Let's go camping

As a kid I totally adored 'playing tents'. Back garden in Summer and indoors in Winter. I seem to recall that the 'tents' always incorporated one of those large wooden drying/airing horses/racks and a mixture of blankets :) The image on my card for today took me right back to those days, even though Annabel's tent is much smarter :) This image comes with the LOTV 'Here comes Annabel' pre-coloured Art Pad and, as I wrote here the other day, isn't available as a stamp at the moment. Here's the card I made:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- pre-coloured image from LOTV's 'Here comes Annabel' Art Pad, die cut using a Spellbinders Hexagonal die with the bottom pointed section chopped off - mounted onto SU's 'Crisp Cantaloupe' backing

- the card was topped with SU's 'Crisp Cantaloupe' and then a piece of DP from Papermania's Capsule Collection 'Sunshine' paper pack

- the sentiment is from SU's 'A Word for You' set, stamped using Memento 'Grey Flannel' ink then punched using SU's 'Word Window' before being layered onto a split SU 'Modern Label', punched from SU's 'Crisp Cantaloupe'

- the flourish was die cut using a snippet of green card and Cheery Lyn's 'Mini Fanciful Flourish' die

- the flowers were die cut using Poppy Stamps 'Small Hydrangea Blooms', three layers per flower, and a little crystal dome popped in the centre of each

And now Annabel is going to pop her head back inside the tent and sit quietly in the dark cuddling Patch the dog - byeeeeeeeee :)

Di
x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 135

Wow, what a scorcher of a week in the Playground (and we had 71 entries, wahoo!!) - Parsnip has taken to wearing a knotted handkerchief on his head to ward off the sun when he nips out to refill the lemonade pitchers, which he kindly left under the tree house for you :)

So, with the sun belting down what did I do? Yup, made a Christmas card for my snippets card this week:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- from the snippets folder, a variety of plain blue card stock (mostly SU I expect) - the more turquoise piece was used to cover most of the card front

- the image was stamped onto a snippet of white card, using Clarity Stamps 'Large We 3 Kings' clear stamp and Ranger 'Jet Black' archival ink. I then covered the image with double sided sticky film, peeled off the top layer and sprinkled Cosmic Shimmer ''Diamond Sprinkles' over the whole image (the photo almost picked it up!)

- then I used one of the plastic templates from the 'Stamps Away Patch Work template, set one' to draw the outlines on darker snippets for the strips of blue card. The template is also perfect for actually re-positioning the cut outs of course, I just used some slivers of removable tape to keep it in place when I was sticking the strips of darker card down. I'd already edged those strips using a silver 'Sakura 5mm Calligrapher pen'

- at that point I popped the assembled and glittered '3 Kings' image onto the card using thin sticky pads to add some dimension and sat gawping at what was a very plain card indeed. I'd veered away from using any patterned snippets but the result was just too stark, sigh

- so, out came the Christmas peel offs - which have almost been thrown out on several occasions. All I added was some sparkly dots down either side strip (Anita's 'Glitterations') then strips of silver holly top and bottom from Anita's Dimensions 'Holly' stickers. The lovely thing about these stickers is that bits of them (most of the holly leaves themselves) aren't adhesive so they can be flicked up to add dimension

- final touch, little clear crystal gems on the holly 'berries' - as well as one in the centre of the Star of Bethlehem' on the stamped image

I'd like to enter this into the current challenge over at Winter Wonderland, which is 'On the move'. I know this often makes people think of skating, ski-ing and such, but we often forget the two really important journeys of Christmas - Mary and Joseph and then the Three Kings.

Gosh it's another scorcher as I'm typing here so I think this could be a quick canter through the weekly 'picks'.

I thought this was such a lovely Christmas card, soft and very pretty - made by Maarit.

Stunning work here by Hazel, and a real touch of ingenuity - who would have guessed that the beautifully filigree panel is actually a votive wrap, popped onto a snippet of gold card. Full marks Hazel for thinking outside the box!

Viv made this totally amazing graduation card - I love all the detail and it's such a clever design!

Kitty made this fantastic 'New Home' card for her 'Honey' with a lovely story behind it. Loads of snippets used here - right down to some torn cardboard from one of the packing boxes. We all wish you loads of luck and happiness in your new home Kitty - do please still come and play!

I love the clean and crisp look of this card, made by Pat. White, brown and sunflower shades - perfect!

I love this card made by Sandy J - right down to the checked snippet just like a rug or towel we'd have taken to the beach :)

Karen P is always pushing the boundaries and trying new techniques, as well as using up snippets of course. What really caught my eye here is the 'Impressionist painting' look that Karen captured by stamping the image in grey before colouring it. I keep forgetting about that tip and it worked brilliantly here!

Eve caught me a bit with this last minute card, I wondered if I was off on a surprise holiday! Eve freely linked to where she got this idea from - isn't it a fabulous card? A design to remember for the future!

So, that was a quick canter, which actually took me longer than planned needless to say - Len is out all day today but I need to be downstairs looking innocent when he gets home as am supposed to be limiting time spent at the keyboard :)

We had two new playmates join us this week - wahoo!!

First of all, Brenda in IN came to play with this great card. Super idea to pop the face in the window - it reminds me a bit of when our Queen photo bombed a selfie just this week at the Commonwealth Games :)

Now, a little plea - right now Brenda doesn't have many visitors or followers as she's quite new to this malarky. It would be great if some of you could visit - and even nicer if anyone can come up with a solution to Brenda having problems when she tries to upload photos to her blog and gets the message that they're too large. Anyone able to help by hopping over with some advice please?

And right before the gates closed, Lucy W arrived with this absolutely gorgeous card. I love how the colouring perfectly matches the paper, loads of lovely detail.

What I read on Lucy'sLucy's profile moved me deeply:

Introduction

My names Lucy I'm 24 from West Sussex (UK) and I have Severe ME and am bedridden. I'm not able to do much but love cardmaking!

Bragging rights

I live in a dark quiet room too poorly for visitors. I do card making for short periods throughout the day in between naps/rests and it keeps me focused and happy as I love it so much!

I don't know about you girls, but I truly didn't see one teeny ounce of self-pity from Lucy. That made me stop and think about how so many of you have health issues and just battle on - taking pleasure in making cards and creating beautiful work. Bless you all my lovely blogging friends - got me almost in tears here :(

OK, let's move on and it's time to see who Mr Random picked to win the MFT 'Notebook Edge' die and the LOTV 'Here comes Annabel' Art Pad - and our winner is:

Jules

 

Oh well done to Jules - I'm sure most of you know that Jules started off the Snippets Challenge and always joins in our weekly fun. I've peeked back though your blog Jules and I already knew you like LOTV images (even though I see you normally colour your own maybe these will be good for some quick cards for the cards for sale box?) AND, that you have in the past used shorthand notebook paper with the torn edge in some designs - flippin' enterprising gal :) So, I hope you likey your prize - I'll post it later in the week!

Oh wow, I got a shock at how many of you entered at least three cards over the last couple of week, and thereby qualified for the draw for one of the three Penny Black 'Soft Wings' stamps on offer. I counted 16 of you, so you had just under a one in five chance. I numbered the order in which you'd qualified and then ran the Random number generator, which came up with these three winners:

Bonnie, Shaz in Oz and Sandra H

Well done girls, I'm sure I have all your addresses so will post the stamps this coming week!

I do so wish I had another dozen or so fluttering around here so that everyone could be a winner :( Having said that, I suspect I was pretty lucky to even get my hands on three of those stamps and they only arrived here on Friday - be still my thumping heart!

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

It's a Clarity stamp called 'We 3 Kings - large', the same as the one I used today, along with a pot of Cosmic Shimmer 'Diamond Sprinkles'. The stamped image is 70mm x 78mm. If you've never used Clarity stamps before, this one comes already mounted onto its own perspex 'handle'. Also, although the image comes stained blue it's a good idea to clean the blue from the stamp using something like nail polish remover if you intend to use something like a clear Versamark embossing pad so that you don't stain the pad. As I know Maggie and others will agree, Clarity stamps do produce really crisp and clear images - I love them!

As usual, the snippets challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 2nd August 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 hot and sticky wave from Parsnip)
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Rudolph Day - July 2014

Whoosh, it's here again - from now until the end of this month you can link two Christmas cards (in one post remember) into Sarn's Rudolph Day challenge. Which is two less to think about later in the year :) I inked up a NBUS Penny Black Christmas stamp for the first time, what a cute name it has ........ 'The Light Brigade'! Tee, hee:

As Sarn asks us for two cards, I made two almost exactly the same - only the sentiment wording is slightly different:

For each card I used:

- A6 white card blank

- Penny Black 'The Light Brigade' stamp, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' and coloured with Faber Castell Polychromos pencils and Sansodor blending solution. I tried Inkssentials 'Cut-n-dry' pen nibs instead of Derwent blending stumps with the Sansodor and much prefer the precision it allows - also the end of the nib didn't go 'raggedy' on me! Thank you Irene for sending me the nibs, mwah :)

- the image was then die cut using a die from the Spellbinders set called 'Resplendent Rectangles' and layered onto an oblong of 'Real Red' card. I'd tried lots of different dies over the image for 'best fit' before suddenly spotting this long narrow one sitting quietly in the Spellbinders set and can see it being very useful!

- the plain green and red card came from the snippets folder, but I know it's SU's 'Certainly Celery' and 'Real Red'

- patterned papers are from the Back to Basics Christmas 'Modern' pack

- sentiment is Craftwork cards, layered onto an oval of 'Certainly Celery' which was punched with SU's 'Large Oval' punch

I'd also like to enter today's card(s) into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge where this week the theme is 'Layer it up'. I just counted eight layers on top of the base card :) And I'd also like to enter Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for July, where it's always 'anything goes'.

So that's two more for the box - and still on target with 12 Christmas cards per month.

Di
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New home

A bit like Sympathy cards, New Home ones (when folk let you know they're just about to move house) can catch you on the 'hop'. So this card is for my standby box:

I used:

- A6 white card blank

- image stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad and a Stamposaurus Stamp called 'Town House - small' (bought at Newbury the other week). The image was coloured with Pro Markers and then die cut using a 'Stitched Rectangle' die by Lil'inkers

- plain brown card for the main backing layer as well as a 'frame' for the image, also die cut using a 'Stitched Rectangles' die

- the plaid backing paper is by LOTV from their 'Country Gent' paper pad

- sentiment is an Elzybells one, stamped using Brilliance 'Pearlescent Thyme' ink pad and layered onto a rectangle of brown card

- finishing touch - white Josy Rose nail heads

I've been asked about the Lil'inkers dies - made in the USA. Unfortunately they don't export the stitched squares or rectangles to the UK (as yet and I suspect it's unlikely they will do so in the future) but there is one UK stockist who does have some of their other goodies including stitched hearts, ovals and other shapes . They also have some Winnie and Walter stamps, yay!. The stockist is 'Make The Day Special'  . Do be aware though that they're often out of stock of stuff but certainly worth a first try if you're not in a hurry for something.

So, I ordered my Stitched Rectangles dies from the USA directly from Lil'inkers. In fairness the girls were very good and reduced the postage to $10 when they realised I was only ordering one item - I'd done that so as not to be stung for import duty. Hey, ho though - the customs declaration included the postage (ie. the full invoice amount I'd paid) and I DID get stung for customs duty. What was double annoying was that Royal Mail charge £8 to process the flipping charge!

So, if you UK gals do order from Lil'inkers can I suggest that you add a little note to the effect that they really shouldn't include the postage in the value of the parcel. That's what took my order over the top, sigh. And that, girls, is why I'm using the dies as much - need to get my money's worth outta them!

Di
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