Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 195

Well, we made it through the week - dearest Sarn jumped in on Monday to say she would look after the Playground for me, I did decline her kind offer but how sweet was that then? AND, she did hop round you all, in front of me during the week to comment - just in case I was tottering along like an old biddy - bless :)

Writing this on Saturday morning, and for the first time in over a week I can feel the teensiest improvement in the old back. It's the nature of it that it travels around different areas - almost as if when I protect one sore set of muscles it then moves onto another area. Nasty piece of work if you ask me!

Anyhow, let's do a quick canter this week - first of all here's my snippets card:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- a smaller snippet of red satin mirri card for the largest frame, glued onto the card front using Collall All Purpose glue

- a whole sheet of pale green snowflake patterned paper from Wild Rose Studio's 'Annabelle's Christmas' paper pack

- a snippet of almost plain green paper from the LOTV 'Classic Christmas' paper pad, with the back covered with some 'Stick-It adhesive sheet. This was then die cut using a Sizzix card front die called 'Peace, Love, Joy' 

- after removing the backing from the die cut I popped it onto the centre of the sheet of pale green snowflake patterned paper and trimmed along each edge

- layered the 'message piece' onto the red satin mirri card, again using Collall glue for some wiggle time

- backed another snippet of red satin mirri card with 'Stick-It' adhesive sheet and die cut the letters 'J-O-Y' (the letter dies come in with the die set) then popped them onto the word JOY - after running a red Whispers pen (which doesn't bleed like a Pro Marker would of course) round the edges - I hate white bits where they shouldn't be :)

- something was missing so I walked away for a while, had a think and eventually came back and die cut a single snowflake using a die from the Whimsy 'Layered Snowflake' set, covered it with clear Wink of Stella and once dry popped it in the middle of the letter 'O' using a small piece of thin sticky pad

- added a snowflake diamante embellishment on top - just the snowflake and bling made all the difference (IMHO) - but, you could also use the letters 'J-O-Y' alone or with a snowflake on (say) a plain white snowflake background, I think that could look very elegant

So, that's my snippets card for today, and it fits nicely in with the current challenge over at 'Merry Monday #171' which is 'Sentiment in the Spotlight'. I think I covered the Merry Monday brief - n'est ce pas?

And now onto this week's picks - sheesh, a lot of entries and also many of you were keen on the Tim Holtz prize on offer. Who knew? I truly thought I was 'tail end Charlie' with those birds, once again!

Carol L always features on my weekly list of possible picks at least once, usually more times. I chose this entry as it's a perfect Christmas card - using the wonderful Arboscello Tree die by Memory Box and just so pleasing to the eye. Love it!

I certainly went WOW when I spotted this absolutely gorgeous WOW card, made by Viv. Just perfection and so, so beautiful - welcome back Viv! Viv has been travelling round the country in her role as Vice-President of England Bowls for what seems like ages now - we missed you chick!

I'm sure that many of you know that Bonnie is on the DT for 'Merry Monday' - one of my favourite challenges. And this is the latest DT card she brought to show us. Now, I thought it was all one stamp that Bonnie had used - but not so! That little beauty was made by careful selection and positioning of a variety of Christmas sentiment stamps. So clever and one I bet a few of us would love to CASE! Slightly sick grin here, Bonnie has a Misti Stamp Positioner - am totally green around the gills with envy. I do so wish someone in the UK would stock them - right now the postage and also the risk of paying duty is quite off-putting, such a shame!

And here's another Christmas card, made by Annie. And certainly one I'd love to CASE as well. I just adore the idea of die cutting the bauble from the front of the card and then popping a snippet of sparkly card or paper behind the aperture! Great idea and so effective too!

I love this card, made by Lynn, using snippets of white card and transforming them into this real beauty! What's interesting too is that the shades of white vary - but of course when you create wonderful stamped and inked backgrounds it really doesn't matter, so don't throw those slightly off-white snippets out girls!

Kate hopped in with this stunning card - some beautiful die cutting, wonderful flowers too! What really made me smile was that Kate used a snippet of wallpaper sample on the card. Such a great idea - I'll be off to Homebase as soon as am more mobile :) Tee, hee - and able enough to beat a hasty retreat with an armful of wallpaper samples!

Oh I do so love this card, made by Laurie! The die is a Cheery Lynn one called 'Witch's Laundry' and it's such a fun die - a perfect way to use up snippets too! I'm sitting on my hands here but bet that one of these will fall into my shopping basket over at Maddy Lisa's before the day is through!

So, that was this week's picks - I managed a few more than I'd expected, and now it's time to welcome two new Playmates to the Playground:

Chris S brought us a gorgeous snowflake Christmas tag to see - I love all the blues and it looks so Nordic, just beautiful Chris!

Donna nipped in with this great card - the film strip die is a perfect way to personalise cards I think! Donna also has a trick for stopping tent style cards from splaying out (and looking like a ballerina doing the splits!) - she kindly sent me instructions but I haven't cracked it yet - to be honest I think I was doped up on painkillers when I had a play, so must try again!

Welcome to both of you - and it would be lovely to see you in the Playground again! I take it the girlies shared their choklit and also showed you where the illicit whisky still is hidden - they think I don't know! Ha, nothing gets past Parsnip and me when we're in full 'ferreting and searching' mode :)

So, with a little drum roll, it's time to pick the winner of some or all of the Tim Holtz 'Bird Crazy' stamps and dies - plus the Accessories stamps set. Oh how I wish I had more of this bumper prize to offer - in all there were 38 of you longing for the whole bundle and a further five of you would have loved just part of the prize. And, the first person to pop out of Mr Random had indeed said a huge 'yes please' to the whole bundle:

Liz

It's over 30 weeks since Liz last won a Playground prize, and most weeks she comes to play, often three times like this week, which is brilliant! Plus, Liz is also often a weekly pick - here's an example from this week's entries, just fabulous:

So I know you'll all be delighted for Liz - I'm sure she'll be back soon with some fun cards using the stamps and dies! Psst, I still have your snail mail address Liz and will post your prize ASAP this coming week!

This coming week's prize is another 'no brainer' of course. It's a Sizzix card front die called 'Peace, Love, Joy', just like I used on my snippets card. I've also got a packet of A5 'Stick-It's sheets as part of the prize. This is such a detailed die to stick down and I do think the Stick-It sheets are a bit of a life saver.

I thought it was time to throw a Christmas prize into the pot now and then - Autumn is on the way and quite a few of you are thinking about making Christmas cards already.

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 26th September. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. Do say if you only want one or other part of the prize (the die set or the 'Stick-It' sheets), but both are up for grabs as one prize of course. And please also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

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

Di and of course, Parsnip!
x

Upcycling for Christmas

Out of the 'shop bought' Christmas cards we've received in recent years, I've kept quite a few that seemed to have potential for upcycling. There was one square card which I kept looking at - a plain black background with a pretty printed wreath of holly, white flowers and some red glitter - with a lovely die cut 'Noel' sitting in the centre, popped up on a dimensional sticky pad.

However, for ages I really couldn't think of how to upcycle the card other than slapping the whole square front onto a slightly larger square card - which wasn't gonna be true upcycling IMHO. Then, when I spotted Hazel's Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge this week was to use festive trees or greenery on a card (a little or a lot), out came said box of cards to upcycle and once again I pondered over that black square card. Bingo! Sudden thought and off I went - and this was the end result - a rocker card:

I used:

- the card front, after I'd carefully removed the 'Noel' with its sticky pad backing and put it to one side - because I was going to use the Cuttlebug on the card front and didn't want to squish it

- out came the set of Tonic Studio's 'Circle Layering' dies - more about those wonderful dies below this 'how I made the card burble'

- selected a circle die just the right size for cutting out the wreath from the upcycled card, plus the next two sizes up - so three dies in total

- die cut the wreath and set it aside

- using the next size up, die cut a red satin mirri card circle and also a circle of 300gsm white card stock - set those aside

- using the largest die, cut a circle from the 300gsm white card stock - and left it in the die. This was because I was using this largest circle of card for the rocker base and, yet another great thing with these Tonic Studio dies, they have a little notch at each 'quarter hour' of the die for precision. So, I marked the card at opposite sides using a pencil, removed the piece of card from the die - then lined the pencil lines up on my Hougie board and scored down from one mark to another. rubbed out the pencil marks and (with heart in mouth) folded down the score line to form a half circle. Result! A perfectly lined up rocker base - yay!

- so then it was just a matter of assembling the whole card (using Collall glue for some 'wiggle' time) by sticking the circular wreath to the red die cut circle. Then backed that red circle with the piece of white card I'd cut at the same time - this was so that the back of the card looked matched to the rocker part 'cos the reverse of the red satin mirri wasn't a crisp white

- lined up and stuck the complete card front to the folded rocker

- added the word 'Noel' back into the centre of the wreath, using a fresh strip of sticky pad

Back to the Tonic Studio's set of circular dies, it's absolutely brilliant! As the name suggests, it consists of circular dies - but the fabulous part is that there are 14 dies in the set ranging from 14cm down to 2.5cm and they come on a magnetic sheet within a hole punched pouch (ideal for popping in the front of my 'frame dies' file). I just looked online and there's a great offer over at Amazon.co.uk at £14.72 with free delivery, a saving of 36% (I know I paid much more than that price for the set I bought a while back). The largest die still fits my Cuttlebug fine yet is big enough to cut a circular card - and although the blurb says the dies will cut up to 240gsm card stock, I used 300gsm white card stock and it cut with no problem at all. One of my all time favourite everyday die sets for sure - even though I already had a Spellbinder Nestabilities set.

So, this card is for Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge 246, where it's 'Festive trees or greenery,' and also Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for September - where it's always 'Anything goes'.

Di
x

Less is More - Week 241 - Wishing!

The current challenge over at Less is More is 'Wishing' - but with the twist that we all love so much, it's one layer - sigh.

I had a few ideas which were quickly rejected once I spotted that they'd already been thought of - you often need to be really quick off the mark with some LIM challenges. Anyhow, this is what I came up with:

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank

- Lavinia 'Moon Fairy' stamp, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- the sentiment, also stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink is from a NBUS LOTV set 'Set 90 - Fairy Sentiments'. I bought it in the LOTV shop when Kath and I met up in the Summer

- then I just tickled the moon using a Gold Wink of Stella brush pen, and some clear Wink of Stella over the wings

Kept it at that - and needless to say the brush marks of the gold WOS don't show up as much in real life. Who said the camera never lies? It might not lie but it sure does exaggerate! 
Di
x

Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - Wheels

Hi folks! The Cuttlebug Mania Challenge this fortnight is 'Wheels' - anything with a wheel or wheels will count and it doesn't have to be the die cut or embossed part of your card of course. I had several options in mind when making my DT card, including a few stamps - but opted to play with a die.

All you have to do is to use a manual die cutting/embossing machine (it doesn't need to be a Cuttlebug but it must be manual, not electronic). Then make your entry, link into the challenge, link to the challenge in your own blog post and and make sure that you also say what products you used for any die cutting/embossing. We're a nosey lot and do like to know just what you've used :)

Our sponsor this fortnight is 'A Day for Daisies' - a lovely digital stamp shop.

 

And here's my DT card:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- a snippet of deep burgundy card stock, trimmed to slightly smaller than the card blank

- from the centre of the burgundy square I then die cut a scalloped circle, using a Spellbinders Nestabilities die and put it aside - needs must as that was the only piece of burgundy card I had!

- adhered the 'gutted' burgundy square onto the card blank, cut a white scalloped circle from a snippet and slotted that into the gutted area (OCD kicked in there I think!)

- then added the (trimmed to a slightly smaller size) patterned paper, which is from Prima's 'Stationer's Desk' paper pad - love this pad!

- more 'gutting' now, this time by die cutting the 'penny farthing' from the middle of the burgundy scalloped circle that I'd set aside earlier. The die I used is 'Vintage Bicycle' by Memory Box

- next I die cut a plain circle from a snippet of grey card, using a Spellbinders Nestability die

- glued all the layers together and then added them to the card front

- final touch, a couple of pearls in the centre of the wheels and three in the top right hand corner for luck :)

So that's my DT card for this fortnight's Cuttlebug Mania challenge - it would be lovely if you come and play!

And, I'm entering this into Darnell's current NBUS challenge HERE. It's my third and final entry and wow, she has loads of amazing sponsors - and all you have to do is to use some 'Never-Before-Used-Schtuff or NBUS for short' as Darnell calls it - mine was the penny farthing die! 

Just think, you could make one card and play along with the Snippets Playground, Cuttlebug Mania and also over at Darnell's! 

Thankfully this card/post was already made/scheduled! 

Di
x

Just to say.........

............whilst I truly did think I did well on the Birthday outing on Friday with Len, as often is the case two days later, right now it feels like a combination of being kicked and also having a set of huge crab claws grinding into my back/ the right hand side of the middle of my spine. Something I expect a lot of you can relate to. Managing with a load of pills though. Rattle, rattle!!

Am trying my best to keep on top of commenting in the Playground, but my biggest worry is that I owe so many of you my love and thanks for wonderful emails, plus snail mail cards and gifts. Please bear with me - I'll be back (snort!) ASAP.

Meanwhile - a shot from Longleat the other day:

I know, squeal! A little Meerkat on guard duty, within touching/stroking distance in an enclosed area where you could really get up close and personal - so cute and also so intense. Even in the short time we spent there with these guys we watched them 'swop shifts'. Aw, how darling! Good grief, I'd love to be able to sit straight up like that right now :)

Di
x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 194

And yet another week flew past, we're almost into Autumn here in the UK, but with some lovely sunny days thrown in still. But, I just bet the shops will be full of Christmas stuff before long - if they aren't already!

Last Saturday one of my bestest friends from schooldays had a Birthday. I'd been saving the NBUS stamps and dies I used for her card for a few weeks, ready to make a snippets card this week:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- a piece of SU's 'Crisp Cantaloupe' card stock as a 'frame'

- a piece of white card stock on which to build the front of the card

- snippets of white card stock for stamping on

- then I set to using the fabulous Tim Holtz 'Bird Crazy' stamp set as well as the Tim Holtz 'Crazy Things' stamp set. First I stamped the images I wanted onto the white snippets and then coloured them using Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils and Sansodor blending solution

- next I die cut the Crazy Bird using the matching thinlets die set, and fussy cut the 'Crazy Things' hat and balloon. Apparently there will be matching dies coming out for the Crazy Things stamps (late September I believe) but fussy cutting was no hardship

- next die cut the word 'Smile' three times from a little snippet of SU's 'Tempting Turquoise' card stock using a die from Penny Black's 'Hooray' set and layered them up using Glossy Accents

- to assemble the card front I first stamped the sentiment using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from LOTV's 'Set 61- Quotable' stamps, which seemed to fit the bill (snigger) perfectly

- next trimmed out the centre and added the hat to the little bird then popped it onto the card front using thin sticky pads. Did the same with the eyes and beak

- then worked out where to add the balloon and used a snippet of bakers twine to tuck it round the end of the balloon and also underneath where I then placed the bird's extra wing layer

- added the word 'Smile' and a few sparkly sequins

- finally, when the card was ready to be put safely to one side, I added 'Glossy Accents' to the beak, eyes and some touches on the balloon

This was such a fun card to make - gotta love those Crazy Birds :) Hope you had a great day Moira!

I'd like to make this my second entry into Darnell's current NBUS challenge - all the Crazy Birds stamps, dies - and their accessories were unopened and unused before I made this card. Do join in the fun - there are loads of lovely prizes to be won and of course you get to use some of that NBUS stuff you haven't played with before!

Straight onto this week's picks, which of course were chosen by Sarn - who did a fabulous job of commenting and looking after the Playground this week. There were times I thought it was a bit like her having to herd cats. Thank so soooo much Sarn!

And here's what Sarn says about her time as Playground Prefect: Can I just say it's been great fun being Prefect this week and thanks to the playmates for being such good sports and playing tag nicely (apart from the donkey tail pinning incident of course!). If anyone else fancies being Prefect for a week, I know Di would love to hear from you.

And now for Sarn's picks and why she picked them, in her own words:

20: KandA HERE. Because I think it's a cute card, beautifully coloured and toned in and prettily embellished.

 

34: Julieanne HERE. Great masculine card with lots of snippet layers.

46: Jane's Journal HERE. It's just so amazing with all the work that's gone into it and NO stamping allowed! 

56: Lynn Hayes HERE. Love the multi-inked square butterfly flying outside of it, plus the matching die cut sentiment. The layout is so pleasing to the eye.

No 67: K T Krafts (Kathy). . .HERE. I just HAVE to add this card to my picks . . . because it is right up my street and uses my fave stamp set. (This was a really last minute addition from Sarn at 10am yesterday morning - which shows just how much we try to keep the picks absolutely up to date, until the very end stop when those gates clang shut each week).

Keeping up to date is also the reason why I pick the previous week's winner right away as soon as the gates close - I know (and totally understand why) a good few challenge work a week behind. But, it's fun to wrap one week up properly before moving onto the next one.

Sarn also said: Oh my goodness it is SOOO difficult picking out cards as they all have their merits. 

Thank you so much again Sarn, wonderful picks although I do so agree about choices being so difficult! It's been a huge help having you on board this past week, especially as there's been a lot going on here.

No new little Playmates this week, but we still had 68 entries - am gonna need to get more swings etc. before long!

Now the draw for that lovely stamp set, so kindly offered by Sarn - Woodware's 'Delicate Daisies' - and the winner is:

 KandA (Andrea)

Well done Andrea, I have your address and will let Sarn know as the prize will be sent to you directly by her. Isn't it strange, the last prize you won here was the set of Sarntangles stamps, some time ago now - maybe Sarn is a good luck talisman/rabbit's foot?

One reason why this past week has been busy is that yesterday was my Birthday so Len took me out for a day at Longleat on Friday. We had a great day, the weather was so kind to us and with a heat patch on my back, rattling with pills and also a cushion for the 'off the road' ranger tour in a Land Rover around the Safari Park I coped pretty well. The tickets were bought a while ago and the date had been booked so we had to go through with it. We did laugh, after all the bouncing round in the Land Rover I felt my back for the heated stick on pad - and it had slid down into my knickers - wondered why my bum was so warm!

A HUGE thank you to everyone who sent me cards, Facebook messages etc. - I will thank you all individually but my time at the laptop is still being limited.

Anyhow, to celebrate my Birthday I planned a bigger prize than usual for this coming week as a thank you for all the fun and laughter - plus your fabulous snippets makes of course!

Yup, the prize is the Bird Crazy stamps and die set plus the accessories set that I used for my snippets card today. Not my own ones you understand - these are new and unopened of course!

Ideally, this should all be one prize, so that's what the offer is - all three items. BUT, I've been sitting on this prize for a few weeks now, fretting watching quietly as more and more of you succumbed to the 'Crazy Birds' and there was nothing I could do but hang on.

But, if you already have all of this prize, we have tons of lovely prizes coming up in coming weeks and I know hope that they're just the icing on the cake really.

Now, maybe you only have some of the prize and would like (say) the accessories and/or the dies 's cos perhaps you already just have the birdies or maybe you just have the dies only (err, who would do that?). It's absolutely fine to pick and choose - please just say clearly in a comment which you would like to win - remember you can have all three items as they are a bundle first and foremost, but I will split them if you want to add to your TH Bird Crazy stuff and you get picked as a winner. It might even be that someone would only want the bird stamps, to have a play with and that's fine too. First out gets their choice and then if necessary I'd just keep re-running the random number generator for second/third prizes.

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 19th September. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. Or, as explained above - just one or two parts of it! Do remember that you should also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

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

Di and of course, Parsnip!
x

There is always time for friendship

.....one of my very favourite sentiments and just right for this card, made for someone special:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank, made by opening a slightly larger card out and using the largest Lil-inkers 'Stitched Rectangle' die on the front (it only cuts the stitched outline and not the whole piece of card, so you retain the spine) and then trimming the 'open edges' down to size

- a snippet of white card, die cut using the next size down in the Lil'inkers 'Stitched Rectangle' set

- a Penny Black NBUS die called 'Bashful', used to cut out the flower shaped aperture from the snippet of card I'd just die cut in the above step

- then I die cut another 'Bashful' flower from a white snippet and coloured both of the flowers using Pro markers

- popped one of the coloured flowers into the aperture I'd die cut - to make it easy I backed the die cut aperture with a piece of double sided sticky film before popping the flower in place

- at that point I stamped the sentiment using Memento 'London Fog' ink and a stamp from the Hero Arts set called 'Live life'

- I then snipped the head from the second flower I'd coloured, added little strips of narrow red line DST to the back of the petals and head and carefully stuck it on top of the flower head that was already in place - just offsetting it slightly

- added a tickle of Tim Holtz 'Antique Linen' Stickles to the flower head

- final touch, five sparkly sequins

The die is a real beauty (reminds me of a coneflower) and would also be great used for stencilling - loads of possibilities!

Almost forgot, this is my first entry into Darnell's current NBUS (Never-Been-Used-Schtuff) challenge #5 - loads of prizes to be won, and most of all it encourages you to play with your new goodies that could be feeling a bit neglected.

Di
x

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge 245

I try to play along with Hazel each week and this week's challenge is 'twas the Night Before Christmas'. Quick rootle through the box of received and saved shop-bought Christmas cards turned up a fairly large square card with three Christmas stockings lined up a staircase. I couldn't just slap the card front onto a card blank and call it a day - so I chopped it down to include the sentiment and just one of the stockings:

I used:

- A6 white card blank, the front (only) of which which I scored at approx. three quarters of an inch in from the spine - on the inside of the card - to create a flat spine

- then added a strip of saddle stitched red ribbon down the 'flat spine' using red line double sided tape, folded the ends over to the inside of the card and stuck the spine together with the back part of the card

- layered the cut down upcycled image onto snippets of SU 'Real Red' and also matt gold card and stuck it onto the front of the card

A super fast card which came about from a great idea that Jane brought to the Playground last week. I hadn't seen cards using this 'flat spine' idea before (apart from shop bought cards) and it's a really great way of adding a strip of ribbon or perhaps washi tape to a card and then enclosing it in the spine so that the 'behind the scenes work' is nicely hidden.

This is the card propped slightly open - thanks Jane for a great idea!

I'd also like to enter this card into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for September. 

Di
x

Less is More Week 240 - Green and gold

The current challenge of 'Green and gold' over at Less is More immediately brought Christmas to mind and also a pair of Memory Box dies that I really love:

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank

- slightly smaller piece of gold linen mirri card, glued onto the card front

- slightly smaller again square of white card with the corners punched using a Woodware 'Squared Corner' punch then glued on top of the gold layer

- next I fished out a SU 'Mossy Meadow' snippet and a gold linen mirri card snippet and backed them with 'Stick-It' double sided adhesive

- out came the pair of Memory Box dies and I cut the solid trees from the green card using 'Pine Border Background' and the outline from gold linen mirri card using 'Pine Border Outline'

- added both die cuts to the already assembled card front and popped a gold peel off star above the tallest tree

- lastly, getting a bit daring and for sure it'll backfire soon, I stamped the sentiment directly onto the assembled card using SU's 'Mossy Meadow' ink and a sentiment from the Personal Impressions set called 'Many Greetings'. I particularly chose this sentiment 'cos the letters go up and down a bit like the trees do :)

And, of course I made another card exactly the same whilst at it!

Di
x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 193

Hi again! And another week flew past in the Snippets Playground - whoosh, one blink and there it was gone!

And this next week we have another little prefect in the Playground helping me out, just as Eve did about a month ago, it's Sarn of Stamping for Pleasure!

I'm sure most of you know Sarn, she's a long term blogger and is tremendously talented - her work ranges from beautiful crisp and cleanly designed card making and associated card crafts through fabulous journaling and Sarntangling (her very own version of Zentangling) - not to mention recent forays into mixed media, with great results! Basically, if it can be tried, Sarn will have a go. She has Sarntangle digis for sale over on her blog and also designed and sold her own limited edition 'Sarntangle' stamps set - sorry though, they sold out like hot cakes!

Not only that, she's fun, funny, very supportive, wise when it's needed, crazy if that's what you need at the time and also fiercely loyal. Basically, an all round 'good egg' and I'm delighted to have her as a friend.

OK Sarn, send me the cheque now please :)

This is the lovely snippets card that Sarn made for us this week:

 Here's a list of the 'ingredients':

• Memento ink in Tuxedo Black for flower image.
• SU Certainly Celery for zigzag lines.
• Promarkers in Tulip Yellow; Gold; Spice; Apple and Oatmeal.
• I coloured the edge of the mat in Gold to match the coloured image.
• Stamps: Woodware Clear Magic "Delicate Daisies" & zigzags from SU's "Work of Art".
• Foam pads to pop each flower head up.

Such a pretty card, as always a lovely design and of course Sarn used some white snippets for the flower stamping!

Just as Eve did a few weeks ago, Sarn will be commenting on your entries this week and will also list her picks of the week for me. I'll still be peeking to see what's going on but it's a busy week for me so my time will be limited and Sarn's offer couldn't have come at a better time.

If any of you fancy being prefect for a week, it entails making a snippets card (you don't have to provide a prize though as the toy box is pretty full here), commenting on all the week's entries - and making up a list of your picks of the week. The rest is down to me still.

Of course I'll be watching for any new playmates and sorting out any linking issues this coming week -  and will do the usual Sunday post with my snippets card etc. etc. for the following week.

And onto this week's picks:

I picked Aurora recently on her first trip into the Playground - and have picked her again for two reasons. First of all, aren't these super pen holders!? And I do think you'll be astonished if you hop over to see the video of her singing - bear in mind this is a nine year old girl. Amazing voice, I really got the shivers listening to and watching her singing!

And here's someone else who featured with a pick last week - our Sarn! There was no way this stunning pop up box could be left out of the weekly picks this time round, just fabulous!!

Kath came up with a really terrific arch for her entry - and used plenty of snippets in the process too. Gorgeous card!

I know, I know! Isn't this absolutely fantastic?! An amazing apple card for 'back to school' time. I totally love this card - made by Diane H.

Jenni J is a fairly recent addition to our happy little band of playmates - and just look at this amazing card she brought to show us. I think it's just so clever how the little scene is popped up on the feathers - a lovely CAS card with that wow factor!

I'm sorry to cut this weeks picks short there, still struggling with the back and sitting still typing for too long isn't helping. Every single entry deserved being a weekly pick and I do so hope you'll peek at last week's thumbnails and perhaps hop over to check a few entries out. We get some terrific ideas in the Playground for sure!

And we do have one new playmate joining us this week:

Tiziana brought this beautiful Birthday card to show - it's absolutely gorgeous and a real delight. If I made a card anywhere near as intricate as this I'd be lying down in a darkened room for a week afterwards! Hmm, not such a bad idea anyhow :)

Time to choose the winner of the Molly Bloom 'Herb Box' stamp and the Inkylicious Butterflies (Flutters 2) stamp set. - and the winner is:

 Ike

Well done Ike (Suzy)! I don't have your address so can you please drop me an email (di_wray@hotmail.com) and I'll pop the stamps in the post to you ASAP.

The prize for this coming week has been chosen and donated by the lovely Sarn - and it's the fabulous Woodware Clear Magic 'Delicate Daisies' stamp set - which comes with its own sentiment:

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 12th September. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. Do remember that you should also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

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

Edit: I had wondered if our playmate Cornelia was away on holiday as she usually comes to play each week - turns out she has an eye problem (retinal tear) and is having to take it very easy right now. Do please join me in sending her our love and get well wishes - hope you're back with us soon Cornelia!

Di and of course, Parsnip!
x

Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge #244 - 'Use some silver'

The current challenge over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge blog is to 'Use some silver' - and this card is also for Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for September, which is always 'Anything goes'.

I love silver and white on Christmas cards and I've previously used this large snowflake die in a similar fashion - but this time I added an additional die cut snowflake on top :)

I used:

- 6" x 6" white square card blank

- a square of white card quarter of an inch smaller all round than the card blank. Then die cut the centre using a Memory Box die called 'Dazzling Snowflake'. Before doing the die cutting I adhered a piece of 'Stick-It adhesive sheet for intricate die cuts' on the reverse side of the white piece of card. After die cutting it was stuck onto a larger piece of silver holographic card (approx. quarter to half an inch bigger all round)

- then I trimmed the edges of the double layer so that the holographic card acted as a border around the white layer of card (this allowed me to even up any off centre sticking down 'cos the adhesive sheet is quite determined once it touches a piece of card)

- then bravely stamped the sentiment without the aid of a safety net, using a silver ink pad and a sentiment from the Personal Impressions 'Many Greetings' set

- then die cut a smaller snowflake from a leftover piece of the holographic card, using a lovely snowflake die by Jennifer Ellory which came free with Quick Cards Made Easy magazine last year. Glued it in the centre of the large snowflake, leaving the outer edges free for dimension

-  final touch, an aurora borealis gem in the centre of the layered snowflake

I like this Memory Box die just as it is, but it was fun to see it prettied up a bit more :) Needless to say, I made two the same whilst the place was in uproar!

Di
x

A very odd archway

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

I used:

- 4.25" x 5.5" white card blank

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Di
x

Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - Anything Goes

Hi folks! The Cuttlebug Mania Challenge is back after our Summer break, with a nice and easy theme to settle you back in - 'Anything Goes'.

All you have to do is to use a manual die cutting/embossing machine (it doesn't need to be a Cuttlebug but it must be manual). Then make your entry, link into the challenge, link to the challenge in your own blog post and and make sure that you also say what products you used for any die cutting/embossing. We're a nosey lot and do like to know just what you've used :)

The sponsor for this challenge is Craftie Charlie:

Here's my offering:

I used:

- 7" x 5" white card blank, tent style

- a layer of SU's 'So Saffron' card stock, embossed across the centre using a Quickutz folder called 'Flowers' - one of the very first ones I ever bought

- then I topped and tailed the panel with snippets of SU's 'Wisteria Wonder' topped with snippet strips of Pink Petticoat 'Wild Blossoms' paper. Using the folder cross ways was a good way to leave some nice flat space at the top and bottom ready to cover with the patterned panels

- the images are all from Stephanie Barnard's The Stamps of Life set called 'Cookie', and I stamped them using Memento 'Gray Flannel' ink

- coloured the images using Faber Castell Polychromos pencils and Sansodor blending solution - the wee doggie is based on Stephanie's own little Maltese dog named Cookie, but it's also very much like a Bichon Frise with a 'puppy cut' :) I deepened his nost and eyes using a black fine line marker and the stamp image actually has a darling bow on its head - which I covered with the party hat this time round

- next I die cut Cookie and the party hat using dies from the matching set - for some reason you don't get a die to cut out the parcel, but in fairness it's less intricate and was easy to fussy cut

- the sentiment, which is also included in the stamp set, was die cut using a die from the XCut 'Speech Bubbles' set 

- the die cut elements were then all popped onto the embossed panel using thin sticky pads. So that the hat lies level I used sticky pads for the top part but used narrow red line sticky tape along the bottom edge where it overlapped Cookie's head

- final touch, added some clear Wink of Stella to parts of the hat and also the bow/ribbon on the parcel 

Here's a little tip you might already know about - to do with die cutting stamped images using the matching dies. There are more and more of these sets about right now, I dithered for ages before buying this particular set due to the white margins - but am so glad I did 'cos Cookie was whimpering to be bought!).

Let's say you've stamped and coloured your image, and now you want to line up the matching die properly. This is how I do it:

I took all four dies from the set and cut a card template from each one (used snippets of course!) then discarded the inner part and kept the outer part. I only did all four shapes to save time in the future.

Here you can see that I've got the hat template on the right, awaiting it's turn to be used. On the left is the doggie template, positioned as I want it over the stamped image (see the darling little bow on Cookie's head that I mentioned earlier?) and held in place with Scotch clear removable tape.

Next, I slotted the actual die into the 'slot' of the template - and also taped it in place. If you wiggle the die into place it will let you know when it's positioned properly :) Then you just die cut as normal, both the image, the template and the die will run through your machine fine.

I kept all four templates and just popped them into the packet with the dies - which are also stored along with the stamp set. Normally I store dies on magnetic sheets but find it's best to keep matching dies and stamps together.

And my Scotch tape does look a bit grubby - that's because I'm a bit mean and re-use the pieces until they're past their sell-by date :) A good place to store them is either partially and lightly stuck to a plastic filing tray as I do - or even on the handle or side of your die cutting machine. 

So that's my DT card for this fortnight's Cuttlebug Mania challenge - it would be lovely if you come and play, it's also an ideal opportunity to combine your entry with a Snippets Playground entry - two for the price of one! I do spot quite a few Playmates now joining in with Cuttlebug Mania :)

Di
x