Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 199

Phew, thanks so much to Eve for taking the pressure off me this past week - both by commenting and also choosing the weekly picks. It's been a busy time here, from the beginning of the week and then Len had a special Birthday on Thursday and we've been celebrating :)

My snippets card was made to be given to the Birthday Boy from all the garden wildlife he so diligently looks after - and hedgies seemed to be a good choice for the image:

I used:

- A4 white card stock, cut to 6" width but left full length so it would go through the Cuttlebug

- Presscut die set called 'Step Card Cutting' - I first spotted this fabulous set over at Liz's blog, and in fact she sent me the card she'd shown too! Needless to say, my little feet didn't touch the ground - whoosh, I was off to order it!

- first I cut the main body of the card. I'd read someone in a review saying that you needed extended plates if you just had a small platform as I have on the Cuttlebug. Not so at all! I just taped the main cutting die in place on the card stock with removable sticky tape then after cutting one half just moved the uncut card and die (which was still in place) up between the plates and then cut that part - simples

- folded the card on the score lines and it was ready to decorate

- next die cut four scalloped panels using green snippets from the snippets folder (I suspect they could be Papermania paper) and added those to the stepper card

- the image is a Penny Black stamp - pre-loved and called 'For You'. Stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and coloured using Pro Markers

- then die cut the image using a die from the Spellbinders 'Distressed Rectangles' set

- added 'It's your birthday' to the image using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from SU's 'For the Birds' set then stuck the panel in place

- the 'Hope you have a perfect day' was stamped in Memento 'Tuxedo Black' and the stamp is an ancient Elzybells one (sadly discontinued)

- cut down the sentiment and popped it onto a backing frame of orange card (another snippet) and stuck it in place

This die cutting set is absolutely brilliant - I even used one final die once I'd printed off the greeting to go inside - it's actually shaped to sit beautifully inside the card. Thanks for pointing me to this great set Liz!!

Let's move straight onto Eve's picks from last week, and why she picked them:

39. Carol L.   Because that owl is just adorable. Her paper piecing is perfect and with the added colouring it brings it to life. Love the colours too!

40. Sparkling Pink (Ileana).  The Promarker colouring on this card is amazing and it looks like a bit of paper piecing too – stunning!

42. Jackie T.  This fabulous scene is magical. Everything is perfectly placed and the sky looks dreamlike with that flying Santa image.

43. Diane H.  Wow! A crisp, clean card which looks like a work of art.

56. Alison C.  When I first saw this card I thought that Alison had punched out patterned paper but she has actually stamped those squares – fabulous! It also looks like a real fabric quilt.

I did giggle, Eve hit my problem - absolutely unable to whittle down to a top three - and even then I'm sure there were many other entries she could have included above! Well done to everyone who entered, whether a pick or not.

We have two new Playmates this week:

 

Sara made a wonderful snippets card - and created the beautiful background by using real fallen maple leaves, inks and her brayer. Fascinating to read how she did it on her blog post - go see :)

Ellen came to play next, all the way from Norway, bringing us two fabulous cards to show - this is her first one.  Love all the vintage detail, so pretty!

Welcome to the Playground Sara and Ellen - we do hope to see you again.

And of course it's time for the draw for last week's two prizes of SU stamp sets, kindly donated by Eve. First out and the winner for Prize A, the 'Nature's Perfection' and 'Simply Wonderful' sets is:

Elizabeth

Elizabeth was happy to be in with a chance for any of the stamp sets and it's lovely to see her win as she doesn't often say 'Yes please'.

And the next winner, for Prize B, 'A Happy Thing' set is:

Linby (Lynn B)

And this was a happy choice too as Lynn was only playing for the 'A Happy Thing' set - apparently she doesn't have any bird stamps and also Eve's lovely 'lemons' card using the same set had inspired her!

So, we should have two happy bunnies :) I just checked and it's well over a year since either of you girlies had a win - plus I do still have your snail mail addresses so will pop your prizes in the post this coming week.

And for this coming week, I bet you already guessed what the prize is?!

Yup, it's your very own Presscut 'Step Card Cutting' set of dies - and as I already said, you can use this set perfectly well on something as small as a Cuttlebug too!

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 24th October. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day, just before we turn our clocks back and then really step into shorter days.

Maximum of three entries and please also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw. As always, I only include folk who say a positive 'yes' for the prize in a comment. In the past I sometimes had to do redraws after publishing winners so decided this was easier. Plus, some weeks the prize is made up of different items, some of which folk may or may not 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 :)

Thank you so much again to Eve for all her help this past week - I do have a little list here of names of playmates who have offered to have a turn at being Prefect for a week and it's good to know that help is out there.

Have a great week, and thank you all for your wonderful comments and support to one another - and especially your support to Eve who worked so hard! This is what she wrote in her email when she sent her picks to me yesterday morning - and I fully endorse her words, it's you girls who make the Playground so very special:

'I would like to thank everyone again for their warm comments and for making me feel very welcome. The playground really is the best place in blog land.'

Di and of course, Parsnip!
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Addicted to CAS - 'Sparkle'

I just worked out that this is only the sixth time I'll have entered into the 'Addicted to CAS' challenge. I think it's because the new challenge posts on a Saturday almost at the time I'm writing up the Snippets Playground so it sort of slips past me on the dashboard. I aim to put that right 'toot sweet' and the current challenge code word is 'Sparkle':

 

And this is what I made, knowing I had a perfect sentiments stamp set to kick start things:

I used:

- 6" x 4" white card blank, landscape style with the opening on the right

- a slightly smaller piece of the same white card stock, with a star die cut in the top left quadrant

- next I stamped the sentiment using two stamps from the MFT 'You were meant to sparkle' set and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink. The set comes with a large SPARKLE and lots of other wording to combine with it

- die cut a star the same size as the aperture from a snippet of glittery/sparkly silver card - using a die from the MFT 'Stars' set

- popped piece of double sided sticky behind the star aperture with the sticky face showing through the aperture and then popped in the die cut glittery star

- went round all edges of the reverse of the 'star front-piece' with Collall All Purpose glue, leaving the protective backing on the reverse of the added in die cut star area. This meant that patch wouldn't stick to the card blank and I could still have some 'wiggle room' so then I just added the front to the card blank

- decided to 'light up' the word SPARKLE using teeny little clear gems (and, as ever, it was impossible to capture the sparkles properly on camera, sigh)

A fun card to make, and also made so much easier by the lovely sentiments stamps set I used! And I quite like the landscape side opening style as a change :)

Di

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Less is More - Week 245 - Autumn

The current challenge over at Less is More is 'Autumn' - with the added caveat that it's 'one layer'. I sat here wondering what to do and then remembered that a while ago, after asking the opinions of those who play along in LIM, the rules were amended by the team to allow inlaid die cuts on 'one layer cards' - so long as the card was still flat. Thank you so much girls, from that change sprang this card:

I used:

- 6" x 4" white card blank, tent style with the bottom right hand corner rounded using Fiskars 'Corner Rounder' scissors

- three snippets of card in brown, rust and yellow and leaf dies from the Spellbinders 'Fall Foliage' set. Shame on me, I've had these dies for ages and this is the very first time I've used them

- next stamped the sentiment using Tsukineko Brilliance ' Pearlescent Chocolate' ink pad and a sentiment from a lovely little set by Technique Tuesday called 'Stems'. The darling stamp set was enclosed in a Birthday card the other week by a very sweet friend, mwah, thank you again :)

- opened out the front of the card, laid it on the Cuttlebug cutting platform and then placed the die cut leaves where I wanted to cut and just replaced them with the three dies before running the card front through the Cuttlebug

- cut a single piece of card a smidgen smaller than the card front and covered it with double sided adhesive film before rounding the corner. I used stronger stuff than Stick-It as the sticky had to adhere the whole piece of card firmly inside the card front

- peeled off the extra layer of film and stuck the inner piece of card behind the front of the card, leaving the leaf apertures backed with sticky

- then it was just a case of popping the leaves in place to complete the card

I think doing this write-up took longer than it did to make the card!

Di
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Cuttlebug Mania - Use black and orange

The current challenge over at Cuttlebug Mania is 'Use black and orange'. Halloween immediately springs to mind, but really you don't have to make a Halloween card, just use some black and orange. However, you do have to use a manual die cutting/embossing machine (it doesn't need to be a Cuttlebug but it must be manual, not electronic). 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.

Our sponsor this fortnight is:

 Random Vintage Finds

I did opt for a Halloween card, even though we don't really send Halloween cards here in the UK. I'd totally fallen in love with the Witches Laundry die that Laurie used for a snippets card (you can see it here) the other week - and it was one of my picks needless to say. Her card is much better than mine (it's clean and stylish) but I couldn't do a straight CASE and ended up giving myself a shed load of fiddly work instead! This is what I made:

I used:

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

- a piece of purple Core'dinations card stock embossed using a Sizzix Tim Holtz 'Cobwebs' embossing folder and then gently sanded using my SU sanding block - then glued to the card front as the background

- found brown, black and orange snippets of card and covered the reverse with Stick-It adhesive sheet ready to die cut everything else

- the washing line 'posts' at either end were die cut from a dark brown card snippet using the Memory Box 'Woodland Branch' die. I snipped some bits off and added them with one upside down (deliberately!!)

- die cut the washing line and clothes in black using the Cheery Lynn 'Witches Laundry' die and added that to the card front

- this next bit is where all sanity ran out of the door - I die cut a second washing line in orange and then snipped lots of little pieces to add to the black washing line - right down to the tiny little pegs 

added little green sparkly domed gems for the cat's eyes (I did pinch that idea from Laurie!) plus a bigger domed gem at either end of the washing line

- something was missing underneath the washing line, it just didn't look balanced to me. So, out came the Tattered Lace 'Anniversary - Classic' letter dies and some teensie scraps of leftover orange card. Die cut the word 'BOO', added it to the card to balance that gap - and then fished out a couple of googly eyes just for fun and added those to the letters 'O'

Phew, a bit of a marathon but I did at least learn that another time I'll keep it simpler :)

You have two weeks to join in with Cuttlebug Mania - hope you find time to come and play! And of course you can combine it with your snippets entry :)

Di
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Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 198

Hello again and welcome! The lovely Eve has kindly volunteered to act as Prefect again this week - it's a really busy week for me, with Len's Birthday in the midst of it - so I'm extra grateful for the helping hand!

And Eve has also made two snippets cards for us this week, which is a lot better then I can ever do! PLUS, they showcase some of the stamps that you can win (generously donated by her as well) - yay! Hooray for Eve, what a star! These are her cards:

For this card Eve used Stampin' Up's  'Nature's Perfection' and 'Simply Wonderful' stamp sets.

And for this card Eve used Stampin' Up's 'A Happy Thing' stamp set.

Both cards are here with me and they're absolutely beautiful! The black and gold one is so  sparkly and elegant and did you see how Eve paper pieced those lemons, right down to extra little leaves too! For details of how Eve made these two beauties - hop over to her blog HERE.

OK, straight onto this week's picks now:

Jenny H made this fabulous card - I chose it because the colours are just beautiful, wonderful papers used and the flower, vintage looking lace and little butterfly are just perfect. Great use of snippets!

There are some similarities to the elements on Jenny's card now that I look again at this beautiful card made by Annie - the vintage 'feel' is so lovely (I must be feeling 'vintage' these days!). Loads of gorgeous elements combined - and of course lots of snippets used too :) Love it!!

Maura never fails to come up with gorgeous uses for die cuts and this is one splendid example. Clean, classy and so eye catching! And such a great idea to sponge the colours onto white card stock before die cutting those beautiful flowers.

Sonia has been playing with alcohol inks this last week, this is one of the entries to the Playground. Do hop over and take a peek at Sonia's blog - there's a load of really good information about using alcohol inks - thanks for sharing that Sonia!

How about this for a really elegant card, made by Elizabeth. Beautiful embossing and isn't that framed butterfly totally gorgeous? I really love this card - perfect for so many occasions.

Just now there are loads and loads of Autumn themed cards to be found on blogs - Janis brought this one to the Playground, and to me it sums up everything that is beautiful about Autumn. Tons of snippets used and the richness is absolutely stunning!

Not as many picks this week, although every single entry deserved a mention. I ventured out to the supermarket yesterday and managed pretty well. A little bit achy afterwards but nothing too bad (yay!!!) - just not risking too much by sitting here for long spells.

And of course it's time for the draw for last week's prize of the Die-namics MFT 'Floral Fusion' die - very kindly donated to the Playground toy box by Darnell and the Waffle Flower 'With love' die. And the winner is:

 Jane J

It turns out that Jane was only playing for the 'With love' die - so I ran the Random Number Generator again to choose the winner of the 'Floral Fusion' die - and this is who popped out:

Jenny H

 

So, Jenny H wins the Floral Fusion die :)

Hopefully we have two happy bunnies - I still have your address Jenny H (from a win way back in February). But as it's your first win Jane, could you please drop me an email with your address (di_wray@hotmail.com). I'll make sure both prizes are posted off this week.

Next, our prize(s) for the coming week which have been kindly donated by Eve, and they're SU stamp sets the same as she used on her lovely snippets cards. It seemed like a good idea to have two prizes, the first drawn one will be prize A which is two/double stamp sets ('Nature's Perfection' and 'Simply Wonderful') and the second drawn one will be prize B which is one stamp set ('A Happy Thing').

You can play for one or both of the prizes, the first number to be drawn will win prize A and the second number drawn will win the prize B. So, you will need to comment if you wish to be in the draw and let me know if you're playing for prize A, B, or for either one of them (ie. both!). I hope that isn't as clear as mud? To be fair, if you win prize A and your number then pops out for prize B then I'd do a redraw for prize B - just to spread the love a bit further.

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 17th October. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries 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 :)

As already said, Eve is helping me out this week and will be commenting on your entries as well as letting me have her choice of weekly 'picks'. I'll still be hopping in to see what's going on, keeping a note of who would like which prize(s) and also watching in case you have any questions or linking problems. Also, I'll be commenting on Flickr and Split Coast Stampers entries - so I certainly won't be lying on the sofa eating grapes and watching soap operas!

Last, but certainly by now means least - I have news of two of our Playmates, and it's not good news I'm afraid.

I'm sure many of you will have read last week that Cornelia's detached retina was healed - well, unfortunately it's happened again. That means that Cornelia has to totally rest her eyes for as long as three months because the movement of one eye can affect the other! I think her son is reading comments to her so it would be lovely if you could hop over and give her a virtual hug.

And Brenda L really, really needs your love and prayers right now as well. I'm sure that many of you know that her much loved husband (Dwayne) had been ill for some considerable time, undergoing surgery and treatments. Sadly, he passed away yesterday - thank you Liz for updating me. So, so sad - I'm sure many of us have been through similar journeys with our loved ones and my heart breaks for them.

Have a good week, try to behave for Eve - and remember to hug those you love even more tightly than ever.

Di and of course, Parsnip!
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Happy mail

I try to enclose a little card with each weekly Snippets Playground prize. Sometimes it's the Sunday Snippets card I made - at other times, my snippets card might not be suitable and that's when I set to and make something different - such as this card:

I used:

- 4" x 4" square white card blank

- flower and leaf stamp from the Uniko 'Pure Florals - Gerbera' sets, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink then coloured using Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils and Sansodor blending solution

- at this point I was planning to use the matching dies to cut out the leaf and the flower, but I'd gone over the outside line whilst blending in a couple of spots and the outline dies leave a white border, sigh. So, I fussy cut round them instead

- stamped the sentiment next, using VersaFine 'Vintage Sepia' ink and two words from the Winnie and Walter 'The Big, the Bold and the Happy' stamp set 

- then I added the leaf and flower using Collall All Purpose glue

- top right hand corner looked too bare, but adding Josy Rose nail heads or similar would have been too fussy IMHO - so I rounded it off using my Fiskars Corner Rounder scissors

- final touch, a tickle of clear Wink of Stella all over the leaf and the flower

Job done - another time I might even get the Twinkling H2O's out and have a play, gerberas do come in such lovely, vibrant almost jewel like colours:

These beauties were delivered on my Birthday the other week, from Len - aw :)

Di 
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Wildlife on a Wednesday

Even though we're almost galloping into Autumn this week (torrential rain and a definite drop in temperature), last week we had some welcome visitors in the Playground/garden:

This gorgeous Red Admiral butterfly was sunning itself and Len managed to get a few photos. We've noticed a few late butterflies this year, usually they're all gone by now. Certainly the swallows left for their long journey to warmer climes a few weeks ago.

And we have some real fun and games with 'Horace and Doris' the hedgies, they turn up every single night to feed, so thankfully the discovery of a snoozing nest in the front garden didn't faze one or both of them.

Len has a proper little feeding station set up for them and they trigger the outside light when they arrive, but don't seem at all worried to be 'in the spotlight' so to speak. This is a photo he took last week - and I have no idea if it's the male or female hedgie, but suspect it's Horace:

The set up is on a paving slab sitting on top of the patio - to keep their little feet dry :)  The red you can see in the background is part of the leg of a low square plastic table which sits right over the feeding area, bought just for the purpose of keeping the rain off! So it's like a gazebo really - just a shame it's bright red and a bit 'in your face'!

On the menu? Spike's Dry Hedgehog food and a few ordinary peanuts - the water bowl is out of shot. Hedgies are VERY messy eaters - they flick the food all over the place, so it's a daily clean up job for their 'carer', bless him.

I have subsequently read that peanuts really should be crushed lest a hedgie gets one wedged in its back teeth and can't close its mouth properly (no dental sticks or toothbrushes in hedgie land). So now we have a dedicated pestle and mortar for use when preparing their nightly menu.

Mad or what?

Di
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Penny Black and More October challenge - Warm Autumn colours

The current challenge over at Penny Black and More is  'Warm Autumn colours'. Such a lovely theme and this is my entry:

I used:

- A6 cream card blank

- a dark brown mat, cut from a snippet of course

- backing paper from the My Mind's Eye paper pad called 'Sunshine'

- Penny Black stickeroos from the 'April in Paris' sheet - I think it should be Autumn in Paris as the colours are so rich and Autumnal on all the stickeroos. Little tip, I stuck the whole strip across the patterned paper and then trimmed it in situ, from the back with scissors - simple but useful idea, at one time I'd have tried to cut it to size first (you live and learn)

- wrapped a couple of snippets of aubergine wide organza ribbon and narrower satin ribbon down the left hand side of the patterned paper before sticking it to the dark brown mat

- then adhered it to the card front before tying a couple of snippets of the same ribbon into a knot. Another little tip, I always tuck a little piece of  red line tape underneath the knot or bow to stop it from moving about

A quick card but I do love the 'depth' in those stickeroos! No sentiment, this is just a card for general use.

Di
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Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 197

Yet another busy week in the Playground - with lots of beautiful makes and here's my snippets card for this coming week:

I used:

- 6" x 6" white card blank to start off with - more of this, and why, further down

- a snippet of bright pink card stock (my SU card colour swatch tells me this is 'Melon Mambo')

- the die cut the pink card snippet, having backed it with Stick-It adhesive sheet, using a Die-namics MFT die called 'Floral Fusion'. Love this die as it's great for covering the whole front of a card - and the possibilities for variation are endless

- then peeled off the backing paper from the adhesive sheet on the reverse of the die and carefully placed it along the spine of the 6" x 6" white card blank

- next step was to just trim each of the other edges along the line where the pink frame met the white card blank - a perfect way to make sure the die totally and squarely covered the front of the card without any 'wonky bits'

- stuck two snippets of white card on top of one another for extra rigidity and die cut a stitched rectangle using a die from the Lil-Inkers set, stuck it on the bottom left corner of the card using red line tape

- next, covered the back of snippet of black card stock with snippets of Stick-It adhesive sheet (you can patch these easily so never throw away any leftovers!) and cut three sentiments - using a Waffle Flower 'With love' die then layered them on top of one another

- added the sentiment to the stitched rectangle and also added a couple of little pieces of pink which were waste which popped out from the die cutting

- then went a bit mad with black pearls in three different sizes :)

Showed it to the in-house critic - 'a bit in your face isn't it' was a observation - not the die cuts, it's the bright pink that made his teeth itch! :) I do think it would be really pretty in pale colours, or white and silver for example (and would work beautifully as a stencil I'm sure) - but wanted to show the die off properly so you could see all the detail, 'cos it's part of this week's prize of course!

Now straight onto the weekly picks:

This sewing machine one of those snippets makes that stops you in your tracks - brought to show by Alice (ScrAPamondo) - and absolutely stunning with so much detail! There's even a little drawer at one end. It never ceases to amaze me how ingenious and inventive you girls are!

Our Sam (aka Hettie) made this wonderful box card for her parents' Diamond Wedding Anniversary. What a totally sparkly and  fabulous creation - I LOVE it. Such a lovely idea to incorporate photos of their actual Wedding Day too!

Jane J recently had a holiday on the Island of Rhodes - and she did some crafting whilst there. I think this is such a great idea - a holiday Moment incorporating many happy memories to savour once back home - even the circles were made by using the tops of bottles as tools!! I did giggle a bit, do hop over to Jane's blog to see the photos - she was even crafting on the flight over to her holiday!

And from sunshine we hop straight into snow :) This gorgeous Christmas card was made by Carol L - I picked it because it's so fresh and clean, with wonderful use of snippets too! I don't have this actual die but am sure the Memory Box 'Pine Border' quite similar dies could be used to CASE this elegant card, with a little bit of jiggery pokey :)

Carole L has been making a slower than hoped recovery from surgery (we've both been sitting on the bench in the Playground watching you lot have conker fights) so please let's wish her well. And, I picked her card because it summed up how snippets and a couple of shapes can make for a really elegant card. The rose die is a Penny Black one BTW.

And here's another lovely pink rose, brought to us by Pat. Such beautiful water colouring and the die cut framework is absolutely lovely.

And last, but by no means least, here's a really gorgeous card - brought to the Playground by Diane H. I think it's absolutely beautiful and it's such a wonderful take on the inspiration photo over at Diane's - probably one of the best takes I've even seen in fact! See if you agree:

So, that's the weekly picks - always such a difficult job to choose as each and every entry is always a real delight.

We have two new playmates this week:

Sonia entered three times, and this pen pot is one of her beautiful makes - a very talented lady!

A crafter who added her name as Repolainen brought this fabulous owl card - I do so love how the feathers make such a gorgeous finishing touch!

Hope to see you both in the Playground again!

And of course it's time for the draw for last week's prize of the Winnie and Walter 'In a Word: Friend Cutaway' die and the Marianne 'Don and Daisy - DDS3324' stamp.

This was serendipity for sure, I ran the number generator and the first person out, although they'd commented, hadn't said one way or the other about the prize so I take that as a 'no thanks' - which is absolutely fine. Ran the Random Number Generator again and who should pop out:

SarN

I squeaked with sheer delight here as Sarn was really keen to win this prize (most weeks she just plays for fun) and had entered three times. It's absolutely pure coincidence - but a very happy one that her number got drawn!

Next, our prize for the coming week and, as already said, it's a Die-namics MFT 'Floral Fusion' die - very kindly donated to the Playground toy box by Darnell, a good while ago. And, I've added in a Waffle Flower 'With love' die. So both items are duplicates of the ones I used today:

As I've said before, I really do have a Playground toy box here along with a little notebook to keep track - so if you sent a prize and it hasn't appeared yet, rest assured it will!

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 10th October. 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 (one or both dies) 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.

I've emphasised the bit about saying 'yes please' if you want to be in the prize draw as I do have a slight suspicion that the first person drawn this week might well have wanted to be in the draw - but they didn't say so - so I did a re-run. Am sure Sarn will be delighted though :)

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

Anenomes

I made a really quick card  and, in truth, the beautiful papers did most of the work:

I used:

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

- a snippet of SU's 'Melon Mambo' card stock

- patterned paper from the 'Botanica' Collection by Craftwork Cards, trimmed to size and adhered onto the Melon Mambo card square. Thankfully I tried Collall glue with a teeny piece of white card and a snippet of the patterned paper - sure enough, the glue was going to show through so I had to resort to a Stix2 tape runner

- the banner is from the same paper set, adhered with same tape runner onto a snippet of white card for rigidity before being trimmed to shape with scissors and stuck onto the top part of the front panel

- found a snippet of lemony yellow ribbon and put that along the top of the panel before then gluing the whole panel onto the card front

- final touch, little piece of lemony yellow ribbon tied in a knot around the strip of ribbon - and held in place with a little piece of red line strong adhesive tape behind the knot

Gosh, so pleased I tested the reaction of the Collall wet glue before potentially ruining the whole panel. What alerted me was that the paper is matt and not overly thick and therefore was likely to be pretty absorbent - lesson to remember there.

I'd spotted this wonderful paper over at another blogger's and raved about it. A sweet blogging buddy immediately sent me her own pack, which had apparently been a magazine freebie. Too sweet - mwah, and thank you again!!

Yesterday we had the front garden borders tidied up, dramatically thinned out and mulched ready for the onset of Winter. The gardener found what seems to be a hedgehog nest (underneath a huge strappy leaved plant we'd got him to cut right down so it would regenerate) so great care was taken not to wake 'snoozing Spike' and he's now had an extra layer of bark mulch carefully added on top of his home - even left his little doorway clear for him to come and go! We think it's just a Summer sleeping place, they usually make more substantial nests for hibernation. 

Having tiptoed round we decided against trying to take a photo, but he'd obviously gathered loads of fallen leaves over a period of time :) Edit - he was back around midnight foraging in the back garden and feeding and drinking at his little restaurant, so at least we didn't chase him away - or it could even be a nest from last year. Oh, and there sure are two of them visiting each night, often jostling for position at the feeding station :)

So, you never know who's sleeping just where round here!

Di
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