Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge # 328 - results

Hi there - time flies when you're having fun doesn't it?! Nothing much is going on in the Playground in terms of digging and creating swimming places so let's move right on in - mind the doors!

And we have another selection of picks, our prize winner and of course a lovely Guest Designer as well.

First of all, here's our Guest Designer from last fortnight, making another very rapid appearance. Donna had made more than one snippets card and this one really did make me smile so I decided we'd have Donna, of Craft Dee Donna back again to play with us straight away:

And this is what Donna wrote about her card:

When I find a super cute image like this one "Brave and Cute Knight" from The Paper Shelter, I often only use a snippet of paper to finish the card as I like the image to be the star :-) In this case I used a snippet from DCWV La Crème stack backed up with some finely corrugated black/pewter card, cut with a Spellbinders Curved Borders die.  I coloured the image with Copic markers and Prismacolor pencils and generated the sentiment using Word and a free font from DaFont.com called Storybook.  The punchline is on the inside of the card, which is finished with more snippets of the same papers.

AND ....... to see what the punchline is, then you really have to hop over to Donna's blog HERE. I'm standing by with the smelling salts! :)

Thanks so much for being our Guest Designer once again Donna - gosh your colouring is just fabulous. You're a real star and, due to other pressures. having a second card to choose from was an enormous help - plus it made me laugh ...... a lot!

Let's do a very quick scamper around my picks for this fortnight, no particular theme - just entries which caught my eye:

Megan skipped in with this adorable card, and some wonderful paper piecing as well! Love paper piecing for pulling a very cohesive design together and it's cute as can be.

 

Liz made this card with minimal supplies whilst away in their caravan - and I love it! So bright and cheerful - just like Liz always is! Certainly a good antidote to miserable weather Liz.

And finally, Bonnie came to visit with this beautiful flamingo card. As it's pink of course it smacked me right in the eye 'cos I adore pink. Bonnie made it for Darnell's 'Twofers' challenge where the theme was 'trees'. Look closely at those feathers - made using a palm tree die!! So clever.

And here are our new playmates:

Cath W (who has been a bloggy friend for ages!)

'Art Conquers'

Suzi Mac

Do please hop over to say 'Hello' to our new friends - I love every one of these cards!

So it was three new Playmates this time round and we had a very healthy total of 56 entries.That's good going for Summer!

Prize draw time now and our winner of the Uniko 'Block Party Birthday' stamp is:

April

Well done  April! I don't know, you go missing for ages, pop up again and win the prize! That's the beauty of the Random  number thingy - it treats everyone the same, just as it should be too.

Do please send me your address, with full name at the top as well so I can copy and paste - for speed and ease. I don't keep addresses of previous winners, even if they might be in my private address list - if that makes sense! I'll be off to the Post Office later this once I hear from you. Please put Playground Winner or similar in the subject line of your email in case it drops into my junk mail. Email address is on RH sidebar as always.

Remember folks, there's still almost another week to run on Challenge #328 - just check back a bit and you'll easily find it. The prize is a Sizzix 'Flowers #6' stamp and die set, a Memory Box 'Sketchbook Imagine' die and the sweet little set of four hearts dies.

Hope you have a lovely week ahead, and that you come and play - if you haven't done so already!

Love from the little white peril Parsnip who is no doubt up to some mischief or other, and of course me,

Rudolph Days - June 2018

Yay, it's 'Rudolph Days Challenge' time once again, and it runs until the end of the month over at ScrappyMo's!

Things were conspiring against me when I realised that I hadn't made a Christmas card for my entry. Lagging a bit behind on my monthly totals, I whipped up four the same in double quick time but they're embarrassingly simple so I do feel a bit of a fraud.

I used:

- tall slim deep red slightly metallic card blank

- a topper from a load made by KanBan that I found in a box (years old!) whilst looking for something else, just glued in place. In real life the turquoise is a lovely shiny metallic finish

- the sentiment was a long repetitive strip on the sheet of toppers, so I just snipped it into sections, trimmed one edge and then also glued that in place

Even with such a simple card (how I started out on the card making journey many years ago) I did forget to do one thing! It doesn't show much in real life but the camera picks up every little detail - I would normally have run a matching marker around the edge of the topper and also the sentiment strip - just so the white 'core' of the card doesn't show. If you try this, make sure you use just normal markers (I use some very old Whispers pens) - Pro markers and such tend to bleed and might well ruin your topper!

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #329

Hi there - and welcome to a new Snippets Playground Challenge fortnight!

The Carnival last weekend was absolutely freezing! Blowing a gale and we were only thankful the heavens didn't open as an extra treat! Numbers of stalls seemed to be down this year - and we got off to a slow start on the 'Archery Have A Go', which was a bit demoralising. The parade was such fun - little ones in costume from a handful of schools as characters from children's and we had Harry Potters, Tinkerbells, St. Trinian's which reminded me of school days and various other groups of 'book characters' tripping along wearing the cutest outfits (and little blue noses, bless them).

However, things really picked up as the afternoon went on and we had our best takings ever I believe! Wahoo - happy dance that all the trying to keep warm wasn't for nothing. And yes, we were well wrapped up and also under shelter - but try telling that to a determined wind! Thank goodness, my back didn't kick off either - wahoo!

The real highlight for me was the treat of being given a ride in an Austin 7 vintage car - magic! Sorry no photo - it all happened very quickly - but they really are tiny inside! Hood was down but still so cute and cosy - AND it had a form of cruise control, well that did surprise me I admit. Mind you, the tangle of legs and arms getting out was a sight to behold for sure :)

You'll need your sun glasses for this fortnight's snippets card - every snippet was from my stash of white ones:

 I used:

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

- Sizzix Flowers #6 stamp and dies set - very kindly donated to the toy box by Viv, and of course I loved it so much I went and bought one for me too! I stamped it onto a snippet of white card using a Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad then repeated it on two more snippets of white card so I could do some layering

- then coloured the main image in using a selection of bright Pro markers and then just the large flowers and leaves on the two extra pieces of card ready for die cutting

- trimmed the image panel to suit and set it to one side

- then I die cut the flowers and their centres (the set of dies is 10 in all!) plus the leaves. A confession here - I was in a hurry and in the end I fussy cut most of the elements (using the dies as a guide for which parts would be best to layer)

- set the cut out flowers and leaves to one side in a little plastic lid so they didn't get lost

- then used a Memory Box 'Sketchbook Imagine' die to die cut the word. Did it three times using white card which I'd coloured with the turquoise Pro marker and then backed with Stick-It before doing the die cutting

- layered all three 'imagine' words on top of one another and then added them to the image panel

- at this point I ran the whole panel through the Cuttlebug using embossing plates and a folder to add the right thickness. A little hint here - Stick-It will move very, very slightly so I recommend you use glue to add the layers together if you intend using the Cuttlebug to squish it down firmly (lesson learned there for me). It wouldn't be a real issue with just one layer of card, but when you've carefully lined up three layers it's a nuisance - OCD strikes again!

- then I cut another snippet of white card to a reasonable amount larger then the image panel and coloured all round it using the same orange Pro marker (best way to get a perfect match of course. Then trimmed it to just slightly bigger than the image panel, glued them together and added them to the card front

- finally, I layered the cut out flowers and their centres plus the larger leaves onto the image - using little snips of thin sticky pads

I really had great fun making this card - the stamps and dies are a delight to work with. And of course, you don't need to add layers - or you could just colour and cut out a few flowers and leaves to add to the corner of a card rather than have the whole panel. Choices, choices!

And here's this week's Snippets Playground prize:

First of all, it's a Sizzix 'Flowers #6' stamp and die set, just like I used for my card today - thank you again Viv!

And, I also just managed to get hold of a Memory Box 'Sketchbook Imagine' die from me to add.

This was a bit of a mistake really as I did think I had the die sitting in the toy box - but once the card was finished I went to find it to take a photo - and in fact I'd only managed to buy the one for myself some time back (they're really hard to get hold of here in the UK).

However, undeterred, I searched on line and eventually found one at Aldridge Crafts (here in the UK) - the very last one they had in stock! Phew. And, Jane who runs the business made sure I got it in double quick time ready for the challenge - and even popped the really sweet set of four hearts die in to add to the prize  - it's sitting below the Memory Box die! How lovely was that?!

Do hop over and take a peek at her shop HERE - it's now on my list of places to visit of course :)

I had other similar word dies in the toy box which would have done almost as well. BUT, I do like the word 'imagine' along with the psychedelic flowers - reminds me of John Lennon's era. Ah, I'm sure I had dresses just as bright and flowery as this card - and, of course the essential white boots!

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 7th July. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

It's a maximum of ONE entry and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. Please also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

I've thought long and hard but have decided that the prize will not be split at all. As I've previously said, don't be afraid to play along and then if you do win, feel free to give anything away to a friend. It saves me keeping two lists and also saves on postage of course. Besides, I think all three items would work beautifully together.

Remember, if you link into the Playground and don't say clearly that you're wanting to be in the draw in a comment on here, then you will be bypassed if your name comes out of Mr Linky. I'm sure you all know I ask for a positive 'yes' on the blog post - just in case you're playing only for fun - otherwise I ignore you on my little list..

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 :)

Be sure to call back next week to see the winner of last fortnight's Uniko ''Block Party Birthday' stamp.

The hedgies continue to visit - I posted a photo of three of them queuing for a turn at one of the feeding bowls on Wednesday. Mind you, I subsequently found out that mayhem broke out a little while later and there was quite a brawl! Len hadn't wanted to disillusion me - bless him :)

One last thing, I do still have some names on the GD list, and thankfully have a lovely playmate lined up for next week - but, can I please ask you to email me (address on sidebar) if you're happy to be a GD in the coming weeks. My big failing is the inability to plan well ahead and, although I do have about four names 'on hold' they're all wanting lots of notice. Which I do understand of course - otherwise I think we may dispense with GDs and just plunge into fortnightly picks instead.

Edit: Initial feedback and some more thinking since this post was published has more or less convinced me that you'd be happy just with the weekly picks and the prize draw result every other week. So, after our next Guest Designer's spot in a week's time, we'll take a little break from it being a regular inclusion.

Very busy here right now but I'll do my best to come and see your entries as soon as possible!

Love from Parsnip and of course from me,

Stand in line/ form an orderly queue please

No card today - life is very busy right now and other things are taking the place of crafting, sigh.

But, I've written a lot here lately about the hedgehogs - and Len has done his very best to capture them on camera for you. His quest will continue for sure.

Recently I wrote about them forming an 'orderly queue/line' and am sure some of you perhaps thought I was 'over-egging the pudding'. I don't blame you at all but what comes next, captured on camera, proves that we're not totally barking mad.

THIS popped up on the overnight CCTV between Monday and Tuesday:

I'm sorry that it's horribly hazy - it's due to the CCTV plus me cropping it so you can see them, All three in a line, one at the bowl feeding and two behind, the one nearest the camera was gonna have a bit of a wait I think!

Bit like the Harrods Sales really :)

 

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge # 327 - results

It's still very warm and humid here, although I'm ahead of myself and actually typing this on Wednesday (just finishing it off on Friday early evening) ready for Sunday. A good thunderstorm certainly would clear the air!

But, not on Saturday (which will be yesterday when this publishes) please as it's the local Village Carnival and we're helping out at the Archery Club 'Have a Go' stand. I've been there in the most windy and wet weather possible for June and just wanted to roll up into a ball as there was no shelter to speak of. Len will be setting up and and carrying stuff from mid-morning and I'll be (I think) helping with the selling of tickets later on when the real action begins. We now have much better shelter from the weather if it all goes against us

We'll have loads of traditional rides, stalls, plants to buy, parades etc. - and FOOD, FOOD! I already warned Len that I aim to have a lovely soft freshly baked bacon bap/roll and tea or coffee for breakfast (before the main event begins as 1:30), a Cornish Pasty (baked to total perfection by the local bakery) for lunch with maybe a glass of local cider - then perhaps a candy floss ....... followed by an ice cream around tea time. Err, and then I shall probably be very sick :) 

It really is absolutely everything you could want from a traditional Village Carnival and long may it continue!

Here's our new Guest Designer, and this time round it's Donna, of Craft Dee Donna who shared this amazing box card:

Here's what Donna wrote about the box card:

I used snippets from a DCWV 8" stack "Animal Crackers", - box cards are really good for using snippets as none of the pieces you use are very big at all :-)  I even used "snippets of snippets"... the piece removed from the frame behind the image became one of the panels on the outside of the card.  The image is from Di's Digis, it's coloured with Copics and Prismacolor pencils.  The die cuts are from DCWV too, the wooden letters are from stash.

I do think this is such fun! I know a few little boys (and girls) who would be over the moon to receive this brilliant card, so bright and full of interest! It;s their very own little zoo in card form :)

And here's Donna to say 'Hello' - do please hop over to say 'Hello' in return. These lovely Guest Designers do put themselves out when I ask them to be a GD and it's so nice to be appreciated:

Just look at that happy face and dancing eyes - a sparkle of mischief there I think!

And a few words about Donna herself:

As far as "about me";  I live in Australia, after emigrating from the UK when a teenager - a decision I'm very glad my parents made for me :-)   I'm happily married to a craft-tolerant man and have two adult sons and twin grandchildren who are the light of my life.  I work from home and have to be very self-disciplined... my craft room sings her siren song all day!  My favourite part of card making is colouring; I love my Copic markers and Prismacolor pencils... though I am developing a die-cutting habit that is a little worrying!  I'm very happy to have been invited to be Guest Designer in The Playground.

Thanks so much for being our Guest Designer Donna - we're delighted you could take on the role for this fortnight. It's really lovely to learn more about the people behind their blogs - lucky you emigrating at such a lovely age. It constantly amazes me how far flung we all are - brought together courtesy of the Internet....and the Playground of course :)

Let's do a quick scamper around my picks for this fortnight:

We have a  *Gold Star* this time!

This absolutely darling Wedding card was made by Carol L. I really adore it, and again it has so much really pretty detail as well as little pieces of goodness knows what - another must to visit!

And my three picks for the fortnight are as follows, all worthy of being Gold Stars in their own right but I did have to harden my heart, sigh:

This is such a lovely card, made by Jackie T for a Baby Shower. Loads of snippets and lovely detail - and I was so very impressed that Jackie made the card blank from scratch using a Stanley knife!

Now this is actually a little bit of a 'project to organise dies', rather than a single card. BUT, you must hop over and check Donna's post out (yup, the same Donna who is our current Guest Designer as well!). What a great idea this is. Also, there's a wonderful white on white card to drool over - plus some tips on lining up die cut multiple letters or words. A really informative post!

I think this card is a fabulous example of using up snippets in a really bright and inspiring way. What a clever idea and one to be remembered for the future. Janice brought this along to share with us and I'm so glad she did. Loads of impact - and thank goodness the little chap wasn't named a really long name that couldn't be shortened.

Ha, my parents chose the name Diane for me because it was more unusual than Diana (way back in the dim and distant past). And, most importantly because they thought it couldn't be shortened. From day one of going to prison boarding school, it was 'Di' of course - much to their horror. You either accepted the shortened version or, trust me, someone would come up with a fiendish nickname! 

No new Playmates this time round. We had 58 entries, despite the heat some of us have been coping with. I know we whine in the UK, but it's because we really aren't geared up for extremes of temperature - and most of us certainly don't have air con for a start.

Prize draw time now and what a popular prize as well. Drum roll please! Our winner of the bumper bundle of Concord & 9th 'Everyday Tintables', a Concord & 9th 'Fabulous Phrases set of five dies and an Altenew 'Puffy Pink' ink pad is:

Val

Well done Val! This lovely lady plays every single fortnight (often just for fun) and always, but always, says lovely things about the Playground on her blog post containing her entry. So I was delighted when her number popped straight out. Well deserved win there Val - and a real corker it is too!

Do please send me your address, with full name at the top so I can copy and paste - for speed and ease. I don't keep addresses of previous winners, even if they might be in my private address list - if that makes sense! I'll be off to the Post Office ASAP this coming week once I hear from you. Please put Playground Winner or similar in the subject line of your email in case it drops into my junk mail. Email address is on RH sidebar as always.

Remember folks, there's still almost another week to run on Challenge #328 HERE. The prize is a Uniko 'Block Party Birthday' stamp.

AND - I thought we'd have no fresh photos of Spike, but Len came up trumps on Thursday night:

Spike With The Sweet Smile, (and the most tame I suspect) just about to attack the food bowl. The bit that looks like toast on top of the blue lid is a thin sliver from a brick sample I ordered when we were having work done on the house. All part of the flip up mechanism to keep cats out. Everything ends up having a use!

And after he'd eaten, here's Spike is at a bowl of fresh water taking a drink. You can see that there's water in the bowl despite it looking so clear - Spike has a brilliant wine waiter named Leonardo! Bless his little paw (Spike I mean), and I think he needs a claw trim to be honest! 

Hope you have a lovely week ahead, and that you come and play - if you haven't done so already!

Love from the little white peril Parsnip (currently eyeing up Len's hair trimmer and wondering whether to shave all his fur off), and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #328

Phew, time for yet another challenge in the Snippets Playground, and this time it's a much smaller prize than the previous fortnight's. Still a 'good 'un' though I think!

Here's my snippets card for this week - made for Bradley (Len's great-nephew) when he had a Birthday yesterday. I used a brown snippet for the backing plus a white snippet to stamp the 'block' design onto, so they aren't small snippets but still came from my snippets/scraps folder which means I can play along - snort:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4" white card blank, side opening

- a snippet of white card onto which I stamped the image using an Altenew 'Galactic Stream' ink pad and a fabulous and very bold stamp from Uniko called 'Block Party Birthday'

- then backed the panel with a piece of slightly bigger brown card from the snippets folder

- glued the image and its backing to the card front and called it done!

I've had the stamp in the Playground toy box (along with my own identical stamp of course) for months now. I needed to make a card quickly and this came to the rescue - male cards really do give me issues. Mind you, this would also make a great girly card of course - and my next try will be white on black which I bet could look very impressive! I've also seen it with parts coloured in and that really looks super, great for kids perhaps? That one grabs me the most for variation for sure. Possibilities, possibilities!

Here's some of the lowdown on my 'adventures' whilst making this card. I started off with my one and only full set of four Altenew ('Sweet Dreams') ink pads and the intention of making the card graduate in shades (ombre). But time was against me and when I hit issues (despite covering parts up with paper as I went) I just reverted to a single colour - the darkest one in the set - using the Misti of course.

I love Uniko stamps (and in fact have a gift voucher in front of me that a lovely blogger friend sent me earlier this year - still to spend, wahoo!). But, like many polymer stamps, they seem to have a sort of icky and almost oily film on them when new, which makes the ink quite patchy if you don't clean them before using them for a first time. It's possibly ink dependent as well (am sure Kathy K once put me on the right track) but I think the secret is to perhaps wash them in soapy water, rinse and let them dry naturally - but of course, I was in a rush wasn't I?!

Anyhow, I got there in the end - but Dumbo hadn't thought about the pad being 'dye' ink had she?! So, I ended up with blue finger tips 'cos I was using a sponge to apply the ink to the stamp. Just behind me, on a cupboard shelf there's a huge pack of disposable gloves, but of course it was too late when I realised. And I mean DEEP blue hands!

I love brown and teal together so the brown backing card was an easy choice when it jumped up out of the snippets folder!

And here's this week's Snippets Playground prize - no surprise at all:

It's a Uniko 'Block Party Birthday' stamp of course - and I do generally buy Uniko stamps in DVD sized cases for easy storage, like I did with this one.

Sadly I can't get hold of a single Altenew ink pad the same as the one I used as it's a really lovely colour - so this time we have a smaller prize than we've had lately. It's still one I think you really would have fun with if you read the options for use I mused upon above here. It was a fluke that Tara from Seven Hills Crafts had the single pink stamps she sent me - all UK companies seem to just stock them in sets.

And of course, I hope numbers will still be up as (with luck) you come to play for the fun as much as anything!

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 23rd June. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

It's a maximum of ONE entry and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. Please also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

Remember, if you link into the Playground and don't say clearly that you're wanting to be in the draw in a comment on here, then you will be bypassed if your name comes out of Mr Linky. I'm sure you all know I ask for a positive 'yes' on the blog post - just in case you're playing only for fun - otherwise I ignore you on my little list..

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 :)

Be sure to call back next week to see the winner of last fortnight's bumper of Concord & 9th 'Everyday Tintables', a Concord & 9th 'Fabulous Phrases set of five dies and an Altenew 'Puffy Pink' ink pad.

The hedgies contine to vist - Len (so sweet) has been saying they're 'fighting' a bit. Ha! Just wait until the patter of little prickles :) Perhaps I need to tell him about the birds and the bees! In fact, we had three of them prancing around the garden the other night! So funny, despite two feeding stations, they were patiently queued up waiting for their turn at the main one. We caught it on CCTV but were fast asleep ourselves at the time.

And then, on Friday evening Len went out late to check the hedgies and there, right in the centre of the garden, sat a smallish hedgie. As Len approached, it looked up at him so trustingly with such a sweet little face and made no attempt to curl up or run away. An enchanting moment to treasure - and of course he didn't have the camera to hand, sigh. But - sometimes it's what goes into our memories that is more important - although I would have loved a photo to share with you of course.

And we have another visitor but one that would be really hard to capture on camera. For a couple of years now we've thought we had a little wren living in the honeysuckle-clad arbour at the end of the PG/garden. These evenings it's becoming more bold and what a delight to see as we sit watching the comings and goings before dinner. But, wrens are very shy and also very fast as well so only time will tell.

And, the little blue tits fledged and flew away when we weren't around. They were totally ready to go earlier in the week and it's really odd having their little nest box so silent.

Happy days!

Love from Parsnip and of course from me,

CAS Christmas cards

I love the look of CAS (Clean And Simple) Christmas cards. In truth, making a batch of these cards still took a fair while - AND that was using ready die cut NOEL words!

It all began when I spotted a few designs for cards using the Sizzix Alterations 'NOEL' die in places such as Pinterest. Needless to say, the card I based this one on now won't show up when I search for it to give credit to the card maker, sigh. Anyhow, the search was on for the die itself and it's absolutely nowhere to be found at all, double sigh.

But, ready cut dies using that same die were popping up so in the end I threw caution to the winds and bought 24 ready die cut NOELs. All in white (I figured I could possibly colour some myself) and they are absolutely fabulous! I bought them from a really sweet lady. She has a good variety of die cuts for sale and they arrived really fast and beautifully packed as well. With a packet of free butterflies included as well :)

So, there I was with 24 die cuts to play with and I figured that the original design I spotted would be for the first batch of six cards:

I used:

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

- 5" x 5" square of white card, onto which I stuck a Sizzix Alterations NOEL die cut (you can see that it's a big and bold die cut, about 4.5" x 4.5" in size)

- I then backed the white panel with some of the 'Red Velvet' satin mirri card I was barking on about the other week (stocked by Joanna Sheen) - leaving just a narrow red border and layered it onto the card blank

- die cut the poinsettia using snippets of the same red velvet satin mirri card and also some dark green as well. The die I used is a lovely set of three different sized layers, made by Britannia Dies called 'Small Poinsettia' and sold by Joanna Sheen

- then layered the poinsettia together and added it to the card front, using Glossy Accents as a firm glue

- topped the centre of the poinsettia with a brushed gold Josy Rose nail head

Only then did I think to check if the card (plus insert and envelope) would slide through the postal gauge at standard letter rate. Whew - it does, it really would have been a bit galling otherwise having made a batch of six! That's one of the beauties of Josy Rose nail heads, they do add that something extra to a card whilst being only slightly domed - unlike a lot of gems I have here.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge # 326 - results

Oh boy, it's very warm and humid here right now. The sort of weather that we long for during the Winter and then wonder just why when it's hard to even craft without sticky paws - and that's before we even go near the glue!

Running late this time round so I'll dive right in with our new Guest Designer, and this time round it's Sandy of 'Stamping Writer'! And this is a really fun card that Sandy made to share:

Here's what Sandy wrote about her card:

I'm delighted to be contributing to the Playground. 

This scene card is all snippets, aside from the base. It started with a 4-inch by 5 ¼-inch blue snippet. I cut three snippets of green patterned paper using the curved Whimsy Stitched Edge die, then arranged them on top of each other to create the “hills,” trimming off the edges to fit. The clouds are white snippets cut with Whimsy Stitched Clouds die.  The sheep are from a set by The Alley Way (which is sadly out of business) called With Wondering Awe. They were stamped with Memento Black ink, colored with pencils, and fussy-cut. The sentiment (from The Alley Way set More Than Words) was stamped in the same black ink. Once the scene was all assembled, it was placed on a top-fold A-2 card.

Oh I do think this is a brilliant card, just amazing how a such great scene can be created with a few snippets - as well as a lot of imagination of course!

And a few words about Sandy herself:

I live in the southeastern U.S. with my husband, and our son lives about two hours away, where he is working on his university degree.  I work as a freelance writer, producing content for various websites and print clients (so feel free to contact me if your business needs some writing done😉). I’ve always loved crafting – I believe I got hooked when my kindergarten teacher handed out tea towels and taught us how to do a basic cross stitch. I discovered stamping and card making when my son was a baby, erroneously believing I had stumbled upon a “hobby I can keep in a shoe box.” (Oh, how innocent I was then!) I got more involved in the hobby as the Internet allowed me to find and connect with other stampers. I also enjoy reading, traveling, and outdoor activities such as camping, biking and hiking.

I wonder just how many of our own Primary School teachers were responsible for 'kick starting' our interest in one form or another of crafting? My own Mum had been to art college and was a really good artist - I used to love to sit and watch her sketching and colouring when I was young. I reckon she'd be like a kid in a sweet shop if she was still here and let loose in my craft room - ha, but I'm equally sure she would make me keep it tidier :)

No photo of Sandy to share - but at the end of this post there's a little photo from Len for you all :)

Thanks so much for being our Guest Designer Sandy - we're delighted you could take on the role for this fortnight. And Parsnip is more than willing to have me send him over to the US to join you on a camping trip! In fact, some days I'd even pay you to have him for a month or so!

Now, we do have a *Gold Star* this week, and it's a lady whose work does feature on here quite often. I'm sure this will blow your little socks off girls and you'll agree 100% that this is so worthy of a Gold Star:

 

Alice of Scrap & C made these absolutely fabulous tea bag dispensers, cups and mugs, totally from cards (including tons of snippets of course) for a shop window display! How very clever and there's tons of fascinating photos of the whole process over on Alice's blog - I do recommend you hop over for a closer look.

And now for the other three picks - a general mix of entries that caught my eye and made me smile over the fortnight:

What a fun card, made by Lynn of 'Creative Crafts' by Lynn. This is Rambo - their much loved dachshund :) Lovely card Lynn!

Jane W brought this card to share with us - great use of snippets and a perfect sentiment! Such a cleverly made scene as well.

I just love this baby card, made by Carol D to celebrate the birth of a new baby grand daughter. Little elephants are just so perfect for baby cards aren't they? There's a gorgeous photo of the baby (Chloe) over on Carol's blog - being mindful of GDPR issues I'm not adding any photos into the blog other than your entries folks!

And we had one new Playmate joining in the fun this time:

Glittertastic

A huge welcome to the Snippets Playground! Love this card - just perfect for a chap and great use of snippets too.

So that was a total of 68 entries this fortnight - folk were queuing up to use the Playground duck pond to cool off in! Rather them than me - the ducks had just vacated it :)

Prize draw time now and what a popular prize as well. Our winner of the Waffle Flower 'Succulents' stamp set with matching dies is:

Carol G

 

 

Well done Carol! It's hard to tell after so long running the Playground, but I have a slight feeling that this might just be your first prize win - although I know your work has featured in the 'picks' a few times. Well done, whether or not it's a first win - you'll have something (especially the discontinued matching dies) that took one heck of a lot of tracking down! I reckon the stamps will be rare as hen's teeth as well.

Do please send me your address, with full name at the top so I can copy and paste - for speed and ease. I'll be off to the Post Office ASAP this coming week once I hear from you. Please put Playground Winner or similar in the subject line of your email in case it drops into my junk mail. Email address is on RH sidebar as always.

Remember folks, there's still almost another week to run on Challenge #327 HERE. The prize is a a bumper bundle of Concord & 9th 'Everyday Tintables', a Concord & 9th 'Fabulous Phrases set of five dies and an Altenew 'Puffy Pink' ink pad.

And, as I mentioned above, here's a photo of Spike, taken by Len on Wednesday around midnight just this past week:

One of Len's best shots - Spike actually has his eyes open and you can see his cute little paws as well. So sweet!

Hope you have a lovely week ahead, whatever you have planned.

Love from the little white peril Parsnip, and of course me,