Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #345

Well! What a week that's been for sure. I was totally blown away by the wonderful blog hop that Darnell arranged in such secrecy to celebrate 7 years since I took over the Snippets Playground - and of course it's 8 years since Jules started it all off. Who knew it would still be going from strength to strength all this time later? And I certainly didn't realise the wealth of love and gratitude there is for having the Playground to share your snippets in. I've smiled like a Cheshire cat, laughed out loud at some of the outrageous shenanigans going on ..... and also shed a few tears of pure joy to know that you like it here! A huge thank you - and also, don't forget that we do have some lovely Playmates who at times send prizes for the Playground as well. Am not asking for more, can only just close the toy box lid right now - but it's important that we also remember their kindness.

I see the hop carries on for another week as well - I'm doing my best to comment and will get round to every single one of you I promise! A HUGE thank you also to Darnell of course who arranged this, mwah, you really are the best! Reaches for fresh box of Kleenex.

Friday was a blizzard here in North Hampshire for most of the day and in the end the whole area (our closest motorway stretch and other local roads) was totally gridlocked - and a lot of it still is apparently. We'd already decided not to budge and had done all our trips out before yesterday thankfully. We saw people trudging home on foot having abandoned their cars in the lane at the top of our road, or even further afield. Len fought a constant battle to keep the penned in part of the patio near the house clear so that Dudley could go to the loo without being up to his chin in snow. We only had about 9" in total and both of us have seen much worse when we lived in other places - but this is the very worst we've had in the whole time we've lived here and frankly much of the UK is just not geared up for such conditions. Both of us have previously been caught in sudden snow storms in our cars here when we were commuting and it can be pretty scary stuff! Today (Saturday) the sun is shining and folk are out clearing their driveways etc.

Here's my snippets card - and in fact this week you get two for the price of one - special offer (BOGOF, Buy One Get One Free):

This card is for all of you girls, with love from me!

And this card is also for you girls. From some of the comments I've been reading as I hopped around' I can see that the surprise visit from one certain little Miss Mischief precipitated a load of sneaky sips and even some moonshine!

Both cards were made in a fairly similar fashion so am covering them both  in my usual 'I used' blurb.

I used:

- a black snippet of thick card, scored and folded into an A6 sized card blank - tent style and a snippet of Strathmore Mixed Media paper (which is actually 300gsm!), which (once the image panels was ready) I scored, folded and trimmed to 4" x 4.25" - side opening

- then I used a couple of snippets of the Strathmore Mixed Media paper (I never throw any offcuts of that out, it's too expensive!) and stamped the image panels

- I used a Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad and stamps from the Woodware 'Smile On My Face' single stamp set and also the Woodware multiple stamp set called 'Time to Wine Down' (one image and two sentiments)

- before the ink dried, embossed both image panels using WOW clear embossing powder as I wanted to use my Zig brush markers and knew it would spread over the lines otherwise. Really dithered about using a Versamark pad and black embossing powder instead but, even using my anti-static pad, I felt that both panels had such a lot of detail on them it would be all too easy to end up with a stray grain of black embossing powder. Clear embossing at least wouldn't show up!

- spent a happy time colouring both image panels with my Ziggies - word of warning, the red is really easy to pick up on a finger or the side of your hand and then leave a little smudge - ask me how I know this, thank goodness for a sand eraser!

- trimmed and backed the 'thinking of you' panel with a snippet of green card most likely 'Certainly Celery' and glued it onto the white card front

- then trimmed and glued the 'wine' panel directly onto the black card front

I had been going to change the card sizes and add a stripe of patterned paper to both cards but in the end decided they were already busy enough.

I've had both these stamps for a good while now but to be honest, colouring the 'wine down' one always seemed really daunting but in fact it was great fun! When I use the 'smile on my face' stamp again with Ziggies I'll do the backgrounds first so they can be mottled with a mix of colours.

And of course, this fortnight's prize is the same as the stamps I used:

The Woodware 'Smile On My Face' stamp and also the Woodware 'Time to Wine Down' set of stamps. I will be offering these as a bundle and won't separate them, but do feel free to give one or other away if you don't want them both.
 
As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 17th February. 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 itself- 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 :)

Last minute edit! After the snow clearing, Len took Dudley out for a walk. I managed to take a quick photo when they got back, but he just won't look at the camera so this is the best I could do. In fact, he's really keen on eating as much snow as he can! At least he's showing off his new jacket though:

With love from Parsnip, Dudley - and of course me, stay warm and safe!

A card for Hazel's Christmas card challenge!

It's absolutely ages since I joined in with  Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge. It's always anything goes with an optional theme if you wish - this time it's 'no sentiment' but my card was already made by then. Shame really as I do have issues with getting some die cut sentiments absolutely straight!

I also made this card for Scrappy Mo's Rudolph Days challenge but most of you will know that Mo has just undergone knee replacement surgery and decided to not run January's challenge. A wise move, hope you're recovering well Mo!

The idea for the card began when I was rootling through a box of Christmas toppers and embellishments and found a packet of two sets of embellishments that date back goodness knows how long - so the card evolved from there.

I made two cards exactly the same:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- die cut the aperture using a Spellbinders 'Labels 18' die

- made the background using snippets of pearlescent card in baby blue and white, using a die from the Spellbinders 'A2 Borderabilities' set to cut the curve on the white snippet of card

- then adhered the blue and white panel behind the aperture and backed the inside of the card front with a layer of white card, just marginally smaller than the card front itself

- added the tree and deer embellishments to the panel, adding some fresh glue to the pads which were well stuck on but I wanted to be sure they also stayed stuck to the background panel

- then found some perfectly matching purple sparkly glitter sheet from the XCut A5 Adhesive sheets pack (Darks) and die cut the sentiment using a Britannia 'Seasons Greetings' die

- stuck the sentiment in place (it looked straight to me at the time!) and there was one finished card! Two in fact :)

Hmmm, looks as if I have two thick cards due to the sticky pads on the back of the embellishments. I think these will be hand delivered!

AND - I got the biggest surprise ever on Sunday when, following a hint, I discovered that Superwoman Darnell had organised a blog hop to celebrate seven years since I took the Playground over from the lovely Jules. We've been a bit busy here and still are but I fully intend to take the time to visit every single one of you who joins in. But in the meantime, thank you from the bottom of my heart - I admit I cried and even typing this am still quite overwhelmed. Who knew what wonderful people I would find when I dipped my toe into the wonderful world of blogging! Big hugs to you all!

I'll write more in my post on Sunday - hopefully I'll find some time to make a snippets make before the weekend.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #343 - results

It seems as if we'll finally be settling back into the Snippets Playground routine posts from now on. It was great fun running the Grand Draw, although a bit of a task I admit, and I'm so glad you all seemed to have a good time playing along!

Let's get straight on with the fortnight's picks:

Lesley G has used snippets for her flowers on this lovely card - I know we all have tons of white snippets for sure. The extra clever part is dry embossing the top and bottom parts of the card whilst leaving the centre portion plain - the number of embossing folders I've deliberately bought with plain centre portions and yet just never thought of doing this, great idea Lesley!

I just love this great card for a golfer - shared with us by Janice. Plenty of snippets used and also such a clever design and fun sentiment. Do hop over to Janice's blog and check out how she made it!

Lots of you have been playing with stripes as a way to use up snippets - I really love this card made by Jackie T. Such rich colours and so very Christmassy. This could be the year for using up lots of leftover snippets of patterned paper!

And, snippets aren't only about paper either! Kath used up lots of fabulously coloured snippets of ribbon to create this gorgeous card. The colours do remind me of liquorice allsorts! Kath's ribbons are the self adhesive type although am sure you could adapt her great idea to work using self adhesive sheet adhered to a piece of card and then non-adhesive ribbons laid across - not that I could ever achieve the precision that Kath did!

And here's a fourth pick I really had to include - again using strips of leftover card/paper:

Lynne really came up trumps with this wonderful card, based around an idea she'd seen on Pinterest. It's so elegant and once again uses up lots of snippety strips! Of course I took one look at the beautiful die and raced off to buy myself one (ahem, plus,  as this would be a lovely prize at some point) - this design is brilliant for batch baking! Ask me how I know, I'm making some similar cards, in between other things :)

We had three new Playmates this time:

First of all we had Lynda with a great card but when I added a copy of the image from Instagram I lost almost ALL of this post on Friday and spent a lot of Saturday recreating it! The post was wrecked with reams of HMTL code knocking everything out of sync. So, in the interests of preserving my sanity I'm just going to say that THIS is the link - you may need Instagram to view it of course. It's the very first entry we've had from an Instagram account, probably not the last, but I do need time to work out how not to muck up half a day's work, sigh. I suspect that my quick and easy copy and paste will mean copy, save, fiddle around and then add into a post?

And then I could safely add images so we have:

Brigitte

Meghan K

Welcome to the Snippets Playground - and what stunning colouring as well! Hope you all come back and play really soon.

Including the three new Playmates we had a total of 59 entries - a very healthy number given that many of us were 'just all crafted out' after the pre-Christmas rush. Now it's prize draw time, and our winner of the Creative Expressions 'Snow Flurry' background, Wild Rose Studio 'Snowmen' and Crafters Companion Gemini 'Festive Phrases' stamps is:

Kathy K

Do please send me your address Kathy, with full name at the top as well so I can copy and paste or just write straight from the email onto the envelope - for speed and ease. It's also confirmation that you still would like the prize of course and I'll post your prize 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. I'll post the prize off to you this coming week.

Remember folks, there's still almost another week to run on Challenge #344 - you can find it HERE. The prize is a Sizzix 'Love You Tons' (really cute Narwhal) set of stamps and matching dies just perfect for Valentine's Day which was kindly donated by Linby.

We're still having to watch Dudley very closely - he suddenly developed an interest in a couple of low level shelf edges in the kitchen. Luckily Len spotted him straight away but it shows we're certainly nowhere near out of the woods yet! A lot of it is down to the endless teething he's going through so we keep him well supplied with chews of all descriptions. Although I know that opinions are mixed about hide chews, Dudley arrived here with some from his breeder and he adores them, although we never leave him unattended with one.

The other morning, after a restless night he surrounded himself with chews (on OUR bed indeed - the nerve of him!) and promptly fell asleep on his back totally oblivious to the World - with a chew sticking out of his mouth like a cigar. I do wish he'd learn to wipe his (ahem, little tiddle, for himself though ......... it wasn't in my job description to soap and wash his nether regions regularly - actually I do tell fibs, having had Bichons in the past)! And it comes as part of the 'deal' with the whole lovable package as am sure you know. When he sweetly licks you as a thank you your heart just melts! Meanwhile we both were staggering around like a couple of Zombies for the whole day - sleep deprivation is a very cruel form of torture. Gosh, he looks so comfy there:

Hope you all have a lovely week ahead, it's certainly been colder here lately and we did have a very fine layer of snow a couple of times. Dudley thought it was great fun to trot around the patio licking up the fine powder - ha, I wonder what he'll make of it is we get a load of the deep stuff?! We've bought him a sweet little coat to wear in cold/wet weather on his walks - not too girly though, it's sort of Hunting Green a bit like a Barbour jacket and should keep his back, sides and chest warm. When he gets to wear it I'll try and take a photo - we did try it on him the other day but had to keep it low-key in case he thought he was off for another walk! Parsnip and Dudley send their love, as usual - and of course me as well,

Holiday Giveaway update - overseas prizes

Hi folks

I finally got to the Post Office today (Thursday 24th January) and posted the 12 remaining prizes to you overseas winners. Hooray!!

Please let me know when they arrive, I have Proof of Postings so will keep all of those until I know everything has arrived! Back on Sunday here with picks and the result of the latest challenge draw.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #344

First of all, news about the prizes from the Grand Draw. I posted all the UK ones on Thursday, standard postage. Some even arrived at their destinations the following day which was a pleasant surprise.

All the remaining prizes, which are non-UK of course, are packaged ready for me to take to the Post Office this coming week. I wanted to do that yesterday but for various reasons I didn't manage to get out - I'll put something on the blog once the posting is done.

It would be really good if you could let me know that your prizes have arrived OK. Even leaving it within a comment on here when you add your entry will be picked up by me.

Let's crack straight on with my snippets card:

I used:

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

- a whole sheet (shock horror!) of patterned paper from the Bo Bunny 'Barefoot and Bliss' paper pad, trimmed to remove some wording along the bottom and then the sides adjusted accordingly to keep a square. I love that this makes a sweet background for an underwater scene

- a snippet of lime green card, trimmed to just a bit bigger than the patterned layer to form a 'frame'

- glued the lime green and patterned layer to the card front 

- stamped the narwhal, two set of hearts and bubbles and the sentiment onto snippets of white card using a Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad and stamps from the ever so cute Sizzix 'Love You Tons' set of stamps and matching dies

- coloured the images using Pro markers and added a tickle of clear Wink of Stella to the lime green bubble and the narwhal's 'horn' (which is actually a tooth, who knew? I certainly didn't until I was reading up about them the other day)

- then, using the matching dies, I die cut all the elements  - love these dies as they absolutely don't need you to die cut any templates to ensure accuracy

- then glued the sentiment, narwhal and sets of hearts and bubbles in place - finito!

I dithered a bit about using the little row of bubbles and hearts (bottom left of the card) but it shows everything that comes with the set of stamps and dies, plus it somehow pulls everything together (IMHO). Len hasn't seen this card so just might keep it for his Valentine's Day card.

This fortnight's prize, as usual, is reflected in my snippets card - and there's a little story behind it. Early in the New Year Lynn (aka Linby) was sweet enough to send me a few items to offer as prizes. One item in particular really jumped out at me and it was this:

It's the Sizzix 'Love You Tons' set of stamps and matching dies of course. I fell in love with it and after some hunting on the internet I managed to order one for myself as well! I'm offering it now as it might come in handy for your own Valentine's Day cards.

When there are weeks that I fancy making a card which perhaps is inspired by one of your wonderful ideas (such as stripes or inchies) then the other items will pop up as one or two bundles as I can't find any of them available in on line shops. HUGE thank you again to Lynn - and I still have a couple of items left that Viv sent as well. The Toy Box is depleted of Christmas items (although one of the stamp sets Lynn sent has a Christmas/New Year theme). But, it's looking pretty healthy until well into Autumn 2019 and there are lots of fun prizes in the offing.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 2nd February. 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 itself - just in case you're only playing for fun.

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 :)

An update on Dudley now! We're getting precious little sleep here as his adult teeth are now coming through along each side, upper and lower and to be honest there are times when he really 'doesn't know where to put himself' as my Granny would have said. He woke up all confused yesterday evening and promptly piddled without warning us - serves me right as I was talking to a special friend just a matter of hours earlier saying proudly that it had been weeks since he had an accident!

Other than that he's thriving, although at age six months puppies go through a second 'fear' phase (the first one is briefer at about 12 weeks of age). So, some of the most mundane things will spook him right now - things he never worried about previously. On Thursday I took him for another Puppy Grooming session - as usual he yodeled all the way there and then refused to entertain walking through the pet store to the Grooming Salon. But, he apparently was as good as gold during the whole process and he came home smelling delicious and fluffed up to within an inch of his life! I arrived back a bit early to collect him and hid round by the tropical fish accessories area so I could see him but he couldn't see me - and sure enough he wasn't leading them a merry dance like he does when I'm grooming him! The girls there absolutely adore him - and I think the feeling is mutual as I had to practically carry him back through the store 'cos he didn't want to leave ☺

We're still letting his fringe grow for now as before too long it should begin to fall into a parting to frame his sweet little face - but, a lot of the time he looks a real little mop head! More so as the girls blow dried his fringe forward whereas I keep brushing it back.

I took this yesterday - one sweet smelling bundle of fluff with one eye peeking at me:

He's starting to get a cute little crooked smile - a typical trait of many Havanese, and very occasionally tilts his head to one side quizzically if he's listening to what you're saying. He's growing up in so many ways!

Have a lovely fortnight and I do hope the cold snap we're due isn't too unkind.

Love from Dudley Dog, Parsnip and of course me,

Holiday Giveaway update

Just to say a HUGE thank you to so many of you for your wonderful comments (winners or not, which shows the big hearts you all have). AND, lots of emails from winners with your addresses and more kind words. In fact, I'm only waiting for one last person to email me so that's been fast work on your part!

It's quite busy here still with other stuff (we need to eat for example and I'm taking time to walk Dudley on Len's archery mornings or when he's busy with other stuff!) and so far I haven't begun to even package up the prizes. Rest assured it will be done ASAP - well in time for next Christmas, snigger! And I'll add a post here to let you know when I've done the massive Post Office posting session rather than email you all individually. Some UK prizes won't need me to go to the Post Office so I might well whip those up and pop them into a post box for speed.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #342 - Holiday Giveaway results and picks

At last, the prize draws have been made for our Christmas/New Year bumpers giveaway challenge.

Due to the 'Dudley Dude' time constraints I had to buy some tiny gift notelets to enclose with prizes rather than make them myself. Something had to give I guess!

So let's go right ahead with the fortnightly picks and first of all we have a *Gold Star* Award for this absolutely amazing 'miner's lamp':

Marjeta made this and it's gorgeous! What a stunning festive decoration - right down to adding a battery operated tealight. It started life as a plastic bottle, not that you would guess but I'm nosy enough to translate and read how Marjeta made this, using absolutely loads of different snippets. Do hop over for a look girls. And, Marjeta, if you wish do please take the Snippets Playground *Gold Star* Award badge from the right hand sidebar on this blog to add to your own. Well done for making such a gorgeous decoration!

I picked this card, made by Carol L right away! Perhaps the little dog did it :) It's a really great way to use up snippets of white and green - and I bet quite a few of us have the fabulous Stampin' Up 'Christmas Tree' punch as well! I love my Stampin' Up punches and this is one of my favourites.

This adorable card takes me back to the days when I had time to add lots of lovely elements to cards. It's just so pretty, I have almost all the lovely bits and pieces that Lynne used but am unsure if I could pull it off so well, shame as it would be perfect for Mia. Just look at the adorable little ballet shoes - I certainly don't have those, what a sweet touch!

 

Right at the end of the challenge, Kathy A raced in to add her entry, using 'inchies' and punched hearts. Such a great way to use up snippets and I'm sure this is an idea a few of you will want to try out! I love how the single heart on the ridged gold square stands out so well.

Over the Holiday Fortnight we had a total of 61 entries (with no new Playmates, which I was rather glad about as it meant that no-one joined in for the first time purely as there were a good few prizes on offer). Those of you who came to play brought some wonderful makes as usual! The odds were quite good to win something - as always I so wish everyone could be a winner though!

Prize draw time (BIG drum roll) and  I haven't gone through the rigmarole of adding in screen shots of the Random Number Generator results. You have to trust me.

And so my friends, - here's the list of 23 lucky winners:

Prize A - Gina K 'Wreath Builder' template set, two Inkylicious stamp sets ('Mini Branches' and 'Mini Flowers') and a Whimsy stamps 'Country Christmas' sentiments stamp set:
#51 - Pat

Prize B - set of two dies made by Pink & Main called 'Merry Christmas - times three:
#52 - Chris Smith
#43 - Valerija 
#12 Jane's Journal 

Prize C - MFT 'Deer Love' set of dies as well as a Lawn Fawn 'Birch Trees' set of dies (including a cardinal!):
#44 - Carol G NZ

Prize D - set of two dies from The Works (Bauble 2-piece), set of sentiment stamps by Creative Expressions called 'Festive Traditions - Sentiments' and, a packet of the XCut Adhesive Glitter Sheets - Pastels:
#8 - April

Prize E - Lil' Inkers die called 'Noel Word Antlers' - times three:
#41 - Sandra H (especially delighted Sandra's name popped straight out for this prize as she always comments and tries to play along but it's really rare for her to say 'yes please' to a prize!)
#3 - Val
#36 - Jackie T

Prize F - matching stamps and dies by Reverse Confetti - 'Christmas Cheer':
#39 - Ionabunny (Gail)

Prize G - Your Next Die 'Winter Scene Border' die and an Impression Obsessions 'Seasons Greetings' die:
#24 Jeanne H

Prize H - Lawn Fawn 'Winter Sparrows' stamps and dies - times three:
#25 SHartl (Shannon)
#28 Janice
#55 Charlotte

Prize I - The Works dies, 'Joy Message' and 'Snowflakes': 
#17 Alice (scrAPamondo)

Prize J - Lawn Fawn 'Here We Go A-Waddling' set of stamps and a matching set of dies:
#54 Lynne 

Prize K - Nellie Snellon 'Hokey-pokey' stamp - times three:
#49 Em (Fairley)
#22 Majda
#1 Shaz in Oz

Prize L - Sheena Douglass 'Winter Snowflakes' stamp set and a 'Winter' die:
#6 Bunny 

Prize M - set of Lawn Fawn Christmas stamps with a matching die called 'Winter Owl' - times three:
#21 Lesley G
#40 Kitty
#23 Glennis 

I hope there are a few Happy Dances going on right now! As I already said above, really wish everyone could have won a prize - as I always feel after doing a big draw like this. Next time (if I'm up to running another one!!) I will cut up squares of paper with numbers on and draw the numbers out that way - just like an old fashioned raffle. It's amazing how often the random number thingy picks the same number over and over - so, by removing the winners pieces of paper as I go I won't need to keep checking back if they already won a prize as it was just one prize per person! And also the odds would automatically diminish in favour of those still left in the draw. As they say, hindsight is 20/20 vision!

I do need addresses for ALL winners please (with your full name as well please) so I can do some quick copy/pasting then print off the addresses easily. This still applies if you know fine well I already have your address - an trying to make this as easy for me as possible.

Just add the subject 'Holiday Giveaway' in an email and send it to my addy which is on the right hand sidebar. The sooner the better please although it may take me more than one trip to the Post Office anyhow!

Keep those snippets entries coming folks, you still have a week left to play HERE for Challenge #343! The prize is selection of goodies, all stamps, that I used for my snippets card. Creative Expressions 'Snow Flurry' background, Wild Rose Studio 'Snowmen' and Crafters Companion Gemini 'Festive Phrases'.

Huge thanks to all those who commented about my concerns regarding Bravecto flea treatment tablets for Dudley. I did loads more research, spoke to other pet owners we know and came up with a plan to use an alternative to tablets. I ran it past the vets on Friday and got the thumbs up - with some additional advice from them to ensure Dudley is fully covered against everything in the world of worms, fleas and ticks we can think of. So it shows that it's always possible to find a solution in the end!

Now I need to get round to commenting on entries for Challenge #343 - all things will happen in good time!

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

Birthday card for three year old Jack

This is as much for my records as anything as it was so simple to make and (shock, horror) I used a kit! I needed it right at the end of the Grand Draw marathon and was so happy to find I had this kit to hand:

Not much to tell about how I made it - the A5 kit card is (I think) Hunkydory from a Craft event I went to a little while ago. It comes with the design printed back and front plus a nicely co-ordinating insert - and of course the topper with (how lucky) three soldiers on.

Then all I did was to hand cut the banner strip from a snippet of black card and glue it in place. Finally added Jack's name using die cut red letters and popped the number 3 (gold peel off) onto the busby of the middle one of the three soldiers!

Sorry to be a bit slow on commenting on both this latest challenge and also the previous Grand Draw one!

I'm still here, but running around trying to make up for lost time. Took Dudley to the Vet today for more of his prescription monthly worming pills ........... plus a three-monthly flea/tick tablet as he's nearing six months old. He now weighs 5.5kg ☺

I have no problems with the worming tablets - he's been on them for a couple of months now, loves them and they don't cause a reaction either! But am not happy with the flea/tick tablet he has been prescribed. We both feel so uneasy with supposed (possible but devastating) side effects of this particular tablet that we may well not give it to him but look at some less aggressive treatments. Dudley is 'flea free' but we thought it best to prevent rather than have to cure. Anyone here heard of or used 'Bravecto' - that's what he's been prescribed? Come on my doggie friends - help me!!

Love from us all and a woof from Dudley(who looked great for his outing after little Parsnip spent ages bustling around grooming him beforehand - bless my little white bear, who is proving to be a very good 'nanny'),

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #343

Back to normality with the first fortnightly challenge of 2019. And we've officially hit the seventh anniversary of when I took the Snippets Playground over from Jules - which means, as Jules ran it for a year, we're actually eight years old!

Let's crack straight on with my snippets card:

I used:

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

- a snippet of the deep blue pearlescent card I've been using quite a bit recently onto which I embossed the background using a Creative Expressions 'Snow Flurry' stamp and that clumpy WOW 'White Detail' embossing powder.

- set the background panel to one side and then stamped the little snow family using a Wild Rose Studio 'Snowmen' stamp and Memento 'Tuxedo Black ink

- coloured the image using Faber-Castell 'Polychromos' pencils and then very carefully fussy cut it out by hand - I adore this stamp, quite similar to a Penny Black one I have admittedly but it's so cute!

- stamped the sentiment using a stamp from the Crafters Companion Gemini 'Festive phrases' stamp set (some lovely ones in this set and a beautifully flowing font as well) - using the Misti as always and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- die cut the sentiment using a die from The Works 'Stitched Circles' set of dies - and they seem to have stopped selling those. As I've said, with The Works I think they move on very quickly with their ranges

- then trimmed the background 'snow flurry' panel to 3.75" square and glued it onto the card front as by now I knew how much space I needed

- glued the little family of snow people in place and also the sentiment circle

This fortnight's prize, as usual, is very much connected to this week's snippets card and it's a bit of a bumper prize to celebrate seven/eight years - ha, plus I just couldn't fit it into the recently closed Grand Draw! Once again though, I really don't want to split this prize so the same applies - if you win and don't want eveything then feel free to gift it to a friend, at your end of course. And yippee - the Playground Toy Box is now devoid of all things Christmas themed! Did I hear a muttering of 'thank goodness for that!?!

The prize is selection of goodies, all stamps, that I used for my snippets card. Creative Expressions 'Snow Flurry' background, Wild Rose Studio 'Snowmen' and Crafters Companion Gemini 'Festive Phrases'.
 
As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 19th January. 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 itself - just in case you're playing only for fun - otherwise I ignore you on my little list. Happily, some playmates who thought they couldn't comment have found out how to do it for the Grand Draw so the same will apply of course - I will only check comments on here for 'yes for the prize'.

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

With love from Parsnip (now resting as he's been licking a pencil and taking notes for the Grand Draw) but he did hop up to the plate and help me with taking the Christmas decorations down, Dudley who frankly doesn't care much unless it's food, will give him cuddles, or is something he can chew - and of course me

Pixie's Snippets Playground #342 - Prize M

Phew, we made it! This is the final prize in our Grand Draw for Christmas and New Year 2018.

Without further ado - here's my snippets card:

I used:

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

- a snippet of LOTV patterned paper from the 'Frosty Christmas' paper pad - I never throw out any leftovers from my little stock of LOTV pads! It was already trimmed to 4" so I just had to trim the short edge down to 5.25" - and of course I kept the bit that was left

- then stamped the owl, sentiment and hearts all in one go onto a snippet of white card using the Misti - and at the same time stamped a second owl. I used Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and stamps from the adorable Lawn Fawn 'Winter Owl' set of stamps

- then coloured the image, plus the extra one, using Pro markers - before die cutting the extra owl using a matching 'Winter Owl' die

- die cut the image panel using a very old Spellbinders Nestabilities Oval die and ran a ball ended embossing tool around back of the inner lip whilst it was still in the die to add the extra 'frame' - it's a trick I use loads as I like the extra finish it gives

- glued the paper onto the card front and then glued the oval topper in place

- finally, popped the die cut owl on top of the other one using thin sticky pads - and the card will still go at standard letter rate 

Really, I could have saved myself the trouble of colouring the owl on the main panel as he ended up covered by the die cut one - but it was a chance to check that the 'Cornflower' Pro marker was the best match for the snowflake backing paper ☺

Of course, today's prize is:

A final set of Lawn Fawn Christmas stamps with a matching die and this time it's the turn of 'Winter Owl' - hoot! Plus, once again, there are three of them to be won!

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post during this fortnight to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft.

Mr Linky closes at 11am on Saturday 5th January (tomorrow!) so you do need to have added a snippets make by then to be eligible for the draw. AND, you won't be able to leave any comments on the prize posts either after 11am - as I explained yesterday.

Just leave a comment on this post if you would like the chance to win one of today's three prizes. You have 35 hours after this post goes live - which should be plenty of time (it worked last year).

And there you have it, a total of 23 prizes to be won (counting the ones where I have three of the same items)!

That's me - I'm done! Ready to lie down in a darkened room for a week now - if only.

Hope you've enjoyed this mammoth draw - I really loved putting it all together for you, even if there were a few times I thought I'd bitten off more than I could chew. When this was planned we didn't have a manic puppy around to be looked after and he's certainly made a huge difference to any thoughts of 'me' time for the moment!

I'm managing to keep up with the 'yes please comments' as I have a system going - but so far am only just over two thirds of the way through all your lovely entries making my own comments and noting down possible 'picks'. I'll get there though - and it's so good to see the thumbnails back in town as well!

Love from Dudley, Parsnip and of course me -

Pixie's Snippets Playground #342 - Prize L

Right girls, I had to give some thought about my hint that there might be a final prize on Saturday. But, although (thankfully) I've managed to get all the sample cards made - there is so little time in which to write up posts, try and visit you all, keep track of 'yes please comments' - as well as make a fresh card for our return to the fortnightly challenge with just a single prize and of course set that new Mr Linky post up as well. I need to get to collect a prescription from the Docs and do some shopping as well as take down the decorations from Christmas as well. So much to do and something had to give a little bit - we never even got to have our roast beef dinner I had planned to cook for New Years Day yesterday, although luckily the joint will keep until the weekend.

My solution is this - I'll keep the prize I'd intended for Saturday to cover the next fortnight. It's a multiple part one and I think there will be a fair bit of interest although of course it is Christmassy!

The Grand Draw will close as planned at 11am on Saturday, after that Mr Linky which began on 23rd December won't allow any further entries. The final prize for the Grand Draw will be in a blog post tomorrow (Friday) as I originally intended when planning the draw - AND I'll do as I did last year and will turn off the facility to post new comments on all the prize posts at 11am on Saturday. That does give you 36 hours almost to take a peek at the final prize - which is rather cute and you do have more than one chance to win! I'm saying no more - it's up to you to look!

Anyhow, here's today's snippets card:

I used:

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

- snippet of deep blue card

- a while ago the lovely Val sent me two Sheena Douglass products to offer as a prize, with duplicates for me as well. Thank you so much Val!

- first of all I used a couple of sentiment strips from the 'Winter Snowflakes' stamp set and heat embossed them onto the snippet of deep blue card - which has a pearly finish. I used WOW 'Detail White' embossing powder and to be honest am not too happy with the result, despite using an anti-static bag and following all the rules for heat embossing. Whether the powder is getting old or what I don't really know but it's gone lumpy despite being stored in the dark with the lid on tight but of course it was too late to rush out and buy more - plus this card is as much to show you what can be done with today's prize (Len really likes it which was heartening!)

- then I hit my next issue, originally I'd planned to work totally on the deep blue card but it was too narrow (height wise). Rather than try to join two pieces of deep blue (I'd packed away the embossing tools etc. by this point) I dug out a piece of red card 

- then die cut the SD 'Winter' die from a snippet of white pearlised card, backed with Stick-It adhesive sheet and stuck it onto the snippet of red card

- then carefully trimmed both pieces of card to 4" width

- easiest way to ensure the pieces were perfectly close together across the centre of the card was to glue the red strip on first and then the blue strip - which has quite a healthy overlap

- finished!

And of course, courtesy of Val, today's prize is:

A Sheena Douglass 'Winter Snowflakes' stamp set and a 'Winter' die. The stamps are grey rubber and you do need to snip them apart - I actually like rubber stamps and didn't find it too hard to line the two sentiments up - using the Misti is a huge help.

Although I've used both items on the one card I do think they would work beautifully on their own as well. And of course the two items make up one prize.

I've debated about whether to mention this but I'm sure a few of you are aware of recent issues with copyright over images that Sheena had claimed were her own. The whole business has been very unpleasant but do please rest assured that neither of these products comes into that category.

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post during this fortnight to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft. Mr Linky closes at 11am on Saturday 5th January so you do need to have added a snippets make by then to be eligible for the draw.

Just leave a comment on this post if you would like the chance to win today's prize.

Do remember to check back for the final prize tomorrow!

And hooray - I just spotted that the Mr Linky glitch has been fixed so we can see thumbnails once again!

All is quiet on the Western Front here, Dudley had a very restless night but we think that's due to him teething. Bless.

Pixie's Snippets Playground #342 - Prize K

Here's the next prize in the 'Snippets Playground Celebration' prize draw - I posted this card on the blog way back in April 2013 and it's still one of my very favourite images for Christmas cards although I don't use it enough, so here it is again with a reminder about how I made it. It's so long ago that I didn't even have a watermark - and in those days I added ribbon, charms or buttons and pretty twine to most of my cards! A technique I still love but rarely have time for these days:

I used:

- 5" x 7" white card stock

- Nellie Snellon image called 'Hokey-pokey', stamped in Memento 'Tuxedo Black', coloured with Pro Markers and tickled with Glamour Dust here and there

- SU glittery silver card, scallop die cut for behind the image and then cut with the 'scallop' blade on my Woodware trimmer for behind the patterned card and sentiment

- Kanban's 'Merry Mistletoe' patterned card - I love the soft blue and lovely pattern of this card for a change and still use it loads - even almost six years later!

- sentiment is by Hero Arts called 'Twinkle Border', bought for a 'snip' and then bravely embossed with Stampendous 'Sterling Silver' without any mishaps

- iridescent ribbon wrapped round the patterned card and topped with a 'looped bow thingy' then an iridescent sparkly snowflake button, threaded with doubled iridescent cord tied in a bow - that's a lorra iridescent :)

And today's prize is:

Three chances to win one of these adorable little stamps - which are a delight to colour in. Remember, it's called 'Hokey-pokey' by Nellie Snellon. Took a bit of tracking them down as the stamp was first made at least six or so years ago but I'm sure the winners will absolutely adore this little poppet! She looks really lovely in traditional red and green of course.

In case anyone is wondering if I robbed a craft shop or a bank, apart from one prize coming up later which was donated by a very sweet friend, I bought all the prizes out of Parnip's illicit earnings from selling hooch behind the Playground bike shed! Joke! I already said that I look for the best deals I can find over a lot of the year, without going for cheap stuff. Only offer prizes I really like, am happy to use and would have chosen for myself - which is why 99% of the time I make a sample card to show how you could use your prize if you win. Just thought you might be imagining me with a pair of tights over my head, Pro marker masquerading as a pistol, Parsnip with a Zorro mask on waving a pokey tool as a weapon .............. and Dudley keeping lookout, ready to run away and leave us if needs be, or just to flop down flat and disguise himself as a sheepskin rug ☺

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post during this fortnight to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft. Mr Linky closes at 11am on Saturday 5th January so you do need to have added a snippets make by then to be eligible for the draw.

Just leave a comment on this post if you would like the chance to win today's prize.

Hope you've recovered from New Year celebrations by now. Dudley has, but it was a bit too close for comfort. We went to bed early and at 10:30pm as it was all still quiet Len took Dudley into the garden for a toilet trip ........... and with brilliant timing someone let off a really loud firework/banger. Poor little chap shot back into the house like a rocket himself and was shaking like a leaf for a while. Ha, ha - Dudley wasn't too happy either ☺☺ So, Dudley spent the night on our bed once he'd calmed down. We had the TV on to muffle the outside noises and of course he's so soft and cuddly there was a lot of hugs for him. We don't think there's likely to be any long term effect although his head was popping up every time there was another outburst of fireworks. Needless to say I'm absolutely furious - I've always thought it so unfair and of course, since I last had dogs, things have become much worse. Ha! It remains to be seen if he thinks he's sleeping on the bed tonight though, have given him a fresh 'milky flavoured' nylon puppy chew bone and that may well help! He's teething and those bones plus a couple of others we have (thanks Sarn, he loves and uses his red rubber one in the patio pen!) are so valuable.

Keep on checking in - more to come :) I need to clear this Toy box of all that is Christmas - and also give the ladies at the Post Office the vapours when I trundle in with a huge bag or three of packages to post!

Love from Parsnip, Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground #342 - Prize J

Happy New Year everyone! Here's hoping for good health and much happiness to be yours during 2019.

Despite it being New Year, I'm still ploughing on with Christmas cards here - making samples for the Christmas/New Year prize draw and here's my snippets card for today:

I used:

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

- a snippet of backing card that I found lurking in a box of Christmas paper and card stock - made by Kanban depicting a snow scene (that saved me a lot of work I can tell you!), trimmed to just a fraction smaller than the card blank but not adhered to the card front just yet

- snippets of white card onto which I stamped a lamp post. row of three penguins plus a single guitar playing penguin - using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and stamps from a super-cute Lawn Fawn 'Here We Go A-Waddling' set of stamps and sentiments

- coloured the images using Pro markers and then die cut them using the matching Lawn Fawn set of dies

- before permanently sticking down the die cuts onto the scenic background I wanted to stamp a sentiment directly onto the card front so I tried it first on a little trimming of the same piece of card just in case it 'spread' - phew, it worked fine so I added the sentiment and the FA-LA-LAs using the Misti

- then added the images using a glue pen before sticking the image panel onto the card front

- final touches, with heart in mouth a bit, was to add some musical notes - success, without a single smudge!

I really do love this set of stamps and dies - there are so many different sentiments to choose from - I even spotted a card made with this set which used the wavy sentiments to create a back ground ........... somewhere on the internet. I want to have a good play with more time to spare and come up with some other designs as there's just so much potential!

And of course this is today's prize and it's one of the top prizes:

It's the Lawn Fawn 'Here We Go A-Waddling' set of stamps and a matching set of dies.

Lawn Fawn does feature quite a bit in this year's draw - one reason is that they do stop production of older lines after a finite amount of time and lil' ole me is always on the lookout. Often I have to pay full whack for prizes but if I see a bargain that I like and think you would also like (not just any old thing) then I'm 'in like Flynn' as they say!

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post during this fortnight to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft. Mr Linky closes at 11am on Saturday 5th January so you do need to have added a snippets make by then to be eligible for the draw.

Just leave a comment on this post if you would like the chance to win today's prize. Obviously it won't be split!

Ahem, little tinker Dudley learned a new trick the other day. Len has a sofa at the far end of his study and now, games of chase between Len and Dudley are punctuated by Dudley taking a flying leap onto said sofa and using it like a trampoline. As Len wryly observed, that's now two sofas he's taken over, both of which are Len's rather than used by me very much. So far our bed is much too high for him to jump onto ........ so far of course!

Keep checking for more prizes!

Love from moi, Dudley and Parsnip of course!