The tail wagging the dog a bit here?

I had such an eye opening thought yesterday - call it a light bulb moment. It came to me that making a card every single day for here was taking over the real pleasure of crafting, and other things were sliding down the 'priority list'. Huh, that took me a while to figure out!

I have one very untidy craft room plus a huge pile of cards waiting to have inserts made, be packaged and some sent off to Rach for her RNLI fund raising. Not to even mention other household chores sliding down the slippery slope, my quest to teach myself to crochet, do some home baking, catch up with local friends and loads of other things :(

Sooooo, from now on I'm going to try to get back into crafting in a more balanced way and there won't necessarily be a card or a post every single day.

Crafting and blogging ought to be fun, fun, fun! Of course I'll still hop round and comment, of course the Playground will be totally unaffected unless I'm away playing  on 'essential teacher training courses' and (with luck) of course I'll have more time here to catch up on other things in life.

Darnell always says something very wise at the end of her posts - 'Life is too short', so more of a mix here will probably be a good thing and I'm gonna try and take more time to 'smell the roses'. I just lost two good friends in the space of 24 hours and that too has brought me up with one very big jolt - life really IS too short. Sleep well Willie and Pat, you'll be sorely missed by so many people.

Remember that the Playground is open until noon tomorrow as I'm out playing all day, with Len who's gonna be helping out with archery at the Village Carnival today :) There's a good start to smelling the roses time - once I fix my Maid Marion head dress in place and help Robin Hood into his green tights!

Di
x

With many thanks to another Diane

.............. I had a first play with a new die :) A while ago I offered my Tim Holtz 'Bird Cage' die to a good home and Diane of 'Keep Forever Cards' won it. And blow me down, didn't she then offer me the gift of a, new to me, duplicate TH die of hers that I had on my wish list! How kind and I've been itching to use it ever since it arrived:

I used:

- A6 white card stock, with about quarter of an inch trimmed off the bottom so the embossed panel would fit properly

- embossing folder is TH's 'Texture Fades - Bricks', embossed onto more of the same white card stock to get the right shade match. I absolutely LOVE this folder and was influenced/driven/forced to buy it after seeing some beautiful cards using it over on your blogs

- TH 'Holiday Lamppost' die courtesy of Diane's generosity. Lamp post is SU 'Basic Gray', the holly is a snippet of shiny green card and the gold inside the lamp is self-adhesive champagne/gold sparkly film. It took me a bit of thinking how to do this, doh, then I realised I just needed to die cut the film (top of the lamp only) and use the pieces that would normally be discarded - sometimes things are so obvious that I totally miss them!

- red pearls (Hobbycraft) - the die does come with berries as well but I was innocently hell bent on making a card that would cost me the price of a large letter stamp come Christmas :(

- no sentiment, for a change

This card is for Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge where this week's theme is to 'use a die cut and/or punch'. And it's also for Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for June - where it's always 'anything goes'.

I have to say that Hazel's weekly challenge is one I always try to enter, Hazel's themes are always fairly flexible and it builds up the stock of Christmas cards too :) Of course Sarn's Rudolph Day is a great help too.

And, while I had everything out I made an extra two cards the same. Just had a quick count up here - and there are 42 Christmas cards in the box, am almost (but not quite) on target. I can see a bit of making more than one of each design going on from now on.

Remember, the Playground is now open until Sunday noon this week as I'm out 'playing Maid Marion to Robin Hood' all day at the local Village Carnival! It re-opens on midnight Sunday (UK time) so it's only a 24 hour shift in time. I had to delete yesterday's post saying about the change in time as it's mucked up Blogger here :(

Di
x

Cute as a button

The current challenge over at Addicted to CAS is 'Circle(s)'.  And for once an idea popped straight into my head, whoopee :) Buttons are round/circular (normally) so this is what I made:

I used:

- A6 white card stock

- more of the same white card, embossed with Boofle's 'Mixed Buttons' embossing folder, slap my wrists 'cos I've had this folder for ages and this is a first outing

- a snippet of turquoise card for the backing

- snippets of turquoise and orange card to cut/emboss coloured buttons using SU's 'Sweet Buttons' Embosslit - which were then added randomly

- sentiment is from Lawn Fawn's 'Sew Lovely' stamp set, stamped using 'Morocco' Dewdrop ink pad then punched out with SU's 'Extra Large Oval' 

Di
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WOYWW - 210

Hanging my head in shame here:

First of all - the mess just shoved to the right is so bad I ain't gonna show it.

 

And this is a closer look at what I left yesterday afternoon when I ran away to post all the Snippets Playground prizes from last week (they're on the way girls).  I woz toying with what to make for a challenge, one of my ink pad swatches, and - to the front right - the partly made WOYWW ATCs I should have finished and posted by now! Bad girl :(  At least I didn't link with an asterisk * a couple of weeks ago saying I'd swap to celebrate four years of snooping - but some really wonderful friends still sent beautiful WOYWW ATCs so that's my next mission.

To see what other much more organised and timely WOYWWers are up to this week - do hop over to Julia's and check out her desk and all the other desks. Oh, and have a lovely WOYWW!

I'm here, snooping round the garden with camera in the middle of the night like someone not right in the head (but I'll do my best Sandee after your request!) , and Spike the hedgehog just won't stay still and pose - sigh :( Wouldn't a piccie of the goat, ducks, hens and sheep here in the Snippets Playground do? Trust me, there's so much 'carp' around out there I need to do hand stands when I come back into the house!

Di
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I wave my wand - and poof!

Who doesn't remember believing in magical things as a child - my Teddy knew all my secrets and I really believed he had a little heart that beat, eyes that wisely watched and ears that listened sympathetically - I still do really :)

Today's card was made for Livi, to be sent to her along with the card for Mia I showed yesterday:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card stock

- image from LOTV's 'Fairies' Art Pad - pre-coloured, die cut using Nesties Labels Eight and layered onto a snippet of SU's 'Rich Razzleberry' card - hand cut in the usual way. 'Tickles of Stickles' in 'Cherry Ice' and 'Star Dust' were added to parts of the image. Grandad Len wanted her name on the card so I added it underneath the image - using gold peel offs

- the main backing mat is SU's 'River Rock', which was then topped with the butterfly paper from Wild Rose Studio's 'Butterfly Garden' paper pad

- sentiment is LOTV, stamped using Brilliance  'Pearlescent Crimson' - looks nowt like Crimson to me, but it does match 'Rich Razzleberry'!

- teeny butterflies were die cut with SU's 'Beautiful Wings' from snippets and topped with teeny little pearls

- white polka-dot organza ribbon, tied in a bow and topped with a butterfly charm (again, thanks to Jules) and pink metallic cord

I'm entering this into LOTV's June Challenge, which is to use a LOTV sentiment on your entry (thanks Brenda for bringing this to my attention!).

Hmmm, no hedgehog visits for a couple of nights - two have been coming to feed each night recently. Whilst I was away on my 'jollies', Len says he saw them fighting - in fact am sure it wasn't a fight. Think Len needs biology lessons and it's most likely they were cosying up as hedgehogs do - perhaps they've eloped? :)

Edit: We did have a hedgie visit in the end - flipped the cover off the dish and tucked in like there was no tomorrow. Although Spike's Mama never taught him/her that it's rude to put your front paws in the feeding dish - elbows OFF the table please! Crumbs, I remember having my knuckles well and truly rapped with a dessert spoon by my Dad for putting my elbows on the table as a kid :(

Di
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Our little mermaid

Recently Mia, our eldest Grand daughter, learnt to swim. She's only just over five and a half years old and the big 'test' was for her to swim a full 25 metre length of the pool. Despite being really scared of the 'deep end' she did it on her second try - and also summoned up her courage to jump into the deep end as well. Bless her, her Mum told me that the award she got features a sea horse and that sea horse was the driving force behind her determination to conquer her fear. So, yesterday I spent what seemed like almost the whole day making a card for her plus one for Livi (her little sister) - got to keep them equal! This is Mia's card:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card stock

- a downloaded digi image of a mermaid plus sea horse from here. Coloured with Pro Markers then some H2O's from the very lightly tinted iridescent set, which just gives a hint of pearl without changing the background colour too much. The tricky part was cutting the image out, then I added some tickles of Stickles in 'Cherry Ice' and 'Mint Ice'. The mermaid's 'tiara' was also Stickled with 'Mint Ice' and a teeny pearl popped in the centre

- the plain card I used to mat the patterned paper onto is SU's 'Pool Party' - appropriately enough :)

- backing paper is from Prima's 'Firefly' collection

- the 'seaweed or coral' in the bottom right hand corner is a part of an 'Arboscello Tree' die cut using 'Pool Party' again and tickled with 'Mint Ice' Stickles 

 - sentiment is LOTV, stamped in 'Pearlescent Purple', die cut and a couple of little pearls added

- pink organza bow, with a lovely silver dolphin charm (thank you Jules!) tied on with iridescent cord

- then I hovered, holding my 'Water Droplets' stamp - but bottled out for fear of spoiling hours of work (I'm a very slow crafter!). I hasten to add, it wasn't because the stamp wouldn't have enhanced the end result, I was just worried I did a last minute 'shake action' and smudged! Suddenly remembered a whole range of 'dewdrops' I had tucked away so added just a few pale turquoise ones with Glossy Accents

- thought it was finished until Grandad Len saw it and asked me to add Mia's name - silver peel offs to the rescue!

What with this and yesterday's Snippets card, there's a lorra swimming going on right now!

And, thank you so much for your lovely comments yesterday - but without you, your unselfishness, sense of fun and at times the downright ridiculous, we wouldn't have a Playground!

Di
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Pixies Crafty Snippets Playground - Week 76

Wow, another really busy week in the Playground - despite our lovely weather here in the UK. I see the duck pond is in full swing with folk taking the plunge :) I bought this stamp some while ago:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card stock

- image is by Elisabeth Bell for Belle's and Whistles and it's called 'Tube Wear', coloured with Pro Markers and a tickle of Glossy Accents on the sweet little drop of water she's shaking off plus some around her feet and a little yellow gem in the centre of the hair decoration thingy she's wearing. Cut with an oval Nestie and then mounted onto a snippet of SU 'Baja Breeze', cut with a scalloped oval

- SU 'Daffodil Delight' snippet behind the patterned papers - and the reason I know the colours is due to having made a little swatch for all SU card stock - so I can check even when they're mixed in with other shades of the same colour in the snippets folder

- all patterned papers came from Echo Park's 'Hello Summer' paper pad - the main background was a whole sheet trimmed, the other pieces are snippets which I keep with the pads

- the sentiment is one of the larger ones from the Whimsical Delights 'Whimsical Fun - Vol. 1' set, stamped onto a white snippet using SU 'Baja Breeze' and just snipped into a pennant

- three raspberry coloured card candi pieces to finish off

Ha, ha - there's a deliberate mistake in the way I assembled the card so don't look too closely.......I said don't look! Sigh, OK, so I stuck the assembled backing onto the card stock upside down so the spine should have been the opening. The pennants ought to have been along the top but I flipped the card to tent orientation before adding the topper etc and  almost got away with it but the clouds are on their sides, snigger!

A quick fly through some entries for this week:

Cathy R made this stunning little bouquet, and not only that, she deservedly won over at Cuttlebug Mania with it - gorgeous and so small, hop over and look how it compares to a small Stickles-like bottle!

Hettie (Sam) made this stunning Wedding card using loads of snippets - my immediate reaction was that the Arboscello Tree die would lend itself to this treatment :)

I really could cover loads more, every entry was beautiful as always, but I need to move onto the prizes etc. BUT, not before showing you this card made by Bonnie.

It's a fabulous card in its own right, but the story behind it is very moving. A lovely young girl called Maddy is undergoing chemo for the second time and lots of crafters are making cards to send to her as encouragement. I thought it would be a lovely gesture if we try to follow Bonnie's little plea and make cards to send to Maddy - all the details are over on the posting on Bonnie's blog, link above the photo.

Prizes - off to run the Random number thingy for the SU 'Sprinkled Expressions' stamps set - and the winner is:

Karen P

This took me three tries, people who say no thank you to prizes always seem to come out first! But, I do know that Karen was really keen on this stamp set so well done - especially as you also won Ryn's Droplets stamp in week 71, wahoo on a winning streak :)

And next is the really tricky one - the Ryn Tanaka Water Droplets stamps that are on offer. Well, I've been keeping a secret - I ran off to Ryn's and bought even more Water Droplets stamps since you all went wild over the first draw and then there was such a rush to do three entries last/this week, and even six entries over the last two weeks - amazing! I couldn't tell you my plans as that would spoil the surprise but I really did try to quietly encourage you as much as possible!

So, I'm doing it in order of the number of entries and FIVE of you entered six times for Ryn's stamp over the two week period. One of you, Mary H, was playing along to see if she could win and then very kindly pass her chance to someone else (thank you for that Mary, what a lovely lady you are!) - so that leaves THREE of you: Elizabeth,Maudiroff (Maureen) and Bonnie. Each of you will get a 'Water Droplets' stamp.

But, I still had five stamps left - so here's the next little selection, I picked folk who made a total of five cards with three of them in one week over the two week period: ScrappyMo and Shaz in Oz - you both win a Water Droplets stamp :)

So now we're down to three stamps and taking away all those who already won a stamp or said they had it already - we had one person left who entered three times in this last week only, and there was meant to be a draw so only that one person was eligible - and that's Debs, so you also win a Water Droplets stamp. Wahoo - me enjoying this!!

Two stamps left and what to do? I looked carefully at entries and a couple of little playmates who entered three times in one week leapt out at me. The first one is Mary Mac - Mary entered three times the first week and once last week.

And last, but by no means least, is someone who entered three times in the first of this two week period and that's Kath.

I've gone over and over the last two weeks entries so I really hope no-one is disappointed and that I didn't make a big boo-boo anywhere. By my reckoning, if you entered three times in even just one of the weeks you ought to be in the names above. If you think I accidentally left you out then please say so!! I should also add, this is a one-off girls - my pension can't take it :) But I did have such fun here watching for third entries and it's a little thank you for all the fun over almost 18 months now!

Can I please ask though that every one of you who won sends me an email confirming that you do want the stamp and including your snail mail address. I do have most of your addresses but it really would make things so much quicker for me to whizz through some emails and copy and paste your addresses into a text document to make labels without having to search through various (very disorganised) files and emails here. My email addy is di_wray@hotmail.com and can you please try to put Water Droplets in the subject line. Ta!

So - with all that over, here's this coming week's prize, Hang on, I need a lie-down after all that excitement!

It's a touch of Summer - a stamp the same as the one I used today from me, plus some lovely Prima goodies, kindly sent to me by Sue as a prize. Gorgeous shades of lemon and orange, flowers, ribbons (hey up Sarn!) and also teeny little buttons to match - one pack is plain and the other has little polka dots. Thank you so much Sue!

We're back to normal 'rools' now and the Playground will run as usual this week with the gates closing at noon UK time on Saturday 15th June. I'm off to a local village Carnival that afternoon (I heard a rumour that Len has lined me up for the 'ducking stool' in the village pond) but I should be organised enough to re-open at midnight on Saturday.

Maximum of three entries and please say 'No thank you' in a comment if you wish to still play but not be a winner of this week's prize, the Elisabeth Bell 'Tube Wear' stamp and those lovely embellishments donated by Sue. Mr Linky is below - have fun!

Di
x

Three Wee Witches

Normally, at school reunions, there's a little ritual. Moira, Angie and myself are almost joined at the hip as we trot round - and one lovely chap from school days,  who is a true Scot with a delightful sense of humour, will always chant 'Here's The Three Wee Witches' whenever we appear. Of course it's normally in the bar area of whichever hotel we're staying in or perhaps a hostelry we chance upon whilst out looking for mischief! Ha, having parked our broomsticks nicely outside of course :)

This time Moira couldn't make the reunion, so Angie and I bought her a little something whilst we were there and this card was sent with it once I was home - it's arrived as I had a lovely phone call to say so earlier today:

I used:

- 5" x 7" approx card, made using SU 'Lucky Limeade' card stock

- Penny Black stamp called 'Apprentice', masked and stamped three times then coloured (quickly and badly) with Pro Markers and layered onto 'Lucky Limeade'

- white card embossed using Couture Creations 'Constellations' embossing folder

- computer produced sentiment, punched with SU's 'Decorative Label' punch then layered onto a 'Lucky Limeade' one which was split down the centre and trimmed so it tucked underneath

And the gift we sent to our missing Wee Witch? A newly produced CD containing digitised copies of all the many hundreds of photos in our centralised memorabilia photo albums (formal and, err, very informal), some video of previous reunions and a copy of the book that was compiled containing so many memories of ex-pupils and staff - all on the one CD.

Ha, two 'non-contributors' are ex-members of staff - who took their vows and are both nuns now! Says something that we drove both of them into (different) convents :(

Today's the day to write up the Playground and do the little prize draws - good luck if you joined in - hope you can hop by tomorrow and see who got lucky!

Have a lovely weekend!

Di
x

Fluttering by to say hi

I just got some really lovely small Whimsical Designs sentiments stamps from the USA - they did take a little while to get here but are so worth the wait. Quite a few are small enough to use with the SU 'Word Window' punch and even more fit into the slightly larger SU 'Modern Label' punch just fine - a bit of a find. And this is what I made for a first outing of one of them:

I used:

- A6 cream linen card stock

- Penny Black Stickeroo from the 'Garden Poems' sheet. What's fabulous about this particular stickeroo is that the edge was already 'pinked' and then given a muted distressed look during manufacture

- more cream linen card for the background, which I trimmed using the 'pinking' blade on the Woodware trimmer

- SU 'Rich Razzleberry' card for backings

- sentiment from Whimsical Designs' sentiments set called 'Whimsical Fun - Vol. 1'. Here's the link to the shop - I'm positive it would have been one of you gals who used the range and sent me flying off to buy :) I stamped the sentiment using Memento 'Peanut Brittle' then punched using SU's  'Word Window' punch and layered onto a snippet of 'Rich Razzleberry' punched with SU's 'Modern Label' punch

- a couple of 'Rich Razzleberry' butterflies were punched from a teeny snippet using Woodware's smallest butterfly punch (forgot I had the SU Butterfly die!)

- and the little teensy weensy pink gems on the butterflies are actually 'nail art gems' - I sure do need to get out more!

Wahoo - Friday and the weekend beckons. I hope the sun shines for you all :)

Remember, three entries into the Snippets Playground before Saturday noon UK time gives you a chance to win a 'Water Droplets' stamp..........and an additional chance for another one if you entered three times last week as well. Will you just listen to me please.........................for once?!

Edit: Oh dear, I think there's a bit of confusion. As is the case each week, you only need to enter ONE snippets make to be in the main draw - which this week is the SU stamp set. But, of course doing three entries increases your chances. It's a minimum of three entries a week for the Water Droplets stamp, but that's only because it's a bit of a one-off.

Di
x

Just a little bit of bling :)

The current challenge over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge is to use your favourite embellishment or even embellishments, and it's also for Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for June where it's 'anything goes'. I adore pearls and gems, and of course ribbon and bows so came up with this card:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card stock

- more of the same white card for the image and extra layer

- Woodware stamp called 'JGCL535 Bubble Wreath' - a lovely set which also has some smaller 'baubles' in as well . Stamped the wreath in Memento 'Grey Flannel', dug out my (ahem) large box with packets of gems and pearls in and picked out clear, pinks and white then sat for ages totally filling the 'bubbles'. You can just colour some, use stickles, card candi, buttons - or totally go for broke as I did :) Towards the end of the process it got tricky fitting in some of the gems and the bubble outlines were likely to show so I just went over them with a white gel pen before adding the last gems and pearls. 'Glutton for punishment' I think it's called :)

- the pink backing card is from the snippets folder, by SU, and one extra piece was embossed using Cuttlebug's 'Forest Branches' folder before adding it to one side

- sentiment is also a Woodware one, from their 'Christmas Bubble Tree' set - I use this sentiment loads and this time stamped it using a Versamagic Chalk ink pad in 'Pink Petunia' with a teeny little pearl above the letter i

- very narrow pink ribbon with a little bow (made using a fork as I've shown previously  - see here if you don't already know this little tip, it's a life-saver - and perhaps only for those with OCD, grin)

I'd also like to enter this card into a 'new for me' challenge called Cuttlebug Mania, where the theme this week is 'Christmas in June'. It seems like a fun and friendly place to go and play. I've followed them since they began in March but this is my first entry/dip of toe into the water. Sigh, and of course I haven't much embossing or die-cutting on this card at all - just the piece of pink card so maybe that's a bit cheeky.

It seems to be my week for being cheeky! 

Di
x

And 'Miss' got caught out - literally

Still up to my eyes in things 'post Reunion' but only just managed to get a look through some piccies that were taken on Saturday evening at the dinner and shrieked with horror then cried with laughter when I saw how I'd been 'had'.

The first photo - from left to right moi, Angie and Mandy (who is the wife of one of our buddy's and now an honorary member of our group - Martin her hubby was behind the camera). It's a happy photo - even though Moira wasn't there with us:

Ahem, then I thought it would be fun to do bunny ears with two fingers waggling behind Angie's head. Angie already knew my camisole top was a point of vulnerability, especially as I'd forgotten to take any 'less sensible/lower cut/lacy' bras with me  but I hitched the camisole up and had my first two-fingered waggle attempt - below:

Then I got a bit cocky and did it again - look closely at what Angie did (and I didn't even realise until yesterday when I looked at the photos on the laptop here so she's well out of reach now) - cheeky and totally oblivious me thinks it's such good fun/jolly jape time and there's Angie with the slightly raised eyebrows and that 'I'll show Di' look on her face:

Then immediately afterwards - me still oblivious to what just happened - here we go again, everything back as it should be and Angie hardly moved a muscle!

Bad girl - I'll get you back, just wait and see :)

Skipping WOYWW this week as I need to catch up with the Snippets Playground! I'll be round to see you ASAP :)

Di
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Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground - winners for last week

Finally found a few minutes to run the Random Number thingie - first of all for this brilliant stamp set:

I have to be honest - I almost fell off my seat here with delight as the winner will be running round the Playground screaming at the top of her voice. Any guesses who? And there was absolutely no jiggery pokery either - the Random Number thingie popped straight up with this little person:

Hettie - aka Sam

I know you're all gonna be delighted for Sam as she's produced some wonderful Sheena Douglass work lately and I bet she'll be running to the loo in excitement :) Make sure you don't leave any puddles en route young lady!

It was such a busy week as a few of you were so longing to win the Ryn Tanaka 'Water Droplets' stamp. Sadly there was only one to be won so I checked the number of people who entered three times, grabbed the sunhat and this is the name that popped out:

Kimbo

Now that tickled me too as Kimbo really didn't think she'd manage to make three entries as she was away from home with limited craft supplies - but she did enter three times in the end, and it paid off! Well done Kim, can you please drop me an email with your snail mail address (di_wray@hotmail.com) and the stamp will be in your paws ASAP!

Now, remember that there's another 'Water Droplets' stamp to be won this week - just enter three times and it could be yours. Do keep trying - you know me, I have a little plan and there just might be an additional one to be won if you entered last week and this coming week - for pure Percy Veerance!

I slept for almost twelve hours last night - wonder why? :)

Edit: Just realised, I must seem like a bit of a slave driver adding the third chance to win a droplets stamp - it's not compulsory, but it could be so worth it :))

Di

x

Spotlight card

Once again, Sarn has shown how to do a super technique - with details of how she did it, over here. This is my first attempt:

I used:

- cream 4.75" x 4.75" square card stock

- Penny Black 'Hello Sunshine' stamp and a VersaFine 'Vintage Sepia' ink pad - the image was stamped onto the card and then onto another piece of cream card to make the spotlight, which I coloured with Pro Markers

- Nestabilities die to cut out the circle from the partially coloured image and then stick on top of the image stamped onto the card itself

- sentiment is by SU, from the 'A Word for You' set, also stamped using VersaFine 'Vintage Sepia'

LOVE this idea - do hop over to Sarn's if you haven't already seen the lovely ideas she's come up with, clever girl!

I'm home as of this afternoon (Monday) and am absolutely shattered! Off to bed now and it's only just gone 9pm as I'm adding this to the scheduled post. Speaking of post - I came home to some wonderful post from Mary Mac and also from Sue for the Playground Toybox, as well as the news I'd won Caz's candy! Will catch up with you all ASAP and also do the draw for last week's Playground prizes - after a loooooong sleep ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz 

Di
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Friends Forever

I made some small gift boxes with a little gift in to take for friends over the weekend - it's safe to post this now:

Thanks to my lovely friend Sarn I already had the die cut 'pillow boxes' plus even some additional coordinating papers to play with, although I was subsequently lucky enough to find the same SU die (now discontinued) being sold new on eBay.

All I did was to die cut some flowers, top them with a pearl and add a tag and white ribbon - a total steal of an idea from Sarn, once again.

And what was in the little boxes?

Some of you will have giggled at Darnell's lovely earrings the other week and as soon as I saw them on her blog I loved the idea. These ones are studs whereas Darnell's are dangly ones, I love either. Found them being sold on eBay UK, they are silver plated so your earlobes shouldn't drop off, and managed to grab just enough for us. The lady who makes and sells them has just had a baby so isn't really into making more right now - but if you're interested, just leave a comment or send me an email and I'll get in touch with her.

It's home for me today - after a fabulous weekend. At least I didn't stay up until sunrise as has been known previously - but we did miss our chum Mo very much :( We had the most wonderful weather and the menu for Saturday's Dinner had been slightly changed (YAY!) and the whole meal was wonderful!

I spy quite a few entries already into the Playground - but am typing this last little bit of the scheduled post on Sunday evening with one eye open and the other one taking a quick nap - bedtime I think! I'll be round to properly comment ASAP.

Di
x

Pixies Crafty Snippets Playground - Week 75

Told you I'd still be watching the Playground :)

In fairness this is scheduled as am unsure if I'll get much chance to check the internet whilst away partying though. My snippets card for the week took flipping AGES to make - at a time when things were already very busy. It's for the outgoing Chairman/lady of our School Association from all 600+ members, I was asked to make it by the Committee and just didn't want to let them down:

I used.........masses of snippets:

- A5 white oval aperture card, from Hobbycraft

- the background in the aperture is self-adhesive film and really  sparkly silver

- I printed the sentiment with our old school badge onto white card and die cut it using Nesties 'Floral Oval'

- the card was edged with Spellbinders die cut corners and straight strips - made from a snippet of blue and silver card

- the flowers took forever, I used a new die set by All Occasion dies called 'Petite Petals'. Each layer is made up of three segments of petals to make a full circle which means that a lot of flowers have nine pieces to them - sigh, not such a good idea for speed

- the blue and silver snippet was also used to punch leaves using Martha Stewart's 'Leaf Frond' punch

- a liberal scattering of pearl and sparkly gems, on and between some of the flowers

The very best part of the marathon was right at the end when I gently lifted up the smaller layers of petals on each flower and suddenly the card seemed to come to life.

Of course it then needed a box to protect it:

The ribbon is attached to the box lid only before assembling it so it's a permanent fixture, the butterflies were die cut using a Joy! Crafts Vintage Flourishes die 6003/0023 (which cuts and releases like an absolute dream) and the letters are by Britannia Dies 'Upper Case Alphabet' - sold by Joanna Sheen.

By the way, blues, white and silver were the predominant colours in our school uniform - just in case you were wondering.

This post is scheduled of course so there's no 'show and tell' for now and the prizes haven't been drawn - I'll do that when I get back home.

But the prize for this coming week is:

A set of 'Sprinkled Expressions' wood mounted stamps by Stampin' Up. The little tale to this is that we just got online SU ordering here in the UK and Victoria (one of our playmates) offered a lovely giveaway for the first person to order - part of which was this stamp set which I already have and love. Needless to say I hopped straight in (IN my PJs!), ordered and won us a prize for the Playground, yay! Thank you Victoria - you get extra goes on the swings for that.

If any of you are wondering about buying from SU, my advice is to go ahead - the online ordering is easy (almost too easy, sigh) and if you follow this link it will take you to Victoria's blog post - from whence you can go online to order. She'll blush, but I find her really helpful and of course if you have any issues or queries then she would still be your demonstrator to go to.

1. The Playground will run as normal this week with the gates closing at noon UK time on Saturday 8th June.

2. I hope to do last week's draw(s) on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week at the latest.

3. And remember that this coming week, if you enter three snippets makes there is a second chance to win  a 'Water Droplets' stamp. Just say in a comment when you link a third make during this coming week that you're trying for the 'Droplets' and you'll be included in a separate 'sunhat draw' for one of these:

Maximum of three entries as always and please say 'No thank you' in a comment if you wish to still play but not be a winner of this weeks main prize, the SU 'Sprinkled Expressions' stamp set. Of course you can enter for both :)

Di

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More animals for the Playground?

Aw, yesterday afternoon in the hotel grounds I spied this little family:

In total there are 11 ducklings plus their Mama, who's behind on the water There's also another family of only three ducklings and their Mama - no chance to catch them on camera but they're just little balls of fluff on spindly and wobbly legs - so cute!

Apparently this family above are tame enough to waddle across the decking and into the bar :)

The drakes/Daddies are of course just lying round sunbathing - such a hard life.

And before you ask - nope, am not bringing any of them to the Playground ............. now if I can catch one of the terrapins that lives in the pond.........sploosh!

There's a recipe below BTW.

Di
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Saturday Supper - Hachis Parmentier

My own 'supper' this evening will be at the slightly posher School Reunion but today's recipe is really yummy I promise, it's sort of a glorified cottage pie but different. I first had this at my beloved Alex's place when he lived in London, of course he always tinkered with recipes so this has his own little twist. Still miss him so much, you know when you have a male friend who you can have a real bitch with? That was Alex - frightfully camp and screamingly funny. He would absolutely relish Blogland I'm sure and would have fitted in with the Playground antics no problem :)

Here we go - sorry it's not in metric, which shows how old the recipe is:

Hachis Parmentier

Serves 4

20oz minced beef
4oz onions
1 oz fat (I used oil)
1/4 pint white wine (yup, white not red)
1 pint bouillon (Alex's twist is to use a can of beef consommé - I used Baxters)
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1lb potatoes
Butter and milk

Chop and lightly brown the onions in fat/oil. Dust them with flour and add the wine and bouillon. Add mince and tomato puree, season well and simmer gently for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While the mince is cooking, boil, mash and then cream the potatoes with butter and milk.

Place the mince  in a shallow baking dish, top with the potato and bake in a hot oven for about 20 minutes.

Alex used to brush the top of the creamed potato with melted butter and beaten egg after the first 8 to 10 minutes - I don't do that, but I sprinkle grated cheese over the top before placing in the oven, Gruyere is best but mild Cheddar works fine.

It's unusual in that I was always taught to brown/seal mince before adding any liquid. As this recipe did originate from France though I just follow what Alex taught me to do - plus any over browning might taint the flavour of the white wine.

It's very much a 'fork' meal - quite soft and moist, lovely with very gently steamed cabbage.

Enjoy!

Di
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Milk cartons

Way back in April I met up with a crowd of lovely buddies, from the Snippets Playground, at Ally Pally. These are what I took with me as small gifts:

 I used:

- SU double sided patterned card stock

- instructions from You Tube here.  What I liked about this was that you don't need a special template or die, just measure up a piece of card, score, snip, fold and stick - it's a really clear tutorial too, even I followed it without any disasters. And that was before I even had a Hougie board :)

- butterflies punched with X-Cut punch and topped with little pearls

- labels punched with a Hobbycraft label punch and the stamped sentiment is by LOTV from their 'General Greetings - small' set

- white organza ribbon to tie the tops together and hold the labels

And the contents? A scented 'Colonial' votive candle, nestled in tissue paper. The size is just about perfect for one of those.

I have a couple of 'Yankee Candle' votives that Irene sent me a while ago (to remind me of the sea air that I miss so much) and, even though still unlit, here in my craft room they give off a lovely smell - thank you again!

I think before I do light them I'll remove them from the craft room though - waaaay too much paper and inflammable stuff flying round for safety, there could be one 'poof' and me eyebrows and fringe could disappear.

How do I know this little fact about naked flames, inflammable stuff and disappearing fringes and eyelashes? Yup, been there and got the T-shirt - one of the most frightening experiences of my life about eight years ago. Refilling a gas-operated candle lighter over the utility room sink, thought 'I wonder if this is now working', CLICK, BOOM. Unfortunately there was butane liquid over my hands and that burst into a fireball - thank the Lord I was standing at the sink in fast reach of water. Spent weeks with bandaged fingers and agonisingly painful burns, minus fringe and eyelashes and was so very lucky for it not to be worse.

Of course the office had enormous fun at my expense - it could only happen to yours truly :(

Di
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An apology

Really sorry I haven't been commenting for the past couple of days - bad girl!

Things just got so tight doing stuff for the reunion and something had to give. But, I have free wi-fi in my hotel room and will try to find some time to play catch up - especially those of you who've left WOYWW comments - and of course the mischief makers in the Playground :)

Still not even thought what to take to wear over the weekend but I have the wine and nibbles - me not totally daft!!

Do please carry on trying for Ryn's Water Droplets stamps - you can have up to three goes this week and next. If you knew what I know, it really is worth trying if this is one of your 'to die for' stamps.

I'll be watching you!

Hugs

Di
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