Pixies Snippets Playground - Week 102

Straight in this week, no messin' - here's my snippets card:

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank

- a snippet of white card, also 5" square, to layer the background on just in case I got it wrong and had to do a bit of trimming down - which for once I didn't have to do :)

- snippets of plain red card and also patterned papers that were tucked inside the LOTV 'Classic Christmas' paper pad - if possible I store patterned snippets this way. I just used some leftover strips of the paper to create a sort of patchwork effect by putting the tartan paper at top and bottom and then holly patterned strips across, left to right and up to down - simple and it makes a little paper go a long way

- the image is Penny Black's 'Duckie and Hedgies' stamp, stamped in Memento 'Tuxedo Black' and coloured with Polychromos pencils. An early Christmas present to me from me and a first play, yay! I love them and can't wait to use them to add shading to images coloured with Pro Markers (the main reason I bought them). Die cut using a Spellbinders Nesties hexagon die

- 'Icicle' Stickles added to snowflakes and snow on the finished image, which was mounted onto a red backing

- sentiment is by Craftwork Cards, popped onto an oval of red card

- white Josy Rose nail heads in each corner

One super-fast snippets card :)

This week picks are as follows:

I adore this ATC, so many lovely details, made by Ike (Suzy).

And Sam (Hettie) made this beautiful  album for her Mum - with so many lovely embellishments. I can't begin to think how much work went into it.

Karen P brought us this 'fantabulous' Christmas card, made for her Mum.  What a great way to use flowers for a very special card.

I adore this red and white Christmas card, made by Sandra H, really lovely.

Such a beautiful selection of boxes, made by Andrea (Kanda). A great way to use up those odds and ends of papers I bet we all have from magazine freebies.

And Viv made this absolutely divine card, with every frond on the wreath punched out from snippets. Brilliant idea Viv, although I truly can't see why you only made the one instead of the batch you'd planned :)

And last but not least, 'cos it really intrigues me:

A Christmas star, made by Andrea (Kanda) from just one piece of 6" x 3" paper and some glue. Isn't it beautiful?

I've been through the entries several times and didn't find any new playmates - so I do hope I didn't skip past and miss anyone out.

As always, there are so many beautiful and clever snippets makes I'd love to show - but looking at the clock here I'm over my allowed time at the laptop so best to move on!

Here's the winner of the prize draw for the bumper bundle of stamps, die set and embossing folder:

Bonnie

Oh well done Bonnie. After many weeks of playing in the Playground I'm almost sure this is the very first time Mr Random picked you as winner of our normal weekly prize draw, yay! Looking at the goodies, and your lovely blog with such a distinctive style I think you'll love them. Can you just please drop me an email letting me know if your address is the same please and the goodies will be posted to you ASAP.

Its taken me forever to work out who entered a total of three times over the past couple of weeks to be in with a chance of our 100 Weeks Joanna Sheen prize. In the end we had 29 qualifying playmates so I grouped and numbered everyone (by that time the numbering was random too!!) and used the random thingie again to do the draw. The winner is:

Pat

And well done to you Pat, one of our more recent 'new girls' - and very talented as well. Can you just please drop me an email letting me know your address (di_wray@hotmail.com) and the goodies will be posted to you ASAP.

As always, I do wish everyone could win something each week so I hope you come back and play again girls. I know that lots of you play just for the fun anyway :)

This coming week's prize is smaller than we've had recently, but very cute no? It's a stamp, the same as the one I used on my snippets card today - Penny Black's 'Duckie and Hedgies'. Although I only recently bought the stamp(s) I see that the date it was first introduced was 2004 - almost a collector's item :)

We're still operating as usual and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 14th December and will open again at midnight UK time on the same day. Maximum of three entries and please say 'No thank you' in a comment if you wish to still play but not be the winner of the prize this week, as shown above.

Mr Linky is below - please let me know if you have any problems linking, I can sort it out for you quite quickly and am always happy to do so.

Hope you have a lovely week! Remember, the Playground Nativity Play rehearsals start soon.

Di - and of course Parsnip
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Santa's Grotto in panic mode

It had to happen sooner or later, although I'll be keeping a close eye on the Playground - am going to have to reduce my daily posts for now ..... otherwise we won't be ready for the fat man in the red suit!

Please keep joining in the Playground, and I'll visit you in return, that will continue as normal. Huh, whatever normal is of course! Closing and opening of the Playground gates will be at the usual times, and of course I'll hopefully do my snippets card, the weekly picks, draw etc. for Sundays.

My wish is to post every other day or so just until things are more organised here, and my back is 100%. I think it'll just be for a week or so - it's amazing how much can be done when there's time to really focus :)

Di

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Good luck in your new home

....and not a Christmas card! I missed out on sending a few friends New Home cards and felt really bad about it - so this one is for any of you who moved recently, and it's also going into my box of standby cards. Who knows when things can take a turn so that you don't manage to crawl to the craft room at short notice:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- turquoise Core'dinations backing card

- paper from the Teresa Collins 'Sweet Afternoon' paper pad - I love that these are double sided

- the pre-coloured image is by Little Claire from sheet LCD09

- ribbon from the ribbon box

- sentiment is an Elzybells one, stamped in SU 'Baja Breeze' and punched out with SU's Large Oval punch then popped onto a scalloped oval

Short and sweet today, I finished off all the Christmas card inserts and boxes just gotta write them now - anyone fancy nipping round to help? Thought not :(

Di
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Merry and bright candles

I do love red candles, and white ones too, especially at Christmas. Since we had a gel candle suddenly go up like a rocket a few years ago I have to settle for battery operated ones - admittedly some are very realistic but isn't there just something about a real candle:

What a job I had taking this photo, no light box/booth here and it was dusk yesterday when I remembered :( But, with the aid of my daylight lamp and some jiggery-pokey with pink backing card laid on the laptop keyboard and also against the laptop screen this was the result - and also managed to pick up the sparkle and glossy accents.

It's a tent card with the main image sticking above the top for a change - grin, so that it'll fit nicely into a ready made 7" x 5" envelope.

I used:

- white card blank trimmed to 6" tall and 5" wide

- common sense prevailed and I stamped the sentiment first using SU 'Real Red' and a stamp by Hero Arts called 'Merry and Bright'

- SU 'Real Red' card stock for matting and also the candles. Snippets of yellow, orange and green card from the snippets folder for the other die cutting

- the candles were die cut using Dee's Distinctively 'Candle Set', added Stickles to the flames and Glossy Accents to the dripping wax

- holly leaves were die cut using Dee' Distinctively 'Wreath Builder' set with a few red pearls added for the berries

Really I'd planned to spend the whole day doing Christmas card inserts but Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge was niggling at me, plus I truly think that doing huge numbers of inserts in one go is mind numbing, when will I learn to do them all, and not just some, as I go along! Hazel's theme this week is 'Light it up'. And it's also for Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for December, where it's always 'Anything goes'.

Edit: I DO have some wax burners for Yankee candles, with tea lights in - can't beat the spicy smell over the festivities!

Di
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The dancing duckling

A guy (let's call him Fred) goes into his local pub and tells the landlord he has a sure fire way of drawing in more custom with a little cabaret act.

Dubiously the landlord agreed to 'audition' this new act, whereupon Fred whipped a little duckling from one pocket and a metal cigar tin from the other pocket. He turned away, rustled around a bit and hey presto, there on the bar was the cigar tin with a cute little duckling dancing away on top like there was no tomorrow - tappitty, tap, tap, tap:

'WOW - you're booked!' exclaimed the landlord. So each evening Fred, the duckling and his little metal 'stage' arrived at the pub, collected their percentage of the previous night's takings and set up for that night's performance.

People came from far and wide to see the little ball of fluff tap dancing like there was no tomorrow - until Fred had to go away for an overnight trip. He left the duckling and his little metal cigar tin stage in the care of the pub landlord.

The following evening, after he returned home, just before closing time he dropped into the pub to collect his duckling and little metal stage. But, he found that the landlord was not at all happy. 'You and your duckling are FIRED' he shouted 'I was a laughing stock, that duckling just sat on its bum on top of the cigar box and smirked at everyone all evening - not one single tap, tap at all'.

Fred sighed and replied ............................... wait for it .....................................
 
'I know, my fault. I forgot to tell you to light the tea light inside the tin just before the duckling was due to perform'.

I told Len this one the other evening when we were trying to outdo one another with silly tales - and he said it was cruel :( That guy takes life a bit seriously sometimes - tap, tap, tappitty, tap - snort.

Di
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Pixies Snippets Playground - Week 101

Wow, wow and double wow! How did you girls DO that?! We had a total of 101 entries last week. AMAZING, thank you all so very much for all the support and good wishes on our 100 Week milestone - which is ALL down to you, your wonderful spirit, sense of fun and amazing efforts at using up those pesky snippets.

As time crept towards 11am yesterday, the closing time, we were sitting at 98 entries and then suddenly someone with the 'handle' Roolz Breaker added a card! Despite knowing that there were two cards I could see already published on my dashboard here which used snippets and were for the Playground, it didn't seem right to link them in as the girlies were probably still fast asleep 'over the pond'. Sooooooooooooo, I thought that, as I make up the Roolz,  I too could break them - and that's where we got our 100th entry. That WAS however quickly followed by another entry from Roolz Breaker - who quite fairly deserves the accolade of making all of this fun and mayhem happen - please give a HUGE round of applause to our SARN!! Yay!! I'm sure it's largely down to Sarn that we got anywhere close to 100 entries - she can be very persuasive :) And I mustn't forget Jules, who managed three entries despite being so busy and also really kindly encouraged peeps to join in! Thank you!

So here's my snippets make for today:

 And a closer peek:

I used:

- 6" x 6" cream card blank, used 'tent-fold' style which I trimmed down to 6" x 5" to balance it more (thereby needing a custom made envelope of course, dopey Di strikes again!)

- snippets of cream card stock and copper satin/matt mirri card for the layers, flower and leaves

- the cream background was embossed using Cuttlebug's 'Scrollwork' embossing folder

- the sentiment was stamped and then embossed with Heat It Up! Copper embossing powder

- the cream part of the poinsettia was die cut using one layer from a Spellbinders poinsettia die set for the largest layer and also the All Occasions 'Small Poinsettia' die set - same as I gave away the other week

- the lacy background flower and leaves were die cut from copper satin/matt mirri card using   a Marianne Creatables die set number LR0156 - I've seen these dies used in so many ways lately and LOVE them - they would look fabulous behind ANY flower, die cut, punched, rolled and even mulberry roses for example

- the final touch is a pearl gem, coloured with a Pro Marker to match

Onto this week's 'picks' - and there has to be one outstanding card that totally cracked me up. It used no less than 100 snippets - so please come and take a bow Kath for this wonderful creation, just brilliant!!

I do love this basket of flowers, made by Cathy - so tactile and great use of snippets.

This is such a beautiful card, made by Greta. Quite apart from the lovely wreath of snippets - I adore the three little gold dots just beside the sentiment. A really clever touch and it just pulls the whole card together so well!

What a clever card made by Kimbo, how perfect the diamond paper is, great paper piecing and even the golf ball has been embossed - and such a great sentiment too! :)

Oh wow and double wow - Sharon brought this gorgeous card to share. So much beautiful detail and amazing colouring!

Wipso (aka Annie) came back to play with this fantastic Advent tree - to see what hangs on those buttons you have to go and check out her post :) Brilliant idea!

And this divine card was made by Bonnie, I think she inspired my snippets card for today :)

I have to stop there although I really could sit here for hours linking so many more picks in - but, as is tradition, can you please welcome the amazing total of 8 new playmates! This will be a very quick scamper but so please click onto their names and go and say 'Hello' if you can:

 Claire - and while you're there, do please check out her lovely digi images for sale. A small but totally lovely collection - the right hand sidebar takes to to her other blog!

 

Sarah-J W

Genny

 

Twiglet (aka Jo)

 

Anesha

 Annie

Ethan (Kath's Grandson)

Stacyl

You know I normally write a little bit about each new playmate but truly, it's still tough/bally uncomfortable sitting here typing so I really need to move on. However, you are all SO welcome to the Playground, do please come back soon!!

As some wag remarked this week - we're fine for the crowd scenes in the Playground Nativity play this year :)

Right, the draw for last week's prize of the 'Winter Cabin Landscape' and Santa's Magic Sleigh' dies - I'm only counting 98 entries as Sarn and I got a bit silly at the end - here goes:

Viv

Well done Viv! You didn't say one way or another (that I can find) if you'd like this prize or not. But, having checked your blog, I see that you do make some lovely white on white scenes so am hoping you do want them. Can you please drop me an email (di_wray@hotmail.com) with your snail mail address. Ta!

And this coming week's prize is, as I said yesterday when I showed a card using some of the prize, a bit of a bumper one to continue the celebrations and also now to mark 100 entries - OK, the final three were a bit dubious :)

All of these goodies do make up one prize, you'll see more details if you look at my snippets cards for yesterday and of course today.

We're back to normal (well as normal as we ever are here!) and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 7th December and will open again at midnight UK time on the same day. Maximum of three entries and please say 'No thank you' in a comment if you wish to still play but not be the winner of the prize this week, as shown above. In fact, you might want to play but already have or don't want something that's in the prize 'cos there's more than usual I must agree - just say in a comment and I'd just draw again for any unwanted items as well. BUT, if you'd like to win it all - go for it!

Mr Linky is below - please let me know if you have any problems linking, I can sort it out for you quite quickly and am always happy to do so.

AND, do remember it's week 2 of being able to qualify for the Joanna Sheen special prize which was kindly donated to celebrate 100 weeks since I took over the Playground from Jules. All you have to do to be included for a chance to win that is to enter a total of three snippets makes over last week and this week (100 and 101) - not three per week, unless you want to - just three spread over the two weeks.So, if you didn't play last week you can still qualify for the 100th Week prize by making three snippets entries this week. Unless of course you're lying there exhausted by all your lovely efforts for week 100 :)

Hope you have a lovely week! Am still smiling here - thank you again :)

Di - and of course Parsnip
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Pixies Snippets Playground - Week 100 is still open and a sneak peek at next week

Oh wow! I'm truly blown away by the number of entries into the Playground this last week, you really are all little stars :) So far (10 pm on Saturday) we have over 90 entries - amazing! I do smell a rat, bit of hair pulling, little bit of encouragement from certain quarters though :) Giggling here 'cos I know the main perpetrator very well!!! Thank you so, so much!!!

As the intention yesterday was for me to trot off to Bath for the day, the Snippets Playground was - and still is - open until 11 am today, one day longer than usual. To avoid confusion I've left it as planned - I know that some of our playmates  in the USA have been occupied with Thanksgiving and Black Friday so this gives them more time, rather than me mucking them about.

But I thought I'd perhaps give you a little taster of what's to come in this forthcoming week's draw, so here's a snippets card:

I used:

- white DL card blank

- silver mirri card from the snippets folder, which is still expanding by the day

- white card from the snippets folder which I stamped with a gorgeous 'itty bitty' stamp called 'Peace and Joy' by Unity Stamp (thank for leading me astray Elizabeth - do go here girls to see a great way to use this stamp!). To position the stamp, which I wanted to emboss, I used a neat trick that Victoria gave me. As the embossing pad is clear and I wanted to use my SU stamp-a-ma-jig I stamped onto the positioner using an easily wipeable dark grey stamp so I could see what I was doing. After cleaning the stamp itself I could then use the clear Versamark pad and silver embossing powder for the sentiment but had a visible sentiment on the SU plastic placement sheet

- the snowflake is by Inkylicious called 'Filigree Star', so pretty, stamped onto a snippet of blue card and embossed using Papermania's 'Tinsel Snowflake' powder which I've had for years and never used. The powder is a mixture of white and silver. In real life the snowflake does have some very pretty little bits of silver embossed in it not picked up in the photo, but, I wouldn't race out to buy the powder if you don't already have it. Why? Well, the sparkly silver bits can be too sparse or in a cluster - this was my third attempt to get an evenish spread so I don't think it's worth the hassle. Trimmed and mounted the best snowflake onto silver mirri snippet and glued a clear gem in the centre - for that I used a tiny spot of E-6000 glue, which is another great glue for tricky things 'cos the self adhesive backing on the gem wasn't gonna play ball and stick to the embossing was it :(

- oh, almost forgot, I'd also wrapped two layers of ribbon round the whole card 'topper', underneath where the snowflake would go

I'll be back with another snippets card tomorrow and the usual Playground write-up. And, there'll be two stamps the same as the ones I used today as part of this coming week's usual prize. It's a bit of a bumper prize to continue the celebrations and also as I have quite a few Christmas goodies in the toy box - which I'm sure you ain't gonna really want in January :) No good thinking I should keep them until next Christmas time - you all know how fast things change in the craft world so no doubt there will be lots of new stuff arriving on the scene before we know it!!

Plus, the 'Joanna Sheen 100 Weeks' separate draw will be into its second week so I hope you come back and play! But if you just wanna lie down and rest I understand - MOVE OVER please!

Di
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Saturday Supper - Beef and Pepper Chilli

This recipe has become one of our favourites - perfect for a Winter supper:

Serves 6 - WHAT?! No way, I only just spotted that on the recipe :) I'd say it's very filling for 2 people with good appetites (and/or a two-legged mouse) and probably OK for 4 people with a dessert to follow if you're being posh. Certainly a great dish for having friends round if you do all the chopping etc. in advance.

2 x 15ml spoons olive oil
1 x onion, finely chopped
1 x red and 1 yellow pepper, deseeded and cut into strips
20g pack coriander, stalks roughly chopped and leaves reserved
15ml spoon Cool Chile Company mole powder (optional - I didn't use this)
Approx 500g good quality frying beef, or less, cut into strips
1 x 400g can tomato soup
1 x 400g can mixed beans - in water not salad dressing (the slightly smaller size will do fine)
(NB. If you can find 'tomato soup with three types of beans' in then just use two of those - Sainsburys used to sell them but I couldn't find any so I improvised with one can of soup and one of mixed beans)
2 x plum tomatoes, each cut into quarters
150g nacho cheese tortilla chips
25g Mexican-style cheese, freshly grated

To serve:
130g tub fresh guacamole
142ml pot soured cream
60g bag herb salad or whatever salad mix you fancy

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the onion and peppers and cook for 3-4 minutes or until softened. Remove and put to one side on a plate.

Place the coriander stalks, mole powder and the beef into the same pan and stir fry for 1 minute. Add the soup and the drained beans and heat through for 5 minutes. Return the onion and peppers to the pan, then add the tomatoes and coriander leaves and combine.

Preheat the grill to a moderate heat.

Place the chilli into an ovenproof dish. Top with the nacho cheese tortilla chips and scatter with the cheese. Place under the grill and cook until golden brown. Keep an eye on it as those tortilla chips will burn easily.

Serve with the guacamole, soured cream and herb salad.

Things I do: I did buy really good frying beef the first time but the second time I counted out me pennies and bought fillet steak - well worth the extra money! No way can I find the mole powder stuff so that was omitted. Plus, I actually just used good ole grated Cheddar cheese as the deli counter never seems to have Mexican-style cheese which has little bits of chilli in.

The two-legged mouse thought my version was fine, and he's a chilli fiend usually!

Enjoy!

AND, we passed not just 60 but 70 Playground entries already! Remember the Playground is open until 11am tomorrow, UK time, this week - but we achieved 60 plus so, if you wanna little rest, please do have a lie down. WELL DONE! Mwah :)

Di
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Friends

.....have a wonderful way of reminding us what really matters.

I LOVE this sentiment stamp, and over the past weeks it's been so very true. So many supportive comments when I felt like throwing the towel in :( Thank you ALL from the bottom of my heart! What lovely friends I have, comments, emails and phone calls - I can't ever thank you enough!

I used the sentiment on this card as a thank you note for one very special act of kindness - my lovely bouquet of flowers which arrived from Elizabeth when almost at the lowest point:

I used:

- a shaped card (Craftwork Cards?), with the edges stamped with SU's little leaves stamp from their 'Bloomin' Marvellous' set and 'Certainly Celery' ink - snigger, as it was for a lady who does beautiful work on the insides of her cards I did do some rather pathetic stamping inside too :)

- the flowers are stamped with SU 'Smokey Slate' onto assorted pieces of pink snippets, die cut (all with SU stamps and die cuts from the ' Secret Garden' matching set' ) - edges and other bits tweeked with different sparkly Stickles and also some Liquid Pearl Drops in the centres

- the SU 'Certainly Celery' leaves were die cut using the same set plus even more Stickles

- the sentiment is by Penny Black and is called 'Friends Matter', stamped in SU 'Smokey Slate'

Then I made a box, with help from Len who climbed up to where I keep the box of un-assembled boxes - bless :)

And then what did I do - crept into my car, went and posted the card and also did a supermarket shop - YAY!! Not there yet and I do ache but it felt do good to be more mobile after two  weeks plus! Len is quietly proud as he sort of pushed me but is still watching like a protective Daddy Bear!

OMG!! I just spotted we reached 60 entries into the Playground  - the BEST medicine ever! Thank you soooo much! I will catch up on commenting ASAP, don't want to get too cheeky and let this back bite back at me!! It's 9pm here and am off to bed to rest. Love you all!! xx

Di
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Lady in red

One of my favourite songs is 'Lady in red' by Chris DeBurgh. I love it when Len plays it on guitar and it also reminds me of a magical moment on holiday a few years ago.

We walked into the hotel restaurant for dinner on our first evening (Cape Panwa, Phuket, Thailand) and the resident group, who we knew well from many previous visits, spotted us. I was wearing red - albeit not with long black gloves, snort - and they immediately stood up, grinned a welcoming 'Hello again' across at us and began to play that very song. Heads turned and I think my face also turned ....... the same shade of red as my outfit ......  as we practically danced across to our table :)

This card was made toot sweet the other day for Len's SIL - it had to be quick and easy so I turned to some Kanban images for a rummage.

I used:

- delicious ready embossed and gilded card stock which was a free gift with an order a while back, can't remember where though, just very slightly trimmed and folded to fit into an A5 envelope. That's a trick I've learnt the hard way, always check that the ready made envelope you want to use isn't a smidgen smaller than the card - unless of course you have the time to make an envelope

- topper is by Kanban as is the sentiment

Told you - it was made toot sweet :)

And this is for all of you lovely folks who are celebrating Thanksgiving:

Why are you here - shouldn't you be tending that turkey?!

Di
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The last Rudolph Day of 2013

and so it had to be a reindeer on my card for the challenge over at the lovely Sarn's. Grin, but I gave Rudolph a 'Lady Friend' too :)

This was my third attempt at a card using the Clarity Stamps 'Birch Trees' stamp - the first two doing resist embossing and then adding a moon and sky went in the bin so in the end I resorted to a technique I haven't used for ages - gilding flakes.

I used:

- A6 gold card blank, already with the 'Happy Christmas' wording embossed in gold. Had them ages and in the end they were the best background card I could find here - funny how old goodies can come to the rescue

- the 'trees' image (Clarity Stamps - Birch Trees) was stamped using black Archival ink onto one peeled off side of a piece of double sided adhesive sheet

 - then, the stamped image was covered with a piece of acetate - over the already exposed sticky 

 - the backing was peeled off the self adhesive sheet on the reverse side of the image, and then I covered all that sticky sheet behind the image with 'Winter Dawn' gilding flakes,  by Indigo Blue, rubbed in first with finger and then with an Indigo Blue scoochy sponge 

 - next, the flakes were covered with more sticky sheet and stuck onto card then trimmed to size before being mounted onto a snippet of SU 'Early Espresso' card

- the deer were die cut, also using a snippet of 'Early Espresso' and popped on with Crafter's Pick Incredibly Tacky Glue. I didn't give 'Rudolph' a red nose though :)

- the whole little scene was popped onto the card blank using thin sticky pads  

Progress is slow but getting better - although yesterday I sadly cancelled the planned trip to Bath's Christmas market this coming Saturday. Found out that the whole day is scheduled to be 14 hours long and that really was going to be too much, sigh. A tough decision but common sense prevailed in the end. What made it even worse is that I was due to meet up with Sam there :( So, despite feeling a bit relieved that the decision had been made, I felt a bit low here.

THEN, the door bell rang and Mr Interflora handed over these fabulous flowers:

They came complete with vase so I didn't have to go hunting for one - thank you SO much Elizabeth! And yes, the splash of pink did perk me up no end! Mwah!

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

Di
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