Happy 'Cakeday'

My guess is that this is done in many offices and places of work, on your Birthday you treat your colleagues to cakes. This happened in every place I worked over the years (sometimes with a lunchtime trip to the pub thrown in) and we often used to refer to Birthdays as Cake Days :)

So, when I spotted a stamp set - with a 'happy cake day' selection of words, I just had to buy it to use for some ex-colleagues when their birthdays come round.  The set also has an adorable doggie in, which looks very much like a Bichon Frise, and that was another driver for the purchase, see, I convinced myself it just was calling to me!

This is the first outing for the NBUS stamp and matching die sets:

I used:

- A6 white card blank, tent style

- slightly smaller piece of white card stock, with a snippet of striped paper added to the top and bottom edges (from the Pink Petticoat 'Vintage Rose Collection')

- the cake, cake stand plus striped candle were stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and stamps from The Stamps of Life 'Birthday4Cookie' set - then coloured with Pro Markers

- to die cut the images (using the set of dies to match the stamps) I first grabbed some waste card and die cut 'templates'. These could then be gently and temporarily stuck over the coloured images to act as a guide for the dies. Then the dies could be added by gently wiggling them into place before cutting - it all helps to take the guesswork out of positioning the dies over the images :)

- stuck the cake and stand in place on the card front and then stamped 'happy cake day' using word stamps from the set and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- added a tickle of clear Wink of Stella to the cake icing/frosting and the filling - plus Glossy Accents on the plate part of the cake stand

- three sequins to finish off

I added a little bit of light grey shadow underneath the cake stand legs after I'd taken the photo - just to take away the impression that it was levitating or even just hovering like a lunar landing module :)

I do love the stamps and dies over at The Stamps of Life, happily they were posted to me from the USA as a letter so no duty to pay either.

Watched Part One of the Great British Bake-Off the day before making this card - and the whole time I couldn't stop thinking about the poor lady (Dorret) whose Black Forest Gateau literally cascaded into one huge sloppy mess after she'd tried really hard to salvage it. They did say it tasted good and was so pleased the judges kept her for the next round as her other bakes had been great.

Di
x

Christmas cards - something beginning with 'S'

Another great theme over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge this week - make a card and use something beginning with 'S'. I ended up making two really easy-peasy cards for the box using snow, snowflakes, sparkle, skis and skates :) Oh, and scarves!

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blanks

- backing card by SU, 'Marina Mist' and 'Wisteria Wonder' - chosen to pick up a colour in the topper images

- another layer of card, off-white with a little snowflake pattern

- sparkly decoupage teddy bear images from the same sheet by Kanban called 'Winter Wooly (sic) Bears', layered up using thin sticky pads just snipped down to size where necessary

- the sentiments also came with the Kanban sheet

I was lucky enough to win a prize from Foilplay over at Hazel's challenge the other week - and this sheet was in amongst the real variety of topper sheets they sent to me. Thanks again Hazel!

And of course this is also an entry into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for August, where it's always 'Anything Goes'. 

Di
x

Less is More - The Eyes Have It

A fun challenge over at Less is More this week - 'The Eyes Have It'. Eeek, it's one layer though! Thought about googly eyes, which are always such fun on critters - and then remembered a stamp I've only ever used for magnetic 'Flip-over-the-page' bookmarks - it's 'The Eye of Horus':

I used:

- A6 white card blank, tent style

- a stamp from SU's 'Work of Art' set, stamped three times - once each in SU's 'Tangelo Twist', 'Lost Lagoon' and 'Hello Honey'

- then I used an anti-static bag before stamping the 'Eye of Horus'  (made by Funstamps) using an embossing ink pad

- sprinkled Stampendous 'Detail Black' embossing powder over, tapped off the excess and heated

And there you have my entry for Less is More this week. I did do some research and chose what seemed to be appropriate colours, judging by ancient Egyptian artwork :)

Not overly pleased with the result I idly showed it to my in-house critic and he loved it - there's no telling for taste!

Di
x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 189

Well, that was a fun week! HUGE thanks to Eve for helping out by doing the commenting and also selecting the picks on her travels around your blogs. It did give me a lovely rest, for which I'm very grateful!

Eve has asked me to say this: 

I would love to thank everyone for their warm welcome and such kind comments. I have

really enjoyed seeing everyone's fabulous makes BUT my wish list has now got A LOT 

bigger!!! 

And then she added this, which made me giggle: 
It must be torture for you (ie, me, Di )each week to sit on your purse!!

Oh how true is that!! And how often do I spot something in the Playground and rush straight off to buy one for me and one for the toy box :)

Anyhow, here's my snippets make for this week:

I used:

- 5" x 7" white card blank - with about quarter of an inch trimmed off the height to fit the embossed layer on nicely 

- a snippet of SU 'Mossy Meadow' card stock as a backing layer

- a snippet of Neenah 'Desert Storm' card stock, which was embossed using a Couture Creations embossing folder called 'Compassionate' and then trimmed down just a smidgen

- the background for the flowers was created using a snippet of rose pink card stock, and another snippet of Neenah 'Desert Storm'

- using a couple of smaller snippets of SU 'Mossy Meadow' I cut two Memory Box 'Prim Poppy' die cuts, having first backed the card with Stick-It sheet

- next I die cut another two lots of 'Prim Poppy' flower heads using a rose pink snippet of SU 'newsprint' DP which was also lurking in the snippets folder

- trimmed and popped the poppy flower heads onto the die cuts, prior to adhering the stems/flowers to the panel

- wrapped a teeny snippet of pink organza ribbon around the panel and tied a knotted piece where the flower stems crossed

- adhered the panel to the card using thin sticky pads

- finally, added three Josy Rose nail heads in the bottom right hand corner

Right, now onto the weekly picks, chosen by Eve. I know that, like me, Eve went through quite a bit of angst when finalising her picks of the week. What really struck me was this - I'd been quietly doing my own picks alongside Eve and she had no idea which entries I'd picked - and when her list came through by email late yesterday morning I was astounded at how close we were in our final choices. Which, does reassure me that I must be doing something right!

OK, so here are Eve's picks and her comments:

Laurie. Wow! what a stunner, very elegant and stylish and that die is on said wish list now!!
 

Pat. Such a beautiful scene created with lots of different techniques and I love it!
 

Carol G. 'Smooshing' a fabulous technique but the colours are all in the right places - it 

looks just like a steamy bath!!

Diane H. Another fabulous scene created with such sweet images and coloured beautifully.
 

Kate P. All of those teeny tiny pieces - a work of art! I would lose a piece under the table!!
 

ScraPpamondo.  Another stunning creation but to use a box is taking the snippet level up a

notch! And those flowers are just gorgeous.

So, there you have six picks from Eve - and, once again, HUGE thanks from me for making my day to day work in the Playground so much easier this week!


And we also have two new Playmates:

Ruth brought us this card to show and I think it's great! So clever to use the white circular snippet fixed temporarily to the card front, then stamped with the lovely tapestry peg stamps before lifting the circle off and reattaching it using sticky pads. An idea certainly worth remembering for future use! Plus, Ruth is a friend of our Liz and this was her very first blog post - do please hop over to say hello.

This is such a super card for a chap - made by Zoe, I love the attention to detail, and such a neat trick to roll down one corner of the image layer. Isn't the stag magnificent too -  just perfect for a male card.

We do have another Prefect waiting in the sidelines for her turn in September - as she's one of a Playground scallywags I'm already beginning to doubt the wisdom of accepting her lovely offer :) I'm joking 'mystery Prefect!).

But, for now we're back to normal and we'll remain so over the coming few weeks - I already cleared up a load of choklit papers from the wheeling and dealing in contraband behind the bike shed and even had to wipe Parsnip's mouth, nose and ears. He'd found the hidden papers and had been having a good ole nose and lick around! Not a good look on a snowy white bear :)

It's time now to choose the winner of that gorgeous 'SU Painted Petals' stamps set, so kindly donated by Eve. And the winner is:

Pat

It's 38 weeks since your last win Pat, so I expect you'll be a happy bunny - one of the weekly picks and also the prizewinner :) I still have your address here so will post your package off ASAP!

Here's the prize for this coming week:

It's a Couture Creations embossing folder (5" x 6.75") called 'Compassion', plus a Memory Box 'Prim Poppies' die, both are just like I used on my snippets card today. Ha! If you look closely you'll see my reflection in the cellophane packaging :) I'd only recently come across folk using the 'Prim Poppy' die and hadn't realised it was around as far back as 2012, late to the party as usual! Plus, the 'Compassionate' folder had been languishing in the toy box as a prize for ages - I was so pleased to find how well the folder and the poppy die go together.

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 15th August. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. Also, if you already have or aren't really interested in either part of the prize but still would like to play for one of the items - please say so and if your number is picked as the winner then I'll do a second draw for the other part of the prize. However, the prize IS for both items unless I'm told otherwise in a comment. Do remember that you should also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

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

Harrumph, my little break is over so it's back to commenting and picking for me this week - but I'm so grateful to Eve!

Di and of course, Parsnip!
x

A pastel Christmas card with two of something

Oh I do like it when I can combine more than one challenge with the same card. Earlier this week I made the card below for Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge #240 'Two of Something' (my two are the snowflake 'toppers' I made, plus two words in the sentiment). And, I'd already checked out Merry Monday's #168 theme for the fortnight and it's 'Pastels'. So off I went with a happy smile and this was the result:

I used:

- white DL card blank

- a snippet of SU's 'Wisteria Wonder' card stock as the first backing layer, topped off with a snippet of snowflake card stock

- then I took two Penny Black Stickeroos from the 'Christmas Sparkle' sheet and popped them onto a snippet of white card stock before fussy cutting round them

- the sentiment was stamped using Memento Dye ink pad called 'Summer Sky', the wooden stamp I used is a great favourite of mine called 'FRH003 Merry Christmas', made by Woodware

- die cut the sentiment using a Spellbinders Labels Eight die and backed it with a layer of SU's 'Wisteria Wonder', cut into shape by drawing round the outside of the die and then fussy cutting

- then, with everything prepared, I just assembled the whole card in one fell swoop using Collall All Purpose glue - to help with the positioning of the toppers and sentiment I used a ruler and a soft pencil to mark gently alongside where they should be placed

- as always, I just had to add a little finishing touch - two sparkly aurora borealis snowflakes in the centre of each snowflake topper :) And the card is still thin enough to go at Standard Letter Rate - yay!!

I know I've said this before, but the reason I very rarely put a Penny Black Stickeroo directly onto a card is because they're almost, if not totally, impossible to remove once they hit the backing card. My aim isn't the greatest so, for me, it's much better to mount them onto some backing and then trim them down. The exceptions are if I'm using (say) the hedgie or frog ones to build up a little scene.

And of course, I'd also like to enter this into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge for August, where it's always 'Anything Goes'. 

And, with Sarah's encouragement, I'm also entering this into Christmas Cards All Year 'Round for August, where the challenge is 'Snowflakes'. Think I ticked the box there :)

Di
x

Washi Tape

Edit. Mental note, do not try to link someone else's post into WOYWW as a favour when using tablet. Managed to link this post instead of Princess Judy's, so if you came to see my desk am sorry! Have asked Julia to remove the link. Asses ears time here :-) 

I whistled up a really quick card - if you don't count the huge double layered die cut butterfly I carefully made and then decided against using:

I used:

- A6 white card blank

- slightly smaller piece of the same white card with three strips of washi tape wrapped around opposite corners. I have this 'thing' about not being able to bring myself to tear washi tape across and then just add it in strips across the card front - although I love it when others do this - it's the torn edges that I can't handle

- the sentiment was stamped next, using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and Winnie and Walter's sentiment set called 'The Big, the Bold and the Happy'

- as I said, I made a die cut double layered butterfly and it just wasn't right - then I found a NBUS packet of black Papermania Vinyl Butterflies so used one of those instead

- added a few bright pink gems down the butterfly's body and called it done

Di
x

From Me to You

Last week I decided to make some more little gift cards to enclose with Playground prizes:

I used:

- 4" x 3" side opening white card blanks, which are cut straight BTW, it's the photographer at fault!

- SU's 'Pedal Presents' stamp set, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and coloured with Whispers markers

- added 'Glossy Accents' to the balloons - which promptly made the Whispers ink bleed a bit, sigh :(

- the sentiment is from the Personal Impressions set by Lindsay Mason called 'Everyday Words Happy Birthday'

Two of the bicycles have red frames and the other two have turquoise - but all the other colouring (and the bleeding of the Whispers inks on the balloons!) is the same on each card.

Eve is doing a fabulous job in the Playground right now - thank you so, so much Eve and also thank you Playmates for your kind words and the lovely welcome to Eve.

Me? I've started to make myself a macramé hammock so I can just loll about in the shade, idly watching from the sidelines scoffing Ferrero Rocher choklits - as if!! :)

Di
x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 188

Oh. My. Goodness!! What a busy week in the Playground last week, mostly due to the Less is More GD spot. We had LOADS of new playmates plus lots of you 'regular scallywags' played along with LIM and the Playground. I was almost snowed under at times - so you need to get a cup of your favourite beverage (mine's a peppermint tea please), make yourself comfy and if you're brave enough - read on!

First of all, before I show you this week's snippets make, I have to explain a little experiment as one of our Playmates has kindly offered to help out with the Playground this coming week - so can you please say a big 'Hello' to Eve:

Hello playmates!

My name is Eve and I live in beautiful Devon UK. I am married and have two grown up sons. Over the years I have tried lots of crafts including: macramé, embroidery, knitting (my tension was always too tight!), patchwork and saltdough (loved that and will take it up again one day!). Then a couple of years ago I started making cards – this is where the fun began! I started a blog called ‘The Purple Paper Puncher’ in an attempt to use all of my crafty stash rather than buy things and hide them in a cupboard (out of the site of my dear hubby sshh!!) It turns out that the complete opposite happened and my crafty stash grew at an alarming rate – oops! 

In the early part of last year I signed on as a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator and started another blog called ‘Eve Marie Makes’ (Marie is my middle name) and the rest they say is history. But the one thing that I have found is that crafting is my therapy – if only it was prescribed on the NHS!!

Di is having a well-earned break this week as she works so hard behind the scenes so I am honoured to be her Prefect!

I'm sure lots of you already 'know' Eve through her blogs, but do please hop over and say Hello. The help from Eve was totally her idea as she sensed I maybe would welcome a helping hand. Ha! I almost bit that offered hand right off!

We're trying a change, for just this one week for now, and this is what will be different. Firstly, Eve will do the commenting, although I'm such a sticky beak I'll most likely still hop around entries to take a peek :) Next, Eve is going to pick out the week's 'Picks' as well as keeping a note of new Playmates.

Not only that, Eve has very kindly made this week's snippets card for here as well as donating the prize!

My role will be to lounge in a corner of the Playground eating a box of chocolates respond to any cries for help with linking etc. so I'll still check out your comments, keep a note (as usual) of who would like to be in with a chance of winning the weekly  prize - and also do the weekly write-up as well as the prize draw next Saturday as usual. I'm hoping it will be much easier though during the week with Eve providing me with the picks and new Playmates as well as looking after the actual commenting over on your blogs. It's an experiment - and I do hope you'll be kind to Eve, I've been working on a Prefect's badge for her!!

And now here's this week's lovely snippets card, made by Eve - so pretty:

Eve posted the actual card to me, which is why I popped my own watermark on - just to be sure to protect the image. For information on how Eve actually made the card, do hop over to her blog(s) - the links are in her little 'bio' above. Even the inside of the card is beautifully stamped and I do know that the Stampin' Up stamp set is called 'Painted Petals' of course :)

OK, let look at this past week's picks now - and there were so many beautiful entries that I really, really, really struggled to whittle the list down to manageable proportions. I truly think this is about the very best week for fabulous entries - you all never cease to amaze me!

So, yesterday I was sitting staring forlornly at the looooong list of likely picks, wondering how to possibly whittle them down and still be as fair as possible, given the length of this post. So, I decided to pick entries which had used a (snippets based) technique or idea which some of you might want to try out:

Pat brought us this card to show - and I adore the idea of cutting the 'almost circle' in the front piece and then stamping on the bottom layer. Pat always explains how she makes her cards so do hop over to find out how this was done. I did comment that if I'd tried it there would have had to be pencil guidelines for fear of me stamping in the far corner!

I know that I frequently pick cards made by Liz (and a few other folk), and it's usually because they have a brilliant idea that's too good not to share. This card above is a case in point, lots of pretty snippets, punched using what I think is a 1" Woodware House punch (busy trying to finalise buying buy one of those plus one as a future prize once I finish this post - but do beware ladies if you can't wait for the chance and go looking. Amazon UK are selling them at more than double the price I've found elsewhere - on The Stamp Hut HERE - so do your homework first!). Then the houses were beautifully popped along a wavy line just like a meandering street - and finished off with a perfectly placed sentiment. Love it!!

I chose Andrea's card because it's absolutely beautiful of course, but also because of her neat little trick of using the embossing folder at an angle. Something I've never thought to do but it's gonna make me look at my embossing folders in a whole new light. It makes for a really elegant card IMHO.

I recently showed a card, made by Carol, which used snippets to create a mosaic effect. And now, Carol's taken it a fantastic step further - I did squeal when I saw this idea. The mosaic was built up on a sticky background and then, once the pieces were in place, Carol sprinkled gold embossing powder over and heated it to create the 'infill/grouting' - how clever is that for an idea then? What a way to use snippets!

And this is my last pick of the week, it's almost 5pm on Saturday afternoon and I've been working on this post for hours now - despite doing the skeleton of it ahead of time.

BUT, I really wanted you to see this brilliant card above, which I am sooooo going to CASE! Our Playmate (and Prefect for this coming week) Eve made it and there are some great ideas/techniques. You should hop over to Eve's for a full explanation but it involved inking up an embossing folder for the brick background and then embossing some card for the flower trough (using a wood/bark embossing folder) and I'm sure I see the SU 'Word Window' punch being at each end piece of the trough. Clever stuff!

Plus, we had a flurry an avalanche of new Playmates, as I mentioned earlier in this post:

Jane, who plays here regularly, and her grand daughter Lara had been making Minions - aren't they cute?! I see a little crafter in the making there Lara :)

I encouraged Carol G to come and play after seeing her brilliant snippets card over at Less is More. The snippets are leftovers from a 'fallout' after doing some die cutting! Great idea too.

I also encouraged Lynne in NI to come and play - she only went and made 30 of these absolutely darling baby announcement cards - having 'chosen a simple design easy to replicate'!

Theresa (Pace) hopped in to show us a few really lovely cards with balloons on - love how the balloons match the paper!

Lilian, who I worked out is a pal of Kathy K's, nipped in for a quick go on the slide and to show us this gorgeous snippets card - really pretty and I love the idea of the bakers twine threaded through the ribbon.

Gail also hopped over from Less is More - I love this card and the way the dramatic balloon(cut from a snippet of Brushos card) really pops against the simple background.

Linda (Crafty Distraction) also hopped over from Less is More with this gorgeous card - beautiful design! Really elegant too.

Maxine was another new Playmate this week,  with a lovely card and such a beautiful sentiment - and there's a second card to see if you hop over to say Hello.

Next was Helen, with a really lovely selection of Christmas cards. Great use of snippets and I was interested to learn that Helen used to join in with the snippets fun when Jules was running it- over three and a half years ago! I can see that Helen could have some snippet busting to do :)

Pauline (Cotnob) whizzed in with a smashing 'I've Moved' card and a great technique. Look at the die cut house that Pauline used - done by sticking snippet strips onto copy paper and then die cutting - how neat is that for an idea?

And finally, this card was made by Taunya - such a lovely die, and see the little birdie in the tree. So cute!

So those are our new Playmates - all 11 of them and it's getting crowded in the Playground, maybe we need to dig a bigger duck pond as well as installing a few more swings :)

Now the draw for the winner of last week's prize of the clouds stencil, hot air balloon die and the Stick-It sheets - and the winner is:

 Lynn  (Lynn's Crafty Corner)

It's absolutely ages since Lynn last won a prize, well over two years in fact. I do have an address for you Lynn but can you either drop me an email or add a comment below to confirm that you haven't moved house since then (April 2013 if my notebook is correct). Thanks!

And I bet you girlies have already guessed what this week's prize is:

Kindly donated by Eve it's a Stampin' Up set called 'Painted Petals', just like she used for her snippets make today. I love these 'layering' stamps - all the more so as they are clear photopolymer and really easy to use. Plus, I'll also send you today's snippets card, made by Eve!

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 8th August. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. Do remember that you should also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

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

Remember that Eve is helping me out this week and will be doing the commenting and also choosing the weekly picks - of course I'll be keeping a little eye open in case I'm needed too :)

Finally, I'm sure a good few of you will have seen this post over at Lynn's Blog (Creative Crafts by Lynn). Basically, Lynn's husband had a stroke a week ago and her post said that she would be back whenever she can - to date no comments have been released by Lynn for publication so it seems that this isn't going to be a quick return by her. I know you'll all join me in sending love, positive thoughts and prayers - for Lynn's husband Jim and also for our playmate at this worrying time.

Di and of course, Parsnip! And, of course, not forgetting Eve!!!!!
x

What? Just one 'Ho!'?

The current challenge over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge is 'Ho! Ho! Ho!', and I do tend to follow challenges a bit literally so there was some scrabbling here for a 'Ho! Ho! Ho' sentiment stamp (of which I have only one little LOTV tag stamp).

So then there was a hunt for Santa image/stamps - bit thin on the ground there as well.

But, the other night, unable to sleep, I turned to the way I find can sometimes send me off to dreamland - lying in the dark idly thinking about different challenges and 'sho nuff' - the image of a NBUS stamp popped into my head. Luckily I remembered it the next morning, managed to locate it and so this card was born:

I used:

- DL white card blank

- a snippet of white card onto which I stamped the 'Stamps Happen - dolly mama's' image called 'Ho', using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink. I'll explain more about the story behind this NBUS stamp underneath this list of ingredients but I do love that it's just got the one 'Ho' :)

- then I coloured the image using Whispers markers plus tickles of clear Wink of Stella on the fur trims

- backed the image with a snippet of SU's 'Certainly Celery'

- before adding the image to the card I just popped some patterned 'Certainly Celery' onto plain backing pieces and added them to the top and bottom of the card to fill in the white spaces

I'm not 100% sure where I got this quirky pre-loved stamp from, I suspect it was either a WOYWW crop or one of the Stash Selling Face book sites. But, as soon as I saw it, she reminded me so much of my hairdresser Jane. I bet you're wondering now about what sort of hair salon I frequent?! I've followed Jane from one salon to another for 20+ years in fact, she's a brilliant stylist, fantastic at cutting and now she has her own small salon which is wacky and such fun. I never know what colour or style her hair will be (purple and pink have featured for sure) - and I'm sure this card will appeal to her sense of humour.

So that's another one for the box, I only made the one as I do suspect there's a limited audience in my circle of friends and family who would totally 'get' this :)

I'd also like to enter this into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for July - where it's always anything goes.

Di
x

'Digging around'

Our next door neighbours' little boy is obsessed with all things to do with 'digger dumper trucks' and such and one of Max's favourite games is moving earth from one flower bed to another - using one of his many toy trucks and JCBs. So, when it came to making his Birthday card, it was a bit of a 'no brainer' really - I found a card almost identical to this one over at Memory Box's gallery, but can't find a name to give credit to:

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank

- olive green Core-dinations backing card as a frame

- pale blue card to build the scene on

- strip of brown Core-dinations card with a 'hole' dug, partly using a SU 'Itty Bitty' punch and then finished off freehand  :)

- a snippet of brown card and a snippet of olive green Core-dinations to die cut two Memory Box 'Arboscello' trees. I then radically 'pruned' the brown tree and just added a few of the leaves from the green tree

- the JCB is a Memory Box die called 'Excavator', die cut using goldy yellow and black card snippets. I just inked over the cab and the upright exhaust using a permanent black marker pen. The little face as suggested by my in-house critic was such fun to do (not!). It took umpteen attempts to add two eyes and a mouth to such a little peach coloured punched circle. In the end I used temporary adhesive to glue a little row of the circles onto my glass cutting mat and then went along adding eyes and noses to them, all using a black fine liner pen - and finally there  was one that was balanced and useable! So much easier than trying to add marks to teeny circles that want to fly away as soon as they're touched

- the clouds were die cut from white card snippets using MFT's 'Cloud Trio' set set

- the name 'MAX' was die cut using a snippet of blue Core'dinations card and Tattered Lace's Every Day Anniversary Alphabet (D695) die set and popped onto one cloud

- the number '5' was also die cut using Tattered Lace's 'Mini Numbers' die set and popped onto the side of the JCB - love these numbers but really they're very small

- added the smaller cloud to the 'scene' using glue and then gently shaped the 'Max' cloud and added it to the card using thin sticky pads

- inked in a little flock of birds freehand using a black fine liner

- final touch, a silver 'Happy Birthday' peel off, bottom right of the card to balance things out - and also 'cos my in-house critic insisted that you can't send a little boy a Birthday card without it having that greeting on :)  

I'd like to enter this card into the current challenge over at Cardz 4 Guyz, where the theme is 'Something beginning with T'. I have on this 'ere card a tree and the beginnings of a trench :) It's my first time playing along with Cardsz 4 Guyz, but I hope not the last - maybe it'll pull me out of the 'girlie cards' comfort zone :)

Di
x

Rudolph Day and Merry Monday

I made a card for two of my favourite challenges:

Rudolph Day - 'Anything Goes'

Merry Monday #167 - 'Hearts'

I did struggle with the 'Heart(s)' theme a bit, then decided to flick through my album of non-Christmas fancy dies. And there looking back at me was a Memory Box 'Bingham Heart' die (a gift from Mo when she was over here visiting the other year - mwah!). I immediately thought 'red flowers', a bit like poinsettias, and off I went:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white linen card blank

- a 6" x 6" layer of white linen card for background, as yet untrimmed at this stage

- snippets of green, red and sparkling silver card from the snippets folder

- then die cut three hearts, one from each snippet, having backed the green card snippet with Stick-It double sided adhesive sheet

- popped the green heart onto the background piece of card, as centrally as possible

- then, one by one snipped off the red flowers and added them on top of the green heart shaped die cut, using a Quickie glue pen

- then I did the same with the sparkling silver stars

- then trimmed the whole piece down to be slightly smaller than the card blank and glued it onto the front of the card. I found it best to do it this way as there's more chance of ending up with the heart centralised :)

- next I popped some teeny clear gems in the centre of each red flower

- finally, a silver sentiment (With Love at Christmas) from Craftwork Cards was added in the centre of the heart, popped on with thin sticky pads

And, trust me, I just knew this would be fiddly before starting out - so I only made the one! Like I often say, I may look daft but I'm not totally stoopid :)

Di
x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 187

Well, I bet this might have some of you flummoxed - 'yes' you did see my snippets card for this week over at Less is More yesterday and also on my blog. This week's challenge over at Less is More is to use snippets and I would be so thrilled if you could try to join in. To be honest, a clean and simple card isn't always easy using snippets - but if I can do it then am sure anyone can. To recap, and to save making another snippetty card for today (me not as daft as I look), this is what I made:

I used:

- 5" x 7" white card blank

- then I stamped the sentiment using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from the 'Good Friends' set by Hero Arts - I do usually stamp sentiments first, purely to save spoiling a finished card which could have taken ages, with a smudge or whatever :) And it IS straight I promise, it's the photo that's 'on the wonk'!

- next I masked off a panel across the card using Scotch removable tape, plus some Post-its for good measure, before adding clouds using a duster brush, Tim Holtz 'Tumbled Glass' ink pad and an A6 stencil by Dutch Doobadoo called 'Clouds'. It's fine to use this stencil on bigger cards, just remember not to go right up to the side edges before moving it across a bit

- then came the snippets fun :) I first of all die cut the balloon from a snippet of black card using a fabulous Joanna Sheen Signature die called 'Hot Air Balloon'. I'd backed the black card with 'Stick-It' adhesive film which did make the whole process much easier. I then stuck the balloon onto the cloud panel - my measuring had worked a treat as I wanted the gondola itself to be against the white background rather than the sky

- next I lined up six little snippets of card and backed them with 'Stick-It' adhesive film. They were literally just little strips of snippets so I did have to take great care to make sure I cut and lined up them properly when cutting out the little panels, one by one, sigh :( Never choose the easy route of course!

And here's a tip - after I'd stuck the black outline die cut of the balloon onto the card front, but before adding the coloured panels - my OCD kicked in. Even the microscopic width of the cut around each panel could have meant some white card peeking from behind - so I inked around the inside of each panel with a black Whispers marker! It made the visual lining up of the die cut panels much trickier I must admit, but with the aid of a really strong pair of specs and my daylight lamp it was feasible and of course when properly lined up they do sort of 'slot down' into place :) And no 'white bits/bikini marks' as they say :)

And it was also a special Birthday for Chrissie over at Less is More, she's celebrating being 70 years young, which made it all the more exciting :)

OK, back down to earth (pun totally intended!) and here are this week's Playground Picks - and I've had to limit my choice this week. After the Less is More post went live yesterday it was mayhem here, I really was blown away by how kind everyone has been about my GD spot - mwah!! And, as the icing on an already  luscious cake, my 'Graduation card' made it into the top five over at The Allsorts Challenge - everything seemed to come along at once:

Shaz in Oz made this fabulous card to show us, I especially love the gold embossed panel - looks so rich and just perfect for the clockwork theme. And a perfectly designed card I'm sure you will agree.

Isn't this just the cutest norwhal ever (they're also known as 'The Unicorn of the Ocean'). Wonderful watery background and if you look closely at it you'll see that April used a really neat trick for the circular bubbles - the end of a sponge dauber and a marker dipped in white ink. My guess is that it's the hollow opposite end to the sponge itself that April used - very clever!

Now this image above is just the tip of the iceberg! ScrAPamondo scampered into the Playground and brought an amazing mini album - crammed full of wonderful detail and using up many, many snippets. This is the cover - and you really do need to hop over and see how the cat was cleverly created from a modified Sizzix die cut.

And finally, this was one of Sazzle Dazzle/Sarah's fabulous snippets cards made for Chrissie over at Less is More. I totally love the vibrancy and how clever to die cut the numbers from chevron pieced card stock. Wonderful!

I do hope you understand why I've cut down on the picks a bit this week - there were loads more I'd have loved to include, given the time. Remember, the thumbnails are still on last week's Playground post for you to check out.

And we had one new playmate this week too:

Dana brought this super card to show. Now, Dana is also a relatively new blogger with just a handful of followers, so it would be brilliant if you could hop over to say 'Hi' - and no doubt frisk her for sweeties whilst there! I did giggle, like quite a few people who come to play for the first time, Dana admitted to 'stalking' the Playground for a while.So glad you finally joined in!

And onto the draw for last week's prize, which was the Just Inklined 'Tutu Cute Washing Line' stamp - and our winner is:

Mary Anne

I still have your address honey and will take a trip to the Post Office and send the stamp off this week.

Now let's see the prize for this coming week, which is all connected to my Less is More Snippets card:

And we have a Dutch Doobadoo 'Clouds' stencil, a Joanna Sheen Signature die called 'Hot Air Balloon' - plus a packet of A5 sized Stick-It sheets to make fiddly die cutting and sticking easier - all the same as I used on my snippets card above.

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 1st August. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. Also, if you already have or aren't really interested in part of the prize but still would like to play for one or two items - please say so and if your number is picked as the winner then I'll do a second draw for the rest of the items. However, the prize IS for all three items unless I'm told otherwise in a comment. Do remember that you should also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

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

Finally, remember that it's Rudolph Day over at Scrappymo's - you have until the end of July to enter, and the prize is a fabulous Memory Box 'Merry Christmas' die.

Di and of course, Parsnip!
x