Oopsie - the Christmas Tree fainted!

One of my favourite photos that was doing the rounds ages ago is a decorated Christmas tree lying on its side, with a very guilty dog sat beside it. The caption was - 'Thank goodness you're home - the Christmas tree fainted'. It still tickles my odd sense of humour!

Over the weekend I used the fourth and final puppy image from the MFT 'Happy Pawlidays' set of stamps to make this Christmas card:

I used: 

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

- image from MFT's 'Happy Pawlidays' stamp set, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and coloured with Pro markers

- die cut a sheet of paper from Whimsy's 'Blurry Flurries' paper pack using a die from the Lil' Inkers 'Stiched Rectangles' set of dies

- then die cut an almost complete circle from the upper left hand side for the image - using a die from a The Works set called 'Stitched Circles'. Would have preferred a circle die which cut the stitching around the edge of the patterned paper and not just the drop out piece but hey-ho, too late!

- glued the patterned paper layer onto a snippet of baby blue pearlescent card which I'd trimmed to be a bit bigger than the patterned layer

- then glued the tree and ornaments in place - adding the 'innocent' puppy using thin sticky pads

- then, die cut the MFT 'Pawlidays' sentiment using a die from a set of stamps and matching dies by Poppystamps called 'Gilded Christmas Wishes' - and popped it in place using thin sticky pads

- added some clear Wink of Stella to the baubles and tops of the red bulbs as well as some gold Wink of Stella to the star on the 'fainted' tree

- finally, added clear glossy accents to the light bulbs - which needless to say hasn't been picked up by the camera, nor has the Wink of Stella shimmer, sigh

BTW, I never risk adding Glossy Accents directly from the bottle to cards, the result of bitter experience. I always squeeze a blob onto a scrap of paper and pick it up from there in smaller blobs to use, with a fine pointed paintbrush kept just for Glossy Accents, The bristles have solidified over the years yet it's so easy to use. 

Have really loved playing with the MFT Happy Pawlidays set of stamps and dies. It's rare that I find myself using almost every single item in a big set of stamps. I only missed using some of the sentiment stamps. A good reason to have another play sometime! 

 

 

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #63 - 'Pawfectly Pawsome' - reminder

Jumping in with a reminder that we're halfway through the current Christmas Kickstart Challenge HERE - where I'm delighted to be Jo's Guest Designer. It's one of my favourite challenges and always a pleasure to join in with the fun. ☺ The current theme is one for everyone - 'Perfectly Pawsome' - which can also include not only cats and dogs but also hamsters (hello Darnell!), mice (think Penny Black folks!) and any other creature with paws.

So, I made another card, admittedly using the same base stamp and die set (different image of course!), as I did for my GD card:

I used: 

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

- images from MFT's 'Happy Pawlidays' stamp set, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- did a lot of stamping using the same set all at once and had already die cut all the images using the matching dies and then coloured them all in at one sitting, using Pro markers

- then die cut the sentiment circle from Tonic Mirror card called 'Fire Stone Red' and set it aside before also cutting the same sentiment circle from a snippet of plain white card. The die I used is having its first outing and is made by MFT - called 'Merry Christmas Circle Frame' - I also set the white sentiment aside as I had a leetle plan in mind

- then, trimmed a piece of 'grey stars' paper from the 'Dovecraft 'Back to Basics - Monochrome' paper pack - doing my best to make sure that the stars were even along all the edges

- trimmed a piece of  Tonic 'Fire Stone Red' Mirror card to form a narrow border around the 'grey stars' paper'

- glued mirror card and grey stars paper onto the card front

- then positioned the inner circle from the sentiment I'd cut from white card into the centre of the stars paper panel on the card front, using Collall glue

- added the 'Fire Stone Red' sentiment circle around the white circle - using a glue pen

- then just glued the image in place onto the white circle, rather than using sticky pads, using a glue pen 

Again, no sparkle was added. I do so love the Tonic mirror card - they do quite a few different shades of red, so it's much easier to match up if you use red when colouring an image. My dream would be to win free run of their warehouse! With a huge lorry waiting to bring all the lovely goodies home of course!

Many thanks once again to Jo for inviting me to be a Guest Designer over at the Christmas Kickstart Challenge and I'd really love it if you would come along and join in with the challenge - this is the LINK. It's still open until the end of the month so you have plenty of time.

Allsorts Challenge #680

The current challenge over at Allsorts is 'Any stamped image' - right up my street! 

After making my DT cards for Jo's Christmas Kickstart challenge, which is HERE - I had some doggie images left over to play with - so I made this card for Allsorts:

I used: 

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

- image from MFT's 'Happy Pawlidays' stamp set, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink, die cut using the matching die then coloured using Pro markers

- die cut the sentiment circle from a snippet of white card and a further one (for the centre circle) from Tonic Mirror card called 'Fire Stone Red'. The sentiment die is by MFT called 'Merry Christmas Circle Frame'

- trimmed a piece of the 'Fire Stone Red' Mirror card to act as the first layer on the card front and glued it in place

- found a snippet of Neenah 'Desert Storm' card and embossed it using a Darice 'Paw Print Background' folder

- trimmed the embossed piece so that a fairly narrow border of red would show and then glued it onto the front of the card

- positioned the white sentiment circle to the bottom right of the card then added the red mirror card circle - using a glue pen

- then stuck the sweet little image in place using thin sticky pads

- added a couple of pale blue baubles to hide a smudge of red Pro marker add a bit of contrast

- added the sentiment which I'd stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' onto a snippet of white card. None of my banner dies fitted properly so I used a longer die from the MFT 'Stitched Fishtail Flag STAX' set of dies. Tip: Just die cut the strip to the whole length making sure you have the V-shaped end of the die where you want it to be. Replace the die, settling it into 'notches of die cut stitches' at the length you want and run it back through your machine to die cut off the excess, leaving you with a nicely finished stitched straight end

- I added a tickle of clear Wink of Stella to the hat trim. pom pom and the pale blue baubles - just because I felt like it!

One really useful tip I picked up from Jennifer McGuire is that she always uses a T-square when adding items to cards,to make sure they're level. Sentiments and uneven levels are my downfall and since the logic of this this finally clicked into my brain - my T-square is now always out on my desk ready for action. It's been a bit of a game changer for me!

I'd also like to enter this card into Darnell's current NBUS #39 challenge for June - HERE. The MFT 'Merry Christmas Circle' die has been waiting to come out and play for ages - along with the paw prints embossing folder!

However, my basket of NBUS goodies never seems to decrease in size - bad me!

Rudolph Days Challenge - January 2022

Gosh, I did wonder if I'd make it over to ScrappyMo's Rudolph Days Challenge this month - plus some others listed further down. However, despite having lost the plot by embarking on a batch bake of 12 similar cards, I got there in the end!

My favourite image is on the top single card with the upside down elf. However, I loved the stamp set so much, I did two of each of the six images and used the same sentiment stamp for each one. Although the set does come with a selection of other sentiments to choose from.

I used:

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

- stamped the different images, all from MFT's 'Christmas sELFies Stamp' set by Birdie Brown, onto white card and coloured with Pro markers

- die cut the aperture panel using a Lil'Inkers 'Stitched Rectangle' die and then die cut the aperture for the image using MFT's 'Peek a boo Square Window' die

- then stamped the sentiment underneath the window - using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink. Thank goodness for the Misti as well!

- added the image panel to the back of the aperture using red line tape

- cut some card 'frames' from red, olive and pale blue card - just very slightly larger than the die cut aperture panel

- glued the image panels onto the 'frames' and then onto the card front

Ha, written out like that it seems so quick and easy but there was a lot of matching Pro markers to the coloured card, careful measuring, placing the aperture die, sentiment - etc. etc. 

I then resisted the urge to add some googly eyes to some of the images - there would have been tears and a tantrum here if I'd spoiled them with stray glue at that stage of the game! 

I'd also like to join in with the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge (at last I made it!) - Anything goes with the option for using a stencil . No stencil B, but at least I'm playing along ☺

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #34 for January - it was the first outing for the set of MFT stamps, although I've had them for a while

Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge # 579  - Anything Goes with the option of using a sentiment. Tick!

The Cutie Pie Challenge - Clean and Simple (unless you decide to make 12 of course!)

Double D - Blue and white (option Winter)

Peace on Earth Christmas #8. The Inspiration Board includes a tree with blue ornaments and of course my little elfin friend is dangling a blue ornament

Crumbs, that's a record for me I'm sure - seven challenges in one go! And all run by people I consider to be amongst my lovely friends too. My one regret is that I just haven't had time to join in with Jo's Christmas Kickstart challenge with colours of the rainbow - those pesky cards above took me days! Promise I'll be there next month Jo!

Penguin parade!

Determined to enter into this month's 'Let's Squash It' challenge, open until the end of the month, I had a little play the other day. The theme is to use a Christmas embossing folder and stamps - and this is what I came up with:

The light here was dreadful when I took the photo, but needs must when the devil drives as they say.

I used:

- 5" x 5" white card blank, side opening

- piece of white card stock, embossed using Crafts Too's 'Snowflake Banner' embossing folder - as I wanted to stamp my image and sentiment directly onto the card and it's the only Christmas folder with a plain centre panel that was suitable here

- then trimmed the original A6 embossed piece right down to 4" x 4" - leaving a border of snowflakes around the edges

- next stamped the penguin and sentiment onto the embossed piece of card using the Misti, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and stamps from Clearly Besotted's 'Let it Snow - CBSLE470' set of stamps. I made six cards in total, two of which are repeats of a couple of the hats.

- stamped a selection of hats and then coloured the penguins and hats using Pro markers

- then fussy cut the little hats ready to begin assembling the card

- trimmed a silver mirri card background 'frame' to an eighth of an inch bigger all round than the image panel and glued them together using Collall All Purpose glue

-then glued that panel onto the card front, using Collall again

- added the little hats using a Zig glue pen

- after dithering I decided against adding white fuzzy fun flock to the hats as I just liked them as they are, left plain. Plus, being a bit OCD, I worried that the two shades of white (the fun flock and the background) wouldn't be exactly the same. I know, I know - need to get out more!

I was mooching around Clearly Besotted's website recently and this set of penguin stamps popped up in their clearance section. It doesn't have matching dies but fussy cutting the little hats was fun anyhow. The stamp set seems to have disappeared altogether now from Clearly Besotted, I possibly got the very last one - sorry. I wonder if it's because penguins don't live at the North Pole after all Jane? ☺ Clearly Besotted have also stopped adding matching dies to their new stamp releases which is such a shame IMHO. 

 

Apart from the Let's Squash It challenge -

and as it's a first outing for the 'Let it Snow' stamp set I can add this into Darnell's NBUS challenge#20 HERE.

Another six for the 'Christmas box of cards' and, apart from making a few more IF I have time, that's it for the moment as time is ticking on. The rest will be charity cards. Just need to write and post them all now!

On Wednesday morning I set to and for the first time ever made a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, even though we don't celebrate the day over here, I thought it would be fun to make. Wow, so easy if you cheat and use a bought pastry case from M&S! It smells and tastes absolutely gorgeous and  the 'two-legged' mouse, aka Len, loves it - as well as the leftover filling which I baked in a Pyrex dish - and neither of them ended up with cracked surfaces either. Nom, nom.

'We'll be gnome for Christmas'

That's one of the 'punny' sentiments in a NBUS set of stamps and dies that I cracked open to make six of these cards a couple of weeks ago, before the shoulder incident:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank

- layer of SU 'Real Red' card, cut to an eighth of an inch smaller all round than the card blank and glued to the card front

- a 'scenic' background, one eighth of an inch smaller all round - trimmed down from a KanBan scene in the 'Christmas Wobblers' pack of pre-printed backgrounds and glued on top of the red layer

- the little gnomes were bought from Amazon ages ago - mostly as it was the first time I'd seen a little lady gnome stamp quite like this one. Stamped using the Misti and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- coloured the two gnomes using Pro markers

- then came time to die cut them and my asses ears went up! The set of matching dies only has dies for the two other gnomes, which I'd decided against using (as well dies for a toadstool house, signpost and circle for the 'pom pom')!!

- so I had to set to and fussy cut them using small scissors - whilst quietly grumbling to myself then glued the two gnomes in place. Discovered I was one male gnome short and everything had been packed away (so one card in the set of six has just a little lady gnome and a slightly different layout)

- by this time I was VERY just a tad fed up so I skipped using any of the sentiments from the stamp set and dug out a Craftwork cards 'white on black pre-printed' circular sentiment which I snipped the little retaining 'pips' from and then ran a black Whispers pen around the edge to cover the white edge core at the edge

- glued the sentiment onto a background of more 'Real Red' card (punched using a one and a quarter inch SU circle punch) which was then added to the right hand top corner of the card using thin sticky pad snippets

- final touch was to use a SU 'Itty Bitty' round punch to punch out white pompoms rather than use the little die in the set of dies. Then add Stampendous 'Fuzzy Fun Flock' by covering with glue from a glue pen and patting the fun flock onto the pompom

- glued the pompoms in place using Glossy Accents and breathed a sigh of relief

I now have a really uneasy feeling that the dies themselves might have been a starting point for the set of stamps (gulp, hopefully not copyright theft?) and the manufacturer (in China) added the two very cute stamps I used - but didn't design and manufacture extra two dies for those stamps. The set was very cheap, despite a bit of a wait, and it's fun to use although, that'll teach me not to do enough homework before ordering and then using goodies!

The background is seriously chopped down from the original 6" x 9" one. But I knew this when I ordered them - some of them come with really quite childish looking parcels in the snow - as my background did. So that got chopped off straight away and then I nibbled away with the trimmer until I was happy with a final, fairly simple, background. The pack has 36 backgrounds in (6 each of 6 designs) and to be honest saves such a lot of time and effort when you're at the middle of November knowing you just can't make many more cards.

As this is a first outing for a few things (the KanBan backgrounds, the stamps and dies as well as the Fuzzy Fun Flock) I'm adding this into our lovely Darnell's NBUS Challenge #20 HERE.

And of course, I'm adding it into ScrappyMo's Rudolph Days Challenge for November!

Frog on a mono-cycle

Not very often you see a frog (a juggling one at that) on a mono-cycle! I recently thought I'd make a fun Birthday card for Joe, one of Len's great nephews, and this is the result:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank

- slightly smaller (5.25" x 4") piece of plain green card stock - glued onto the card front

- then a very slightly smaller piece of white card which I set to one side for the moment

- stamped a 'cycling frog' onto a snippet of white card - using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from a (pre-loved but NBUS by the first owner and yours truly) set of Stampin' Up 'So Hoppy Together' stamps

- coloured the image using Pro Markers and then trimmed it down before mounting onto another piece of the same plain green card

- I'd already chosen the striped paper from an ancient Capsule Collection pad by Papermania (called Verde) and carefully matched the plain green card as well as the Promarkers to the greens (NB once again the camera lies and his tummy is the same lime green as one of the paper stripes!!)

- from the striped paper, die cut a flag using one of  MFT's 'Stitched Fishtail Flag Stax' dies

- at that point I could work out where to place the sentiment, using the Misti and also just placing the image panel in place without adhering it

- then stamped the sentiment using a stamp from Clearly Besotted's 'Say What?' set of sentiments, the Misti and Memento's 'Tuxedo Black' ink onto the piece of white card I'd set aside earlier

- adhered the fishtail die cut and then the image panel onto the white panel

- glued the white panel onto the green panel 

- final touch - added Josy Rose Hot Nailheads so the frog was now a 'juggling frog on a mono-cycle' (try saying that fast three times), plus three more nail heads just scattered here and there on the card front

Finished!

I'd like to add this into Darnell's current NBUS Challenge #18 as it was a first outing for the frog stamp.

Rudolph Days Challenge - July 2020 and NBUS #16 Challenge

At long last, I managed to finish off the batch of 10 very Christmas similar cards I've been working on intermittently for a few weeks. I knew from the outset what I was aiming for - but soon learned that there were umpteen steps (times 10 of course) to get there!

Here are three of the resulting cards:

For each card I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank

- a piece of white card approximately the same size as the card front, which I covered with double sided adhesive sheet and then covered that with paper from Crafters Delight pads called 'Starry Night' and also 'Watercolour Galaxy', by Leska Hamaty. Bought from Amazon UK HERE - and there's a huge selection to choose from including plaid and many, many other designs.

- I needed to back the papers with card as they are fairly thin and I also wanted to die cut them using a 'Stitched Rectangle' die by Lil' Inkers

- then cut some strips of white card, approximately 2" x 5.5" - which were then die cut along one long edge using a Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside Borders' die

- die cut the sides and bottom using the same stitched rectangle die I'd used for the main panel. Two reasons, to get a perfect match in width and also to continue the stitched edge right around the finished panel

- next stamped the sentiment plus a little heart, using stamps from Lawn Fawn's 'Winter Skies' set of stamps, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a mini Misti

- glued the 'hillside' onto the bottom of the main panel, then glued it to the card front and put it one side for now

- stamped the flying Santa and his reindeer plus an assortment of trees and 'critters' onto white card

- coloured the trees and 'critters' using Pro markers (carefully selected to pick out elements of the sky background where possible) before then die cutting them, and the flying Santa(s), using dies to match the 'Winter Skies' set of stamps

- however, the fun part was coming - I sat and played for ages arranging the little scenes onto the card fronts - then glued them all into place - and went to lie down in a darkened room to recover

What a marathon and I did almost lost the will to live along the way - it seemed endless! But, I'm quietly pleased with the results and didn't drop any major 'boo boo's' along the way. Finding those backing papers was a dream, they're gorgeous!

I'm entering into July's Rudolph Days challenge over at Scrappy Mo's.

And entering into Darnell's NBUS challenge #16 as the papers, stamps & dies plus the hillside dies were having a first outing.

Phew, just squeaked into both challenges at the last minute!

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #380

The weeks seem to be flying past, and we're into a good routine with grocery deliveries, quarantining all post that arrives here, keeping the car batteries charged with solar chargers (as well as giving them a run out once a week to blow any cobwebs away). And, restrictions continue to be eased, which is a hopeful sign that we'll be back to some 'new kind of normal' before too long. So long as the current demonstrations don't scupper that. I try never to get involved in polititcs and such on here - but it does strike me that some people are just 'ripe for a fight' - whatever the cause or opposing views may be.

I'm all set to bake Len's Mum's 'Boiled Fruit Cake' as well as some more cheese scones this coming week. Self raising flour still isn't easy to find but I hit lucky about three weeks ago - phew.

Here's my snippets card for this fortnight - kinda cute:

I used:

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

- a snippet of cloud patterned paper from LOTV's 'Up, Up and Away' paper pad, trimmed to 5.25" x 4" - bit of luck finding that!

- snippets of white card to make the balloons

- stamped three balloons using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and stamps from Clearly Besotted's set of stamps called 'Best Balloons'

- coloured the balloons using Pro markers

- die cut the balloons using the matching set of 'Best Balloons' dies, by Clearly Besotted

- stamped the sentiment from the 'Best Balloons' stamp set, using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and the Misti. I did a test stamp on a little snippet of the 'cloud' paper first, just in case it bled - but it was fine. My 'gut feeling' was that Clair 'Nocturne' would have been a step too 'juicy'

- placed the die cut balloons where I wanted them to go on the cloud paper layer and positioned the 'strings' in place, one at a time, to stamp them directly onto the paper rather than use the matching dies

- glued the cloud panel to the card front - and yes, I did check with a little snippet in case the glue showed through (OCD once again) - shame I positioned the cloud panel not quite in the centre (OCD once again)

- stuck the balloons in place on top of the 'strings' using small snippets of thin sticky pads

This was another fun card to make - the hardest part was choosing just three balloons from the ten balloon stamps in the set! It's a set that I'm sure is discontinued as, looking at Clearly Besotted's on line shop, it's a much smaller set that pops up now under the name 'Best Balloons' with just six balloons and no matching dies. It's in their sale folks if you're super-keen. I would love to know why the girls who run Clearly Besotted switch horses in the middle of a design. I have a feeling it could be connected with their decision not to sell matching dies for the time being. Which is a shame, but I was lucky and bought my stamps with the matching dies ........ before the stamp set was so reduced in options.

I was slightly stuck choosing a sentiment to be honest as a few are for new babies and it's rare I need cards for newborns. So I used 'Party time' rather than use a stamped sentiment from one of my many sets! Generally I would hunt through my other sentiments for a more suitable sentiment.

And needless to say, here's the prize for this fortnight:

It's a Clearly Besotted 'Best Balloons' set of 18 stamps and a matching 'Best Balloons' set of 12 dies (no dies were included for the sentiments). It's a lovely prize and certainly, for the moment, possibly one of the last times you'll be able to get your little paws on a brand new, unopened CB set of stamps with matching dies. I bought it a year or so ago I think and it's been waiting in the toy box for me to be brave and colour those balloons! 

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 27th June. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

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

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

Dudley is still a little pickle - he's taken to digging in the garden and if possible will run indoors with a twig which he then merrily shreds all over the floor! He did that a few minutes ago and, now I've cleaned his mess up, butter wouldn't melt in his mouth - he's on his back on the upstairs landing with all his 'boy bits' on display. Not a care in the World. No photos for now - it's pooch porn!

Dudley is finally sending 'Stinky Monkey the Fourth' to the great monkey cloud in the sky. Basically, Monkey has been sucked and licked almost to death and one ear is now becoming loose (must chop that off ASAP). Len says he'll report me to the RSPCA ..... for cutting an ear off a toy monkey? Sheesh! Amazon literally just arrived as I'm typing with a back up replacement for the new one we'll give him shortly. Yup, we keep at least one totally spare on the back burner all the time. And so far, right from being a wee puppy, Dudley has never questioned how and why he suddenly gets a new and fresh 'Un-stinky Monkey' about every six months or so. Ha, let's hope he doesn't question why he suddenly is taken for a groom in a week's time eh?

I haven't posted off Overseas prizes as yet - but a darling friend did some 'enabling' and I hope to do so shortly. I'll pop a quick post on here when they've been safely posted.

And, as I used a new stamp and die set for the very first time, it means I can join in with Darnell's NBUS #15 challenge HERE - wahoo! You could have knocked me down with a feather duster when my snippets herringbone card popped out as her random pick last time. It did remind me of how lovely it is to be picked - even randomly. A bit like looking through a telescope from the other end when you run challenges :)

Stay safe my lovely friends.

Lots of love from us all - Parsnip, Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #377

Hi again! Things are looking up here - we finally have eggs, yeast, strong flour for bread making and even antibacterial hand soap. I'll keep this short and sweet - running a bit late once again, sigh.

Here's my snippets card for this fortnight, and let's hope the sentiment is 100% right, both in reality as well as metaphorically:

I used:

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

- a snippet of  deep turquoise card stock onto the top portion of which I stencilled some raindrops (badly at that - so badly that with time against me I had to go over the droplets using a white marker pen, which didn't really work very well either). The stencil is by Clearly Besotted, called 'Rainy Day' and I used a Hero Arts 'Unicorn' white ink pad

- trimmed the blue background to 3.75" x 3.75" and set it aside for now

- then stamped umbrellas and flowers using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink, the Misti and stamps from the Clearly Besotted 'April Showers' set of stamps - which is now discontinued and replaced by a very similar set with a couple of additional sentiments added in

- coloured the stamped images using Pro markers

- then die cut the umbrellas and flowers using a set of matching dies. It looks to me as if Clearly Besotted are no longer having dies made to match their newer stamp sets - such a shame as they do work together so well for crafters with dexterity issues

- then I could work out where the stamped wording should go by placing the umbrellas temporarily onto the stencilled panel, using the Misti to place and lift the words onto the lid, removing the umbrellas and then stamping the words

- glued the stencilled panel onto the front of the white card blank, using Collall All Purpose Glue

- added the umbrellas then the flowers, using a Zig glue pen - finished!

I loved making this card mostly as the umbrellas were such fun to colour in rainbow hues (very topical right now!), although given more time I would have scrapped it and started over for a few reasons. I mucked up the rain drops - partly as the lovely stencil wasn't held in place firmly enough so it lifted before I'd applied a decent amount of ink and then I went over the droplets with a white gel pen, which spoilt the effect IMHO. Then I could only really salvage a small panel for the card front, which meant less space to work on of course. It would have been so much wiser to have applied pale blue droplets on a white background in the first place - but I needed to use more than just white snippets so opted for the blue snippet - caught out by my own over zealous interpretation of the rules there as white snippets are perfectly acceptable! (NB I edited this as it originally implied that white snippets don't count - they do, whether left white or coloured over. Sorry for the confusion Liz!). I also wanted to use/showcase all the umbrella images - and I think the end result is too crowded. Not to worry, it does the job :)

I'd seen the set of stamps, with and without the dies, being used in Blogland for some considerable time before I got round to buying them - and even then I sat on them for ages. One of our Playmates uses hers quite frequently and in a much less crowded way than I did. Hope over to Jane W's blog HERE and then just type April into the search box at the top left of her home page and some lovely examples will pop up.

Shame on me for not using them sooner - but it does mean I can enter this card into our lovely Darnell's NBUS Challenge #14 HERE. I do encourage you to join in if you haven't done so already - now is an ideal time to crack open some Never Before Used Schtuff and this current challenge runs to the end of May.

And here is the prize for this fortnight:

The stencil packet is sealed and my own stencil is tucked away again, but here's an image from the Clearly Besotted website so you can see properly what it's like out of the packet:

 

It's Clearly Besotted's Rainy Day stencil with their 'April Showers' set of stamps and matching dies.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 16th May. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

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

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

Dudley is doing fine, still totally free of matts and now allowing me to hold his front legs one at a time to groom them - much easier than the prancing act! Then, to have his 'undercarriage', tummy and such brushed and combed - he's learnt to sit up on his hind legs rather like a bunny rabbit, with his front paws outstretched as if in surrender! It looks really cute - would be so hard to take a photo as I reckon he'd sit back down if I wasn't brushing and fussing him - and I only have two hands - but I'll see if I can manage it sometime soon. Len hasn't seen him doing it yet - looks so, so sweet, but he's easily distracted so Len keeps out of the way when it's 'groom o'clock' each afternoon!

This afternoon's grooming session will be fun - Len just mowed the back lawn and Dudley's favourite game is to roll in the freshly cut grass if he can get away with it! 

Edit: After Dudley got himself covered with little pieces of stray grass, Len had decided to brush him before he came back into the house. Not long after that, Saturday, I'd lifted Dudley onto his grooming spot and remembered to say to Len, who was fetching his basket of grooming tools for me, that he absolutely had to see his latest trick. 'I know already' said Len - 'Dudley sat up like a rabbit in the garden to be brushed so I thought Mama had been teaching him some new moves!'. No secrets in this house! x

Stay safe my lovely friends. It's proving to be a long haul and so many things have had to be cancelled or put on hold for now. Many friends have had to miss Birthday celebrations, holidays and other fun things, as well as being unable to even meet new babies born into their families. Two lots of people I know have had to postpone their Weddings. It's a tough time - but one we will get through with patience and common sense. And the occasional G & T perhaps!

Lots of love from us all - Parsnip, Dudley and of course me,

Rudolph Days April 2020

Well, that came around fast - it's another monthly Rudolph Days challenge over at Scrappy Mo's - and I'm squeaking in at the last minute, it closes today! I made a set of four very similar cards, using a NBUS (never been used schtuff) set of stamps and dies, plus another NBUS die for the sentiment.

That means I can also join in with Darnell's NBUS challenge #13 once again. And, I'm long overdue to join in with Craftyhazelnut's Christmas challenge so am also linking over there. Hi Hazel, remember me?

These are the cards I made, the same idea for each of them but reversed as the llamas are facing different ways:

I used:

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

- stamped four llamas using the image stamps from the NBUS MFT 'Happy Llamadays' set of stamps as well as four sentiments from the set (I stuck to 'Fleece Navidad' as it tickles me so much - geddit? Real wool brings me out in a rash!) - using Memento's 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad and of course the Misti

- coloured the four llamas using Pro markers and die cut them using the matching set of dies

- die cut the sentiments using another NBUS die from the Frantic Stamper 'Stitched Fishtail Banners' set - the dies are 'solid rather than frames with an aperture'  if that makes sense. That's easily got round if you've already stamped your sentiment - just die cut a template from a scrap of card, position that over the sentiment then sit the die into the template aperture (a little wiggle of it will let you know when it's sitting properly) and then run through your machine. I do also use small pieces of removable tape to hold the template in place and then the die itself (OCD once again!)

- backing paper is ancient, from a 12" x 12" sheet called 'Blue Texture with Stars' made by Craft Creations Ltd - long before I found out about 6" x 6" paper pads. Having looked online I'm not even sure they're still trading in the same way, let alone producing gorgeous papers like they used to - such a shame. Interestedly though, I did track down some of Craft Creations original papers to a shop in the USA!

- die cut the backing paper using a die from the Lil' Inkers 'Stitched Rectangles' set of dies

- the snowy hillside was made by cutting 6" x 2" strips of white card and then die cutting the top edge using a wavy die from a Spellbinders 'Curved Borders' set of dies - I need a decent stitched wavy die, the closest one in the set I used is sort of 'dots' which wouldn't sit too well with the other stitched edges (IMHO)

- to make sure they perfectly fitted the bottom of the starry sky die cut layer - and for continuity of the stitched effect - I then used the bottom part of the same Lil' Inkers stitched rectangle die to trim away about half an inch from the bottom of the white 'hillsides' and also the excess from each side at the same time

- used a glue pen to glue the white hillside panel in place at the bottom of the starry sky rectangle

- then used the same Zig glue pen to add the sentiment to each card

- next glued the llamas in place, same pen again

- finally, glued the panels to the card fronts using Collall All purpose glue - four Christmas cards finished!

As I so often do, the inclusion of all four versions is really mostly for my own record. I do think the last llama has the look of an astonished Dudley about his face ☺ x

I'd been eyeing up llama stamps for quite a while and was delighted when this set of Christmas llama stamps and matching dies popped up on a de-cluttering forum on Facebook a week or two ago. Got them, quarantined the package before opening and am so, so pleased with them. They're brand new and never been opened, for just over half what they cost to buy from suppliers right now. I do love a bargain!

The cards were great fun to make and for the first time in ages I really felt as if that lost mojo could well be on the way back - hooray!

Up until now, my focus has been very much on struggling to get grocery delivery slots and also doing some home baking - crafting has been less to the fore. On Monday I baked bread, for the first time in years right from scratch rather than a (naughty me) packet mix. To my amazement I managed to get Canadian very strong bread flour as well as dried yeast from Ocado - so I baked Stottie Cakes - a traditional Northumbrian flat bread - which I'd always shied away from attempting. And, even if I say it myself, they were exactly as I'd hoped - I found the recipe whilst searching on line for 'fadge' (a bread that doesn't use yeast) which I'll also give a try whilst on the baking 'roll'. And the secret ingredient in the Stottie cake bread dough is a tiny amount of white pepper - who knew? My shoulder suffered a bit from 10 minutes kneading plus a good bit of clearing up - but, so, so worth it! Even better than sausage rolls Jane W - I kid you not!

Many, many years ago, when sitting my GCE Domestic Science mock practical exam a few months prior to the 'real' exams, the brief was to cook a Cottage Pie (plus carrots or cabbage as a vegetable I think), and bake a loaf of bread in the allotted time. Come the actual exam it was 'make a Cottage Pie' (so the teacher had hit the nail on the head there in the 'mocks' )...........and no bread at all! I read the brief several times, and turned the sheet of paper over a few times as well to make sure I wasn't dreaming, wearing my school uniform mini skirt, rolled up at the waist - as we did in those days. No bread needed (see what I just wrote there - needed, kneaded). There was almost time to sit, file and polish my nails! And maybe even do a pedicure as well!

Having said all that about food, we might need cranes to lift us out of our sofas when this is all over, snigger. I swear my clothes are shrinking in the wash already. 

 

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #374

I just looked back at my post for the challenge which closed on Saturday - so hard to believe what has happened in the space of just two weeks. It's like a war zone in all the shops around here apparently and people are racing round in a 'red mist of stock-piling madness'.

We can only hope that eventually they have no more space to store stuff. To date Morrisons supermarkets have  decided against specified early morning opening hours for those over 70 and NHS and care workers - because their staff are terrified of the rabid shoppers who will undoubtedly try to cheat their way in, still grab more than their allocation and then proceed to fight with the check out operator. Whatever next - this World has gone crazy.

True example that my friend witnessed on Friday - one guy with five huge pizzas was told he could only have three (still too many IMHO). His belligerent reply? 'They're all different flavours'. The mentality is from one extreme to the other - either people are helping where they can - or they're almost shouting from the lifeboats 'Haul the ladder up, I'm all right Jack'.

Rant over!
 
Here's my snippets card for this fortnight, a nice cheerful one to brighten things up a bit:

I used:

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

- piece of diagonally striped paper from Lawn Fawn's 'Really Rainbow' paper pack, trimmed to teeny bit smaller all around than the card front and glued on top

- snippets of plain white card and a selection of stamps from MFT's 'Happy Hippos', stamped with Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink using a Misti

- coloured the images with Pro markers, picking out colours from the striped paper background

- die cut the images and then worked out what size white back panel I could use and still have a good sized border of stripes 

- trimmed the white panel to size, leaving half an inch all round which would show the striped border

- worked out where to stamp the sentiment and did just that, using one of the many sentiments from the same set of stamps, the Misti and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- added the trimmed white card rectangle to the card front, using Collall All Purpose glue as I'd done with the striped background

- added the little die cut elements using a Zig glue pen

-  drew some fine black lines on either side of the 'tweety pie' bird to give him some movement

- finished off by adding three turquoise sequins, using Glossy Accents

My snippets this week are all white card (the main panel and also the stamped and die cut images) - but that still counts of course. I've had this stamp and die set for absolutely ages, since November 2017, unused. It's been waiting for a special occasion and on Wednesday (25th March) it will be exactly 10 years since I did my very first post on this blog. What a fun time it's been and I never realised how many wonderful friends I would make on my 10 year journey. Friendships that I treasure so much. In the current climate I don't expect to be venturing anywhere near a Post Office but wanted to still celebrate. When I bought my own 'Happy Hippos' I also bought a duplicate set for the toy box - cost me almost £35 at the time (gulp) and worthy of being a celebrations prize!

And here it is - the prize for this fortnight:

The MFT 'Happy Hippos' stamps and matching dies sets. There are so many stamps and dies to play with in so many ways - it's such a fun set and that's possibly why I've hoarded it for so long! Very likely not easily available now in shops. Given more time I'd have used some DI and a cloud template to make the white background into a pale blue cloudy sky - and perhaps had the big hippo floating aloft on his own with his balloons and just a little bird, with the same sentiment. Tons (no pun intended) of ways to use them!

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 4th April. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

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

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

No photo of Dudley this time but a slightly amusing tale, now that I know it ended well. Len came back from walking Dudley on Saturday (today as I was typing this) looking quite shaken - my first thought was that perhaps someone hadn't kept their prescribed 'social distance'. But nope - the palms of his hands were scraped - he didn't show me until he'd given them a good scrub and put some healing gel on. Other than that, and the loss of his dignity, everything else seems to be fine.

Apparently, just as he was picking up a Dudley 'calling card' he tripped and the inside out bag he was holding to collect the poop in meant that his hand inside that bag, and the other hand one, slid along the gravel where he (Dudley) had decided to leave his calling card. So, the 'icky still hot off the press poop' spread a bit like icing and poor Len was mortified. Thankfully, Dudley was the only witness and he didn't have his camera with him.

Once I knew Len was OK I then totally cracked up just thinking what a vision it must have been. Then my tears started and it was a full five minutes before I could gasp out what was tickling my 'amuse core' so much. Thank goodness you didn't do a 'face plant' was all I could gasp - before going back to holding my sides and wailing with laughter. Me evil, me very evil! But also very relieved I hasten to add as the outcome could have been a lot worse. The laughter was actually quite well received and Len joined in - because right now we need whatever laughter we can find. Dudley didn't get the joke needless to say :)

Hope you all manage to steer clear of Coronavirus/Covid-19, it's ramping up here in the South of England and we're in one of the country's hot spots in Hampshire.

Do remember that Wednesday 25th (all things being equal) will be the beginning of ScrappyMo's Rudolph Days Challenge for March!

I'm badly behind with commenting at the moment, it's taking hours to find a delivery slot for groceries and even then, you wait for up to two hours in a virtual queue - and can be unexpectedly thrown out. Thank goodness for windows on PCs etc. so you can flip from one to another!  I'll catch up ASAP with comments and just leave you with this rather sad thought, although it did prompt a wry smile from us both:

Lots of love from us all - Parsnip, Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - #368 - Prize I

Now this is where I think I dropped a bit of a boo-boo - for three reasons. First of all the prize on offer features reindeer, very soon after Saturday's offering of a reindeer stamp. Secondly, a lot of you actually declined the prize on Saturday, sigh, due to already having your own little herds of reindeer residing in your various places where you craft (that 'herd' cracked me up - thanks April, trust you to come up with that one!). Oh, and April also had the bright idea of us showing our snippets mountains so possibly, in a not too far off challenge I just might ask for that from you instead of an actual 'make' - evil snigger here. And thirdly, I actually bought three of the matching stamp and die sets to offer for this prize (plus my own for making a sample) so this place could end up with a herd as well if no-one wants to re-home them!

Here's my card, which I managed to whip up quickly yesterday, still bearing in mind your lovely comments about possibly not doing sample cards - which I might still use as a fall back:

I used:

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

- selected a snippet of paper from those tucked into the back of the Dovecrafts Modern 'Back to Basics Christmas' set of papers, and spied a snippet of SU 'Real Red' card to one side of the desk waiting to be put into the snippets folder so I also used that - didn't trim the paper or card stock but used them at first to match the Pro markers I wanted to use to colour the image

- then stamped a reindeer from the Clearly Besotted 'Jingle Bells' set of stamps, using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- coloured with Pro markers and then die cut using the matching 'Jingle Bells' die

- at that point I could decide where the sentiment from the same set would go - stamped that using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- then trimmed the paper and red card so I had a little red border on one edge and stuck them together using a small tape runner

- then stuck the borders onto the card front, trimming off the overlap at top and bottom once they were adhered

- finally, glued the reindeer in place using a glue pen - finished!

There I was wishing we had some sunlight to take photos - we had it at last and my camera didn't like it much as the colours and the sentiment look rather bleached. Hey, ho!

And here's prize I in the Grand Draw:

It's Clearly Besotted's 'Jingle Bells' stamps and matching die - and there are three to be won!

I bought the stamps and matching dies a little while ago ready for the Grand Draw - and can't find the exact same ones on Clearly Besotted's website. Looks as if they've replaced them with a slighty different version which is still called 'Jingle Bells', same images but with additional sentiments - although no dies are available. Another time I'll play around more, using the other stamps in the set.

I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE along with details of exactly how to join in - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post during this fortnight to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft. Mr Linky closes at 11am on Saturday 4th January so you do need to have added a snippets make by then to be eligible for the draw.

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

It's New Year's Eve tomorrow - we'll be having a quiet time and hoping that the idiots up the road don't let off a barrage of fireworks once again. Dudley grew out of his spell of wanting to sleep wearing his onesie at night but we'll keep one handy as it does seem to soothe him much like a thunder shirt.

He's such a funny little character. He has an evening ritual where he gallops up to his toy box on the landing around 9pm or thereafter and brings 'Stinky Monkey the Third' down for a good wash. Tonight he then galloped back up and brought down part of a deer antler we bought him ages ago. Chewed on that, raised an eyebrow at 'The Trial of Christine Keeler' on the TV - and galloped back up again. By this time Len was in the bathroom getting ready for bed so he didn't see that Dudley had been having a rummage in my waste bin in the craft room and had then brought down part of a torn up envelope for me to admire - and remove from him! Next thing I know, Len wanders down with a handful of pieces of the same envelopes asking what was going on. The little tinker had been laying a paper trail we reckon. Another one of those moments when you look at one another, then at the culprit, then at one another again and just give a wry smile - not a single word was needed!

Love from Parsnip, Dudley and of course me,

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #367

I'm sure many of you know that we got Dudley's results back on Wednesday, late afternoon. I wrote a little post about it HERE, and thank you again for all your lovely and very supportive comments. As you can imagine, the relief is enormous and now we just need him to have the outer stitches removed on Monday (the inside ones dissolve on their own of course) and what we hope is his final check up for this little adventure we've been on. I think he's going to miss wearing his sweet onesie! He's been totally amazing as well as really patient and now we want to just put this behind us and move on, whilst doing regular little checks of course. As a few of you have said, knowing your dog's body and then acting fast if you find something untoward is certainly what helped with a happy outcome in Dudley's case.

So, happy thoughts here and we're finally feeling a bit like Christmas is in the air!

Here's my snippets (very un-Christmassy) card for today:

I used:

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

- snippets of white card - and I have  tons of those - trimmed to the same size as the card front

- then die cut the aperture in the piece of card for the front, using an MFT Peek-a-boo Window' square die - placed that piece of card onto the card front and lightly penciled in the frame I could position the stamp I wanted to use for the image

- before setting the front panel to one side I used the Misti to line up a sentiment from the Clearly Besotted 'Hot Stuff' set of stamps and stamped it using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

 - then stamped the image I wanted to use onto the card front itself, within the square I'd penciled in earlier

- rubbed out the pencil marks and coloured the little 'newly hatched dragon' using Pro markers

- because the Pro markers had bled very slightly through to the inside of the card front I covered that with another snippet of white card, trimmed to slightly smaller than the card front

- time to assemble the shaker element. On the reverse of the front panel I ran some red line tape right around the die cut aperture, then right around the sides of the panel and a couple of strips across as well

- working from the bottom I added the panel to the card front, leaving the top of the shaker punch aperture, the very top of the card and also one side open - don't ask me why I didn't put the shaker bits into the punch and gently place the card front straight on top, hindsight being 20/20 vision this might have worked better but I didn't want it to be 'wonky'. The result of me choosing this tortuous route is explained below

- used some Lucy's Card 'Little Things' 'Bubblegum' sequins for the shaking element - I almost drowned the poor little dragon - note to self, use a LOT less another time!

- due to a bit of an issue I had to rootle though my ribbons and add a  knotted length of ribbon down one side of the cards - not really by choice but there you go!

I've had the lovely set of stamps for over a year now, and the aperture die and shaker elements almost as long! For some reason I didn't get matching dies - either they weren't available or I was still on the fence about dies which leave a white margin around the images when they're die cut, I'm fine with them now! And of course have also had the same as a duplicate waiting in the Playground toy box.

Lack of concentration thinking about Dudley meant that I managed to get a couple of really tiny clear sequins trapped in between the card front and the die cut layer with the shaker pouch in place as I was filling it. Grump, grump! Also, it showed all the more as I'd picked a snippet of quite thin white card stock for the die cut front. What an eedjit, lesson for the future there, sigh.

Of course this 'boo-boo happened right at the  very end and I just didn't have the heart to tackle another card - so found a snippet of lilac ribbon and tied it in a knot, around and running down the side where the teeny sequins were trapped to cover up the two very slight bumps. Job done - although I'd have preferred a more CAS card, without the ribbon.

I love Lucy's sequins mixtures, but every single packet I have is discontinued, I think Lucy moves onto new mixtures very frequently. Sequins are easy enough to find but her mixes are quite special - Simon Says Stamp used to stock them I think. In the UK you can buy directly from Lucy.

And here's the prize for this fortnight:

A Clearly Besotted 'Hot Stuff' set of stamps (can be used for babies, friends and Birthdays with the sentiments provided in the set), an MFT Peek-a-boo Window' square die and a packet of 10 MFT Square Shaker Pouches (quite why they call them replenishments I don't know - possibly as they're 'consumables'). And it's all one prize - sadly no sequins though, explanation above.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 21st December. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

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

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

The little hedgie seems to have gone into hibernation - we haven't picked it up on CCTV footage for a good few days now. I hope it survives the Winter and we'll still be keeping watch.

And just a quick 'heads up' - I'll be running the Grand Christmas Draw again this year. The format will be the same as it always is and it will run from Sunday 22nd December, closing on Saturday 4th January. During that time you have to enter just one snippets make to cover the whole fortnight as usual, it also keeps a level playing field, but you'll need to comment on each individual prize that you would like to be in the draw for as they appear day by day - and there are a LOT of prizes to be won. So, as I keep saying, you will need to comment over here if you want to be in the draw. And do try to comment as the days go by - not all at the end. I know that we have busy family times over the festivities so I will allow some leeway of course! Comments show up on Blogger's dashboard in date and time order so it's really easy to spot a 'cluster' of comments from one person all made at the same time so you would be found out. This is to be fair to people who do take the time to hop in regularly.

No photo of Dudley this time round - he's fast asleep right now and I don't want to disturb him.

Edit: Huge apologies! First of all this post was still marked as draft so it didn't publish on time - and secondly, I totally forgot to add Mr Linky! It's all sorted out now - just shows my state of mind recently!

Lots of love from us all - Parsnip, Dudley (woof, woof!) and of course me,