Sunday Snippets - Streamlined Sprig

1Not too long ago I spotted one of my super-enablers (our much loved Darnell) using a die set that I fell in love with and HAD to have. Fortunately, despite being a USA Altenew product, it's stocked by a UK supplier. Here's my card and the leftover snippets:

I used:

- white card blank, trimmed to 5'5" x 4.25", tent style

- a piece of the same white cardstock - I use Craft UK card blanks ( just under 6" square) and cut them down to size for most of my card blanks then, when I want matching front panels, I use half a card (ie. the front or back) to play with .... and keep the other piece for the future of course

- die cut the white panel using a couple of dies from the Spellbinders 'Hemstitch Rectangles to form the edging pattern, I used the 'Venise Lace' set of dies as it looks a little Art Deco to me, then set it to one side

- next came the flower spray - I used a gorgeous set of Altenew dies called 'Streamlined Sprigs' to die cut the main stem and outlines from a snippet of Tonic 'Black Velvet' card stock

- next, used a couple of snippets of Lindy's Magical Shakers pieces, made way back in April, to die cut the flowers and the leaf

- glued the outline and the flowers and leaves together

- time to stamp the sentiment, using a VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' inkpad and a sentiment stamps from Woodware's 'Deco Sayings' set - a real favourite of mine

- used the floral sprig to position the sentiment using a medium sized Misti then stamped the sentiment in the bottom left hand corner

- then added the Altenew floral sprig using glue pens

- added a slightly smaller piece of thin foam sheet behind the front panel

- glued the front panel to the card front - I used Collall All Purpose glue for this and the previous step

- finished! 

You may wonder what I do with so many unwanted 6" x 6" envelopes when I merrily chop down the UK Craft card blanks. I do chop them up to refill my 5.75" x 4" 'pad' of paper slips - and also give Len a wadge for his little 'notes to self' that we all seem to do. Mindlessly chopping is truly very therapeutic!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

- Darnell's NBUS challenge #66 - HERE - the Altenew 'Streamlined Sprig' die set had its first outing

- Allsorts Challenge 797# - HERE - under the 'Anything goes' option. The proper theme is Autumn Colours - nice one ladies!

Dudley Pupdate: We've had a fairly normal week here - whatever 'normal' is of course! It's rained, a LOT! So Dudley (the water hater supreme) has resisted venturing out, a LOT. We've gently 'toed him into the rain'. A bit when he was obviously crossing his legs and also when clenching his nether regions! Sometimes, I think a 'normal' dog who skips round in the rain and loves puddles would be great - but, not half as funny as Dudley 'Rain Avoidance Antics' I suspect! I also suspect that Dudley would hang on for the toilet when it's raining until his eyes pop out!

Remember, the results from Challenge #485 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE. 

Do come and play with us in the Snippets Playground - the more, the merrier! Dudley is willing to hold one end of the skipping rope!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - Van Gogh's World washi tape

An advertisement popped up on either Facebook or Instagram, totally randomly, for washi tape. So, as you do, I bought the box that was advertised as it features one of my very favourite painters. I had myself some real fun making up a batch of washi tape panels, all were made using snippets of plain white and white/pale ivory linen card leftovers. The card is trimmed away so any white or cream background card would do really. Then I rustled up some cards a few days later, this is the main one:

I used:

- white DL card blank, tent style

- used a snippet of Tonic irridescent mirror 'Inca Gold' card to die cut the sentiment using the MFT Die Versions Corner Concepts 'Happy Birthday' die

- the panel I chose to use is from the IEBEE company, based in China, and it's the widest washi tape in the 'Van Gogh's World' set of 36 washi tapes at three inches wide - more about the tapes below **

- made sure of the sides were trimmed nice and straight and then glued the die cut Happy Birthday to the back of the top left corner using a meduim nibbed glue pen

- just needed to place the panel with the sentiment onto the card base to work out how much to trim from the right hand end

- trimmed the end and stuck the panel onto the card front using thin sticky pads and the usual glue stick trick

- finished card number one!

- on a roll, I made three more following the same principle (photos are below) - super quick to make and I love the results

** A little bit more about the washi tape itself. The box contained 36 rolls of washi tape for £18 - that's 50 pence per three metre reel of tape! The number of rolls does vary depending on the design (they have FAR too many to choose from, all of them gorgeous) as does the price of course, It did take little while to arrive here but the packaging is fabulous, a really sturdy display box. Some of the tapes are gilded to add to the glamour! For accents I did sometimes add Altenew's narrow gold washi tape at the edge(s) BTW. The Van Gogh washi tape came from IEBEE and this is the link to the store home page - I'm not affiliated in any way, just a very happy customer. They have a huge variety of journalling and card making goodies - I particularly like the 'Monet's Garden' washi tape set as well as the 'Butterfly Garden' and know that Liz would love their 'Sunny Blooms' washi tape, loads of gorgeous sunflowers there! The tape is a joy to use and sticks really well. Mind you, I'll have to live until a very ripe old age to stand any chance of using even one box of it it up! But, at 50p per roll - who can complain, not me for sure. BTW, postage is free over £40 - I did pay £3.99 postage but, considering what I actually got, it was still money very well spent.

Here are the other cards I've made so far, all using the same basic design but more than one strip of washi and edged using Altenew's narrow gold washi tape:

My leftover gold snippets from the sentiments - man, I am SO mean with mirror card and keep the tiniest scrap! 

 

I'd like to enter my main card into the following challenges:

- Darnell's NBUS challenge #67 HERE - the Van Gogh washi tape is NBUS needless to say!

- Allsorts Week #796 HERE - the card has a sentiment and also is 'anything goes' if my sentiment isn't enough

Dudley Pupdate: I haven't had a chance to video Dudley spinning for his bedtime treat - sorry. Right now he's absolutely full of beans the minute we stir in the morning - leaping all over us when it's time to get up and play! I sometimes wonder if he gets lonely and is sitting beside the bed literally willing us to wake up! He usually goes out into the garden for a quick wee, then does several celebratory zoomies ............... before coming back indoors to see what there might be for breakfast! I swear, he's ruled by his tummy!!

Remember, I've just kicked off a new challenge over in the Snippets Playground HERE. 

Hope to see you on the swings - my mojo went off for a fairly prolonged walkabout recently but seems to be back and firing on all cylinders at the moment - hooray!

Love as always, Dudley Dog and me

Sunday Snippets - Birthday Celebrations!

Very recently a special friend celebrated her Birthday and this is the card I made for her: 

I used: 

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

- a snippet of Tonic pearlescent 'Luna Silver' card, trimmed to 5.25" x 4" and set to one side

- a snippet of white card trimmed to 5" x 3.75", with a round stitched aperture die cut using Marianne's set of dies - CR1630

- next step was to stamp a sentiment - I used a Delicata 'Silvery Shimmer' ink pad and a stamp from Penny Black's 'Special Thoughts' set. Originally I'd planned to then clear emboss the stamped sentiment but the match to the pearlescent  silver backing card was so spot-on that I decided not to risk ending up with too shiny a look

- amongst my more precious snippets I'd been saving a lovely embossed piece of white card, used by a friend  to protect a card she sent to me some time ago - so I backed the aperture I'd cut into the white layer with it

- and then the fun began! I die cut two layers from snippets of SU's 'Certainly Celery' card using a die by Jeannie's Art called 'Butterfly Touch - Butterfly Corner'. I'd had the die for some time and this was a first play as I'd half suspected it would be tricky - and I was right as the die cuts seemed to have a life of their own when I was gluing the layers together!

- used snippets of some Lindy's Magical Shaker backgrounds to die cut the teeny little butterflies in pink and lilac and glued them on top of the butterflies that are part of the main die - wham! Suddenly the die cut really came alive

- I added three butterflies to the bottom right hand corner of the card front to add more balance and popped a teeny little flat backed silver gem onto each butterfly

- final step was to layer the finished white panel onto the 'Luna Silver' one,  then add it to the card front using narrow foam strips (Amazon sell them HERE) and of course I used the 'glue stick trick' 

- finished!

Apologies, I did use a lot of snippets, all are mentioned in the words above but totally forgot to take a before or after photo of them!

I'd like to enter this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #61 HERE, the Marianne set of dies was having a first outing

Dudley Pupdate: Nothing stunning to report, with the recent reasonable weather Dudley is actually enjoying his walks rather than tiptoeing around puddles! Bring on the sunshine. 😀

Sarn has just kicked off a new challenge over in the Snippets Playground HERE. Hope to see you on the swings, after last week's St George's Day pantomime, complete with Dudley dressed up as a fire breathing baby dragon, I dread to think what sh'e got planned for this week!! 

Love as always, Dudley Dog and me,

Sunday snippets and a Birthday Celebration card

During a slightly busy week I made a last minute snippets card for today - and this is the result, sorry no snippets piccies this time - I emptied my waste bin earlier, sigh:

I used:

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

- snippet of Tonic Pearlescent 'Majestic Gold' card trimmed to 0.25 inch smaller than the card blank and set aside for now

- snippet of green mottled paper from my snippets basket, which I die cut using the Simon Says Stamp 'Circle of Leaves' die

- then die cut a circle, using a Tonic Studio's circle set,  from a snippet of cream hammered card I'd trimmed to 5" x 3.75" to form the main top layer. I really loved that there was a smidgen of difference between both circles as it forms just the whisper of a green inner edge 

- next I trimmed and glued the die cut leaves panel behind the circular die cut cream panel - rather 'tricky woo' to centre it I admit

- then glued the cream layer onto the gold one, which was already on the card

- then die cut the sentiment using a die with no name, but so like Poe script, using snippets of snippets of cream and 'Majestic Gold' card 

- glued the gold layer on top of the cream layer to form a more robust sentiment

- added the sentiment using a glue pen 

- topped the main image off with a few sprinkles of small clear self adhesive  clear gemstones - finished!

I'd like to enter this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #58 HERE - the 'Circle of Leaves' die was having its first outing.

Dudley Pupdate: A friend and I went out for a trip on Thursday morning and when we came home and were trying to relax with teas and coffees, Dudley was anxious beyond belief. We think that in his mind that I was just calling in to say 'Hello' and would be off out again! He settled down more as less as soon as my lovely friend, who he does bond with, set off for home. WAY to shame your Pawrents Dudley Dog! 

We bought a new throw for our bed - it's very soft and velvety and Dudley absolutely loves it! I lost him on Friday evening and found him curled up on our bed, in the dark, having forty winks on the throw!

Very importantly, the results of Challenge #470 are now published HERE. 

Do please come and play in Sarn's current 'Celebration' challenge over in the Snippets Playground!

Love from both of us,

Di and Dudley xxx

Sunday Snippets - and a Birthday card

When this publishes, we'll be almost ready to leave 2023 behind and see what 2024 brings with it! New Year's Eve has never been a favourite celebration for either of us and we'll just have some homemade soup for eats, with nibbles to follow as we have a quiet evening and watch the Thames Firework Display on TV. Bliss - with Dudley curled up with us of course.

This coming week, one of our little neighbours will celebrate his 7th Birthday - so I whipped up a quick snippets card for him, which is either a caterpillar or a centipede with invisible legs ....... perhaps it's a 'caterpede'?  😅 

The leftover snippet pieces!

I used:

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

- piece of the same white card, trimmed to 5" x 3.75" and set aside for now

- a piece of rust coloured sparkly card, sent to me by a lovely friend, trimmed to 5.25" x 4" and glued onto the card front

- then glued the 'previously trimmed and set aside' white panel onto the card front and rolled up my sleeves to make the 'critter' and the sentiment strip - using a load of snippets and my mini die cutting machine

- die cut two of each colour of the plain card and glued them on top of one another - using a circle die from Tonic Studio's 'Circle Layering' set of dies

- then die cut the head from a snippet of the sparkly rust coloured card, using a slightly bigger die from the same Tonic Studio's circle set and backed it with a couple of plain white die cut circles

- to finish the head I added a couple of little, straight brown 'antennae' using red line tape to the back of the head, drew in a mouth using a black marker and added the goggly eyes, backed with punched circles of the brown card (using red line tape) so they didn't look too 'lost'!

- then added the 'caterpede' to the white panel on the card front - using thin sticky pads and also glue pen where the pieces overlapped ......... instead of sticky pad. to keep a more evenly raised layer 

- die cut the sentiment from the snippet of rust sparkly card - using an Altenew die from the 'Essential Sentiment Strips' die. Backed the strip with one die cut from plain white card and then backed that with a plain narrow strip of white card to show through the cut out lettering and also make adhering it to the card front easier

- stuck the sentiment in place on the card front using red line tape - with glue stick whisked over it, to allow for a little movement, before pressing it firmly in place

- finally, die cut the number 7 using a 'The Works' die from their 'Numbered Candles' set of dies, backed it with a plain white die cut - then snipped off the flame of the candle. Cruel I know but the set is much more versatile if you're prepared to have a little snip here and there!

- used very narrow red line tape to adhere the number onto the body of the 'caterpede'

- finished!

Sarn has posted the results of Challenge #469 over in the Snippets Playground HERE. As ever, she has some really great choices as 'Picks' - and a lucky prize draw winner too!  

Dudley Pupdate: Before Christmas, we had a stair lift installed here (aka the 'Ski Lift') and I cannot begin to explain how it's made going up and even more so, down, our stairs so easy as opposed to recent times! Dudley is getting much more used to it and is absolutely loving the fact that I'm spending a lot more time going up and down and also spending more time in the lounge (and kitchen!).He loves to race the 'Ski Lift' going up the stairs - and wins every time needless to say!  And of course over Christmas he sat and stared with his huge eyes hoping for teeny scraps whenever we sat at the dining room table to eat - hard to resist but also he needs to hold back a bit! For such a small dog I swear he would eat until he couldn't even move, given the chance!

There's still one week of the current challenge left to run! Remember, it's anything BUT Christmas as the theme! The challenge is below Sarn's results post over in the Playground. Do please make a card and come play with us. There's two chances to win a gift voucher for the online shop of your choice. 

With love from Dudley and myself,

Sunday Snippets and that leafy die set again

It's Remembrance Sunday today, always a rather sombre day as we think about those who gave their lives so that we might live. 

There's a new Challenge being run by Sarn, over in the Snippets Playground HERE. I really love the prize bundle - well worth playing along for a chance to win!

My snippets card was made for a friend's Birthday - hope you had a great day yesterday:

I used:

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

- a piece of silver mirri card, to make a frame die cut, using the larger die from the brilliant Maximum Crafts 'SF6 Square Frame' pair of dies

- then die cut a white frame from a piece of white card, also using the same set of frame dies but this time the smaller one of the pair

- glued the 'frame' die cuts together and then adhered them to the front of the card

- using snippets of white card I then die cut one solid leafy sprig and one 'skeleton' leafy sprig using the Pink and Main 'Leafy Dies #1' set of dies

- keeping the white 'fallout' from the 'skeleton' leaf carefully to one side I then glued the solid and the skeleton white leafy die cuts together - skeleton on the top of course

- then die cut various different parts of the leafy skeleton die using a snippet of mauve 'ombre' paper found in the back of Lawn Fawn's 'Watercolour Wishes' paper pad - sorry I threw the waste away before thinking to take a photo

- added a mix of white and coloured half leaves to the leafy sprig, using a glue pen

- glued the leafy sprig onto the card front

- added a sentiment strip from the very useful Creative Expressions 'Birthday' Wordies sentiment Sheets set. They are pre-printed in black on white and white on black and you DO need to cut them apart as they come in solid sheets - popping a little strip of card onto the back of the sentiment gives it just that little bit of 'lift' 

- final touch was some self-adhesive clear Memory Box 'Fairy Drops'

I absolutely love the frame dies made by Maximum Craft - and Linby, as is often the case, was the Playmate who sent me scurrying off to buy them! They add such a super finishing touch - a very clever idea.

I'd like to add this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #56 HERE. The Maximum Crafts frame dies were having their first outing.

Dudley Pupdate: I have to admit that I sneakily smelt his breath after the Playground Bonfire Night Party last Sunday. Not a whiff of 'choklit' or anything 'alkofrolic' I'm pleased to say! Just the lingering smell of peppermint toothpaste - hmmm. Dudley was absolutely brilliant throughout the local firework display here and didn't even flinch, not even at a few more brief bursts on private property. For once there didn't seem to be as many random boxes being set off in people's gardens - hooray! 

The other night, Dudley beat me to bed, as is often the case to be fair. If I say 'Bedtime' then he pops out from underneath my desk automatically, carrying Honka Duck of course! When I followed him a little while later he was sprawled flat on his back, front paws flopped down, fast asleep - right across my side of the bed, not even lying lengthways down the bed to leave some room for me to squeeze in. I just gently stroke him until he moves of his own accord otherwise he gets pretty grumpy. I thought cats were the ones who were meant to rule the home?!

Lastly, I've not mentioned the hedgies for a while - they are all absolutely fine and are gradually going into hibernation - probably sleeping in the bushes and plants in our front garden where there's plenty of shelter for them. Dudley is totally unfazed by them when they are out feeding, drinking their water and having a wander around the back garden. Bringing him up to get used to them from being a puppy has certainly paid off! 

Sunday snippets and 16th Birthday card

Last month, Grand daughter Mia reached the milestone of age 16. It's so hard to believe that the sweet baby we both cradled in our arms is now almost a young woman. How time flies!

Mia is a very 'girlie' young lady so it was right up my street to set to and make what I hope turned out as a modern yet feminine card for her special day:

Waste from the pink and silver snippets

I used:

- 7" x 7" white scalloped card blank - these have been languishing in a box for years

- a layer of Tonic pearlescent  'Luna Silver' card

- a lightly smaller layer of plain pink card from a pack of various shades of pink card by Creative World of Craft - called 'Endless Love'n 

- stamped the flower onto a snippet of white card - using a NBUS Woodware Bubble Bloom 'Clarissa' stamp and a VersaFine Clair 'Shady Lane' ink pad  

- coloured the leaves using a Polychromos pencil

- found some snippets of pink paper in various shades tucked into the back of a Lawn Fawn 'Watercolor Wishes' paper pad

- die cut a selection of pink circles, using Woodware's 'Bubble Craft' die. This is the small original version, they now also have a large sized one which I used for the 'Bubble Robin' card HERE 

- glued the pink circles onto the stamped image using a glue pen

- trimmed the image panel and backed it with a frame of Tonic 'Luna Silver' card before gluing it onto the card front

- die cut the sentiment twice using snippets of 'Luna Silver' card, layered them together and glued them to the card front. The sentiment die is unbranded but I have since realised the resemblance to a branded die

- final touch was a little blue butterfly from Katy Sue's fabulous 'A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies' pack of no less than 332 printed and die cut butterflies - tickled with clear Wink of Stella and stuck in place using a small piece of extra strong red line tape

The butterflies are going to be so handy for adding speedy little finishing touches to cards - clever idea Katy Sue! One side of the two A4 sheets is paler than the reverse of the same image - double clever idea!

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenge:

Darnell's NBUS #55 HERE. The Woodware stamp, 'bubbles' die, sentiment die and also the pack of those butterflies were all NBUS. I can't thank Darnell enough for her encouragement to focus on using up NBUS goodies. Now, if only she could influence the terrible drive to buy more stuff we all have - she'd be on a winner!

Dudley Pupdate: He got lucky and was 'excused boots' this week, thereby avoiding a bath as it was time to apply his monthly flea prevention drops to the back of his neck. Mind you, he wasn't happy about the full grooming session I did beforehand judging by his 'boxing hare' impressions! It's an agility workout ...... for both of us! 

He was so funny on Wednesday just before I set off for a hair trim - he brought Honka Duck for a play in an attempt to distract me. Poor Honka was flipped here and there whilst Dudley then crouched as if to say 'C'mon, it's fun - join in with the game Mama!'.  Tempting as it was, I tootled off to the hairdresser with his plaintive cries ringing in my ears. 

Sarn and I were having a 'Playground Team Meeting' phone chat recently, whilst Dudley joined in with his 'play with me, nobody loves me' whines from underneath my desk. Sarn could hear the little concert going on so she can vouch for the fact that this ain't no made up stuff - basically, we have a Velcro dog going by the name of Dudley!! And I wouldn't change a single whisker.

There's a new Challenge over at The Snippets Playground HERE - do come and play! 

Love from both of us,

A card from Dudley for his 'Dad'

Dudley 'ordered a card' for his human Dad's Birthday last weekend, and this is what his design team came up with:

I used

- A6 white card blank, tent style

- a snippet of turquoise paper (unknown origin, unless I flip through a load of paper pads here) - trimmed to the card front size and glued in place

- the cutest Snoopy and Charlie Brown cartoon, stamped by a lovely friend and enclosed in her own Birthday card to me - which also featured the same image. I kept the extra image safely hidden ....... with Dudley's card for Len in mind

- coloured the image using Polychromos pencils to match the turquoise paper and the red card as best as possible

- mounted the trimmed image onto a snippet of SU 'Real Red' card stock, which I'd die cut using the MFT Die Versions Corner Concepts 'Happy Birthday' die. I backed the image itself with two or three layers of leftover card just to lift it a bit bfore gluing it to the actual sentiment panel

- glued the image panel onto the card front

- then die cut the 'WooF' from teeny snippets of the same red card stock twice, glued the layers together and popped them onto the card front to finish it off

It was a pretty easy card to make, once I dug out the dies etc. - and also made sure that Len wasn't likely to walk into my craft room as I was working. Dudley was on lookout duties!

No NBUS challenge for me this time around, apart from the image itself - everything has been well used previously.

Sunday Snippets and a fun Birthday card

WARNING: put your sun specs on! I wanted have a play with lots of different coloured snippets - and this is what I came up with:

The snippets - I also added a snippet of black as the card evolved

I used:

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

- first of all I die cut the bottom portion of the card using a Memory Box die called 'Cascadia Background Strip' - which left me with a row of apertures

- backed the aperture section using a snippet of double sided adhesive sheet - leaving the backing in place on the inside of the card

- then die cut a load of 'rainbow' coloured pieces from small snippets and inserted them one by one into the apertures - they form almost two complete rainbows with a black one in the centre - fearing for the state of my own sanity doing this fiddle faddle to be honest!

- using the leftovers from the snippets I began with, then die cut a selection of stars using an unbranded 'Stitched Stars' set of dies

- at that point I glued a 5" x 5" square panel to the inside front of the card to hide the double sided sticky panel

- put the stars to one side and returned to the already sized up final remains of the snippets of yellow and green card - along with the leftovers from the black snippet I'd had to fish out along the way

- die cut and glued together the 'happy birthday' dies with their black 'shadow' backings (my original plan had been to use vellum for the backing die cuts but that wasn't going to have an impact). I used Julie Hickey's 'Happy Profile die set' along with her 'Birthday Profile die set' for the sentiment 

- now I had a selection of stars and the sentiment words so just placed the stars slightly randomly  and glued them in place using a glue pen

- finally, added the already glued together 'happy' and 'birthday' sentiment words using thin sticky pad pieces with a coating of glue stick to allow some movement whilst putting them in place

- and that was it - done!

I actually made two identical cards as we have some 'younger' folks Birthday's in the near future. One thing I find is a great advantage when making two identical cards with lots of elements to be positioned is that you can set the layout up on one card with no adhesive and then eyeball it to actually glue the pieces in place on the other card. And of course follow suit with the 'sample' you set up for the layout. Easy peasy.

I'd like to enter this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #54 HERE. 'Cascadia' die, the star dies AND the Happy Birthday dies were all having a first outing.The stamp set was having its first outing. 

AND, big cheer from me when I spotted that the new Allsorts Challenge Week 745 theme HERE is 'Use die cuts' - and this card certainly does exactly that. 

Sarn has posted the results of Challenge #461 over in the Snippets Playground HERE.  

Dudley Pupdate:  So much for me mentioning last Sunday that we'd had a bit of a nip in the air - this past week has been like Hades here! Not only red hot but also very humid - to the point that my reading specs have steamed up at times! Dudley hasn't been coping at all well with the heat and is constantly on the move trying to find places to keep cool. He's up at around 3am, panting and wanting to be out in the garden - not that it's much cooler there to be honest. But, having a little snuffle around with the huge family of hedgies we're currently feeding does seem to distract him a bit. His paw is doing great - thank you for all the 'virtual' waves and cuddles you sent to him! 

There's still one week of the current challenge left to run! Make a card and come and play - there's a chance to win a nice prize if you join in the draw! See you on the swings!

Love, as always, from myself and Dudley,

Sunday Snippets and a new challenge

Challenge #456 is now up and running over on the Snippets Playground folks! I loved Susan S's 'wave' card, which was one of my 'picks' last week. So much so that I set out to make my own for Len's G Nephew Bradley- similar but you really can vary this technique SO much:

My snippets

I used:

- card blank measuring approx. 5.5" x 4.25", tent style

- a snippet of dark brown card, trimmed to 5.25" x 4" and glued in place

- a snippet of white card the same shade as the card base - embossed using a Stampin' Up 'Textures' folder then trimmed to 5" x 3.75" and glued onto the brown layer

- used four circular dies from my Tonic Studios set of round dies, a quarter of an inch graduating down from the largest one I wanted to use - one circle from each of the four colours of dark brown, beige, cream and grey

- cut each circle in half using a trimmer then glued the 'halves' one on top of the other - lining the bottom and one side to the left of the biggest layer at the back (you can vary this for some interesting options!)

 

- die cut the sentiment from dark brown card using a 'Sentiment Strips Die' by Altenew then glued it onto a 3.75" wide strip of beige card to cover where the semi-circles would join up

- added three narrow strips of card to the back of the entire sentiment strip - to lift it to the height of the layered semi-circles and be able to tuck them in place

- then added the sentiment strip across the centre of the card front using strips of thin sticky pad snippets - before then tucking the layered semi-circles underneath the sentiment (just a smidgen), also raising them onto snippets of thin sticky pads

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley is none the worse after his tumble last week - he's just as adventurous and full of mischief. In fact, when he's quiet we tend to go hunting for him to check out what he might be up to!  

On Saturday, after his evening meal, we gave him one of his ice creams I bought last week. They're each a mixture of Strawberry, Banana and Apple but to be honest we think he was a bit underwhelmed. We even had to decant it into one of his little bowls before he would venture! I tried a little taste from the actual ice cream tub, it's very much a strawberry flavour and Len is sure that Dudley has turned his nose up at the offerings of a fresh strawberry in the Summer months:

However, it was an opportunity to take a few photos of him having cuddles on Len's lap later on:

This final shot is almost identical to the previous one - I've put it on here as it's the closest I could get to Dudley actually looking at the camera lens!

Love from myself and Dudley - as always

Birthday card for a special Buddy

I made this card for someone very special:

I used:

- a white DL card

- white card stock for the stencilled panel

- a lovely  iCraft stencil 8527 that I won a while ago over at Allsorts - coloured using TH Distress Oxides and an assortment of 'small detailed' blending brushes rather like pencils with soft ends (bought from Amazon) - they compliment the 'make-up style blending brushes we're mostly using so well

- trimmed the panel down and layered it onto a snippet of yellow card before then gluing it to the card front

- used more yellow card snippets and a VersaFine Clair 'Morning Mist' ink pad to stamp the sentiment, using a set of The Greetery stamps called 'Opposites Attrract'

- then die cut the two parts of the sentiment using a The Greetery 'Opposites Attract' die for the word 'happy' and a die from their 'Opposites Attract Script' set of dies

- layered the sentiment die cuts onto two further die cut layers then glued them onto the card front

All done! My first serious venture into stencilling as well. Unlike most sensible folk I did a high dive into the deep end, as per usual, and chose to do something more intricate. ☺ Happy Birthday sweet friend if you happen to pop in and see this post!

I'd like to enter this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #49 HERE. The stencil, the small sized blending brushes and the sentiment stamps and dies were all out for a first play!

Sarn has posted the results of Challenge #451 over in the Snippets Playground HERE. As always, we had some really great entries - so lovely how those snippets just keep on multiplying.

Dudley Pupdate: Nothing much to report, although he's loving the Springtime walks - once he's been coaxed into his harness and has his collar on. He's a funny little guy, if he just doesn't feel like going for a walk he lies down on his side and sticks one leg up in the air for a tummy tickle instead! The weird thing is that it's the only time he does 'raise his leg' - he still squats like a puppy for a wee!

He currently looks like a ball of fluff - most likely heading for a bath early this coming week, little does he know!

It's Mo's Rudolph Days Challenge beginning on Tuesday 25th remember! And there's still one week of the current Snippets Challenge to go. See you in the Playground.

Birthday Celebrations!

The Snippets Playground is celebrating 11 years since I took on the running of it from dear Jules. Where did the time go?

We have a new challenge (with a theme) in the Playground plus a great prize to celebrate. Hop over HERE to visit our Sarn who is running the challenge, and also to find out more.

I made a snippets Birthday card:

Started out with a bunch of snippets, left over from recent cards I've made

I used:

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

- a snippet/panel of 5.25" x 4" black card, glued onto the card front

- snippet of white card, trimmed to 5" x 3.75"

- then cut lots of 'Happy Birthday' die cuts using a sentiment die from the NBUS Altenew 'Essential Sentiment Strips Die Set' and three different colours of card snippets

- used a glue pen to create a sort of 'brick wall' background with the die cuts. I worked from the top down and then from the bottom up in order to leave a gap just below the centre of the card

- filled the gap with a snippet of black card trimmed down to fit snugly

- then used a 'celebrate' die from the Paper Smooches 'Birthday Wishes' set of dies and a snippet of the red card to cut the scroll script word. That was quite tricky as the sentiment falls into four pieces when it's actually die cut....grrrrr.

- to get around the placement I used a piece of white card which was longer and wider then the space I needed it to fit into and taped the surrounding part (waste) from the die cut in place as a 'template' then carefully added the letters back into the slots using a glue pen, before removing the red 'waste and gluing a second set of the letters on top for more dimension

- trimmed the white panel to size and glued it in place

-  then added the whole panel to the card front using Collall All Purpose glue

- something was missing, so I added a few gold star Josy Rose Hot Fix nail heads

Phew - once again, I potentially bit off more than I could chew as all the die cutting, even using my baby Altenew machine, then the gluing and snipping the sides took ages! The card is destined for Len's G. Nephew Edward later this month - for once I'm a bit ahead of myself!

I'd like to enter this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #46 - the set of Altenew dies are NBUS. 

I'm conscious that my last three cards have used very similarly coloured snippets - time for a total change for my next offering!

Dudley is fed up with all the rain we've been having - same as most of us I expect. I suppose at least, so far, it isn't snow! It's a dull and gloomy afternoon as I'm typing this and Dudley is cosied up in one of his favourite spots - under my corner desk with his nose pressed up against my slipper. I'm tempted to get under there with him for a nice snuggle!

Love from Dudley and me,

A card for Josh

A neighbour's eldest boy celebrated his Birthday on Saturday (yesterday). He's now 14 and that's a sort of 'in between' age - too old for LOTV cute images/Lego and such - yet not old enough for more 'manly cards. No doubt that will come though!

So, I opted for a fairly neutral style:

Needless to say, the colours look a bit washed out - rather like our weather right now. Dudley is drawing up plans to build us an Ark!

I used:

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

- a slightly smaller layer of Neenah 'Desert Storm' - which was a snippet

- a slightly smaller piece of patterned paper from Craft Consortium's 'Ink Drops - Ocean' pad

- glued both layers in place onto the card front

- then dug out a couple more snippets of the same 'Desert Storm' card and die cut the sentiment twice. For the sentiment I used a die by Lawn Fawn die called 'Giant Happy Birthday to You' - SO useful!

- glued both sentiment layers together using a glue pen

- adhered them to the card front using a glue pen

- despite the card being for a 'young man' I did feel it needed something more - so I glued three white sequins in place and that was it, finished!

The results from Challenge #439 are now available over in the Snippets Playground HERE. Hop over and see if you're a 'pick' - or perhaps the winner of the prize on offer.

Despite the rain I did manage to fit in a trip in my car to have my hair chopped (rather overdue) and also to collect a repeat prescription, which involved a long queue and some dithering people in front of me. Am now signing up to a local pharmacy to deliver directly here without me needing to put in requests. This new pharmacy is in the same parade of shops as my GP as well as my current pharmacy so if it goes 'pear-shaped' it's close enough for me to go in person and sort things out. 

However, the rain has made it impossible to venture out for a decent 'ride and walk Dudley' trip. It's a bit like giving a child a packet of sweeties to become excited about and then taking them away. I've really missed it - having the Purple Peril and then being 'grounded' is a bit cruel of Mother Nature. 

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley speaking - well, I got through Halloween without too many 'woofs'. I stuck with my favourite and most sinister bandana all evening - we forgot to take any photos though! The camera was on the coffee table all ready to go - but in all the excitement we just forgot and 'enjoyed the moment' as they say. I had a fair few cuddles (from some very pretty teenage girls, my favourite!), and almost left home with some of the most loving callers! Mama soon chased me back indoors though - spoilsport! Tell you what, I slept like a little log right through the night - just exhausted by it all. And no chocolates for me of course - but I did get a few Doggie Choccie Drops, as consolation. Back to Mama now. x

See you in the Playground!

Lots of love from myself and the little perisher, Dudley,

Mia and Livi's interactive 'reveal wheel' Birthday cards

Allsorts Challenge are celebrating their 700th Birthday this week - so I'm entering the pink card as it's 'Let's celebrate - any special occasion'. Very appropriate - well done to Brenda and the team! There's still plenty of time to join in the fun and also lovely prizes to be won.

Just a couple of days after Len's Birthday, Grand daughter Mia celebrated her Birthday - Autumn is a busy time in our family for Birthdays. I planned to make her sister Livi's card for 1st November at the same time so asked their Mum what colours the girls liked.

Mia is very girlie so and pink, white and gold are her favourites. Livi is the rebel/tomboy who likes blue, black and neon orange!

It was much easier to make the two cards, stage by stage, at the same time as they are both 'reveal wheel' cards and this was my first try at using the set of dies:

Mia's card

Livi's card

I used:

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

- 5.25" x 5.25" square of plain coloured backing card (Tonic 'Rose Platinum Mirror' fo the pink card and neon orange for the blue one

- 5" x 5" square of patterned card for the main layer - pink is from Craft Consortium's 'Ink Drops' paper pads - pink is from the 'Candy' pad and the blue is from the 'Ocean' pad (I love these papers!)

- then I used Gemini's 'Sentiment Reveal Wheel' set of dies and stamps to create the working parts of the card(s)'. I won't go into all the detail - but the set does not come with the promised set of instructions, so I had to find a demo. video on You Tube

- after assembling the card(s) I tucked the 'waste' from die cutting the half moon shape at the right hand edge of the card underneath where the edge of the wheel is all ready to turn -  it looked unfinished otherwise, IMHO

- having added the additional parts of the stamped sentiments to the front of the card - I just added a couple of die cuts to the bottom left of the card. Poppy Stamps 'Rose corner' for Mia's card and an unknown stamp from a rose and leaves set - I suspect it might be a Tonic Studios die set as it's black

- and that was them, all done! Then I had a lie down in a darkened room to recover

What a palaver, first of all - having no instructions is bad - I now know that others have complained about this as well. The video I found was a very hurried demo, on a selling show and some important points were skimmed over. I ended up dizzy with having to keep rewinding the wretched thing to grasp each step. Thumbs down to Crafters Companion for little instruction and also inferior silicone stamps - made in China.

However,  next time will be easier - and the girls loved their cards! I might just have a go at making one for Len for Christmas .......... whilst I can still sort of remember the steps involved, and before his card is at the end of the line - as usually happens. ☺