Sunday Snippets - 'Storyboard'

There's been a bit of a craze recently for die cut frames to form either a 'storyboard' or 'a collection of pseudo postage stamps'. They are such fun to play with, so when Heffy Doodle had their closing down sale fairly recently, I bought a set of 'storyboard' dies  and this is my first play with them:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank, side opening - the set of dies is Imperial and perfect for USA A2 sized cards which is a size I really like for the balanced proportions

- then used a piece of the same white card used for the card blank to die cut the 'frame' using the main die from Heffy Doodle's 'Imperial Storyboard' set of dies

- had already picked out the paper pad I wanted to use - one of the earlier ones dating back 14 years called 'Born to Shop - Bubbles'. Aha, closer inspection says it's by Docrafts! 

- in the back of the pad I found everything I used as a paper snippet on this card. First of all I trimmed the piece of plain mauve to sit behind the framework of panels, glued it to the back of the framework and then added the completed frame to the card front - all done using glue pens

- then die cut the little five patterned inserts from snippets and glued them in place

- die cut two sentiments from pale mustard coloured paper (the beauty of the paper pad is that the reverse of each sheet is plain, using colours from the patterned side) and layered them together. The shadow die set I used is by Memory Box, called 'Big Hugs Posh Script'

- die cut the shadow from a snippet of vellum and glued the die cut words on top

- then just glued the sentiment 'panel' onto the card front - finished!

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

- Darnell's NBUS challenge #65 HERE - both the 'Storyboard and the 'Big Hugs' dies were having a first outing 

Dudley Pupdate: poor little guy really has been feeling this heatwave we're having. We've lost him a few times as he silently roams around the house during the night, looking for the coolest places to lie. Wedged between a tiled wall and a toilet pan is his top choice of place right now - cool on both sides as well as his nose! If only he knew that water would cool him down - but, as he hates to even get his tippy toes wet, it's a non-starter to think about a paddling pool for him!

Remember, I've just kicked off a new challenge over in the Snippets Playground HERE. And, if you like the 'Storyboard' die set I used - there's one exactly the same included in the prize bundle!

Hope to see you on the swings - the sight of Sarn trundling a huge freezer into the Playground did stop me in my tracks the other day. No doubt she has plans laid for cold drinks, lollies and ice creams! 

Love as always, Dudley Dog and me

Sunday Snippets - Aurora Snowflake

We've had quite a decent week weatherwise here. Not the silly sizzling temperatures we have known but still pretty hot!

I'm ploughing through my NBUS goodies and, as it's also the Rudolph Days Challenge, made a little run of Christmas cards - four of them, all the same:

The blue is much more vibrant in real life BTW!

A closer look at the sparkle!

I used:

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

- Tonic Mirror card in 'Firestone Red', trimmed to exactly the same size as the card front

- glued the mirror card onto the card front using my ScorPal corner to butt up the base card and then just slipped the ready glued mirror card layer on top. pushing it into the same corner - easy peasy. I only recently spotted this idea on Chrissie Stokes' You Tunbe channel and it's a real game changer. I know, late to the party, once again!

- next, I die cut the backing layer of blue snowflake patterned paper using Whimsy 'Blurry Flurries' paper (love this particular paper pad so much that I have two of them, plus the leftovers in an original pad!) and a scalloped die from a lesser known UK branded set I bought recently on clearance. Rubbish quality, made in China for maximum profit and less robust than China made dies usually are. It's now in the bin as it distorted like a banana on the first pass - lesson leanrned there! 

- glued the backing layer onto the red mirror card layer

- then die cut the Memory Box 'Aurora Snowflake'  using a snippet of parchment paper for the back layer and a snippet of white card for the top layer. I had already covered the front of the white card snippet with Woodware double sided sheet scraps - something else I hoard!

- at that point I decided that the top snowflake layer was likely to be delicate so I immediately glued it onto the snowflake parchment backing using a glue pen rather than risk removing the protective layer and glittering it straight away

- it was a risk, but worked fine when I came to then glitter the snowflake - using something much akin to Glamour Dust but even better IMHO. I bought a huge unbranded pot many years ago from a local craft shop

- used a soft brush to whisk away any stray pieces of sparkle - still finding them on my clothes and (ahem) person days later!

- glued the finished snowflake onto the card front

- added the sentiment - ready made using snippets - from my little tub of my favourite small sized 'Merry Christmas' die cuts

- and that, was it - finished!

I'd like to enter this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #64 HERE

The Rudolph Days Challenge for July 2024 HERE 

And, into the current Allsorts Challenge, under the 'Anything Goes' rule.

Dudley Pupdate: Basically, Dudley had a wonderful Birthday on Monday - he nose dabbed each card and gift he was given (frantic to sample the edible gifts of course!) and was almost cuddled to pieces by yours truly! Huge thanks for all your Birthday wishes etc. He certainly realised that the day was special - err, and tried to carry it on for the remainder of the week! Rather like a child who has become over excited and just can't calm down.

I know that some of you will have already seen this photo of Dudley Dog in full show coat, taken in May 2019 - hard to believe he was only 10 months old. It didn't last long, being the little pickle he is - it became clear that a puppy cut was the way forward. And everyone was happier as a result!

Very importantly, the results of Challenge #484 are now published HERE. 

Do please come and play in Sarn's current challenge over in the Snippets Playground! Just scroll down from my results post - over in the Playground.

Love from myself and Dudley, xxx

Sunday Snippets - Holly!

Here's my snippets card for this week:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4" pale ivory linen card blank, tent style 

- a snippet of the same pale ivory linen card, cut using the Memory Box 'Contempo Holly and Stencil' set die (I didn't try the stencil ......... for now!)

- then extracted, a tiny bit of snipping was involved to my surprise, the holly twig and leaves from the panel

- then glued the resulting panel with its various apertures onto the left hand side of the card front as a 'frame' for my next additions

- die cut the panel once again to end up with a mirror gold 'skeleton' of the holly twig - I used Tonic 'Inca Gold' snippets

- at that point I pondered and realised that it needed something to define the line down the centre of the card - so I added a strip of Altenew 'Golden Edge Trim' Washie tape (it's about .25" in width and very useful stuff). I used it because it's very thin and wouldn't cause any 'bumps' when I added the holly leaves

- then I felt safe to add the gold skeleton outlines of the holly twig - just using a fine glue pen  (there was one piece I'd kept back from the pale ivory die cut so I popped that in place at the same time)

- then used the holly die again to die cut the holly leaves - using some beautiful green mirror card by 'Italian Options' (Amazon UK) and added them, using a glue pen

- all that remained was to add a sentiment so I dug around in my pot of ready made Tonic Mini 'Merry Christmas' sentiments and added a red mirror card one (probably made using Tonic 'Scarlet Organza' card

- finished - and I actually made four the same......... in a little batch bake!

I now have four leftover skeleton white outline die cuts of the holly twig and leaves - begging to be used. I have plans as they're much too pretty to waste!

I'd like to enter this card into a couple of challenges:

- Darnell's NBUS challenge #60 - HERE - the 'Contempo Holly' die I used is NBUS, I'm still battling on using 'Never Been Used Stuff' and yet it keeps on growing! I need therapy.

- Christmas Kickstart #84 - Get Your Grinch On HERE. Basically 'use green' - and I did! Love this challenge run by Jo - go and take a look if you don't already join in.

Dudley Pupdate: After the traumas of the previous week (he recovered well from the vet visit, 24 hours if that!)  we gave Dudley a 'pass' on the full trim that Len had planned for him. So, this week has been filled with tons of cuddles and playtime - even more than usual, if that's possible. If only it would stop raining - he hates getting even his paws wet! Mind you, drying him off with a towel, even after just venturing into the garden, is a game he loves!

Remember, I've just kicked off a new challenge over in the Snippets Playground HERE. Hope to see you on the swings!

Love as always, Dudley and me,

Cheers!

I very recently discovered the 'Outside the Box' Memory Box challenge, where you need to use at least one Memory Box stamp or die. I have a ton of Memory Box products so this was exciting news. Sadly, they don't send prizes outside the USA/Domestic area - but it's great to get you thinking for sure!

It was such a recent discovery that I more or less decided to wait until March to play as the February #92 challenge closes late on 27th February. But the theme of 'I'll Drink to That' kept on swirling around in my head - and so I whipped up a card on Sunday to enter, here's the link to the Challenge.

I had a load of fun making my card:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" card blank, made using 'Syntegro White Linen Silkweave' textured card, side opening

- a snippet of black card (from the fancy folders that Royal Mail post online postage supplies in) - die cut using the Memory Box 'Piestra Tile' die

- the cocktails are by Tattered Lace from the 'Cocktail Glasses' die set - gifted to me by a very kind friend a good while ago. I die cut them using snippets of the same white card, on the reverse smooth side 

- then spent a happy hour (ha, ha - see what I just said, totally without thinking!) colouring in the die cuts, using Zig pens and a waterbrush

- tickled the contents of the glasses with clear Wink of Stella - not playing game and showing up in the photo of course

- layered the little cocktails onto another layer of the same die cuts for rigidity

- then I could place things in place and work out where I wanted the sentiment to go, before they were actually glued down

- stamped the word 'Celebrate' using a Paper Smooches Stamp from the Sentiment Sampler' set of stamps and a VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' ink pad - a lovely intense black

- then added the 'Piestra Tiles' panel using a glue pen before adding the cocktails, again with a glue pen ........ along the top of what I imagine to be a rather elegant bar in a swish hotel!

This was such fun to make - I didn't think to use my Arteza Watercolour pencils until I was popping the water brush away. Bad me, sorry Santa! I suspect they would be better for such small detailed areas but we live and we learn.

Apart from linking into the Memory Box challenge above, I'd like to enter this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #47  - the cocktail glasses die set was having a first outing.

Also, the current Allsorts Week 717 Challenge - under the 'Anything Goes' option.

As to the contents of the cocktails - ask me another! No idea but from left to right I'd hazard a guess at a 'Limoncello Serenade', a 'Mojito' of sorts and finally a 'Peach or Strawberry Daiquiri or Bellini'. Yup, I've been round the cocktail menus in my time. Kept these names clean, you ought to see the ones listed in the menus in Covent Garden's cocktail bars. I used to meet up with a friend there pretty regularly after work before she and I tottered tootled off to find somewhere nice to have a meal - happy days!☺

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #385

Hooray, Dudley has returned to snuggling up with us during the night. It's a mix of cooler weather and also most likely the fact that he had a hair cut so is feeling generally cooler!

Nothing exciting to report from this end, each day is very similar with the odd 'absolutely necessary' outing thrown in. The most stressful outings were on Thursday, following Len to the car dealer/garage as they aren't currently collecting cars for servicing, bringing him home and then doing the same process in reverse later on in the day. The driving itself was fine - it was the 'pesky passenger' in the back of my car, safely in his booster seat, causing the mayhem that was the real issue! Who knew that a fairly little dog could make such a variety of sounds, chuffing like a steam train, yodeling for England - and almost imitating a chattering parrot in between. All done at full volume and it mattered not whether Len was in the car with me or not. The one time Dudley IS quiet is when I zip along at high speed - but at roundabouts, traffic lights and in built up areas where I poodle along he lets rip! He's always the same and it's doubtful if he'll ever grow out of it to be honest - little tinker. Later we discovered that the car's Sat Nav software hadn't been updated as it should have been, as part of the service (grump, grump), so we have to go through the whole garage 'to and fro' process once again on Monday - happy days!

Anyhow, here's my snippets card for this fortnight:

I used:

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

 

- snippet of white card as a plain backing for the heart, which I die cut using a Memory Box die called 'Cupid Heart' 

- another snippet of white card, die cut using a Memory Box 'Cream Puff Heart' die - in fact I die cut two of these in the end, just why is a bit further down

- snippet of 'pink roses' card from a Wild Rose Studio 'Butterfly Garden' paper pad which came free with 'Quick Cards Made Easy' magazine' ages ago - die cut using the same Memory Box 'Cream Puff Heart' die

- at that point I glued the 'cream puff heart' white frame onto the white plain heart

- then I added the pink roses top part of the heart - in the process damaging part of the white frame, due to sticky paws, sigh

- rather than begin all over, I die cut the second 'frame' from white card (I did mention above that I cut two and that's why!) and glued it in place - success!

 

- the sentiment almost tripped me up as well. I had a set of love sentiment stamps by Avery Elle called 'And then' - and so wanted to use one for this card - in the white space on the heart. Only one would fit - sideways!

 

- however, I stamped the sentiment using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and the Misti - and phew, it worked

- I had kept some of the little teardrop shapes from cutting the white 'cream puff' hearts and I added one into each aperture - which was already white but I wanted to build up another layer

- then cut snippety strips of black card and topped them with strips of more of the pink rose snippets before adding them to just a smidgen away from the top and bottom of the card front, with an overhang

- snipped the overhangs off from the back of the card - one reason I'd opted to make a tent style was to get a nice clean cut along the edge at this stage

- added the assembled heart at a jaunty angle, using thin sticky pads

- final touch, glued a few iridescent sequins in place

I did learn a few things along the way whilst assembling the heart. Most importantly, make sure your paws aren't sticky. The other thing is that I die cut the plain white heart using a Memory Box 'Cupid Heart' die - because I already had it from years ago (2014 to be exact). I can't find it here in the UK to buy, but I could easily have drawn around the outside of the 'Cream Puff Heart' die and fussy cut it instead, making sure I was a very tiny bit inside the heart shaped guideline I'd drawn. The 'cream puff heart' actually looks very nice just left open with no infilling to be honest.

And of course, here's the prize for this fortnight:

It's a Memory Box 'Cream Puff Heart' die and an Avery Elle 'And then' set of sentiment stamps. Lots of lovely and quite unusual sentiments in this set.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 5th September. 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.

As I used the 'Cream Puff Heart' die and also the Avery Elle set of sentiment stamps for the first time, it means I can join in with Darnell's NBUS #17 challenge HERE! 

And, remember it's August's Rudolph Days Challenge over at ScrappyMo's - running from Tuesday 25th to the end of the month.

Stay safe my lovely friends.

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

Rudolph Days - January 2020

I came so close to missing entering January's Rudolph Days challenge over at ScrappyMo's. Am squeaking in at the last minute with this card I made yesterday afternoon:

I used:

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

- piece of white card, die cut using Lil'Inker's 'Stitched Rectangle' set of dies

- Memory Box 'Snowflake Marquee' die, to die cut the centre of the stitched panel

- snippet of gloriously glittery (non-shed) silver card just over slightly larger than the white panel, onto which I glued the die cut white panel with two edges (top and one side) the width I wanted the end result to be

- then trimmed the other two edges (bottom and the other side) to match. The reason I did this proved to be a right decision. I was unsure how much 'wiggling' I'd be able to do when gluing together plain card and a rougher glittered card - answer proved to be zero. So at least I had two edges exactly lined up as I wanted them to be and the additional trimming worked a treat

- at this point I'd intended to heat emboss a silver sentiment - but a little rummage turned up some small silver Merry Christmas peel offs so used those instead, mostly for speed

- then glued the whole panel onto the front of the card and left it at that - clean, and hopefully elegant

I bought this die long before Christmas but this is its first outing. You can also use the 'waste' pieces from the die cut to make a design, also with a gap for the sentiment. Most images of cards I've subsequently looked at on the internet seem to favour this - but I'm more than happy with this way of using the die by cutting into a panel of card and backing it with a contrast. Largely as at least the design is placed totally evenly and level! And our Darnell did the same with a similar card recently so if it's good enough for her then it's good enough for me :)

Given a little bit of time, this would be great for 'batch baking' a few cards all the same but let's be thankful I even managed to make the one!

On the subject of Lil'Inkers - sad to say that Laura is closing the business down. She's had a huge sale running, but stocks are so low it's probably too late to grab a bargain. Many thanks to a sweet friend who gave me the heads up though.

More ways to use the alcohol ink backgrounds

Whilst making the alcohol ink background for the Simon Says Stamp card I recently posted about, also made a couple of sheets more or less the same - so had some left over to play with using some Memory Box dies. Came up with two cards shown below - and AI stands for Alcohol Ink:

I used:

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

- piece of AI made using Tim Holtz 'Sparkle' alcohol ink card stock and a mix of Flamingo Pink, Amethyst and Aqua alcohol inks plus some blending solution

- used Stick-It backed 200gsm white card to die cut the Memory Box 'Starflower Frame' die then popped it onto a rectangle of the background card, adding the white panel from the die cut back into the centre as well and ran the panel through the Cuttlebug using just the cutting plates to press it firmly down

- then stamped the sentiment using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from the Penny Black 'Special Thoughts' sentiment set - plus the Misti of course

- die cut the frame using the biggest Avery Elle's 'Postage Stamp' frame die and more white card, a bit heavier weight than 200gsm this time, possibly 250gsm

- backed the frame with very narrow red line tape and then added the image panel face downwards onto the red line tape. The image panel had been carefully trimmed a teensy bit at a time to be just a tad bigger than the aperture

- backed the whole panel with white fun foam and glued it in place onto the card front, finished!

This is a lovely die, a first outing for it although I bought it with possible Christmas cards (poinsettias) in mind  and certainly before I got into sparkly alcohol ink backgrounds. Will have a play again and show what my original idea was - having said that, it's really great for using as I just did! Another example of existing dies in your possession being useful for trying out Jennifer McGuire's Tim Holtz Sparkly AI card stock ideas.

At the same time, I made this card - didn't catch the light as much, should have taken the photo sideways on :

I used:

- 5.75" x 4" white card blank, side opening again, a non-standard size to suit the panel and sentiment placement

- piece of alcohol ink background made using Tim Holtz 'Sparkle' alcohol ink card stock and a mix of Flamingo Pink, Amethyst and Aqua alcohol inks plus some blending solution ( I know, more of the same - for now!)

- the butterfly frame took a bit of thinking through. When I ordered it a few weeks ago, the image shows what you see on my card front (if you reach into your screen and lift the butterfly's wings up!) - a frame of card with a big flat butterfly sitting just above the centre - attached on either side. However, the die itself doesn't come with a frame, it's more of a panel to just cut a solid butterfly into a background I guess. My way round this was just to measure the 'panel' die and add quarter of an inch to the top and to one side, then use the trimmer to cut a white panel of Stick-It backed card(200gsm)

- and at that point you can go ahead and die cut the Memory Box 'Vivienne Butterfly Silhouette' from said rectangle and end up with exactly what the packet shows - but, it did puzzle me for a while I freely admit, and I bet my explanation wasn't very clear either! Sadly MB didn't even have any examples (even though it's been out for sale since 2017) when I searched, I'm sure there must be some other way of using this lovely die - watch this space kids!

- I'd bought the 'Vivienne Butterfly Silhouette' die as I already had the two 'free flying' matching butterfly dies (bought years ago) and could see that it would expand and possibly update the versatility of them as they've been little used I'm afraid

- so next I trimmed the piece of AI background to a teensy bit smaller than my 'self' made' butterfly frame and popped the frame onto the background then ran the panel through the Cuttlebug using just the cutting plates to press it firmly down

- then die cut a solid butterfly using the Memory Box solid 'Darla Butterfly' die from the last scrap of AI background

- die cut a lacy 'Vivienne Butterfly' die from 200gsm Stick-It backed white card and adhered it to the 'Darla' butterfly - and ran it through the Cuttlebug to make sure it was pressed firmly into place

- backed the whole panel with white fun foam and glued it in place onto the card front - just above the sentiment, which had been carefully placed in readiness when I stamped it (darned OCD - no, make that CDO!!)

- and then added the 'butterfly of two layers' with a little piece of red line tape in the centre so that the wings can be flipped up 

- and only at that late point in the whole proceedings did I spot that there was a wee dark blob of AI which drew the eye and spoiled the whole 'flow' of the card. So, out came the sequins and I added five (card makes like to work in odd numbers apparently) using Glossy Accents

- and that was it - end of story!

Or is it? Probably far from it! I have to admit to buying three dies recently from China - it's against many of my principles but I think I certainly do more than my bit to support UK and other Western craft manufacturers and suppliers so I figured I would just dip my toe in the water. In truth, it still doesn't sit easily with me - but I'm amazed to be honest. Price, quality and speed - phew! ANYHOW, one new die from China has led me to need more AI colours from the UK, costing several times more than the die did - so it's a knock on effect. And that, is what I meant when I said 'far from it'!!

Butterly card ready to fly

I made a pretty quick card -just the colour cornflower - along with a flight of butterflies ready to flutter away:

I used:

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

- snippet of my version of cornflower blue card (it's actually SU's 'Marina Mist' now that I've checked against the swatch - but cornflowers do come in different shades of blue and this is one of the lighter shades - tee, hee)

- I trimmed the snippet of blue card to just a bit bigger than I wanted the panel of butterflies to be. Then pencilled around it on the front of the card so that I'd keep the die cuts about quarter of an inch inside the pencil lines - to allow for sticking the blue panel on place later on

- then used the Misti to stamp the Birthday sentiment onto the card front, using a little SU 'Marina Mist' ink pad and a stamp which came with the All Occasions 'That Folder' set

- next die cut four solid butterfly shapes into the card front - overlapping them slightly - as well as keeping them quarter of an inch inside the penciled 'frame area'. I used the Memory Box 'Isabella' die for this

- die cut four white butterflies using the matching Memory Box 'Pippi' die, which is all open and lacy

- onto now assembly time, I used red line tape to adhere the blue panel to the back part of the card front - and little snippets of red line tape to make sure all the 'pointy and therefore likely to lift up' bits of the die cut front apertures would be held securely in place as well

- then added a slightly smaller panel of white card to the whole of the inside of the card front - to cover up the blue panel inside the card

- added a slick of clear Wink of Stella to the bodies/feelers of the butterflies

- popped the bodies and feeler sections onto the lacy butterflies, then added them over the blue backed die cut apertures on the card front, overlapping as seemed best, using Collall glue and a fine liner bottle ....... then called it done!

One slight 'blip' to my eagle eyed scrutiny is that I can only just tell there's a darker panel across the inside/centre of the card if I hold it up to the light - and it was also a bit touch and go as to whether I'd end up with a slight ridge on the card front around that area as well. These are very minor points, but another time I would use 300gsm card rather than what I think is 250gsm. I know, Little Miss Picky here!

I'd spotted this sort of card with solid cut-outs and then matching lacy butterflies over the coloured apertures not so long ago and thought it such a pretty idea.

I was going to say that you need both the solid and also the matching lacy/open dies for this design - but thinking about it - of course you don't! You would use an open lacy die to cut across the card itself as I did with the solid one which would still give you the line of apertures in any case. Although you would still then need to die cut more complete butterflies to add to the backed apertures if you overlapped them.

Filling in time on a wet afternoon

More rain here last week, so I whipped up four more Christmas cards.

The cards were finished and sitting on my desk waiting for me to write this blog post when I spotted that Bonnie had made a 'not totally dissimilar' card HERE. Bonnie used stamping but it shows that I could be 'on trend' as they say - that would be a first for me!

I made four cards, all the same design and two of them have the backing frame and 'Noel' in gold with the tree in silver - and the other two have the metallics reversed. I like both versions but for some reason the ones with the frame in gold just seem to stand out more - possibly as the frame is 'stronger' in gold than silver:

Needless to say the cards were really 'tricky-woo' to photograph!

I used:

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

- piece of mirri card trimmed smaller than the card front and glued in place

- piece of white card, die cut using a die from the Lil' Inkers 'Stitched Rectangles' set - and then kept to one side

- then die cut the tree using a NBUS Tim Holtz Sizzix die called 'Woodlands' and either gold or silver metal effect adhesive sheet made by X-Cut, a dream to use

-also die cut the word 'noel' using a Poppystamps 'Noel Snowflake' die and either gold or silver mirri adhesive sheet as above

- then placed the tree and the sentiment (I snipped the dangling snowflake off the sentiment for this card) onto the piece of die cut white card and ran it through the Cuttlebug, using the embossing plates and an embossing folder as a 'shim' 

- glued the white card layer onto the card front, already nicely decorated with the tree and sentiment

I've had the Sizzix tree dies for ages (comes in a set of two, the one I used is slightly narrower than the other one) and of course now I can't understand why it's taken so long! Love them!

As I've said before, running the piece of card through the Cuttlebug after the die cut pieces were put in place really 'sets' them and also gives a beautiful finish with mirri card or this X-Cut adhesive sheet in particular, almost as if the card has been foiled.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 279 and 280

Where did the last fortnight go to? Here we are, into May tomorrow (it's May Day Bank Holiday here in the UK so a long weekend off work for a few folk). Despite it being almost May, we've had a real drop in temperatures here during the week - and snow in a few Northern parts of the country. So we're not out of the woods just yet - and my woolly vest and warm bloomers are staying put for now!

As always, a huge thank you to everyone who came to play this past fortnight - loads of gorgeous entries.

This is my snippets card for the coming fortnight:

I used:

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

- snippet of dark rose pink card, trimmed to slightly smaller than the card front and set aside for later

- piece of white card stock for the front panel, die cut using a NBUS MFT 'Diagonal Strip Sentiment Cover Up' die

- then die cut the sentiment out of the plain wide strip, using a Memory Box 'Sketchbook Imagine' die - making sure to keep the little pieces of 'waste' from inside the letters

- next, cut a piece of double sided self adhesive sheet to a teensy bit smaller than the die cut panel and popped it onto a snippet of white card which I then trimmed down to the edges of the adhesive sheet.

- peeled off the remaining piece of protective sheet and carefully applied the sticky card to the back of the die cut panel so that the apertures were now backed with sticky. (TIP - keep the piece of waxed protective paper from the sticky sheet to cover up the panel in between working on the next stages)

- die cut the 'Sketchbook Imagine' die again, using more of the deep rose card and stuck it into the apertures on the card front - followed by those little pieces of white waste I'd set aside earlier

- selected a variety of little strips of coloured card stock from the snippets folder and die cut a set of strips, inlaying them onto the card as I went 

- ran the completed panel through the Cuttlebug to press everything down

- then glued the striped panel to the piece of deep rose card I'd set aside earlier

- glued both layers onto the card front - and called it done

This really is a fun way to use up snippets, I always seem to have a lot of little strips that I can't bear to throw away. Just think of all the colour combinations, a dark or black background would look fabulous, red and green for Christmas, and maybe silver and gold perhaps for a touch of luxury? Another way to use the die would be to stamp a sentiment onto the plain panel, either a really bold, wide one or perhaps a shorter one with a die cut flower beside it. And of course, the strip cover up die itself can be used the other way up - so that the plain panel runs across the top third of the card. Very versatile IMHO.

Probably don't need to spell out what this fortnight's prize is made up of:

Oops, got my reflection again :)

The prize is two dies, exactly the same as the ones I used today - MFT 'Diagonal Strip Sentiment Cover Up' and Memory Box 'Sketchbook Imagine'.

I will split the prize if necessary, both dies work beautifully together but would also work very well apart. I've seen a few really pretty floral cards using the 'Imagine' die as the sentiment. But, as always - both items are one complete prize if you wish to play for them as a pair.

The Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks from now on and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 13th May. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

It's still a maximum of ONE entry and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. The prize is both items together as a single prize, unless you really do only want to try for a 'split' - in which case I'd do a further draw for the other item. 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're wanting to be in the draw 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' just in case you're playing only for fun. Thanks!

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

Be sure to call back next week to see the winner of last fortnight's prize plus my picks from the past two weeks - as well as another lovely guest designer too!

Love from Parsnip and of course from me,

Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - 'Mother'

It's time for a new challenge over at Cuttlebug Mania and this fortnight's theme is 'Mother'.

Details of our sponsor/the prize to be won can be found over on the Cuttlebug Mania Challenge blog.

You do have to use a manual die cutting/embossing machine for Cuttlebug Mania entries (it doesn't need to be a Cuttlebug but it must be manual, not electronic). And, you can't mix the two, it must be all manual please. Then make your entry, link into the challenge, link to the challenge in your own blog post and and make sure that you also say what products you used for any die cutting/embossing.

This is what I made:

I used:

- 5" x 7" white card blank

- snippet of peach coloured card, embossed using the Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' embossing folder, trimmed to size, corners rounded using an XCut punch and then glued onto the card front

- snippet of white card, die cut using a Spellbinders 'Labels Eight Decorative' die

- then I used a Memory Box 'Perky Poppy' die to cut out a poppy shaped aperture- backed the aperture with double sided adhesive sheet so that the inlaying would be nice and easy

- die cut the poppies from a snippet of green card and inlaid the outline part into the aperture, also using two little white infills I'd also kept from the main die cutting

- die cut the poppy heads from a little snippet of peach coloured card and, before inlaying them I laid them out on a scrap of paper, gently touched the central parts with an orange Zig pen then 'pulled' the colour out towards the edges of the petals using clear Wink of Stella

- then inlaid the petals to complete the poppy 

- tickled the poppy bud and the leaves with clear Wink of Stella

- added the image panel to the card front, using a sandwich layer of white card and white fun foam, die cut using a plain 'Label Eight' die - smaller than the image panel

- the sentiment was stamped onto a snippet of white card using SU's 'Mossy Meadow' and a 'Stamping All Day' sentiment stamp

- then layered the sentiment onto a snippet of peach card and glued it to the card front

- added three iridescent peach sequins as a finishing touch

A little bit about the sentiment stamp. I bought it on line from 'Stamping All Day' when I was searching for a First Holy Communion stamp (which I found in the same shop). They specialise in text stamps and there are some really lovely fonts as well - here's an example of a stamp that's on my 'wish list':

The service was super fast and the clear stamps are great quality and stamp perfectly - they even make personalised stamps to order. This little 'toot' is totally unsolicited BTW :)

Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - 'Light in the darkness'

Time for another Cuttlebug Mania Challenge and the theme this time is 'Light in the darkness'.

For example you can use candles, lanterns or stars on your entry - I'm sure you'll think of some others. I almost went for a Nativity image where the stable was bathed in a lovely glow, so there's another idea for you.

You do have to use a manual die cutting/embossing machine for Cuttlebug Mania entries (it doesn't need to be a Cuttlebug but it must be manual, not electronic). And, you can't mix the two, it must be all manual please. Then make your entry, link into the challenge, link to the challenge in your own blog post and and make sure that you also say what products you used for any die cutting/embossing.

Details of our sponsor can be found over on the Cuttlebug Mania Challenge blog.

This is my DT card, the light here was dreadful when I took the photo needless to say:

I used:

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

- a piece of white card stock, die cut using a Lil' Inkers Stitched Rectangle die, backed with a panel of white fun foam and glued onto the card front

- Memory Box 'Glowing Candles' die which I die cut from white, silver and green snippets

- the first layer I glued in place was the green layer with all the pieces still in place apart from the white parts of the candles. The Woodware Ultra Fine glue applicator was invaluable when layering up this intricate die

- next took the silver die cut and snipped off the little branches and poked out all the loose pieces then glued it on top of the green layer 

- then poked out the six white candle pieces from the white layer and coated them with clear Wink of Stella before gluing them into the silver apertures. For once I thought ahead :)

- added little red pearlescent gems to the ends of the branches and just a few on the main part of the holly arrangement

- I wanted quite small, raised and very shiny silver lettering so added a peel off sentiment in the top left corner

- final touch was to add some Stickles to the candle flames. The yellow I have would be too bright and the lemon too pale, so I mixed a little blob of both together on a scrap of paper and applied the mix with a very fine paintbrush

I hold my hands up and confess that I got the basis for this card design from the super-talented Loll. I've had my die since October 2013 and this is only the third time I've used it, bad me! Thanks for the inspiration Loll (you popped up on Pinterest when I was looking for general ideas for candles on cards), I loved your card and also it was time to give the die another outing!

Rudolph Days - August 2016

It's Rudolph Days again over at ScrappyMo's - as always it runs from the 25th to the end of the month.

Some of you might recall the heartache I had over a Poppy Stamps die back in April, HERE. With the help of Donna I did get in touch with Poppy Stamps/Memory Box but my details kept going into a black hole in their email system, so eventually I just bought a new die (which I haven't dared use yet!).

However, Donna didn't give up and, thanks to her, Memory Box were very good, once I emerged from the black hole and they realised I'd given up and just replaced the die myself. They asked me to choose a different die, it arrived here the other week - and I'm delighted to report I used it on this card:

I used:

- A6 white card blank

- Memory Box 'Clairmont Ornaments' die to cut an aperture from the front of the card - carefully keeping the cut out pieces to one side and also within the outline of the die cut so I could see where they went!

- backed the aperture on the card front with double sided adhesive sheet leaving the aperture nice and sticky for assembling/inlaying the next die cuts

- die cut the outline shape from silver holographic card and carefully popped that in place inside the aperture

- then added the infill pieces from the white die cut I'd put to one side. Used the same trick of placing the die cut on top of the aperture to gently push out some of the tiny pieces

- die cut the baubles using the same die and deep red satin mirri card then popped them in place to finish off the inlaying

- using the Misti, stamped a greeting using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a stamp from the Paper Smooches 'Christmas Sampler' sentiment set

- to finish off I cut a slightly smaller panel than the card front from white card, ran a line of glue right round the edge of the panel and removed the backing from the adhesive paper inside the card front before sticking the white panel in place

I made six cards all the same to catch up on my target a bit and was almost losing the will to live by the end. Fun to make but very time consuming!

BIG thanks again to Donna for all the help and chasing up you did about the die. xx

Remember, it's NBUS over at Darnell's, starting tomorrow until 5th September!

Merry Monday #211 - Blue, Gold, White/Silver

Wow, it's July already folks! And needless to say the weather has been typical for Wimbledon fortnight. Sigh :(

My card today is for Merry Monday's current challenge (Blue, Gold, White/Silver), as well as Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge 287 (use a sentiment) and also Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for July. I made six cards, all the same, in a frantic burst to keep on top of the 12 cards per month target:

I used:

- 4" x 5.75" white card blanks

- plain white card, cut smaller than the card front then die cut with a Memory Box 'Tall Taper Candle' die

- then backed the aperture in the piece of card with adhesive sheet, used the removed wax paper to protect the sticky front while I worked and then put the card front to one side. I was making six as I said, so it was a bit like a production line and exposed sticky was likely to be a risk :)

- pearlescent Baby Blue 'Centura' card for the body of the candle, silver mirri card for the entwining ribbon plus the border outline and gold mirri card for the centre of the flame

- inlaid/assembled the candle and ribbon into the sticky backed aperture I cut earlier

- for added interest I used gold mirri card as a partial frame behind one side of the image panel and layered everything up using Collall All Purpose glue

- to finish off I added a gold peel off sentiment

It's hard to spot the difference between the gold and silver in my photo but the gold half frame really did pull the other touches of gold (candle flame and sentiment) together. The camera also had great trouble focussing, probably due to the bounceback of light. Don't ask me how to operate my all-singing all-dancing camera on anything more than Auto though!

I just checked back through my blog and it's only the third outing for this die - once in 2014, once in 2015 and now this time. Shame on me!

Christmas isn't as far away as you might think, the postman brought a menu plus booking form for Christmas parties at a local eatery the other day!

Di
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Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 233

I'm baaaaaack! And surprisingly the Playground didn't suffer any major disasters and Parsnip was very cool, calm and collected when he opened the door to the tree house for my inspection. Mind you, I did notice that his pockets were jingling with coins - so the little rascal had obviously been making some money on the side!

We had a lovely time (in Southern Germany), and of course we weren't camping! Which is just as well, given the flash flooding just shortly after we safely arrived at our destination after driving from the airport. It came much too close for comfort! We were there to spend quality time with the little grand daughters (Mia and Livi)  and Kai, their brilliant Mama - as always, we came home in need of a rest :) And the pop-up tent that some of you remember now resides in Germany - the girls have a huge play room in the cellar where Len and Kai, whilst I rolled around laughing, mastered the art of putting said tent up and also (much more challenging) folding it away again. That young woman is a whizz at fathoming things out and we feel sure she'll cope fine with perhaps a little bit of a helping hand from Mia - just at one crucial point in the process. I did eventually scamper upstairs for my camera - but was too late 'cos I returned just as they'd just finished off packing it away for the final time :(

With more of the family, we all had a gorgeous meal at Bad Waldsee, overlooking this beautiful lake one evening:

And this is a tower over one of the gates to the pretty little town. You can see the ominous rain clouds lurking, although we did manage to grab a few hours of sunshine here and there:

We took quite a few photos of the girls of course, this one is actually my favourite as they were much too preoccupied to even notice it being taken. They're growing up so fast:

Straight onto my snippets card now:

I used:

- 4" x 6" white card blank

- a slightly smaller snippet of turquoise card stock as a backing

- a slightly smaller again snippet of white card stock with 'waves' die cut using a Memory Box 'Breezy Waves' die - and then the back of the 'waves' were covered with a rectangle of double sided adhesive sheet so that the apertures were backed with sticky

- glued the turquoise layer and the die cut layer onto the card front. Little tip, if you've have open sticky apertures like I had - use the layer of waxed paper you peeled off to expose the sticky to cover it up again whilst you work

- die cut three shades of turquoise card snippets for the waves and inlaid them into the die cut apertures

- stamped the boat and seagulls using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink onto white card - using stamps from the Lawn Fawn 'Float My Boat' stamp set

- coloured the sails of the boat using a yellow Pro Marker then die cut the boat and seagulls using the matching Lawn Fawn set of dies

- stamped the sentiment using SU's 'Real Red' and one of the sentiments from the stamp set

- die cut the sentiment with a Spellbinders 'Nested Pennant' die. Another tip, the sentiment was too long for the die so I just die cut one end at a time - moving the die and making sure I only partially cut the length of the sentiment

- then glued everything in place - and called it finished

The stamp set comes with various really fun sentiments plus a teeny heart, a life saver and an anchor - oh, and a stamp which would make great waves too. The life saver and anchor also have matching dies in the set I used - but it seemed a step too far to throw too much at the one card.

I know that I originally spotted a similar card on a Playmate's blog and rushed off to buy the goodies immediately - quite a while ago now. Needless to say I can't find which one of you lovely peeps inspired me and I've searched high and low in Blogland - if it was you, do please let me know and I'll add your name here.

Time for a 'peek at the picks' from the last two weeks.

Week 231:

I just cracked up at this terrific get well card, made by Megan! What great use of snippets too - following a super sketch that's just perfect for snippets.

Barb is always coming up with great ideas and I think this card is really so clever. Do hop over to Barb's for more detail on how to make those wonderful little 'apertures' on the right hand side of the card - you could be surprised, I was!

I really love this card, it's so CAS and a really great way to use up little snippets at the same time - made by Helen. Such a sweet birdie too!

I think this is such a clever card, made by Pat! Perfect for anyone interested in chess - love the chess pieces and how dramatic is that chess board?

Gosh, Meg has a flying start on her Hogmanay cards for 2017! This is such a brilliant design for a card don't you think? All from a scrap of tartan patterned paper - a great kilt and I think a few of us could be copying this idea!

Week 232:

I picked this card, made by Jane W, for the CAS design and also to show how you can get cracking on your Christmas cards! Once you pick a design like this I reckon you could set up a little production line for stamping, colouring, die cutting, fancy edge scissors (or dies/punches) and away you go. Plus some bling of course :) Super card!

Alison brought this absolutely stunning card to share with us. A perfect example of what can be done with a piece of paper left from a session when Alison was playing with ink effects. Plus, Alison also inlaid some of the die cuts - LOVE it!!

This brilliant pop up gift card holder was made by Liz - and there are really easy to follow photos of the steps on her blog post as well. Such a brilliant idea - I'd already earmarked this as an idea when our Sarn made a holder a few weeks ago - no excuse now!

I picked this card largely as the gorgeous image is just so perfectly coloured to go with that lovely selection of backing papers plus the die cut hearts and little enamel dots. Wanda really did hit the colours on the nail here, great use of snippets and I love the retro feel too :)

And last but not least, here's a card to possibly make your eyes deceive you:

Brought to us by Darnell and those letters are actually inset rather than adhered onto the top of the purple layer of card. Keep looking away and then return to the photo and I think you'll suddenly see what I mean! My eyes were popping in and out like organ stops!! Trust Darnell to come up with this :)

Which reminds me - Darnell's trip to England from mid-July is fast approaching so do go and see if she's likely to be within reach on her visit. First stop is Southampton - yay!!

So, I did better than I thought and had five picks from each of the two weeks. Having said that, I could have had many, many more as always! You really do come up with some wonderful snippets makes and it's always so hard to whittle down my list to a manageable number :(

We had one new Playmate join us during the past couple of weeks, in week 231 NanaConnie brought this lovely card to share:

Wonderful quilling Connie and such a gorgeous design too. Hope you come back often to play with us, I see you joined in again during week 232 - which means the girlies must have been kind on your first visit :) Mind you, they really are the sweetest bunch of bloggers and make the Playground a happy and supportive place to come and play each week.

Now for the two prize draws:

Week 231 - the Frantic Stamper 'Good Friends Daisy Frame' die set and adhesive eraser:

Judy (aka PJ)

 

Crumbs, it looks as if it's Judy's first ever Playground win! Many congratulations are due - and can you please let me have your address PJ, my email addy is on the right hand sidebar :)

Week 232 - the Impression Obsession 'Girl Swinging' and 'Love' die:

Kath (Handmade by Kath)

It's been a good few weeks since Kath last won so this was due :) I still have your address here Kath and will post your prize off ASAP.

This coming week's prize is made up of stamps and dies, the same as I used today - Lawn Fawn 'Float My Boat' and Memory Box 'Breezy Waves'. Plus a lovely extra set of Memory Box dies called 'School of Fish' - which I think might look such fun underneath the waves, kindly donated by Mary Anne:

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 18th June. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

Just realised, it's our local village carnival on Saturday 18th June - which may have an effect on things. Certainly the Playground gates will close and open as usual as I can arrange/schedule that ahead of time - my snippets card will be here along with the new Mr Linky and details of the new week's prize. But, I may not have a chance to do the prize draw for the Sunday Snippets post - and possibly not the weekly picks. I'm loathe to alter the Playground closing and opening times so there's a chance you might have to hop back on the Monday or Tuesday to check out the winner and possibly the picks. I'll do my best but have a feeling that we'll be helping out on the Saturday morning ready for the afternoon's fun and games! Just hope we have good weather!

A maximum of ONE entry and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. If you only want to play for either of the die sets or the stamp set then just say so in your comment and if you win then I'll do a further draw for the other item(s). But, it's one whole prize if you wish. Please also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

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

Wishing you all a lovely week, with more sunshine and certainly no flash floods!

I hope this post works OK, for some reason whenever the mouse floats over the post in edit mode stuff jumps here and there! I've been and tweaked some rogue HTML but am loathe to tinker further. It's jumping round like a jack in the box even as I type this closing sentence!! I'm OFF!!

Di and, of course, Parsnip
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