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 cards for chaps!

I always struggle to make cards for boys once they're past the very early years - same with grown men. However, I decided to have a go at making a bunch of cards for chaps to have on standby - here are the first results, one of the cards is going to a young neighbour:

I used:

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

- snippets of Tonic Pearlescent card in 'Glazed Chestnut' and 'Majestic Gold' 

- a MFT 'Diagonal Strip Sentiment Cover Up' die was used to cut the backing panel - using the same die on both colours meant I could switch the contrasting colour around by using the 'fallout', which I did carefully keep to one side in the right size order 

- glued the backing panel onto the card fronts and inserted the contrasting strips of card into the apertures - using glue pens

- die cut the word 'Birthday' twice from more snippets of the same colours of card, layered them together then glued them onto the diagonal band across the width of the backing panel. I used the actual word part of a Whimsy Stamps die set called 'Birthday Word and Shadow Die' 

- finished!

Sarn has posted the results of Challenge #465 over in the Snippets Playground HERE.  As ever, there are some great choices from Sarn as 'Picks' - and a lucky prize draw winner too! 

Dudley Pupdate: Halloween - well, where do I begin! We joined in with the 'Trick or Treat' fun and games until rain stopped play at around 8pm. 

The sweetest part of Halloween around here is always early on when the little ones come around, usually singly with their Mums. There were some brilliant costumes and make-up and it was so nice to see the effort that had been made by parents for their kids, as well as a lot of the older kids too! We had a couple of younger ones wearing 'Wednesday Addams' outfits, complete with pigtails. The smallest caller almost made me cry when she, before even taking a treat, shyly handed me a little slip of torn paper on which was written very carefully 'Thank you'.

Dudley was in ecstasy, just lying at the front door in between callers patiently waiting with his nose against the door - his party piece was to then poke his nose and smiling face out when I opened the door a little bit. And of course, he stole the show as always - he wore a Halloween bandana - which was much admired! I overheard more than one group of people saying 'Go to that house, they have a cute little dog'! Afterwards, Dudley slept like a log right through the night - worn out by all the excitement. So did we, come to think of it!

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!

Remember, remember the Fifth of November! Sarn has been working away making sure there's a veritable feast to be had in the Playground - Bonfire Toffee from Vicky plus Sarn and I will be dishing out soup & rolls, jacket potatoes - and some hot chocolate which I have my suspicions about. For a start, Dudley isn't allowed human chocolate - but if he was, I suspect there might be a little stagger added to his wiggle when he walks. Would that means he would walk with a 'staggle' I wonder? 

Sarn thinks I don't know 'peep' of course! And there's a huge bonfire - extinguishers are at the ready lest a spark sets the tree house alight! I also suspect that Dudley will be wearing a 'Fire Warden' Hi-viz jacket given half a chance!

With love from Dudley and myself,

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 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 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,

Male 'triangles' Birthday card

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! Ho, ho, ho!

My snippets card below was made for a friend's hubby - it eventually arrived but was late due to a variety of reasons. Our Christmas stamps for the UK finally arrived here on Monday and Len took the pile of stamped cards to the big post box. More than that we just couldn't do - so meanwhile, if we normally exchange Christmas cards, then yours is on the way! I do know that some have arrived in the nick of time. Having said that, one card got as far as Swindon and then was returned for no good reason - probably only half way to its real destination.

My snippets card is an out and out 100% CASE of a card that Franka (Inkami) made for the Snippets Playground last November - so I won't enter it into any challenges. However, I'm using it as a reminder of just one of the many ways you can use up a few different colors of snippets:

The card

The coloured snippets, ready to be die cut (almost forgot to take a photo!)

I used:

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

- snippet of the same white card, die cut using a Paper Smooches 'Triangles' die and glued onto the card front

- coloured snippets of card, die cut using the same 'triangles' die for the infills - also kept some of the white fall out from the main die cut as infills

- then I had a lovely time gluing triangles into the main die cut - used a glue pen

- die cut a sentiment using a die from the Impression Obsession 'Birthday top edgers' set and glued it in place

- finished!

I even followed Franka's placing of the different colours when inserting the little triangular die cuts. I remember at the time thinking how pleasing her layout was - not too rigid yet not just a jumbled up result either. She's a clever lady!

There's a new challenge #444 over in the Snippets Playground HERE. The theme is 'Anything BUT Christmas' - which should get you thinking a bit! AND, a special prize from Sarn and myself!

Dudley Pupdate: So we went from ice to plenty of rain, and then some! Either way, Dudley has coped really well and is obviously becoming quite used to the feel of 'velvety soft grass' beneath his feet! 

Even though I doubt that he truly knows what Christmas is all about - he's really picking up on the 'buzz' and is into everything possible! A few treasured Christmas soft toys have had to be put out of his reach - he would just want to cuddle and love them as he's not at all destructive - but they're not all 'pooch safe' as they were here before 'his Nibs' arrived! 

Anyhow, we've bought him a soft toy from Santa - as if he hasn't got enough! I suggested to Len that we should go through his overflowing toy box and was told that Dudley loves ALL his toys and would be bound to notice if anything goes missing - even something right at the bottom that he never plays with. I beg to differ, but it made me laugh so much I dropped the idea.

And of course he'll have his own little white dish of Christmas Dinner with us today - we prefer chicken to turkey so he'll have some pieces of chicken crown, perhaps a whole cut up 'pig in a blanket', and some chopped up veggies - with a little tickle of 'no salt' gravy. For those who might not know - pigs in blankets are a fairly traditional accompaniment at Christmas Dinner time - thin sausages wrapped in streaky bacon and then popped in the oven to bake.

Have a lovely day! Hope you find time after Christmas to join in with the new Snippets Challenge.

Lots of love from Dudley and myself,

Tumbling numbers Birthday card

Today's card is my snippets card for our new Challenge over at The Snippets Playground HERE.

I made it for Len's Great-Nephew, Ben, whose Birthday is actually on Halloween (every year too, ☺) - so I used Halloween colours in keeping with our optional Playground theme of Autumn/Halloween. 

I must stress that this card is an absolute CASE of a card that won Nicky a Gold Star HERE back in November 2018. I notice that our lovely Nicky hasn't posted anything on her blog since July so, if you're looking in Nicky, do think about coming for a little play, you are missed. Many thanks for the inspiration from several of your past entries!

 

I used:

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

- all snippets were already on my desk, the black card is good quality watercolour card, left from some I was playing with

- cut a deep purple backing layer and a slightly smaller black one for the main panel and set them aside

- die cut the numbers from deep purple and neon orange using a die set of 'candle numbers' from The Works. I trimmed the flame off the top of each die cut, to keep the card as masculine as possible 

- then die cut the 'Birthday Wishes' sentiment using another snippet of deep purple and an Impression Obsession 'Birthday Top Edgers' die

- glued the purple 'tumbling numbers' to the piece of already trimmed to size black card, leaving some of them overlapping the left hand edge

- then glued the sentiment in place, followed by the orange 21

- flipped the panel over and trimmed off the overlaps from the back

- glued the black panel to the deep purple surround then glued that onto the card front

- finished!

I just popped over the The Works' website to see what dies they might be selling right now. I knew the candle numbers - which were their own M&C brand - had long been discontinued. I was sorry to see that they no longer sell any dies under the M&C name - such a shame. That set of candle numbers only cost me £4 - and I also hit lucky with a few other die sets back in 2017/18. All of them were super value and are excellent cutters, sigh. There ARE a smattering of the dies (the actual brand to look for is M&C) on eBay - I ought to know as I just whipped in and bought a couple of brand new sets for the Playground Toy box, yay! Needless to say at slightly inflated prices but still jolly good value, particularly when you take free postage into account. However, the eBay M&C pickings are pretty thin on the ground now.

So, it's a new Snippets Challenge - Halloween is almost here - go and check out the theme! 

Tomorrow (Monday) is Halloween itself and, after a couple of years of abstinence, we're going to 'set up shop' for trick or treaters.

Dudley 'Pupdate': Dudley speaking - well, what can I say? The week has been very wet and I hate wet paws so have had to be (yet again) physically lifted up and dumped out into the garden a few times. One or other of my 'hoomans' then stays on guard beside the door making sure I do what I've been put out to do. Something called 'Halloween' is on the horizon and the 'pawrents' have been wafting around trying on silly outfits, messing around and planning things for Monday evening. Ha, little do they know that I intend to bark and howl at every single person coming to do 'trick or treat' here - until I have a cuddle of course. Mama has given me a choice of TWO different Halloween bandanas - I like them both so will be doing costume changes throughout the whole evening - leaving the pawrents exhausted and vowing to never, ever to do it again! Snigger! x

Finally, did you remember to change your clocks?

With love from Di and Dudley,

 

Happy Birthday Joe, at 17

Len's great-nephew (he has four of them) has just turned 17. I almost forgot his Birthday, which was on the day of our Queen's funeral, and in fact had even forgotten I made and asked Len to post this card in the 10 days of public mourning. However, goodness knows how, it turns out I did remember to take a photo, which I found on my camera just the other day:

I used:

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

- a piece of dark blue shimmery card, found lying on my desk in 'the pile' waiting to be popped into the snippets folder. Trimmed to an eighth of an inch smaller than the card base all round then stuck onto the card front

- then I dug out a new paper pad from one of my NBUS baskets on a shelf behind where I sit to craft (for me it's the best way to ensure I use new things and don't just file them away to be forgotten)

- the paper pad is really gorgeous and was bought with the red tartan in mind for some Christmas cards I have planned - however, this blue tartan/plaid was perfect for my needs

- the paper pad is called 'Tartan' , made by Craft Consortium, a UK Company - the darker colours are so perfect for male cards

- trimmed the tartan paper from all sides to look as balanced as possible and then added a three quarters of an inch or so strip of plain dark blue shimmery card in place across the card - before trimming the sides off

- glued the tartan panel to the front of the card, with the outer dark blue framing it

- then stamped a sentiment using an ancient Lili of the Valley stamp and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink - I could have dug around the ink pads for a Navy Blue but I was basically almost running on 'empty' at that point in time

- I'd used a scrap of white card the same as the card base to stamp the sentiment on and then punched it out using a SU round punch - one and one eighth of an inch in diameter I think- and stuck it in place using a piece of very thin sticky pad

One super fast and simple card - made thanks to a video of very similar 'male cards' I'd spotted online, but can't find again, as so often happens.

So there we go - almost back in the saddle, I hope!

Len's Birthday - 2021

Today is Len's Birthday and boy was I stumped for a card idea! I have a few in the 'everyday' box of cards and one of those was perfect from Dudley - but I wanted something he hadn't seen before from me.

Eventually, Vicky's brilliant card that she made HERE popped into my mind and that was the starting point. She used a die set, won in the Snippets Playground, so I took it from there as I've had the same set of dies waiting since May to be used. I would have loved to do a total CASE of her card but that seemed like a step too far, so I came up with this:

 I used:

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

- a snippet of Tonic 'Red Vellum' pearlescent card, trimmed to leave just a narrow border

- a snippet of Neenah 'Desert Storm' card, die cut using Poppy Stamps 'Fading Dot Border' die the trimmed to create a sort of 'tool peg holder board' along the top and bottom

- adhered that strip to a strip of the 'Red Vellum' card (which I'd cut in one swoop to the same width as the backing panel) and then trimmed it top and bottom to leave just a small margin. I did this step to allow me to move stuff around rather than adhere the 'peg' board straight onto the red panel

- then die cut a selection of woodworking tools from a snippet of silver mirri card, using the Sweet Dixie 'DIY Tools' set of dies and the Altenew 'Mini Blossom' baby die cutting machine - ready to work out the positioning of the whole card front

- checked the positioning and glued the 'tool peg board' to the Red Vellum' front panel and trimmed off both sides (from the back)

- die cut the sentiment from another snippet of silver mirri card using the Altenew 'baby' die cutting machine and an IO die from the 'Birthday Top Edgers' set Impressions and trimmed the bottom off to just leave a narrow border

- glued the whole front panel to the card front

- glued the sentiment just above the 'peg board' , using a glue pen

- added the die cut tools to hang down from the 'peg board'

- added a hot fix silver Josy Rose nail head to each corner

It's a super-appropriate card really as one of 'Handyman Len's' Birthday presents is yet another type of electric saw to play with.

I'd like to add this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #31 as it was a first outing for the set of DIY Tool dies.

Super fast snippets Birthday card

Despite having a perennial 'Birth Dates' book, it's only useful if I remember to check it regularly. Suddenly realised Len's Great Nephew had a Birthday looming and I needed a card for him 'toot sweet'.

A quick scamper around the internet turned up a few ideas and this is my take on one of them:

I used:

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

- snippet of black card stock, trimmed to very slightly smaller than the card fron and glued in place

- snippet of white card stock, trimmed to leave a bit of a bigger black border this time (3.75" x 4") - not glued onto the card front just yet

- snippets of paper which were tucked into the back of LOTV's 'Country Gent' paper pad

- trimmed three different patterns down to 2" wide then trimmed them crosswise keeping the plainer brown piece a bit narrower

- glued the pieces in place, using a Zig glue pen, working from the top and bottom towards just below the middle of the card, where I wanted to place the sentiment

- the sentiment is from Barbara Gray's everyday Word Sticker Collection - just eyeballed sticking that in place

- then dug out my trusty very dinky 'office hole punch' which accidentally fell into my handbag the day I retired and punched three circles from the plainer brown snippet

- stuck those in place - again working from left, right and finally the centre one - finished!

It's always so much easier to place the likes of slips of paper and punched dots by working from the outside towards the centre -  lesson I learned the hard way a long time ago.

Typing this post and taking then editing the photo has taken much longer than it took to make the card - luckily everything just fell into place for once. Bit like the hole punch falling into my handbag really ☺

Ha, Len had a close call when he commented 'oh, it's just like fabric/wallpaper samples'. Soon held his hands up in surrender when he saw my face - a mix of 'gosh, you could be right' and 'gotta death wish honey?'

90 years young!

My wonderful and so young at heart 'Uncle Frank' is 90 years young tomorrow (how did that happen?!) and I really struggled with ideas for his card. In the end, I used a stamp set that's saved me a few times in the past and seemed so perfect for him as he likes a wry smile:

I used:

- white DL card, tent style

- backing paper from a 12" x 12" Studio Calico paper pack appropriately called 'Snippets' so kindly gifted to me a few years ago by a blogging friend - thanks B! x

- trimmed the paper to just smaller than the card front and set it aside

- then stamped the numbers and sentiments onto a piece of white card, using the Misti, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a really handy set of stamps by Woodware called 'Numbers'

- was going to paper piece the '90' but it just felt a bit messy when I'd fussy cut the numbers in readiness, so I coloured it instead, using a (perfectly matched to the backing paper) red Faber-Castell Polychromos pencil

- trimmed the sentiment/numbers strip and backed it with a piece of black card to show - just a narrow strip at the top and bottom of the sentiment piece

- added it to the patterned paper then glued it all in place using Collall All Purpose Glue - finished!

I had a couple of false starts with the stamping - used a new black ink Memento 'Tuxedo Black' pad - and forgot how lightly you need to use them when they're 'fresh'. Also did the background patterned piece twice as the first one didn't have enough red in the pattern where I'd cut it.

I've written here before about Uncle Frank and his late wife , the sweetest ever Auntie Alice, who were in fact my own parents best friends many years ago in Germany. When Mum and Dad 'ran away back to England', leaving me aged 16/17 at boarding school, they had to appoint guardians for me. 

Alice and Frank were their immediate choice and as as they weren't due to leave Germany until after I'd finished my final year at school it was just meant to be. Their task was to step in if, for example, a signature was urgently needed for something medical. Or, we kids were evacuated due to anything untoward happening (the Cuban Missile Crisis had not long ago happened - showing my age there!) and plans were in place to disperse 600+ children from the boarding school on the North coast of Germany overnight.

Plus, I spent half term breaks with them where they lived in Hanover, Germany - too short to return to the UK those days although always great fun and they were so very kind to me. Bearing in mind they didn't have children of their own, it must have been a bit of a shock having a teenager land on them - who couldn't usually see much beyond her fringe. Frank has subsequently confessed that he longed to take a pair of scissors to it ☺ Goodness me, good job he can't see my fringe right now!

Alice used to spend time baking, with me avidly trying to help - I always remember her with such fondness if I bake a lemon drizzle cake. Her orange drizzle cake would be topped with chocolate frosting and to this day I've never made another one. Why aim for perfection when you've already had it - but I do a lemon drizzle cake (no topping) instead.  Plus Frank and I probably wrecked their record collection by playing them at 45rpm, rather than 33rpm - to make them sound more trendy and rather like chipmunks on something akin to drugs! Such happy days.

We had to go to the NAAFI to restock my toiletries, writing paper and (ahem) certain personal items. Frank always made himself scarce for the 'girlie stuff' but did reappear for the 'tuck box' goodies selection process.

He really was such a sport - and still is. Most days I get a message on FB with a 'funny'. This is the one that arrived today, Tuesday:

And finally, this is me, with Alice and Frank in their Aberdeenshire back garden, a good few years ago, a photo I treasure so much:

My beloved surrogate parents - and I'm so very grateful to this day for their love and kindness. Have a wonderful day - my dearest Uncle Frank - and here's to the 100th Birthday telegram in 2031!

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #392

What a week of tail chasing here! It ended on Friday with the delights of a routine blood test at our local surgery, with the nurse having several attempts to find a co-operative vein - oh deep joy.

In between it all I managed to make a snippets card for this challenge - at one point in Thursday afternoon it was looking a bit 'touch and go'. However, this is the result:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank

- piece of white card - trimmed to 5.25" x 4" for the panel I wanted to work on

- snippet of white card which I die cut using a Spellbinders Shapeabilities 'Chevron Border' die

- glued the die cut in place onto the white panel using a Zig glue pen, leaving some of the die cut hanging over at either side, to be trimmed off later 

- rummaged around in my overflowing snippets folder amongst the 'fifty shades of brown' and pulled out four different snippets (forgot to take a photo, although I was watching the clock as it was almost time to groom Dudley)

 - then die cut the snippets using the same chevron die, one colour at a time to avoid getting in a muddle

- then added each shade of the brown chevron die cuts into the white chevron frame on the card panel using a Zig glue pen

- trimmed the overhanging sides of the chevron with the inserted chevrons, from the back using small sharp scissors

- next I found some metallic twine in gold and brown and twisted two lengths together (couldn't decide between gold and brown so I mixed them!)

- sellotaped the twine strands to the back of the card and snipped off the excess

- backed the whole white panel with a piece of fun foam trimmed to  5" x 3.75" - using Collall All Purpose glue

- glued the panel onto the card front

- final touch, added a Craftwork Cards pre-made and die cut gold on white oval Birthday sentiment on top of the chevron panel - little tip, I used thin sticky pads and made a sort of bridge with two pieces of sticky pad so that the twine wasn't squashed down at all

And there you have it - what I hope is a card suitable for a chap. I'd originally intended using blue snippets but couldn't find four shades of blue snippets which really worked together.

Let's move onto the prize for this fortnight's challenge - which you will no doubt have already guessed:

My 'sample' card is very much based on a card I found HERE - a lovely blog with several clever ideas how to use the Spellbinders Shapeabilities 'Chevron Border' die (I went for the quickest one and also one using snippets of course!). The prize is also the same die that Christine used for her Hope & Chances Charity kit card that I published HERE not so long ago. I loved the die cut in the kit so much I ran out (metaphorically speaking) and bought the die, one for me and one for the toybox! It's a super die and I've seen it used in red and gold for Christmas cards - stunning!

A couple of points about the die - I reckon you really should use waxed paper or similar for easy release of the die cut. I find this with Spellbinders dies, particularly more intricate ones. I didn't use waxed paper and struggled a bit, but got there in the end - I have a roll of the stuff but was too lazy involved to get it from a cupboard literally just behind me in here, which would actually have saved me time in the long run. Also, I had to use shims (just card or paper) - which is often the case with a long and fairly intricate die cut. Don't let that put you off joining in the draw - it's a great die for male cards and would be lovely (for example) for a baby card, made in advance in pink and blue all ready for you to add a sentiment or whatever you fancy.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 19th December. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

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

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

 

Please also remember that I only allow a total of nine other challenges, which makes 10 in total, when you enter a snippets make into the Playground.

 

One little task this weekend is to make Dudley some more doggy treats as he's just finished the ones I made a few weeks ago. Knowing the things he particularly likes (cheese and carrots top the list!) I'm going for a recipe which uses wholemeal flour, polenta, grated cheddar cheese and grated carrot, egg, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and a touch of black pepper. It's from a book I bought fairly recently called 'Homemade Dog Treats Recipe Book' published in the UK by Wet Nose Publishing. How sweet is that for a publisher's name then?! I'll let you know the outcome and whether Dudley approves!

 

BTW - we thought Dudley had stopped hiding toys in our bed, but last night Len found that Benjamin Bear was safely tucked under the duvet! Absolutely no idea when he actually does this - his second name is 'Stealth' we've decided!

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

 

1.	karenladd	13.	tina z. treebug	25.	Christine Smith
2.	Sa Rn	14.	kanda	26.	Inkami
3.	Aquarius	15.	Gloria lee	27.	Jeanne H
4.	Helen F	16.	Pam Sebring	28.	Marjeta
5.	Donna W.	17.	Kathyk	29.	Alice
6.	Kate L.	18.	Valerija	30.	Lynne
7.	Becca Yahrling	19.	Jane's Journal	31.	Vicky
8.	Liz Cavill	20.	Karen Letchworth	32.	Sue
9.	Sandra H	21.	Nana Connie	33.	Paperpapier
10.	Karen Finkle	22.	KT Fit Kitty	34.	Mrs A.
11.	Carol L	23.	Kath	35.	Carol G
12.	kathy asper	24.	Lia	36.	Lilian B

Linky Widget expiration: 4 years ago.

19th Birthday card

A rare afternoon post from me but I want to let you know about a new challenge run by Gail and Jo ASAP, if you don't already know of course.

It's one of Len's great nephew's Birthdays at the end of October - and he will be 19. How did that happen? It only seems like a handful of years since Ben was just a toddler.

As always, I struggle with male cards - then remembered a great new challenge I wanted to enter and so this was my starting point.

The challenge, called Let's Squash It!', is run by our lovely Gail (from the Playground) and her friend Jo. And the idea is to get us to use our embossing folders - mine have certainly been badly neglected for some while now and this new challenge is just the kick start I needed!

For Challenge #1 the theme is to use An Embossing Folder with a Geometric Pattern AND Metallic Card or Metal Sheets. You have from the 10th of each month to the last day of the month at 23:59 GMT to play along with the challenge. Isn't this a fun logo?!

This is my entry - I hope the design is sufficiently 'geometric' - I think so as the definition of geometric is regular shapes or lines ☺. It was a little tinker to photograph - the top left hand corner isn't crumpled in real life BTW, but taking a photo face on meant you could see me in my pretty pink fleece top reflected!

I used:

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

- piece of black card, die cut with a Waffle Flower 'A2 Layers Die' and glued to the card front

- piece of silver card which was made using an X-Cut silver foil sheet stuck onto a backing of white card then die cut using a smaller layers die

- then embossed the piece of silver card using Cuttlebug's 'Diamond Plate' embossing folder

- felt that just black, silver and white needed a pop of colour so dug out a snippet of deep red card, trimmed it and then glued it onto the piece of black card so that just the sides of the black background show - mostly as the red piece of card just wasn't wide enough for a full 'frame'!

- then glued the embossed piece of silver card onto the red layer

- stamped the sentiment onto a snippet of white card using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a sentiment from the Woodware 'Double Birthdays' sentiment set

- backed the sentiment with red and black card to show at the top and bottom - then glued it in place

The Woodware 'Double Birthdays' sentiment is a great way to make a bold statement without too much else needed. 

I did so enjoy using my embossing folders once again and have no idea how many are sitting in upright rows in the long Ikea CD storage box on the bookshelf behind me - suffice it to say it's stuffed to capacity!

Come and join in - Gail and Jo will make you feel very welcome - I have a feeling that their challenge is going to be a very friendly place to play. Happy dance! ☺

Frog on a mono-cycle

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

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- glued the white panel onto the green panel 

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

Finished!

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

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #382

AO delivered the new microwave and took our old one away, exactly as planned, on Monday. I thoroughly recommend them if you're UK based. Let's hope that's the last appliance to be replaced for a little while - she says, eyeing up the iron and waiting for it to be next.

Then, I suddenly realised I'd missed a few Birthdays during this lock down, which really upset me. One was Len's great nephew who recently turned 21 - and despite it being very late, I couldn't let that pass without a card (and the usual cheque).

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

I used:

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

- assorted snippets of blue card - all from a partly used Hobbycraft pack

- added a full layer of medium blue card to the card front, covering it completely - the blue card wasn't heavy enough to dive into a fresh sheet and make the whole card blank blue

- then topped the card front with a slightly smaller layer of dark blue card

- next, time to play with a NBUS set of four dies by Spellbinders called 'Optical Illusion Kaleidoscope'

- first of all I drew around the outside of the large die, using a white card snippet and pencil, to make a 'frame' for the next step and hand cut it

- die cut the large die using a snippet of dark blue card and glued it on top of the white hexagon using a Zig glue pen

- die cut six small hexagons from a snippet of white card, and glued them in place using a Zip glue pen

- die cut six small diamonds and six small triangles from snippets of the medium blue card and also glued those in place using a Zig glue pen

- then, using my rarely used Woodware rotary trimmer, carefully sliced the large made up hexagon in two across the centre

- glued the two halves of the hexagon at the top and the bottom of the card front

- stamped the sentiment using a snippet of white card, a selection of stamps from the Hero Arts 'Whimsical Numbers' and the word 'happy' from Winnie and Walter's The Big, the Bold and the Happy' stamp set - plus my mini Misti and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad

- then die cut the sentiment using a Tonic Studio's 'Circle Layering' die

- drew around the outside of that same circle die onto a snippets of the medium blue card and fussy cut it before gluing behind the sentiment as a 'frame'

- finally, glued the sentiment circle in place

Despite feeling the pressure, I did enjoy making this card and it's interesting how it looks quite 3D, depending on which part of the pattern you focus on. I confess to finding a card to CASE on Spellbinder's own website - which seemed just right for a chap. Leaving the hexagon whole produces a more feminine feel, IMHO. I also liked how a sample card on the site used just the central star 'skeleton' to build up snowflakes. And you can also leave the whole frame unfilled for a real optical illusion effect. Some ideas to try next I think.

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

It's a Spellbinders 'Optical Illusion Kaleidoscope' set of dies - absolutely perfect for using up snippets!

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 25th July. 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.

I had a lot of trouble this week when trying to link an entry from a new Playmate's Instagram account. Got it to work in a fashion eventually, but I know others of you use Instagram to link here and wonder if you ever hit 'unable to find' image error message issues? I worked round it by saving the whole IG post to my own laptop then picking the image up from there - but obviously I can't do that each time for our new Playmate. And I think she only works using her phone. Surely, one should be able to use Instagram and do an entry directly from your phone? I've raised a ticket with Mr Linky - and we're in discussion. One thing that makes me wonder is - do any of you set tight security settings which may invoke https rather than http? Darnell already gave me some info. about the one she uses - thanks for that chick!

It doesn't seem as if anyone has had any luck tracking down a new toy for Bella:

Not to worry - it always was a long shot anyhow. A lovely friend has offered to make one, but that really is one heck of a thing to take on.

Speaking of dog's toys, Dudley finally chewed through one cheek of his Monkey toy - so he's now onto 'Stinky Monkey the Fifth'. I don't mind snipping an ear off a toy if it's coming loose and can't be repaired but as soon as any inside stuffing is visible and can't be repaired, sadly it has to go to the great toy box in the sky. I promise you, I did not fancy sewing up a soggy wet monkey's face! I did the swop whilst Dudley was out for a walk with Len the other morning and hid the old monkey well out of his way, leaving the new one exactly where he left its predecessor. We acted really casually, and after a few suspicious sniffs - Dudley accepted the replacement, picked it up and wandered off to get to know it better. Ha, he must know I'm writing about him - he just came and slipped past my legs to curl up under the desk ☺

As I used the set of dies for the very first time, it means I can join in with Darnell's NBUS #16 challenge HERE!

Thanks also for your feedback about the no-line colouring. I'm going to try various ideas as soon as I find time - much appreciated!

Stay safe my lovely friends.

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

1.	Pam Sebring	16.	glennis f nz	31.	Alice
2.	ionabunny	17.	Kathyk	32.	SHartl
3.	Jenny H	18.	karenladd	33.	Kathy Asper
4.	Inkami	19.	Heather Mills	34.	Creative Em
5.	Nana Connie	20.	Swissie	35.	Suzanne H
6.	Sandra H	21.	Brenda L.	36.	Jeanne H
7.	Eemeli	22.	Vicky	37.	Helen
8.	Aquarius	23.	Jules	38.	Gloria Lee
9.	Janis in ID	24.	Liz Cavill	39.	Pat
10.	Janes Journal	25.	tina z. treebug	40.	Christine Smith
11.	Zoe Sanderson	26.	laurie	41.	Nicky
12.	Janice	27.	Chantal S	42.	Mary- Anne V.
13.	Carol L	28.	Jackie T	43.	Charlotte E (Lady Joyful)
14.	Kath	29.	Jane Willis
15.	Susan Renshaw	30.	Hazel

Linky Widget expiration: 5 years ago.