How did YOU get in there Spike?

A recent order from Craftwork Cards was sitting here begging to be played with - a luscious White Embossed Pad containing loads of already die cut and embossed frames, plus backing card, embossed to match. Also, a pack of 'Fanciful' shaped cards. So, this card just had to be made:

I used:

- 6" x 6" white Fanciful card stock

- the background was made by pencilling a circle about half an inch wider than the frame aperture directly onto the Fanciful shaped card so I could work within that area and know it'd be hidden by the frame. Then I used a tip from Sarn (thanks for that my friend!) to colour the clouds by using a sponge finger dauber and SU's 'Bashful Blue' ink pad. For the cloud template I used a die cut scalloped circle and just moved it about, starting from the top, rather than the bigger template I'd normally use with Distress Inks and a duster brush 'cos the image is a small one. Then a swoosh of SU's 'Certainly Celery' across the bottom

- Penny Black Stickeroo from the 'Bunch of Love' sheet - little tip here, if you try this out then do be aware that a lot of the PB hedgie Stickeroos wouldn't work as the sky/clouds would show through their white tummies unless you mask the area first

-  embossed frame from the White Embossed Pad, added with some thin sticky pads which I buy at Wilkinsons. At £16.99 the embossed pad doesn't come cheap but there are 54 frames and 12 sheets of 8" x 8" embossed card stock, so that should keep me happy for a while

- sentiment by Craftwork Cards

Little update on our hedgehogs, at least one comes to feed in the garden every night. We aren't sure if it's the same one or not - the 'calling cards' it leaves behind aren't signed :)

A Tuesday Tale will follow later today.

Thanks for calling by!

Di
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Christening card for Riley

The bits and bobs to make this card, at a friend's request, were on my desk last Wednesday (on WOYWW) and this is the end result:

I used:

-A5 white card stock

- pearlised turquoise card

- two pieces of embossed white card, the top piece using a folder and the bottom one using the vertical lines on my score board

- the cutest little turquoise fabric elephant from Hobbycraft

- sentiment printed on the computer

- Nesties from the Labels 8 set to die cut the sentiment and white backing for the elephant and then drawn around and cut for the slightly larger turquoise backings (which are perfectly aligned in real life although the photo looks as if they aren't :)

- length of turquoise double faced satin ribbon tied in a bow

Thanks for calling by.

Di

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Pixies Crafty Snippets Challenge - 31 & 32

It's been another busy week in the playground, despite the fabulous weather in parts of the UK and elsewhere, lots of you have been crafting away and then breaking out to come and play.

First, this is my snippets card:

And, amaaaaazingly, it's also for this week's challenge over at Less Is More, which is a sketch.

Whoop, whoop - it isn't very often a snippets card fits the bill for LIM - plus I haven't looked at other entries either just in case there's another one similar. Mind you, the stamp set isn't that easy to find, I stumbled across it last week in Hobbycraft and as it's a Kirsty Wiseman one just had to buy it of course.

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card stock

- Kirsty Wiseman's 'Bags of Fun' stamp set, made by Personal Impressions

- snippets of blue, pink and mauve paper from the snippets folder

- a scrap of already cut and embossed scalloped edging card

- a couple of embossed lines done on the score board

Now that's what I like, a card that suddenly pops into my head just at the right moment.

The latest news about our playmate Mary H can be found here - hubby took her to a craft shop for an outing, how lovely to not only get out for a little trip but also to be taken to a craft shop by a fella - even if it did mean he didn't have to cook lunch! Good to see you're progressing Mary.

And, now the roll call, which I just might fall asleep over - we watched the whole of the Olympics opening ceremony and didn't get to bed until almost 2am. Then I was up at 6am making coffee and a bacon roll for Len before he trotted off down to Andover for the day to help out at some big archery event there.

First into the playground this week was Hazel, with the first of loads of cards - this one is so soft and very vintage, then in total contrast a very funky card in chartreuse, followed by this really yummy looking card in lovely sunny yellows. Hazel's next card used lots of lovely snippets - and there was also the confession that Hazel has 'boxes of offcuts because I have one for patterned paper, one for solid colours, one for cream and one for white' - then later another box containing Christmas snippets was owned up to as well. I do remember Jules posting photos of her snippets mountain a good while ago as well. After that, we had a visit with a great monochrome Christmas card, all in glorious reds, a brilliant Birthday card for a chap and then a really delightful Christmas card which is such an eye catcher - love it Hazel! I totally loved Hazel's next card too, which was 'white on white', never very easy to get right but this card is so elegant with beautiful embossing.  Then we had another fabulous Christmas card , which you can see here. It's a stepper card and the image is just gorgeous too. Loads of lovely cards again this week Hazel.

Sam was second to visit this week, bringing along this brilliant layout featuring her father-in-law in his wedding day - loads of interesting embellishments to set off a great photo and I just love the 'pre-decimalisation' additions too! Some of you UK girls will be too young to remember pounds, shillings and pence I bet :) Then Sam brought two cards, one specifically using snippets and the other one using part of a Christmas card from last year's received one. Yes, it's recycling but do scroll down to see it as well as the terrific 'official' snippets one featuring a gingerbread family! Both great cards Sam!

Linby (Lynn) was next with such a great card for last weeks Less Is More Challenge, which was on the theme of sewing. Our Lynn had been missing in action due to a prolonged viral infection, and was still feeling a bit wobbly so I parked her in the shade. The card, which you can see here, is super - great stamps with such a clever sentiment, paper piecing and a terrific embossed panel - just perfect for the LIM challenge Lynn, I think it's a winner.

Next was Jules, with this adorable snippets card. Beautiful colours Jules and the Pink Petticoat tree image is wonderful - lots of lovely Josy Rose nail heads too (it was Jules who kindly pointed me in the direction of Josy Rose some time ago now).Of course there's a heart on the card, as always, I'm constantly amazed by the number of heart stamps, buttons, ribbons etc. that Jules must have :)

Sandra H was next to come and play, bringing a totally adorable baby card. It's for a baby girl (lots of pink, grin), an easel card, ribbons, cute image and a sweet little baby's dummy along with other lovely detail. I did giggle just now at a comment that Darnell left, of course in the USA a dummy is probably something quite different in meaning, and they use the word pacifier or 'binkie'. Huh? 'Binkie'? Sigh, we do have a lot of differences in the use of words - but it's good fun finding out those differences :) Great card Sandra!

Our playground Madcap, Mrs A, bounced in next - with an ocean themed box frame. Do go here to see, if you haven't done so already - it's just stunning. Loads of lovely detail  and what's good is that you get to see some of the stages in making this wonderful creation, including creating a lobster from part of a perfume bottle (as you do of course!). It's extra wonderful because, quite rightly, it won 1st prize over at Creative Inspirations too - well done Mrs A!

Gilly was next with a delightful New Home card, so cleverly done using paper piecing whilst still achieving a lovely clean and crisp look to the card. I love the addition of the pearls to the back of the chair Gilly, gives it a real 'buttoned back' look - great card! Still waiting to see more Wedding photos sometime please.

Then Darnell brought this super card to show - perfect for the LIM challenge last week - love the dress with the flowers at the waist Darnell. Ah, and more was to come - do make sure you read the whole post, it's funny as always and there are some really great photos to see - do look out for the 'button motorcycle'! Thanks for sharing with us :)

Laura was next into the playground, with this really stylish card for her Mum. A lovely clean looking card, with a great main image and an inspired daisy made from narrow ribbon - very clever Laura. Hope your Mum didn't take a peek at your blog and spoil the surprise after all.

Next was Karen T, with a charming Wedding card. Lots of flourishes, peel offs, flowers, leaves, lacy edges, a Wedding couple - all making a very full of detail card. And a cleverly done horseshoe too - not that it turned out to be needed - apparently the wedding is off! As I commented, how very rude of them to do such a thing  - although, better now than afterwards I guess :)

Mary Mac flew in next, bringing a selection of cards and they are all lovely. The real snippets one is the third one down, for a chap, and just perfect Mary. Great colour choice and some great embossing and punching of suede paper too. I bet your son-in-law will be so pleased with it Mary! Good to see you back home and playing again.

Next was Irene, with a brilliant card for a chap - the eight squares are a great idea and I do love the way you used all those SU nautical stamps Irene. Great mix of blues and the whole effect is really stunning - I've been scrabbling through my SU catalogue, I suspect Irene might have just used partial images in some places and it works so well!

OK, so we're into Rudolph Week as it was Rudolph Day on the 25th over at Sarn's, and you still have time to join in - up until Wednesday 1st August at 7pm GMT. And, to enter into the fun Victoria hopped into the playground with two absolutely super cute Rudolph cards - both very cleverly made by using SU punches in a totally different way - teamed with great papers and embossing too. I love both of them Victoria, so couldn't choose a favourite - and also love the little kitten all set to play Quidditch. Aaaaw.

Elizabeth was next and she brought two Christmas cards, using the same stamp but doing over stamping on the second one. I love both of them and the added touches of glitter on the trees are just perfect. If really pressed I'd probably choose the second one for the added detail - but would be delighted to have either on my mantelpiece this Christmas Elizabeth.

Then Sarn arrived, with a stunning easel card, made using SU products which always go together so well, for her monthly card class she now runs (go Sarn, just wish I lived closer). I adore the Aviary Stamp set and the colours (Rose Red and white) are fabulous together - do take a peek, you'll be inspired I'm sure. Very elegant card Sarn! 

And, last but not least, Amanda hopped in for a play and to show us a really great card for someone who just passed their driving test - the detail is just perfect Amanda, and it doesn't matter how many or how few snippets you use, every little bit might help to reduce the pile. Love all the different elements on the card and it's sure to be loved by the recipient.

Amanda made me laugh, wondering whether to make a Wedding card now for a December Wedding, I said go for it and I see so did a lot of others. Clever Victoria suggested putting on her blog where the safe place is that Amanda might store it in so we can remind her!

Phew, I did this in pretty quick time today - so just need to schedule it for this evening/midnight and I can now 'relax' by doing some ironing whilst watching TV - there might be some Olympics events I fancy idly gawping at.

Next weekend a flying visit to us is 'scheduled'. It's well over a year since we last saw Mia and Livi and a lot of things have changed in that time - not least themselves I expect. Plans are for us to go to Peppa Pig Land next Saturday - and in the days running up to their visit I'd be too busy to do a roll call, plus it's likely I could be lying down afterwards in a dark room recovering from going to see Peppa Pig on August Bank Holiday weekend. Anyone want to tag along, or are you all too sensible?

So, I propose to let the playground stay open for a two week run this time. I'll still be commenting on your own blogs, and also watching out for go-karts, pogo sticks and such of course :)

Have a great couple of weeks, keep using those snippets in between perhaps catching some Olympic events, and the playground will close on Saturday 11th August at noon UK time. If things change and the proposed visit gets cancelled then I'll revert to the usual one week but would let you know.

Mr Linky is below as usual.

Di
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The only conditions to playing nicely in the Snippet Playground are that your card (or anything else you wish to bring here to show) must be made by using up snippets (card, paper, lace and ribbon are all fine), and a link back to here in your own blog posting will mean that you'll be included in the Weekly Roll Call. Oh, and no nipping or hair pulling of course :)

A review of the Olympics opening ceremony

This is so funny, I have to share it with you - Victoria has already been across and is laughing along with me:

Go here and I defy you not to laugh - especially about the appreciative neighbours :)

This blog is my daily fix of laughter - and today Helen (aka Monkey, Darrell and Nigel) totally cracked me up. Poor Macca - but the observation was spot on!

I hope Helen doesn't mind me 'lifting' a photo - she's a pal so I doubt if she'd slap my wrists too hard!

Di
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Quack, quack

Saturday's card is always a quickie - and this truly was super fast - unless you think I coloured the image my very own self, which I certainly did not :)

I used:

- small narrow white card stock

- orange backing card topped with a white layer

- Penny Black Stickeroo from the 'Party Animals' sheet

- orange ribbon from the ribbon box

- sentiment by Craftwork Cards, layered onto an orange oval punched using SU's plain oval punch

Yippee, it's the weekend - hope you all have fun!

Di

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Friday Feast - disruption to service

Sorry folks, I just haven't had time to write up the recipe for Friday Feast today :(

The furniture did finally turn up, at 7:30 last night, and most of today has been spent putting a mahoosive wardrobe together - and sorting out the other new furniture in the bedroom - and we didn't have one single fallout either!

So, this week I'm skipping Friday Feast, but it's truly  worth waiting for 'cos we had it last week and it was delicious.

Here's a sneak peek - see if you can guess what it's gonna be - anyone suggesting it's just a 'mess up in a dixie' gets nil points and a Gibbs Slap:

Hope your weekend is off to a good start - my next task is to open some wine and collapse into a chair in the garden for half an hour before raking round in the freezer to see what's to eat this evening. Snort, I think there are a couple of Magnums choc ices in there at least :)

Di
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Christmas baubles

Hmm,  not the most exciting of titles - but as I type this on Thursday it's hot, late, I'm tired, our bedroom furniture delivery is probably circuiting the M25 for the umpteenth time, I'm also hungry and want my evening meal:( Come on Pink Panther deliveries - get a move on, are you using a horse and cart for goodness sakes?

Anyhow, this is my second card for Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge, which is Monochrome this week - and my first one for Rudolph Day this month over at Sarn's blog:

On hindsight, being 20/20 vision and all that, perhaps I didn't really need to use the holly die - but there was holly in the LOTV image, the die was new and lying on my desk, as well as pleading to be tried out. I totally love the die, the cut card pops out of the die so easily, which also cuts beautifully - but, with even more 20/20 vision, another time I think it's a good idea to mount the card onto double sided sticky film before cutting which would be lots easier to stick down afterwards. But hey, the few loose spirals and leaves could well be deliberate huh?

I used:

- A5 white card stock

- LOTV 'Christmas Baubles' stamp, stamped in Memento 'London Fog' and coloured with Pro Markers. The leaves were then coated with Anita's Glaze and the baubles given a covering of Stickles. Little tip about the Stickles, I have a box full of them in all colours and it's really easy to just mix up a blob of different colours onto a little piece of paper to get the right mix before applying using a little paintbrush

- mid-green backing card

- holly dies, cut from dark green card using Cheery Lyn's 'Holly Flourish' die

-Craftwork Cards sentiment layered onto the two greens used on the card, punched using SU oval punches

Another one for the box.

I hear there are to be chikkins in the 'rural scenes' being depicted in the Olympics opening ceremony -  I do hope Sam and Sarn have TVs rigged up in their coops for Margot, Harriet, Tony and Co. :)

Di
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Less Is More - sewing

Another fun challenge over at Less Is More this week, sewing, either real, faux or images related to sewing - that sort of thing. As always, if I don't race to join in, a lot of my initial ideas have already gone - this time it was sewing machines and tailors' dummies, sigh :( I blame being glued to the laptop writing up the snippets roll call each Saturday when the new LIM challenge appears and then being too flaked out to do much thinking on Sundays - good excuse huh?! :)

Anyhow, eventually I came up with this little cutie, no real stitching sadly but it should be a good card for a friend of mine who is an avid cross-stitcher:

I used:

- white DL card stock, with the corners rounded

- a House Mouse Hop-It stamp called 'A Stitch In Time', stamped in Memento 'London Fog' and just some slight colouring with a red Whispers pen

- sentiment from Lawn Fawn's 'Sew Lovely' stamp set - stamped using SU 'Rose Red' ink pad

If I go back to Less Is More and spot that someone has done the same I'll just lie on the floor and cry :(

Di
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WOYWW - 164

Loving the hot weather right now, but at one point yesterday I just had to leave here and get out into the garden for a sit in the shade with a cold drink. So, this is how things were left:

Bits and pieces to make a Christening card, a last minute request so the chips were really down. It's for a baby boy and hopefully it'll be a case of Less Is More being best. A lot of the bits are in the photo above - at the point I went for a cool down it was left at the careful cutting out of Nesties, using the great tip (not my idea mind you!) to draw round the outside of a die for just a slightly larger layer. The Whispers pen is there showing another tip I use which to tickle along the cut edges of the pearlised card so there are no ugly white edges showing.

And a swing to the right:

Anyone getting the impression that the desk is suspiciously uncluttered for me? Sigh, OK then:

I confess, things were at the point I couldn't work in amongst all the mess but needed to make the card straight away so I trotted to and fro dumping piles of stuff on our (very crumpled) bed to clear some working space. It looks better now, truly, it's cleared - it had to be so we could go to bed! And a lot of the stuff has been put away where it belongs too :)

It's mostly things I've used and not returned to their rightful homes, although the little grey basket contains stuff ready for another card. I tend to do that if I'm building up an idea for a card and just collect together everything as I think of it.

Enough, enough! Now it's your turn to go and snoop via Julia's at what much more interesting things people are currently up to on their desks, dining tables, floors, trays etc. Take a cool drink with you, it could be quite a hot journey!

Happy WOYWW and thanks for calling by.

Di
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Tuesday Tale - rhubarb anyone?

I was reminded of today's Tuesday Tale the other afternoon, whilst pulling a load of rhubarb from the garden.

We love rhubarb here, but my Dad absolutely hated it for some reason and always referred to it as 'bloodshot celery' :)

When I was about eight years old we lived in Germany and my Mum was unexpectedly rushed into hospital, leaving us to fend for ourselves. The suddenness had meant that no preplanning had been done on the home front by Mum of course. Also, the hospital was some distance away so I didn't see her for the whole time she was hospitalised.

Mum was in hospital for about three weeks and, when she was almost well enough to leave hospital, she was asking  Dad how he was coping with running the home. He blithely said 'No worries, we're absolutely fine. Eating well and Diane is clean and tidy for school'. Bless him  - I suppose he wasn't telling fibs, although his head was stuck somewhere either in the sand or even worse - and of course I wasn't with him to 'snitch'. Then he added 'You know though, I think we need to talk about your grocery shopping. I truly don't understand why it costs so much'.

Came the grand return home and I think Mum almost had a relapse :( Of course I'd been kept clean and tidy for school, but by then I don't think there was much in the line of fresh clothing - in fact I was probably destined to be wearing Dad's underpants if things had gone on much longer. So, there was a Chinese laundry's worth of washing and ironing to catch up on.

Then Mum opened the fridge - empty - so she went to check the pantry - empty. No wonder Dad thought Mum was being extravagant with the groceries, all he'd bought was fresh milk, bread and perhaps fresh meat and eggs. Absolutely everything else has been cleared out of the fridge, kitchen cupboards and the pantry - talk about Old Mother Hubbard's Cupboard! Tea, sugar, coffee, every can, jar, bottle, most packets - you name it - gone!

Then something caught her eye in the vegetable rack - yup, a big bundle of 'bloodshot celery', by now totally limp and looking very sorry for itself. Apparently that had been destined for a pie the day Mum unexpectedly went into hospital - but Dad hated it so much he couldn't even bring himself to touch it and throw it out :(

I'm not sure he was ever allowed to live one that down. Another time, remind me to tell you about the roasting tin debacle.

My 'rhubarb pink' card for today is below :)

Di
x

Shoes, hot pink and shopping

I love the current trend for hot pink with black, and a quick rootle through the boxes here turned up the makings of this:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card stock

- hot pink card from my goodies, edged using Martha Stewart's 'Half Daisy' punch

- topper from my Kanban goodies, had it almost forever

- a single, big, black gem on the bow of the shoe

- a couple of black feathers (Hobbycraft)

- organza roses from Mei Flower

Quick and very easy :)

Just as well something worked OK yesterday, yet another trip to the hairdresser ended in trauma - which part of 'Not too much off please' didn't she understand?! The thing is, after the first huge 'snip' resulting in 2" of hair in her hand, I couldn't very well ask for it to be stuck back on :( I considered making a bolt for it but wasn't sure that would help either. Sigh, next time I'm gonna take one of you with me as a 'carer'!

To be honest, it feels much cooler right now - and perhaps it'll grow back by Winter time :)

Di
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Teddies and toy soldiers

.....are really reminiscent of old style Christmas images. This week's theme over at Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge is 'monochrome' - so for a first card this is my offering:

As yesterday was a 'Domestic Goddess' day I could only grab five minutes to whip this card up and went for the safe option of black and white :)

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card stock

- a silver edged piece of black card

- Kanban Christmas toppers from my goodies

- Craftwork Cards card candi

I hope to make something in shades of a single colour during the week, then I can enter it into both Hazel's challenge and Sarn's Rudolph Day challenge :)

Off out to have my hair chopped this morning - it's gonna be interesting to see properly again, fringe is currently like a curtain :)

And, we have sunshine too, enjoy - whoop, whoop!!

Di
x

Pixies Crafty Snippets Challenge - 30

Am writing this in between housework on Saturday - the lovely Len is doing the vacuuming and I'm doing the rest. It's best to keep out of the way when he's vacuuming though so I've raced up here for a little while, oops I just heard a radiator cap rattle up into Henry - best to keep hiding I think!

This is my snippets card for today, made for Abi's Mum, Kim, whose birthday it is this very day:

Kim loves cats so it was a bit of a no-brainer really :)

I used:

- 6" x 6" square petal edged white card

- image is from a set of already printed and coloured panels called 'Annabelle's Meadow' by Wild Rose Studio

- papers are also from the matching paper set - one full piece and a snippets

- all plain backing card is from the snippets folder, some of it rounded off with a corner punch

- doily is die cut using Cheery Lyn's French Pastry die (DL102). I've had this for quite a while and it's a real delight to use, the paper pops out so easily and it's very therapeutic poking any leftover little die cut pieces out

- a snippet of blue gingham ribbon, with a little cat charm tied on using metallic fine cord - I'm also enclosing a little charm loop thingy as am pretty sure that Kim will want to dangle the charm from her phone/ purse or whatever :)

- a strip of paper along the back edge of the card behind the 'petals'

- Craftwork Cards sentiment layered onto an oval cut using SU plain oval punch 

- Josy Rose nail heads

Right, roll call time now:

For the latest update from our playmate Mary H, recovering from the Achilles tendon repair, this is the link here. Good to see that progress is being made Mary, keep up the weight training :) xxx

Irene was first to come and play this week with, as always, a really elegant card and a tag as well - all made using some delicious SU products. Such pretty colours Irene and both are beautifully made. Love the little gem above the letter I - this could become your trademark :) I think the colouring directly onto stamps works so well too, brilliant results as ever.

Next was Sam, playing three times this week - yay! First was a brilliant layout featuring such a handsome chap, Harry her Grandfather in fact, and lots of lovely die cuts and embellishments, and the Ancestry papers are delicious! Then, a delightful tag and a very unusual Christmas card which you can see here. Sam is super critical of her own work - but I truly don't see why - both are absolutely fabulous! Finally, another snippets card, using the 'brushless watercolour' technique. Err, OK said I, then Sam kindly told me how it's done - don't hold your breath gals though, it's likely that my attempts could end up in the bin :( But, Sam's card is absolutely delightful - some lovely makes this week Sam!

Jules found time this week to make a snippets card in between all the other Wedding things she's doing right now. BTW, I got Quick Cards Made Easy magazine through the post the other day and Jules is in print again :)  Super article as well. To see Jules snippets card, hop over here, such a gorgeous image and there's stitching, fabby papers, lovely colouring - all the things we'd expect from our Patron and Founder :) So pleased to hear the mahoosive roll of bubble wrap arrived Jules, it did have me giggling here.

Next was Victoria with toffees! Oh, and a delightful card too - so elegant, and a perfect example of less is more working brilliantly Victoria - I adore the papers you used so well and the wrapped linen thread is an inspired finishing touch. I follow Victoria, as I do all of you, and just love the daily cat photos - quite often they really make you laugh out loud! A purrfect start to my day :)

Hazel seems a bit perkier this week, although I doubt if the shingles have fully disappeared yet - we're still wishing you well! But, we have eight visits over the week, sort of picking up towards the end of the week which could be a good sign. So, these are the cards that Hazel brought to show: a Jolly Nation Christmas shopper (my lists are like that and am lost if I forget to take a list out with me!), Jolly Nation Shepherd Boys which reminds me so much of the school Nativity Play I wrote about here and another Jolly Nation card with a Mum carrying a load of Christmas Boxes - I love the bunny rabbit slippers Hazel :) I had a pair of white fluffy doggie slippers a few years back, it was a bit like walking round with Bichon Frises on my feet, loved them but then the boss made me get rid of them after I tripped and slid down the stairs on me bum whilst wearing them :( Then, in complete contrast we had a little run of sunshine and Summer days on the beach cards, the first one is here, I just adore those beach huts and the teeny little sunglasses, next was this scene, looking out to sea, then a brilliant card for a surfer (love the backing paper you used on both those cards Hazel), and another beach scene, again with brilliant backing papers and embellishments to go with the lovely relaxing image. And finally, two cards in one go - a London taxi and a London bus to depict something very British:) Brilliant stitched tags and the backing paper is perfect Hazel.

Next was Mags B, with such a lovely 'girlie' card - just brilliant colouring Mags and the whole card is a real delight. Flowers, doily, lace -  all the things which go to make a really feminine card, yet teamed so well with a very 'cool' looking image. Perfectly done Mags! You've reminded me that I've got some of those metallic corners lurking, neglected, in a box here :)

Gilly came to play this week - or should we say 'Mrs Gilly' now? Her card can be seen in this post here - lovely image and the purples are just perfect Gilly! Now girls, if you haven't already been and seen, there's a great photo of Gilly and Jamie on their big day in the same post - do make sure you take a close look at what's written on the underneath of Gilly's shoes :) So clever, and such a beautiful dress too - err, Jamie has nice knees as well :) And, our playmates Wedding card did get sent to Gilly eventually by the way.

Sandra H was a bit later this week - what am I saying, it was still only Monday, there seems to be a little rush of playmates on Sundays! Probably checking to see if we have any new toys to play on. Anyhow, such a gorgeous Wedding card Sandra - love the elegant image and you've made a really terrific card! What's amazing is that all the elements are from when Sandra began card making (in fact I've also got the same images here from quite a few years ago) - but, by adding some up to date twists such as rounded corners the card looks bang up to date.

Next was Amanda, and we had two visits this week, firstly with this terrific monochrome card - something I'd be terrified of making from scratch. It's an adorable card Amanda. Just love the colouring of that fab image and the way everything else goes so perfectly with the monochrome theme. I also had a smile when I read that Amanda had been furiously raking through her snippets for the right pieces of card/paper when her hubby pointed out that she could have cut into a fresh sheet :) That's a true sign of a dedicated snippeteer Amanda :) Next was a great snowman card - such a happy chappy - and a glorious red snowflake, which is perfect by the way. I do love reading the comments left on your posts girls and see I see that one of the playground wags remarked thus to Amanda when she'd mentioned that red snow is just rarer than yellow snow 'Top tip with regard to yellow snow...don't eat it!'. No prizes for guessing who wrote that - vroom, vroom!

Laura also managed two visits this week - she's almost at the end of her Uni. course, which much be such a fabulous feeling Laura! The first card is absolutely THE most adorable christening card for her 'soon to be' god daughter. It's one of those cards that really makes you go 'WOW' - every detail is just perfect. Such a sweet Forever Friends image, beautifully coloured and teamed so well with papers, ribbon, pearls and beautifully printed sentiments. The second card is also so sweet, LOTV this time teamed with luscious pink and purple, with splashes of yellow - I love it Laura! We also have to please keep our fingers crossed for the 1st August, that's when Laura will get the results of her dissertation.

Next was Lindsey, using snippets to make a fabulous yellow and blue chequer board card. It's great Lindsey, love the way the backgrounds are stamped and also the punching you did. The yellow and blue go together perfectly - a true example of how great SU products work together, the the hands of someone with imagination of course! Nope, I'm not a demonstrator folks - but I'm a huge fan of SU products and have noticed a big surge in people using them lately.

Speaking of Stampin' Up - Sarn trotted in for a play next. I feel bad as am almost sure that she was running another of her card making classes this weekend and I was so flipping busy I forgot to say Good Luck. Not that she'll need it I'm sure - that gal has taken to it like a duck to water :) Anyhow, Sarn brought a terrific card for a cricket player or a fan of cricket which you can see here - very classy and just perfect for a chap Sarn! When you hop over for a peek, do click on the link at the top of Sarn's blog to 'Sarn Tangles' - she's into Zentangling now (sigh) and there are some fabulous results to be seen! Also, it's Rudolph Day on the 25th (Wednesday) over at Sarn's so remember to get your Christmas goodies out for a play this week!

Rach arrived next, with the confession that she's a closet 'feather cushion sniffer' - I've heard it all now :) Oh dear, the image of Rach chasing Harriet and Margot (Sarn's chickens) or Sam's 'Tony the Cockerel' trying to grab them for a quick sniff just sprung into my mind here - snigger! Anyhow, Rach had made a great card, taking one of her cushions as inspiration - love the design, gorgeous colours and different textures Rach, and that Kirsty Wiseman stamp is terrific. I've known Kirsty since the days when she owned Dies to Die For and she's a great person, as well as being a super designer and photographer. Her blog (here) is always interesting too, life isn't always without its ups and downs for her yet she bounces back with a vengeance.

Next was Elizabeth, having just recovered from a heavy cold, kindly 'donated' by her husband. In fact, it's their wedding anniversary this weekend and they're off for a romantic break - hope you had a great time Elizabeth! The card that Elizabeth brought is for her hubby to celebrate their anniversary - and I did a double take when I saw it. It's actually a Michael Powell topper but it's almost the same as 'Shore Thing' and I happen to know that Mrs A has been hunting high and low for that stamp. We've both been searching but it seems that as soon as stocks arrive it just flies out of the shops :( The backing papers go beautifully with the image Elizabeth, and the gems in each corner are a perfect finishing touch!

And, last but by no means least, Mrs A scampered in with a really funny card - sort of depicting her cat Wimpy. A great image and just look at those eyes - amazing - and a brilliant card, especially the sentiment! Of course, there has to be a story about Wimpy, who isn't exactly the World's bravest feline and who largely resides behind the washing machine :) I did laugh recently when the boiler maintenance man called and it appears that he and Wimpy didn't exactly go a bundle on one another :(

Right girls, that's the roll call done - I truly wondered if I'd manage it this week in time but it's done. I hope I covered everyone and that all the links are fine - just shout if there's a problem please.

Mr Linky is below as usual and the playground will close at noon on Saturday 28th July. Hope you have a great week (I think some sunshine is forecast!!) and please remember to follow the conditions below. 

Di
x

The only conditions to playing nicely in the Snippet Playground are that your card (or anything else you wish to bring here to show) must be made by using up snippets (card, paper, lace and ribbon are all fine), and a link back to here in your own blog posting will mean that you'll be included in the Weekly Roll Call. Oh, and no nipping or hair pulling of course :)

Love is in the air

That's what this card makes me think of at least, perhaps for a Wedding Anniversary:

As it's Saturday, it's a super fast card to give me time to make a snippets card and try to write the roll call. Most of the card is from a really cute Kanban kit, designed by Dawn Bibby and bought from QVC some while ago.

I used:

- 4.75" x 4.75" square white card stock

- blue backing card from the snippets folder, with corners rounded to match the 'topper'

- topper which was already die cut ready to assemble in the kit - I just added two tiny black gems to the birds' eyes

All done - and it's the weekend!

Hope you all have fun, I'm working on a birthday meal for a lovely friend's birthday and her family tomorrow, hey, ho, what do you cook for folk just home from a Cunard cruise?! OMG, OMG!!! It'll just be nice to hug her daughter Abi, my favourite young lady teenager, again.

So, whatever your plans - think of Mrs Beeton and I do hope that the sun does shine for us here in the UK.

Di
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Friday Feast - Quick Spicy Chicken

This recipe was published in the Daily Mail, ten and a half years ago, and I only just tried it out last week. It's a Celebrity Recipe, one given by John Stapleton, who rightly said 'The best thing about this dish is that everyone thinks you have slaved for hours over it, yet it only takes moments to prepare':

Quick Spicy Chicken

Serves 6

6 chicken breasts or 16 thighs (depending on their size)
15 fl oz/450 thick single cream (alternatively use half yoghurt/half cream for a healthier option)
6 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
6 tbsp mushroom ketchup *** See below
1 rounded dessertspoon Dijon or mild mustard
8oz/240g mushrooms, cleaned and sliced (optional)

Lightly oil a baking dish, and arrange the chicken in it. Brush with oil and season. Cook in a hot oven - 200C/400f/gas mark 6 - for 20 minutes until nearly cooked.

Meanwhile, mix together the cream, sauces and mustard in a bowl, pour over the almost cooked chicken and add the mushrooms.

Cook gently for a further 20 minutes.

Try serving with mashed potatoes and a green salad.

Things I do: Firstly, I have to admit that the photo doesn't look overly appetising :( But typing this I can almost smell the dish - and it's one to be made again really soon. As I was cooking for the two of us, I just used two chicken breasts and reduced the sauce and mushrooms by a third. To be truthful, both cooking stages said to cook the chicken for up to 30 minutes, and this was far too long. Thankfully the chicken didn't end up as tough as a road runner, but that could have happened. Also, I have absolutely no idea how you'd divide 16 chicken thighs equally between six people - but that's what the recipe says. In fact, next time I might try chicken thighs - perhaps three each?

And, I just couldn't get my head around mashed potato and salad together so I made mashed potato and peas to go with this.

*** Mushroom Ketchup isn't always the easiest thing to find in a supermarket, it's a bit like a cross between Worcestershire Sauce and Soy Sauce, and the same consistency. I generally find it in Sainsburys Supermarket, where the 'speciality groceries/ bottles and jars' are. A little bit in a stew or casserole just gives it a bit of zing so the bottle wouldn't go to waste :)

And, despite the things I've highlighted, it's really worth a try. Enjoy!

Di
x

Still, at least it's another Christmas card done

.....even though I didn't realise that the challenge over at Winter Wonderland, to have sentiment as the focal point on your card, closed at 5pm yesterday:

Besides which, I desperately wanted to play with the lovely Sizzix embossing folder that Mary H kindly sent to me :)

I used:

- an A6 card, already patterned and bought ages ago from QVC

- Sizzix 'Sending Love at Christmas' embossing folder, brayered with silver ink on the side with the indentations before adding white card snippet and running it through the Cuttlebug and then trimmed plus the corners rounded

- another piece of white card from the snippets folder, corners rounded and the edge coloured with lavender Pro Marker

- lavender  and silver ribbon from the ribbon box

Hmm, I didn't think to make two at the one sitting - which would have been sensible while I was waving the brayer round :( Duh, I'm such a Mrs Potato Head at times!

Friday Feast will follow later.

Di

x

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

This week's challenge over at Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge is - 'Twinkle, twinkle, little star', a perfect Christmas challenge indeed and the star is just right (not me, Dufex!). I plumped for a truly lovely Dufex image found in one of the Christmas craft boxes, in fact there were two the same so of course made two cards at the same time. Reckon it'll still be a rush nearer Christmas though:

I used:

- white DL card stock

- Dufex image, found in my store of goodies, no idea what it's called (I've scouted, as you do when on the back foot,and think it's called 'Shepherd Boy'. But I can't find anywhere that stocks, or they are out of stock - sob!) It really is adorable and very 3-D in real life. Must try and track more like this down, but it's tough going :(

- red semi-shiny backing card - but it's not the real 'shine in yer face' stuff which can sometimes really look a bit OTT. It's sort of soft satin finish (not that you can see that from the photo) and looks better with the Dufex image

- white/silver patterned and embossed card - bought from Art of Craft simply ages ago

- sentiment by Craftwork Cards, mounted onto an oval of the red card, punched using my much loved SU oval punch

- a little piece of red ribbon - originally on a Christmas present, very carefully ironed and stored away in the ribbon box :)

I'm off to try to catch up on my WOYWW commenting now. Not sure if it was Blogger or the combination of Linux Mint and Firefox - we'll see what happens now.

Di
x

Is it me?!

Just raced to the craft room to do my two hour WOYWW blog hop, sorry I'm late for most and now, no way can I get access  to commenting :(

 WTF is going on? :(

Has Princess Judy been here, have the Gremlins eaten up the connections? Will try tomorrow :(

Basically it's a pile of:

 Poop!!!!!

Sigh, am off to bed in disgust :( And will try again tomorrow.

Di 
x

Less Is More - Threes

This week's one-layer challenge over at Less Is More is to make a card using threes, three colours, three images, three words, the number 3 - get the picture?

I struggled a bit as I had lots of stamps with three images all on the one stamp. In fact the stamp set I used has three flowers on long stems on just one stamp (lucky I didn't opt for that as I subsequently spotted a lovely entry made using that very same stamp!). But I opted to make life more difficult (as usual) and went for three stamps, plus three colours and three words :)

I used:

- 6" x 6" white square card stock

- stamps from an Autumn Leaves set by Rhonna Farrer called 'Flowers Stamps', stamped in SU inks, Regal Rose, Tempting Turquoise and Pumpkin Pie.The flowers and colours remind me very much of a mini-dress I owned in the dim and distant past :)

- double embossed lines above and below the flowers, which only just show up in the photo needless to say

- SU's sentiment from the 'Sincere Salutations' set - stamped using Tempting Turquoise

Thought I'd better link this in today lest a senior moment catches me out :) I'm all 'three'd out' now!

Di
x

WOYWW - 163

I knew it wouldn't last - some messy pup has been into the craft room and mucked it all up again:

There's still a little bit of space to work but whoever came in to play sure left a heap of stuff pushed to the right to be put away:( Although, they also left a new 12" x 12" DCWV 'Preppy Princess' paper stack - all in luscious pinks and greens, which are on top of the heap for regular stroking:

Unless you wanna risk life and limb flicking through the heap to the right, this is what's currently right in front of me. A fabby ATC and tag from Shoshi, oh my it's beautiful, an Elzybells stamp bought from The Netherlands recently waiting to be inked up, more stamps to the right with the sun (yay!) bouncing off them, a lovely 'dumfed' card from Wipso (Annie), an Ikea tape measure ('specially for Spyder, aka Lyn, as I just know about Ikea trips and the fun to be had there) left there when I'd been crawling round a bedroom measuring for new furniture (grin, not from Ikea - I bottled out), some brilliant Christmas embossing folders from Mary H, a very kind bloggy buddy in the US of A, a bit of plastic coated wire left by IT support when he decided it was time to hook the laptop up to the speakers and 'woofer' in here on Monday whilst I was out (that was a surprise, I almost wet myself when the sound practically knocked me off the chair - the woofer speaker is underneath the desk, you can see it in the top photo, and I thought there was a flipping orchestra hiding under there), a basket full of cards awaiting inserts at the back (hate that job) - and the usual mug of cold coffee, complete with a little dribble of coffee down the front. I guess that means I'm the messy pup - sigh :(

To see much more creative spaces do hop over to Queen Julia's and thence to many a desk, some tidy, some not, all over this little planet of ours!

Have a great WOYWW, and thanks for calling by. Would you like to help yourself to something from the pile on the right while you're here, apart from the 'Preppy Princess' papers? Currently it's the only way it's gonna go down at all!

Di
x

A Tuesday Tale - Mrs Overall

I just bet most of us remember our first day at work - mine almost scarred me mentally for life:

I was the youngest in the office, at a local Electricity Board, and as such treated like the office junior until I realised they were pulling a fast one.

For some weird reason, absolutely every single of the female staff had to wear a blue overall - even if you were based in an office and never clapped eyes on the general public. On my first day I was issued with said overall, nylon, stiff and VERY long. Recipe for disaster really :(

Just before tea break time I was taken up into the attic area and shown the kitchen where there was a huge array of different shaped and patterned mugs, each belonging to specific individuals. Wide eyed I just nodded dumbly as Dorothy (she'd have been about 30+ and seemed ancient to me, we're still in touch all these years later) rattled through a list of about fourteen people, pointing out their individual mugs and whether they liked strong or weak tea or coffee, no milk, some milk, a lot of milk, sugar or no sugar etc. etc. then waltzed off back down the creaking stairs leaving me to it.

For goodness sakes, I was 18, fresh out of school and certainly no domestic goddess, with a memory like a sieve as an additional handicap.

Undaunted, and probably too scared to admit I was totally lost I struggled as best I could and eventually, after an absolute age, had a tray all loaded with the best attempt I could muster.

Betcha know what's coming next, I took two steps down the flight of stairs, my 'kitten heel' (remember those, first time round?) got caught in the hem of that stupid overall and WHOOSH down I went - hurling the whole tray of mugs up in the air. I was physically fine but the whole kit and caboodle was smashed to smithereens and the place looked as if it had been raining tea and coffee. I just wanted to curl up and die with embarrassment.

Evil, but thinking back, it probably served them right for throwing me in the deep end like that :)

Di
x

Is a black cat really lucky?

I sure hope so, especially today:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square cream card stock

- pieces from a Kanban card kit bought ages ago from QVC

- Core'dinations plain card

- patterned backing paper from my craft goodies

Have a great day, whatever you have planned! Mine includes a hospital appointment - followed by a trip to the supermarket. Deep joy, I just can't wait :(

 

Di

x

Aloha!

I've had an 'Aloha' sentiment stamp here for ages, just waiting for the right stamp to appear - finally one did and this is what I made:

I do love the way the little Hula Kiddo's hips are working away :) It's another card that I had a load of fun making - those little flip flops are just sooo cute.

I used:

 - 6" x 6" square cream card stock - Stampendous cling stamp called 'Hula Kiddo', coloured with Pro Markers, including the background (I even tried to match the hibiscus flowers to the backing paper, although I've never seen a blue hibiscus in real life) 

- plain backing card from the snippets folder and the papers are from the Bo Bunny 'Barefoot and Bliss' paper pack which I'm totally in love with right now

- yellow self adhesive ribbon from the ribbon box. Confession, I added it as the finished card looked out of balance - the horizontal strip of paper and the image were placed too low by yours truly

- orange/yellow flower came from Helena in a little parcel of goodies a while back and the brad was my own - and those dinky and totally adorable little flip flops are buttons, in a pack of five pairs from Hobbycraft, but I've spotted them on e-Bay as well - just with the shanks snipped off the back and stuck on using the glue gun

I'm gonna play along with the following challenges:

The Order of the Opus Gluei (this is a new one on me but the ladies who run the challenge seem to be a really fun crowd) - the current challenge is 'Where'd you get your sun tan'

Crafty Calendar Challenge - Fun In The Sun (another challenge that's new to me)

also, The Squirrel and the Fox - Kids or Babies (well, she's called Hula Kiddo and I think would be great for a young lady)

When Len saw this card he said 'D'you know, that's just how you kick off your flip flops on the beach. I always feel the need to tidy them, mainly so I don't trip over them'.

Grin, this could be one to add to the 'soaping the shower tray' trick :))

Have a nice day!

Di
x

Pixies Crafty Snippets Challenge - 29

Snippets card first I think - and I did have fun making it. I rootled though the snippets folder - it's all divided into colours and of course the pink slot is just bulging, how did that happen then, huh, huh? So, some little pieces of pink paper were extracted and cut into strips - and this was the end result:

 Yay, paper weaving :) Just to prove I'm not cheating, this is part of the process:

Looks a mess in progress for sure. One thing I used, which is a huge help, is a Dovecraft Easy Fix Repositional Tape Runner - and that's a real mouthful to say in a hurry. It meant that I could just run a square of the 'glue' onto a piece of card, lay all the strips one way and then if need be I could gently lift them to do the weaving but it was tacky enough to hold the strips in place when needed. Great stuff - I think I bought it at Art of Craft.

My original intention was just to have a plain white card with the heart on, but it was going to look too stark so I used just the front of the card above and then layered it onto raspberry backing card and then onto another card.

I used:

- 6" x 6" white square card stock with a petal scalloped edge

- four different patterned papers from the snippets folder, cut into half inch wide strips

- heart shaped Nesties, the plain one to cut the apertures and the same plain one plus a larger scalloped one to cut the pink frame (another snippet of course)

- raspberry card - in fact it's called 'Rose Red' by SU, both to use as a mat and also a deckle edged strip behind the petals on the back part of the inside of the card

- the finishing touch was a row of punched paper hearts along the petalled edge, and just a few added to the palest of the pink paper strips in the heart itself

Well, it's been a bit of a week here in the playground. First of all, our playmate Mary H is 'missing in action' right now - recovering from an Achilles tendon repair - ouch! Do hop over here to say 'Hi' and also to read about how she's coping, wise girl has set herself up in the basement with craft stuff, her laptop, real books plus her Kindle and plenty of DVDs to hand. I won't publish it here but her email account of the shenanigans needed to do something as simple as going to the loo did make me laugh. I've been down that road so know that panties, hopping on one leg and being in a hurry aren't a good combination! Hope you're soon well on the mend Mary - but no skipping right away OK?

Also, the great news is that our Bernie's Jim is back out of hospital - brilliant news! Here's to his recovery and also take some time to relax a bit now Bernie, it's been a stressful time we know.

And, Hazel is battling on with this wretched bout of shingles - get well soon Hazel!

Roll call time:

First was Sandra H, celebrating her birthday with this lovely card.  It's very elegant and perfect for last week's Less Is More 'Use Gold' challenge - love the way you used peel offs Sandra, obviously you have a better class of peel offs than I do here :) Hope you had a brilliant birthday - lots of yummy cake and hopefully some new crafting goodies to play with too!

Rach was next, with such a joyous card - filled with fabulous butterflies which look almost as if they're soraring off the card at you. Wonderful colours and I just love the way the sizes and colours are so perfectly laid out Rach - a real stunner! I do so love the SU set you've used and you obviously put a lot of thought into achieving such a carefree look - not an easy thing to do!

Next came Brenda - with this terrific Christmas card, white on white and such a fabulous reindeer stamp. It's true what Brenda said, amazing just how many shades of white there are - I seem to recall that white does have the greatest range of shades when you're doing house decorating - even if it's classed as pure white. Anyhow, a fabulous card Brenda - and you sure set the hares running (or should that be reindeer running). Both Mrs A and myself went into a frenzy looking for where to buy the fabulous set from - Mrs A even threatened to put a frog into me bed if I didn't squeal where I did find the set online :)

Lynne then brought along such a happy Birthday card - love the colours of the gerberas and the zig zag borders are beautifully matched and such a great finishing touch Lynne! I'm not surprised that the stamp is one of your favourites - so versatile and you can colour it in so many great colours.

Next was Irene, with this really elegant card, sigh - Irene's cards are always so elegant! A lot of work has obviously gone into the card, that's plain from the information Irene has helpfully given - yet the overall effect is simplicity with real impact. Love the flower Irene and the tiny little heart you used on the wording is just perfect!

Jules was next, still ultra-busy making wedding orders but just see what a super card she brought to show us. Such a great Wedding Anniversary card - love the papers and colours and the paper piecing is fabulous Jules. I managed to find a few hearts without any trouble too :) I just re-read Jules posting and had a real giggle - Len refers to my craft room as the Tardis as well!

Beth came back to pay us another visit, with this adorable card. You sure cracked use of snippets Beth - do go and see girls, isn't the patchwork effect great. And, Beth has also helpfully provided a link so you can see where to buy the die and stamp set. This reminded me of some patchwork cushion covers I started to make well over 30 years ago, still unfinished at that!

Hazel did manage to come and play a few times this week - despite the shingles. Sometimes keeping busy can help I know, and as always we had some great cards. Firstly, a romantic card (made in between watching last week's Men's Wimbledon Final, sob, sob) - super roses (both the red and then the pink ones) and I adore the Martha Stewart border punch! Next, there was a little flurry on Friday and Saturday - this card is just gorgeous, Raspberry Road backing papers (I've got these and really must set to and use them instead of looking at them and just stroking them!), a doily, lace and such a pretty PB stamped image. Then we had this little cutie to kick-start Hazel's latest Christmas Card Challenge which is to use at least one star on your card  - followed by another 'stars' card - fabby papers and I love the bemused expression on the reindeer's face Hazel :)

Elizabeth's little trotters are improving thankfully and she came to sit quietly on the swings with this really beautiful Christmas card. The main basis is a Rowan (Mountain Ash) branch image but do go and look to see all the amazing work that's gone into making it - my description can't do it justice, there's so much to see and it all goes together brilliantly Elizabeth! And we had another visit later in the week too, this time with such a pretty ATC - using TH's fabby new Spring Distress Inks to their very best. I totally love it Elizabeth, just wish I could made ATCs anywhere near as well and the photos of your trip out to Kelburn are fabulous - that's some graffiti!

Amanda came to play twice this week - firstly with a really cute Christmas card, featuring Chester the Monkey :) Love the way the colouring is so perfectly matched to the backing papers - and such a shame they don't seem to be around any longer :( And then we had another cutie, also a Christmas card and in similar colours to the Chester card - but so different. I've noticed that Amanda often gives us a heads up on sales in the craft world by the way, thanks for that honey! Mind you, I can also name a few others who do the same - I often wonder, if I wasn't blogging and seeing all the lovely products, as well as ignoring emails with hints and tip-offs in, would we be able to eat more than bread and jam here? :)

A new playmate, Lindsey, joined us this week - with this delightful card. It's lovely, using the colour combination of red, yellow and neutral so cleverly. I especially like the SU embossing folder which truly looks like hessian on Lindsey's card. And on a second visit, this was the lovely fresh and clean card that Lindsey brought - talk about thinking outside the box. I discovered a new use for the scalloped SU pennants punch! A little word of advice though, I did notice that Mrs A was quick to visit and push and shove her way to the front of the little crowd to check out if you had any toffees Lindsey, and also was ready to dive into your bowl of snippets - she's a little rascal so don't get drawn into her escapades please. Also, offers for rides on Sam's go-kart should also be ignored - I caught her revving up behind the bike shed last week despite a ban on motorised vee-hickles in the playground!

Victoria came to play twice this week - both times with really lovely cards. The first one is here - so fresh looking and using four 1" square snippets of patterned SU card perfectly. A real case of Less Is More winning the day here - I love it and am sure it's a design we could all put to good use without the need for really fancy dies or exotic punches, although a corner rounder is (I think) a must have in any self-respecting card makers toolkit. And next, how about this card? I confess I read the Top Tip about the punched template a few times before Mrs Potato Head here fathomed out what Victoria had done - such precision work to line everything up honey, I'd have a bin full of wrecked cards!! Again, such pretty SU papers Victoria - and of course you can have an extra go on the slide!

Sarn brought 'Pom Pom' to play this week -  what an adorable card, and the LOTV 'Pom Pom image is soooo cute Sarn', it's one of my favourite stamps too. Love the mauves you used and as always a really fresh and clean looking card - sigh, even down to the lovely stamping along the top and bottom edges which pulls it all together beautifully. I'm sitting here, while it teems down with rain outside, typing away and grinning as I'm hard pressed to imagine any of you little monkeys looking so innocent - unless you'd been up to mischief already of course. Lovely card Sarn!

Next, we had a visit from Mary Mac - who by now should be back home from her epic trip - her lovely card, made at a friend's house, is here. What a fabulous colour and such a pretty card Mary! Some great photos to see (including wedding ones) and also of the World's biggest ball of twine if you haven't already hopped by to say Hi to Mary! Hope to see you back in the playground this week - especially now you're back home with all your beloved crafting tools to hand Mary :)

Mrs A came up with a brilliant way to make her own backing paper from material this week - just scan it! How clever and something I wouldn't have thought of trying - and the resulting card, which is here, is really great. A perfect card for a friend going through a tough time who loves handbags, shoes and leopard print - just super Mrs A and sure to bring some cheer.

I hooted with laughter today at these comments on my blog from Mrs A:

Got the plumber coming at 9am this morning to do a boiler service. The boiler being situated above the washing machine that Wimpey lives behind for safety reasons!!!!! Could be in for a nasty shock. Both of em!!

(Wimpey, I hope, is Mrs A's cat - I think her husband is known as The Doc)

It's 12.20pm and Wimpey is still hiding behind the pile of boxes in the shed. No amount of enticement with a second breakfast and a copious bowl of porridge have managed to lure him out. The plumber drew a black cross on the curb stone as he left wonder why!!!!!  

(Hiding in the shed, now that's a man's domain isn't it - surely not Mr A?!)

P.s.
time now 12.59. No sign of the Wimp but bowl of porridge is empty!!!!!

(Hmm, now I'm seriously worried about Mr A!!)

Hey, ho - the day is flying by with all this frivolity so back to the roll call.

Aw, next was Sam with such a pretty layout - and she brought her 'little angel Lucy' the Yorkshire Terrier to play as well. What an adorable puppy she was Sam, she must have been an absolute delight. Great photo of Sam - and yay, pink on the layout including such lovely flowers, butterflies, and lace. Do hop by for a look if you haven't been already - I bet Lucy would melt the heart of anyone, and it's a rather smashing photo of you at 16 too Sam :)

Darnell came to play next, with a card to have us in the UK sighing - a flipping big sun, and the sentiment saying 'Live in the Sunshine' - oh for half a chance Darnell! Great use of punched snippets to make the sun, and such fabulous bright colours - and perfect composition (get me, what would I really know, but it strikes me as perfect!). Also, some fabby photos of different birds to be seen to do go and see, Thanks Darnell - it's the closes thing to sun a lot of us over here have seen for a while - no wonder we Brits moan about the weather :(

And, Gilly is back with us after all the excitement of her wedding!  And such a gorgeous Christmas card too, just perfect for this week's Winter Wonderland challenge which is to use a sentiment as a focal point on your card. And this card certainly does exactly that - beautifully made Gilly and the holly and ribbon are absolutely perfect!! So, where are those wedding photos then? Tappity, tap, tapping on your screen from a few of us :)

So, that's the roll call - now for the Pro Marker Draw. Scurries off for sunhat ...... Lynne's name was picked by Len - well done Lynne!! Do let me know which set you'd like, along with your snail mail address and they will be in the post this coming week.

Mr Linky is below as usual and the playground will close at noon on Saturday 21st July. Hope you have a great week and please remember to follow the conditions below. 

Di
x

The only conditions to playing nicely in the Snippet Playground are that your card (or anything else you wish to bring here to show) must be made by using up snippets (card, paper, lace and ribbon are all fine), and a link back to here in your own blog posting will mean that you'll be included in the Weekly Roll Call. Oh, and no nipping or hair pulling of course :) 

A little bit of music

Quite a quick card today - thanks to good ole Penny Black Stickeroos once again:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square card stock

- backing paper/card from Bo Bunny's 'et cetera' collection - some lovely papers in this pad, and (don't ask me why) the music was deliberately printed at a slant, plus there's the impression that the page has been repaired with a little strip of tape at the top

- Penny Black Stickeroo from the 'April in Paris' sheet with a couple of extra butterflies and a little strip across a couple of the corners (I might peel those off, the Jury is still out here) - also from the same sheet

- snippet of aubergine organza ribbon, tied in a bow 

Super fast card, it's roll call day today - and do remember that if you want a chance to win a set of Pro Markers make sure you leave a comment on last Sunday's posting before noon today to say so please :)

Di
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Friday Feast - Ploughman's Pasty

Waaaaay up on the scale of yumminess:

Ploughman's Pasty:

Makes 4 or 6 pasties 

300g potatoes, boiled in their skins and cooled
150g peeled and finely chopped onion
olive oil
200g mature cheddar
3 tbsp Branston or other pickle or chutney

4 or 6 puff pastry circles
1 beaten egg, for glazing

For the filling, peel and chunk the potatoes. Soften the onion in a pan over a gentle heat in a little olive oil. Grate the cheese. Combine all the filling ingredients.

Meanwhile, have ready the pastry circles.

Spoon the filling on to half of each pastry circle, leaving a 2.5cm border. Brush the pastry border with water, then quickly fold over the flap of pastry. Press round the edge to seal. Paint the seal sparingly with water then, working from one end, quickly and neatly turn up the edge in small tucks to give a distinctive ridged pasty finish, tucking the ends. (There’s no set style of crimping; just ensure the scalloped edges go upwards, to avoid juices escaping.)

Paint with beaten egg and prick a few times with a fork. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with baking parchment and bake in a preheated oven (200C/180C fan/400F/gas 6) for 20-30 minutes depending on size or until the pastry is puffed and golden.

Things I do: I halved the recipe and it made two BIG pasties. Len said approvingly that they looked like golden dinosaurs when they came out of the oven :) I used Jusrol ready made frozen pastry sheets, if you're keen and have the time you could make your own puff or shortcrust pastry of course.

These are really tasty and filling - I just served with baked beans, being a lazy little pig :)

Di
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