Saturday 31 December 2016

Happy New Year!



Wishing everyone good health and lots of happiness this coming year!

Love from Len, Parsnip 'the little white peril' and me.






Friday 30 December 2016

One last thing about the prize draw - Playground Weeks 260 and 261

I should have mentioned this previously. Although I most likely won't find time to do the draw immediately after 11am tomorrow when the Playground gates close, you shouldn't add your name into any of the prize comments after that time please. If you could see the reams of paper here trying to keep track of who would like to be in for which prizes!

In order to keep it fair, and so that I don't have to check times on any last minute comments in what might be a few days time, I'll be disabling comments on all of the nine prizes at 11am tomorrow as well.

Hope you can see this will make life a bit easier for me - as it is we do have a good few folk running in at the last minute. The leftover mince pies are behind the bike shed BTW :)

Do check out today's prize if you haven't done so already!




Pixie's Snippets Playground - Weeks 260 & 261 - Prize I

There's a story behind today's prize - first of all here's the card I made:
An attempt to show the sparkle on a dull Winter morning!
 I used:

- 4" x 5.75" white card blank

- deep red pearlescent card, trimmed to just slighter smaller than the card front and glued in place

- white card, embossed using the Sheena Douglass embossing folder called 'Christmas Greetings', then trimmed to slightly smaller than the red layer and glued in place

- next I punched a label using SU's 'Scalloped Label' punch

- then stamped the beautiful Santa face onto it using Memento 'Grey Flannel' ink and a stamp from Habico's 'Christmas 4' set. More about this stamp set below BTW

- coloured the image using just a couple of flesh coloured Pro markers plus a touch of blue for Santa's eyes

- added clear Wink of Stella plus some very fine glitter here and there

- a touch of Glossy Accents on Santa's specs

- once dry I then threaded a snippet of dark red organza ribbon through the top of the tag and trimmed the ends

- finally, stuck the tag onto the embossed background using thin sticky pads

And, I made four cards exactly the same as a head start for Christmas 2017 :)

Of course, today's prize is based on the Habico 'Christmas 4' stamp set I used - and here's the tale. Our Playmate Kathy K has recently been using this wonderful stamp set and I absolutely had to rush off and buy it as a prize! This is the set which includes the Santa image that has been around since at least 2008. I know that Kathy also has a larger Santa stamp of the exact same image (I think Rubber Stampede made it) but I missed the boat there, sigh. However, there are ways to use the smaller one, as I showed above:
That's the chap, bottom of the set. Kathy also made a beautiful card using the Three Wise Men stamp from the same set:
It's a big and bold stamp which I think is just stunning, and so beautifully used and coloured by Kathy - and you can take a closer look over at Kathy's blog here. Thanks for letting me share this Kathy - I owe you as there was no time to even attempt to make a sample, besides which yours is perfect!

Crumbs, I almost forgot! In all the excitement of finding this fabulous set of stamps, I got my paws on three for today's prize! This is the last prize on offer for the five year celebration so it seemed right to throw in a few more chances of winning :)

The Playground gates will be closing very soon, at 11am on Saturday as usual. I am left with one Christmas themed prize - but it's quite a special set of stamps and matching dies so rather than squeeze it in here - it will be on offer from Sunday's new Mr Linky. I think you'll like it - a lot!

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes shown during this celebration, up to and including today, using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have had much time to craft.

Just leave a comment on this post if you would like the chance to win today's prize, remember there are three sets on offer.

The card that kicked the giveaway off is the slider card I made for Len:
He's my much trusted in-house critic but I caught him out with this one. He always finds the most amazing cards to give to me - this year it was a hologram Christmas teddy bear image on the front  :) He opened the above card on Christmas morning, raised one eyebrow and said 'Ah, you had to give in I see and buy one'. He held his hands up in surrender when the penny dropped that I'd made it - best result ever!





Wednesday 28 December 2016

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Weeks 260 & 261 - Prize H

And another prize to add to the pot, I hadn't realised just how many Christmas items I had squirreled away in the Playground toy box!

This is my snippets card, the snippets are the little images that I die cut and also the piece of fun foam I used to layer the card with:
I used:

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

- a piece of white card stock, trimmed to slightly smaller than the card front

- stamped a twig from the Clearly Besotted 'Rockin' Robin' stamp set, with the sentiment underneath - using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink for both

- then stamped the robin onto a little snippet of white card using Versafine 'Vintage Sepia' ink pad and added his features using the teeniest stamp ever and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- next I stamped his dotty red breast, using SU 'Real Red' ink

- stamped the holly using SU 'Old Olive' ink and then coloured the berries using a red Whispers marker

- then die cut the robin and the holly using the co-ordinating die set. The dies are 'solid' so I just die cut little templates to be sure I positioned the dies perfectly over the images

- added the image panel to the card front with a layer of white fun foam behind to make it 'pop' a bit

- stuck the holly and the robin in place using small pieces of thin sticky pad

This really is such a fun set of stamps and dies! Every little detail has been thought of - right down to a little Santa hat stamp with matching die :) The possibilities are endless - although I confess that my very quick and CAS version is practically the same as a sample over at Clearly Besotted :)

I love Clearly Besotted products and do hope that they swing back into production when the New Year is under way. Stephanie, quite wisely, decided to take a breather for a little while when things were becoming unmanageable. I don't think this stamp set is likely to be available again, although there is a pared down version over at Simon Says Stamp called 'Rockin' Robin 2' - along with the matching dies.

So here's today's prize, a Clearly Besotted 'Rockin' Robin' stamps set plus matching dies:
At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft.

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




Tuesday 27 December 2016

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Weeks 260 & 261 - Prize G

Phew, still churning out cards here to showcase the five year celebratory giveaway! This card was great fun to play around with, especially as the Misti made placing all the different stamps so easy:
I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank

- snippet of white card, trimmed to just slighter smaller than the card front

- Penny Black 'Sweet Snowman' stamp and Memento 'Tuxedo Black ink pad to stamp the whole image onto the white card panel and also the scarf part onto a little snippet of Dovecraft 'Back to Basics Christmas - Modern' paper which I trimmed around once stamped

- coloured the snowman etc. using Pro markers to pick out the colours in the scarf then glued the scarf in place. The stars on the parcel were coloured using a Signo silver pen as I knew I'd be adding more touches of silver to the card

- then took the Uniko ''Stunning Snowflakes' stamp set and added the sentiment first, using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink. I love this sentiment - always makes me smile

- then added some snowflakes using stamps from the same Uniko set and a Delicata 'Silvery Shimmer' ink pad

- ran a silver Calligrapher pen around the edges of the image panel before gluing it onto the card front

- final touch, some iridescent sequins

Of course, this is today's prize:

A Penny Black slapstick 'Sweet Snowman' stamp and a Uniko 'Stunning Snowflakes' stamp set. I won't be splitting these as they make a great pairing plus I just worked out how many parcels I'll need to package up and send out once all this is over!

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft.

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







Monday 26 December 2016

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Weeks 260 & 261 - Prize F

And today is the day we (hopefully), slow down a little and take it a bit easier. I love Boxing Day supper - cold turkey, cold pigs in blankets and ham cooked in Coca Cola. Along with bubble and squeak made using leftover potatoes and sprouts with chestnuts, plus a selection of pickles - bliss!

And here is my 'faux parchment' card for today:
I used:

- 4" x 6" Kraft card blank

- Inkylicious 'Small Bauble 1' stencil and a Brilliance 'Moonlight White' ink pad. Just used a duster brush to fill in the stencil area and then ran a Sakura white Jelly Roll pen around the edge of the stencil before removing it from the card front

- next stamped the Inkylicious 'Small Winter Cabin' onto the bauble using a Brilliance 'Pearlescent Chocolate' ink pad

- added dots in the sky for snow, snow on the cabin, fence and ground plus smoke coming from the cabin chimney

- then added some tickles of glue using a Quickie Glue pen before sprinkling with clear Glamour Dust for some sparkle - which is very pretty IRL but impossible to pick up properly with the camera

- and my snippet is the bow I made from a tiny piece of silver edged organza ribbon I found in the ribbon box - attached to the top of the bauble using narrow red line tape

I've seen this 'faux parchment' effect around blogland a few times over recent months and was surprised how easy and satisfying it was, once I looked at the Inkylicious tutorial here. I'm not mentioning where I spotted this technique - purely as I don't want to leave anyone out! One day I'll learn to keep a note of where I first spot things :)

Of course, this is today's prize, three of the main ingredients you need to make the card above:
It's a Small Bauble 1 stencil and a Small Winter Cabin stamp set from Inkylicious, plus a white Sakura Jelly Roll pen.

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft.

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








Sunday 25 December 2016

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Weeks 260 & 261 - Prize E

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you have a lovely day, however you are spending it, and that Santa was good to you.

Here's my snippets card for Christmas Day:
I used:

- 4.25" x 5.5" card blank made using Centura pearlescent white card stock, tent style

- lots of snippets of green, red, blue and gold card - along with some more pearlescent white card stock

- I die cut the shadow box frame first of all, using dies from the Creative Expressions 'Christmas Shadow Box' die set, and adhered it to the card front using red line tape

- then I played about for a while die cutting little bits and pieces from the die set, starting with the tree and going on from there, using Stick-It backed snippets of card

- as I was in a hurry, there are some things I would perhaps do differently another time but overall I did OK in the time available - there's just so much to choose from!

- the little candy canes are from the set, just die cut from red card and then I popped the canes back into the apertures in the scrap of card I was using so they would sit in place whilst I popped white lines across them, using a Sakura white Jelly Roll pen

Such a fun card to make and so many possibilities using this die set - which of course is today's prize:
One hint if you're the winner of this prize - keep a little dish handy to pop those tiny dies and die cuts in as you're cutting them!

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft.

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





Saturday 24 December 2016

Wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas!

 animated-merry-christmas-image-0168

As lots of folk will be 'otherwise occupied' tomorrow, I thought I'd wish you a Very Merry Christmas today from Len, Parsnip and myself in readiness. Remember, if whatever you're fretting over isn't finished for tomorrow - it really doesn't matter. That's my theory and I'm sticking with it!





Friday 23 December 2016

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Weeks 260 & 261 - Prize D

Here we go with another 'Snippets Playground Celebration' prize. This card has appeared in the Playground previously (Week 258) but what I used wasn't offered as a prize that week - it was the week of the 'sticky roller' prize. However, I did have duplicates of what I used lined up ready for the Christmas giveaway - and just to remind you:

I used:

- 5" x 7" white card blank, tent style

- piece of white card, embossed using a super-sized Crafts-Too 'Merry Christmas' embossing folder which still fit perfectly between the Cuttlebug plates - phew. Then trimmed to exactly fit the card front and glued in place

- snippet of XCut silver metallic self adhesive sheet, die cut using an Xcut 'Christmas Tree' die

- stuck the die cut onto a snippet of dark green card and trimmed it down to size before punching the corners using a Woodware 'Squared Corner' punch

- trimmed a snippet of silver mirri card to just slightly bigger than the green layer and glued the two together

- glued the layered card on top of the embossed card front and left it at that

As I said at the time, I'd been after a 'Christmas tree' die made up of words for ages. This one is quite big so you don't really need anything much else on a card - IMHO.

And, here's today's prize:

It's a Crafts-Too 'Merry Christmas' embossing folder and an Xcut 'Christmas Tree' die.

Do remember that to be in the draw for particular prizes you must leave a comment on the specific post related to that prize.

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft.

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






Wednesday 21 December 2016

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Weeks 260 & 261 - Prize C

Time for another 'Snippets Playground Celebration' prize - and this is my 'super-easy' snippets card:
I used:

- 4" x 6" white card blank

- piece of Centura white pearlescent card, embossed using a Crafts-Too folder called 'Let It Snow', trimmed to slightly smaller than the card front

- a little snippet of holly patterned ribbon, just wrapped across the front of the embossed panel with a little piece tied in a knot (for some reason I have a few of these little lengths of ribbon tucked away)

- then glued the panel in place on the card front

So quick and easy, I let the embossing folder do most of the work! I could have mounted it onto a red card blank, that would add something. And perhaps instead of the ribbon a stamped snowman, fussy cut and then popped in the bottom right hand corner would be an idea? I just didn't have much time to play - but am still happy with the result! Super for batch baking of course and a way to use up those mysterious snippets of ribbon :)

So, here's today's prize:
Not one, but SIX of these are on offer as prizes - it's the Crafts-Too 'Let It Snow' embossing folder of course.

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft.

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








Tuesday 20 December 2016

Pixie's Snippets Playground Weeks 260 and 261 - Prize B

Time for another Christmassy 'Snippets Playground Celebration' prize - and this is my snippets card:

I used:

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

- snippet of white card die cut using a Spellbinders 'Labels Eight Decorative die', glued onto the card front

- snippet of XCut silver metallic self adhesive sheet, die cut using a Creative Expressions 'Let It Snow' die, then burnished in place onto the card front

- turquoise sparkly gems, here and there on the die cut

This is today's prize:
A Creative Expressions 'Let It Snow' die,. of course! Liz is aware that there's a die coming along as a prize which will tax even the most dedicated crafter who fancies 'inlaying' it with all those little cut outs! I was stunned at how well she inlaid the 'Silent Night' die cut from the same range. It's a fabulous die and makes a real statement - but I can't see me ever attempting to inlay it, ever!

At the end of all of the celebrations I'll do a massive draw session for all the prizes using the one Mr Linky - which is on the main snippets post HERE - so you do need to have entered one snippets make over on that post to be in with a chance :) Maximum of one entry please - to keep things fair for those who may not have time to craft.

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

It's also time for another Cuttlebug Mania Challenge and the theme this time is 'Make a Christmas card - but no red or green'.






Sunday 18 December 2016

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Weeks 260 & 261 - and Prize A

Hi there and a warm welcome to the Snippets Playground. Little Parsnip is behind the bike shed dishing out mince pies, cookies, egg nog and mulled wine - the same as last year! Do please help yourself - and do please also let me know if you notice Parsnip having a secret swig or two! And, despite some of you believing otherwise, I am well aware of the chinking of glasses and muffled giggles! :)

This is actually Len's Christmas card, I made it whilst he was out at archery the other day as it really needed to be done - and I wanted it for the prize 'hint'. Thankfully he doesn't look at the blog:
I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- plain white card stock for all the layers - I love white pearlescent card but wasn't sure how well the sentiment would stamp - didn't want to risk it smudging!

- first of all I took a piece of white card stock and die cut the 'slider aperture' using a die from the MFT 'Surf & Turf' die set - at that point I hadn't cut the piece of card down to size as this was a first play and various things needed to be checked before I did any trimming

- at the same time I die cut four discs, using the circles die which comes with the 'Surf and Turf' set

- then I stamped Lawn Fawn's 'Winter Bunny' onto a snippet of white card, coloured it with Pro markers and die cut the image using the matching die

- now I could fathom out spacing for the elements on the card I was ready to roll!

- embossed a snippet of white card using SU's 'Softly Falling' embossing folder

- die cut another snippet of white card using Cheery Lynn's 'Winter's Neighbourhood Border' die, twice

- the reason for the second cut of the die was so that I could carefully trim the houses and trees off and use it as a template to lightly pencil in a cutting line at the top of the slider panel so that the houses would sit properly along a curved line

- trimmed the curved part at the top of the slider panel and glued the house and trees die cut in place

- then cut the 'Softly Falling' snow panel so that it would sit above and behind the houses and trees and still leave a gap for the slider to run freely

- at that point the panel was ready to be trimmed to the same size as the card front

- next thing was to use the Misti to stamp the sentiment, using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a sentiment from the Inkylicious 'Seasons Greetings' stamp set

- before adhering the panel to the card front I added the 'Winter Bunny' die cut into the slider aperture, using the little card circles and a couple of MFT 'Spin and Slide Discs'. along with Collall All Purpose Glue. You have to add two sliders side by side so that the little chap doesn't spin round :) The 'slider' goes from one edge to the other with about half an inch spare on either side when the little bunny is either up or down his little ride - wheeee :)

- I used foam tape to add the panel to the card front, and in fact used a double layer of it (it's quite thin) to make sure the slider would move really freely

- added some clear Wink of Stella to the rooftops, the trees and along the curvy line of the row of houses

- then die cut some Christmas trees using Impressions Obsession's 'Evergreen Trees' dies and covered those with clear Wink of Stella as well

 - finally glued the trees in place in a cluster in front of the houses and one above the sentiment
 
I really loved making this card and was so pleased with a working result! The MFT die cuts and the little 'Spin and Slide Discs' are absolutely brilliant - work so well!

Now, I'd spotted the Neighbourhood and the Trees dies being used together by one of you lovely Playmates a good while back - needless to say I can't recall where but thank you for the inspiration! AND, I picked this card, made by Trina, the other week - and that's what really kicked off me buying the slider stuff to go with the other dies. If you go to Trina's blog you'll see some really useful links too! I loved how Trina added a streak of blue to her slider aperture - I was so worried about spoiling mine after all the hard work, I held back!

I'm entering this card into the Merry Monday #226 Challenge - 'Winter Fun'.

And also into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge #312 where the theme is 'Cute or Anything Goes' - I think this surely qualifies as cute :). Plus, Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for December, always 'Anything Goes'.

And now let's move straight onto the weekly picks etc. As there are a few different things happening in the Playground over the coming two weeks, and I need to explain what'll be going on, I've kept the number of picks down this week:

I love this card, made by Carol L. What a great way to use up lots of snippets and the cherry on that sparkly cupcake looks good enough to eat :)

This little robin is one of my very favourite little Penny Black stamps, beautifully added to a branch by Pat. Isn't it sweet? Such a lovely card altogether.

Love the green plaid on this terrific tag, made by Greta! And how perfectly the greens match too - tags are such a lovely way to use up snippets.

Wowser, what a fabulous and huge Christmas tree Sonia and her daughter Prisha made! To see the scale you really need to hop over to Sonia's blog here - it's origami on a massive scale, with all the decorative elements made using snippets!

Sorry, I had to call a halt at four, sigh - as always so hard to choose and so many wonderful ideas. My advice (as always) is to try and find time to visit as many playmates as possible and see for yourself just how clever they all are!

And, we have one new playmate this week:
Heaney came to play, with this adorable Tilda Christmas card - of course I LOVE all the pink :)

Welcome to the Playground Heaney and we hope you come back to play again!

Let's do the prize draw(s) now for the Couture Creations 'Compassionate' and 'Early Songbird' embossing folders. And of course I had three sets of these to give away:
 
Had to laugh when Chris was chosen, she raced in at the very last minute and almost got her fingers trapped as the gates were about to close :)

Can you please all drop me an email with your address in (this is so that I don't make any mistakes!) and I'll post your prize off as soon as possible! The sooner the better so they don't get too caught up in the Christmas post - and I don't find myself fighting to get at a post box :) My email address is on the right hand side bar.

Right, so this is what's going to be going on with the Snippets Playground over the festivities. Not only is it Christmas and New Year (aka Holidays) - it's also a whole five years on 1st January since I took over the Playground from the lovely Jules, so time to celebrate big time!

Firstly, the Playground Mr Linky which is below will run for two weeks and closing time will be 11am on Saturday 31st December and this post you are looking at right now is where to add any entries - with a maximum of one entry - over the fortnight. Loads of dithering here about whether to allow more entries but I want to keep things as level as possible. One entry means you're in the draw - and the  more prizes you say you'd like to win in the comments in each 'additional prize' post does up the chances quite a bit as I keep a really tight check on those! You have two weeks to play (if you want to of course!) as no doubt the run up to Christmas plus the Christmas and pre-New Year festivities themselves will be busy for you. Some of you will be busier than others I know and, for those of you who do find some quiet time to craft, it's a chance for you to play along for some rather nice prizes too. It also means I can clear the Playground toy box out of Christmas themed prizes.

So that I don't swamp and confuse you with a load of prizes to choose from in this post, I'll be posting at intervals over the coming couple of weeks and adding more prizes of varying sizes into the pot as we progress through the holiday. To be honest, I'm still planning how to fit them all in as well, same as last year - but it worked out then so am sure it will work this time as well :)

If you see a prize you'd like to be in the 'pot' for then please leave a 'Yes please' (or similar) comment in the same post where I show you the prize. For me, that's going to be a lot less confusing than me having lots of little lists here and there - especially as there are so many prizes coming up!  It will mean that if you would like to be in with a chance of every prize, then you need to comment on each one as it comes up - and please don't leave it right until the end and nip through all the prize posts adding 'Yes please' to each in one fell swoop. Remember, they will show up serially on my dashboard if you do that so I will notice and wouldn't feel that it's in the true spirit of the Playground. So, if you want to play then do try to pop in over the festivities to see what's on offer :)

Also, just saying here 'count me in for all prizes that are offered' doesn't count I'm afraid and will mean you don't go into the draw at all - other people are taking the time and trouble to check out the individual posts and prizes and leave comments so it wouldn't be fair to them. Again, this worked fine last year. 

As I already said, there will only be the one Mr Linky for all entries - which is at the end of this post of course. I'll remind you where to go to link each time I post a new prize on the blog. Also, I'll run the prize draw using this Mr Linky as a basis for the random number generator and will then look at the relevant post to find out who said yes to the particular prize I'm running the random generator for.

As there will be a good few prizes (for example, I again have six of one particular prize which will appear in one post - got a bit carried away there!) - I think the odds of winning something could be in your favour! Plus, the prizes aren't 'First, Second, Third' etc - some are higher in value than others for sure though - so if your name pops out again you could very well end up winning more than one prize.

I hope this is clear girls? Remember, I'm pacing things as best I can over the holidays so I might not manage to comment immediately - ha, probably will be beavering away here making sample cards for the prizes!

Let's start with today's prize:
Cheery Lynn 'Winters Neighbourhood Border' die, Impressions Obsession 'Evergreen Tree' dies, Lawn Fawn 'Winter Bunny' stamp and matching die. Plus, a MFT 'Surf and Turf' slider die set as well as two packets of the super little 'Spin and Slide Discs'.

To be honest, it really is the best of the bunch of the prizes in terms of the number of components, although there are some really interesting and varied prizes to follow - IMHO of course. This time it's four lots of dies as well as a stamp and some twiddly bits. Have I lost the plot here? Do not answer that perlease :)

I hope I've explained how the coming two weeks will work in the Playground? Please just say if it's left you confused.

The Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 31st December. As we'll be right on top of New Year there will be a new Mr Linky on Sunday 1st January 2017 and probably the picks but the results of the huge raffle/prize draw may have to wait until during that first week of January 2017.

Maximum of one entry and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prizes. Remember, there's the prize today and others will appear fairly frequently over the next two weeks so keep your eyes peeled.

Do say in this post if you only want one or other parts of the prize today but it's all up for grabs as one prize of course and will only be split if the first name out only wants one or other of the items, in which case I'll do a second or further draws for the other part(s) of the prize. And please also remember to link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

Now, this is important girls, you can leap in throughout the whole giveaway and say 'yes please' to as many prizes as you like .... even if you haven't already made and entered your snippets make into Mr Linky at that point in time.

Your 'yes please' will certainly be in the pot when it comes to the grand draw, so long as you've entered into Mr Linky by then. At the end of this I'll be using today's Mr Linky as the focus for the random choices so please feel free to squeal with delight at as many prizes as you wish and say some 'yes pleases' on the way through the festive season - just remember to add just one snippets make into Mr Linky below to be in with a chance.

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