Challenge #424

Spring is certainly in the air at long last! We've had some lovely sunny days and a noticeable rise in the temperature.

Straight onto my snippets card:

All the 'how I made it' details are over on my own Pixie's blog, HERE, should you want to know more.

The prize for this fortnight is totally unconnected with my snippets card by the way:

 

I've been having a 'sort out/Spring clean' of the Toy Box and pulled together all the assorted Clearly Besotted stamps, dies and a stencil (that stencil is on the way to me). From left to right, 'Chirpy Chicks' stamps set with matching dies and a small 'Happy Easter' sentiment by 'Stamping All Day', 'April Showers' set of stamps, no dies but there's a Clearly Besotted 'Rainy Day' stencil in the image below the stamps, pinched from their website - and 'An Apple A Day' set of stamps and matching dies. I know that some of these items have been previously offered as prizes - these are duplicates (brand new) for various reasons. 

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 2nd April. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day. Mr Linky is below this post.

Dudley news. It's been a bit of a week here - first of all, Dudley is fine. Us? Not so fine. After his bath/shower on Monday (which was an adventure and a Tsunami in itself) - whilst blow drying him - Len discovered a really huge and very tight 'cotton wool like' matt of his very fine silky hair on one ear. Right next to the skin so it was dodgy even trying to snip it away. We both pondered long and hard but it had to go and it was too risky to use even any of his grooming safety scissors.

So the matt was trimmed away by Len, using the clippers - and then the ear looked weirdly odd against the other ear, so the other one had to be trimmed, get the drift? - and the upshot is that both of his gloriously long haired pale peach coloured ears have been trimmed right back to being very short. They're still peach but back to how they were when he was just a little puppy! Then of course, his head looked tiny against his very fluffy body - so the rest of him has had to be trimmed. We now have a true little Havanese puppy here once again! He refuses all photos right now, not even if you pay him in treats. Of course, Dudley is really unaware that anything has changed, thank goodness - but we certainly know.

I now have a very small sized balaclava knitting project on the go - my version is in white, very tiny and with pale peach ears:

Having said that - he's still the same little tinker and just yesterday managed to roll on (what I suspect was bird poop) something in the garden. Sssssh, don't tell Len - he was merrily cleaning it off with an Aqua Wipe and I just had to zip my mouth - for once! Never a dull  moment for sure.

And, finally - here's some very exciting news. I've become worried about what would happen to the Playground if I was unwell or stepped under a bus. We've got close to that situation (the health, not the bus), but somehow, with the help of a very loyal friend it's carried on. She does get embarrassed if I 'gush on' so here we go. As of the next challenge I will have our Playground Prefect and Mischief Maker SARN sharing the running of the Playground with me!! The next challenge, #425 will be Sarn in charge. Help me ............I just deleted some rude words there!

We've been working this out for a little while - after I made the Playground into a separate blog - it suddenly made sense. As a team, and I stress we are a team, even though I can still 'pull rank' on account of being a lot older! Sarn and I will share the Playground gmail address, the commenting (for some time Sarn has been propping me up there), the Toy Box prizes and some of the decisions. The Playground will undoubtedly become naughtier, Dudley will be even busier snooping, despite the balaclava mentioned above, and let's hope we have many happy times ahead. 

The current plan is for Sarn and I to 'host' alternate challenges. I will be hosting the even-numbered challenges (+ posting the results) and Sarn will be hosting the odd-numbered challenges (+ posting results).

I am truly excited to have such a loyal friend to help steer the 'Good Ship Lollipop', as we continue on our voyage through this wonderful world of crafting, using up snippets! Remember, it's all about the snippets! 

OK girls - that's the news - remember that 'Launch Day' is two weeks from now! By the way - I did hear the clinking of glasses and bottles earlier this evening. Plus the distinctive shake of ice in a cocktail mixer - and a little voice from the direction of the tree house singing 'Aye, aye, aye, aye caramba!'. I think there could be some parties ahead - and someone is experimenting and perfecting her technique! We did think Dudley wandered in to his bed just now with a bit of a wobble!! I thought the limit was hot chocolate and crumpets, sigh. I sense fun and games ahead - sighs, and offers up a plea for mercy!

Love and hugs from Dudley and Di, xx