Results of Challenge #421

  

We had a really healthy number of entries for Challenge #421 - 52! Yay, that's brilliant! Let's get straight onto the top picks - four this time as I just couldn't whittle it down to three:

A really lovely snippets card, made by Val. I love the design and colours, so pleasing on the eye, it's elegant and yet fun at the same time - very clever work! I do love how the black sentiment ties in so beautifully with the vase, just as the flowers do with the piece of pink behind the sentiment. So balanced, yet not regimented!

Carol L brought this gorgeous card to share with us and there's absolutely no doubt that it's a snippets card of course! Love the clever herringbone panel and even the heart shaped letter 'O' in 'LOVE' had a piece of the patterned paper as an infill, pulling the card together so well. Little details like that are delightful!

Oh how I love this card, made by Christa! The image is immediately recognisable as an Anita Jeram illustration for  The Colarado Craft Company - always so delightful. The pretty floral paper works so well with the smaller patterned pink paper backing and fishtails, I love the 'off the page' circle and the final touch of the pull out tag is just perfect!

And last, but not certainly not least, we have a terrific card shared with us by Susan S. It doesn't have to be for a male of course, but the lovely clean lines and abstract look are so perfect for a chap in these colours. One thing  that really tickled me is that all those little pieces of white in the silver abstract outline were painstakingly added in by Susan ...... one by one!

The randomly drawn winner of the Uniko 'Floral Vines' set of stamps and a Clearly Besotted 'Frame It Die Collection' is: 

Alison C

Well done Alison! I know you'll have a lot of fun using your prize - come back again and show us what you make, ha - and perhaps have another win!

To claim your prize please send me an email using the NEW Snippets Playground gmail address shown on the RH sidebar, with PLAYGROUND WINNER (or similar) in the subject line. Please add your FULL NAME above your home ADDRESS so that I can copy and paste it for speed and ease.

The current snippets challenge still has almost a further week to run - just scroll down to the previous post to find it. We have a special Guest Designer running amok and causing mayhem in the Playground for the current challenge - need I say any more?

 

Dudley hasn't been into any serious mischief, but it did cross my mind that I've never told you about one of the really endearing traits of a Havanese. They walk with a pronounced wiggle! It's nothing to do with hip issues or such, it's just an inbuilt trait! It's so cute to see him from behind when he's out on his lead - and just when he's walking around the house as well. People have stopped me before now to comment on his 'endearing gait' when he's walking. I do wonder if Darnell's Nellie walks the same as the breed is very close? So one of his pet names is of course 'Mister Wiggle-Bottom!

Love from Dudley (Mister W-B) and Di xxx

Challenge #422

 Just LOOK who hopped down from the tree house/bar/breakfast diner:

Yay, so exciting! It's only our super-star Prefect and 'Chief Mischief Maker' Sarn, who is our Guest Designer for this challenge, with a brilliant snippets card. No doubt subtly advertising her 'soon to be opened in the Playground' coffee and cookies venture, sigh!

I think this card is brilliant and so perfectly made - for all the 'low down' on how Sarn made it, do hop over to her blog HERE. 

And here's the prize for this fortnight:

You have two chances to win this lovely Tattered Lace sentiment die called 'Love & Laughter'. One was donated by Jackie T and the other one is from me. It's so pretty and I do love the wording. I intended to make a sample using my own (unopened) die but feel that someone else will appreciate it more - plus it doubles the chances of you winning! This lovely die measures approx. 8.9cm x 7.9cm and Tattered Lace dies always cut beautifully and drop out of the dies easily due to the non stick coating.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 5th March. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day. Mr Linky is below this post.

MESSAGE FOR EU PLAYMATES. It has come to my attention that at least 2 EU playmates were incorrectly charged customs and handling fees in order for their Grand Draw Prize to be delivered to them. This is despite me stating on the CNN form that the contents of the package were a GIFT and the value of it was less than the 22 Euro limit. 

For now, I will continue to post prizes abroad, but please note that if your country's postal system wrongly charges you VAT and an 8 Euro handling charge, it is not my fault, and, I'm afraid it will be your responsibility to pay them in order to receive the prize! It seems there is little point in querying the fees and any complaints are just swept under the carpet.

If it continues to be a problem, then I may need to rethink the whole issue of sending prizes out of the UK.

A little reminder that as from 25th February to the end of the month it's ScrappyMo's Rudolph Days challenge - remember it's a short month of only 28 days! 

Huge thanks to Sarn for being our Guest Designer for this challenge!

Love and hugs from Dudley and Di, xx

 

Results of Challenge #420

 

Right folks, let's get straight onto the three top picks for Challenge 420 - which was the penultimate Ruby's Memory Challenge:

Lego cards are such fun, and also timeless as well as spanning a wide age group. I think I made my first Lego card after being inspired by Liz - and a reminder is always a good thing. I particularly love the dotty embossed background to add authenticity - and of course it's a great way to use up snippets!

 

 

What a super card from Caroline (KISS), after a bit of a break. With Valentine's Day fast approaching (I may need to resort to a fan dance with a rose between my teeth rather than a card - I hope A & E are on the ball, they could have a new deeply shocked and frightened patient chap to deal with) it's a really lovely way to use up lots of snippets. I love it.

 

I picked Linby's card because she showcased something we often forget about - leftover wrapping paper! When you're out shopping (who cracked that joke?!), it's always wise to just take a peek at wrapping papers, in supermarkets as well as specialist shops (much cheaper in supermarkets IMHO) - and also to save our own snippets after wrapping a gift of course! 

 

One tip, wrapping paper does crease really easily so I always carefully back any wrapping paper snippets I decide to use with 'medium strength' double sided adhesive paper, then mount it onto plain card, to avoid the dreaded 'crease/crumpling' - as well as glue lines showing through if it's a more absorbent paper! Ask me how I know this!

The randomly drawn winner of the box of mixed craft goodies (I've popped in a few additional donated items I'd missed into the parcel) is:

 Liz

 

 

Well Liz, this really is your lucky week - a pick and also the winner of the bumper bundle! As such a regular player, and also one for coming up with great ideas for different and inspiring ways of using up snippets, I'm super-pleased for you.

To claim your prize please send me an email using the NEW Snippets Playground gmail address shown on the RH sidebar, with PLAYGROUND WINNER (or similar) in the subject line. Please add your FULL NAME above your home ADDRESS so that I can copy and paste it for speed and ease.

The sooner you let me have your address, the sooner I can post your prize off to you. These days I don't go to the Post Box on a regular basis.

 

The current snippets challenge still has almost a further week to run - just scroll down to find it. I also sent Ruby's Rescue Charity a further £25 (which included £5 Gift Aid tax donation) from us, raised by using your very generous donated goodies as prizes. We may not be able to save all abandoned puppies but I do hope we've done a bit to help. We stand at £275 raised, with one Ruby's Memory challenge for the rescue centre to go. Nine challenges @ £25 (including Gift Aid tax relief) = £225 plus the Grand Christmas Draw Extra Donation @ £50 = £275. One more to go and then we'll hit £300 in total! 

 

We 'mislaid' Dudley during the week. I was beavering away in my craft room upstairs and Len was resetting the TV in the lounge - and both of us thought that Dudley was with the other one of us! After at least 30 minutes, possibly longer, we realised he was missing (basically the house was far too quiet). A full search of house and garden came up with no Dudley to be found. Then Len checked the garage - and when he opened the door from the utility room, there in the darkness looking up at him was Dudley! He must have sneaked in earlier when Len went in for something and also been stood really still in the dark as the motion detection light switch is very sensitive - and the silly boy never woofed once! Treats and cuddles all round of course! 

On Friday, Dudley's beloved pal Arnie was out for a walk at the same time as Dudley. When they met, they hopped onto their hind legs for their cuddles routine whilst Len and Arnie's 'Dad' had a chat. It's so lovely to see, but no-one had a mobile phone handy to take a photo. This is an image I found on the internet almost a year ago, the first time they cuddled - it's not Arnie and Dudley but the size, colours and pose are perfect!

Love from Dudley and Di xxx

Challenge #421

We've had a good deal of sunshine this week, down in the Southern part of England. However, many parts further North and in Scotland, as well as potentially Ireland, have suffered badly from two storms, one after the other. And so it seems in other countries too. Mother Nature can have such a vicious temper!

Straight onto my sample snippets card:

All the 'how I made it' details are over on my own Pixie's blog, HERE.

NB - I've moved all the details of how I made my snippets cards away from the new Snippets Playground as not all of you might be interested in the 'how' part, I wouldn't really be able to join in any challenges from here and some people only visit my Pixie's blog - so it wasn't really working very well as it was. We live and learn.

And here's the prize for this fortnight:

Although, as I've previously said, I won't always make a 'sample' card - I do still still have a handful of duplicates here to use. So, the prize is a Uniko 'Floral Vines' set of stamps and a Clearly Besotted 'Frame It Die Collection' - exactly the same as I used for my sample card above. 

I think the Uniko floral stamp used alone would also be good for making Christmas cards just by using a stamp from one of your own sets, Christmas colours/gold/silver and possibly, not making it a 'double' - which would be super fast to do! You could whip up a batch in no time.

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 19th February. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day. Mr Linky is below this post.

A plea to three Grand Draw prize winners (Sandy, Lia, and Valerija) - please do drop a quick email to the Snippets email address when your prize arrives, so that I can 'tick you off my list' and feel that the draw is finally completed!

Dudley has loved the sunshine we've been having. Still sticking his nose into everything needless to say. We had a grocery delivery on Wednesday and, for the first time for a very long while, he didn't get over excited. A lesson there for Len who always calls out 'delivery' when groceries, packages and so forth are heading for our front door. It seems to be a trigger word to set Dudley off into a frenzy of running to protect his most loved toys! He coos over them and almost talks in whines and whimpers. But the other day, without the 'trigger' word he just took Honka Duck quietly onto our bed and lay there whilst the whole process went on .......... without his yodeling! It amazes me that we're still finding out new things about him. It's really odd now that the puppy/baby gate into the kitchen from the hallway has been taken away. Dudley doesn't notice as it was left open for most of the time - but Len and I both admitted today that we still find ourselves doing a funny little 'goose step' umpteen times a day, over where the bottom bar was! Perhaps we're just as hard to train!

Love and hugs from Dudley and Di, xx

Results of Challenge #419

 

Many thanks to all those of you who have already let me know that your Grand Draw prize has arrived. The record time seems to be six days from posting to arriving in New Zealand - that's really good going! Do keep letting me know when your prizes arrive - the new 'Playground specific' email address is on the RH side bar.

Let's dive straight into the picks from our previous challenge.

The first one is actually a *Gold Star* too:

 

I don't think I've ever seen such a detailed card in the Snippets Playground, some of those snippets must be really teeny tiny! It was brought to share by our lovely Lesley - and I just can't begin to even ponder how long it must have taken to make. Really worthy of a *Gold Star*! Please collect your badge Lesley, if you wish of course, from the badges page/tab above.

Vinita made this stunning card, already recognised for awards on other blogs and that's not surprising. It's so elegant and really striking at the same time - beautiful work. The flowers are Uniko stamps folks, one of my favourite brands here in the UK - hop over to Vinita's for more details.

Vicky raced in at the last minute with this delightful card - made entirely from snippets. I do suggest that you pay Vicky's post a visit HERE as she's shows the card evolving from what looked like a heap of scraps ('total chaos' as Vicky described it - her words not mine, little smile here) - into the gorgeous finished product. I wouldn't have had a clue where to begin to be honest!

 

And here's another fabulous card, again as a result of rootling through assorted scraps/snippets. This was made by Swissie (Liv to a lot of us) and it's gorgeous! Absolutely nothing goes to waste in Liv's crafting area for sure, the flower centres are the punched out circles after making tags. Shame on me, I just sweep them up and dispose of them!  

Please feel free to collect your 'Top Picks' badge from the badges tab/page at the top of the blog. 

That's the picks from Challenge #419 in the Playground and we had 48 entries - which is a very healthy number for a two week challenge where you can only enter once!

A gentle reminder, please, please say what snippets you used and also add a link into the Playground in your blog post to be considered for a top 'pick' place and/or to be entered into the prize draw.

And here's the winner of the prize from Challenge #419 (it's the two Saturated Canary girlies stamps - 'Stinker' and 'Ooh La La' - plus IndigoBlu's 'Giggles' set of fun sentiments):

Sarah (Wills)

This one really made me smile. Sarah has only just returned to play with us after a bit of an absence and she hits lucky straight away! Well done Sarah - I know from your work that you'll have a great time colouring the images and will also have some fun with those snarky sentiments. ☺  

To claim your prize please send me an email using the NEW Snippets Playground gmail address shown on the RH sidebar, with PLAYGROUND WINNER (or similar) in the subject line. Please add your FULL NAME above your home ADDRESS so that I can copy and paste it for speed and ease.

The sooner you let me have your address, the sooner I can post your prize off to you as I don't go to the Post Box on a regular basis.

Remember folks, there's still almost one more week to run on the current challenge #420 - just scroll back a little to find it. 

No real news on the Dudley front - this past week has been pretty uneventful. We have finally taken down the last of the indoor protective measures we had in place when he was just a puppy. Nope, the part of the garden awaiting the project in the Spring is still out of bounds to him - he'd be digging a tunnel to Australia otherwise! 

Ha, after doing that, today I spotted that his beloved Honka Duck had a good sized piece of one of his 'webbed feet' hanging by a thread - Dudley must have been working on that for a little while, scamp! I just snipped it off and it's fine for the moment. Luckily we have a spare new duck hidden away, along with, wait for it, three or four 'totally new and still in their packets' Stinky Monkeys! You can never tell when something will become a new 'favourite' for sure!

Lots of love from Dudley Dog and of course me,

Di xx 

Challenge #420 - Ruby's Memory

 

No snippets card from me today although this is the 9th challenge for Ruby's Memory. It's actually the penultimate challenge raising funds for the Rescue Centre. We've almost reached 10 challenges and the Toy Box is also almost cleaned out of your wonderful craft goodies which you so kindly donated for Ruby's Memory. We've made a good deal of money, thanks to you lovely people who donated goodies,  and afterwards I will be taking out my own regular monthly donations - to still help the USPCA charity with its wonderful work.

Let's get straight onto what the prize is this time and it's a real bumper bundle! So much so that I can't really take photos of everything. Here's an outline list to whet your appetites:

From Lia:

Marianne 'Playtime' stamps set,  labels/tags set of cutting dies and pre-printed Happy Birthday sentiments 

From Heather:

Fun Stampers set of 30 'Little BIG Greetings' stamps

From Jackie T

Packet of 'shaped edge' papers

Two packets of 'foam roses'

From Zoe

A bundle of assorted image stamps including floral, foliage and Magnolia 

I think there's also a sweet 'oval, almost wreath like' die but as I'm typing, this everything has been tucked away again and I'm not sure which of the above Playmates donated it. It's a real lucky dip assortment - all brand new of course and will be sent in a flat box to one lucky winner! I won't split it, needless to say.

That leaves just one rather fun prize to be offered in six weeks time, as the final Ruby's Memory prize. One hint, just in time for Easter!

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 5th February. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day. Mr Linky is below this post.

I was delighted that all Grand Draw winners sent me their addresses pretty quickly which means that ALL the Grand Draw prizes were posted on Friday, UK AND including those going overseas! Some of you UK gals have already received yours as I did send them 1st Class - even though our local Post Office Sorting Office is under huge pressure due to COVID absences. It took the best part of three days to do all the packaging etc. and I so hope I didn't make any mistakes. Your challenge is to use the little note-let I enclosed (bought from Amazon) and upcycle the front of it!

Please do drop a quick email to the Snippets email address when your prize arrives, so that I can 'tick them off my long list'!

Dudley spent a lot of that 'wrapping' time lying underneath my desk - he just loves the sound of rustling cello bags and packaging! You can just imagine what Christmas present opening is like here - manic, and then he needs to inspect and 'nose dab' everything as his seal of approval.

I must try and get a photo of him with his beloved Honka Duck. Monkey is rarely looked at these days and Honka goes everywhere with him - we have to stop him from taking it out for a play in the garden! It's not much smaller than a real life Mallard duck and Dudley looks so cute when he's carrying it to and fro in his mouth. All you can see is a sideways on duck, big dark brown eyes peeping over the top and little front legs tootling along below it!

I think you do need a photo of Dudley anyway - it's spot on three years ago and popped up on my Facebook account the other day. He was just six months old and in dire need of a 'man bun' elastic band as a top knot to hold the hair out of his eyes:

Cute huh?

As I said previously, that was the very last Grand Draw to be run, day upon day over Christmas and New Year. I've really loved doing them for a few years now but it's such a lot of work that I've been stressing, eating evening meals at my desk and burning the midnight oil for what seems like a lot of the time during recent weeks. Cue the violins!

I'm really hoping to now have more time and be able to join in a few challenges myself - which brings me to a reminder that it's almost Rudolph Days Challenge time over at ScrappyMo's HERE. As of now, I'm unsure if Mo will run the challenge (25th January to the end of the month) but Al is making great progress after his heart bypass surgery so she just might!  

Love and hugs from Dudley and Di, xx

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #418 - Grand Draw results

 

Oooer, we even have a proper results badge for the new Snippets Playground! I'm so pleased you all seem to like the Playground's new home - 'where the sun is always shining'. And, hooray, on Wednesday and Thursday we truly did have some lovely sunshine here as well - Dudley certainly had more of a 'Spring' in his step after his walks as well. ☺ Mind you - we had to then chase him around the house to pop him into the utility room sink to have his legs and undercarriage washed as it's still very damp underfoot. My word, he can move like a little rocket, and naturally he thought it was a great game.

Let's not hang about though, here are the picks from our previous challenge and as it was a four week long challenge, we have a total of six picks this time round.

 

The first one is actually a *Gold Star* too:

 

Kitty totally blew me away with her fabulous snippets iris-folded ornament. It's absolutely stunning! A really worthy *Gold Star* winner. Please collect your badge, if you wish of course, from the badges page/tab above.

Stunning card from Glennis - perfect use of snippets and so CAS and elegant!

Linby made such a gorgeous snippets card - love the design and a great combination of papers as well! 

Wowser, another wonderful card - this time from Lesley G. Fabulous use of snippets and such a gorgeous result too.

Liz Cavill is one of my ever widening circle of 'I will enable you to spend on craft goodies' friends and this fabulous card is no exception! Gorgeous snippets patchwork quilt and such a great embossing folder as well.

And last, but never least, our lovely buddy Alison hopped in with some brilliant Christmas gift tags! Always perfect for snippets busting and something to aim for next Christmas! 

Please feel free to collect your 'Top Picks' badge from the badges tab/page at the top of the blog. 

That's the picks from Challenge #418 in the Playground and we had 68 entries - great going girls!

And here are the results of the final Grand Draw, which ran over Christmas and New Year:

Prize A - Sheena Douglass - Set of 5 Christmas EF’s - Heather Mills

Prize B - Lawn Fawn – Giant Merry Christmas die - Crafty Chris 

Prize C - Poppy Stamps – Love Note stamp set - Lesley G

Prize D - Sweet Dixie – ‘Little Tweetheart’ and ‘Carol Singing’ plus Stampendous ‘Overflowing Wishes’ sentiment - Helen (Craft Haven)

Prize E - Nativity Scene die plus Crafters Companion ‘Festive Phrases‘ stamp set - Sandy J

Prize F - Sweet Dixie - ‘Shooting Star’ and ‘Oh Holy Night’ stamps - Sandra (Sandma's Handmade Cards)

Prize G - Sizzix – 3D Christmas Tree pattern EF - Lia

Prize H - Docrafts ‘Traditional sentiments’ stamp set - SHartl

Prize I - Tattered Lace 4 x EFs - Carole Dixon

Prize J - Poppystamps - ‘Believe Flourish’ die  and Cuttlebug 'Scrollwork' EF - Vicky Hayes

Prize K - Sweet Dixie - ‘Christmas Night’, ’Santa’s Sleigh’ and ‘Santa’s Reindeer’ stamps - Fit Kitty

Prize L - Katy Sue Designs ‘Fabulous Festive Fashion’ & ‘Fabulous Shoes’ stamp sets - Pauline C

Prize M - Clearly Besotted – One More Sleep stamp - Karen Ladd

Prize N - Marianne Design Dies – Eline's Meercats - Ionabunny

Prize O - Clearly Besotted 'Christmas Pudding' stamps and die, 'Festive Foliage- and 'Round and Round' stamp sets - Sandra H

Prize P - Stampendous ‘Cling Snow Brackets’ sentiment stamp plus Inkylicious ‘Noel Flourish’ stamp - Janice (My Craft Room Makes)

Prize Q - Sweet Dixie ’Best Friends’ and ‘Snowy Kisses’ stamps - Pat (Colourful Card Creations)

Prize R - Uniko - ‘Rustic Tree’ and Rustic Wreath’ stamp sets - Kath (Homemade by Kath)

Prize S - Sweet Dixie ‘Destination North Pole’ stamp and Inkylicious ‘Seasons Greetings’ stamp set - Viv

Prize T - Memory Box ‘Stitched Merry Christmas Square Frame’ die - Val

Prize U -Sticker Kitten – 'Alpaca Wishes' stamp set - Glennis F

Prize V - Sweet Dixie ’Funky Baubles’ and ‘Oh Christmas Tree’ stamp - Lynne in NI

Prize W - John Next Door ‘Baroque Snowflakes’ card front die - Valerija

Prize X - Uniko – 'Winter Foliage' stamp set and stencil, ‘Christmas Sentiments’ set and Tonic Studios pine cone die - Liz Cavill

Prize Y - Poppystamps – 'Poinsettia Joy' stamp and die sets - Maxine D

Prize Z - Clearly Besotted – 'Baa Humbug' and 'Picture It - Christmas' stamps sets - Lynne (Lynne's Craft Haven)

Many congratulations to the lucky winners and massive thanks to all of you who came along to play! As always, I wish that everyone could be a prizewinner.

To claim your prize:

Please send me an email using the NEW Snippets Playground gmail address shown on the RH sidebar, with PLAYGROUND WINNER (or similar) in the subject line. Please add your FULL NAME above your home ADDRESS so that I can copy and paste it for speed and ease.

26 prizes will take me some time to package up, possibly print 'click and drop labels'(which is extra fussing around) and then get posted off to the winners in perhaps two or three batches so please be patient. I will add something on this new blog to keep you updated rather than send out individual emails to everyone. 

Remember folks, there's still almost one more week to run on the current challenge #419 - just scroll back a couple or so posts to find it.

Lots of love from Dudley Dog and of course me,

Di xx