Snippets Challenge #542

 A Christmas card to take along to the Snippets Playground this time and I so nearly fell into the trap of ordering a newly released snow globe die which came with a selection of others, at extra cost,  to use as 'infills' or scenes. However, I did pause and then remembered that I've had a snow globe die for many years, although sadly with no matching infills.  I trawled through my large collection of Christmas-themed items - pulled out the said die along with another which appeared to be roughly the right size to fit the aperture and, although it came from a different source and at a different time, it was just right.  I used a snippet of silver pearl card to die cut the globe, a snippet of white for the deer and trees, a  snippet of blue paper for the background behind the scene and finally more smaller snippets of white for the sentiment and snowflake.  I did have to print a sheet of design paper for the backing but having trimmed a piece to fit I'm now left with snippets to use for another card.

Snowglobe - die from Crealy, many years old
Scene - an unbranded die 
Background - printed using a Buddly Crafts download set of papers

Allsorts Challenge # 859

 The theme for the Allsorts Challenge this time is **Anything Autumn** and has been chosen by Christine.  You can also use the *Anything Goes* category as an alternative theme.  Prizes are from Buddly Crafts - full details on the Allsorts blog post.  I decided to make an Autumnal wreath card using a selection of dies and started with a piece of designer paper in a suitable shade, followed by cutting, assembling and colouring the toadstools, acorns and leaves.  The sentiment was popped into the centre of the wreath.

Background - text designer paper from an old Prima pad
Wreath - die from Craft Addiction UK
Other elements from Sizzix Funky Foliage (quite an old set)
Sentiment - from a long retired Stampin Up die set

Rudolph Days September 2026

I was delighted when I was invited to be a Guest Designer for the current Rudolph Days challenge and this is the card which I made.  I've seen several cards using a large 'JOY' die which I don't have at present but I do have a set of large individual alphabet dies which I've owned for many years so I cut out the letters and popped them into an embossing folder to add some texture to the silver card.  The cute penguin is a downloaded digital stamp which has been resized and printed before fussy cutting to add to the design.  Some patterned paper from my stash and a scattering of die cut snowflakes complete this card.  Making cards for this challenge each month is an excellent way of making sure you have a selection of cards in hand ready for the end of the year.

Happy Rudolph Days to all 

Alphabet dies - unbranded
Penguin - Waddles drawn by Louise Dunne, digi image from Craft Addiction UK

More Cuteness

 I have another cute card to share with you today and this time it's Buttons the little mouse drawn by Louise Dunne.  He's been stamped, die cut and coloured using Distress ink pads - ink applied to a ceramic tile and picked up using a damp paintbrush - such a lovely way of achieving a delicate water colour effect.  The same was done with the butterfly and floral element.  Background papers were from my stash - trying to use up some oddments.

Background - papers printed using downloaded designs from Buddly Crafts
Mouse and Butterfly - Buttons stamp set Craft Addiction YK drawn by Louise Dunne
Floral - Flower stamp set also CAUK designed by Susan Hardy
Sentiment - also CAUK

Snippets Challenge #541

 Time to visit the Snippets Playground again which is the place where we are encouraged to use up Snippets left over from other projects, rather than cutting into whole sheets of card or paper.  There's a great prize on offer for one lucky 'Snippeteer' so why not have a go and hopefully clear the decks a little.  Everything used on my card came from the Snippets mountain, apart from the card blank.  I started by stamping the duck and various floral elements onto Snippets of white card before colouring using ink pads and a damp paintbrush.  Die cutting was the next move and as well as the florals, I cut the display stand/ladder and the little black cat from coloured Snippets.  Quackers was fussy cut as I don't have the dies for that stamp set.  The blue background was a slightly larger Snippet of printed paper and a random texture stamp used to ground the design.

Background - paper printed using a My Craft Studio scenic CD (years old)
Ladder - an unbranded die
Black Cat - from my famous pot of useful bits
Duck - Quackers stamp set by Craft Addiction UK (dies also available)
Flowers etc - from Pots of Joy stamp/die set also CAUK
Texture stamp - unbranded from Amazon

Tag-along and ATC Challenge

 My Mojo still seems to be on his summer holidays and I've been struggling to come up with a design for the latest theme on the Tag-along and ATC Challenge.  Straightforward theme really **Circles** with the usual *Anything Goes option*.  However, yesterday I spotted a video on Louise Dunne's You Tube Channel where she was making some shaker baubles using a set of dies which of course were circular.  Well, I don't have the dies and not much inclination,  or items to produce shakers, so I decided to have a go at making a bauble-shaped tag for Christmas.  I used two different sizes of circle dies to make the frame and a really small circle die to cut the top part.  The Cropodile came in handy for making a hole in the tiny circle.  A plain circle was cut for the backing and I found a Snippet of seasonal paper to glue in place as a background.  A couple of small poinsettia dies came out of hiding and these were cut from scraps of inky background and then treated with Wink of Stella.  A small 'Noel' word was also cut from the same snippet.  Finally a bit of red ribbon , some glitter on the background trees and that's it - job done - my entry for the circles theme at Tag-along. It certainly took me a while to get going this time 🙄

Circles - Noble Pierced Circles Creative Expressions
Poinsettias - Marianne dies probably 15-20 years old
Noel - die from a magazine cover gift set a few years ago

Allsorts Challenge #858

 The theme for the next Allsorts Challenge is **Sympathy/Thinking of You** and has been chosen by Gail.  There is the usual *Anything Goes* option as well of course.  The prize is from Highlight Crafts and full details can be seen on the Allsorts blog post.

For my card this time I decided to use My Craft Studio and I looked through images on some of my quite old CDs to select a suitable background design.  Can't remember now which CD collection this one came from - sorry. My intention was to produce a digital stencilled effect and this involved using the 'digital punch' function within the programme. (there are lots of punch designs to choose from).  Luckily I spotted a tutorial on You Tube to remind me of how this was done because it's quite a while since I'd used the programme for anything other than printing and/or resizing digital images. Once printed I cut the panel using a stained glass die and backed it with a toning square of card.  A white die cut flower was added for extra interest.  

Background - My Craft Studio Artwork CD  (programme from Highlight Crafts) 
Flower - Wildflower Stems die set from Sizzix
Stained Glass Die - Creative Expressions