Snippets Playground Challenge #495

 Time to visit the Snippets Playground with my card for the first of the two December challenges where there are to be four prizes of bumper mystery parcels for the lucky winners.  Definitely time to rummage through your piles of snippets to see just what you can make with them.

For my card I've used a sentiment  die which I believe was won from Snippets a couple of years back and paired it with a Gnome/Santa die which I've had in my collection for even longer.  The sentiment was layered up on a couple of white squares, one of which has been embossed with a snowfall embossing folder.  I did have to cut into a whole piece of white card and also of the red for the background but of course I have quite large snippets left for future projects.  I also remembered to take a picture of some of the smaller snippets left over from die cutting the squares. sentiment and Santa.

Sentiment - die from Memory Box
Santa/Gnome - die from Simon Says Stamp
Embossing Folder - from Sheena Douglass a while ago, no longer available

Allsorts Challenge #810

 The theme for the current Allsorts Challenge has been chosen by Lynne and is *It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas* or of course there is the usual Anything Goes option.  For my card I've used dies from a set of four characters which come with a choice of headgear and specs which are mostly interchangeable for some fun results.  These two were put together and then I decided to pop them onto some torn edge die cuts along with a sentiment..

Santa and Snowman - from Tim Holtz Cool Yule die set
Rectangles - from Sizzix (TH) Stacked Deckle set
Sentiment - from a magazine give-away Christmas stamp set (a few years back)

Allsorts Challenge # 809

 The theme for the current Allsorts Challenge is **Winter Flora and Fauna** or of course there is the *Anything Goes* option - lovely prize from Aall & Create.  For my card I've chosen to use a Stickeroo which I've adhered to a stitched rectangle cut slightly larger.  Some background printed onto pearl finish paper mounted onto a larger square of gold.  That takes care of the fauna and for the flora I've used a layered die and added a simple printed  and punched sentiment.

Background - printed from Artylicious Season's Greetings CD probably discontinued
Image - Penny Black Stickeroo from Buddly Crafts
Poinsettia - dies by Tim Holtz for Sizzix Seasonal Sketch
Sentiment - free download from Netty's Cards resized to fit a punch 

Snippets Challenge #494

Having a bit of a change from making Christmas cards so these birds are flying along to the Playground for the latest Snippets challenge which as usual has a lovely prize for a lucky winner picked at random.  I had some snippets of white card  suitable for cutting a couple of pierced squares and an even smaller snippet of black card for the birds.  I've actually remembered to include a picture of the left overs too.  I smooshed some ink onto one of the squares  and added a bit of visual texture using a circle stamp.  The birds on a gingko branch were then die cut and placed over the detailed area.  A simple stamped sentiment and that's it - quick card for the challenge.

Circle stamp - from Crafty Roo
Birds - one of a set of dies from Amazon
Squares - dies from Noble Pierced squares Creative Expressions

Current Allsorts Challenge

 The theme for this week's Allsorts Challenge is **Ribbon or Twine** or the usual *Anything Goes* with of course a lovely prize on offer.  Despite the fact that I have a huge selection of ribbons in my stash, I've chosen to use twine for this card.  I started by die cutting a fairly large tag and rummaged in my box of 'useful bits' and pulled out a couple of pieces of tissue paper on which I'd previously stamped some numbers and an old style typewriter using stamps from a couple of different magazine give-away sets. The pieces were adhered to the tag using Mod Podge, followed by some stencilling, inking and over stamping to add some visual texture.  Twine was used to wrap around the actual tag as well as being threaded through the top.  A die cut bee was coloured lightly with some toning ink and the wings brushed with Wink of Stella.  The design paper in the background came from an ancient 12" paper pad.

Tag - die set from Sizzix (Tim Holtz)
Numbers - stamp from Phill Martin magazine give-away a few years back
Typewriter - stamp from a more recent Stamping Magazine (Lou Collins designs)
Bee - die from Gummiapan
Words - sticker sheet also a magazine give-away (Indigo Blue I think)
Designer Paper - from a Tim Holtz 12" pad of kraft resist designs - years old!

Rudolph Days November

 This part of each month always seems to come around so quickly and this time of course it means that the Big Day is getting ever closer.  My card for the Rudolph Days October challenge was chosen as one of the top picks which means I'm invited to be a Guest Designer for this month.  I've used an image from a set of dies which I couldn't resist as they really amused me with four different seasonal characters all wearing spectacles although of course they can be used without.  I've also added some foliage and berries and popped Rudolph onto a couple of 'torn edge' rectangles, backed with some toning design paper.

Rectangle dies - Sizzix
Foliage - Sizzix
Rudolph - from Cool Yule die set Sizzix (Tim Holtz)

Stamping Sensations November

 The theme for this month at Stamping Sensations is **Anything Goes** with an option of **Magical**.  I'm not sure my card is magical but as it's all stamped it should be OK for the anything goes theme. I started by inking my circular Gelli plate with Distress inks, spattered on some water droplets and then 'stamped' it onto a piece of white card.  The large floral stamp was used twice followed by some grasses and tiny leaves and finally a butterfly.  The flowers were coloured to tone with the background and then some highlights added using a gold gel pen..

Stamps - from Lavinia (butterfly from a magazine freebie set I think)