Snippets Make

I really wanted to join in the fun over at Di's Snippets Playground, not least because I'd heard that Parsnip was heating up mulled wine behind the treehouse!

I had a rummage in my small bits box (by that I mean small bits and not small box!) and pulled out a bit of silver mirri and some different bits of blue paper and card. I also had a rummage in my stamped and cut but not used bag and came across a huddle of penguins (is that the collective noun for them? Not a clue here) which I think are Mama Elephant Artic Penguins. 

I cut the bits of card into curved strips to make hills (as I couldn't be bothered to excavate my dies and cut n boss) and glued them up to make a landscape. I then trimmed it with my guillotine to make a rectangle roughly 3x4 inches. I couldn't resist adding some faux stitching round the edges. I stamped the sentiment from an unknown stamp set (yep, my organisation is THAT good) in black archival ink and then added the whole panel on 1mm deep foam onto a 5x5 card base. I added the Penguins using the foam tape too and then used a fine embossing tool to make some skate marks in the silver mirri card to disguise the glue marks that had soaked in through the back.

I hadn't intended in adding stickles in the sky, but I needed to disguise a slight smudge next the the word year! Whilst I had the stickles in my hand I added some to the hills and ice. To finish I added some glossy accents to their beaks and feet. 

Thank you so much for your kind thoughts about Parsley, I still can't believe that I have lost two beautiful bunnies within four months, and especially as I'd only had Parsley three years, although we never really knew how old he was, as he was handed into the rescue as a stray. Fortunately, I have little Willow to cheer me up. She will be 6 months old at the start of January and so she is just old enough to be spayed and once recovered we can find her a new friend. She's certainly missing Parsley but is enjoying regular cuddles with me and I'm enjoying them too.

Heartbroken again

Poor little Parsley took a turn for the worse yesterday and despite rushing him to the vets where he was admitted, put on a drip and had wonderful care he sadly gave up fighting an hour later. Sweet tight my beautiful boy xxx

Piglet Present for my Niece

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas Day and that Santa brought you lots of goodies because I know you've all been good this year! I'm currently still stuffed from our Christmas dinner last night and hoping that it will wear off before we head out to the Panto this afternoon.

Apologies for the rubbish photo, but I only remembered that I hadn't taken a picture of my present to my niece this morning and of course I'd put it in a box frame before giving it to her.

Despite now being thirteen, my niece still loves Piglet and so I decided to paint her a picture of him. I printed off a colouring page that I found on the Internet and used that as a guide to paint him in acrylics on a 6x6 canvas board. I purchased some wooden letters, painted them pink and once dry covered them in glue and liberally doused them in pink glitter. I was a bit worried about the glitter shedding in the frame and so one the glue had dried, I applied a thick coat of glossy accents which give a lovely finish. To finish I glued them in place with some glossy accents and popped the cavas board in a cheap box frame. Thankfully, my neice loved him!

Happy Jolly Days

Over at Moving Along With The Times they want to see anything but a card, which was perfect as I made this canvas board for a secret Santa swap this week (Yep, last minute Lucy here!).

I made a 6x6 canvas board using the PaperArtsy stamp set, Happy Jolly Days by Elena Guzinska. I painted the canvas board with buttermilk chalk paint and over dry stamped the trees on the canvas in black archival ink. I then applied Aleene's Glitter Snow through a SSS Falling snow stencil with a spatula avoiding the trees. After that had dried I then mixed some Indigoblu Luscious Pigment powders with water to make a paint and then painted in the trees. On a separate sheet of stamping card I stamped the holly and person and coloured them in the same way before fussy cutting them. Once the trees had dried I used a black posca pen to redraw in the details and outlines that I had painted over. I applied some gold gliding wax around the edge of the canvas and once everything had dried used some Indigoblu Slap it on to add the person to the canvas. I decided to add a sentiment at this point and so I applied a thin layer of the buttermilk paint to a bit of card to take away the whiteness and once dry stamped the sentiment from the set on it. I trimmed it down and drew a border round it. I added the holly leaves and to finish added some more snow to the scene.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and I'm sending you all love and hugs. For those of you that find Christmas difficult, I'm sending you extra hugs xxx

Hubby's present from the bunnies

Ever since we got Willow (or Willow Chops as she is affectionately known), it has been a source of amazement as to how much she poos compared to Parsley and in fact every other bunny I've ever owned!  Whilst she is an adorable friendly and affectionate bunny she is known to Hubby as the "eating and pooing machine". 

I couldn't resist making him this special gift for Christmas. It doesn't show brilliantly on the photo but Parsley's present is filled with smaller chocolate caramel digestive nibbles. Willow's present is filled with four large sharing bags of Maltesers. I can't wait to see has face when he opens it! Obviously, Hubby doesn't read my blog. 

It feels like bunny central here right now. We had got the bunnies booked into boarding over Christmas but unfortunately they can't take them due to Parsley's illness.

For several months Parsley bunny has been getting a thick white discharge from his eyes. It clears up with eye ointment but comes back within a week. Left untreated it develops into conjunctivitis and eye ulcers which is painful for him. Bramble was never affected by it and Willow hasn't developed any problems. About a month ago we took swabs from both his eyes (not easiest thing to do!) and got some eye drops that were bacteria sensitive to try. A week of those and no improvement. 

We then tried another week of the eye drops, some anti inflammatories and some oral antibiotics. We also noticed that he was losing weight and so along with his medication twice a day he also gets an extra feed of porridge oats soaked in warm water in the evening. Still no improvement and so he had his tear ducts flushed and his tear production checked (all okay). We started him on a alternative recommended eye drops from the swabs and my vet spoke to the referral opthamologist for advice. As you can imagine this has been a relatively expensive exercise. I had to laugh at the eye drops - I took the information leaflet out of the packet so I could tell Mum what the antibiotic in them was. Emblazoned across the leaflet was "May cause blurred vision. If affected do not drive or use machinery". Can't remember if I told Parsley not to drive, oops!

On Monday Parsley was admitted for a general anaesthetic so that they could take X-Rays of his head and bloods. Fortunately, he did well and I went to collect him in the early afternoon as he was "bouncing off the walls in his kennel " at the vets. I almost fainted at the size of the bill though - £348 and a few pennies! He's worth every penny of course. 

The vet phoned me on Tuesday with the results - the thought was that a tooth root could be obstructing something, but the consultant radiologist said that everything was fine. All his bloods were normal, apart from his white blood cell count. I'm not sure what the normal level is for bunnies but I'm pretty sure that it shouldn't be one!

Something is obviously affecting his immune system, a possible cause could be E.Cuniculi which is thought to be caused by a parasite and classically presents with neurological symptoms such as a head tilt. The test for this is £130. We therefore agreed to treat him for this as it won't harm him if we're wrong. He's now on a wormer, Panacur daily and a high dose of anti inflammatories twice a day and more antibiotic eye drops to prevent the discharge developing into conjunctivitis. Willow is totally unaffected by this, but as E.Cuniculi is contagious of course he couldn't go into boarding and place other bunnies at risk. We'll come up with a plan B, even if it means just visiting family for a few hours.

As Parsley comes into the house every evening for his meds and porridge, Willow obviously wonders where he goes. When I put him back she wants to escape into the shed for a nose at what's going on. To keep her in one place, I've started to give her a treat when I open the door into their area before I put Parsley back in with her. Willow has now got this routine sussed. As I go out of the back door with Parsley, Willow is always sat on the step in the run watching for us. As I get up to the run she runs back into the shed and is waiting by the door for me. Most times she has her front paws up on the door so that she practically falls out as I open it! She's such a cheeky bunny!

Gratuitous bunny photo - Parsley is the black bunny and Willow is the grey bunny. As ever I failed miserably at trying to get them both to look in the same direction, even with a bribe!

Jingle All The Way Tags

Yep, more tag making! Having bought far too many Christmas presents (admittedly, lots of inexpensive things) I needed to make more tags.

I stamped the Santas from the MFT Jingle All The Way stamp set on white card and then coloured them in using my spectrum noir sparkle pens and my zig clean colour pens then fussy cut them. I added them to some purchased blank tags with 1mm deep foam tape. To finish I added a doodled border and some Nuvo glitter accents to their hats. After I took the phot I realised that I hadn't coloured their belt buckle, so I used a signo gold sparkle pen to do so. Simples!

I'm slightly regretting buying so many Christmas presents now that I have to wrap them! Hubby has just asked if I wanted to wrap my Christmas presents from him. I knew what some of my presents were as I'd ordered them in the Sizzix sale, but he said he had more for me. I said I wanted to be suprised, at which point he said I knew what they were as I'd suggested them! At least I don't know what the rest of my family have bought me....

Back to the tags, hopefully you can see some more of the sparkle in the photo below.

Blog Candy Winner!

After double and triple checking the correct names went into the purple plastic soup bowl, Hubby drew out the winner,

Helen

Congratulations Helen, please get in touch via the link in my sidebar and I'll post the stamps to you straight after Christmas and they'll wing their way to Australia!

(I did actually video Hubby pulling out the winner, but the light is terrible and I haven't figured out how to embed a video, but will happily do so if anyone has any doubts)

Creative Stamping Magazine - Hunkydory Stamps

Creative Stamping Magazine recently had some Hunkydory designed stamps as their freebie (I didn't buy it when it first came out, I got it online at Hixxysoft) which a finally gave in and bought as they were so cute and a good size. I stamped the bear, hat and pressies in black archival and then coloured them in with my zig clean colour pens and then fussy cut them.

I'd previously applied som Aleene's Glitter Snow through a SSS Falling Snow stencil on some 6x6 cards and then glued the presents in place and added the bear and his hat on foam tape. I die cut the sentiment in black card (possibly a tattered lace die?) and glued that onto the card. I felt that I'd left too large a gap between the words, so I set about sorting it. I found the holly stamp in the Hobby Art Quirky Turkery set and stamped, coloured and fussy cut it and added it to the card. Much happier with the result. As I had some elements left over I made another card, adding Nuvo glitter accents to their hats and to ground the bear.

I haven't forgotten about my blog candy. I'm doing an old school draw tonight and just need hubby to help me pick the winner, preparations are afoot!

Sweet Stampin - Last Minute Christmas / CAS

Blimey, only just over a week to go until Christmas and with that in mind, we have a new two week long challenge over at Sweet Stampin'. Our theme for the two weeks is last minute Christmas/CAS, which was perfect to inspire me to rustle up a last minute Christmas card for a friend. 

I used the MFT Jingle All The Way stamp set and stamped them in black archival on white card. I coloured the images in simply using my zig clean colour pens, except for Santa who was coloured in with my red spectrum sparkle pen. Once dry I fussy cut them out and arranged them in my card blank. I stamped one of the sentiments from the set on my card base (originally 6"x4", but it had a mark on it so I trimmed off about an inch) and glued everything in place. I doodled a frame round the card with a fineliner and added some Nuvo Glitter drops to his hat and glossy accents to his boots. Definitely simples!

I hope you all have a warm and if not relaxing, then at least a stress free weekend x

The Flower Challenge #15 Anything But a Card - Reminder Post

It's halfway though the month (I know, scary!) and so over at The Flower Challenge we've come up with some more inspiration for you.

I'm sure a lot of you like me are way behind on the Christmas plans. I used a Papermania Kraft Pillow box from their basics range, which had been a freebie with the now defunct Creativity magazine earlier this year for my make. I wrapped some gold and silver twine around it several times and secured it with a tiny bit of tape. I used Sue Wilson's Classic and Filigree Poinsettia die sets to cut the flower out of green, red and gold vellum. I shaped them slightly with my fingers before stacking them up and gluing them in place. For the centre of the flower and to disguise the glue I added some gold Nuvo drops. Simples!

I hope you can all find time to create a floral entry for the challenge, we love seeing all your wonderful creations x

Snowy Gift Tags

I hope that you're all managing to keep safe and warm in this frosty weather. Definitely the right time to stay inside and craft! I have to admit that my crafting has been taking a backseat to my hand sewing at the moment. I've got another Bucilla felt kit on the go, a stocking this time, which should be much simpler, but seems to be taking forever!

I did however get round to making some gift tags for when I eventually give in and start wrapping presents. I bought a pack of 20 plain white gift tags in two sizes from The Range last week for £1 and set to work decorating some of the larger ones. I removed the string from the tags as I'll use coordinating ribbon from my rather large ribbon stash instead. The tags are an off white, but I was happy for that to look like a blizzard in the background! I used some of the Aleene's Glitter Snow through the Simon Says Stamp, Falling Snow stencil and left it to dry. I stamped the Penny Black Snowy in black archival ink on white card. I squeezed out some ink from my Crafters Companion Sparkle pens onto a plate and used a brush to watercolour Snowy's hat and scarf. It doesn't show in the photo, but they have a lovely sparkle to them. I also used a pale grey Zig clean colour pen to add a hint of shading to Snowy and an orange one to colour in his nose. Once dry I fussy cut them. 

I drew a squiggly border round the tag with a black fineliner pen as this allowed me to avoid the snow blobs and then glued Snowy in place. To finish him off I added some glossy accents to his nose and some Nuvo Glitter Accents - called Fresh Snowfall, to the brim of his hat. I hadn't used this before and it holds its shape and gives more dimension than Stickles would. Et voilà seven tags finished!

Oops, I was just about to publish this post when I noticed a typo in the title, "Snowy Git Tags", maybe I should have left it like that x

Blog Candy Giveaway!

The American Thanksgiving holiday got me thinking about what I'm thankful for and of course my thoughts were drawn to all you wonderful blog buddies.

To thank all my wonderful followers I thought I'd give away 6 Christmas themed stamp sets. Probably much to late for this year, but it might give you a head start for next Christmas!

All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning is to be a follower of my blog and to leave a comment on this post. The winner will be randomly selected and the prize will be posted to wherever they are on the world.

New followers are of course welcome to join in, the follow link thingy is in my sidebar, you'll just need to scroll down a bit to find it!  

I'll keep this post pinned to the top of my blog and will close the entries at midnight on 8th December, British time.

Good luck in the draw and thank you all so much for all your wonderful support and friendship. Group hug everyone!

LOTV Christmas Bunnies

Honestly, where is the time going? I can't believe it's almost Christmas already! With that in mind I whipped up a few Christmas cards to send to my bunny owning friends.

I stamped these cute lili of the valley bunnies in black momento ink and then used my copics to simply colour them in. I then fussy cut around the image leaving a small border. 

As it's Christmas I decided to add a bit of sparkle. I coloured in the stars with a uni-ball signo sparkling gold pen (that SARN made me buy a while back), added some glamour dust with a quickie glue pen to the falling snow and glossy accents to the berries.

I finally got round to using a product that I'd bought last year from Joanna Sheen's, Aleene's Glitter Snow. It comes in a tub and is the consistency of royal icing and dries with texture and sparkle. I applied it to the snow the bunnies are sitting on with a brush (I've since discovered that it works brilliantly through a stencil as well) to add some more texture and sparkle to the card. Once dry I simply drew a quick border around a 6x6 card blank to link in with the border round the image and glued it in place. Simples!

Don't forget that I'm running a blog candy Christmas stamp giveaway for my followers. The post is pinned to the top of my blog or you can click here to go directly to the post. Entries close at midnight on 8th December UK time.

The Flower Challenge #15 - Anything But A Card

As it's now December, it's time for our new challenge over at The Flower Challenge and this month we want to see anything but a card.

I decided to make a tag for this challenge, as this year I've purchased some very simple Christmas wrapping paper, but plan to bling it up with handmade tags.

I didn't have a tag die the size I wanted, but rummaging through my stash I found a tag stamp from the Parpermania Jolly Santa range, which had alternative messages to slot into it. The only problem was that the main tag stamp had a gingerbread man on it. Never fear, with a sharp pair of scissors he was carefully removed and can be slotted back in place if needed.

I stamped the tag in black archival ink and cut it out, then ran a black pen round the white cut edge to give a more finished look. I stamped a sentiment from the Papermania Traditional Sentiments set on the tag rather than use one of the original sentiments.

I coloured some white card with blended distress inks and over stamped them to create red and green card to die cut. I used a green distress marker that matched one of the inks I'd used, to colour in the border on the tag. I then used Sue Wilson's Classic Poinsettia to cut the green leaves and her Filigree Poinsettia to cut the red leaves. I shaped them slightly with my fingers and layered them up to form the poinsettia and glued in place. 

I found a couple of small flourish dies in my stash (sorry, no idea who made them) and cut them out of soft matt gold mirri card and snipped them down and tucked them behind the poinsettia. I added a flat back cream pearl cluster to the centre of the flower, but wasn't happy with its colour and so I dabbed some mercury glass stickles onto it with my finger to give it more of a soft golden tone. Note to self, do this and let it dry before you add it to the flower, much easier. It doesn't show in the photo but I also dabbed some Christmas red stickles onto the poinsettia with my finger to add a little sparkle. I will eventually fish out my cropodile to punch the hole in the tag and thread some ribbon through it finish.

I'm looking forward to seeing your floral makes this month. Just remember that the focal point of your project has to be a flower(s) and if you can add our cue card to your post we'll love you forever! My teamies and I will be back with a reminder halfway through the month. Happy Crafting x

Don't forget that I'm running a blog candy Christmas stamp giveaway for my followers. The post is pinned to the top of my blog or you can click here to go directly to the post. Entries close at midnight on 8th December UK time.

Bucilia Advent Calendar

I finally finished my Bucilia Santa Advent Calendar on Tuesday. Well, I say finished, I still need to add a bit of dowelling or something along the the back of the mantelpiece to stop it scrunching up when hanging.

There are little ornaments to fit in the numbered pockets. I decided to add some cording to them so that I can take them out each day and hang them on our twig tree.

I've already started on my next sewing project, another Bucilla felt kit, but a stocking this time. Unfortunately, my neck and shoulders have been playing up the last couple of days and so sewing has been put on hold, but I'm looking forward to cracking on with it. Only another 7 kits to go after this (they were all on really good deals so I had to buy them, honest). 

Don't forget that I'm running a blog candy Christmas stamp giveaway for my followers. The post is pinned to the top of my blog or you can click here to go directly to the post. Entries close at midnight on 8th December UK time.