- 5.75" x 5.75" white square card blank

- the Maximum Crafts 'Picture Window Easy Frame' comes as a pair of dies. One outer, and one inner. The outer one has the thicker outlines to the frame and the inner one is smaller and fits beautifully on to of the outer frame

- I die cut a snippet of Tonic Pearlescent 'Majestic Gold', using the 'chunkier' outer frame die and set it to one side

- then die cut the 'finer' inner frame from a snippet of the white same card as the card blank. Admission here, ever trimmed down a card blank and at the final cut, sliced through the 'spine' by accident? Hence, I do have quite a few saved mis-cut panels, aka snippets in my 'box of daft mistakes'

- then glued the 'white layer frame' onto the gold one and then the whole frame onto the card blank

- the final die cut was to use the chunkier die and, as I was actually making two cards the same, I cut through two identical patterned paper scenes in one go from an Amazon paper pack called 'Glacie' which features general Winter scenes but only the one design actually has a log cabin in the centre. I do have ideas for the other papers, never fear. It was a lucky break when I found the log cabin one whilst browsing a couple of days ago!

- with hindsight, I could just have laid/glued the patterned paper behind the frame, but die cutting is more accurate and also fun to see the card come alive!

Like Linby, I can see so many uses for this Picture Window die set. I feel a play with some much loved snippets coming on! I didn't add a sentiment, die cut a couple and decided against it and left it as is rather than spoil the pretty scene. I'll be sure to add a special Christmas sentiment inside - this year I'm doing them as I go. Hollow laugh!

I'd like to enter this card into:

Allsorts Challenge #846 HERE - under 'Anything Goes'

Darnell's NBUS Challenge # 84 HERE - the paper pack and the set of window dies are my NBUS items

Rudolph Days Challenge - March 2026 - HERE 

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley is such a little chancer! I carefully slipped out of bed very early the other morning for a quick trip to the loo and made a point of really pulling up the duvet right up to pillow level to keep him away. Did it work? Not a chance, I came out of the en-suite in super fast time, to the sight of Honka Duck languishing on my pillow - and a wagging tail and wiggly bum sticking out of the top of the duvet as Dudley happily explored the warrmth and no doubt human scent of where I'd just vacated. The look on his face when I lifted the duvet and whispered 'Hello Dudley'. He seemed to drop his jaw at being rumbled, grabbed Honks and flew off the end of the bed like a little pocket rocket! 

It never lasts though as needless to say, when I woke up later on at 'ups time' he was lying like a little angel with his back pressed against mine. He never bears a grudge that's for sure!

Sarn has opened up Challenge #529 in the Snippets Playground HERE . See you in the Platground!

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank - side opening

- making the main feature of the card - Santa - was my next step as all the other placements depended on how he turned out in terms of size

- I used red, white, green and also flesh coloured snippets. The flesh colour was a Papermill Direct swatch sample. The die set was an Amazon buy last Autumn - unbranded with just 'Christmas Santa' on the packet

- die cut all 14 pieces and assembled them using a glue pen - also added a touch of pink Polychromos pencil  and a little Tombow pale grey here and there as I went 

- Santa's eyes were coloured using a deep blue Gelly Roll Glaze pen

- a snippet of Tonic iridescent  'Firestone Red' mirror card, trimmed to one sixteenth of an inch smaller all round than the card blank

- a piece of paper from an Amazon unbranded paper pack called 'Moonlit Reverie' - it has a slightly vintage look about it - trimmed to one eighth of an inch smaller all round than the red mirror layer 

- then took a sheet of brick patterned paper from another Amazon paper pack called 'Brick Wall Texture' and trimmed a 'chimney' measuring 2" wide x 1.5" high 

- glued the 'brick chimney' onto the moonlit sky paper then glued them onto the red mirror card layer

- glued the bones of the image layer to the card front

- used teeny red mirror snippets to die cut my favourite Tonic (discontinued) Christmas sentiment twice, layered them together then glued to the top left hand corner

- final step was to use thin sticky pads to glue Santa in place  - stuck in the chinmey!

I had intended using a small 'Ho, Ho, Ho' die for the sentiment but, given Santa's predicament I doubt if he'd have been chuckling out any 'Ho's right at that time! 

The song 'When Santa got stuck up the chimney' was very popular in the mid-70's. But, being somewhat vintage, I remember my Dad singing it to me when I was little and apparently it was first out in 1953!

I ended up with two cards the same - which was a bonus, given all the faffing around making up the Santas!

And now, drumroll! Take a bow Len! I originally intended to have Santa resting and looking out of a frame or a die cut circle and was half prepared to go down that route when Len spotted a Santa all made up and immediately said 'he needs to be partway out of a chimney'. Bingo! Many thanks for that inspiration, you clever chap.

 I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges: 

I used: 

- 5.5" x 4.25" cream Hunkydory  card blank - side opening

- a leftover snippet of the same sheet of Hunkydory cream card on which to assemble the herringbone background, covered with 'medium sticky' double sided adhesive sheet

- a selection of quarter inch wide paper strips, cut from snippets tucked in the back of LOTV's 'Country Gentleman' 8" x 8" paper pad - a variety of different colours/patterns

- spent a very contented time adding the strips to the sticky panel 

- the next step, once the herringbone was completed, was to snip off the overhanging ends of the strips - I'd done this after a fashion as I went along so as not to waste any small pieces but trimming the remaining ends from the back of the card panel evens it all up

- then I was faced with a panel which wasn't exactly equal on opposing sides where the chevrons finished - it's the nature of the beast and so I carefully trimmed the herringbone panel, a little bit at a time and ended up with a piece measuring 3.5" x 4.75" - which still kept the A2 card balance/proportions and evened up the pattern edges

- then layered the herringbone panel onto a larger rectangle of brown Hunkydory card as a frame add narrow frames

- glued the herringbone layer onto the card front, using Collall All Purpose Glue

-adhered the two layer front panel to the card blank using narrow foam tape for some lift

- then stamped the sentiment using a large stamp from a set by The Greetery called 'Opposites Attract' - and a Tsukeno Brilliant 'Pearlescent Poppy' ink stamp, onto  a snippet of the cream card I'd been using throughou

- made a cutting 'jig' and die cut the sentiment out, using a die from the same Greetery set

- then took a little snippet of the Hunkydory brown card and die cut it using a Lil'Inkers 'Stitched Rectangle' - tweaking it a little at each end by shuffling the die along by one stitch and re-cutting

- glued the sentiment together and then onto the brown rectangle - finally gluing it to the bottom right of the card 

- finished!

I loved making this card, especially the herringbone background. It's the selection and slicing of the snippets of  papers I found to be more onerous - actually building up the herringbone itself is very satisfying!

Do come and play in Allsorts - there's also an 'anything goes option', the challenge runs for two weeks - plus the prize is four background stamps from A&C. Go for it!

With love, good grief, I sound like Meghan Markle!!

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank - side opening

- a snippet of Tonic pearlised 'Red Velvet' card, very slightly trimmed then glued onto the card blank front

- the deeply embossed deep cream (camera lied again!) panel of Christmas foliage, cones and flowers was trimmed by moi and glued on top of the red layer

- used a NBUS die set for the first time - by John Next Door called 'Bold Wishes - JND558', plus small snippets of Tonic pearlised 'Red Velvet' and pearlised 'Majestic Gold' - to die cut the sentiment and also its shadow background

- glued the gold sentiment onto the red background/shadow using a glue pen

- used Nuvo glue to adhere the sentiment panel to the card front, at bottom right

- finished!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges: