SUNDAY SNIPPETS

Hi Everyone

Happy Sunday!

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.

Today is a special day in our family .. .. it is the London Kids wedding anniversary .. .. and this is the card I made for them.

As no full pieces of card were harmed during the making of this project it is perfect for taking over to share in Pixie's Snippets Playground Challenge where we are encouraged to use our "leftovers" from other projects.

Everything for this creation came from my huge pile of snippets apart from the ribbon.  That needed to come off a roll because all my offcuts were completely the wrong colour.

So that is me for today.  A short and sweet post because on a Sunday I am always lazy and do not list my ingredients .. .. but if there is anything you wish to know then please just ask away.

I am busy trying to catch up with myself (again!!) after a couple of days away.  

I always feel like I am on "catch up" these days.  What a shame the laundry fairy didn't come and take up residence whilst we were away!  They would have been very, very welcome!

Catch you again soon.

PURR-FECT

Hi Everyone

Happy Thursday!

A while ago I named Thursday on my blog as TIMMAY day .. .. standing for "those I must make all year" (meaning Christmas cards) .. .. but of course that hasn't happened as much as it should.  

But today is an exception .. .. I am here using a pre-loved stamp that I gained from Ebay a couple of weeks ago

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "1516K" Jolly Xmas Kitty
Sentiment:  Computer Generated using Font "Wreath Regular" and Craft Artist 2
Backing Papers:  Dovecraft "Winter Blooms" (one of last years paper packs that is still going strong)
Die-namics Dies:  Blueprints 14
ProMarkers
Glossy Accents
Ribbon from my crafty stash box

I was well chuffed to gain this image.  I can remember seeing it many many years ago in a lovely craft shop in London where they had so many Penny Black stamps I was in heaven.  But at that stage in my crafting journey I felt the stamp was far too big for me to ever be able to do anything with it .. .. .. and every Christmas since I regretted not buying it .. .. simply because I wanted to team it up with my idea of a great sentiment.

I think this one will be being repeated quite a few times this year .. .. particularly to cater for all those cat lovers!

So that is me for today with another much needed card for my Christmas stock box.

Many thanks for all your lovely messages on yesterday's post .. .. and the suggestions for things to occupy Mr Heart on his soon to be gained Mondays!  I have been reporting them all back to him .. .. but so far he hasn't said "that's a good idea"!  He simply laughs!  I wonder why!?!? LOL!!!

Take care everyone and I'll catch you again soon hopefully.

HOW LONG?

Hi Everyone

Well I cannot believe it is nearly two weeks since I made an appearance on my blog . .. . .. shame on me!!! 

So much has been happening.  All good though so I can't complain!

Lots of work has arrived and departed .. . .. . .. and some has arrived and will be around for quite a while as some of my happy couples aren't getting married until next year .. .. .. but that doesn't stop us designing and ordering all the materials we are going to need to complete their orders.  It just means I need lots of storage space.  

Mr Heart has been on holiday from work this week too so that has thrown a spanner into my routine and it has been a case of me grabbing time when I can to escape to my lovely crafty world.   It is no good him taking holiday and me ignoring him now is it !?!?!

Nothing I have made over the last two weeks can be shared just yet .. .. but I can share my favourite makes from this month's issue of Quick Cards Made Easy which has just gone on sale.

The first commission I was very fortunate to receive was a technique one called Distress Oxide Inks Made Easy.  I had the time of my life with this commission because alongside the fabulous Oxide Inks I used a variety of beautiful stamps from Lavinia Stamps. Hard to choose my favourite from the card collection really because I loved them all .. .. but I will go for this one

Then my second commission was also a technique one called Filigree Panel Cards Made Easy where I used scrummy First Edition Dies alongside sentiments from Digistamp Boutique. 

Again I could have posted all of my makes .. .. but this one was my favourite

So there we go .. at least you know I am still alive and kicking (and crafting where I can) until Mr Heart returns to work on Monday.

But there is change on the horizon .. .. Mr Heart is starting self inflicted phased retirement come the beginning of October .. .. and will be working a four day week.  No more Mondays in the office for him.

That means my Monday routine will be thrown out of the window.  I will need to draw up a new plan of attack for all I want to achieve.  But he has been warned .. .. I am not ready for slowing down any day soon.  I am having far too much fun.

The best bit of him not working on a Monday will be that he can take over the job of bringing the bins down the drive and washing them out .. .. I definitely won't miss that job!!  LOL!!

Hopefully see you soon.

DAYS UNTIL .. ..

Hi Everyone

Happy Friday .. .. ahead of what I hope is going to be a lovely weekend for us all!

Today I thought you might like to see something I have put together for giving my niece when I see her this evening.  

She gets married in a few weeks time .. .. and I thought she might like to stick this to the front of her fridge to help with the exciting "countdown".

Quite a few people have asked me if I would consider doing tutorials or videos of how I make some of my projects.  

I am sorry but as much as I am sure I would enjoy doing it, I don't feel video creating will ever feature in my crafting life .. .. there isn't enough spare time in my life to do all of that editing etc.  It seems difficult enough sometimes to just get something posted here on my blog .. .. but perhaps the next best thing might be a series of photographs .. .. so I will explain how I have made my plaque with the help of some pictures.  If you feel this is interesting / helpful in any way then let me know and I can consider doing this type of thing a little more often .. .. but sadly no videos :-(

So here we go with the process

I started out by using my Craft Artist 2 programme to decorate a rectangle using a variety of downloads and colours and then added my words using font Sweetheart Script (how appropriate LOL!!).

This was then printed onto heavy duty smooth card, stuck to mountboard and then cut to size using my trustyFiskars ProCision Paper Trimmer .. .. .. .. this is something that has been in my arsenal for a couple of years now and I really don't know how I would cope without it now.  Anything that can cut mountboard as well as it cuts photocopy paper has to be a winner in my book .. . and no blades or cutting strips to replace either .. .. bonus!  Great for large 12 x 12 papers but it will also fold in half when working on smaller jobs.

Next thick twine is tied through the hole in a wooden chalkboard heart, the hole is then topped with a twine bow and the other end is tied around a piece of chalk.  Add one part of a strong magnet to the twine on the chalk and the second half of the magnet to the plaque front.  

Gems are stuck to the flowers in the top right hand corner to finish the front.

Four crafting magnets on the back will stick the plaque to a fridge front .. .. but alternatively you could cut two holes in the top and thread ribbon or twine through to hang it up.

So just a little wrapping job from me now and today's project is all ready for giving away tonight .. .. just leaving my niece with the job of counting up the days for writing on the heart.

Of course something like this could be counting down to anything .. .. .. Christmas, a holiday, a special birthday .. .. in fact anything you want to add some extra excitement too .. .. but for our family it will be the countdown to a very special day that we are all looking forward to very, very much.

Oh .. .. and before you ask .. .. yes I have been on stationery duty for her and so far I have done save the dates, day and evening invitations. This just leaves the venue stationery which will go into production in a few weeks.

So that is me for today.  I can't actually lay claim for inventing this type of plaque .. .. I have been making them for a while based on one I saw in a shop window in York where they were selling ones that said .. .. .. Days until Santa comes!   Oooo... now there's a scary thought.  How many days is it now!!! LOL!!!

I'll catch you again soon .. .. have a lovely weekend.

TEENY, TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Tuesday!

August already!!  Where did the rest of the year disappear too?

Here with another teeny, tiny card (3.5 inches square for anyone new to my blog).  

Pretty quick to make except when it came to the butterflies .. .. I just couldn't decide what colour looked best .. .. and now I have 9 other pairs of rejected butterflies. Never mind .. .. they will go in a tiny jam jar to come out again another day (when I can't decide what colour to use LOL!!).

This used:

Image:  Hero Arts  "H2817" Garden Flowers Sketch

Backing Paper:  just a snippet that I think was from a Stampin' Up collection

ProMarkers

My Trusty Sewing Machine

X-Cut Butterfly Punch (very old and no longer available)

Woodware Tag Punch

Twine and Pearls from my crafty stash box

We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board

Ideally I would have liked to have used an old paperback book for the background .. .. but it would appear that it is time for me to raid a charity shop again because there were none around that I could use.  So instead I used the next best thing I had kicking around in my snippet collection.

OK .. .. so that is me for today.  Best fly!

Enjoy the rest of your evening.

MONDAY'S MALE

Hi Everyone

Happy Monday!

I hope you have had a good day.

My card today was inspired by a card that Dorothy Wood created in Issue 166 of Quick Cards Made Easy .. .. when I saw it in the magazine I really loved it. 

So when I spied the dies for sale at the Range last week the card was immediately in my mind again and I just had to buy the dies to make one.

This is actually the third one I have made (so already I can tell it is going to be a very useful die set). My other versions have been pink for females .. .. but in blue tones I thought it would be good for a male cards.

This used:

Die'sire Metal Dies:  Perfect Paisley

Backing Papers:  Craft Sensations by Grafix "All Time Favourites"

Sentiment:  Printed directly onto the design paper using font "Zipty Do"
Black fineliner pen
Brush Markers
Single hole punch
My Trusty Sewing Machine 
Shabby Shutters Distress Ink
Brother Scan N Cut for the Grass Panel (still using my lovely machine daily .. .. so pleased I invested .. .. but still lots I need to learn!).

So that is me for today.

Catch you again soon.

SUNDAY SNIPPETS

Hi Everyone

I hope you have all had a lovely Sunday .. .. ours has been super busy, but I was able to sneak a few crafty minutes to use up some of the white card offcuts that are slowly taking over my life.

I have been trying to catch up a little in blogland as well and have been seeing lots of Christmas cards being made .. .. and I have to admit to being rather envious of the numbers some people already have piling up ready for that manic season.  My Christmas stock box hardly has any!!  Eeekkk!!

So with that in mind I decided to make a Christmas card .. .. only a teeny, tiny one .. .. but it still counts

On a Sunday I am lazy and do not list my ingredients but if there is anything you would like to know then please just ask away.

Really happy with this card and can see it being repeated quite a few times .. .. and my snippets will certainly stretch to it.

I have enjoyed being back in blogland more .. .. .. let's face it .. .. it's the nearest I get to office gossip LOL!!

Enjoy the new week that is looming.  I hope it is kind to you.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE BABY GIRLS GONE?

Hi Everyone

Happy Saturday!  I hope your weekend has got off to a good start.

Mine has been a day for "happy couples" calling by .. .. which is always exciting.  I love hearing about everyone's wedding plans and get just as excited about everything as the bride (and sometimes the groom) do!  LOL!!

So, what I want to know is why are there only baby boys happening in my life at the moment.  What has happened to the baby girls?

Every newborn baby card request has been male .. .. and I enjoyed adding a new design into the mix this week!

This used:

Image:  Lili of the Valley Digi Image: Bunny Moon

Sentiment:  Computer Generated using font Aracne Condensed and then stamped around with the plain tag from the Lili of the Valley Christmas SentimentsTag Set

Backing Paper:  The Lovely Studio  (was Pink Petticoat)  Gingham

First Edition Dies:  Nesting Doily

Josy Rose: Nail Heads

ProMarkers

Tumble Glass Distress Ink for painting a light background to the image

Glamour Dust

Eyelet and Eyelet setter

Dimension Pads

Ribbon and Cord from my crafty stashbox

and my Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today.

The sky has just gone very dark so time to run like the wind to the washing line.

Catch you again soon folks and have a lovely weekend.

TEENY TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Tuesday!

I hope you have all had a good day.

Ours started very dull and overcast and then by mid afternoon turned into the most beautiful sunny day .. .. .. until all the flying ants decided to make an appearance!!  If they were white it would have looked like we were having a snow flurry!  I have never seen so many.

Anyway, enough of those .. .. everytime I think of them I start itching LOL!!

I was having a good sort out and putting away leftovers from some finished weddings this morning .. .. and decided that I would use a selection of them to make a teeny tiny card (3.5 inches square for anyone who is new to my blog).

There colours were not all part of the same wedding .. .. but I felt they worked well together .. .. and it also gave me chance to have another play with my Polychromos Pencils.  There aren't many colours in my collection at the moment but I think these colours worked well:

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3868J" Portraits
Sentiment:  X-Cut Mini Die "With Love"
Polychromos Pencils
My Trusty Sewing Machine
White Gel Pen
Glamour Dust
Ribbon
We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board

I am entering my card into the Penny Black Saturday Challenge where the theme this month is Flowers and also Pixie's Snippets Playground where the lovely Di encourages us to use up our offcuts .. .. well the little silver pieces in my sentiment show you just how small a snippet can be LOL!!!

Catch again soon .. .. I hope!

THANK YOU

Hi Everyone

Happy Wednesday!

Many thanks for all the lovely comments and emails I received on yesterday's post.  You are all so very kind.

Today I am sharing the favourites of my makes which are in the new issue of Quick Cards Made Easy magazine that went on sale yesterday.

It is a super special issue for me because I get to introduce you to "the London Kids" -  regular visitors will already know lots about them .. .. but now you can put faces to them too.

So here we go 

This is my favourite from a commission entitled "Shadowbox Cards" 

and these are the London Kids.  My super handsome Son and his beautiful wife .. .. who kindly gave me permission to use their pictures in the magazine.  They were cut from a photograph which was taken the day after their wedding .. .. just before we drove them to the airport to catch a plane for their honeymoon.  I still drive the car we used and still have bits of confetti trapped in various places (which I refuse to remove LOL!!).  Each piece is a reminder of a super happy and proud day.

My second card is my favourite from a commission entitled Polychromos Pencils.

It was the first time I had used these pencils and I will definitely be using them lots more .. .. .. I love that I can colour on dark card with them!

So that is me for today.

Catch you again soon.