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A very warm welcome to my teeny, tiny part of the huge world of blogging. This is where I share my passion for making hand made greeting cards. So - why "Always with a Heart"? Well this is for two reasons. Firstly, it is because every card I produce carries a heart on it somewhere. This can be big and bold or small and almost hidden - the fun sometimes is just trying to find it! Secondly it is because I put my heart into everything I produce. I hope that any visitors enjoy seeing what I post. If you drop by then please leave me a comment so that I know you called. It would be nice to know that you have found my heart in what I do.

Monday 5 December 2011

HAPPY HANDY HIPPO DAY - WEEK 14

Good morning everyone

I hope you have had a wonderful weekend.  Have you got any further forward with your Christmas preparations?

I am trying really hard this year to be organised and ready good and early.  I have never yet had a relaxing build up to Christmas and this year I really want to try hard and make it happen.  But of course you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men LOL!!!.

Anway, this week as promised I am here with "one for the boys".







This lovely cheeky little chappie is part of a set of stamps.  He features in three different activities alongside lots of other smaller images and different sentiments.  I used some of the smaller images and shorter sentiments to make the background panel.

Below you can find the Handy Hippo magic button .. .. and if you click on it you can see all the lovely goodies I used to make this little creation. Everything I have used has been automatically added to a shopping basket and as always you can remove anything you do not need (or add anything else you can't resist).




I was super brave and decided to add the "birthday boy" sentiment to this card at the very end!!  That is the beauty of clear stamps .. .. you can see exactly where they are going to appear.

But the danger of doing this is that you run the risk of the stamping not working out quite as you would like it to.

Here is a quick way to rectify any stamping that has not printed out evenly.

Here a very unevenly stamped sentiment

You can try and fill in the missing areas with a pen
but quite often the colour is just not a
good enough match.  How many shades of black are there?
So what I do is take a cocktail stick and roll it
on the stamp pad I have used for inking my sentiment.

I then use the inked end of the cocktail stick
to fill in the missing areas. 
Of course it works just as well on missing areas
on stamped images too.


Before I go I also have a "news flash".   

Handy Hippo have now started to do single promarkers 
.. .. and at a fantastic price too .. .. woo hoo!!! 

Time to get stocked up ahead of all those Christmas colouring sessions!!  

So that is me for today.  Thank you for calling by and for all the lovely comments you leave.

Have a great Monday.

Love


and all the lovely friendly people at Handy Hippo

28 comments:

Irene said...

A brillint male card, and thank you for the tip - wonderful.

luv
irene
xxxx

Di said...

Super card - that little doggie is wonderful hanging on in there! You reminded me I need to make a male card too! Great tip about the cocktail stick, one I'll be keeping up my sleeve for future use! Love, Di xx

Juls said...

cute!!! Love the touches of lime green, and the fab stitching detail! Hugs Juls

Pop's Cards said...

Morning sweetie WOW this is absolutely stunning!! Hugs Pops x

Marie-Louise said...

Great card . Such a cute image. Thanks for the cocktal stick tip - very useful.

Nannieflash said...

Hi Jules wow love that image and your colouring is just gorgeous, a really lovely card for a young lad. hugs Shirleyxxxx

Doreen said...

A gorgeous card Jules,love the image.xxx

Might have to check out the Promarkers!!!

Sarn said...

Lovely little boys card. xxx

Misty's said...

Hi Jules
This is such a sweet card. Love it!
Michaela xx

Cynthia said...

I can't sew a straight line to save me, so your crazy-good abilities on the sewing machine always amaze me! Love the image, love the backing papers, love the hint about the cocktail stick. Thanks for sharing with us!

Carole Campanile said...

Adorable card and fantastic tip Jules. I will definitely be using that in the future. I always try the markers, but you are right, most of the time the match is not exact. :(

Hugs
Carole

Anonymous said...

Fabulous work Jules and great tip too, thanks!
Helen x

G Peplow said...

Hi Jules, Fabulous, I love this card, the clean colours and perfect stitching combined with a cute image are a winning formula. Totally wonderful, Gay xxx

Debbie said...

Great boy's card Jules.Fab tip too with the cocktail stick.You are so clever.Love Debbie x

Wishcraft said...

Gorgeous card Jules :o) Such a cute image, love the layout and PERFECT stitching - jealous, me?! Lisa x

Gillian R said...

What a cute card Jules! Love the green buttons, really finishes the card off

Unknown said...

Fabulous tip, and such a cheerful card, Mary x

Anonymous said...

This is so cute Jules! You keep reminding me of stamps I haven't used for such a long time. I love the way you've used the smaller stamps in the set to make the background panel. Fab layout and colours. Great idea with the cocktail stick and ink pad too!
xx

amanda stokes said...

Hi Jules,
Great card,fab image,stitching and paper's
What a great tip with the cocktail stick too thanks for sharing :) xx

Jennifer said...

This is the cutest ever Jules! Every detail is perfect! xx Jenny xx

coops said...

fabulous card jules.i love the fun image and brilliant papers and design :D

xx coops xx

Louise said...

Gorgeous card love the clean look to the papers and design
Hugs Louise xx

Wendy said...

Fabulous card Jules, love it.
Wendy xx

Sue B said...

Oh I love this Jules! Fab image and papers. The stitching looks awesome and really love those yellow buttons and the stars - perfect male card!!
Oh I love your tip about using the ink and cocktail stick. I always use a pen but as you say, it's often a slightly different shade. Great for those tiny bits that are sometimes missing on images. Thanks for sharing!
and really pleased to hear that Handy Hippo are selling single promarkers - that's really great news!
Have a good week!
Hugs Sue xx

Anonymous said...

awesome boycard Jules, just great colours and image!

Marjorie said...

Awh!! what a lovely image..love this card. Wish I could sew like that..it really is stunning!
Hugs,
Marjorie
xx

MagsB said...

What a fun card this is! I've got that stamp set, it's so useful - so why haven't I used it for ages??!! I forgot!

What a great tip, too, Jules - thank you! And yay to Handy Hippo for selling individual Promarkers!

Have a good week!

love MagsB x

Jenny said...

I have that stamp set and it hasn't seen ink for a while! Love the hand stamped panel with all the little images from the set! Great tip about the cocktail stick...much cheaper than the specialist craft tools :)
Jenny x