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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.

Saturday 31 May 2014

STYLISED FLOWERS

Hi Everyone

I hope you have had a good day.

Mr Heart and I called at a local garden centre today for a wander round in the lovely weather (which also just happens to have a craft department too)!!  LOL!!!

Whilst there I saw a lovely card on display .. .. and this is my version of it:




This used:

Image:  Indigo Blu "SFL" Stylised Flowers
Sentiment:  Pink Petticoat
X-Cut Punch:  Butterfly
Memento Ink Pads:  Cantaloupe, Rose Bud and Pear Tart
My Trusty Sewing Machine
Pearls from My Stash Box

The sample I saw had perfect circles of colour, no stitching, no butterflies or pearls and of course no heart!!

I don't have a suitable circle stamp so I trimmed a very rough circle from the excess rubber that I trimmed from my stamp.  I don't like having lots of rubber around my images and always trim them as close to the image as I dare!!

Quite pleased with the result and no doubt other versions will be making an appearance.

Catch you again tomorrow with my snippets.

Love

Friday 30 May 2014

DIDN'T QUITE MAKE IT

Hi Everyone

Happy Friday .. .. ahead of what I hope will be a happy weekend for everyone.

I got back from my Mum's earlier than normal today so I thought I would have a play with the sketch over at Sketch Saturday this week .. .. in the hope of being able to link up before the remaining minutes had lapsed!

What a challenge!!

Card made and photographed in record time .. .. and what happens .. .. my watermarking programme decided to throw a wobbly and lock up and then Google Chrome crashed twice .. .. so I missed the deadline by a few minutes :-(

But never mind.  At least I have a card made that I can share and it is in a different style thanks to the sketch.




This used:

Image:  Penny Black "4082H" To Cake Moment
Sentiment:  Pink Petticoat
Backing Papers:  Fancy Pants Designs "Swagger"
Martha Stewart Punch:  Embossed Zig Zag
Josy Rose:  Nail Heads
Diamond Stickles
ProMarkers

and that is it.

So what can I say about you eagle-eyed heart spotters .. .. other than you are just too good!!!  Have I become predictable and unimaginative I ask myself  LOL!!

Lots of you found last night's heart in record time .. .. but a few of you struggled so I will put those lovely heart searchers out of their misery and let you know that it is hiding on the bottom of that lovely die cut.



Have a lovely evening and a great weekend.

Hoping for some decent weather here.  Lots of washing, window cleaning and gardening needed as a matter urgency!

Love

Thursday 29 May 2014

SCENTED GARDEN

Hi Everyone

I hope your week has been going well.

Plenty to keep me out of mischief here .. .. but I did manage to pull a little card together this evening .. .. and I have purposely included a very difficult heart to keep you busy in case I don't manage another share tomorrow .. .. but having said that you are all slowly learning all my little hiding places LOL!!

So here we go:




This used:

Image:  Penny Black "4133J" Scented Garden
Sentiment:  Pink Petticoat
Backing Papers:  First Edition "Bird Song"
Spellbinders Nestabilities:  Floral Ovals
Woodware Punches:  Daisies
ProMarkers
Glamour Dust
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is it.

Catch you again soon (hopefully).

Love

Tuesday 27 May 2014

FOUND IT !!

Hi Everyone

Happy Tuesday!!  (even though it feels like Monday).

Well the big tidy up happened super early this morning and I found my memory card .. .. very close to one of the usual six places I tend to put it .. .. but not close enough for it to be found last night!!  LOL!!!

Anyway, at least I have been able to take my pictures .. .. and here they are all ready for Sandra's Rudolph Day Challenge and Pixie's Snippet Playground







These used:

Images:  Cuddly Buddly "Santa Sitting" and "Going Down"
Sentiments:  Lili of the Valley "Christmas Sentiment Tags" with the most useful one being the blank as you can stamp it over your own computer generated sentiments!!
Backing Papers:  Snippets from Pink Petticoat (but sadly no longer available)
Impression Obsession Dies:  DIE100-F (Snowflakes)
Josy Rose:  Sequins
My Trusty Sewing Machine
ProMarkers
Glamour Dust
Diamond Stickles

and that is me for today.

Lots to do over the next couple of weeks so I had better get on with it.

Have a good day everyone.

Love

Monday 26 May 2014

WHERE IS IT ?!?!?

Hi Everyone

I hope you have all had a great bank holiday weekend.

Ours was wonderful.

We left home on Friday afternoon to go and stay with some very special friends .. .. only to hit lots and lots of traffic and not arrive until around 9.00pm!!

But we managed to head back in record time today!!  In fact we were home in time to see our other local team play at Wembley .. .. and sadly they lost too!!!  So no promotion for either of our local teams this year after all their hard work :-(

Oh well .. .. perhaps next year!

I did quite a lot of colouring whilst we were away and made up two card this evening ready for sharing .. .. but I can't find the memory card for my camera anywhere to take some pictures!!  Grrrr!!!

I have looked in all the usual places (there are about 6 of them where it normally turns up when I have misplaced it) .. .. but I haven't found it in any of them.

Clearly in my rush to leave on Friday I have put it somewhere stupid!

Perhaps when I have the much needed major clear up in the craft pod tomorrow it will show itself. In fact it is probably staring me in the face somewhere!!!

Catch you again tomorrow .. .. hopefully with pictures attached to my post!

Love

Saturday 24 May 2014

WATERFALL CARD

Hi Everyone

Happy Saturday!

We have just been watching Mr Heart's team play at Wembley .. .. sadly they lost on the 90th minute .. .. but he is being brave about it LOL!!

No premiership games for Derby next year :-( 

No crafting for me today other than a lovely colouring session for future makes - but I can share a card I made for a feature on Waterfall Cards in the Quick Cards Made Easy magazine that is currently on sale.

I had never made one before but really enjoyed the challenge. This was my favourite of all the ones I made and I love the papers I got to work with too:


So that is me for today.  Short and sweet.

Hope you are all having a lovely bank holiday weekend and manage to find time for a bit of craftiness!!

Love

Friday 23 May 2014

ON GUARD

Hi Everyone

Sorry for my "no show" yesterday.

The day just ran away with me .. .. similar to the whole week really .. .. or even the whole year come to that. Can you believe we are nearly half way through 2014 already!!!  How scary is that?!?!?

Well another lovely Bank Holiday on the cards but it isn't looking very promising if the weather this morning is anything to go by.  It is throwing it down here this morning!!

I have another "happy couple" getting married tomorrow but the forecast isn't looking brilliant for them.  So very different to the couple who got married last weekend.  Their weather was glorious and they emailed me over some wonderful pictures of their happy day before they headed off on their honeymoon.  They looked "a very happy couple" indeed!  Ahhh!!

Anyway, here is the card I should have posted yesterday if the time thief hadn't paid me a visit:




This used:

Image: Penny Black "4215K" On Guard
Sentiment:  Computer generated using font "Good Dog Plain"
Backing Papers:  Docrafts Forever Friends "Best of British"
Martha Stewart Punch:  Embossed Zig-Zag (not that you can see much of it LOL!!)
ProMarkers
Diamond Stickles
Buttons from My Stash Box

and that is it!

I hope everyone has a great day ahead of a good "long weekend".

Love

Wednesday 21 May 2014

MAN'S BEST FRIEND

Hi Everyone

Happy Wednesday!

I'm not quite as early as I was yesterday .. .. but definitely a lot earlier than has sometimes been known here on this very unpredictable blog!!!

Lots to do so I will nip in and out quickly with my share for today:




This used:

Image:  Lili of the Valley "ST415" Man's Best Friend
Sentiment:  Digistamp Boutique "Simply Birthday Greetings A4 - male"
Backing Papers:  Dovecraft:  Curiosity Corner
X-Cut Decorative Dies:  Speech Bubbles (but I thought they made good clouds)
Josy Rose:  Nail Heads
Fence die (came as a free diecut with an order)
My Trusty Sewing Machine
ProMarkers
Neocolor Watersoluble Wax Pastels

So that is me for today.

Must fly .. ..  I am supposed to be in the kitchen slaving over a hot stove!!!

Catch you soon.

Love

Tuesday 20 May 2014

BUTTERFLY CHALLENGE

Hi Everyone

Bright and early this morning with my share!

A little bit like the bird that was so excited to be starting a new day that it was singing at the top of its voice at 4.00am this morning!! Definitely more enjoyable to listen to than the wood pigeon that normally calls down our chimney stack .. .. but it would have been nice if the tuneful bird had shared the happy tune with other folk up and down the road too.  Perhaps it knew that I was the only one awake and listening!! That will teach us to sleep with a window open.  

No way could I get back to sleep .. .. its happiness was infectious and now I was awake, excited and ready to start my day too .. .. but I knew it was far too early to start disturbing Mr Heart!  My excitement and hyper activity is bad enough at 6.00am never mind 4.00am!! LOL!!!

So I lay their filling my head with plans for the future, new wedding designs, and making mental notes of things I needed to do until I reached a time that I thought would be more acceptable .. ..  and then I sprung into action.

Great start to the day with the first of my makes ready for taking over to Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge where she would like to see a doily and a butterfly on your creation (but just one butterfly looked lonely on my card .. .. it needed a playmate).

I haven't had chance to play along for a while so was pleased I have had the chance to take part.




This used:

Sentiment:  Lili of the Valley "Happy Circular Sentiments"
Backing Papers:  A mish mash of snippets
Marianne Creatables Die:  "LR0185" Snowflake (not that it looks anything like a snowflake to me)
Memory Box Dies:  "98261" Kaleidoscope Butterfly and "98262" Moonlight Butterfly
Nestabilities:  Classic Circles and Scalloped Circles
X-Cut Punch:  Flower
Josy Rose:  Nail Heads
My Trusty Sewing Machine
Ribbon and Pearls from My Stash Box

and that is me for today.

I am very slowly catching up with all the comments people have kindly left me and will hopefully be back up to date with those over the next couple of days.   

Enjoy your day.

Love

Monday 19 May 2014

A BOUQUET OF WISHES

Hi Everyone

Happy Monday.

More lovely sunshine here today .. .. sorry that not everyone is getting the same .. .. perhaps it will be your turn later in the week when we have been threatened a bit of the "wet stuff".

So bright weather calls for a bright card .. . .  sunglasses at the ready!!!




This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3867K" Constellations
Sentiment:  Pink Petticoat "Tiny Blooming Sentiments"
Backing Paper:  Pink Petticoat "Brocade"
Sizzix Die:  "658232" Leaves and Vine
Woodware Punches:  Daisy
Die'sire Dies:  Scalloped Tags
ProMarker
Glamour Dust
My Trusty Sewing Machine
White Gel Pen
Ribbon and brads from My Stash Box

and that is me for today.

Lots of general card making on the list for the next few days so hopefully I should be a bit more productive on the old blog front.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Love

Sunday 18 May 2014

SUNDAY SNIPPETS

Hi Everyone

I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend .. .. not that it is over yet!!

Beautiful weather here .. .. so my "happy couple" will have had a fabulous day yesterday.  

Lots of lovely jobs done around and about the house, including planting up all the tubs and hanging baskets and we even managed to sit out a little and relax (which made a change).  

For my snippet makes this week I am being even more lazy than normal and using the same layout for both:





As usual I won't list my materials .. .. but if you need to know anything just ask.

So that is me for today.  Off to share my makes in Pixies Snippet Playground.

Hopefully catch you again tomorrow.

Love

Friday 16 May 2014

IT'S ALL ABOUT HAPPY COUPLES !!

Hi Everyone

I hope you have had a wonderful week .. .. mine has been taken up completely with "happy couple" work.

So what have I been doing during my absence?

Well, one of my "happy couples" are getting married tomorrow so it was all about the table plan, table names and finishing off the favours/placenames for them.

Alongside those it has been order of service booklets for another "happy couple". That turned out to be a bit longer job than I had originally booked into the timetable because once the couple received their proofs for signing off they decided they loved them so much that they no longer wanted people to share .. .. they wanted to double their order!  So the printer has been on mega overdrive.  They look so lovely all sitting their ready for picking up!

I am so lucky to get to work with so many lovely "happy couples" and pretty materials.

Hopefully the weather is going to be beautiful for both couples .. .. certainly if today is anything to go by then it should be.  Doesn't it make you feel good to see the sunshine!!

So now all the above work is done and dusted things are a "little" calmer. So who knows .. .. I might get chance to visit a few blogs over the course of the weekend and catch up on everything I have been missing .. .. and hopefully catch up on some of the "general" cards I need to be making.  Stocks have never been so low !!!

So whilst my brain is still in "happy couple" mode here is the first of my general makes for my Sis to have for the salon racks .. .. as those are looking a little sparse too .. .. eeekkk!!!  (But I could fill them with Christmas cards LOL!!)

So here we go .. .. a share at last:




This used:

Image:  Digistamp Boutique "Wedding Doodles"
Sentiment:  Computer Generated using font "Casper Open"
Backing Papers:  Digistamp Boutique "Ditsy Rose" and "Dotty Christmas"
Josy Rose:  Nail Heads
Glamour Dust
Diamond Stickles
ProMarkers
My Trust Sewing Machine
Ribbon ad Button from My Stash Box

I am also going to enter this into the Digistamp Boutique Challenge for May.  

Have a lovely day and a fabby weekend everyone.

Catch you soon.

Love

Sunday 11 May 2014

SUNDAY SNIPPETS

Hi Everyone

Happy Sunday!

Absolutely throwing it down with rain here!!  I have a feeling the water butts are going to need some more water draining off again because we are collecting it faster than we need to use it at the moment!!

As my snippet makes are ready and waiting I thought an early appearance in Pixie's Snippet Playground Challenge would make a change!

So here are my makes:





Quite chuffed with them this week - but as always on a Sunday I am lazy and do not list my ingredients.

Hope you all have a great day.  Big football day here in the House of Hearts .. .. two of our local teams on TV in the playoffs!  So I am gathering my bits together for a ribbon tying and sticking session at the dining room table whilst the games are on in the background.

Catch you again tomorrow .. .. try and dodge the raindrops!!!

Love