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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.

Thursday 30 April 2020

MAKE A WISH

Hi Everyone

Hope your Thursday has been good.

We have had more rain here today .. .. so those water butts should be filling up nicely and the ground feeling a little happier.

My card today features my latest Penny Black stamp which I gained as a bargain last week:




This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3207H" 
Sentiment:  Woodware "FRS009" Make a Wish
Backing Papers:  All from my snippet collection
Circle Die
Pennant Die
ProMarkers
My Trusty Sewing Machine
Crystal Glamour Dust
Diamond Stickles

My snippets seem to be increasing beyond believe so I am trying hard to use lots of them up!

So that is me for today.  Hopefully I will get chance to catch up with you again tomorrow.


Wednesday 29 April 2020

SCRAPLING

Hi Everyone

I hope you  have all had a good day.

Mine has disappeared in the blink of an eye .. .. which isn't a good thing when you have lots of crafty missions to accomplish!  

At least it has rained again all day so no washing .. .. which means no ironing!! Yay!!!  

I am working on lots of things I can't share at the moment .. .. but managed to pull in a little scrapling card this evening for adding to my stock box.  These are great for just popping on a present or sending a quick message to someone and measure a whole 6.5 x 13.5cm. 




This one used:

Image:  Stampendous! Cling Rubber "CRR112" Ranunculus Field
Sentiment:  LOTV "Embossed Labels"  -  one of the new releases that came out today
ProMarkers
Heart Punch

and that is it!!

I hope you are all coping OK .. .. .. lock-down is slowly starting to feel like the norm don't you think?  

Has anyone starting snipping away at their hair .. .. .. or is that just me? LOL!!!

Tuesday 28 April 2020

HELLO

Hi Everyone

Happy Tuesday.

I hope your day has gone well.

Mine gave me time to have a little play at making a teeny tiny card (a whole 3.5 inches square for anyone new to my blog). 

 


This used:

Image:  Stamps To Die For "UMS633" Shaded Peony and matching dies
Sentiment:  Wow! Stamps for Embossing "Stampset33" Big Words
Backing Paper:  From my snippet box (think it was Pink Petticoat)
Watercolour Pencils
Corner Rounding Punch
Ribbon
Glitter Dome Sticker for centre of the flower
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today.  Short and sweet.

Catch you again soon and please stay super safe.


Monday 27 April 2020

BEE-UTIFUL BIRTHDAY

Hi Everyone

Well my Monday has been on the busy side .. .. I hope yours has been a good one!

I spent quite a bit of the day with Mum and then once home created a card using a very old stamp .. .. but one I love to colour:




This used:

Image:  Stamps Happen "#60058" Bees
Sentiment:  Printed direct onto the backing paper using font "Inkston Brush"
Backing Paper:  My Lovely Studio "Honeycomb"
ProMarkers
Metallic Cord
Crystal Glamour Dust
Gems
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today.  Very late to the party I'm afraid .. .. but better late than never.

I don't think the weather is going to be quite so good tomorrow but I am not complaining.  The garden needs a real good soaking and I have a huge pile of work to get through!!

Hopefully I will find time for at least a teeny tiny make though!

Take care and stay super safe.


Sunday 26 April 2020

SUNDAY SNIPPETS

Hi Everyone

I hope your Sunday has been a good one - despite being confined to barracks.

All is good at this end and my days and the even weeks are starting to get a bit of a pattern to them .. .. .. the only problem being that we are going to bed far later than we used to and getting up later too!  Tut tut!!!

As part of my big crafty clear up I am trying hard to cull my snippets .. .. and this is what I made today using just a few of them:




This used:

Image:  LOTV Simply Print - Under the Bonnet
Sentiment:  Digistamp Boutique .. .. sadly no longer trading
Backing Papers:  All from my snippet box
Circle and Scallop Circle Dies
Twine
My Trusty Sewing Machine

Mr Heart seems quite happy with me making rather a mess about the place whilst sorting out all of my wedding and crafty belongings  .. .. .. little does he realise that I am doing this in readiness for moving our bed into the "wedding room" so we can re-decorated our bedroom!!  LOL!!!  Wonder when those DIY shops will be opening again?!?!?!?!?

Anyway, that is me for today.

Catch you again soon.


Saturday 25 April 2020

RUDOLPH DAYS CHALLENGE - APRIL

Hi Everyone

I hope your weekend has got off to a good start.  Another sunny day here after a rather dull start.

Today I am sharing my fifth and final Christmas card for April.  This year I am attempting to make five a month and so far all is going well.

This card has been made for the Rudolph Days Challenge which starts on the 25th of each month.  The theme is always "anything goes" .. .. provided it is Christmas.  So here is my offering:




This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3741K" Filigree Tree
Sentiment:  Lili of the Valley "Christmas Sentiment Tags"
Backing Papers:  Craft Sensations "Floral Dreams"
Scallop Edge Die:  Unbranded from Amazon
ProMarkers
Ribbon
Wooden Snowflake
Pearls

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and take care everyone.  Stay super safe!

I wonder how long we are going to be in lock-down?  I have some really sad brides on my hands at the moment who just don't know what to do about their weddings.  Such a shame when some would have been getting married in just a few weeks.  I can't help feeling that it could take the rest of the year for us to get to anywhere near a sense of normality.


Friday 24 April 2020

SENDING LOVE

Hi Everyone

I hope your day has gone well.

Nearly another weekend .. .. .. not that weekends feel any different to weekdays at the moment do they?

A quick share tonight where you shouldn't have any problem finding a heart LOL!!!




This used:

Images:  Lavinia Stamps "Star Gazing" and "Vine"
Sentiment:  Computer Generated using Fonts "Aracne Condensed Regular" and "Sweetheart Script"
Backing Papers:  Make & Create "Pastels"
Distress Inks:  Chipped Sapphire, Shaded Lilac and Antique Linen
Watercolour Pen
Ribbon
Nail Heads
Crystal Glamour Dust
My Trusty Sewing Machine

My supply of Nail Heads are slowly starting to dwindle .. .. and sadly my past supplier "Josy Rose" are no longer stocking them .. .. so the search will be on soon!  

I'll catch you again tomorrow, but in the meantime I am sending you love in these troubled times and saying please stay safe and take care of yourself. 


Thursday 23 April 2020

FEZZIWIGS FESTIVE FROLICS

Hi Everyone

I hope your day has gone well.

Today I am playing along with the new Fezziwigs Festive Frolics Challenge which this fortnight would like to see "clean and simple" Christmas cards with lots of clean white space and minimum embellishments and am also adding a second card into the Christmas Kickstart Challenge where we are encouraged to "Make a Scene" (something my Mum would never approve of!  LOL!!).




This used:

Sentiment:  Stampendous! Cling Stamp "CRH296" Joyeux Noel
Snippet of dotty design paper
Aperture Card Base
Memory Box Dies:  "998257" Modern Landscape Border and "99031" Snowflake Heart
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today with my fourth Christmas card for April.  Just one more to go this month.

I still struggle with lots of white space but I am hoping that the more I try the more comfortable I will feel with it.

See you again soon .. .. can you believe it is nearly the weekend again!!  Where did this week whizz off to?

Wednesday 22 April 2020

SKETCH NUMBER FORTY ONE

Hi Everyone

I hope your day hasn't been too bad.

Mine has been pretty full on work wise .. .. and what with bread making duties yesterday and digging and preparing the garden I must admit I am starting to feel like we are turning into Tom and Barbara off The Good Life .. .. .. minus the animals though I hasten to add!.  LOL!!!

Some of the seeds we planted are already starting to make an appearance .. .. and the lettuce needed re-planting already!!!  I think I must have been a bit heavy handed when setting the seeds as even when sprinkling them very very sparingly I have ended up with 24 iceberg lettuce plants.  I could end up with more than our local supermarket at this rate!!  LOL!!

Anyway as promised here I am with a card I made this evening that uses Sketch Forty One from my sketch library.




This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3209H" Hedge Delivery
Sentiment:  Digistamp Boutique Clear Stamp (sadly no longer trading)
Backing Papers:  Make and Create "Travel"
Circle Die
ProMarkers
Woodware Envelope Punch
White Gel Pen
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and here is the sketch I followed

 

if you would like to play with the sketch, or any of the others in my collection please feel free to do so.

I'll catch you again soon .. .. but in the meantime make sure you stay safe.


Tuesday 21 April 2020

NEW SKETCHES

Hi Everyone

I hope your Tuesday has gone well.

Sadly there is no card to share today .. .. and I am blaming that on the bread making machine.  We loaded it all up to make dough as we wanted to make some bread rolls rather than a loaf.

We programmed it and pressed the start button .. .. but no .. .. it just didn't want to play.  So I ended up spending rather a lot of time tipping the contents out, mixing and then kneading in the old fashioned way.

Left it to rise, knocked it back and kneaded again, shaped it into bread rolls, again left them to rise and then cooked them.

There has been a wonderful smell everywhere, and I found the kneading quite relaxing and therapeutic .. .. .. and they have tasted lovely too.  But what a lot of time and effort for twelve bread rolls!!  LOL!!

So no card to share but I have added ten new sketches to my library which you can find on the Sketch Library Tab underneath my profile at the top of my blog.  I was getting a little bored at using the same sketches all the time and decided I needed a few new ones to play with.  

If anyone would like to use them then please feel free to do so.


So I will catch you tomorrow with a card using Sketch 41.


Monday 20 April 2020

JUST HAVING A PLAY

Hi Everyone

I hope Monday has gone well for you.

Lovely and sunny here but blowing a gale at the same time.

I spied a lovely template over on Gathered that I thought would make a great card for my Mum .. .. .. I just need to write "have fun with you new toy" inside.  It will make her smile!


If you fancy downloading and making one yourself you will find the templates for this and other technology gadgets here .. .. .. you simply download for free and you are good to go.  I just added a little heart LOL!!

Great for the youngsters .. .. not just my Mum!!

If you haven't come across Gathered before then you are in for a real treat .. .. .. but be prepared to lose a few hours from your day!  It is like a free on-line magazine full of crafty hints, tips, templates and inspiration.  Not just for Papercraft Projects but for Art & Craft, Needlework, Knitting and Crochet as well as Sewing and Quilting!!!  A great place to learn!

There are even videos to watch and competitions to enter.  

Who knows you might find a whole new hobby you would like to try!  

See you tomorrow folks .. .. stay safe.


Sunday 19 April 2020

SUNDAY SNIPPETS

Hi Everyone

I hope you have all enjoyed your Sunday.

My day has been spent doing a bit more crafty sorting out.  Today's mission being to empty and find storage places for a small box and basket of things that sit on a bookcase outside my craft pod.  Who knew there was "fake wood" sitting underneath them  LOL!!

But as always happens one job leads to another and then another .. .. but that's OK.  They all count in the grand crafty tidy up campaign.  

So with a bit more sorting done my attention was then drawn to Pixie's Crafty Snippets Challenge where we are encourage to use up our leftovers .. .. whatever they may be.  Paper, card, wool, fabric anything goes (not sure if I have ever seen some left over veg used to make another meal but it might count LOL!!). 

I spoke to my Auntie earlier who was going to be starting a 1,000 piece jig-saw puzzle today to occupy herself.  For a few short moments I quite fancied doing a jigsaw .. .. but I let that idea pass and instead did a crafter's version of a jigsaw puzzle by paperpiecing a die to create this:




Absolutely everything except the base card came from my snippet collection.

This used:

Sentiment:  Personal Impressions "PICS066" Wording Stamps
Backing Papers:  GCD Studios - Ella Blue
Sizzix Die:  "659133A" Moroccan Card Front
Memory Box Dies:  "98261" Kaleidoscope Butterfly and "98260" Moonlight Butterfly
Versafine Ink:  Vintage Sepia
Nailheads
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me all done and a few more of my many snippets are used up.  This style of card is great for using up some of our more "busy" or "ugly" papers .. .. not that my Ella Blue paper pad contains any of those.  This still remains my most loved paper pad ever .. .. .. but it is getting very, very thin now after all the years of use.

Stay safe everyone and try to enjoy and make the most of each day.


Saturday 18 April 2020

PENNY BLACK SATURDAY CHALLENGE

Hi Everyone

I hope your weekend is going as well as it can.

Yesterday saw Mr Heart and I spend ages starting off all the seeds we have bought - they are now adorning the greenhouse and kitchen window ledges.  Hopefully we will have some success with them .. .. .. and then we will end up having to spend even more hours thinning them all out. 

Today I decided it was time to play along with the Penny Black Saturday Challenge for April.  The theme is always "Anything Goes" but with an optional theme this month of  "use ribbon or twine".

Well, with all my wedding work currently on hold, I have to get my "ribbon fix" in somewhere .. .. so here is what I came up with .. .. using a rustic ribbon:




This used:

Image:  Penny Black "4082H" To Cake Moment
Sentiment:  Die-Versions Corner Concepts "DVCR-001" Happy Birthday
Backing Papers:  Make & Create "Refreshing Basics"
ProMarkers
Circle and Scallop Circle Dies
Ribbon
Crystal Glamour Dust
My Trusty Sewing Machine

You might think that my ribbon isn't something you would associate with a wedding but you would be surprised!  I have probably done just as many rustic style weddings using kraft card and rustic ribbon as I have the lacy, bling and satin ribbon type.  Hence why there are so many kraft card snippets in my collection.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Catch you again soon.


Friday 17 April 2020

CAS WATERCOLOUR CARD CHALLENGE

Hi Everyone

Happy Friday ahead of another weekend.

Is anyone else having difficulty working out what day it is?  All day I have been thinking today is Saturday!!!

Anyway .. .. for the first time ever I have managed to play along with all four of the CAS Challenges this month .. .. with the last one being the CAS Watercolour Card Challenge where the theme this month is "Spring Flowers".

Of course I saved the most challenging until last LOL!!  Watercolour!

I am by no means experienced with watercolours of any description .. .. but that doesn't stop me trying and playing over and over again.

So here we go with today's watercolour card created by painting with watered down Distress Ink.

The very first time a whole card has been created by me using just watercolours.




This used:

Image:  A magazine covergift (as used earlier this week with ProMarkers)
Sentiment:  Very old from Docrafts
Distress Inks:  Tumbled Glass, Dried Marigold, Bundled Sage, Squeezed Lemon and Shaded Lilac
Gold Embossing Powder
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is my watercolour challenge completed. 

I often create cards that simply say things like, Just for You, Thank You, Thinking of You or with this Love You stamp.  That then gives me the opportunity to use them for lots of occasions by simply adding an appropriate insert.

Enjoy your weekend everyone as much as you can and please stay safe.