VERY BELATED HAPPY 2026 EVERYONE

Hi Everyone

A very, very belated post from me .. .. I hope you all had a good Christmas (which already feels like a lifetime ago) and I still need to wish everyone a really good 2026.

The world has had other plans for my time these last few months unfortunately.  Not many of which have been particularly enjoyable.

No blog visiting and next to no crafting either unfortunately .. .. ..  in fact the only visiting I have been doing has been travelling to various places to see my Mum, who continues to be on a downward spiral.

Over the last few months she has spent time in two different hospitals, been on numerous wards, and has eventually taken up residence in a lovely nursing home where she is sadly receiving end of life care .. .. which has been the thing I have been dreading the most.  

But the decision was taken out of our hands and is now what Mum needs.  We were told Mum has to have someone looking out for her 24 hours a day, and we as a family are sadly not able to provide what she needs.  Even if we agreed to be with her for the whole 24 hours, one person on their own could not cope.  Sometimes it has taken three people (who know what they are doing) to be able to deal with her needs, so one of us kids on their own would stand no chance.

This has also meant us having to part company with Mum's old home, and along with my siblings we have been busy emptying and cleaning it ready for a new occupant.  It certainly felt sad to leave it for the last time as Mum and Dad moved there together some 35 years ago and I remember moving them in there like it was yesterday.

Visiting Mum still remains the number one priority, even though I am convinced she hasn’t the foggiest idea who I am.  But alongside trying to win the battle I am having with the never ending paperwork I need to sort out for her .. .. a little bit of crafting has been slowly sneaking back into my life again .. .. .. .. yay!!!

No rash crafty new year promises, but I am going to try harder with the one that I make every year, which is to tame my snippets.  I make the same promise every year but always feel like I finish the year with even more snippets than I started with.  Hopefully this will be the year I turn that all around .. .. .. .. and not by just throwing them all out which is what most people suggest I do with them LOL!!

So here we go .. .. the "year of the snippets" is underway and here is my first blog creation of 2026 using a crafty Christmas present that Santa very kindly delivered.  

This used;

Santa's delivery of a beautiful die (one of several) which I think appeared via Amazon  :-)  (love this very much! mwah"")

Snippets of design paper stored in the back of a First Edition Paper Stack called "J'Adore"

Penny Black Sentiment "Sprinkles and Smiles sentiment set 30-297"
My Trusty Sewing Machine

I am taking this over to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge where they would like to see "something new" featured .. .. so this will be my lovely new die .. .. lets face it, my snippets are ancient and nowhere near something new LOL!!!.

BIG HUGS TO EVERYONE

Hi Everyone

I just wanted to pop in and explain my current absence from blogland, and give my love and thanks to everyone who has been enquiring as to whether all is well in the Home of Hearts.

Unfortunately things are not good with my lovely Mum, and I have been spending a huge portion of my time with her, as have my brother and sister. 

Mum has definitely been through the mill and after being admitted to hospital via A&E, and spending time on three wards, we have just reached a stage where she is due to be transferred to a Community Hospital for rehabilitation as her mobility and stamina are both very poor.  I guess at 95 things can take a long time to get over.  The saddest part is that she thinks she is waiting to be taken home by the ambulance people.  Each time she asks when she is going home we have to break the news to her again that she isn't .. .. which of course doesn't please her in the slightest .. .. it is like it is the first time she has been told, and sometimes it causes tears and sometimes it doesn't.

But deep down I am also worried she may never return home, and could need to go somewhere that she is watched over 24/7 - and then I will feel like I am the worst daughter in all the world :-( 

It has been quite depressing seeing so many poorly people, and it makes you question what your own future could hold.  But at the same time we have met and got to know so many fellow patients and have shared some lovely conversations with them (we even set up an escape committee on one ward as the lady in the next bed to Mum had worked out the code for the escape door!).  Once the nurses knew they said they would have to get that number changed now as all their valuables were stored behind that door which they collected as they went home  LOL!!.  

But at least it lightened the mood on the ward and caused lots of laughs with folk as we kept recruiting new members - even some of the staff were joining in the fun and jokes.  We even had the offer of someone bringing a huge van for transport once we knew our "final escape day".  No-one ever questioned where we might all go to though once we had escaped. LOL!!!

Anyway, here is a little card I made before all of this mayhem took hold for taking over to the Snippet Playground and to share some love with everyone on the run up to Christmas.  

and here are the snippets I started off with

This used:

Sending Big Hugs Die via Ebay 
Snippets of paper and card from my HUGE Snippet Mountain
Corner Rounding Punch
My Trusty Sewing Machine

Happy run up to Christmas everyone, I hope your life is much calmer than mine is at this moment in time.

CHRISTMAS KICKSTART CHALLENGE 104

Hi Everyone

Surprise, surprise .. .. yet another Christmas card offering. 

Crafting sessions seem very rare at the moment, so when they do arise I tend to concentrate on festive makes, and I was so happy with the finished result from my tiny craft session yesterday that I have prepped ready for making another five identical cards. 

My inspiration was the Christmas Kickstart Challenge where the theme is "just add antlers".

This used:

Image:  Santa Reindeer Clipart - Velvet Clipart Dreams

Sentiment:  Computer Generated

Backing Paper - The Works (from one of last years design pads)

Corner Rounding Punch
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today.

Many thanks for all your well wishes for Mum .. .. .. she is still needing lots of help and that will only get worse .. .. .. hence the huge reduction in crafty time.  Crafting will always be there though but my Mum won't, so I have to make the most of what time I have left with her and give her whatever help and support I can.  

Dementia has a lot to answer for and certainly requires a lot of patience and understanding .. .. thank goodness I was blessed with an abundance of both!  But the good thing is Mum doesn't think there is anything wrong with her.  Bless .. .. if only that could be true.

LAST MINUTE LIL

Hi Playmates

I hope all is good with everyone .. .. here very late with my entry for taking over to the Little Red Wagon Challenge.

This challenge always asks for something "a bit different" and I always enjoy playing along when I get chance.  The theme this time has been another one inspired by an Elton John song "Candle in the Wind" and as lighthouses used to be lit with candles way back in the day I felt this image would be appropriate.

This used:

Image: Christmas Lighthouse Clipart from Fantasy Digitals (via Etsy)
Sentiment:  Computer Generated
Backing Papers:  More old papers from the Works plus glitter card
Ribbon
Tiny Gems
Corner Rounding Punch
My Trusty Sewing Machine

You might think it is a bit of a strange Christmas card .. .. but it is actually going to be perfect for special friends.  They have spent lots of time sailing over the years, and the male of the couple actually used run a company that painted lighthouses.  So hopefully it will make them smile.

BACK - FOR NOW!

Hi Playmates

Apologies for my absence .. .. my last post was celebrating that extra hour we were gifted here in the UK .. .. but it was used up many, many times over during the course of the week that followed as the day before the clocks changed Mum had refused to be admitted to hospital following a series of paramedic visits. 

So it has been a week of meeting myself coming backwards as I have been with Mum, and meeting up with various medical bods who have been visiting to do assessments, scans and tests.  

But I did actually have a whole day at home yesterday and I was determined to reduce the stress levels by heading to my craft pod for some of the time  -  my favourite place to chill and unwind .. ..  and I produced this .. ..

This used:

Image:  "Clairmont Ornaments" Memory Box "98944" 

Sentiment:  Computer Generated

Backing Paper:  Part of the remains of a very old paper pad from The Works

Glitter and Metallic Card from the Snippet Box

and of course .. .. my trusty sewing machine who hasn't seen much action recently

at least that is one more Christmas make added to the box and I am once again in chill mode.

Fingers crossed things with Mum will be a bit more settled this week - but I suppose that depends on what people think of her test results.

Hopefully I will get chance to catch up with everyone's blogs soon and see what I have been missing.

Take care.

EXTRA HOUR SUNDAY!

Hi Playmates

I hope everyone is enjoying that extra hour if you are in the UK and you did something you enjoyed with it. 

I was awake super early (so certainly didn't spend mine sleeping) - once my eyes open that is it, my busy brain kicks in and I hit the ground running.  I must be very annoying to live with but very thankfully Mr Heart continues to put up with me!!

Part of my day was definitely earmarked for hibernating in my craft pod for my crafty fix and to create something for taking over to the "As You Like It Challenge" where the theme this time is Ribbon or Twine and why?

I must admit I love twine and find it useful for those pesky men cards and for all those little tags I make for the charity shop to use .. .. .. but my favourite is definitely ribbon and after years of wedding stationery work I certainly have enough to keep me out of mischief for quite some time.  

Ribbon does pose a problem for cards that need posting so I tend to just keep the ribbon flat, and steer clear of ribbon bows unless I know the card is going to be hand delivered.

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "4268K" Crystal Drops
Sentiment:  A scribbly one that is part of the image stamp
Gold Embossing Powder
Distress Ink:  Peeled Paint
Hessian Type Ribbon with a twinkly gold pattern on it
Paper and card all from that "good to be used" box I told you about in my previous post
Hot Fix Heart that was silver originally but I have coloured it with a green ProMarker
Diamond and Gold Stickles that aren't showing up too well in the photograph

and that is me for this lovely Sunday!

I hope you have all enjoyed yours too.

SNIPPETS ON A FRIDAY

Hi Playmates

Well, Friday is here again .. .. these weeks are flying by very quickly aren't they.

Popping in today with a Christmas make that uses up a few more of those snippets of paper and card that we all squirrel away - which means I can run over to the Snippets Playground to see what everyone else has been doing with theirs, and also check the rota to see if I am on leaf sweeping duties this weekend!!!  I think this year we were hoping to dry them all out and use them for stuffing a huge Guy Fawkes ready for bonfire night. 

This used:

Pine Border Outline Die - Memory Box (probably one of my most used Christmas dies)
Sentiment Dies - Julie Hickey - Hazel's Christmas Sentiment Medley #3 Die Set
Circle Die
Corner Rounding Punch
Ribbon
Hot Fix Heart
My Trusty Sewing Machine

These are the snippets I started out with (the silver and green squares were already cut and lounging around in the "good to be used" box.  Whenever I cut into a fresh A4, A5 or 12x12 piece of card or design paper I always cut any remainder into the largest squares or rectangles I know I will use and stash them away in this box ready for using another time.  It also speeds up a cardmaking session if you have things that are cut and are ready as you start.

Enjoy your weekend when it arrives - and that extra hour if you are going to be putting your clocks back!  Always nice to have an extra hour .. .. .. just a shame it means it starts to get dark earlier.

SNOW ALERT!

Hi Playmates

Don't panic .. .. .. I haven't heard anything about a "snow alert" for those of us in the UK (or anywhere else to be honest) .. .. .. but it is the theme for the Christmas Kickstart Challenge and I have used this for my inspiration for today's Christmas project:

This used:

Image:  Christmas Deer Clipart from TheClipartStudioX (via Etsy)
Sentiment:  Computer Generated
Backing Paper:  Pink Petticoat (sadly no longer trading)

Thin Glitter Paper:  The Works
Glitter Ribbon
Corner Rounding Punch
My Trusty Sewing Machine
Snowflakes and stars from my Snowflake Box
Diamond Stickles

My Christmas projects are coming together slowly.

Have a good day everyone.

RUSTIC MERRY CHRISTMAS

Hi Playmates

Just flying in quickly with today's Christmas make which is for taking over to the Little Red Wagon Challenge, which this week has the theme of "Captains Log" which translates into the ladies wanting to see your makes featuring wood ..  .. ..  be this real wood, or faux wood.

So I have used backing paper that looks like wood on my entry .. .. ..

This used:

Backing paper:  A digital download (and I can't remember where from), the piece I used here was in my snippet box .. .. .. but if I find where it originated from I will add it here, plus I used glitter card and random snippets for everything else.
Ribbon Sentiment
Heart Die:  BlueLans Cutting Die via Amazon
Corner Rounding Punch
Snowflake:  Sizzix Thinlits "661599"  (Discontinued)
Hot Fix Nail Head for the centre of the snowflake
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is my festive offering for today.

Enjoy what is left of the day and many thanks for the well wishes for Mum.  

CHRISTMAS 2025 IS OFFICIALLY UNDERWAY

Hi Playmates

I hope that all is well with everyone and that your weekend was a good one.

My Christmas stash has been dragged out of hibernation in readiness for lots of productivity and it is now time to create festive makes.  (I hope !).  

I don't know about you but I am always excited to see my festive goodies come to the fore again as Christmas creations rank amongst some of my favourites cards to make

So here we go .. .. .. .. serious Christmas 2025 craftiness gets underway using a good old favourite who was at the top of my Christmas stash box when it was opened. 

This creation used:

Image:  Penny Black - A Thorny Affair  "4092K"  (a very old wooden stamp I have had for many years)
Sentiment:  Penny Black clear stamp set - Wonderful & Jolly "30-259"
Backing Papers:  From the Christmas Snippet box and are a blend of Pink Petticoat and an old design pad from The Works 
Die Set:  Nesting Stamp Dies "FEDIE012" from Trimcraft/First Edition Craft (many years old)
ProMarkers
Ribbon
My Trusty Sewing Machine

So that is Christmas officially at the top of my creating list.  All I need now is Christmas creating time .. .. which seems to be in very short supply as Mum is definitely not herself at the moment and is being quite a worry, so a lot of my time is heading in her direction.

Fingers crossed we manage to get her back on track soon.

LOVE

Hi Playmates

I hope your week has been going well.

A few crafty creations have been done in the "home of hearts" but sadly there has been no time to post any of them - my Mum has definitely been keeping me busy bless her.

Popping in now though with this little creation:

This used:

Heart Bouquet and Sentiment Die Set:  Craft Discovery via Ebay
Backing Papers and Card all from snippet mountain
My Trusty Sewing Machine

I do love paper piecing dies!

Enjoy your weekend when it arrives.

TEENY TINY FRIDAY

Hi Everyone

I hope all has been going well in your world and you have managed to find a bit of crafty time.

Popping in tonight with a teeny tiny thank you card which features one of four butterflies that make up a lovely stamp set which I was super lucky to win from the Snippets Playground (thank you so much ladies - mwah).

For anyone new to my blog, my teeny tiny cards measure a whole 9cms square.

This used:

Image and Sentiment: Woodware Clear stamp set ”JGS483" Butterflies

Backing papers from snippet mountain

ProMarkers

Glossy Accents for highlighting parts of the butterfly

Corner Rounding Punch

We R Memory Keepers “Envelope Punch Board”

Darice Embossing Folder “mini daisy” (for embossing the flap of the envelope) - you’ve started something Hilary! My embossing folders are getting lots of use LOL!!!

Things have been very upside down here as Mr Heart managed to catch Covid from somewhere and it took him a whole nine days to get rid of it and test negative!  I have managed not to catch it thank goodness (hope I am not tempting fate there).  But of course this has meant I couldn’t go to Mum in case I passed something onto to her.  I really don’t feel she would be strong enough to fight it off.  So we had to make do with lots of FaceTime calls, and my brother and sister covered my physical shifts.

But today Mum and I had our first day together for quite a while and we both really enjoyed it.

I hope you enjoy your weekend when it arrives.

HAPPY HOLIDAY

Hi Everyone

I hope you all had a good weekend and the wind and rain didn't cause you too many problems.

Bright and sunny here today which is very welcome.

Popping in to share a creation I have made for taking over to The Little Red Wagon Challenge where the theme for this challenge is "H is for Holidays".

For me when the word holidays are mentioned I straight away think of the seaside with cute beach huts and miles of sandy beaches  .. .. though to be honest I have never seen any as pretty and lovely as these - I would love to own the one on the right LOL!!!

This used:

Image:  The Mo Gallery (via Etsy)  -  sadly not currently available
Sentiment:  Computer Generated
Backing Papers:  Pink Petticoat (no longer trading)
Corner Rounding Punch
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today.

AM I SQUARE OR NOT?

Hi Everyone

Hope all is going well with everyone .. .. .. I can't believe we are into October already.

They say time flies when you are having fun so I must be "having a real ball" because my time seems to disappear in the blink of an eye!  No sooner does one month start than it is ending.  

I know this because a new As You Like It Challenge has started already!!! and the theme this fortnight is "Square or Not and why".

Personally my everyday favourites are a choice between square and rectangular .. .. .. fancy card folds hardly ever feature in my day to day crafting .. .. .. not that I don't love them .. .. .. but because pressures on my time mean that my crafting tends to be quite simple when I do get chance.

I tend to plump for square cards .. .. but in a mixture of sizes.. .. .. .. although not too large as I am not a fan of big cards.  They freak me out a bit LOL!!!  For me it is a case of the smaller the better, with my favourite two being my standard "go to" which is 14.5cm square, or my "teeny tiny cards" that measure a whole 9cm square.  

So on that note here is my entry for this fortnight:

This used:

Sentiment Panel:  Woodware Clear Magic Singles "FRS147 - Birthdays"
Backing Papers:  Nitwits Collection "Farmhouse"
My Trusty Sewing Machine

Not many ingredients at all, but a few snippets used up.

AS YOU LIKE IT CHALLENGE - YOUR FAVOURITE DIE

Hi Playmates

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend as much as I am.

Yesterday I spent quite a bit of time in my little craft pod .. .. .. .. I can't remember the last time I was able to be in there for so long .. .. and I had great fun. 

One of the creations I made was for taking over to the As You Like It Challenge where they would like to know what your favourite die is .. .. and why?  

Quite a hard one really because I have so many favourites, but at this point in time it just has to be the butterfly on the card below (although the butterfly is made up of two die sets that marry together).  Hope that is allowed.

This used:

Image:  DigiStamp Boutique (another big favourite that is no longer trading)
Backing Papers:  Snippets from The Works and Pink Petticoat (again no longer trading)
Memory Box Dies:  Kaleidoscope Butterfly and Moonlight Butterfly
Corner Rounding Punch
Ribbon
My Trusty Sewing Machine

So now to answer why I have chosen this as my favourite.

Well a few weeks ago I lost these dies and I had been looking all over the place for them, and even reached the stage where I thought I might have to look if anywhere was still selling them.  I began to think I had perhaps left them at a place we spent a long weekend at a few months ago.

But then thankfully this week I found them .. .. quite by accident .. .. they were in a tiny little tin packed in a box that I sometimes use for taking things to Mum's.  I often take little die sets, (especially those that need layering), along with my tiny Sizzix Sidekick die cutting machine - perfect for having a little cutting/assembly session on a lap tray.  Mum loves to see multicoloured butterflies finished and all lined up ready for take off.  LOL!!