WINTER HATTIE

Hi Everyone

Here at last!!!

Busy, busy day in the House of Hearts .. .. which means it has flown by!!

What happened to those days that seemed to go on for ever and ever when I was a kid (all those many years ago? LOL!!!).

Another Christmas share today

This used:

Image:  Digistamp Boutique "Winter Hattie"
Sentiment:  Computer generated
Backing Paper:  Pink Petticoat
ProMarkers
Chalk
Diamond Stickles
Ribbon from the Stash Box

and that is me .. .. a super quick share.

Love this little girl .. .. she was part of a cute Christmas collection and I loved colouring her and all of the other images in the collection too.  I just need to get my act together now and turn them all into finished Christmas makes!!

Looking forward to X-Factor soon.  Still loving Marcus Collins and hoping that Janet comes across more confident today too.  Poor little thing is being given so many different comments I bet she doesn't know where she is!

Have a good evening everyone and I will see you tomorrow with my snippet makes. 

Love

SOMETHING FOR NOTHING!!

Hi Everyone

A bit of a different share from me today.

Today is the birthday of a special friend .. .. someone who I have been friends with for many, many years.  She used to live up the road to me when our kids were little and we all spent many happy hours together.

Sadly everyone has grown up now and the pressures of life take over and we don't meet up half as much as we should .. .. but the friendship is still there as good and strong as ever.

For our birthdays we agreed years ago to start a theme of "something for nothing" .. .. which means no spending money on a birthday present.  We have had some fun with this over the years and have managed some ingenius gifts between us.

This year I was at a loss as to what I was going to give as my gift until I had a little brainwave .. .. here is my gift to my friend .. .. my "one of a kind" friend!

This used:

My George Basic Shape Cricut Cartridge to make a template for the heart
Sentiment:  Hero Arts Clear Stamps:  CL338 "Be Yourself"
Marianne Creatables:  Rose Die
Trimcraft Ribbon
A bit of old curtaining for the heart
Stazon Inkpad for stamping the sentiment
Bead for the centre of the rose
Snippets of felt left for me by my lovely Sis (thanks Sis xx)

and there we go .. .. my something for nothing present finished.

So I walked round to deliver my little package (as I felt I needed the exercise) only to find my friend was not at home :-(

So I pushed her little package through the letter box along with her card .. .. but sadly I couldn't push her second present through .. .. .. a bag of homegrown frozen runner beans!!!! 

Can you imagine somone asking what you had for your birthday and saying "some frozen runner beans!!"   LOL!!!

Have a great evening everyone and a lovely weekend.

Love

WE THREE KINGS

Hi Everyone

I cannot believe that it is Friday tomorrow .. .. my days and weeks are starting to disappear faster and faster these days!!

I have however managed to spend a few hours with my Mum this afternoon playing with paper roses for some wedding invitations whilst I was there.

She was quite surprised to see me carrying in a small box of roses and a tiny pair of scissors instead of the normal big box of images to colour and my promarkers LOL!!

So no time for a new make to share today but you can see a sample I made for Anice to showcase her new Twelve Crafters Crafting CD.

There are lots of images on the CD and they come either coloured (for if you are mega short of time) or just the outlines for if you want to colour them yourself.

On the card below I chose to colour myself

I tried to emboss the crowns and the gifts for baby Jesus but must admit it leaves a little to be desired!!

Right bath time for me and then I might play with a few more roses before bedtime and not the chocolate kind :-(   LOL!!!

Have a great evening.

Love

JUST WISHING YOU

Hi Everyone

Well it's a tad chilly today don't you think?

Just right for making Christmas cards!! 

Somehow making Christmas cards in the middle of summer just doesn't feel right to me (but at this point in time I am wishing I had cracked on with them all the same).  LOL!!

So after that introduction there is yet another Christmas card from me today

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "1506J" Just Wishing You

Sentiment: Hobby Art Clear Stamps "Christmas Greeting Set"

Backing Papers:  Dovecraft "Noel"

Hobbycraft Punch:  Snowflake

ProMarkers

White Flock

Chalks

Diamond Stickles

Ribbon, cord and button from the Stash Box

Oh and there is something very rare in The House of Hearts at the moment .. .. so I really do need to mention it .. ..

AN EMPTY IRONING BASKET !!  

WOO HOO !!!

It doesn't take much to keep me happy does it?

Have a great evening everyone.

Love

HANDY HIPPO PRIZE WINNER !!

Hi Everyone

A huge thank you to all the people who entered the Handy Hippo prize draw last week.

My playmate Kerry did the grand draw yesterday so I can now announce the winner.

Who was the lucky winner of all of those lovely Christmas goodies?

Well it was ....................

drum roll please .................................

HAZEL

from My Crafty Outlook

Well done Hazel.  Please email me here with your full name and address and I will pass it through to Kerry at Handy Hippo so that your prize can begin wending its way to you.

Oooooo.. .. I am all excited for you and I can't wait to see what you create with all of the goodies.

Whilst I am here it would be rude to leave without a quick crafty share. 

This is the other cute little snowman that comes alongside the one I used in my post here yesterday.

This used:

Image and Sentiment:  Stampendous! Perfectly Clear Stamp Set
Backing Papers:  Wild Rose Studio "Wintry Christmas"
Marianne Creatables:  Snowflakes "Finnish Ice Star"
ProMarkers
Diamond Stickles
My Trusty Sewing Machine
Ribbon and buttons from the Stash Box

Oh I do love this little snowman.  He is sitting waiting to be coloured with lots of different coloured scarves and hats and makes for a quick card as there isn't too much to colour .. .. ... that is the beauty of a snowman I suppose LOL!!!

Have a wonderful day everyone .. ..  I am super happy today as I had some amazing craft related news yesterday!!  Not able to share for a few weeks .. .. but it is mega news!!  Woo hoo!!!

Love

HAPPY HANDY HIPPO MONDAY - WEEK 11

Hi Everyone

Happy Handy Hippo Monday to you all.

I hope everyone has had a good weekend. 

A little Christmas inspiration for you this week in some non-traditional colours.

This little creation was made with a clear stamp set .. .. and there is another gorgeous snowman and lots of sentiments and some cute snowflakes in the set too.

The second snowman is super cute and I love him!! .. .. when you see him you will know why .. .. but I decided not to be predictable and use him this time LOL!!!

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 thought this week I would show you how I changed the look of the little wooden snowflakes on today's creation.  The little wooden embellishments are gorgeous as they are .. .. but me being me I always have to try and get lots of different looks out of everything LOL!!

So here is my snowflake make-over .. .. but be careful with your heatgun because these snowflakes are made of wood and I wouldn't want you setting them on fire!!!! 

Here are my basic goodies .. .. no posh heat resistant mat for
me .. .. just non-stick cook sheets from the £1 shop LOL!!
I use these for heating things on and for my distress work.

Start by pressing the snowflake onto the
Versamark inkpad

Next sprinkle the snowflake with the
embossing powder  -  I do this over scrap paper

Working over scrap paper means
I can return the spare powder easily to the pot

Heat the embossing powder that has
stuck to the snowflake with a heatgun.  Holding
the snowflake in place with a pair of very long
tweezers.  Don't forget that the end of your
tweezers will get hot though!!

Press your snowflake back into onto the
versamark ink pad and cover with another layer
of embossing powder and heat it with your
heat gun again.

I have given this snowflake four layers of
embossing powder so that it finishes up super glossy
- but be careful not to touch the embossing
until it is fully dry and cool.  It does get "very" hot
and will stick to your fingers .. .. so don't forget
to use the tweezers !!!

The Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder I used on my card has been a sell out for Handy Hippo recently.  As soon as new stocks are in .. they are gone .. .. so sadly the embossing folder I used isn't available at the moment.  But having said that I have been playing with a lovely new one this week .. .. it is from Sizzix and it will feature on my Happy Handy Hippo post next week.

Here is a little sneaky peep at a section that shows you the embossing folder (and a bit of a clue as to what I did with it LOL!!).

This is just one of four folders in this particular set and you can find the whole collection of them here.  I used the Starry Night set - you will be able to see my full creation next Monday.

In the meantime I will await news from my lovely Handy Hippo playmate Kerry as to who the winner of the fantastic prize draw is .. .. .. I and will announce the lucky winner's name here tomorrow.  Woo hoo!!  Who could it be?!?!?!

Have a good week everyone.

Love

and all the lovely friendly people at Handy Hippo)

HANDY HIPPO WANT TO HELP YOU GET ORGANISED FOR CHRISTMAS!

This post is a sticky .. .. please scroll down for more posts

Christmas is coming early!!

The lovely people at Handy Hippo are wanting to shower one very lucky person with a fantastic bundle of goodies to help with the creation of all of those Christmas makes. 

What better inspiration to get those festive juices flowing and Christmas projects underway than the delivery to your doorstep of a lovely prize like this ...............

Please note:  This prize draw is only open to UK residents (sorry!)

So how do you go about winning this fabulous prize?

Answer .. .. very easily .. .. .. just 3 simple steps.

1.  Leave me a comment on this post  (it doesn't matter whether you are a follower or not)

2.  Give a shout out on your blog along with a picture of the prize and a link to my blog so other folk can play along and enjoy the chance of winning the lovely prize too.

3.  Pop the Handy Hippo banner below onto your sidebar and link this to the Handy Hippo home page at     http://www.handyhippo.co.uk/

This post will stay as a sticky post at the top of my blog until midnight on Sunday which is when this prize draw will end.

My lovely playmate Kerry at Handy Hippo will do the draw on Monday 14th November and I will post the winner here next Tuesday .. .. 15th November  .. .. but remember you have to do all of steps 1, 2 and 3 above to be eligible to win the prize. 

Everything is packaged up ready and waiting for one lucky person's name and address to be added to the parcel .. .. woo hoo!!!

It could be you!!!

Good luck everyone!!

Love

and all the lovely friendly people at Handy Hippo)

JULES' CRAFTY SNIPPET CHALLENGE - WEEK 45

Hi Everyone

A "less hectic" week this week in the House of Hearts as I haven't needed to prepare for a wedding fayre .. .. .. but I have been making samples for some of the lovely bride and grooms I met!!!

To think that this time last week were actually at the fayre!!  It was a wonderful day and the shabby chic table plan went down really well.

But I also need to pull my finger out and get cracking on with more Christmas makes so with this in mind my snippet makes this week just had to all be Christmas creations LOL!!!

In fact my blog is probably going to be all Christmas for a week or two now!!

Anyway, here are my Christmas snippet makes:

So those are my makes which means it is now time to call the snippet register and introudice you to all of my lovely playmates for this week.

You may remember that last week Sarah wanted to know what she could be doing with all the white offcuts she gets after making a 6 x 6 card blank.

Well Lisa was the first to the playground and she showcased what she does (and is planning to do more of) with her white snippets here.  Brilliant idea Lisa .. .. I dread to think how many cards I could make like this out of my white snippet mountain .. .. but I won't count .. .. I will just get on and make them and then see you in about 3 years time!!!  LOL!!!  (Only joking)

Actually my middle card this week was made only with white snippets. 

Someone else who uses a lot of white snippets and who inspired me to make at least one card this week with my white snippets was Irene .. .. .. and Irene has been super good this week and used up lots of snippets (including the white ones) and you can see all of her lovely creations here, here and here.  I just love the flowers and embellishments Irene makes.  They always look so delicate.  Beautiful!!

Next to the playground was Beryl with her lovely snowman Christmas card.  Beryl sounds super organised in that it reads as though she has a box dedicated to her Christmas snippets.  Now that's a good idea!!  I could rummage through a smaller mountain of snippets then .. .. mmmm..  Might start removing Christmas ones as I go along .. .. thanks for that Beryl.

Now the next person to share their snippet make was Carol who I think has to take the prize for using the oldest snippet ever on her lovely Christmas creation.  She used some lace and ribbon from off a dress that she made at school some 34 years ago?!?!?  I am well impressed Carol.  I don't think I would ever be able to beat that!

The next playmate to appear was Karen .. .. who was very hyperactive on the snippet front .. .. and not only did Karen make lots of lovely creations she managed them with one sheet of paper!!  You can find a vast array of creations from Karen's one sheet of paper here, here and here.  In fact I think there are 13 different makes .. .. all from one sheet of orange gingham!!  Well done Karen!

Hazel called by the snippet playground a couple of times this week too .. .. and not with cards in her hands either.  Hazel is always far more inventive with her snippets than I am that's for sure.  You can see her lovely makes here and here.

My lovely Funky Hand playmate Jackie was next to the playground carrying a lovely pile of Christmas cards .. .. in fact 4 of the lovely beauties.  You can see them all here .. .. what gorgeous snippet you have Jackie (or should I say had LOL!!!).

The next visitor to the playground this week was Elizabeth who released a massive post onto her blog .. .. some of the post contained snippet makes (as in the owl card and a penguin card) but also lots of other lovely inspiration too.  Elizabeth is working her way through the Christmas alphabet .. .. I wonder if snowy snippets will be acceptable for the letter "S" LOL!!!

Lovely pink and girly snippets were on show next from Mags .. .. such a lovely finished look .. .. and I must admit I am surprised that Mags even had time to take part reading about all the dirty washing that suddenly made an appearance for her :-(

Then last but by no means least for this week was Mandy who shared a card featuring loads and loads and loads of hearts!!  LOL!!  Love the gorgeous tree and the heart doily.  Thanks for sharing the love Mandy!!

So that is me for this week.

I am back tomorrow with my next Happy Handy Hippo creation .. .. and a quick reminder that we are in the last few hours for entering the Handy Hippo Prize draw here.  Lots of Christmas goodies on offer for one very lucky winner.

Have a great evening everyone.

Love

PENNY BLACK SATURDAY CHALLENGE

Hi Everyone

Quite an early post from me today.

I was up bright and early with the mission for the weekend being to create a mountain of Christmas cards.

I knew that Penny Black Saturday were having a run of four weeks of Christmas themed challenges so thought .. .. "what better place to go and get my inspiration with my early morning cup of coffee"!!

The theme this week is "gold and presents".

Now I have to admit that gold doesn't appear on my general creations very much.  It does appear quite frequently on my wedding work but not on my "every day makes". 

So quite a nice challenge as it was making me do something different .. .. and I must admit I quite like the finished look.  Thank you ladies!!

Anyway, here is my make:

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3917J" Welcome Party

Sentiment:  Great Impressions "B154" From All of Us

Backing Paper:  Papermania "A Silent Night"

Martha Stewart Punch:  Embossed Zig Zag

Dovecraft Punch:  Holly Leaves

Nestabilities:  Deckled Rectangle

Josy Rose:  Nail Heads

ProMarkers

Diamond Stickles

Ribbon, cord and buttons from the Stash Box

and there we go. 

Off now to settle into some more festive makes.

Have a great weekend everyone .. .. and whilst talking of festive makes don't forget you still have time to enter the Handy Hippo Christmas Prize Draw on this post here .. ... entries accepted until midnight tomorrow (Sunday 13th).

See you tomorrow with my snippet makes.

Love

WE MUST NEVER FORGET

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them

We must never forget because we owe them so much!

 

XMOUSE ORNAMENT

Hi Everyone

Just flying through quickly tonight as my lovely Sis is about to land and abuse my die cutting machine .. .. and eat a big dish full of spaghetti bolognese!

Just had to smile to myself because I have just had a quick trip down memory lane.  When we were kids and Mum used to send us to the shop with a list to give the shopkeeper she could never spell "spaghetti" .. .. so she would write "and a tin of that stuff I can't spell".  Strangely enough they always knew what she wanted LOL!!

Anyway, round to tonight's share, which fits nicely into the Penny Black Saturday Challenge this week .. .. where the theme is

Snowflakes/snow and silver

I think I have it covered with this little creation:

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "1873H" Xmouse Ornament!

Sentiment:  Computer Generated

Backing Paper:  Dovecraft "Let is Snow"

Nestabilities:  Label 4

Hobbycraft Punches:  Snowflakes

Josy Rose:  Nail Heads

ProMarkers

Chalk for the background

Diamond Stickles

White Gel Pen

Ribbon, cord and gems from the Stash Box

Phew!!!   Looks like I have managed it before Sis has landed.   The hyperactive soul has been to Zumba!!!

The close up photographs I took were all  pants and I haven't got time to take another so it is just the one picture tonight folks.  Sorry!!

Have a good evening and don't forget the Handy Hippo Candy that is on offer here if you fancy getting organised for Christmas.

See ya!!

Love

HAPPY KISSMAS !!!

Morning Everyone

Just a quick post to let you know that Anice from Funky Hand is live on Create and Craft today .. .. not once .. but twice.

Her first stint is as 8.00am .. gosh what an early start for a live show!!  and then again at 1.00pm.

Anice will be showing the Happy, Happy Birthday CD that was released recently and also the brand new Papercraft Factory CD .. Twelve Crafters Crafting.

Here is a little project I made for Anice to showcase the CD .. .. .. .. I wonder if it will make an appearance?  We shall see.

I didn't even need to colour the image on this one so just perfect for those last minute Christmas makes (or is it just me that has lots of those to do?

Have a good day everyone  .. .. I am on Christmas card and favour box duty today so had better get myself organised .. .. that machine set to record our lovely Anice!!

Have you entered for Handy Hippo's Christmas giveaway?  If not you can do so here.

Love

HAPPY HANDY HIPPO MONDAY - WEEK 10

Hi Everyone

Happy Handy Hippo Monday to you all.

This week I wanted to use one of the Marianne Creatables rose dies so decided that a wedding card would be an ideal way to showcase the roses the die makes.

I must admit I did get a bit addicted to the die (as you will see later LOL!!)  .. but for now here is my share for this week.

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 thought you might like to see how I used the die to make my flowers and here is photo overload showing you exactly that..

These are the 4 dies that come in the set

Here I have cut the large flower out of
mulberry paper and the smaller flower out of
lightweight white card

Starting from the outside I simply roll and curl
the flower until I reach the centre

Sorry this one is a bit blurred .. .. but it shows a
blob of wet glue ready for pressing the curled
flower onto

I find a pair of tweezers the easiest way to curl
and push the flower into the glue

I also use the tweezers to fold back the
petals of the rose

Leaving the mulberry flower to dry I then inked
the edges of the white card flower with an old
black ink pad and made the flower in
exactly the same way as the mulberry flower

A silver bead in the centre and just look
how different the two flowers look .. ..
but of course you can't stop there.

This one is "perhaps" my favourite  made using
thin metal dabbed with Adirondack alcohol ink

Then here you can see all the different ones I
made including a patterned paper rose and
a copper metalic paper one.

Oh I could have gone on for ever  .. ..  love this
die set and it is going to get lots of use.

I hope you like my card and my little flower collection!

Make sure you pop back tomorrow as the lovely people at Handy Hippo are going to be giving away a wonderful prize to help one lucky person get organised ready for Christmas.

Have a happy Monday!

Love



and all the lovely friendly people at Handy Hippo)