CAROLING DUCK!

Hi Everyone

I hope you are all well .. .. .. I don't know about you but I am not keen on these nights getting dark so early.  Nothing in my craft pod looks nice without natural lighting :-(

But anyway, as promised I have added a new sketch to my little library today .. .. and here is a card I made using it:

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "2988H" Caroling Duck
Sentiment:  Pink Petticoat  - Traditional Christmas Sentiments
Backing Papers:  Kaisercraft - Silver Bells
Josy Rose:  Nail Heads
Distress Ink:  Spun Sugar
Small holly leaf craft punch with no name on it
ProMarkers
Glamour Dust
My Trusty Sewing Machine
Red Pearls

and here is the new sketch.  I hope you likey, likey!

You can find it, along with the other eighteen, on the sketch tab at the top of my blog.  Feel free to use any of them if you would like to.

So that is me for today.

Enjoy the rest of your evening and I'll catch you again soon.

Love

TEENY, TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

I hope Tuesday has been kind to you.

Here with another of my teeny, tiny 3.5" creations.  My customers love these and I just can't make them quickly enough. 

To begin with I thought they were popular just because they were so cute and because I sell them for less than my normal 5.75" ones .. .. but it turns out that isn't the reason.  My customers like the teeny, tiny ones because as they are so small they get stood at the front of any other cards the recipient might receive and don't get lost in the line up.  I never even thought of that.  Perhaps teeny, tiny Christmas cards need to get added to the mix?!?!?

Anyway, here is today's teeny, tiny creation:

This used:

Image:  Indigo Blu - "IND0159" Dinkie Peony

Sentiment:  Stampin' Up -  Lots of Thanks

Marianne Designs: Decorative Heart Die Set

Onyx Black Versafine Ink Pad

ClearEmbossing Powder

Distress Ink:  Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey and Barn Door

Paint brush and water for adding those white drips in the background

My Trusty Sewing Machine

and have you spotted how good I have been?  The insert is already in there .. .. my New Years Resolution has succeeded more often than it has failed this year so I am part way there!

That is me for today. A new sketch for the library tomorrow so I will hopefully see you with that at some stage.

Enjoy the rest of your evening.

Love

HAPPY MONDAY

Hi Everyone

I hope you are all well.

Wasn't it lovely to have that extra hour?  It seemed to make yesterday a lovely long day.   Long enough for me to trawl through all my Pink Petticoat downloads and make sure I wasn't going to be missing anything when the boutique doors are closed and locked at the end of the month .. .. boo hoo!!!

Today I thought I would share with you some of my favourite cards that I produced for this month's Quick Cards Made Easy magazine which has now hit the shops.

One of my projects was to work with acetate and here are a couple of the creations:

This last one has tissue paper stuck to the back of the embossed acetate to give an opaque look and take the glare away from the little battery operated candle inside .. .. which you can just about make out from the photograph.  Don't look too hard for the heart on this one . . . it was a sequin heart on one of the other oval windows.

Then for one of the other projects I  really enjoyed myself painting this lovely gold embossed image with my water colour crayons.

So that is me for today.

I am hopeful of actually being able to produce a teeny, tiny card for tomorrow!!  Woo hoo!! Wonders will never cease.

Catch you soon.

Love 

SHOCK HORROR !

Hi Everyone

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

Shock horror .. .. get me .. .. posting two days on the run .. .. wow!!  Just like the old days!

I have had a fabby day today.  No deadlines to meet .. .. a day to just make whatever took my fancy .. .. and this was one of the creations of the day:

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "1670K" Sugar Sweet Dreams
Sentiment:  Pink Petticoat (sadly no longer available .. .. as will be the case with everything in the boutique soon :-( .. .. yep, it wasn't a nightmare .. .. I have finally convinced myself it is actually true and I am gutted.
Backing Papers:  Pink Petticoat "Pinstripes" and a page from an old cookery book
X-Cut Corner Rounding Punch and Heart Palm Punch
Stampin' Up!:  Banner Punch
ProMarkers
My Trusty Sewing Machine
and Sketch Number Seven which you can find on my sketch tab

and if anyone is wondering how I managed to get a long banner out of the tiny Stampin' Up punch .. ..  .. well I cut a narrow strip and did this:

.. .. .. and for anyone who is worried about the cookery book I used.  It is a very, very huge old book .. ..  the one I bought when we got married all those years ago to learn how to cook from .. .. and it is falling to pieces through lots of use and old age.  I have been taking out the recipes I want to keep and filing them away but as I am never, EVER going to be making jam I used a page from the "preserves" section for this card.

So that is me for today.

Hopefully catch you again soon.

Love

OH CHRISTMAS TREE

Hi Everyone

I hope you are all having a good week.

As always mine has flown by in the blink of an eye .. .. but I am happy to say that Christmas card production has started in the House of Hearts today.  Lots, and lots, and lots needed so I decided I had better get cracking now that the weddings are slowing down a little.

I always love it when all the Christmas goodies come out.  

So here we go .. my share for today:

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3741K" Filigree Tree

Sentiment:  Lili of the Valley - Christmas Tags

Backing Papers:  Pink Petticoat "French Country Christmas"  sadly Liz is closing the boutique at the end of the month :-(  but it does mean there are some mega bargains to be had.  Need to check what I haven't already invested in.

Wow! Embossing Powder:  Metallic Platinum

Josy Rose:  Nail Heads

My Trusty Sewing Machine

X-Cut corner rounding punch
Ribbon, eyelet and cord from My Crafty Stash Box

and a new sketch added to the library today .. .. 

SKETCH EIGHTEEN

Tee hee .. .. that is the best I could do in the programme for a ribbon bow!  LOL!!

So hopefully now the weddings are quieter I might not be such a stranger in blogland for a while .. .. and I promise not to post Christmas cards every time!

Enjoy your evening.

Love

CATCHING UP WITH THE WORLD

Hi Everyone

Happy weekend!

Gosh it's a lifetime since I was here last .. .. .. but so much has been cracking off  that in some ways it feels more like two minutes than two weeks! 

Most of my time has been spent on wedding work .. .. with the last of my summer brides getting married today.  So it is fingers crossed for a happy sunny day for her.  This lovely couple have been on my books for exactly two years and we have worked on some lovely things together.  I shall miss them .. .. but will no-doubt be seeing them soon with their wedding pictures!!

So now I am round to my braver "winter brides" and am working on my first "snowflake" themed wedding.  I love snowflakes!!  .. .. .. except when they group in their millions on the roads LOL!!

Anyway, I have managed to actually make something in dribs and drabs over last two weeks and it was finally finished yesterday . .. and it fits nicely into the Penny Black Saturday Challenge this month where they want to see "embossing". 

So here we go:

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3867K" Constellations

Sentiment:  Lili of the Valley "Sentiment Tags"

Backing Papers:  Kaisercraft "Botanica"

Spellbinder Dies:  Classic Circle and Scalloped Circle

Die-namics Dies:  Blueprints 14

X-Cut Punch:  Butterfly (very old and no longer available I don't think)

Stampin Up! Embossing folder:  Stained Glass

Clear Embossing Powder

Distress Inks:  Tumbled Glass, Bundled Sage, Shaded Lilac, Picked Raspberry

Ribbon and Pearls from my crafty stash box

My "not so trusty" sewing machine  .. .. .. the old hand one I bought isn't as reliable as my electric .. .. it seems to miss the odd stitch unless I am going super fast :-(  but it is going to be great as a prop for a wedding range I am working on!!

and to finish .. ..  a sketch I hadn't used yet from my library .. ..

So I think I have used all of the ones I have added to my sketch tab now .. .. so time to design some new ones!  Thank you for all the lovely messages and comments about how much you are enjoying using them .. .. that makes me really happy and is encouraging me to do more.

So things should be settling down a little now that the mad flurry of summer weddings is behind me .. .. .. time to get the Christmas supplies out!

Enjoy your weekend everyone.

I am off to get ready for a bride I have visiting soon.

Love

PENNY BLACK SATURDAY CHALLENGE

Hi Everyone

I hope your week has been going well.  

The weather has been really lovely here and I am hoping it is going to hold out until tomorrow when one of my lovely brides gets married.

She called and collected all her goodies mid week and suddenly I found I had gained half a room!!  I couldn't believe just how much there was until it was all collected together,

Lots of tidying up needed here in the House of Hearts .. .. but no chance to do any.  Still trying to do work for the wedding fayre on Sunday.

But I did have a little colouring session and came up with a creation which fits nicely into the Penny Black Saturday Challenge where the theme is to use three or more different patterned papers.  Only just in time to enter though .. .. the challenge closes in a few hours!!  Phew!

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "1706H" I'm So Cute!!

Sentiments:  Lili of the Valley "Sentiment Tags"and Docrafts "Relations"

Backing Papers:  Nitwits "Dress Shoppe Collection"

Nestabilities:  Classic Squares and Classic Rectangles

ProMarkers

Ribbon from my crafty stash box

and there is a bit of glossy accents on that character's little nose .. .. but you might not see it.

.. .. .. .. and along with my card comes Sketch Seventeen too, which I have also added to the library tab: 

OK .. .. off to link up quickly and then I need to head off for a quick catch up with my Mum, Sis and Nieces .. .. time for a bit of chatty girl time and no doubt laughter until we cry!!  It really is the best medicine!

Catch you all again when I do.

Have a lovely weekend.

Love

SKETCH NUMBER SIXTEEN

Hi Everyone

I hope you are all having a good week.

As I am sure you will have guessed from my absence in blogland, my little world is super busy at the moment .. .. but as always, super exciting!

I have a lovely "happy couple" who are getting married on Saturday and there are still lots and lots of ribbons to be tied for that .. .. samples to be made for new "happy couples" .. .. and a wedding fayre on Sunday that I need to prepare for!!!  

Therefore, if anyone goes to the supermarket today and sees a huge bumper box of "extra time" (preferably on offer with 50% extra free) then could you grab me a couple of boxes please.  I would be very, very grateful LOL!!

So, as I can't create and post here at the moment I thought I would take this week to introduce lots of new sketches into my library so that when I "can" sit at the "general crafting station" again I can hit the ground running .. .. click on my sketch library tab and off I go.  Wish I had though of this years ago .. .. it would have saved me sooooo much time.  But hey, better late than never!

So here we go:

SKETCH NUMBER SIXTEEN

Have fun if you decide to have a play with it.

Catch you again soon with the next addition.

Have a good day .. .. I hope the sunshine makes an appearance for you.

Love

TEENY, TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

I hope you had a happy Tuesday!

Another fast and busy day that has come and gone in the blink of an eye :-(

Many thanks for all the lovely comments and personal emails I received following my new website news yesterday .. .. .. you are all very kind and I appreciate them all very much..

As promised there is an actual card to share today (I hope nobody fainted there!).  Another teeny tiny 3.5" square creation that was inspired by a thank you card I received yesterday .. .. .. that too had a speech bubble on the front with the words "Just to Say" .. . and this is my take on it:

This used:

Sentiment:  Digistamp Boutique "Essential Sentiments Set"

Backing Papers:  American Crafts, Amy Tangerine, Plus One

Penny Black Die Set:  "A Pocket Full"

Distress Ink:  Peacock Fethers

Woodware Daisy Punch

My Trusty Sewing Machine

We R Memory Keepers:  Envelope Punch Board

and Sketch Number Two from my little sketch library (this little chappie certainly gets a lot of use LOL!!)

Short and sweet today!

Hope your day has been a good one.

Love

AT LAST !

Hi Everyone

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

No pictures from me today . . . just lots of happy news.

Saturday brought a lovely new bride to my doorstep who will be getting married a couple of days after Christmas .. .. my first snowflake themed table plan and venue stationery order!  How lovely .. .. Christmas excitement and wedding excitement all at the same time.   Ooooo I hope I don't burst LOL!!

Then Sunday I worked the majority of the day with my youngest Son sorting out the final touches to my new website .. .. .. and we finished very late last night with the scary scrapping of the old website .. .. .. .. and bringing the new one to life.  Gosh my Son has the patience of a Saint!  I am not the most technology blessed person in the world, and I desperately wanted to understand everything we were doing, and kept asking him question after question.  I bet he slept well last night because I feel certain I must have worn him out!

The new website is only in its infancy but I am so chuffed with it .. .. and as quite a few people had enquired as to how it was coming along I thought you might fancy a peep at some of what has been keeping me away from blogland.  You will find it here

At last a website that I can change and add pictures to myself .. .. woo hoo!  It has taken me ages to reach this stage because I have only been able to chip away at it very gradually alongside everything else.  There are lots of hidden pages that will be making an appearance as things progress, new samples and designs, and loads more photographs to take and add .. .. .. but I am really excited about what has been achieved so far.

I'm a bit excited .. .. .. can you tell?  LOL!!! 

Hoping to be here tomorrow with a teeny, tiny Tuesday make but the next job (which I should have done before now) is to get that camera battery on charge again!!

Catch you soon - I hope the day is being kind to you.

Love

I WISH I HADN'T LOOKED!

Hi Everyone

A big day today in the House of Hearts .. .. mountains of work to get through today so I thought I would post nice and early before I get stuck in. 

The new issue of Quick Cards Made Easy is out this week (Issue 144) and I was over the moon to be asked to work on a couple of commissions.

The first was a set of Christmas Cards using the Bokeh Technique.  I love them all but these were two of my favourites:

Then I can't image why I got this commission (LOL!!) .. ..  but the free cover gift with the magazine this month is a super gorgeous Nordic Heart Christmas die .. .. and surprise, surprise .. .. I love it.

I put it into a circle aperture here;

and doesn't it look fabby heat embossed in silver .. .. ..

As you can guess this lovely die is going to be getting lots of use (not that I have even made a dent in my Christmas card orders yet!!)  Eeekkk!!

I also caught a glimpse of what looks like a super interesting machine on the Quick Cards Facebook page here.  You may need to scroll down a little because it is a super busy site (or there is a link on their side bar) .. .. but look for the video showing the office trying out the First Edition Foiling Machine that has just come out.  It looks amazing.  Bet my happy couples might like that look on their creations!!!

I WISH I HADN'T LOOKED - I can't stop thinking about it now LOL!!!

Have a good day everyone.

Time for me to become hyper-active!!!

Love

TEENY, TINY TUESDAY .. .. .. JUST

Hi Everyone

I hope you are having a good week.

My week so far has been taken up with place names for a couple of weddings .. .. one set which needed menu choices adding to them .. .. and I have to admit it did make me feel rather peckish!  LOL!!

But my fingers were itching to have a little play so what better than a teeny tiny 3.5" square creation.

This is what I came up with:

This used:

Sentiment:  Penny Black Transparent Stamp Set"30-105" Gratitude

Backing Papers:  First Edition Papers:  Botanical Notes

My Trusty Sewing Machine

Buttons

We R Memory Keepers Envelope Board

and Sketch Fourteen from my little collection.

So that is me for today .. ..  my fingers are now happy at having had a play .. .. but I can't say I am happy about how early it seemed to get dark this evening.

Mr Heart took me to pick up a load of mountboard for up and coming table plans and on the drive home it was already getting dark .. .. and it was only 8 o'clock :-(

I'm not ready for summer to end yet!!!

Catch you again soon.

Love