MESSAGE FROM ABOVE

Hi Everyone

Happy Good Friday!

What a fabulous day it has been.  

Lovely sunshine here .. .. and Mr Heart was even able to cut the lawns!  I love the smell of freshly cut grass.

But what I want to know is how come in the week we have super early alarms (we need three of them to wake us up!!)  .. .. .. but come the weekend and bank holidays when the alarms are switched off and I have the chance to lie in I am awake even earlier than when the alarms would normally go off? What's that all about?

If you have ever seen the film Frozen .. ..  Mr Heart decided that I am the little girl "here" who wakes up hyper and announces "The sky's awake so I'm awake" .. .. but to be fair I'm not quite that bad .. .. but I do whisper in Mr Heart's ear "the sky's awake"! 

Yes .. .. I am annoying!!  But Mr Heart just smiles and goes back to sleep and I get up and play LOL!!  Not many men would put up with me that's for sure.

Well in today's early morning play time, I managed to make a card using my new sketch from yesterday (I just needed to machine stitch very slowly so as not to create too much noise at "daft o'clock".. ..  so here it is:

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "2617J" Message from Above

Sentiment:  Cardio "Sentiments"

Backing Papers:  Kaisercraft "Treasured Moments"

MFT Die-namics:  Blueprints 14

My Trusty Sewing Machine

ProMarkers

Pinking Shears

Ribbon and Pearls from my crafty stash box

and Sketch Number Twenty Five from my little sketch library tab

and that is me for today.  

Enjoy the rest of the Easter break.  Hopefully not too many of you are having to work through it.

Love

A NEW SKETCH

Hi Everyone

Happy Thursday ahead of what I hope will be a lovely Bank Holiday weekend for everyone!  The weather doesn't sound too promising but never mind.  

I am pleased to report that sketch number twenty five has made an appearance in my little sketch library today.

Sadly there has been no time for me to put it to use yet .. .. but at least it is sitting there ready for when I get chance!

So here it is:

If you fancy using it then please feel free to do so .. .. along with any of the other sketches that are in my little sketch library.  You will find them all in the little tab at the top of my blog.

Happy Easter everyone - and don't eat too much chocolate (just "nearly" too much) LOL!!

Love

TEENY TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Tuesday!

I hope your week has got off to a good start.

Mine has been quite productive so far, and today started with a major clear up as I needed a completely clear desk for my next mission.  

So whilst clearing I of course came across a few little snippet of card that I couldn't possibly throw away .. .. .. and rather than add them to the huge snippet mountain I decided I would turn them into a teeny, tiny 3.5" square card for taking over to Di's Crafty Snippets Playground.  It also gave me chance to have a quick play with that cute little sheep die I bought from the NEC last week.

So here we go:

This used:

Marianne Collectables Die "COL1385" Sheep

MFT Die-namics Die Set:  Blueprints 12

X-Cut Flower Punch

Josy Rose:  Nail Heads

Weathered Wood Distress Ink Pad

Computer Generated Sentiment using font"Zipty Do"

My Trusty Sewing Machine

We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board 

and a tiny scrap of ribbon for the bow

and that is it!

First outing for my little sheep die.  

Off to mess up that tidy desk now!!  I bet it will take all of 20 minutes to look as messy as it did before I had the tidy up LOL!!!

Catch you again soon.

Love

NEC 2016

Hi Everyone

Happy weekend.

I had a fabulous day at the NEC yesterday .. .. though I can't say the train journey there and back was fabulous.

Hardly any carriages and everyone crushed together .. .. .. far worse than I have ever experienced on the London underground .. .. so every time someone needed to get off the folk standing in the door area needed to get off to let them through .. .. and you just hoped you were able to get back on again along with all the new passengers that were being let on!! 

Anyway, I won't moan any more (except to perhaps mention my still aching feet LOL!!!).

I thought you might like to hear about my favourite stands and see what I was too weak to resist:

These first two were my very favourites stands.

The first one because of the amazing demonstrations and the patience of the lady demonstrating who answered everyone's questions .. .. whilst at the same time twinkling with glitter!!

This was Card-io - where I got these lovely goodies.  I am just hoping I can re-create some of the fantastic cards that were being demonstrated.  No need for blending tools or duster brushes .. .. just a dry baby wipe and tiny little ink pads produced the most amazing results.

 I see from their website that they are on Create and Craft on Wednesday so I will definitely be getting that lined up to record.

Then my other favourite was Inkylicious

Again fabulous demonstrations but also the most amazing collection of stamps and sentiments backed up with the most beautiful sample cards which had all been made by the owner and her Mum.  Each one made you want the stamps to recreate them .. .. I had to be super strong on this stand (but will definitely be visiting their website again (when my crafty pennies have  replenished themselves).

Next the essentials in the form of kraft card stock and charms and then a set of Extra Large X-Cut circle dies.  I am hoping to use these to make pages to go inside a circular guest book made from two records.  Looking forward to trying that!!

Then some lovely shaped dies that I am keen to create with - the little ewe looked great all made up on the sample cards. 

So that was my fabby day and fabby purchases.  Can't wait to have a play .. .. but lots of orders and commissions to do first.

.. .. and that is me for today .. .. but before I go this is a message for the lovely ladies I spoke to on the Stampin' Up! stand who I had a great conversation with.  They were super excited that the MISTI is now available in the UK and I said I would link to where I got mine from for them.  Lovely to spend time with you ladies and here is the link Dies to Die For.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone.

Love 

TO SAY THANK YOU

Hi Everyone

Happy Thursday!

I hope the week is being kind to you.  The weather definitely seems to be taking a turn for the better here! 

I wanted to say a proper "thank you" to everyone who left me such kind comments and supported me recently in the 2016 British Craft Awards.  I truly can't thank everyone enough for all the kind words and encouragement I was given, and for continuing to visit my blog even though work pressures in my little wedding stationery business often prevent me from posting and visiting in blogland as often as I would like to.

It really means a lot to know I have such loyal followers .. .. who are happy to overlook my sporadic postings and continue to visit on the off chance I have made an appearance.  I can't believe that in the past I had time to post and comment every day .. .. I do miss that.

So as a thank you I have decided to do a little surprise giveaway.

To decide who should receive my little giveaway I took all the comments that people had kindly left on my original post here .. .. .. where I announced I had been nominated .. .. and the post here .. .. where I shared my excitement at actually winning one of the categories I was nominated for, and popped them all into a box along with those from people who do not have a blog but leave me lovely comments and messages by email.

The box was held up high above the head of the "now famous" Mr Heart to pick out a winner.

.. .. .. .. and that winner is

The lovely Eve 

from The Purple Paper Puncher blog

The lovely thing is that I felt I really knew everyone who was placed in that box.  I knew little things about everyone in there and would have loved anyone and everyone to have won. I feel so blessed to have made so many lovely blog buddies .. .. some who I know I will never ever meet and yet feel so close to.

Is anyone heading to the NEC tomorrow (Friday)?  My lovely Sis and I are going for the first time in about five years!  A fun day ahead and I can't wait!!

Enjoy today and I will hopefully catch you again soon.

If you could get in touch with your address Eve I will get your goodies in the post to you.

Love and hugs and thanks to everyone .. .. 

TEENY TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Tuesday!  I hope everyone is well and life is being kind to you.

At last my world is starting to slow down into a more normal pace (well normal for me) after a very manic start to the year .. .. it has seemed like every time I have crossed something off that crafty "must do" list it has been replaced by another three items that are equally as important.  Hence my non-appearance in blogland recently.  Where is 2016 disappearing too!!?!

Anyway, I am pleased to say that I have manged to create one of my teeny tiny 3.5" square cards for sharing today.

This used:

Image and Sentiment:  Stampin' Up Clear Stamp Set "Garden in Bloom"

Memento Dew Drop Ink Pads:  Dandelion, Cantaloupe, Tangelo, Pear Tart, Pistachio and Tuxedo Black

Accent Beads - that have been lurking in my bead collection for years and never seem to reduce

Glossy Accents

My Trusty Sewing Machine

We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board

and something a bit naughty!!

Confession time .. .. .. I have been longing for a MISTI stamp tool for ages, and ages, and ages, and when I saw earlier this year that Tracy at Dies to Die For was accepting pre-orders for them, I decided I would order one ahead of my birthday later this month .. .. and put any birthday money I was lucky enough to receive towards it.  Big birthdays hurt and deserve a big treat!!!

Well it arrived at the weekend but Mr Heart was clearly of the opinion that it shouldn't be used until my birthday. What torture.  But I was a little bit naughty today and used it on this card with a layered Stampin' Up set.  I couldn't wait to use it any longer .... and it is so fabby!!!  I love it!!!

My theory is that if I have paid for it with my own money so far .. .. then it isn't a birthday present.  It will only become a birthday present once I receive birthday pennies!!  Does that sound right?  Well it works for me. LOL!!  I have put it all neatly back into the box now though so Mr Heart may never know.

My lovely Sis and I did another wedding fayre on Sunday and I still have everything to pack away! What happened to that promise to myself of being super organised .. .. clearly it went out of the window along with the new year resolution to make Christmas cards all year.  I have made a grand total of one so far!!!

Sigh!!!

Hopefully it won't be too long before I am back with another creation.

Love 

DUCKLING

Hi Everyone

Happy Friday!!!

Yay!!!  The weekend is nearly here .. .. not that the weekend is particularly different to the rest of the week for me .. .. it is crafty fun all the way.. .. but it will mean that Mr Heart is around, which is nice.

A quick share today:

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3347H" Duckling
Sentiment:  Computer Generated using font "Candy Round"
Backing Papers:  Dovecraft "Floral Muse"
Nestabilities:  Classic Circle, Classic Oval, Scalloped Circle and Scalloped Oval
Joy Craft Dies:  Flowers 2
ProMarkers
Josy Rose:  Nail Heads
Pearls from my crafty stash box
and Sketch Number Twenty Four from my little sketch library - which you can find on a tab near the top of my blog

That now means I have caught up and used all of my sketches at least once  . .. .. . must get some more made!!  It saves me load of time to just click on the tab and choose a design to work with.

Have a good weekend everyone, and a happy Mothering Sunday to all you lovely Mums out there!

Love

BUTTERFLY AND SNIPPETS

Hi Everyone

Happy Monday!

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend.  

The butterfly I stamped, using the chalks I posted about on Friday, has been put to good use alongside lots of snippets from my very large snippet mountain .. .. all ready for taking over to Pixie's Snippets Playground where we are encouraged to use up our leftovers rather than cutting into full sheets!  

So here is my little creation for taking over:

This used:

Image:  Funstamps "FQ14" Butterfly - a very old stamp that came from Hobbycraft originally I think

Sentiment and all the papers:  Pink Petticoat leftovers (sadly the boutique has now closed)

Josy Rose:  Nail Heads

Joy Craft Dies:  Flowers 2

My Trusty Sewing Machine

Diamond Stickles

Button and Gems from my crafty stash box

and sketch number Twenty Three from my little sketch library (tab at the top of my blog - feel free to use any of them if you would like to).

Nearly time for me to add some more sketches!!

Enjoy your evening everyone and I'll catch you again soon .. .. hopefully.

Love

HAPPY FRIDAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Friday, ahead of what I hope is going to be a happy weekend for you.

Thank you so much to everyone who very kindly left comments and sent emails on my previous post, each and every one means such a lot.

A different sort of blog post from me today in the form of a product review.

I was asked by the lovely Anuj from ChalkOla  if I would do a review on their chalk markers and was sent a pack of Chalk Markers and a pack of 80 shaped  Chalkboard Labels to try out.

Well we all like playing with something new don't we????

The product has been targeted towards teachers for classroom projects, parents/children and crafters for DIY projects - but I personally think that everyone could find a use for them somewhere.

I really enjoyed trying them out.  Starting them off was simple, it was just a case of priming them by giving them a good shake and then depressing the bullet tip until the liquid chalk flowed into the tip.  The markers are waterbased, have no smell to them at all and were great to use.  Such vibrant colours …. even on black!  So armed with a full set of primed pens where would I start?

Well, with organisation being the name of the game this year here in the House of Hearts the first place was the crafty do list which was transferred to a whiteboard so all those tasks were under my nose .. .. ..  the big bonus here being that unlike the dry markers that normally come with a white board, these chalk markers stay in place until you wipe them away with a damp cloth or baby wipe. Of course I won’t show you my list .. .. it will wear you out just looking at it!  LOL!!

You can use the pens on mirrors, chalkboards, windows and anything you write will stay in place until you wipe it away  -  but they suggest that if you are unsure of the surface you are going to write or draw on then do a little test first, just to be on the safe side.  I never had a problem with anything I wrote on.

I used the shaped labels on the drawers that I store my ProMarkers in.  No more opening all the drawers to find the colour I want – right drawer first time!! (providing I put my pens in the right drawer to start with).  Shame about my rubbish handwriting though!! LOL!!

But the thing I am most excited about is the white marker in the pack. I couldn’t wait to play with that and wanted to see whether I could stamp using it.

Well .. .. .. 

The top image was stamped by simply colouring the rubber stamp with the marker and stamping onto black card .. .. the problem being that I couldn’t colour the image and stamp it quickly enough.  So I coloured the stamp again and this time spritz the stamp with a very fine mist of water before stamping and that gave me a much better image.  Great for a blackboard effect card card don't you think?   I didn’t have much luck stamping fine detailed sentiments but hopefully chunkier senitments will work as well as the butterfly did.   Acrylic and rubber stamps gave equally good results and cleaned up perfectly afterwards.

I am going to use the butterfly on a card soon so you will have to come back and see how that turned out .. .. but for now I think this blog post is long enough.

If you want to have a closer look at the pens, you can find them here and there is a discount code of CHALK20A available to get 20% off the price.  Woo  hoo!!

Please note I am not on commission or connected to this company in any way whatsoever .. .. I just had great fun playing with their products and thought it would be nice to share what I did with them.

Have a great rest of the day and a great weekend, and I will catch you again soon.

Love

HAPPY NEWS AND THANK YOU!

Hi Everyone

Happy Monday!!!  I hope you all had a good weekend and the week has started off well for you.

I wanted to pop by and share some super happy news from this end!!

Mr Heart and I went to the CHSI Stitches Exhibition at the NEC on Sunday to source some suppliers for goodies for my little wedding stationery business. I found quite a few people who were more than happy to work with me .. .. ..  despite me not needing to purchase hundreds and hundreds of everything .. .. .. and one that has even offered to open up their warehouse out of hours so I can have a rummage through their Aladdin's Cave of goodies!!  I will definitely be taking them up on that wonderful offer on the back of their fabulous supplies at the exhibition!   How lovely to find so many company owners that are as excited about their ventures as I am.

My brain is buzzing even more than ever.. .... who would have thought that was possible??

Then after the exhibition had closed for the day we went along to the craft awards, which anyone at the exhibition was allowed to attend .. .. .. and surprise of all surprises, look what I gained .. .. ..

FAVOURITE CARD DESIGNER CATEGORY

To say that I was totally amazed and dumbfounded is the understatement of the year .. .. . especially when you take into consideration that I was in the presence of some of my crafting heroes.  To be honest it felt like a dream.

But I woke up in the hotel this morning to find it really was true (and the champagne bottle still full) .. .. proceeded to eat a huge breakfast .. .. and then headed back to the exhibition as we had only touched the surface of all the amazing stands yesterday.

On Sunday we also went into one of the many seminars that were on offer to listen to the amazing Sara Naumann lecturing on "Filming DIY Craft Videos".. .. OMG there is a lot more to that than meets the eye so that is on a very low back burner .. .. perhaps never to reach a front burner .. .. but having instilled in me huge respect for all those that do it so professionally. 

But we are home again now and I have mountains of leaflets and booklets to read and a lovely stash of business cards to wade through and websites to investigate, as a lot of suppliers had been unable to take their complete ranges with them.

Tomorrow it is going to be a case of falling back to earth with a bang as I lift down from the notice board that huge "must do" crafty "do list" but until then I am trying to put it out of my mind.

But I want to leave you by saying a huge

THANK YOU

to anyone who kindly voted for me in the awards

and also share a very rare picture of the lovely Mr Heart and myself in the awards suite .. .. .. where the lighting was VERY PINK .. .. but at least it makes us look like we might have a bit of a tan (we wish!!). LOL!!

Hopefully there will be some official photographs to share or link to later .. .. but for now this is a wonderful reminder of a very special moment in my life.

Thanks again to anyone who backed me and made this happen.

Edited to say:  Sheila in Cyprus .. .. I have sent you a message on an old email address I had for you .. .. but just in case that doesn't work, and in the hope that you call by here again, the exhibition we attended was a trade one .. .. not the Hobbycraft and Sewing for Pleasure one that will be taking place in March.  I would hate you to miss out on some crafty retail therapy .. .. the details are linked here for you. 

Thanks everyone for your lovely comments .. .. Mr Heart is enjoying his claim to fame in the blogging world LOL!!!

Love and hugs

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Hi Everyone

Happy Thursday!

I hope you are all well and keeping those crafty fingers working!

All systems go here with my feet hardly touching the ground .. .. but as always lots of it is self inflicted!  I am trying to get super, uber organised .. .. and it's taking quite a bit of time to get where I want to be.  Lots of other things that "have" to be done are stopping progress being as quick as I would like .. .. but hey ho .. .. I'll get there eventually.

I had a lovely little delivery arrive yesterday from Stampin' Up and a rule in the House of Hearts is that if you are lucky enough to have something new then you can't put it away until you have used it.

Well today's share lets me put two things away now because I bought a scrummy new paper stack too.

So here we go:

This used:

Stampin' Up:  Bird Builder Punch

Sentiment:  Elzybells (sadly no longer trading)

Backing Papers:  First Edition Papers "Love Story"

Spellbinders Nestabilities:  Classic Ovals Large and Scalloped Ovals Large
Woodware Heart Punch
Diamond Stickles
Bundled age Distress Ink for tickling the birds and the leaves 
Pearls from my crafty stash box

and that is it.

Hopefully catch you again soon with my magazine makes for this month.

Love

TEENY, TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

Happy teeny, tiny Tuesday everyone!

Sorry it has been so long since I last posted.  Life has been super busy since the wedding fayre .. .. but all good and exciting. 

I had a bit of a creative thought as I was nodding off last night (sad I know) and decided I would try it out to see how it looks.  Well I was happy with the results and decided it would work well on one of my teeny tiny 3.5" square creations. So here we go:

This used:

Image:  Kaisercraft Botanica Clear Stamps

Sentiment: Stampin' Up! Banner Banter stamp set and punch

Backing Paper:  Not sure.. .. just a leftover that has been lurking around for far too long!!

Embossing Powder:  Silver, Platinum, Gold and Copper

Ribbon and Button from my crafty stash box

We R Memory Keepers Evelope Punch Board for the matching envelope

Quite pleased that a little "try out" ended up as being something I can actually post on my blog .. .. .. and because I have used up just a few tiny snippets of card and ribbon I will take a quick dash and share it with the playmates over in Pixies Snippets Playground

The technique simply involved stamping the image in VersaMark Ink .. adding a stripe of silver embossing powder, tipping the excess powder off, adding a stripe platinum and repeating the tipping off and adding another colour until I had added four.  Then I heat embossed it.  I think the bottom picture shows it off best.

Definitely one to try again when I have a little more time to play properly.

But for now it is back to the ever growing "crafty must do" list!!

Enjoy your day .. .. and your pancakes if you are  indulging.

Love

JUST REPORTING IN

Hi Everyone

Happy Sunday .. .. I hope you are having a good weekend.

Many thanks to everyone who has been checking in on me and enquiring if everything is all OK in the House of Hearts.

I am very happy to report that all is good .. .. .. just very, very busy and exciting.

I really don't know where January has disappeared to.  It seems to have passed in the blink of an eye .. .. I am just hoping that the whole year isn't going to speed along at the same rate!!

My time has been spent mainly on orders, magazine commissions and wedding work .. .. all being things that I can't share at this point in time.  I am also booked into a wedding fayre next Sunday and desperately want to get some new samples together to take there and get onto my website .. .. but I want to keep the customers I already have super happy first. 

Lots of new embellishments, ribbons, lace and cardstock to create with on the wedding front, and a brain buzzing with ideas .. .. .. but no time to put everything into action yet.  Oh I do hope the next week can be one of those long ones that lasts forever .. .. .. like when I was around 9 years old and a week at school felt like a month!!!  LOL!!!

But whilst having a bit of a relax last night I did create another little sketch for my library (yes, my brain doesn't switch off even when I am relaxing).  I must be so annoying to live with.. .. I am hyper all the time.

I haven't used all the other sketches yet  .. .. ..  but it is good to have them in reserve and I know that quite a few of you are enjoying using them too.  I am pleased about that.

So here we go:

Sketch Twenty Four which went into the library this morning

Have fun if you decide to have a play with it .. .. and let me know so I can come and have a peep!

Fingers crossed I get chance to make something to share this week .. .. but for now I am off to carry on with card cutting duties ahead of a mammoth printing session.  No rest for the wicked! LOL!!

So much for all the good intentions on my New Year Resolutions list .. .. hardly any of them have been put into action yet.  But I am not giving up on them. I will still be trying to improve where I can.

Have a lovely Sunday everyone and my apologies for not getting around to your lovely blogs at the moment.  I still love you all and miss visiting you lots!!  Mwah!!

Love