MY SKETCH FOR MARCH

Hi Everyone

I hope your week has been a good one.

Quite a bit has been accomplished this week in the House of Hearts .. .. .. .. but as always I am never satisfied and always expect more from my days.  

I wonder if I will ever reach the stage where I say "that will do for today" and then just chill!  I somehow doubt it!  

Today I have added a new sketch into My Sketch Vault, which you can find on a tab at the top of my blog.

It looks like this:

and when put to use can look like this:

This used:

Image: LOTV James the Bear Thinking Simply Print
Sentiment:  LOTV Simply Cute Sentiments
Backing Papers:  Papermania Capsule Collection "Midnight Blush" (super duper old)
X-Cut Corner Rounding Punch
Spellbinders Circle Die
Creative Expressions:  Shaded Peony with matching die set
Dew Drop
ProMarkers
My Trusty Sewing Machine

If you want to play with any of my sketches then please feel free to do so.  I love using them as it takes half the thinking out of producing a card.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

GREEN CHRISTMAS

Hi Everyone

I hope your week has been going well.

I am here to play along with the Christmas Kickstart Challenge where the current theme  is "Green Christmas".

My Christmas card stash is a little slow in growing this year, my Christmas stock box is usually a little fuller by now, so I decided to have a little "batch making" session in an attempt to "get ahead" and be super early ready for Christmas.  

I want 2021 to be my most organised and stress free Christmas ever!!

So here we go. 

My green Christmas:

This used:

Images:  Hero Arts "K5620" and "H5629" 
Sentiment:  Woodware Clear Magic Singles "FRS771" Merry & Bright
Memento Ink:  Bamboo Leaves
Silver Embossing Powder
Nail Head
My Trusty Sewing Machine

So I now need to finish the other six cards and then this year I am going to be putting my inserts into my cards straight away.  Last year I had lots of cards made but ended up sitting there for ages and ages putting the insert inside.

Not my most favourite of crafty tasks!

See you again soon.

THERE IS NOTHING LIKE A MOTHER'S LOVE

Hi Everyone

Happy Monday!

I hope all you Mums out there had the best Mother's Day you could yesterday.  

Some of my day was spent at my Mum's and I picked up our youngest Son on my way home.  He is part of our "bubble" so he was able to sleep over as well.  

We got to facetime and play games on-line with the London Kids .. .. .. so it felt like we were all "sort of" together.  A lovely day all in all which I really enjoyed.  

This is the card I gave to my Mum .. .. her home is full of succulents and cacti so I thought this image would be perfect for her.

This used:

Image:  Vera Lane Studios "Succulents"

Sentiment:  Computer Generated

Backing Paper:  From snippet mountain (that pile isn't going down very quickly even though I am trying really hard)

ProMarkers

Ribbon
My Trusty Sewing Machine

I am back at Mum's again today .. .. it will be interesting to see if all the cards I stood up for her yesterday are still on display.  She isn't one for having them "cluttering the place up" .. .. .. where as mine stay on show for a least a week! Sometimes more!!  LOL!

Enjoy today everyone .. .. .. and stay safe. 

VINTAGE CHRISTMAS

Hi Everyone

I hope your day has gone well.  

I took Mum for her second Covid vaccination today .. .. so we are one step nearer to being able to take her out and about again one day.. .. .. .. once everywhere is safe to be opened up of course and I have had my second vaccine.  I must admit it is going to feel very strange and scary when we are told we are free.  I wonder if we will still have to wear our facemasks?!?!?

Anyway, my share for today is for taking over to Fezziwig's Festive Frolics Challenge where the theme for this fortnight is Vintage.  I have had my image stamped out for a few days now, but haven't had chance to turn it into a card until this evening.

So here we go:

This used:  

Image:  Stampendous "Snowy Postcard"
Backing Papers:  Papermania "A Silent Night" (a very old paper collection - I loved the holly paper in the pack so much that I bought another two packs in the post Christmas sale .. .. again all the holly paper has been used but I still have lots of other designs to work my way through)

ProMarkers
Crystal Glamour Dust
Pearls

My Trusty Sewing Machine

In the past I have only used this image on a square card base.  Must admit I think I prefer it on a rectangular card.

Many thanks for your lovely comments on my stampbord creation of earlier this week.  I am looking forward to seeing if any of you fellow stampbord hoarders break yours out for a play too.  Please let me know if you do.  I would love to see what you do with yours!

Enjoy your weekend everyone.  

TEENY, TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

I hope that today turned out to be a good day for you.  We had some lovely sunshine but sadly it isn't predicted for the remainder of the week.  

Tonight I have a bit of a "different" teeny tiny card to share.  Still measuring 3.5 inches square though.

I am really lucky to have a special craft buddy and between us we "virtually" discuss all things crafty (and other things besides LOL!!) and we often discuss stash we have acquired over the years  .. .. some of which hasn't seen the light of day in ages .. .. and occasionally never at all. 

One such item which we both possess, but hadn't used, was a plastic bag which contained different sized rectangles of Stampbord.  

For anyone who hasn't heard of Stampbord, it is a hardboard panel covered with a layer of super smooth dry clay. 

We challenged ourselves to both use the largest piece in our plastic bag and took our inspiration from this YouTube Video here

This is my offering (attached to a teeny, tiny card):

The centre piece looks like it is standing well proud of my die cut and that is because it has a magnet on the back along with a temporary sticky dot .. .. .. this means my tiny work of art can be taken from the card front and attached to a fridge front.  (That was my crafty friend's idea .. .. which I thought was such a good idea!  Thanks for that matie! xx)

There are different ways to treat the edges (if you want to cover them) but I simply used a clear embossing ink pad and gold embossing powder.

This used:

Stampbord
Distress Ink Pads
Image:  AALL & Create "Eclectic Stems"
Can't remember where the sentiment came from but if I remember I will add it here
Gold Embossing Powder
Creative Expressions Embossing Folder EF-079 "Love Hearts"
Go Kreate:  Scalloped Squares 
Magnet
Temporary Glue Dot

and that is me for today.

Keeping my fingers crossed for some more decent weather tomorrow.

Take care everyone.

PENNY BLACK SATURDAY CHALLENGE

Hi Everyone

I hope you have had a good Saturday .. .. .. halfway through the weekend already!

It is the first day of the Penny Black Saturday Challenge today and I thought I would open the Penny Black stamp drawer and play along.

The theme is always "anything goes" as long as it includes a Penny Black product .. .. .. but with an optional theme this month of "flowers".

So I have gone for this stamp which I bought as a pre-loved stamp a while ago:

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "2063K" Water Lily Skiing
Image:  Cardio Stamps "Mini Tall Trees"

Sentiment:  Digistamp Boutique Clear Stamp Set (sadly no longer trading .. .. boo hoo!!!)

Backing Papers:  from my Snippet Mountain
Nestabilities:  Circle and Scalloped Circle Dies
ProMarkers
Diamond Stickles

Distress Ink Pads:  Tumbled Glass, Weathered Wood and Peeled Paint
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today.

I don't seem to have had much "crafty playtime/blog time" recently but hopefully this will all change soon and I will be back on track and in a better routine.

Take care everyone and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

TEENY, TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

Well the weather has taken a bit of a turn for the worse after the beautiful sunshine we were treated to at the weekend .. .. .. but I suppose it is a bit early in the year to be expecting too much isn't it. 

I am here today to share a quick teeny tiny card, which for anyone new calling by my blog, measures a whole 3.5 inches square.  I love making small cards and very sadly I love making the little tiny envelopes too .. .. .. both the cards, inserts and the envelopes being great for reducing those snippets too!  

Here is today's offering:

Image:  AALL & Create "Knibs & Mushrooms"
Sentiment:  LOTV "Embossed Labels"
Backing Papers:  Not sure .. .. from the snippet mountain
My Trusty Sewing Machine
We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board

There are two sets of stamps in the pack .. .. Knibs & then Mushrooms.  The mushrooms will make an appearance another day.

I stamped the knibs onto some thin silver paper using Black Stazon, cut them out and then added them to the image.

So that is me for today,

Take care everyone and I hope you managed to find a little crafty time to lose yourself in a some point today.

See you again soon.

SUNDAY SNIPPETS

Hi Everyone

Happy Sunday!

I hope that you are all having a really lovely weekend.

The sun has been shining beautifully here .. .. .. it certainly puts a spring in your step and lifts the spirits doesn't it?

My "clear up" campaign is still continuing and part of that mission involves making use of snippets of card and backing papers that seem to keep breeding when my back is turned .. .. .. .. and that is what today's card consists of.  

All card and paper came from snippet mountain apart from the base card.

This used:

Image and Sentiment:  My Favorite Things "Birthday Bears"
Backing papers:  All from Snippet Mountain
Spellbinders Frameabilities:  Scalloped Edge Frame (but I used the plain frame within the set and inked through the holes with Distress Ink).
ProMarkers
Nail Heads
My Trusty Sewing Machine

So as I have used lots of snippets I am heading over to Pixie's Snippets Playground Challenge.

Enjoy the rest of your day .. .. .. can you believe it is March tomorrow!!!!  Where is the year going? 

For saying we haven't been allowed to do much the time is certainly flying by!

FEZZIWIG'S FESTIVE FROLICS CHALLENGE

Hi Everyone

I hope your week is off to a good start.

Here tonight with a make for taking over to Fezziwig's Festive Frolics Challenge where the theme this fortnight is quite strict .. .. .. square or rectangular cards are banned.  Eeeekkk!!!

I decided on this little fella:

This used:

Backing Papers:  Wild Rose Studio "Winter Bauble"
Wooden Sentiment embossed with White Embossing Powder
Sizzix Snowflake Die "659912" (Discontinued)
Glitter Card
Gems
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today with another Christmas card into the box.  

PENNY BLACK SATURDAY CHALLENGE

Hi Everyone

I hope you have all been enjoying your weekend.

Don't ask me where I have been this last week because I have no idea!  Life has been super busy and I don't seem to have stopped for a second.

The re-organising is continuing and I am actually able to see improvements in a few areas.  Woo hoo!!

I have a quick and simple share today that I am taking over to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "1445K" Partying
Sentiment:  Computer Generated using font "Aracne Condensed Regular"
Backing Paper:  A lucky find in a snippet box .. .. I coloured my image last night and was quite pleased when I came to use it this morning that I had a scrap of paper that was a perfect match.
ProMarkers
My Trusty Sewing Machine

The theme for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge is always "anything goes" (provided it uses Penny Black products) and this month the optional theme is "paper-piecing".  I started going through my stamps to decide what I would paper piece (other than the ones I "always" paper piece) .. .. and decided I was wasting far too much time so decided to just go down the "anything goes" route.

Hopefully this coming week is going to see me much more productive on the blogging front and catching up with all my lovely blog pals!

Take care and have a good week.

Had my Covid vaccine last Friday and was really surprised to learn that they were also allowing "walk-ins" to have one.  I guess it is a case of the more the merrier ... .. .. but it did make for rather long and slow queues!

I wonder what announcements Boris is going to make tomorrow?  I certainly don't envy him his job that's for sure .. .. ..  give me my little craft pod any day!  

FEBRUARY'S SKETCH

Hi Everyone

I hope you have enjoyed the start to your week.  

Definitely the super cold snap seems to have given way to a much warmer day here today.

It is about time a new sketch for February made an appearance in my sketch vault (I am trying to add a new one each month) and this is how I have used this month's offering:  

This used:

Image: LOTV "Spring Blooms"

Sentiment:  DigiStamp Boutique Clear Stamp (sadly no longer trading .. boo hoo!)
Design Papers:  First Edition Papers:  Bella Rose
Martha Stewart Daisy Edge Punch
ProMarkers
X-Cut Flower Punch

Double Fishtail Die - unbranded from Amazon
Dew Drop Sticker
Pearls
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and my new sketch

If anyone wants to use any of my sketches then please feel free to do so .. .. .. I use them as a reference point when I want to create a quick card and don't have time to faff about thinking things through.

So that is me for today .. .. .. I will catch you again soon, hopefully.

LOVE

Hi Everyone

Just a quick scheduled post to send everyone a little love on Valentine's Day.

Mr Heart and I will be tucking into our Valentine meal as this goes live but I just wanted to send some love everyone's way .. .. it is important to feel loved and give love wherever you can.

Hope the heart wasn't too difficult to find today!

SLIMLINE CHRISTMAS

Hi Everyone

I hope your week has been going well.

Life is being super busy here at the moment with one thing and another and I seem to be getting nowhere fast .. .. .. in fact the only thing that seems to be going fast are the weeks!

Anyway, just flying in quickly with a card for the Christmas Kickstart Challenge where the theme for the current challenge is "Slimline Cards". 

This card did start off as a full blown DL card but in the end I trimmed it down a little .. .. so now I will need to make and envelope as well LOL!!

This used:

Image and Sentiment:  Indigo Blu " Stag Cliffhanger"
Backing Paper from snippet mountain
Distress Inks:  Stormy Sky, Pumice Stone and Milled Lavender
X-Cut:  Holly Die
White Gell Pen
Pearls
My Trusty Sewing Machine

Christmas card number five into the stock box!

Take care and stay safe.

WINTER WISHES

Hi Everyone

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend and are managing to find something to amuse yourself.

Certainly lots going on here which has resulted in me practically turning the whole house up-side-down! LOL!!!  

I must admit I was expecting to wake up to snow this morning (but thankfully we didn't) which is probably why I made this card last night.:

This used:

Die Set:  The Paper Boutique "Winter Wishes"
Backing Papers from snippet mountain
Gems
Ribbon
My Trusty Sewing Machine

I took photographs last night and again this morning but with using mirror card to mount the sentiment onto I was really struggling to get a decent shot without lots of reflections .. .. .. so today I am making do with just the one "fairly decent" shot.

This is for taking over to Fezziwigs Festive Frolics Challenge where we have a choice of ingredients this fortnight to pick from .. .. and need to use at least three of them. 

This is the list to pick from:

Ribbon (tick)

Shaped Card

Texture

Gems (tick)

Digi Stamp

Glitter

Red (just a teeny tiny tick LOL!)

Gold (tick)

Green

Snowflakes (tick)

Quite a good list to pick from really .. .. .. .. I wonder if anyone is going to manage all ten?

Anyway .. .. that is me for today.  Enjoy your Sunday whatever you are up to and stay safe.

THINKING OF YOU

Hi Everyone

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

Quite a bit of my time has been spent on re-arranging my craft pod .. .. .. I am nowhere near finished yet and already I can't find everything I am looking for LOL!!

Just jumping in and out of blogland  quickly tonight with a make I finished today:

This used:

Sizzix:  3-D Embossing Folder "662716" Botanical
Sizzix Thinlits Die Set "664163" Wildflower Stems #1
Sentiment:  Digistamp Boutique (sadly no longer trading .. .. boo hoo!!!)
Border Die:  The Works
Distress Inks:  Speckled Egg, Peeled Paint and Fossilized Amber
Gold Gilding Wax
Ribbon
My Trusty Sewing Machine

Apologies if you are getting fed up with seeing this die set and embossing folder, but I love them soooo much!!

.. .. .. and that is me for today.

Catch you again soon.