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

SKETCH TWENTY TWO

Hi Everyone

I hope you all had a good weekend .. .. as usual things were pretty "full on" here in the House of Hearts .. .. but it was all very enjoyable.

I did at least get chance to play with Sketch Twenty Two and created this:

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3947K" Day-dreams
Sentiment:  Elzybells  (sadly no longer trading)
Backing Papers:  WeRMemory Keepers "Love Notes" (clearance bargain from TKMax!!)
Enamel Dots from Hobbycraft
ProMarkers
X-Cut Corner Rounding Punch
Diamond, Starry Night and Fruit Punch Stickles
Glossy Accents
Ribbon from my crafty stash box
and then Sketch number twenty two from my little sketch library (feel free to use it - along with any of the others from my library if you would like to).

I am also entering the Penny Black Saturday Challenge where this month "anything goes" (provided it is Penny Black related of course).

Hoping to be here with Teeny Tiny Tuesday this week .. .. so fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Love

ANOTHER NEW SKETCH

Hi Everyone

Happy Friday!

I have another new sketch to share with anyone who wants to play with it .. .. Sketch Twenty Three .. .. and I haven't even used Sketch Twenty Two yet!

This week has been very, very busy and jammed pack full with wedding and magazine work.  But a good chunk of the wedding work was collected today and the most urgent commissions were posted off so that means I can get on with some much needed general cards over the weekend.  

Who knows, I might even get chance to play with the un-used sketches (as well as being a much needed Mrs Wishy Washy in the old House of Hearts).  It is a sad day when you look forward to doing a bit of housework  LOL!!

Catch you soon.

Love

HAPPY MONDAY

Hi Everyone

I hope your week has got off to a good start .. .. the first day back at work for lots of folk and back to school for our local kids.  

Getting back to a sense of normality after a good Christmas break always seems extra tough don't you think?

Many thanks for your lovely comments on my post of yesterday.  I was asked about the cute image on the new baby card .. .. it is Baby Rosie from Digistamp Boutique and you can find her here.

The new Quick Cards Made Easy magazine is going on sale tomorrow and I thought you might like to see a card from two of the commissions I was fortunate to be asked to work on. 

My favourite from the Watercolour Effects Commission was this one (though to be fair I loved each and every one and really enjoyed making them all).  Must make time to get my paintbrushes out more.

and the second commission was a Foiling commission and this stepped wobble card was my favourite from this set.

So that is me for today.

I'll hopefully catch you again soon.

Love

SUNDAY SNIPPETS

Hi Everyone

I hope you have had a lovely Sunday .. .. very wet here weather wise .. .. just perfect for escaping to the old craft pod!

I started good and early today by clearing the remnants of Christmas crafting away and having a much needed tidy up. Whilst clearing I came across a couple of images I had coloured but not used so decided to use them both for a rare appearance in Pixie's Snippets Playground where we are encouraged to use up all our offcuts and scraps (and I certainly have a lot of those).

In 2014 I managed to play in the snippet playground far more than last year, and when I did I would always post two cards .. .. with one being a Christmas card.  It certainly made the approach to Christmas 2014 much more relaxed so I am going to try hard to do the same this year .. .. wedding work allowing of course! (apologies to the people who hate to see Christmas cards when it is no-where near Christmas).

So here we go .. .. my first Snippet makes for 2015 (whoops that should be 2016).

I am always lazy on a Sunday and do not list my ingredients .. .. but if there is anything you wish to know just ask and I will try my best to answer.

Enjoy the rest of your evening.

Love

NEW SKETCH FOR THE LIBRARY

Hi Everyone

I hope you are all having a good weekend.

Not only am I struggling to decide what day of the week it is .. ..  there is now a new year to bring into the equation .. ..  eeekk!!!

Sketch Twenty Two has been added to my little sketch library today.  

I was secretly hoping to have time to make a card using it at some point today .. .. but no!  No sooner am I home than weddings have taken over the day.  But never mind it is sitting there in my library ready to play with another day.  

Feel free to use it if you like the look of it.

Love

HAPPY 2016

Hi Everyone

Happy Friday and Happy New Year!!

I hope that the new year is going to be kind to everyone and that Christmas has been special.

Mr Heart and I have spent Christmas in London with the London Kids and our youngest Son.  A really super special week .. .. apart from one thing!!

I managed to drop a really big clanger - but thankfully one which didn't have any serious consequences - and one which didn't cause any real harm .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..  .. but this is the photo evidence of my senior moment.

and to reach this conclusion all you need to do is put an electric kettle onto a gas hob and fire it up!! What an idiot!!

I managed to reach the point of flames coming from the base before I noticed .. .. and the smell was awful!! 

Drinks (of the non-merry kind) ended up being prepared using a saucepan until we could escape to the shops and buy a new one in the post Christmas sales!

Anyway, we have now returned home today and my itchy fingers are really looking forward to getting my crafty goodies out .. .. but of course the washing machine needs to go on overdrive first!!

Enjoy the new year .. .. and the calendar/diary that has all those blank spaces just ready for us to fill .. .. and of course the torturous and never ending new years resolutions list. I love the start of a new year and dreaming of what it might hold.

Have a good one everyone and be careful what you are doing with your kettles!!

Love

FIVE FAVOURITE CHRISTMAS CARDS OF 2015

Hi Everyone

Happy Monday .. .. it is Monday isn't it?!?!?!?  The days are yet again all mixed up LOL!!

I hope everyone has had a good Christmas.

The lovely Debby is again asking us to share with her our "five favourite Christmas card makes" of 2015.

Sadly I didn't get chance to photograph and post to my blog many of the Christmas cards I made this year .. .. they were just made and gone in a mad flurry.  But there were certainly quite a few that have become my favourites this year .. .. and will no doubt be being repeated next year too:

This one was made lots of times in various forms
and various sizes and I loved them all!

This one was a teeny, tiny Tuesday favourite using one the sketches from my library.
 Love the cute image and for me you can't beat the traditional colours of Christmas.

Another favourite I repeated a few times which used a pre-loved stamp I gained from Ebay a few weeks earlier.
Had to smile because when it arrived it ended up sold by 
someone who lives about three miles away.  

Of course Christmas isn't Christmas without a sprinkling of those cute Penny Black Hedgies!!

Just love the Stampin' Up! window die on this card 
.. .. and I am looking forward to using it again next year. 

So there we go.  My favourite Christmas cards of 2015  .. .. ..  hopefully in 2016 I will get my act together and make more throughout the year so that I am well prepared.  As always I am busy making lots of rash New Year Resolutions ready for the weekend  -  lots of things I need to improve on!!

Yesterday was the wedding day of my lovely Snowflake bride.  No real snowflakes for her but hopefully a day filled with special memories for lots of people.

Enjoy the rest of your Christmas break.

Love

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE !

Hi Everyone

Well, Christmas Day is here and Santa will have been off-loading his sleigh with goodies for all those who have been good.

Have a lovely time everyone .. .. and for all those I know (and even those I don't) who will be struggling over the next few days .. .. please know that I will be thinking of you often and wishing I could make things different for you.  If I had a magic wand it would be working overtime so everyone could have their Christmas wishes come true.

Thank you to everyone who has called by my blog and left lovely comments or sent encouraging emails .. .. you are all very kind especially considering that this year I have struggled a little to keep my little blog active as the wedding work has been so busy, and struggled even more to keep up with what everyone else is doing.  

To finish, here is a single shot of the last Christmas card I made in 2015 .. .. dedicated to all the lovely visitors to my teeny, tiny part of blogland (and if you can spot the heart you have done very, very well indeed!).

Take care everyone and enjoy this special time.

Love

p.s.  The package didn't arrive :-(   -   so much for ordering early for Christmas!!

OK .. .. PANIC OVER

Hi Everyone

Happy Wednesday, and happy Christmas Eve Eve!!

OK .. .. so the panic is over. 

A calmer and more relaxed atmosphere is starting to descend on the House of Hearts and we are "nearly" ready .. .. .. .. but keeping our fingers crossed that the post lady delivers a package we ordered last month in readiness for Christmas.  We have come to the conclusion that the original one that they posted out went astray so a second has been dispatched. Oh .. . I do hope it arrives.  Two more chances!!!  (Nah .. .. not today .. .. just one more chance now!!)

My lovely Snowflake bride has been and collected all of her wedding goodies ready for her big day on Sunday .. .. we only just managed to get everything loaded into her car.  In fact at one stage we thought it was going to take two trips LOL!!

Mr Heart broke up for Christmas yesterday, finishing with his works Christmas lunch .. .. .. so in a rash moment of madness (or was it envy?) I decided I deserved an office party of my own so took myself and my wedding website designer (aka my youngest Son) out for our own "works Christmas lunch". We really enjoyed it. I think that's the beauty of last minute surprises.

Then off to Mum to deliver her parcels and this card I made  for her:

This used:

Memory Box Die:  Snowflake Heart
Computer Generated Sentiment
Pink Petticoat Backing Papers
Glitter card in silver and aqua
Aqua Glitter
Ribbon, Pearls and a Gem from my crafty stash box

Not quite my last Christmas card.  Just one more to make for a lovely lady we are going to visit this afternoon.  An amazing lady in her 90's who just loves to receive a handmade card .. .. and after giving them to her for years she would wonder what had happened if she didn't get one this year.

Sadly I haven't been able to do the same for everyone this year .. .. must get something in place to make sure they are done good and early next year!!!  (Famous last words no doubt!!).

Love