SUNDAY SNIPPETS

Hi Everyone

I hope your day has been enjoyable .. .. .. definitely a little cooler and more comfortable here today.  Until I switched the cooker on!!!

People who have followed my blog for a while may remember me making my own gelli plate some time ago.  I used it for a while but shockingly when I got it out again after leaving it stored for a few weeks  it was growing its own mould cultures .. .. ..  so I decided that wasn't one of my better ideas.  

I then treated myself to a "proper" gelli plate .. .. and today decided it was time for me to let it see the light of day and start playing with it.

When I played with my "home made" gelli plate I used acrylics but have to admit I wasn't keen on the stiffness and chalkiness of the finished result on a card front.  Great inside a frame as a picture on the wall but that's all  .. ..  though I appreciate that may not be the case for everyone.  Just personal preference on my part.  

Today, to get me started I simply produced a background using a brayer and distress inks.  Nothing out of this world but it did use up an offcut of white card (one of many I have about the place) and the colours were nice and soft which is what I wanted.  

Yay!!  I think I have started on a gelli plate journey.

I simply stamped flowers and a sentiment onto the inked background and paper-pieced the flowerheads with even more snippets.

These flower stamps are very, very old, (in fact a whole ten years old) and are probably the most well used flowers in my collection. I have an old Chinese Takeaway tray that stores these flowers in a variety of colours and patterns. 

This used:

Image:  Papermania "Hampstead Collection" Sketch Flower
Sentiment:  MFT  All Occasion Sentiments
Distress Ink Pads:  Tumbled Glass and Bundled Sage
Backing Paper:  From my snippet mountain
X-Cut:  Scallop Edge Punch
Ribbon
Nail Heads
My Trusty Sewing Machine

Because I have used lots of snippets I am taking my creation over to Pixie's Snippets Playground Challenge where we are encouraged to use up our leftovers.  A good few of them were used up on this little creation.

TWEET TWEET MY LOVELY

 Hi Everyone

I hope the first day of your weekend has gone well.

Too hot for me to be out there in the great outdoor, so I have been in my little craft pod for a good bit of the day and this was one of my creations:

This used: 

Stampin' Up Bird Bird Builder Punch

Backing Paper:  The Works

Sentiment:  Computer Generated using font "Aracne Condensed Regular"

X-Cut Flower Punch and Heart Punch

ProMarkers

Nail Heads

Gems

My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today.

I hope everyone has had a good day and I wish you a good one tomorrow too.

YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE

 Hi Everyone

I hope you have all had a lovely day and didn't melt away in all the heat and sunshine.

Another busy old day here .. .. .. but thankfully one that did allow me to create a card that I could post to my blog.

I am not sure when this lovely image made it's way onto the LOTV Etsy Store .. .. I only noticed it yesterday and knew that I would really enjoy colouring it .. .. .. and I certainly did!  

I didn't think it needed lots of backing or papers, I just printed and cut it slightly smaller than the kraft base card I created.

This used:

Image:  LOTV "You are my Sunshine"
Sentiment:  LOTV "Everythings Better Sentiments"
ProMarkers

and that is it.  No sewing machine, no backing papers .. .. just lots of lovely colouring which I really enjoyed doing.

Hopefully catch you again tomorrow (I hope).

LET IT SNOW

Hi Everyone

I hope all is good with everyone .. .. .. .. things have been a bit busy here in the House of Hearts .. .. ..  Mr Heart's early retirement is definitely making days and weeks fly by even faster than they did before!  Even if we are keeping ourselves in lock-down for the majority of our time.

Today I decided to raid my scrapling card box, which is where I put all the offcuts from the card bases I make.  I usually use these cards in portrait style .. .. but today have gone for landscape.

A little bit of playtime this evening created my second Christmas card for August .. .. using one of my favourite techniques (one of probably 50 LOL!!) the "inlaid die-cut" technique.   I call it a jig-saw puzzle for crafters.

This used:

Apple Blossom Die:  Large Snowflake (another very old die)

Sentiment:  Pink Petticoat

Very fine Silver Glitter Card

Nail Heads

Metallic Cord

This was made for taking over to the Christmas Kickstart Challenge where the theme this fortnight is  "Snow is Falling".  

Hopefully catch you again soon.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Hi Everyone

  

I hope that you have enjoyed your weekend.  They seem to be whizzing by very quickly don't they.

Today I made a card for taking over to Fezziwig's Festive Frolics where the theme is "Let's see Santa".

Lots of Santa's in my crafty stash but I particularly love this one:

This used:

Image, Sentiment and Backing Papers all from Polkadoodles "Winnie Winterland" Big Kahuna Digital Craft Download Bundle.

Memory Box "99031" Snowflake Heart (the snowflakes are the lovely waste)

Gems

Crystal Glamour Dust

My Trusty Sewing Machine

I love playing with this Polkadoodles download very much - the gorgeous images come plain or pre-coloured. There are some gorgeous Christmas papers alongside but you can hardly see mine here unfortunately.

Today I used pre-coloured images to create a little scene using my Serif Craft Artist 2 programme.  

The only thing I changed was adding a mouth to Santa's "significant other".  I do struggle with images where the characters don't have mouths .. .. .. and yet I love my collection of Willow Tree ornaments and they don't have any eyes, nose or a mouth!!!  So where is the logic there?

Anyway, that is me for today.

Let's wait and see what this next week is going hold for us shall we?

Take care and stay safe.  

Thankfully there is snooker on TV this week so my Mum won't be asking "Can I go out yet?".  She will be glued to her TV.  Bless!

PORTRAITS

Hi Everyone

I hope your weekend has got off to a good start.  Definitely a little cooler than yesterday (thank goodness).

Today's card is for two challenges.

The Penny Black Saturday Challenge where the theme is always "anything goes" or this month's optional theme is "Make the Sentiment the Focus"

and then a new challenge for me .. .. the Little Red Wagon Challenge where this week the theme is "Give Us Your Background" .. .. so no design papers .. .. make your own background.

This is what I came up with:

this used:

Image:  Penny Black "3868J" Portraits

Sentiment:  DigiStamp Boutique (sadly no longer trading .. .. boo hoo!!!)

Gold Embossing Powder

Distress Oxide Ink Pads:  Worn Lipstick, Broken China and Festive Berries (with water splashes)

Spellbinder Circle and Scallop Circle Dies

MFT Stitched Flower Dies

Ribbon

Nail Heads

My Trusty Sewing Machine

I have spent much of today putting inserts into cards and packaging them up .. .. .. I really need to do this as I finish them because that for me is the most boring part of card making.   I should get it out of the way when there is only one to do!

Catch you again tomorrow!

SUNFLOWERS

Hi Everyone

Happy Friday!

I hope all is ticking along OK with you.

Just posting quickly whilst waiting for the oven to finish cooking and also listening to the revised rules regarding the virus pandemic.

Scarily I can't help wondering if the second wave is on its way.  I feel some folks have just done far too much far too soon!  We won't even go to our local take-away or pub garden .. .. .. let alone consider leaving the country to holiday!  I will stop here or I will start ranting LOL!!

Anyway, a quick make today as I have a stack of orders to get through over the next few days:

This used:

Image and backing papers:  Nitwits Sunflower Cottage Collection

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

Spellbinder Circle and Scallop Circle Dies

Ribbon

My Trusty Sewing Machine

A lovely and fairly quick style of card to make, and the sort that is very popular at the moment with my customers  .. .. ..  the insert is kept blank so that it can be used for lots of different occasions.  

I purchase an annual printed Angel Use License from Nitwits so that I am allowed to use their lovely images/papers on any work I sell.  They were also happy for me to use the papers in my wedding work too which brought some fun and colourful invitations into my collection.  Not everyone wanted "Princess" style invites .. .. .. for some it was the quirkier the better as they wanted something "different" that their guests would remember.

Anyway, back to it.  Lots to cross off my list .. .. .. good job is it Mr Heart's day to cook his special fish and chip supper.

Enjoy the rest of this lovely sunny day .. .. .. and have a great weekend.

CATS OR DOGS

Hi Everyone

I hope you are all well and the week is being kind to you.

So this is my last fortnight as a guest designer for the 

As You Like It Challenge 

how quickly has that month flown by?  

This fortnight the theme is :

Cats  -  OR  -  Dogs (and say why?)

To be honest I have no preference where “real” dogs or cats are concerned.. .. ..

 neither have ever frequented our house .. .. ..  

but I do love colouring the cats in my Penny Black stamp collection 

so that was the basis of my choice .. .. CATS

My creation used:

Image:  Penny Black "1738K" Uplifting Occasion!

Sentiment:  Hobby Art Stamps "CS013D" Floral Greeting

Backing Papers:  From my over growing Snippet Mountain

ProMarkers

Tumbled Glass Distress Ink

X-Cut Extra Large Circle Dies

Nail Heads

My Trusty Sewing Machine

I hope you get chance to play along.

Enjoy your day everyone and I will catch you again tomorrow.

SILENT NIGHT

Hi Everyone

Hope Tuesday has been kind to you.

Very blustery here .. .. just perfect for drying lines of washing.

My playtime this evening was my final Christmas card for July .. .. and it is a teeny, tiny one!  For anyone new to my blog this measures a whole 3.5" square.

 

This used:

Image and Sentiment:  Stampendous "CRR184" Silent Night
Backing Paper:  Silver Glitter Card
Distress Ink Pads in shades of blue along with a splash of water
Circle Mask made from a Post it Note
Versafine Onyx Black Stamp Pad
Clear Embossing Powder
White Gel Pen
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is my playtime for today.

Catch you again soon.

GUEST BOOK

Hi Everyone

Thank you to everyone for your comments and suggestions on yesterday's face mask.  They were really helpful.

I had to smile when I realised that we are all probably the same .. .. .. squirrelling our favourite things away that we love too much to use. 

I put my mask to good use today when I went out shopping for Mum.  Everyone around town was wearing their masks and I found myself looking to see the different styles and designs.  My favourite was being worn by a young lady and she had a little circle where her nose was and whiskers.  She looked really cute.

A bit late back from Mum so no playtime today .. .. .. so instead I will share a guest book .. .. .. which as you can tell from the date on the front was made as a sample quite a few years ago and has been taken to lots and lots of wedding fayres.

I have made this type of guest book in a vast array of different colours, some where the basic book is white, some where it is ivory and this, which has been the most popular one .. .. kraft

You might think kraft can't be pretty but believe me it can.  

I remember one particular kraft guest book that had the centre done in a very pale ivory which was then stitched onto a lovely rose gold glitter layer followed by a dusky vintage pink.  The hearts were tied with thin pink ribbon instead of twine and all the printed hearts around the edge were replaced with small rose gold glitter hearts .. .. and the large hearts were again the vintage pink and rose gold.  All the writing was done in a lovely deep vintage pink too.

It looked stunning, but sadly I can't share it because it contained personal details of the "happy couple" on the front.  But this gives you a bit of an idea.

So that is me for today.

Teeny tiny Tuesday tomorrow!  Hopefully see you then.

COVER THAT FACE

Hi Everyone

I hope your Sunday has been a good one .. .. relaxing if you wanted it to be .. .. and productive if you needed it to be.

Mine has been quite enjoyable, but with no cards made. 

Today I wanted to try making a fabric face mask following a YouTube Video that a lovely blogging pal emailed over to me (thanks matie .. .. doesn't look quite as dapper as yours but not bad for a first attempt).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCJcE-r7kcg

The first hurdle to pass in making it was to locate my stash of fabric.  Should I move all the furniture about in my craft pod so I could get to the drawers in my sewing cabinet .. .. or should I go up into the roof and find the plastic boxes that hold the rest of my fabric?

The roof space won .. .. I decided if I started moving things round in my very small craft pod one thing would lead to another and I would end up getting no sewing done at all!

Once up there I located the two rather large boxes .. .. eventually .. .. and started going through them.  I loved rummaging through them and it made me want to start sewing and making my own clothes again.  Lots of fabric in there that I had bought when I used to go out to work for making suits, skirts, blouses and most of all waistcoats.  I love waistcoats .. .. especially when they have beautiful snazzy lining inside and on the back.  Perhaps I could bring waistcoats back into fashion again LOL!!

It took me ages to choose what I could "spare" to have a go at making a mask.  I kept thinking what each piece could make instead and would put it back into the box.  I could make myself a whole new wardrobe with what is squirrelled away!!  

Anyway I decided this piece was just perfect .. .. .. by the time I had chopped my pieces off it I would still have enough fabric for a short sleeved top.

This was the finished look:

Certainly a much better fit than the disposable ones we have been using up to now, and much more comfortable too.  It even fits Mr Heart! (not that he would wear one with flowers on in a month of Sundays) and my glasses didn't steam up either!

With it being a pretty successful attempt it looks like I will be back to deciding what other fabric I can spare, as apparently we need to wash them after each use so we will need a few.  

I just don't know why I feel so possessive over pieces of fabric I have let sit there for years on end whilst playing with card, paper and ribbon!

All that remains now is to decide what we pop inside the inner pocket as a filter. What have other people been using?  Does anyone have any suggestions please?

A CARD FOR TWO CHALLENGES

Hi Everyone

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

We have had a good old thunder storm this evening with masses and masses of rain.  It was coming down so fast it was bouncing off the greenhouse and creating what looked like a halo around it.  A lovely sight to see.

Back in the olden days when we went out whenever we wanted, and stayed as long as we wanted because we felt comfortable, Mr Heart and I spent some time in The Range.  I had raided the craft section, as always, and then as Mr Heart hadn't retired at that point, I suggested we have a quick look at the wallpaper for some ideas ready for starting our decorating.

I always take swatches home and stick them on the wall to see if I still like them further down the line.

Whilst choosing a few swatches I also picked a few metallic ones and a fun glitter swatch too .. .. .. not for sticking on my walls but for using on my cards.

The blue glitter paper on my card below was the sample I took and I have added embossing paste through a stencil to create the stars.

It doesn't smell of wallpaper and didn't shed glitter everywhere.  I am very tempted to go back and buy a roll of it.  I can't imagine it on any of the walls in my home but as stash in my craft pod .. .. yes indeedy!!  I wonder what other colours they do it in? LOL!!!  I could make zillions of cards with a roll of wallpaper LOL!!

I haven't used the metallic samples yet .. .. but they will make an appearance at some point.

So here is my card:

This used:

Wallpaper .. .. LOL!!!

Sizzix Stamp and Die Set "659376" Holiday Joy

Crafter's Companion Stamp and Die Set "Festive Wishes"

Provo Craft Dies:  Two different ones for the snowman and his hat (very, very, very old)

Backing paper from my Snippet Mountain

Memento Ink Pads:  Rich Cocoa and Pistachio

Embossing Paste

Memory Box:  Star Stencil

Spellbinders Circle Die

Snowflakes from my snowflake box

Gems

My Trusty Sewing Machine

I am entering this into two challenges:

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge where the theme is "Starry, starry night"

and

The Rudolph Days Challenge for July where the theme is always "anything Christmas goes"

So that is my fourth Christmas card for July .. .. just one more to go!

TWEET WISHES

Good morning everyone

I hope your week is going well.

At last I have found time to put together the "step by step" card I promised as the conclusion to my little "sewing on cards" tutorials.  

Lots of pictures, which I think are much easier to follow than a string of words/instructions .. .. but before I start this is the finished teeny, tiny 3.5" square card

I didn't include any circles that needed stitching 

.. .. .. but you could just as easily change the centre aperture into any shape you fancy.

So these are the basic shapes I began with.  

A base card that has a strip of design paper added, a green square that is slightly larger than the pink frame, and a piece of striped design paper that is slightly smaller than the pink frame.

Add small dots of glue to the corners of the frame - but not near the inner or outer edges as this is where you will be stitching and you don't want to transfer any glue into your sewing machine.

Add the striped design paper to the back of the frame

Stitch around the inner edge of the frame and pull the end threads through to the back

Stick the ends down with clear tape.

Add glue to the corners of the backed frame, again avoiding the outer edge.

Attach to the green square

Stitch the outer edges of the frame,  pull the ends to the back of your work 

and stick down with clear tape.

Add to the card front.

You could just stitch the frame and then mount it onto the striped design paper, 

but I like the fact that everything is stitched together strong and secure. 

Now it just needs the diecut bird and sentiment adding.

 

The sentiment was computer generated using font "Mr Sirloin BTN Rare"

The bird is a X-Cut Die - Folk Bird

and the musical notes are a small punch

So this finishes my string of sewing tutorials.  

I hope you have enjoyed the little journey 

and that some of you will have fun adding a bit of stitching to your creations.

Take care everyone and enjoy your day.