MONDAY'S MALE

Hi Everyone

Happy Monday!

I hope you have had a good day.

My card today was inspired by a card that Dorothy Wood created in Issue 166 of Quick Cards Made Easy .. .. when I saw it in the magazine I really loved it. 

So when I spied the dies for sale at the Range last week the card was immediately in my mind again and I just had to buy the dies to make one.

This is actually the third one I have made (so already I can tell it is going to be a very useful die set). My other versions have been pink for females .. .. but in blue tones I thought it would be good for a male cards.

This used:

Die'sire Metal Dies:  Perfect Paisley

Backing Papers:  Craft Sensations by Grafix "All Time Favourites"

Sentiment:  Printed directly onto the design paper using font "Zipty Do"
Black fineliner pen
Brush Markers
Single hole punch
My Trusty Sewing Machine 
Shabby Shutters Distress Ink
Brother Scan N Cut for the Grass Panel (still using my lovely machine daily .. .. so pleased I invested .. .. but still lots I need to learn!).

So that is me for today.

Catch you again soon.

SUNDAY SNIPPETS

Hi Everyone

I hope you have all had a lovely Sunday .. .. ours has been super busy, but I was able to sneak a few crafty minutes to use up some of the white card offcuts that are slowly taking over my life.

I have been trying to catch up a little in blogland as well and have been seeing lots of Christmas cards being made .. .. and I have to admit to being rather envious of the numbers some people already have piling up ready for that manic season.  My Christmas stock box hardly has any!!  Eeekkk!!

So with that in mind I decided to make a Christmas card .. .. only a teeny, tiny one .. .. but it still counts

On a Sunday I am lazy and do not list my ingredients but if there is anything you would like to know then please just ask away.

Really happy with this card and can see it being repeated quite a few times .. .. and my snippets will certainly stretch to it.

I have enjoyed being back in blogland more .. .. .. let's face it .. .. it's the nearest I get to office gossip LOL!!

Enjoy the new week that is looming.  I hope it is kind to you.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE BABY GIRLS GONE?

Hi Everyone

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

Mine has been a day for "happy couples" calling by .. .. which is always exciting.  I love hearing about everyone's wedding plans and get just as excited about everything as the bride (and sometimes the groom) do!  LOL!!

So, what I want to know is why are there only baby boys happening in my life at the moment.  What has happened to the baby girls?

Every newborn baby card request has been male .. .. and I enjoyed adding a new design into the mix this week!

This used:

Image:  Lili of the Valley Digi Image: Bunny Moon

Sentiment:  Computer Generated using font Aracne Condensed and then stamped around with the plain tag from the Lili of the Valley Christmas SentimentsTag Set

Backing Paper:  The Lovely Studio  (was Pink Petticoat)  Gingham

First Edition Dies:  Nesting Doily

Josy Rose: Nail Heads

ProMarkers

Tumble Glass Distress Ink for painting a light background to the image

Glamour Dust

Eyelet and Eyelet setter

Dimension Pads

Ribbon and Cord from my crafty stashbox

and my Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today.

The sky has just gone very dark so time to run like the wind to the washing line.

Catch you again soon folks and have a lovely weekend.

TEENY TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Tuesday!

I hope you have all had a good day.

Ours started very dull and overcast and then by mid afternoon turned into the most beautiful sunny day .. .. .. until all the flying ants decided to make an appearance!!  If they were white it would have looked like we were having a snow flurry!  I have never seen so many.

Anyway, enough of those .. .. everytime I think of them I start itching LOL!!

I was having a good sort out and putting away leftovers from some finished weddings this morning .. .. and decided that I would use a selection of them to make a teeny tiny card (3.5 inches square for anyone who is new to my blog).

There colours were not all part of the same wedding .. .. but I felt they worked well together .. .. and it also gave me chance to have another play with my Polychromos Pencils.  There aren't many colours in my collection at the moment but I think these colours worked well:

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3868J" Portraits
Sentiment:  X-Cut Mini Die "With Love"
Polychromos Pencils
My Trusty Sewing Machine
White Gel Pen
Glamour Dust
Ribbon
We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board

I am entering my card into the Penny Black Saturday Challenge where the theme this month is Flowers and also Pixie's Snippets Playground where the lovely Di encourages us to use up our offcuts .. .. well the little silver pieces in my sentiment show you just how small a snippet can be LOL!!!

Catch again soon .. .. I hope!

THANK YOU

Hi Everyone

Happy Wednesday!

Many thanks for all the lovely comments and emails I received on yesterday's post.  You are all so very kind.

Today I am sharing the favourites of my makes which are in the new issue of Quick Cards Made Easy magazine that went on sale yesterday.

It is a super special issue for me because I get to introduce you to "the London Kids" -  regular visitors will already know lots about them .. .. but now you can put faces to them too.

So here we go 

This is my favourite from a commission entitled "Shadowbox Cards" 

and these are the London Kids.  My super handsome Son and his beautiful wife .. .. who kindly gave me permission to use their pictures in the magazine.  They were cut from a photograph which was taken the day after their wedding .. .. just before we drove them to the airport to catch a plane for their honeymoon.  I still drive the car we used and still have bits of confetti trapped in various places (which I refuse to remove LOL!!).  Each piece is a reminder of a super happy and proud day.

My second card is my favourite from a commission entitled Polychromos Pencils.

It was the first time I had used these pencils and I will definitely be using them lots more .. .. .. I love that I can colour on dark card with them!

So that is me for today.

Catch you again soon.

FAB NEWS TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Tuesday .. .. I hope it is a lovely day full of sunshine for you.

I can't believe that this is my first post for July (although Mr Heart and I did escape for a few days last week)!!  

The month has simply flown by .. .. but judging by the amount of wedding and magazine work that has been completed I'm surprised it isn't August already!

Plus, amongst everything else, more excitement entered the House of Hearts when I had a wonderful invitation from Fiskars asking if I would consider becoming an Ambassador for them.  I certainly didn't need to think about it for very long .. .. I love every Fiskars product I own .. .. and there are a fair few in my collection.

Everything I have ever purchased is still going strong .. .. .. .. .. even my very first small Fiskars guillotine which must be at least 15 years old and has been used nearly every day .. .. ..perhaps it would be of interest in a crafting museum now LOL!!

Anyway, I received a fabby box of goodies to see what I could create with them and this is my very first offering which uses a lovely word punch  .. .. ..

This used:

My lovely Fiskars Intricate Shape Love Punch
Backing Papers:  First Edition Papers "New Leaf"
Sentiment:  Pink Petticoat (but sadly no longer available)
Ribbon and Iridescent Cord
Charm
Glamour Dust
My Trusty Sewing Machine

The punch, as regular visitors will know, is right up my street .. .. it is as if Fiskars know me already! LOL!!

Taking my photographs for posting I had a little brainwave for my next wedding fayre.  Lots of "love words" punched and sprinkled across my tables.

So there we go.  I hope you like my first Fiskars offering.

Catch you again soon.

THURSDAY ALREADY

Hi Everyone

Happy Thursday!

So come on .. .. admit it .. .. who stole the week!?!?  

I can't believe tomorrow is Friday already!

No playtime this week at all for me .. .. just tasks to cross off a very long list of missions .. .. and as quick as I cross them off I replace them with something else.

But I can share some of my makes from the new Quick Cards Made Easy magazine which is now on the shelves.

I worked on a few projects and these were my favourites from each set

This first one was for a "Stamp With Us" Commission where I choose to work with watercolour paints.

This second card was for a technique commission called "Ways with Embellishments" and this was my favourite from that set:

and lastly I got to work with this month's Cover Gift .. .. a fabby fairy and sentiment stamp alongside a lovely paper collection. I could have gone on and on using this gift .. .. I loved it.

So there we are a few hearts for you to find .... that should keep you busy for a little while.

In the meantime it is "back to it" for me.

No peace for the wicked!!!

SUNDAY SNIPPETS

Hi Everyone

Happy Sunday!

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend.

Shock horror .. .. I have had time to play with my snippets .. .. and not only that .. .. I have made a Christmas card with them!!! Yay!!  Another one in that very hungry box!  

My little app on my pad is saying it is only 182 sleeps until Christmas .. .. they are going to fly by!!

I has been so long since I made a snippet card I bet you all thought I had run out of them .. .. .. ..  as if.

So here we go

and as always on a Sunday I am super lazy and do not list my ingredients, but if anyone has any questions then please just ask away and I will do my best to answer.

So now I am going to wander over .. .. with my head hung in shame .. .. to Pixie's Snippets Playground.  

Plus .. .. shock horror this creation falls nicely on Rudolph Day (the 25th of each month) so I fall right for entering the Rudolph Day Challenge

I can't remember the last time I had chance to take part in either challenge so I am feeling quite chuffed today!

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my first attempts at using the Brother Scan N Cut .. .. early days but I am getting on OK with it.  Lots still to try but it is fun learning.  I am sure it does far more than I can imagine. 

I had to laugh some of the suggestions as to what I might do with all the extra time I am accumulating .. ..but you can rest assured it won't be any "unnecessary housework".  I will more than likely enjoy being able to say "yes" to more happy couples!  I hate it when I have to turn people away

OK then .. .. off to link up and I will catch you all again soon hopefully.

Enjoy the rest of the day.

WHAT A GOOD MOVE

Hi Everyone

Happy Thursday!

Well me and my new purchase have been getting well acquainted today .. .. .. just look what we churned out between us for the next wedding I am working on:

A lovely collection of mats .. .. and the thing I am most excited about .. .. those tiny rectangles with my logo on.

These go onto the back of all my wedding work  -  colour co-ordinated depending on the wedding colours.

.. .. and these go on the backs of my teeny tiny creations and any other cards I am not able to print directly onto

Not much waste there at all!!!   Perhaps I should add a row of hearts along the bottom next time to fill that gap  LOL!!

So there we go - I can already say after just 24 hours that I don't know why I didn't get one sooner. I love it already!  Those little logo rectangles cut in under 3 minutes a sheet .. .. and I am sure you can imagine how long it has been taking me to cut them using a die!!!

I promise not to keep showing you posts of what I have cut .. .. .. I am just sooooo excited!!! LOL!!

Have a great rest of the evening.

IT HAS ARRIVED

Hi Everyone

It is definitely a "happy Wednesday".

My special delivery arrived today at around 4.00pm .. .. woo hoo!!  I received quite a bit of feedback telling me I won't regret my purchase .. .. thank you for that it made me feel much better.

I opened everything up, rang my Mum to say it had arrived and then took myself out into the garden to sit and read all the instructions that came with it.

So many bits of paper and so many languages LOL!!

Eventually I managed to convince myself that the first cut will go straight through the card of my choice and the cutting mat!!  But I set myself a goal that by bedtime tonight I want to have cut a square from a piece of card

All on my little lonesome I set everything up and got myself connected WIFI wise etc .. .. not bad for someone who is a bit of a technophobe.

8.00pm and look what I managed

I decided a square was far too boring and if I was going to have a hole cut in my mat I would rather it was a heart LOL!!

Even if I only ever use it for cutting rectangles and hearts you won't believe how much time that is going to save me .. .. but of course I want to do far more than that with it.

On the back of most of my wedding work I stick a little rectangle with my name, logo and website address.  Currently I print these and then cut them out using Spellbinders dies and my faithful Cuttlebug machine . .. but as I am sure you can imagine it means me turning that handle 100's of times .. .. just for one wedding! 

I feel certain once I know how to use it properly I am going to be able to reclaim loads of time . .. . you wouldn't believe how much time I spend turning that Cuttlebug handle.

Hope my brain lets me sleep tonight LOL!!

I wonder what my next achievement with it is going to be?

Catch you again soon .. .. ..