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A very warm welcome to my teeny, tiny part of the huge world of blogging. This is where I share my passion for making hand made greeting cards. So - why "Always with a Heart"? Well this is for two reasons. Firstly, it is because every card I produce carries a heart on it somewhere. This can be big and bold or small and almost hidden - the fun sometimes is just trying to find it! Secondly it is because I put my heart into everything I produce. I hope that any visitors enjoy seeing what I post. If you drop by then please leave me a comment so that I know you called. It would be nice to know that you have found my heart in what I do.

Friday 23 November 2012

PROBABLY THE BEST CHRISTMAS TREE

Hi Everyone

An early appearance from me today to make up for the lack of a visual share yesterday.

It sounds like my post of yesterday has helped a few of you so I am pleased about that. 

Some of you are also mentioned that you re-size your pictures in your photo software.  I have to admit to never having noticed I could do that there (I have only ever used this for cropping my images .. .. doh!!!  told you I was rubbish technically) so I have given that a go this morning .. .. and that has worked too.  Thank you to those who mentioned this xx

I shall have to compare the two to see which gives the best result.

So here is my share for today:




 This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3741K" Filigree Tree (Probably the best Christmas Tree stamp in my collection)
Sentiment:  Digistamp Boutique "Simply Christmas Greetings"
Backing Papers:  Pink Petticoat  "Twas the Night Script" and "Scandi Chic Snowflake" (a bit of the double printing going on here) and "Swiss Dots" from the colour collection offer
Hobby Craft Punch:  Snowflake
ProMarkers
Glamour Dust
Button, pearls, ribbon, cord and twinkly stuff from my stash box (sadly all the twinkly stuff has gone now .. boo hoo!!!)


So a big day for wedding work in the House of Hearts today .. .. which is another reason for posting nice and early.  

We had an awful evening and night here last night with mega rain and wind .. .. but this morning we have lovely sunshine and blue skies and everywhere outside looks all washed and sparkly new!  A lovely fresh new day.  Sadly this won't be the same for everyone though . .. the awful flood scenes on the news look horrendous!!  My heart goes out to everyone caught up in the nightmare all this rain is causing for so many folk.

I will be catching up with as many of you as I can this evening.  A nice treat for me to look forward to.  But for now I am off to play with lots of scrummy ribbon and invites!!

Love

37 comments:

Shaz in Oz.CalligraphyCards said...

ah lovely Jules, have folder like this and love the white on white effect!
.. and yes I re-size as I said and it is at same time as cropping and watermarking..

But the real reason actually I have re-sized them was for other folk as I found photo heavy posts were hard to load on slow download periods (I used to close out of some of these sites because of this in the early days) so I was conscious of it.
So I have always done it for that reason, I did not think of the photo data size of it as did not even know about it, so maybe that was a double benefit for me..
thanks for sharing though :D
love Shaz in oz.x

Caroline said...

Jules this is gorgeous I love the christmas tree, beautiful layout and I love the double printing. Caroline xxx

Linny said...

Stunning card. Love that twinkly stuff. So clever to double print the backing paper. I must try that some time. Linda x

Viv said...

Who's a clever girlie then??? And i don't just mean the making of this yummy Christmas card either!!!LOL Thanks for the mail - off to pick up a couple of bits to finish the 'project' then all will be revealed - so to speak! But I'm real glad to see you back posting. xx

Amanda said...

beautiful tree and no pine needles to hoover too. Gorgeous golds on this one too. I resize my photos but will be making them smaller now after your tip. Hugs, Amanda x

The Crafty Blonde said...

Fabulous card, love the tree image and your fabby sparkly ribbon xx

Stamps and Paper said...

Jules such a lovely card and your Christmas is gorgeous.
From what I have heard quite a lot of people had posting problems on blogger yesterday but hopefully mine are now sorted and will try it out when I get home Sunday..

Anne

Sue said...

Hello Jules.
So glad you got your pictures sorted.
This is stunning. I LOVE that tree and the colours and layout are just wonderful

I hope you have a good weekend
Hugs Sue

Roma said...

Beautiful card Jules !
love how you have double printed those gorgeous papers ,love the tree stamp & the twinkly stuff x

Unknown said...

hiya....wow just loving this so simply beautiful christmas tree love the twine very festive a superb card ..hugs sassyxxxxx

Cynthia said...

I'm so SO glad you've got everything back to normal again! I look forward to your creations every day!!! Love today's card--the colors are just gorgeous!

Debbie said...

Wow Jules this is beautiful.Lots of lovely sparkle.Beautiful image and papers.Just got the latest Quick cards mag and your creations are fabulous.Take care sweetie.Big hugs Debbie x

Crafting Queen said...

Beautiful card. Using your photo editing software to resize your photo gives you more control. Have fun.

lisa said...

Sounds like you've been having fun and games with your photos this week, Jules but I'm glad the wonderful world of bloggers sorted you out.
Love your swirly Christmas tree, it's very elegant.
The weather has been wild hasn't it but thankfully we missed a lot of it here. Today has been beautiful but I hear more wet stuff is on the way. I hope those poor folk suffering manage to escape it next time.
Have a lovely weekend.
Hugs Lisax

Tedz said...

The weather is awful, I hope we are not going to have a repeat of this year. This is a lovely card Jules, that sparkly stuff is wonderful - I have used this type of "ribbon" before and it works very well for Christmas cards: (http://www.weddingscollection.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=ACcgcx25). Have a lovely weekend, Pauline xx

Debs M said...

love that stamp! gorgeous card x

Carole said...

I am so jealous of you, you make such beautiful cards. I wish i could retire and craft all day. Do you have a craft room or do you have a building you craft in i would love to see your space. Keep them coming. I love them all xxxx Have a fab weekend xxxx

Sashika Taylor said...

Jules, I agree that this Christmas Tree image really is stunning! Gorgeous card- thanks for sharing x

Di said...

Fabulous card Jules, and I adore the tree - it's a beauty!

The hares were running here yesterday - but my lil old Canon Ixus camera only takes 300 x 400 piccies, whew. I just point and shoot - nothing else......ha, ha, as is probably obvious :(

What a night last night was as you say - lay in bed waiting for the shed roof to take off, with the rest of the shed attached to it!

Love, Di xx

Lorraine said...

Oooh, I love the Christmas tree! Fabulous papers and layout too. Gorgeous card Jules.
Lorraine x

Bonnie said...

This is a beautiful tree! I see why it's your favorite! I love that twinkly stuff. What fun! Shame that's the last of it.

Elizabeth said...

Hi Jules, this is a lovely card - I love the twinkly stuff and it is too bad that you have no more. Lovely tree stamp and I like the pearl decoration on it.

The news is full of the effects of the flooding and it is terrible. We have only had a little bit of flooding out on the road to contend with - as a gnat's bite compared with what others are suffering. Today has been much nicer here too. Hope tomorrow is as good. Hugs, Elizabeth xx

coops said...

so stunning jules.i love your gorgeous tree and fab colours.:D

xx coops xx

coldwaters2 said...

Hi Jules thank you for your lovely comment on my blog, I do love this very elegant and beautiful card the colours are gorgeous a super image and wonderful design.
hugs
lorraine x

Carol said...

Gorgeous card Jules, love all the sparkly bits.
One of my Designs Teams insists we load photos in 600 pixel width - now I know why!
Hope you have a good weekend. Carol x

Carole Z said...

Absolutely fabulous Jules, the Christmas tree is stunning, beautiful, Carole Z X

Carole Z said...

Absolutely stunning card Jules, the Christmas Tree is fabulous..Carole Z X

Beryl said...

It's a gorgeous card and a really lovely tree stamp but your post title reminds of the chips Iceland used to sell. Called 'Probably the Best Chips' - they were as far as I was concerned and then they stopped doing them. Grrr!
Beryl xx

Grenouille Greetings said...

Love that sparkly thread with this super tree! Hugs, Lesley

Sue B said...

Wow this is so beautiful Jules.. what a gorgeous stamp and love the pearls you've added… the ribbon/twine and twinkly stuff looks amazing!! so pretty! :-)
hope you have a lovely weekend!
Love Sue xx

jem (jane elizabeth middleton) said...

gorgeous classy and full of sparkle,great Christmas tree stamp. janex

Doreen said...

Such a gorgeous card Jules,lovely image and colours.xxx

Unknown said...

Jules, I love this card, it is really elegant and the sparkly thread on the side is just the perfect touch... PS found the heart too :P Have fun playing with the ribbon and invites :) xxx

scrappymo! said...

OMG this sparkly ribbon?string is gorgeous! You could make a fortune importing and selling that stuff!!!

You card is very elegant and sparkly thanks to the above. You id a great job hiding the heart this time!

Kath said...

A lovely card Jules - the twinkly stuff is beautiful.

Lots and lots of rain here - it stopped briefly yesterday - but is pouring again now.

XxJULESxX said...

wow Jules love this! stunning xmas card!

cotnob said...

This is gorgeous Jules, like you say 'probably the best Christmas tree' and fab papers so go with it.
Pauline
x