My photo
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 30 January 2015

BLOOMING HEART

Hi Everyone

I hope you are all safe and well.

We had some snow overnight .. .. which didn't look too bad from out of the bedroom window first thing .. .. but boy it did cause chaos!

Sadly lots of accidents around and about which eventually caused the town centre to be gridlocked .. .. clearly it was far worse than it looked!

Then six or seven hours later all the snow had gone!  Thank goodness for that!

Just time for a quick valentine share:




This used:

Image:  Hero Arts "K5298" Blooming Heart
Sentiment:  Magnolia "I Love You"
Backing Papers:  DCWV "The Gilded Paper Stack"
My Trusty Sewing Machine
White Embossing Powder
Josy Rose:  Nail Heads
Gems, Buttons and Twine from My Crafty Stash Box

and that is it.  But before I go I would like to give a little shout out for my lovely, generous, blog buddy Eve .. . who is giving away a fabulous Stampin' Up stamp set here.  

You only have to look at Eve's gorgeous creation to know that this stamp set will would work well for so many different occasions.  Just off to throw my hat into the ring!

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Catch you again soon.

Love

Tuesday 27 January 2015

TEENY, TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Tuesday!

Another one of those days that has disappeared in the blink of an eye .. .. but I stole a little of the time to create another of my 3.5 x 3.5 inch creations.




This used:

Image:  Hero Arts "S5316" Silhouette Grass (just a tiny part of probably the largest stamp in my collection LOL!!)
Sentiment:   Pink Petticoat "Tiny Everyday Sentiments"
Distress Ink Pads:  Bundled Sage, Peeled Paint, Broken China and Peacock Feathers
Go Kreate Dies:  Concentrics - Scalloped Squares
Spellbinder Nestabilities:   Classic Square
X-Cut Punches:   Flower and Tiny Butterfly
Clear Embossing Powder
My Trusty Sewing Machine
Sequins, VERY tiny pearls and button from my Crafty Stash Box
We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board

Gosh .. .. what a lot for such a small card!!

I hope you have noticed how good I have been .. .. there is already an insert added!  My new year resolution has nearly lasted a whole month!  Yay!!!  

Enjoy your evening everyone.

I am going to settle myself down for a mammoth colouring session at the dining room table tonight  .. .. .. yes, I "have" taken over the dining room again!!!  LOL!!!

Love

Saturday 24 January 2015

CELEBRATE

Hi Everyone

Happy Saturday!

I hope your weekend is going well.

A good chunk of today seems to have been spent at the opticians . ..  three of us needing to have our eyes tested and two of us needing new glasses.  Far too much choice but great fun trying on ones that you wouldn't buy in a month of Sundays.  LOL!!

Time for a little play in the craft pod though and I came up with this:




This used:

Image:  Stampin' Up! "Medallion"
Sentiment:  Paper Smooches Wise Die "FBD120" Birthday Words
Backing Papers:  DCWV The Gilded Paper Stack
Josy Rose:  Nail Heads
Gold Embossing Powder
My Trusty Sewing Machine
Ribbon from My Crafty Stash Box

and that is it!

I hope you all have a good day tomorrow .. .. aren't weekends just lovely jubbly!!!

Love

Wednesday 21 January 2015

SQUEAKY CLEAN

Hi Everyone

Happy Wednesday.

I hope your week is going well.

My head is temporarily above water on the wedding front .. .. yay!!  

The kitchen is again a kitchen and the dining room is back to being a dining room .. .. but for how long we will have to wait and see.  Not long I'm sure.

This means I have squeezed myself back into my tiny craft pod .. .. which of course needed a good tidy up before I could do anything productive.  It isn't completely tidy even now but it is better than it was.

Whenever I gain any new crafty stash I never put it away until I have used it .. .. so today's share uses a pre-loved stamp I gained off Ebay well before Christmas .. .. and it has sat around waiting to be tickled with some ink.  Now used, it will be able to go into the much loved Penny Black drawer.  But no-doubt it will be out again very soon LOL!!




This used:

Image:  Penny Black "1647K" Squeaky Clean
Sentiment:  Lili of the Valley "Happy Circular Sentiments"
Backing Papers:  First Edition "Desert Blooms"
Spellbinders Nestabilities "Eyelet Circles"
Woodware Punches:  Daisy Flowers
My Trusty Sewing Machine
Ribbon and Brad from My Crafty Stash Box

and that is it.

So with weddings temporarily under control whilst "happy couples" finalise their designs, sign off their proofs or decide on their colours I am working my way through my general "do list" .. .. and of course you know what is round the corner!  Valentine's Day .. .. best pull my finger out and get some cards made for that and to the salon smartish.  I bet Hallmark cards had theirs all designed, made and packaged by Autumn LOL!!!

Have a good day everyone .. .. hope the weather is OK with you.  We had a sprinkling of snow last night but nothing of it to see this morning.

Catch you soon

Love

Tuesday 13 January 2015

TEENY TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

I hope you are all well and the new year is being kind to you so far.  Can't believe that nearly half of January has gone already!!!

There was a mammoth printing job first on the list for today so whilst that was churning away I made a quick 3.5" x 3.5" Teeny Tiny Tuesday card .. ..



This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3823H" Delights
Sentiment:  Pink Petticoat "Tiny Everyday Sentiments"
Backing Papers:  Basic Grey "Paper Cottage"
Spellbinders Nestabilities Dies:  Classic Circle and Scalloped Circle
My Trusty Sewing Machine
Button and Twine from My Crafty Stash Box
We R  Memory Keeps Envelope Board

and that is it!

A very tiny card .. .. and a very tiny blog post!!

Time to go and turn all that printing into invitations now .. .. the challenge I have set myself for the week is to finish the invitation stage of two weddings so  I had better get cracking!

Catch you again soon.

Love

Thursday 8 January 2015

QUICK CATCH UP WITH THE WORLD

Hi Everyone

I hope your new year has got off to a good start.

Mine has started off in the usual manic fashion .. .. a new year suddenly makes couples realise "they are getting married THIS year" and everything suddenly steps up another gear!  Plus there are the romantic couples who got engaged over Christmas and are eager to get things organised.

Lots of invitations have flown off the production line .. .. with lots more piled up ready for completing, and with so many other projects on the crafty list it means I have yet again taken over the whole house with creativity .. .. .with the exception of the relaxing haven which is known as "the bathroom".  I very rarely subject this room to my crafty shenanigans  .. .. although I have been known to have the occasional cleaned item drying on the back of the handbasin or windowsill LOL!!! 

All I can say is thank goodness Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stains clean up off the kitchen work surface!!  You wouldn't believe the area I covered in paper and heat resistant work mats .. .. and yet I still managed to get "Picked Raspberry" distress stain all over the worktop!  Oooopps!!

So no new makes that I can share yet  .. ..  which means my new year resolution of putting an insert into each card as I finish it, and packaging it up, has been super simple to keep so far.  Tee hee!

But the new Quick Cards Made Easy magazine (Issue 135) is now available so I can at least share my favourite makes from this issue.  One of my commissions was "tiled cards" and my favourites came from there this month:



Two different techniques to achieve a tiled look but both very enjoyble to create and certainly a style I will be repeating.  It has gone way up high up on my "when I get around to playing again" list! (Whenever that might be).

OK .. .. so time to go and make a mess of the kitchen again now.  One whole bare and clean worktop sitting waiting for me to make my impact.  No Distress Stains today though. LOL!!

Enjoy your day everyone.  

My apologies for not getting any blog visiting in at the moment .. .. I am a rubbish blog buddy :-( .. .. but at least I can posting something today.  

Love

Friday 2 January 2015

MY FAVOURITE FIVE OF 2014

Hi Everyone

Don't get excited!!!

Just because I have appeared two days on the trot doesn't mean a new year resolution of posting to my blog every day .. .. I only go for resolutions that I have some hope of keeping!!  LOL!!

But I did want to play along with Debby's annual request for us to show our favourite five creations of 2014 .. .. so here we go

Number 1

This was the favourite of my "teeny, tiny, Tuesday cards" .. .. though I could have picked all five just from those.  I love making them .. .. and the finished tiny cuteness!!


Number 2

I chose this one just because I loved it.  


 Number 3

This one was made with some of those pesky snippets and I loved the colours and finished look. Another one of those cards I can't seem to make enough of.  It is always popular with customers.


Number 4

I was pleased the title is to show "creations" and not "cards" as I can share the first creation I made using the Bind-It-All machine I bought from E-bay last year.  


Number 5

Just had to include this one as it uses one of my favourite techniques .. .. paper piecing .. .. and also one of those lovely flowers made with the crazy daisy flower loom.


So those are my five choices for this year.  It is always nice looking back over the last year of makes .. .. I copied a few into my "must make again" file too .. .. so two jobs done at the same time!!  Woo hoo!!

Thank you for asking us to share our makes again Debby.

Back to invitation making for me now .. .. I have been in residence at the dining room table since the family went home at the beginning of the week .. .. lots and lots of wedding makes needed  for January and February!!

Enjoy your evening everyone.

Love

Thursday 1 January 2015

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE

Hi Everyone

Happy 2015.

I hope you had a lovely Christmas break and managed to make some special memories .. .. no matter how small.

Ours was lovely and included celebrating Christmas and Mr Heart's big birthday "yet again".

The family have now sadly returned to their respective homes and a whole sparkly new year is upon us.  I wonder what this one will hold? 

2014 was a good year in lots of ways .. .. certainly in terms of my creative adventures (and Mr Heart's patio antics LOL!) so for me a repeat of last year would be "very nice thank you" .. .. but I know everyone hasn't been as fortunate as I have been this last twelve months, and lots of people have had very difficult problems and situations to deal with.  

I hope 2015 will be kinder to those who had a tough and difficult 2014.  

One of my lovely friends was whisked away at the last minute for a surprise Christmas break .. .. so instead of sending a Christmas card that I knew she wouldn't see until after the event I decided to make her a new year card instead:

 


This used:

Backing Papers:  Pink Petticoat "Strawberry Blooms Paper Pack"
Sizzix Die:  "657837" Word Play Alphabet (letters cut from mountboard and coloured with ProMarkers)
Imagination Craft:   Sparkle Medium "Silver"
Memory Box Stencil "Star Dust"
My Trusty Sewing Machine
Ribbon and button from my Crafty Stash Box

So that is my first creation of 2015!

No rash list of resolutions from me .. .. just one to put an insert into every card I make before I start making another !!!  This will certainly be a good habit to get into.  I do hope I can master it!! Nothing worse than a huge pile of cards that need inserts and packaging up!!

Have a good year everyone.

Love