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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.

Wednesday 27 May 2015

WEDNESDAY SO SOON

Hi Everyone

Yet another week gone in the blink of an eye!!  

Quite a big week here,  which amongst other things has seen a couple of table plans disappearing out of the front door.  One of them definitely kept me VERY quiet .. .. and needed my full concentration! 

The huge concentration jobbie consisted of one top table and 27 guest tables with on average 10 guests per table!  Yikes!!!  What a lot of washing up!!  LOL!!! 

The wedding and post wedding party doesn't take place until the end of this week but you never know, perhaps at a later stage the happy couple will let me share my mammoth make with you!  They were certainly very happy and excited as they left the House of Hearts.

Today sees the next issue of Quick Cards Made Easy hit the shelves and I thought it would be nice to share a couple of my favourite makes from one of my commissions for this month.
  



These cards came from a set which featured the "bargello" technique.  Just brilliant for using up scraps of paper.

I think the first one was a favourite because it used a "non-square" card blank for a change.  I must try and get out of the "always square" rut I seem to have fallen into .. .. and I just love the colours on the second card very, very much!

So that is me for today.  I hope you are well and have some lovely sunshine in your neck of the woods.  

Have a great day and hopefully I will see you soon.

Love

Wednesday 20 May 2015

TEENY TINY CREATION

Hi Everyone

I hope life is being kind to you all .. .. and if not that things improve for you "quickly".

My teeny tiny 3.5 x 3.5 inch creation was supposed to have made an appearance yesterday.  It was made and ready for posting by 8.15am.  I took my pictures and started to write my post .. .. and then the day took hold and I seemed to be jumping from one job to another all day and got no further forward with my blog share.

In fact, it wasn't until I went to close my computer down as Mr Heart and I gave in for the day that I found my half written post!!  So I deleted that and have started again today LOL!!

So here we go:





This used:

Image:  Hampton Arts "KN2436" Watermelon Bud (one of the very first stamps I bought)
Backing papers:  Mixture of leftovers that just seemed to go together
Sentiment:  Lili of the Valley
Spellbinders:  Lacey Squares and Classic Squares
ProMarkers
Glamour Dust
Ribbon and Pearls from My Crafty Stash Box
My Trusty Sewing Machine
We R Memory Keepers Envelope Board

I am going to make a very rare appearance in Pixie's Snippets Playground challenge too as all the papers and card I used were snippets from my every growing collection of "leftovers" .. .. even the trendy pink insert LOL!!

So that is me.  Off to link up in the playground and then get cracking on today!

Have a good day everyone.

Is anyone else having a panic about Christmas yet?  I haven't made a single Christmas card yet this year .. .. and this time last year I had a box three-quarters full already!!  Eeekk!!

Love

Wednesday 6 May 2015

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN MRS HEART ?!?!?

Hi Everyone

I can't believe it has been so long since my last blog post .. .. but having said that so much has been pulled in during those few weeks that I wouldn't have been surprised if it had been longer!

Thank you to everyone who has made contact to make sure all is well here in the House of Hearts. You are all such lovely blog buddies and I feel certain at the moment that I do not deserve to have you calling by my little corner of blogland.

But I am pleased to report that all is fine and dandy here.

Lots of good things have been happening .. .. and one not so good one .. .. but we will come back to that later.

During my mammoth absence Mr Heart and I celebrated our Ruby Wedding Anniversary .. .. and we had a brilliant time.  

Our anniversary night was spent in the honeymoon suit at the fabulous Weston Hall.  What a fabulous place .. .. we would love to go back again .. .. even if is only to sit by the lovely open fires. Everything was perfect and nothing was too much trouble for anyone.  

Although the place was super busy they still managed to make you feel special and as though your custom mattered.  Shame more places in the world aren't run on the same basis!!

So this lovely room was ours .. .. for one night only!!  


We never had a honeymoon when we got married .. .. funds didn't stretch that far .. .. and I can remember us sitting up in bed the morniing after our wedding reading a cooking book to learn how to roast a chicken for our first Sunday dinner together in our first home.  I was a whole three days 19 with so much to learn .. .. and I still haven't learnt it all.   I bet we never do!

We also spent some of the time visiting the London Kids and took our youngest with us so we could all celebrate together .. .. and see their new home too.  It was so lovely.  The kind of house you get a "good vibe" from as you walk in.  I feel sure they are going to be super happy there.

We celebrated in various places and with different people over the course of just about a fortnight! A very super special time for us .. .. and I took no work away with me (except for a bit of colouring which I took to London LOL!!).  I had a complete break.

But of course escaping and enjoying yourself has consequences!!  Especially when you have lots of work you need to get through.

I had to work super hard before we went to get invitations and orders finished .. .. and then even harder when we came back.. .. with a few very late night shifts needed :-(

But I am slowly coming out of the other side. 

As for the "not so good news".  Well .. .. someone decided to hack into my wedding website and write gobbledygook all over it!! But as the old saying goes .. .. when life gives you lemons .. .. make lemonade.  The old website has been "sort of sorted" for now whilst I try to find time to get a new one organised.

So although it wasn't a nice thing to have happened I am certainly excited about the planning and designing of a new one and once again my overactive brain is buzzing with ideas about what I want to do and have showing on it and my book of notes is getting fuller and fuller LOL!!

They say things happen for a reason .. .. so this clearly happened to bring the "sort out the website box" that has been sitting on my do list for months nearer to the top of the pile.

Well it would be rude of me to disappear without having a little crafty share with you.

I have one super lovely customer who I used to work for years ago (before I got into this crafting malarkey), who asked me to make a special ruby wedding anniversary card that she could give to Mr Heart and I!  So this is what I made .. .. with the idea being to put it into a frame on the wall .. .. when I find the right frame.  I made one very similar for the Quick Cards Made Easy magazine and loved it so much that I made another (the same but different LOL!)





This used:

Penny Black Clear Sentiment Set:  Gratitude
Clear Embossing Powder
Translucent Embossing Paste
Creative Expressions Mica Mask:  Distressed Dots
Distress Ink Pad:  Barn Door
Woodware Daisy Punch
Gems and Ribbon
An old paperback book
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me.  

Now you know where I have been.

Hopefully it won't be so long before I make my next appearance.

I hope all is well with everyone.

Oooo .. .. and don't forget there is always a heart hidden on my creations somewhere .. .. did you find it this time?  LOL!!

Love