EXCITING NEWS!

Hi Everyone

Happy Monday!

I hope your day has gone well .. .. mine has been super exciting because I have today received a beautiful badge for adding to my blog .. .. which means I have some amazing and unbelievable news to share.

Those of you who have been following my blog for a while will remember that earlier this year I was very lucky and astonished to receive a British Craft Award as 2016's Favourite Card Designer.

Well look what I am able to share today ... ..

 I am super lucky and surprised to learn that I have been nominated again and this year

under the category of 

Papercraft Designer of the Year

Now I know that everyone says that they do not expect to win .. .. and that has always been true for me .. .. but even more so because just look at the nominee list as posted on the voting website:

Stephanie Weightman

Anne-Marie Catterall

Julie Gibbs  (that's my Sunday name)

Barbara Gray

Joanna Sheen

Sheena Douglass

Sara Davies

Leonie Pujol

Sue Wilson

Tim Holtz

I cannot believe that my name is nestled amongst so many of my crafting idols and I feel super honoured, humbled and happy that my little name actually appears on the same list!!  

Let's face it .. .. I don't stand any chance at all this year.  But that is OK .. .. just being part of this list is more than enough in itself and is certainly something I would never have thought possible in my wildest dreams.

But "you" could be a winner because voting has started over on the British Craft Award website .. .. and if you fancy voting in any of the categories (Sewing, Knitting & Crochet, Quilting, Cross-Stitch and Papercraft) you are in with a chance of winning a fabby gift voucher (provided you are a UK resident).

How amazing is that?!?  It would certainly buy quite a lot of crafty goodies that's for sure .. .. and we can all think of at least 10 things we "need" for our crafty pursuits!!

.. .. .. and if your personal favourites of the craft world are not listed in any of the categories then you get chance to add your own choice in the box entitled "other" .

Voting closes at 11.59pm on the 20th December 2016.  Best of luck if you decide to take part.

So there we go .. .. a special day in my crafty life .. .. and to celebrate I have made myself a sparkly new signature which is hopefully going to stop that error message popping up every time I post! LOL!!!  

SUNDAY SNIPPETS

Hi Everyone

I hope you have all been having a lovely weekend.

Mine has gone far better than I could have imagined .. .. as in lots of Christmas present purchasing completed.

Mr Heart and I went off yesterday to purchase all the presents for our "family Christmas get together" which is when we exchange our gifts to each other .. .. but we are only allowed to spend £1.  We have more fun buying these presents than probably any others .. .. mainly because no-one really expects anything wonderful.  But strangely enough it is possible to buy things you are proud to give for this tiny amount.  

A big stack of wrapping to be done there .. .. as well as some special tag making! 

Then today we continued with some more serious purchases.  Part of which comprised of seeking out goodies to put into the hampers we give to the London Kids and our youngest Son.  I think in our heads the hampers are much bigger than they actually are so whether everything will fit in remains to be seen.

Anyway, very first thing this morning I made a card for taking over to the Pixie's Snippets Playground.

I actually made a very similar card on Friday to give to someone and was so pleased with it that I decided to make another before I packed everything away again.  A great card for using up different bits of paper.

So here we go:

No ingredients from me on a Sunday because I allow myself to be lazy  .. .. ..  but I will warn you that probably only the sentiment is still available to buy.  The other stamps are very old, but still very loved and shout to be used! 

I also wondered if anyone has a printer that used this range of ink cartridges:

My printer that used these stopped working a while ago and I have the above cartridge floating about, brand new and unopened.  If anyone can use it then please let me know and I will send it your way.  It is a shame to just throw it away when it might come in useful for someone.

Enjoy what is left of the weekend and I will catch you again soon.

Love

CHRISTMAS .. .. AGAIN!

Hi Everyone

Happy Thursday!

I hope your day has been good.  

This time next month we will all no-doubt be trying to stuff far too much food into our fridges and cupboards and possibly filling the house with smells of mincepies and baking.. .. .. and will probably have presents that still need wrapping!! 

But for now .. .. life is just a little bit calmer and I have another Christmas card to share.

Now when I catch TV cooking competition programmes the contestants will quite annoyingly often say .. .. "this is me .. .. on a plate".  Well now I am going to say that today's creation is actually me on a card .. .. .. pale but hopefully of interest LOL!!

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3741K" Filigree Tree

Sentiment:  Penny Black "3267F" Christmas

Spellbinders Nestabilties:  Classic Heart

Distress Ink Pads:  Shaded Lilac, Tumbled Glass and Spun Sugar

X-Cut Corner Rounding Punch

Silver Embossing Powder

My Trusty Sewing Machine

Cord, Charm and Gems from my crafty stash box

I am going to enter my creation into the CAS Mix Up Card Challenge .. .. with not much time to spare!  This month they would like to see masking and stamping along with another option which can be chosen from a very long list!

My mask was created by cutting a heart into a square of paper and inking through it .. .. my stamping was heat embossed and for my optional element I choose sewing.

So there we go .. .. another Christmas card ready!  Off to link up now before I miss the deadline.

No excuse for not finding the heart today!

Many thanks for the good wishes and queries regarding Mr Heart.  He is finally "nearly" lurgy free and I hope I am not tempting fate by saying "and I think the germs have managed to dodge me".

Catch you soon

Love 

WHITE CARD WEDNESDAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Wednesday .. .. I hope you have had a good day.

Do you realise that this time next month .. .. it will be Christmas Eve tomorrow!!!   Eeeekkk!!!

Now that is scary!

My favourite day of the year almost upon us and I am still frantically making Christmas cards.  I really need to pull my socks up next year!

So with the radio playing Christmas songs in the background I settled down to a few Christmas makes this afternoon and can share a couple of them with you here. 

Now my white card Wednesday theme has been well and truly stretched today as some of my white card offcucts were printed on with a sparkly new sentiment and digi paper download.  Is that cheating?!?!

Quite a few of you will remember how gutted I was that Liz closed Pink Petticoat some time ago .. .. and I have sulked a little ever since .. .. well Liz has clearly missed us as much as we have missed her because she has opened up another boutique called "The Lovely Studio".  Yay!!!!  It is still under construction and new designs (as well as some of the old favourites) are slowly making an appearance .. .. but I am well happy and finally got chance to have a little browse yesterday.  Lots of Christmas downloads, so if like me you are still chasing your tail on the Christmas front then there is plenty to look at.  I definitely need to re-visit!  

Anyway, here we go with my shares for today:

This used

Image:  Penny Black "4342K" Berry Tree

Sentiment:  The Lovely Studio "Mistletoe Kisses"

Backing Paper:  The Lovely Studio "Ditsy Dots"

Memory Box Dies:  Modern Landscape Border and Snowflake Heart

X-Cut Embossing Folder:  Small Polka Hearts

Stickles:  Xmas Red

Glitter Card

White Gel Pen

Ribbon and Gems from my crafty stash box

and my next one features one of my favourite techniques.  Inlaid die cuts .. .. I always think of them as jig-saw puzzles for crafters LOL!! 

This used:

Sentiment:  The Lovely Studio "Mistletoe Kisses"

Backing Paper:  The Lovely Studio "Ditsy Dots"

Snowflake Die by Apple Blossom .. .. but there is no name on the packaging

Diamond Stickles 

A flat card too .. bonus!!

So that is me for today. 

Catch you soon.

Love

TEENY, TINY TUESDAY .. .. JUST

Hi Everyone

I hope you have all had a good Tuesday.

I am here a little later than I hoped to be.. .. but better late than never.

My teeny, tiny card this week (a whole 3.5 inches square for anyone new to my blog) shares a little bit of Christmas past.  That lovely sparkly paper was the outside of the crackers the London Kids were sporting on their table last year!  

So here we go:

This used:

Sentiment and Backing Paper:  Kaisercraft:  Frosted

X-Cut Dies:  Happy Christmas (for the cute little holly leaves)

Xmas Red Stickles

White Gel Pen

Ribbon and Pearls from my crafty stash box

My Trusty Sewing Machine

We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board

and that is it!

Isn't that backing paper gorgeous!  I would love a whole pad full of just that design!!

Catch you again soon folks.

Love

SUNDAY SNIPPETS

Hi Everyone

Happy Sunday!

I hope you have all had a lovely weekend.

Ours has been a bit of a mixed bag .. .. .. Mr Heart has had the lurgy all week and it doesn't seem to be in a rush to disappear .. .. in fact if anything he feels worse today than he has all week.  He hadn't better share it with me!  I certainly don't have time to be ill! I am blaming it all on the flu jab he had a couple of weeks ago!!

But with Mr Heart lying low and coughing for England, I have had chance to have a good crafty clear up after what has been a manic work week. Certainly lots of good things achieved .. .. and lots more lined up .. .. but sadly I have also had to turn work down and that always seems such a shame. But sometimes sense has to prevail.

At least I managed to find time for a play with my snippets .. .. and Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without this little chappie making an appearance.

Yay!!  Another Christmas card made .. .. but I still need lots more!!  So no let up on the Christmas card blog posts just yet!  Sorry folks!

Hopefully a few more will be making an appearance this week .. .. but for now I will skip along to Pixie's Snippets Playground as this used up quite a few bits from the ever increasing snippet pile. I just wish that lovely holly paper I have used would multiply whilst my back is turned .. .. it has nearly all gone now :-(

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone.

Love 

TEENY, TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Tuesday!!

I hope your week is going well .. .. mine is super busy .. .. if fact I don't think I have ever been busier! Good job I am full of energy and raring to go!!

So a scheduled post from me today with a teeny, tiny 3.5" make I had hidden up my sleeve ready for posting when I don't have time to make anything sparkly new .. ..

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "2754H" Xmas Kiss

Sentiment:  Papermania Urban Stamps "PMA 907180" Christmas in the Country -Tags

Backing Paper:  Papermania "A Silent Night" (not that you can see much of it LOL!!)

ProMarkers

Crystal Glamour Dust

My Trust Sewing Machine

Ribbon and Pearls from my crafty stash box

We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board for the tiny envelope - not sure where the paper for that came from .. .. it was lurking in the "use me up" drawer!!

and that is it!

I hope you all have a really good day.

Love

PENNY BLACK SATURDAY CHALLENGE

Hi Everyone

Happy Saturday!!

I hope your weekend is going well.  The weather here isn't quite as bad as we were expecting.

Quite a nice relaxed Saturday here in comparison to last Saturday when I was preparing for the wedding fayre.

I decided to nip over to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge and take part in that this month as I haven't been able to for a while now :-(

I must admit I was expecting (and rather hoping) that the challenge would be Christmas related .. .. but no!  They would like "anything but a card". Eeekkk!!

But ever up for a challenge I decided to make Mr Heart a bookmark that clamps over the relevant page with the help of a couple of concealed magnets.

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3773H" Love Graffiti, "3880K" Fantasy and two little butterflies from "30-013" Critter Party

Distress Ink:  Tumbled Glass

ProMarkers

Glossy Accents

Magnets

I have stashed it into his reading book of the moment .. .. I wonder how long it will be before he grabs it for a read and finds his little pressie?  Answers on a postcard LOL!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.  We are out for a meal with friends tonight .. .. thankfully the rain has stopped .. .. let's hope it stays that way!

Love

HAPPY THURSDAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Thursday .. .. yes, I think I am now on track with the week and the fact that today is actually Thursday .. ..  I am just not happy about it LOL!!  I could do with it being Tuesday!

My time is being spent at the moment in producing some future projects for the Quick Cards Made Easy Magazine .. .. and whilst I can't share those yet .. .. I can share some projects which I worked on for the current Christmas Issue of the magazine, which went on sale this week.

My first card comes from a commission called "Airbrush Effects".  I had great fun creating this set of cards and this one was my favourite

This next card comes from a stamping commission which used some of the lovely Lili of the Valley Digi Stamps.  This was my favourite from this set, though I find the images so cute I could have added the whole set:

So there we go.  Those are my offerings for today.

Back to work for me now whilst I still have some lovely daylight.   

Catch you soon.

Love

TEENY, TINY TUESDAY .. .. BUT IT'S WEDNESDAY!

Hi Everyone

I hope you are all doing well this week and steering clear of these nasty germs that seem to be flying around at the moment.

You know you are having a fast week though when you think it is Tuesday .. .. but really it is Wednesday!!

As Mr Heart left for work this morning I wished him a good Tuesday .. .. to which he replied "that might be difficult considering it is Wednesday"!!  What a shock that was! Of course I am blaming him.  He had a day's annual leave on Monday so we could sort some bank stuff out .. .. and that has thrown the whole week off kilter!

He did say that if it helped I could pretend it was Tuesday until lunchtime - but then come the afternoon it is definitely Wednesday! LOL!!

So here is my teeny tiny 3.5" card for this week (a little bit late) but funnily enough it does fit into my White Card Wednesday theme too because I used up a whole tiny square of white card from my offcut box!!  Woo hoo!!  

So here we go:

This used:

Images:  Card-io Collections Mini Tall Trees and Festive Scene

Sentiment:  Hobby Art "CS059D" Winter Wishes

Distress Inks:  Squeezed Lemonade. Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Tumbled Glass and Stormy Sky

Crystal Glamour Dust

We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board

If I now make another few thousand of these cards I might see a tiny dent in the ever increasing stock of white offcuts!  At least the lid still goes on that box so that is a good thing!!  Unlike the box that holds the pale cream offucts!!  LOL!!

In fact lots of offcuts here .. .. including that very tiny length of yellow ribbon and the square of paper I used to make the envelope .. .. so I am taking it over to Pixie's Snippets Playground to show it off there!

Enjoy the rest of today.

Love

A SPARKLY NEW WEEK

Hi Everyone

Happy Monday!!

Another sparkly new week begins .. .. I wonder what this one will hold?  

Last week was certainly very eventful with so much achieved I can't actually believe it myself.

To think this time last week I didn't even own a single piece of wood of any description.. .. and yesterday I was able to display lots of lovely wooden creations thanks to the hard work of some wonderful local craftsmen I am fortunate to be able to work with.

Here is the centre piece I showed you developing last week .. .. .. I love it so much and so did lots of the lovely couples I met yesterday.

No heart on the centrepiece so don't spend too long looking .. .. but there are some in the picture if you feel the need to look for any. You never know with my blogging slackness of last week you might be getting withdrawal symptoms!!

Just the problem now of where I am going to store all the different wood creations I came up with. .. shame we don't have any spare rooms left!!  I have bagged them all already .. .. and it is now all over the house!!  What a lot Mr Heart has to put up with!!

So a major tidy up day today putting everything away and then back to the long crafty list of commissions, sample requests, wedding invitation prep work and orders that I need to complete over the next two weeks (oh and did I mentions Christmas!! Eeekk!! I could do with that being about 4 months away LOL!!).

I hope everyone had as good and enjoyable a weekend as I did.

Today I am buzzing!!!  Can you tell LOL!!

Oh no .. .. the radio has just mentioned snow for tomorrow!!  What is that all about!!

Love

LOTS OF IMAGINATION NEEDED

Hi Everyone

Happy Wednesday .. .. where is the week going?!?!?

So yesterday I showed you this picture

Today some of it has turned into this (what a difference a day makes)

and hopefully you have the same imagination as me and you can envisage this in the centre of a beautiful wedding table with the candles lit, the vase full of flowers (the router couldn't go down deep enough to get the glass level with the top of the wood .. .. but that will be sorted), a table name on the plaque standing at the front and some decorations amongst it all.

Just perfect for my rustic wedding couples!!

Still more making being done which I should receive tomorrow.

No cardmaking for sharing today though I'm afraid .. .. my little world is busy, busy, busy!

What a shame I need to eat and sleep .. .. .. and do very occasional housework!!  

I now want my own circular saw .. .. but Mummy says "no" as I will cut my fingers off and not be able to make cards anymore!!! What a cheerful soul she is LOL!!!

Catch you again soon.

Love

NOTHING TEENY, TINY ABOUT TODAY!

Hi Everyone!

Happy Tuesday!

No teeny, tiny card from me today .. .. instead I am going with a card I made last night .. .. but which I didn't post because I wasn't sure whether I liked it or not.

I got up this morning and surprise, surprise, I loved it and would happily sit and make another half dozen (if I had the time).

Of course I am blaming the horrible dark evenings that are now upon us :-(  The colours all looked so much nicer in the lovely light of a brand new day.

So here we go:

This used:

Image:  Lili of the Valley "James in the Snow"

Sentiment:  Lili of the Valley "Sentiment Christmas Tags"

Backing Paper:  Dovecraft 12 x 12 Christmas Basics

ProMarkers

My Trusty Sewing Machine

Josy Rose:  Nail Heads

Crystal Glamour Dust

Ribbons and Charm from my crafty stash box

I really love the sentiment tags as you can re-size them and they come in two versions .. .. one with the shaped end on the left and the other with it on the right .. .. in fact they would make brilliant gift tags for those Christmas parcels .. .. with no decorating needed!!  Mmmm... there's a lazy thought!!. 

So my original plan once I decided I was happy with yesterday's card was to show that along with a teeny, tiny one too.

But I ended up on a crafty shopping mission instead .. .. and my purchase was far from tiny!!

So armed with Mr Heart's sat nav I made my journey into the unknown and was faced with a choice of pieces from a huge pile of felled tree parts .. .. .. and believe me that long piece of Silver Birch was a real tight squeeze.  But no way was I leaving him behind!!

I have been trying for weeks to find a wood supplier who has a constant supply of "tree parts" and finally today all came good  .. .. all ready for someone else to collect from me this evening and work their magic with.

Fingers crossed everything will be ready for the wedding fayre on Sunday .. .. and in a much more manageable size and shape!! LOL!!

So that is me for today.

I'll catch you again soon.

Love