HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

Hi Everyone

I hope you are all ready for Santa .. .. don't forget that glass of sherry and the carrots for the reindeer!

No new make from me but a picture of a card I made in 2015 which I love so much.  

This is probably my favourite Christmas make of all time .. .. and I would like to dedicate it to all of my lovely blog pals who have stuck by me even though my posts and commenting have been very sporadic since I have been spending more time with my Mum.  Thank you all so much.

I made this card in 2015 and it still sits waiting to knocked off top spot!

Have a wonderful time everyone and make sure you create some special memories - no matter how small or how big .. .. they all count.  

Thanks again everyone.

Happy Christmas .. .. have a good one!

NEARLY THERE

Hi Everyone

Happy Friday!  I hope all is well with you.

How are all your plans going?

I have "nearly" completed my "must do" crafting list.  Just a few more days of keeping my head down and I will then be able to turn my attention to getting the house cleaned and decorated ready for Christmas .. .. .. which will then just leave the wrapping and delivering of our gifts.

A few more cards are still needed .. .. but not as many as previous years that's for sure .. .. thanks in part to the lovely Jo starting her Christmas Kickstart Challenge this year.

I have tried really hard to enter each fortnight .. .. but sadly missed a few times due to other pressures .. .. but even playing along when I could has certainly reduced some of the pressure.  Thank you Jo!  I hope you will be continuing with the challenge next year?  You came up with some wonderful challenge themes.

Jo's would like to see this fortnight "The Christmas Story" and here is my offering

This used:

Nativity Die:  Unbranded from Ebay
Sentiment and stars (or are they snowflakes?!?!?!?):  Stampin' Up "Star of Light"
Distress Ink Pads:  Squeezed Lemonade, Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade, Worn Lipstick and a bit of Dusty Concord
Versacolor Ultimate Pigment Ink - White
Glitter Paper
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today.

Have a good weekend everyone!

STRANGER ALERT

Hi Everyone

I hope your week is going well.

Sorry for not being around .. .. it has been super busy here in the House of Hearts with lots of wedding invitations, Christmas orders and magazine work to complete.

But things are very slowly starting to fall back into a much more normal pace of life .. .. well as normal as it ever gets here, and I am hoping to get some time to do a bit of crafting for myself soon!  Yay!! 

Just one more Christmas order and some wedding samples to create and I think I will then be able to turn my attention to the remaining Christmas cards I need for myself.  Though I must admit I have been quite good this year and lots are sitting just waiting ready for writing and sending.  At least one new year resolution sort of survived!

But crafting for myself won't happen until there has been one huge crafty clear-up.  I have been working all over the house and there is craftiness that needs packing away in every single room .. .. apart from the bathroom.  That has stayed as it should .. .. apart from a light sprinkling of glitter on the floor!!  LOL!!!

So for now .. .. to wake my blog up, I thought I would share a few of the cards I made for the current issue of Cardmaking and Papercraft Magazine which has just gone on sale

These first two are using the free cover gift

and these two are my favorites from a 

"using border stamps" commission

and that is me for today.

Hopefully I will be back very soon!

LIGHTING UP CHRISTMAS

Hi Everyone

Happy Wednesday!

For today I have been super organised and scheduled a post to share a project I enjoyed working on for the current issue of Papercraft Inspirations magazine .. .. which is now decorating the newsagent shelves!

For this commission I was asked to work with a cute plastic dome which is lit with a tiny LED light, plain flat packed wooden shapes that are constructed to form decorative elements, a Moonstone "Prancing Pixies" die set and metallic gold gilding flakes.

I had great fun colouring, painting, constructing and gilding the wooden elements and then arranging and fixing them inside the dome, using modelling paste with Glamour dust sprinkled on top to create a snowy base.

To decorate the inside of the dome I added double sided tape to vellum, die cut and punched into the vellum and then removed the backing from the tape to attach the various elements.

The finished dome is approximately 14cm high and is going to look super cute decorating my home over Christmas.  I wonder where it will be nestled?

TEENY TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Tuesday!

A very cold and wintery start here today .. .. in fact it started early evening yesterday when I even needed to clear ice off my windscreen to leave Mum's car park. 

As always variety is the spice of life in the House of Hearts and my time is being divided between wedding, magazine and Christmas work (and the odd bit of housework where absolutely necessary LOL!!).

On the Christmas front I did a few teeny tiny makes as they are really popular at the moment (a whole 3.5 inches square for anyone new to my blog) and this was my favourite from today's makes using exactly the same die as I used on Sunday:

This used:

Memory Box Die "98257" Modern Landscape Border
Sentiment: Computer Generated
Backing Paper:  Pink Petticoat
ProMarkers
Glamour Dust
Button
My Trusty Sewing Machine
We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board

and that is me for today.. .. .. .. back to the weddings for me next.

I'll hopefully catch you again soon.

SUNDAY SNIPPETS

Hi Everyone

I hope you have had a really lovely weekend.

I took a little time out from the wedding work this afternoon to create a Christmas card for entering into a couple of challenges.

The theme came from the Christmas Kickstart Challenge where this fortnight Jo is looking for some "snow" .. .. .. and as I culled a few snippets in the process of making my card I am skipping over to the playground to take part in Pixie's Snippets Playground Challenge.

Here is my offering for today:

 

This used:

Cutting Dies:

Memory Box "98257" Modern Landscape Border

The Paper Boutique Cutting Dies "Winter Wishes"

Sentiment:  DoCrafts Papermania "PMA907180" Christmas in the County - Tags

Backing Papers:  Make & Create "Lovely Mystery"

Pearls

Glamour Dust

Silver Metallic Twine

Everything has been in my collection for quite some time with the exception of the Winter Wishes die set.  I fell in love with this set when visiting my lovely blog buddy Sarah.   I was very fortunate to pick it up quite a few weeks ago in the Hobbycraft sale and it has been patiently sitting waiting until today to be used.

So that is me for today.  Enjoy what is left of the weekend.

FRIDAY AGAIN

Hi Everyone

Happy Friday .. .. ahead of what I hope will be a good weekend for you.  Another week that doesn't seem to have lasted very long at all!

Time here is being spent getting wedding stationery ready for "happy couples" who want to distribute their invitations personally to their guests over the Christmas period .. .. and I have quite a lot of them to do.

One set is involving lots of machine stitching so Mr Heart is going to have to endure some more of that over the weekend because I have moved my sewing machine downstairs!

Only wedding stationery has been happening over the past few days .. .. but I do have some makes to share from magazines which are now making an appearance on the magazine shelves.

My first makes come from the Make Cards Today magazine.  One of those bumper packs where you can sit and make lots of projects using just the contents of the pack along with basic supplies.

I was asked to work on a sketch commission .. .. which was nice and easy for me as I have lots of sketches all ready and waiting on the sketch tab at the top of my blog.

These were the three cards I made

All using sketch number 25 .. .. of course the sketch has been rotated and used in different ways to show just how useful a sketch can be!

 I also worked on a decoupage commission and this was my favourite from that set

 

You can't beat a tartan ribbon at Christmas in my eyes LOL!!

I will share some other of my magazine makes another day rather than give you too many hearts to find in one day!  LOL!!

Back to my sewing machine now.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that the rain stays away so that some of the floods can start to disappear!  They are going to make life very difficult for so many people and businesses.  Not good at any time .. .. but it feels extra painful being so close to Christmas!

TEENY TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

I hope you have all had a good Tuesday.

It has all been very busy here .. .. hence my lack of posting and visiting .. .. AGAIN!!!  Sorry!

Lots of making happening but not much of it is for sharing unfortunately.

I did take a bit of time out this evening though to make another couple of "scrapling" cards which measure a whole 13.5 x 6.5cm  .. 

These used:

Image:  The Lovely Studio "Christmas Diva Doodles"
Sentiment:  Computer Generated
ProMarkers
Jelly Roll Pen
Glossy Accents
Ribbon
Tiny Gems
My Trusting Sewing Machine

and that is me for today .. .. whilst it is still Tuesday.

A DAY TO BE GRATEFUL AND THANKFUL

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them

JINGLE ALL THE WAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Wednesday.

I hope life has been being kind to you and if not that things soon turn around.

We had a fabulous weekend celebrating our son's birthday and hearing all about their holiday.  Sadly as suspected their excursion didn't involve them seeing the Northern Lights.  Their photographs showed just the tiniest speck of light on a big black background .. .. that was as good as it got.  But thankfully they could laugh about it.

They are now back home and we are already looking forward to the next time we will all be together .. .. which will be Christmas! That is going to come around very quickly now that November is within touching distance!!!!

I am happy to say I am actually starting to feel like I am slowly getting "back on track" with life again .. .. .. after a rather hectic few weeks.  Mum is much improved, which has helped settle my brain enormously and all of my wedding work is waiting for "happy couples" to get back to me with their signed off proofs or next instructions .. .. so Christmas is once again getting a much needed look in.

I started today with a card for taking over to the Christmas Kickstart Challenge where the current theme is "Jingle all the Way".

This used:

Image:  Just part of Penny Black "2238K" Jingle All The Way!
Sentiment:  Computer generated
Backing Paper:  The Lovely Studio "Jingle Bells Book Print"
ProMarkers
Ribbon
Glossy Accents
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is it .. .. making my total number of Christmas cards made this year 40 .. .. and another nice flat one for easy posting.

Enjoy your evening.

Catch you again soon

MEETING MYSELF COMING BACKWARDS

Hi Everyone

So much for me being back in blogland!!

Since my last post .. .. which seems a lifetime ago now .. .. my feet don't seem to have touched the ground.  My time has been taken up making samples for interest new "happy couples", magazine commissions, card orders and having fun with Mum!  No general crafting has happened at all .. .. which will never do!!

I have also been having to "find the back bedroom" ready for the London kids coming home tomorrow for a couple of nights.  Can't wait to see them again!   They will no doubt be here at the crack of dawn to avoid all that chaotic London traffic.

They have been away on a cruise to celebrate our Son's 40th birthday and were hoping to see the Northern Lights.  I didn't get any excited phone messages so I am guessing that perhaps didn't happen for them .. .. but it will be an excuse for them to go back again sometime. 

I must admit I really don't feel old enough to have a son that is 40!  I can't say I even feel 40 myself!  But the weekend will be a lovely time and we will have fun celebrating his milestone birthday.

So with no new creations under my belt I will share some of the cards I made for Issue 202 of Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine .. .. .. which should now be available on the shelves.

I got to work with some lovely Sue Wilson stamps and dies and these were my favourites from a set of five:

 

So back to the wedding samples for me before heading off to Mum and I will hopefully catch you again soon.

Take care everyone and have a good Thursday.

JUST FOR BEING YOU

Hi Everyone

I hope you have all had a good Tuesday.

Sadly my regular supplier of card blanks retired recently and as stocks are starting to run low here I have begun (after all these years) to make my own .. .. which inevitably means once I have cut my 14.5cm square base card from an A4 sheet I am left with a strip of card.   

No way can I throw that strip away .. .. .. and rather than add them to the "white snippets" box I thought I would put them to one side for tags at Christmas.  But then I looked at it again, folded my strip in half and wondered if it would make another good "small card" .. .. similar to my teeny tiny ones but a different shape.

So that was what I made .. ..  but I did cut the length a little to give me a base card that measures 6.5 x 13.5cm

But guess what?  It would appear other crafters use these "cut off" pieces and turn them into cards and bookmarks .. .. ..  and they have their own official crafty name .. .. scraplings!!!

Just look at these scrummy makes on Pinterest here .. .. all from scraplings .. .. and all individual works of art in their own right.  

So with itchy fingers and delight that my offcuts would come in useful this is what I came up with .. ..

This used:

Image:  Hero Arts "S5316" Silhouette Grass
Sentiment:  WOW!  "Stamp Set 41" Just Saying
Distress Ink Pads:  Spiced Marmalade, Dusty Concord and Faded Jeans
QuicKutz Dragonfly Die
My Trusty Sewing Machine

Mr Heart has also made me a template for my skinny envelope  -  but I haven't made that yet (having him at home more is proving very useful in some regards LOL!!)

So with offcuts used up what better place to take my creation than Pixie's Snippets Playground (sadly somewhere else I haven't had chance to visit recently .. .. sorry Di!)

You will notice in my material list a QuicKutz Die .. .. did anyone else invest in the QuicKutz Squeeze Die Cutter.

I still have mine and an array of little dies.  The dies are two inches square and you can see those in  that little plastic bag in the middle of this box.  You put the die on the magnetic plate then add your card and squeeze a few times for all your worth!!  Boy does it work your arm muscles!!

The picture above has come from the internet.  Mine no longer has it's box - it just had a layer of dust!!  Tut tut!!

Anyway, that is me, and many thanks for your lovely comments on my wedding work post of yesterday.  You are very kind.

Catch you soon.

MORE WEDDING WORK

Hi Everyone

I hope you have had a good Monday.

A really busy day here and no time to make anything to share, so I decided to take some more wedding stationery pictures and post those.

If Mr Heart and I were to be getting married again I think this is the stationery I would make for us to give  .. .. but ask me again tomorrow and I may choose a different one.  (Invitation that is not husband  LOL!!)

and that is me for today.

Short and sweet.