BIRTHDAY GIRL

Hi Everyone

I hope you are all enjoying the Bank Holiday weekend.

Mr Heart and I spent yesterday planting up the hanging baskets and pots on the patio .. .. .. and the sun shone on us .. .. eventually.  

It ended up as the first day in ages and ages that I hadn't actually made anything.  How sad that I was getting withdrawal symptoms and ended up getting up super early so I could get something made and stop my crafty fingers itching!

This is what I came up with:

This used:

Image:  Hero Arts Stamp and Die Cut Set "657776"

Sentiment:  Lili of the Valley "Embossed Labels"
Stampin' Up Stamp Set "Gorgeous Grunge"  (one of my favourite stamps sets from Stampin' Up! but I think one I gained from Ebay the other week might overtake it!)
Crafters Companion Diesire Dies "Scalloped Tags"
Backing Paper:  Craft Consortium "The Essential Craft Papers - Watercolours"

Gold Embossing Powder

Distress Ink Pad: Speckled Egg
Pearls

Ribbon

My Trusty Sewing Machine

I am taking my card to two challenges:

The first is the "As You See It Challenge" where this fortnight the theme is to follow a recipe.

1.  Birthday theme ... ... tick!
2.  Heat Embossing ... ... tick!'
3.  Ribbon/Twine ... ... tick!
4.  Patterned Paper ... ... tick!
5.  Die Cut ... ... tick!

This is a fairly new challenge to me and one I am really enjoying.  Every fortnight the challenge theme  changes and the variety that they come up with is brilliant!  (Must admit I am looking forward to the next 10 minute challenge .. .. .. I really enjoyed that last time).

My card is also making its way into Pixies Crafty Snippets Playground Challenge where we are encouraged to use up our snippets and "odd and ends of paper, card, ribbon etc".  Everything on my card came from my snippet mountain except the card base .. ... .. even that scrap of ribbon!.

and that is me for today.

Enjoy the rest of your bank holiday weekend .. .. if you are allowed one .. .. and I hope you get to enjoy some sunshine!

HOLIDAY HUGS

Hi Everyone

Happy Thursday!

I hope your week is going well.

A bright start to today here .. .. with a clear sky and sunshine!  Just the sort of day for sharing a Christmas card don't you think?  LOL!!!

My card is for taking over to the Christmas Kickstart Challenge .. .. where the theme is currently "Santa and Friends".

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "40-081" Holiday Hugs
Sentiment:  Woodware "FRS771" Merry & Bright
Backing Paper:  Make & Create "Lovely Mystery"
Sizzix Thinlits Die:  "660978" Woodlands
ProMarkers
Metallic Cord

I hope you have sunshine where you are and that you enjoy your day!

Still lots on my "crafty must do list" that I am working my way through  .. .. .. with the most exciting part being the work I am doing for a wedding that was postponed last year and is hopefully going to be taking place when everything potentially opens up again next month.  My fingers are very tightly crossed for the lovely happy couple!

Right .. .. ..off to try and work some miracles!  

CHEESECAKE PARADE

Hi Everyone

I hope your week has been a good one and you are ready for your weekend.  I was hoping this week was going to be an improvement for blog posting and visiting .. .. but sadly it wasn't to be. 

I will just have to keep my fingers crossed that improvements are on the horizon!

Here tonight though with a quick share .. .. .. 

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "1674K" Cheesecake Parade"
Sentiment:  Computer Generated using font "Aracne Condensed Regular"
Backing Papers:  Craft Sensations and Pink Petticoat
ProMarkers
X-Cut Corner Rounding Punch

Nail Heads

My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend.  

Personally I am hoping I will be able to stay indoors and craft away to my heart's content.  There is still lots I need to cross of my crafty "must do" list, and the more I cross off the more seems to be being added.  No rest for the wicked!  LOL!!

Have a good one everyone.

BLUEBELLS

Hi Everyone

Happy Tuesday!

Here today with a card for the As You See It Challenge where this week we have to fill in the blank in the following sentence:

MY FAVOURITE

FIRST FLOWER
OF SPRING 
IS ........................

I love all the Spring flowers that appear in my garden.  It is always lovely to see them bringing the garden back to life again after the dullness of winter .. but my favourite is the 

BLUEBELL

It is just a shame they don't stay around for very long .. .. .. which means .. .. .. as with most things in life .. .. .. we have to make the most of them and appreciate them while we can.

So here is my creation:

This used:

Image:  Bluebell (A very, very old and much loved digi image from Christine Dark - she doesn't have a store anymore sadly but used to be called Sketching Stamper .. .. .. just in case you have downloads from the olden days lurking on your computer).

Backing paper .. .. .. from the snippet box
Die Set:  Julie Hickey Rectangle Layers, Frames and Banners
ProMarkers

and that is me for today.

Trying to get lots crossed of my "must do" list this week so have had to blow the dust off the alarm clock .. .. .. what a shock!!!  LOL!!!

Take care everyone.

BIG HUGS

Hi Everyone

Happy Sunday!

I prepared the written part of my blog post for today earlier in the week .. .. .. with a very excited heart and a celebratory blog title of "big hugs".  What a shame that whilst adding the pictures to my post the news channels are not sounding that keen on us hugging now .. .. .. we have to "hug cautiously!".. .. .. and now Step 4 out of lockdown is looking dodgy too!   Bad news for the weddings I still have on my books who postponed from last year to this.

It has been quite a busy week here in the House of  Hearts with my fingers in far too many pies .. .. .. hence a bit of a drought on the blog post front .. .. but fingers tightly crossed there should be an improvement this week.

Today I am sharing a card that uses the most recent rectangle sketch I have added to my rectangular sketch library.  My rectangular sketches  are still very thin on the ground but I promise lots more will be being added.

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3344J" Rosy 
Sentiment:  Penny Black "30-524" Happy Hugs
Backing Papers:  Make & Create - Sweet Garden Roses
ProMarkers
Nail Heads

My Trusty Sewing Machine

and my latest rectangular sketch

Please feel free to use my sketches if you like the look of any .. .. you will see the other two rectangle sketches and the fifty four square sketches on the tabs at the top of my blog.  Lots more of both will be appearing.

Enjoy your Sunday everyone .. .. .. let's hope we get a bit more sunshine and a lot less rain this week!   

TO LOVE AND TO CHERISH

Hi Everyone

Happy Wednesday!

Is your weather anything like ours .. .. beautiful glorious sunshine one minute and then throwing it down with rain by the bucketful the next?  

Just popping in today with a card for taking over to the "As You Like It" Challenge Blog where this fortnight they would like to see your favourite way of using ribbon on your cards.

Now anyone who knows me knows just how much I love ribbon.  I love tying it into big scrummy bows and I love adding just a strip between layers on a card to link colours together.  I love making different types of bows .. ..  .. .. but I also like to use up all the bits that I have collected over time.  After 10 years of wedding work and being someone who saves anything useable "just in case", I have lots of ribbon bits to use up.

So here we go.  Strips of grosgrain ribbon used to make a background behind a die cut heart:

This used:

Backing Paper:  Pink Petticoat "Isabelline"
Spellbinder Dies:  Heart
Sizzix Thinlits Dies:  "661806" Small Tattered Florals

Grosgrain ribbons
Pearl

My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today, I thought my card might make a nice wedding or wedding anniversary card.

Enjoy the rest of today and have a good day tomorrow.

PEEKER

Hi Everyone

Happy Monday!

I hope your weekend has been a good one!  Quite a bit achieved here .. .. .. but of course never enough!

Part of my crafty play yesterday involved another Christmas card for adding to my stock box.  This image really makes me smile. . . . . 

This used:

Image:  Bugaboo "Reindeer Peeker"

Sentiment:  Computer Generated using font "Black Script Printed Caps" (I quite like using this font because it prints with white areas that you can colour to match your image)
Backing Papers:  LOTV Frosty Christmas Blue (behind the reindeer) which is sadly no longer available, and a random plaid snippet from snippet mountain in the background
ProMarkers

Chalk

Glossy Accents
Gold Glamour Dust
My Trusty Sewing Machine

I used my Craft Artist 2 programme to layer first the LOTV snowy background (washing out some of the colour as the original shade was a little dark for my needs) and then layered onto this the PNG reindeer file.  (PNG files block the background out, leaving the area inside your image white so you can colour it).  Lastly adding the sentiment.

Those little white dots I added to the background were cut using a small circle die that is supposed to be used for cutting a hole in the top of a tag.

So another Crimble Card into the box .. .. yay!!!

Enjoy your day everyone.

I am off to Mum in a bit.  We are hoping to go a walk out today .. .. .. but the sky isn't looking very promising.

NO BEES IN OUR GARDEN

Hi Everyone

I hope you have enjoyed your Saturday.

Definitely no bees in our garden today .. .. .. it has been far too wet.   But we do have two robins who have nested under our pergola and we have seen them lots today.  No doubt the rain has brought lots of worms to the surface for them.

But even if there were any bees they wouldn't look like this cute image:

This used:

Image: Penny Black "2243K" Bee Costume
Sentiment:  Computer Generated using font Aracne Condensed Regular
Backing Papers:  Nitwit Collections "Wildflower Collection"
Martha Stewart Punch:  Daisy Edge Punch
Spellbinders Nestabilities:  Classic Circle and Scallop Circle
ProMarkers

Nail Heads
Crystal Glamour Dust
My Trusty Sewing Machine

I am going to take my creation over to the "Sweet Stampin'" Challenge where this week the theme is "Things with Wings" .. .. .. bet they never expected a Cat to make an appearance LOL!!

Take care everyone, enjoy the rest of your weekend and thank you for calling by.

FEZZIWIGS FESTIVE FROLICS

Hi Everyone

Happy Thursday .. .. we have woken up to sunshine today!  Yay!!  Let's hope it is going to last!

I am playing along with Fezziwigs Festive Frolics Challenge today where the theme this fortnight is "Festive Florals".

Not too many of those in my collection so I am hoping a partridge in a pear tree will count.

This used:

Image:  Stamps to Die For "Danielle's Partridge" plus matching die

Sentiment:  Clearly Besotted "Rockin' Robin"

Backing Paper:  This is an old snippet of design paper that I created a while ago by printing a Pink Petticoat script design onto white card and then I ran it through my printer again to add a green snowflake design on top.  I designed this paper years ago and have re-created it over and over again as I love it so much.

ProMarkers
Glossy Accents

Ribbon

My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is another Christmas card into the box.  Woo hoo!

I'll catch you again soon.

AS YOU SEE IT CHALLENGE

Hi Everyone

Happy Tuesday!

I hope life has been being kind to you.

I must admit I intended to post this creation yesterday .. .. .. but I got drawn into watching the snooker and time disappeared.

But I am here now, and am taking my card over to the As You See It Challenge which this fortnight is a colour challenge

This used:

Floral Images:  My Favorite Things "Plentiful Petals" and matching Die Set
Sentiment:  Mama Elephant "Make a Wish"
Variety of Ink Pads (the nearest colours I had to the challenge)
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and the colours for the challenge are:

Scrummy colours aren't they? .. .. and I must admit not necessarily ones I would have considered using.  

That is the beauty of  challenges for me .. .. they make you think differently.  Fancy playing along or just eating the macaroons?

I did wonder whether my spelling was correct and wondered if it should be macaroons or macarons .. .. .. .. and the interesting fact for today is that macaroons are made using shredded coconut and macrons use almond meal!   Thanks for that Mr Google.  Must admit I have never eaten either.

Enjoy your day everyone.

CLUSTERS

Hi Everyone

I hope your weekend has got off to a good start.  Can you believe it is May already?!?!?!?  

This year is certainly flying by don't you think?

We have managed a bit of gardening here today .. .. .. and as always there is lots to do out there.  We need Monty Don to come and stay for a couple of months to help us get everything in order.

I did have a quick crafty play though for taking over to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge.  The theme is always "anything goes" (provided it includes Penny Black goodies of course) .. .. or you can go for the added option this month of "Clean and Simple".  

I opted for clean and simple (mainly because I need to learn to love white space more):

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3633K" Clusters
Sentiment:  Penny Black "30-105" Gratitude
ProMarkers
X-Cut Corner Rounding Punch

My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend .. .. and bank holiday Monday when it arrives.