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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.

Tuesday 31 August 2021

TEENY, TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

I hope your Tuesday has gone well.

Definitely a big drop in temperature here today.  Yesterday I was wearing a sleeveless top and today I am wearing a T-shirt with a jumper on top!  I am not impressed!

Teeny, tiny Tuesday and I created a little Christmas card to share today.  For anyone new to my blog, these measure a whole 3.5 inches square.




This used:

Stampin Up! Die Set:  Hearts Come Home
LOTV Digital Paper:  Clouds
Embossing Folder: Dovecraft Basics "Snowflakes"
Sentiment Computer Generated using font Aracne Condensed Regular
Spellbinder Circle Die
VersaColor White Ink Pad for rubbing over the embossed snowflakes
My Trusty Sewing Machine


and that is me for today with just a "tiny" contribution to the Christmas stock box.

My Sister is back from her holiday now so I am hoping for more crafting time this week and the chance to catch up on my blog commenting again.. .. .. my Sister and I share caring for Mum so her return is a bonus in a number of ways.  

Take care everyone.

Monday 30 August 2021

THANKS

Hi Everyone

I hope you have enjoyed your day!

Before I headed off to Mum today I had a quick nip into my craft pod .. .. .. where all the supplies were still sitting on my desk from my snippet play yesterday.  

There was one box still on there that holds lots of narrow strips of paper (yes, I sadly save everything) and I used some of those strips to create this:




This used:

Spellbinders Borderabilities:  A2 Curved Borders One
MFT Dienamics Die "Thanks"
Snippet Strips
Punch
My Trusty Sewing Machine


No need to put your specs on to find the heart today LOL!!!

So teeny tiny Tuesday tomorrow .. ..  and then we are round to September!   Yikes!!


Sunday 29 August 2021

SUNDAY SNIPPETS

Hi Everyone

I hope it is a good weekend for everyone .. .. .. .. .. in fact a good bank holiday weekend (sorry if anyone dropping by isn't getting the extra day tagged on).

Now hubby is retired the bank holidays don't seem quite the magical occasion they used to be when we were younger.   Probably because each day feels like a holiday now!

I can highly recommend retirement life .. .. not that I have retired.  I still have lots of ambitions and dreams I am striving to achieve .. .. but it is good to have someone around who is happy to clear the kitchen up and even cook when things get super busy for me.  He's a good egg!!!   LOL!!!

Today I had a quick play with my ever growing pile of snippets.

I need to hang my head in shame though because I haven't been playing along recently with Pixie's Snippets Playground .. .. .. .. and it isn't as if I don't have any snippets left.   I have no excuse.  Snippet mountain still grows bigger every day!

But this is my offering for the current challenge:




This used:

Julie Hickey:  Bee Happy Stamp Set
Julie Hickey:  Layers, Frames & Banner Rectangle Die Set
MFT DieNamics:  Stitched Flowers
Punches
Nail Heads
My Trusty Sewing Machine


Everything about my card came from snippet mountain except for the card base .. .. .. so just an ultra small reduction in snippets .. .. .. but every little helps.

Enjoy tomorrow everyone.

Monday 23 August 2021

HEARTS COME HOME

Hi Everyone

I hope you have all had a good weekend and you perhaps saw some sunshine.

It is nearly time for me to start getting serious on the Christmas card front and this is one I have made for taking over to the Christmas Kickstart Challenge where we are asked to take inspiration for our creations from a photograph.

This is the inspiration photograph:


Lots to take inspiration from.  

I chose the sentiment and the cute houses and trees on the mantlepiece .. ..  .. .. and my final creation ended up looking like this:




This used:

Image:  Stampin Up! "Hearts Come Home" Die Set
Sentiment:  Woodware Clear Stamp Set  "FRS771" Merry & Bright 
Background Paper:  Some of the remains of a wallpaper sample I collected from The Range.  I think I may have to go back and see if the roll has been reduced low enough for me to invest in.  I do love it, though I must admit I wouldn't add it to any of the walls in my home!!
Memory Box Die "99031" Snowflake Heart
Gold Metallic Twine
White Acrylic Paint for adding to the Christmas Trees

My Trusty Sewing Machine

Have a good week everyone.

Thursday 19 August 2021

A NEW SKETCH

Hi Everyone

At last .. .. .. another new rectangular sketch has made its way into my sketch library.

I am really enjoying working with rectangular shaped cards at the moment, so the more new sketches I can get added to my collection the better.

So here we go with Rectangular Sketch Number Six


and here are a couple of cards I have made using it.




This used:

Julie Hickey "JH1041" Birthday Background Stamp
Sentiment Die:  Hunkydory Moonstone "MSTONE004" Framed With Love
My Favorite Things Blue Prints 14 Die Set
Ribbon
Backing Papers:  Make and Create "Fresh Feelings"
White Embossing Powder
Dewdrop Ink Pads
My Trusty Sewing Machine


and I also turned the sketch on its side to make this little creation, using the same design papers, Penny Black "2062K" Fish are Jumpin stamp and a computer generated sentiment.


and that is me for today.

Please feel free to use any of my sketches if you fancy playing with them.  

There is a tab for square sketches and a separate one for rectangular sketches at the top of my blog, but I still have a long, long way to go if the rectangular ones are going to catch up with the square ones.

Catch you again soon.

Monday 16 August 2021

THINKING OF YOU

Hi Everyone

I hope Monday has been a good day for you.

Another nice busy one here.  I get the feeling it is going to be another week that is going to disappear in the blink of an eye.

Flying in quickly tonight to share a little scrapling card that I made yesterday (these measure 6.5 x 13.5cms) and are just as popular as my teeny tiny makes. 




This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3381K" Aspire 
Sentiment: Penny Black "30-105" Gratitude
Watercolour Pens 
Butterflies:  Part of an old magazine cover gift
Small corner rounding punch
My Trusty Sewing Machine

I used the watercolour pens to colour the stamp, then breathed on it several times prior to stamping onto thin blue card.  I have had these pens for years and years and they are still just as juicy as they were the week I bought them.  

Have a good week everyone.

Saturday 14 August 2021

WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY

Hi Everyone

I hope your weekend has got off to a good start.

A card for two challenges from me today:





This used:

Image:  Penny Black "1444K" Hedgehog Bouquet
Sentiment:  Penny Black "30-297" Sprinkles and Smiles
Backing Paper:  Nitwits "Dress Shoppe Collection"
X-Cut Corner Rounding Punch
ProMarkers
My Trusty Sewing Machine

The challenges I am entering are:

The Penny Black Saturday Challenge where the theme this month is "Anything Goes" or "Interactive" - I was a coward and went for "Anything Goes".

my second challenge is the As You See It Challenge


Where the theme is to "fill in the blank" .. .. and this fortnight the blank is to name your favourite animal.

I love lots of animals but have a real soft spot for hedgehogs .. .. .. especially the cute Penny Black ones!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend .. .. I hope the sun shines for you.

Thursday 12 August 2021

TEENY, TINY MAKES

Hi Everyone

I hope your day has gone well.

Here with a few teeny tiny makes I have been creating .. .. .. alongside gardening, wall painting and the normal stuff I get up to.  

Pleased to have got some gardening done, but not pleased about the two super itchy insect bites on my arm!!!

For anyone new to my blog these teeny, tiny cards are a whole 3.5 inches square.  I photographed them altogether, along with their little envelopes, otherwise my post would be going on for far too long and you would probably nod off before reaching the end of my post.

But there is a bonus .. .. .. you have more hearts to find than normal LOL!!

I loved the little note cards and think I will be making lots more of these .. .. great for males or females which is always a bonus.

I won't do a huge ingredient list, but if there is anything you want to know then please just ask.

Take care and I will hopefully catch you again soon.

Monday 9 August 2021

BLOOM WITH HAPPINESS

Hi Everyone

So how was your weekend?

If it was anything like ours the weather just didn't know what it wanted to do.  One minute beautiful sunshine and the next it was bucketing it down with rain.  

I am here today with a card that uses some old Digistamp Boutique downloads.  They are no longer available to purchase as Digistamp Boutique closed its doors quite a while ago now (boo hoo!) but some of the images could be lurking in people's download folders.





This used:

Image:  Digistamp Boutique "Pretty Garden Flower Set"
Sentiment:  Computer Generated 
Backing Papers:  Digistamp Boutique  "Ditsy Rose Papers"
ProMarkers
Glossy Accents
Diamond Stickles
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today.

There is a world shortage of teeny, tiny cards here in the House of Hearts so I think a few of those might be making an appearance this week.

Thursday 5 August 2021

FEEL BETTER SOON

Hi Everyone

I hope your week has been going well.

Just a quick post with a get well card I made today after realising at the weekend I don't have many of them in my stock box.




This used:

Image:  LOTV  "Little Nurse"
Sentiments:  Computer Generated 
Backing Papers:  From my snippet mountain.
ProMarkers
X-Cut:  Corner Rounding Punch
Nail Heads
My Trusty Sewing Machine


and that is it!

Hopefully I will be back again soon.