HAPPY WEDNESDAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Wednesday!  Has anyone else lost track of the days .. .. or is that just me?  LOL!!

Christmas has been lovely here .. .. and I hope that yours has been too.

As much as I love Christmas and the excitement it brings, I also enjoy the calmness that seems to descend straight afterwards .. .. .. when all the rushing about and last minute panics all disappear into thin air .. .. .. and you make those rash promises to be more organised next year, so that everything isn't so stressful next time December comes around!  

I have made lots of "rash promises" (some might call them New Year Resolutions) and if just half of them could materialise into reality I will be pleased because even that will be an improvement.

My fingers have already got "itchy" after a few days of not crafting, and I had a quick play with my snippets before everyone else was awake and created this for taking over to the Snippets Playground Challenge, where they would like to see us use up those leftovers we hoard to create "anything but a Christmas card".

and these are the snippets I gathered together to use

This used:

Lots of snippets (card, paper and ribbon)
Another cheap and cheerful die from Amazon

LOTV:  Sentiment Tag Stamps
Corner Rounding Punch

Nail Heads
Eyelet and Eyelet Setter
My Trusty Sewing Machine

So there we are .. .. my crafty fingers satisfied (for two minutes) and a very, very slight reduction in snippet mountain.  Not that I used all the ones I originally grabbed to play with.

A lovely blog buddy, Pauline C, who has a very inspirational blog called Passion for Papercraft asked about the stamp I used on my Christmas Day post.  It is a Penny Black Stamp called Brush Pines and if you click here it will take you to the original blog post and all the ingredients used to create the original card.

Enjoy the rest of the Christmas break.

Hopefully catch you again very soon.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

Hi Everyone 

Just calling by with a scheduled post to wish everyone the very best Christmas you could possibly have, however you are spending it .. .. .. and re-posting one of my favourite Christmas makes from times gone by .. .. .. and one I keep meaning to repeat and haven't!

Have a good one!

HAPPY AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR HEART

Hi Everyone

I hope everyone's week is off to a good start.

This time next week Christmas Day will nearly be over with again for another year..  .. .. .. which means that today is Mr Heart's birthday .. .. .. and this is the card I made for him:

This used:

Image:  Penny Black Transparent Stamp Set "30-146" Loads of Love
Image:  Computer Generated
Backing Paper:  From the snippet mountain
ProMarkers
My Trusty Sewing Machine

It didn't take him too long to find a heart!  LOL!!

Tonight .. .. .. just because we could .. .. .. we have been to "check out" just one of the "watering holes" that will be close to our future new home.  A lovely evening of celebration to round off what has been a lovely day.

Before I go.  A few of you have asked if I can remember where I got the coneflower die from that I used in my previous post  .. .. .. ..  I bought it from here: 

Coneflower Layer Metal Cutting Dies Paper Cuts Stencils Diy Scrapbooking Crafts | eBay

Lots of lovely layers make up the flower .. .. and I have used up plenty of snippets making flowerheads ready for using on future projects.

Hope you are on track for Christmas. 

Today all of our Christmas cards made their way into the post .. .. which feels like a big leap forward .. .. and just leaves the ones we hand deliver to part with now. 

FRIDAY ALREADY

Hi Everyone

Well, where has this week disappeared to?

I am convinced that the days go faster the nearer we get to the end of a year.

Just a quick share today .. ..

This used:

Coneflower Die (Unbranded from Ebay)
Papers and card from Snippet Mountain  (my battle to reduce these is continuing)
Sentiment:  LOTV Digital Stamp Block Sentiment
Spellbinder Dies:  Classic Circles and Scalloped Circles
Punch
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today.

I hope everyone is doing well and your Christmas plans are coming together nicely.  I seem to be chasing my tail big time!!  Not helped by trying to pack the house up and now catching shingles!!  

Never a dull moment here in the House of Hearts!! 

NEW WEEK - NEW SKETCH

Hi Everyone

So did you wake up to snow yesterday?  Ours started late Saturday night .. .. and we got plenty of it!  But gradually rain has melted it away

Yesterday in order to "ring the changes" I challenged myself to learn how to draw and incorporate triangles into my sketches .. .. .. and I am happy to report that I mastered my challenge.  How sad to be happy to have drawn a simple triangle!  LOL!!  I am such a sad sack!

I used my new sketch to produce this:

This used:

Backing papers:  First Edition "Silent Night"
Sentiment:  Whimsy Stamps:  Christmas Chalkboards 1
Ribbon
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and  of course my latest sketch .. .. .. number 13 .. .. .. a number that some folk avoid as there is a saying that it is "unlucky for some" .. .. .. but it isn't for the House of Hearts so I am happy to add it to my rectangular sketch collection which you can find on the tab at the top of my blog!! 

Please feel free to use any of them if you fancy a play.

Project Downsize finds me trying really hard to use up some of my older design pads/papers, especially where there are only a few odd pages left .. .. .. so some antique papers might be making their way onto my blog over the next few weeks (and there are a few to go at - both of the Christmas and general variety).  

There is a very small care home just around the corner from us and ever since Covid happened I have been putting boxes of crafting goodies together for them to play with.  Be these full of wool for their "knit and natter" sessions, flowers and ribbons for making Easter bonnets, or card bases, envelopes, punches/stamps/stickers and papers for the cards they make. 

They create things to sell at their fayres to raise funds for entertainment.  It sounds like they have fun creating the things they sell, really enjoy the actual fayre days and of course when the entertainment happens .. .. .. be these trips out or events planned within the home .. .. so hopefully I am helping to bring some enjoyment to their lives in a number of ways. 

Right, time to hit the ground running .. .. .. I have lots to cram into today.

Hopefully catch you again soon.  Stay safe and warm and I hope you all have a good start to your week.

BACK ON TRACK - I HOPE

Hi Everyone

I hope you have had a good Saturday .. .. .. although for some reason all week my brain has been one day ahead .. .. so today I keep thinking it is Sunday!!  That's good though isn't it, because it is like I have gained an extra day in my week to play with LOL!!!

It has been another very hectic week here, but I am super happy to say that the house of hearts is sold again .. .. and our fingers are crossed that everything goes through smoothly this time.  Project downsize is back on track .. .. yay!!!!.  It must have been all of those good luck comments and messages I received from so many of you working their magic .. .. thank you for those.  Mwah! 

Christmas makes are still very much needed, alongside everything else that needs to be done here .. .. .. and the cold and frosty start we had today certainly got me in the right frame of mind and made me think of this lovely stamp that never gets to come out and play very often.  

So here we go .. .. .. 

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3231K" Snowy Park
Sentiment:  Inkylicious "Walking Winter Wonderland"
Backing Paper:  The Works

DecoArt Crystal Glamour Dust
Double Sided Adhesive Sheet
Ribbon and Metallic Cord

Brad and Charm

My Trusty Sewing Machine

I attached the double sided adhesive sheet to the stamped image, removed the second covering and covered it with Crystal Glamour Dust.

It is super sparkly in real life .. .. .. but it didn't want to show off in front of the camera unfortunately.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend and you are managing to keep warm.  We have a yellow weather warning for snow and ice at the moment.   Eeeekkk!!!!