A SIMPLE HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Hi Everyone

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

Just flying in and out quickly tonight with a birthday card I enjoyed making yesterday and photographed this morning whilst there was "a hint" of decent sunshine !!!!  .. .. .. 

This used:

My Favorite Things Die-namics "MFT-2351" Happy Birthday Centerpieces Die
Backing Paper from The Works
My Trusty Sewing Machine
and various bits of card from Snippet Mountain

I love making this type of card because it uses us some of those snippets  .. .. and feels a bit like doing a jigsaw!

So short and sweet from me for a change.

Hope everyone is doing OK.  Take care.

NEW RECTANGULAR SKETCH AND CHRISTMAS 2024 CARD NUMBER 10

Hi Everyone

Here at last after another chaotic week.

I was hoping for a crafting week .. .. .. be that actually creating .. ..  .. or packing/organising more of my crafty belongings but unfortunately life had other plans and my full creative week didn't happen .. .. .. but I have manage to grab a few hours here and there so mustn't complain.

Today though priority had to be given to my new sketch and Christmas card for this week as I want my new year resolution to produce both weekly to continue unblemished .. .. .. my Christmas card stock is into double figures already and it isn't even February yet!  Woo hoo!!!

This used:

Image with sentiment:  Whipper Snapper "BY802" Let It Snow Snowmen (a very old image and one where there are actually five snowmen on the stamp .. .. but I split the party up and only used three)
Backing Paper:  From snippet mountain, but I remember it coming from a paper pad from The Works (because I am sad like that LOL!!)

Spellbinders Circle and Scalloped Circle Dies
ProMarkers
Ribbon

Crystal Glamour Dust

My Trusty Sewing Machine

and my new sketch for this week .. .. Rectangular Sketch Number Sixteen

Hope everyone has had a good week and fingers crossed I will be here again very soon .. .. .. can you believe January has nearly disappeared already!!!

TEENY TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

I haven't got around to making many teeny, tiny creations recently .. .. so I decided I would make amends there today as part of my "crafty fix".

For anyone new to my blog my teeny tiny makes are a whole 9cm square, and I love making them.  For me the smaller the card the more fun I seem to have making them .. .. in fact anything over 5.5 inches square tends to freak me out a bit!  LOL!!

So here we go with today's offering

This used:

Off now to do more sorting and packing .. .. I have only needed to dive back into a packed box once so far .. .. so not doing too bad!

The legal side of things for the move seems to be taking a bit longer than first thought (probably due to the Christmas/New Year break interrupting things), but fingers crossed we should be on our way at the beginning of March .. .. .. which feels a long way off .. .. .. but when you consider it is February next week it will soon come around!

Much better to be packing in a calm and organised way rather than in a mad frenzy.

The weather much calmer here today.  I hope the same can be said for where you live

2024 CHRISTMAS CARDS (NUMBERS THREE TO NINE)

Hi Everyone

I hope you have had a good Saturday.

Another weekend is upon us .. .. and they certainly seem to be coming around very quickly.  I am here with my Christmas make for this week .. .. well actually a little batch of  Christmas cards. 

Super quick to physically put together, but lots of time was invested in actually creating the image panel which to be honest I did a while ago.  It was originally created using Serif Craft Artist on my old computer (before it sadly died) but thankfully I had some printed off ready to use.  

So I am now trying to master Affinity Craft Designer along with Windows 11 and I have to admit I have a sneaky feeling it might be a bit beyond my capabilities .. .. .. but I am enjoying trying to master it (sort of LOL!!) and won't be giving in without putting up a good fight.

So here is my little batch:

These used:

Image:  Created using a mixture of images from a variety of downloads I purchased from a very talented lady called Lisa from Lisa Glanz Graphics 
Sentiment:  Computer generated
My trusty sewing machine

and that is me for today.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

TIME TO CELEBRATE

Hi Everyone

I hope you are all managing to keep reasonably warm.  Super nippy weatherwise here that's for sure!

Quite late doing my homework for the Snippets Playground Challenge this fortnight .. .. and I don't want to miss this super special one .. .. because it celebrates Miss Di very bravely, and successfully, taking over the playground keys 12 years ago! (that is nearly halfway to getting the silver carriage clock that used to be the traditional gift you received as a "long service award" when you worked hard at the same place for 25 years!). 

Normally the snippet challenge rules are simply to use up as many "offcuts" as we can .. .. but for this super special landmark there is also a theme to follow of "celebration".   This can be "any" celebration .. .. but it does need to be obvious what the celebratory occasion is.

This is my celebratory card .. .. .. to celebrate what everyone in the world needs .. .. .. "love"! 

This used:

Snippets from snippet mountain

Sentiments: Computer generated

Spellbinders Heart Die

Ribbon 

X-Cut Corner Rounding Punch

My Trusty Sewing Machine

and my new sketch for this week, which for a change is a square one .. .. .. 

I am trying to find ways to use up some of the ribbon that is in my craft collection and after seeing this lovely card on Jill's blog (Ribbon Challenged), my brain wondered if you could perhaps do something similar using ribbon instead of folded paper, and a quick You Tube search found this lady here had played with the same idea.

So thank you ladies for the inspiration.

I made my card yesterday evening and sadly it was too dark to take a decent picture of my "starting snippets" .. .. they all got rejected as too rubbish to post.  But hopefully I won't have to write too many lines when my homework gets marked in the Playground office!

Take care everyone.

Will catch you tomorrow with my Christmas card for this week, but will leave by extending a big thank you to Di for her "staying power" and to Sarn who is her trusty assistant.  Between them they provide us with such great entertainment and inspiration .. .. .. and long may it continue .. .. ..  mwah!!!

Still time to enter folks if you have any snippets you need to use up!

CHRISTMAS 2024 - CARD NUMBER TWO

Hi Everyone

Sorry for having been so quiet on the blogging front .. .. chaos reigns at the moment in the House of Hearts now that we are getting to the serious end of moving home. 

If I was to say that this has been our "family home" where we have lived very happily for nearly 33 years .. .. .. and our new home will be about a third of the size of our current one .. .. .. you will get some idea of how much we need to part with.  So if anyone has any great ideas of how to fit a quart into a pint pot then please share!  Pretty, pretty please!

I have been busy packing away crafting supplies that will definitely be moving with me, and there is an organised corner, in the spare bedroom where the boxes that are "good and ready to go" are starting to be stacked.   But that is all that is "organised".  The rest is one big jumble of chaos.

Strange thing is I am not finding it hard to part with most things (as long as they aren't craft related).  The crafting side is where I am struggling.

Add to this the fact that a solicitor asked us to collect belongings relating to a "late pretend Auntie" who had volunteered us to be her executors .. .. .. so now we have to sort through those things too.   Sigh!!!

Anyway, before the week disappears I am determined to get Christmas card number two into my collection (I can't break my new year resolution on week two!!!) and yet again it also has the honour of using my new sketch for this week:

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "2238K" Jingle All The Way (the image is really a trio of hedgies but one absconded!).

Sentiment:  Computer generated using font "Grilled Cheese"

Backing Papers from Snippet Mountain (which are about all I am going to be left with the more packing I get done)

ProMarkers
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and of course my new rectangular sketch number 15 .. .. .. 

and that is me for today!

Take care everyone and I hope you have some of the lovely sunshine we have had here today.

STARTING TO WORK ON MY "RASH PROMISES"

Hi Everyone

Well, now Christmas has been packed away it is time to start working on some of those rash promises I made (otherwise known as new year resolutions). 

"One" of the "many" rash promises this year is to design and add a new sketch to my collection each week.  One which I feel should be easy to keep. 

I do love sketches and find they speed up the cardmaking process immensely, and as my rectangular library is the one that is lagging behind in the number stakes, they will probably be my main focus for a little while.  (For anyone new to my blog, all of my sketches - square and rectangular are on a tab at the top of my blog .. .. please feel free to use them if you like the look of any of them).

So this is my new sketch for this week: 

and this is how I have used it

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3741K" Filigree Tree
Sentiment:  Jande Summer via Etsy Merry Christmas and Heart Text
Design Papers:  All from snippet mountain (which is all I am going to have left to play with soon)
Spellbinders:  Circle and Scalloped Circle Dies
Gems
Snowflake from my snowflake box
ProMarkers (well one .. .. for adding a bit of colour to that fabby tree)
My Trusty Sewing Machine

I am making no apologies for posting a Christmas card so soon after the festive season has ended because another rash promise I have made is to make "at least one" Christmas card each week (and if I can keep this promise then it will be wonderful as I will have at least 50 cards come December - woo hoo!)

This particular card fits into a challenge I haven't had chance to play along with for quite some time (sorry Jo) .. .. The Christmas Kickstart Challenge .. .. .. which this time is calling for "The Midas Touch" .. .. .. which simply means include some gold on your creation.

Enjoy the weekend everyone.  We had a cold and frosty start today and judging by the number of people who are walking up and down our road, quite a few have resolved to be more active!!!  Not something I need to worry about doing .. .. I probably need to do the opposite and slow down a bit!!    LOL!!!

It is now back to more sorting and packing ready for our move, but not until I have put an insert into today's Christmas card "straight away" .. .. another resolution I need to work on.  

OUT WITH THE OLD AND IN WITH THE NEW

Hi Everyone

Happy 2024 .. .. .. before the first day of the year disappears!

Here's hoping it is going to be a brilliant year for us all and that everyone has recovered from the new year celebrations.

I love the excitement a new year brings.

Of course the impending house move is our main focus at the moment, but we don't have any dates or timescales and so far it has been "clearing out and passing on" .. .. .. and surprisingly we found this quite easy once we got into the swing of it .. .. .. but it has also been very time consuming and physical hard work at times.

The hardest part of the move for me is going to be packing my craft goodies away.  I do get serious withdrawal symptoms when I can't do any crafting.  Even when we have been away for long weekends in the past I have got a bit depressed about leaving my craft goodies behind .. .. .. and sneak a bit of colouring into my packing so I can have a "quick fix" at least.

I do feel I am a bit obsessed with "making things" and if I can't physically be making things then my brain is thinking about it and planning, or I watch other people crafting on You Tube, and look for new things to try on Pinterest.  There is just so much I want to do / make / try.  Oh, I hope I never lose that feeling of wanting to improve and experiment with new techniques.

I have started looking around my craft room and packing some things away .. .. .. but I know full well that whatever I pack then within the blink of an eye I will want to use it and will be rummaging back in the boxes!  LOL!!!

Might just have to limit what I leave out to play with!!

But one thing has already become obvious in my attempts to start packing.  No more buying of design pads or ribbon until what I already have has reduced by at least three quarters!!!  LOL!!!

So a quick share of my favourite make of last year (not that there were that many to be honest .. .. sorry) .. .. .. you wouldn't believe how many different versions of this card I have made over the last few weeks .. .. .. and I have enjoyed making every one.  

I haven't yet done a "new baby" or a "new home" version though.

Hopefully catch you again soon and again, I wish everyone the very best for 2024!