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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.

Sunday, 26 October 2025

EXTRA HOUR SUNDAY!

Hi Playmates

I hope everyone is enjoying that extra hour if you are in the UK and you did something you enjoyed with it. 

I was awake super early (so certainly didn't spend mine sleeping) - once my eyes open that is it, my busy brain kicks in and I hit the ground running.  I must be very annoying to live with but very thankfully Mr Heart continues to put up with me!!

Part of my day was definitely earmarked for hibernating in my craft pod for my crafty fix and to create something for taking over to the "As You Like It Challenge" where the theme this time is Ribbon or Twine and why?

I must admit I love twine and find it useful for those pesky men cards and for all those little tags I make for the charity shop to use .. .. .. but my favourite is definitely ribbon and after years of wedding stationery work I certainly have enough to keep me out of mischief for quite some time.  

Ribbon does pose a problem for cards that need posting so I tend to just keep the ribbon flat, and steer clear of ribbon bows unless I know the card is going to be hand delivered.

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "4268K" Crystal Drops
Sentiment:  A scribbly one that is part of the image stamp
Gold Embossing Powder
Distress Ink:  Peeled Paint
Hessian Type Ribbon with a twinkly gold pattern on it
Paper and card all from that "good to be used" box I told you about in my previous post
Hot Fix Heart that was silver originally but I have coloured it with a green ProMarker
Diamond and Gold Stickles that aren't showing up too well in the photograph

and that is me for this lovely Sunday!

I hope you have all enjoyed yours too.

Friday, 24 October 2025

SNIPPETS ON A FRIDAY

Hi Playmates

Well, Friday is here again .. .. these weeks are flying by very quickly aren't they.

Popping in today with a Christmas make that uses up a few more of those snippets of paper and card that we all squirrel away - which means I can run over to the Snippets Playground to see what everyone else has been doing with theirs, and also check the rota to see if I am on leaf sweeping duties this weekend!!!  I think this year we were hoping to dry them all out and use them for stuffing a huge Guy Fawkes ready for bonfire night. 


This used:

Pine Border Outline Die - Memory Box (probably one of my most used Christmas dies)
Sentiment Dies - Julie Hickey - Hazel's Christmas Sentiment Medley #3 Die Set
Circle Die
Corner Rounding Punch
Ribbon
Hot Fix Heart
My Trusty Sewing Machine

These are the snippets I started out with (the silver and green squares were already cut and lounging around in the "good to be used" box.  Whenever I cut into a fresh A4, A5 or 12x12 piece of card or design paper I always cut any remainder into the largest squares or rectangles I know I will use and stash them away in this box ready for using another time.  It also speeds up a cardmaking session if you have things that are cut and are ready as you start.

Enjoy your weekend when it arrives - and that extra hour if you are going to be putting your clocks back!  Always nice to have an extra hour .. .. .. just a shame it means it starts to get dark earlier.


Wednesday, 22 October 2025

SNOW ALERT!

Hi Playmates

Don't panic .. .. .. I haven't heard anything about a "snow alert" for those of us in the UK (or anywhere else to be honest) .. .. .. but it is the theme for the Christmas Kickstart Challenge and I have used this for my inspiration for today's Christmas project:


This used:

Image:  Christmas Deer Clipart from TheClipartStudioX (via Etsy)
Sentiment:  Computer Generated
Backing Paper:  Pink Petticoat (sadly no longer trading)
Thin Glitter Paper:  The Works
Glitter Ribbon
Corner Rounding Punch
My Trusty Sewing Machine
Snowflakes and stars from my Snowflake Box
Diamond Stickles

My Christmas projects are coming together slowly.

Have a good day everyone.

Tuesday, 21 October 2025

RUSTIC MERRY CHRISTMAS

Hi Playmates

Just flying in quickly with today's Christmas make which is for taking over to the Little Red Wagon Challenge, which this week has the theme of "Captains Log" which translates into the ladies wanting to see your makes featuring wood ..  .. ..  be this real wood, or faux wood.

So I have used backing paper that looks like wood on my entry .. .. ..


This used:

Backing paper:  A digital download (and I can't remember where from), the piece I used here was in my snippet box .. .. .. but if I find where it originated from I will add it here, plus I used glitter card and random snippets for everything else.
Ribbon Sentiment
Heart Die:  BlueLans Cutting Die via Amazon
Corner Rounding Punch
Snowflake:  Sizzix Thinlits "661599"  (Discontinued)
Hot Fix Nail Head for the centre of the snowflake
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is my festive offering for today.

Enjoy what is left of the day and many thanks for the well wishes for Mum.  

Monday, 20 October 2025

CHRISTMAS 2025 IS OFFICIALLY UNDERWAY

Hi Playmates

I hope that all is well with everyone and that your weekend was a good one.

My Christmas stash has been dragged out of hibernation in readiness for lots of productivity and it is now time to create festive makes.  (I hope !).  

I don't know about you but I am always excited to see my festive goodies come to the fore again as Christmas creations rank amongst some of my favourites cards to make

So here we go .. .. .. .. serious Christmas 2025 craftiness gets underway using a good old favourite who was at the top of my Christmas stash box when it was opened. 

This creation used:

Image:  Penny Black - A Thorny Affair  "4092K"  (a very old wooden stamp I have had for many years)
Sentiment:  Penny Black clear stamp set - Wonderful & Jolly "30-259"
Backing Papers:  From the Christmas Snippet box and are a blend of Pink Petticoat and an old design pad from The Works 
Die Set:  Nesting Stamp Dies "FEDIE012" from Trimcraft/First Edition Craft (many years old)
ProMarkers
Ribbon
My Trusty Sewing Machine

So that is Christmas officially at the top of my creating list.  All I need now is Christmas creating time .. .. which seems to be in very short supply as Mum is definitely not herself at the moment and is being quite a worry, so a lot of my time is heading in her direction.

Fingers crossed we manage to get her back on track soon.

Friday, 17 October 2025

LOVE

Hi Playmates

I hope your week has been going well.

A few crafty creations have been done in the "home of hearts" but sadly there has been no time to post any of them - my Mum has definitely been keeping me busy bless her.

Popping in now though with this little creation:

This used:

Heart Bouquet and Sentiment Die Set:  Craft Discovery via Ebay
Backing Papers and Card all from snippet mountain
My Trusty Sewing Machine

I do love paper piecing dies!

Enjoy your weekend when it arrives.

Friday, 10 October 2025

TEENY TINY FRIDAY

Hi Everyone

I hope all has been going well in your world and you have managed to find a bit of crafty time.

Popping in tonight with a teeny tiny thank you card which features one of four butterflies that make up a lovely stamp set which I was super lucky to win from the Snippets Playground (thank you so much ladies - mwah).

For anyone new to my blog, my teeny tiny cards measure a whole 9cms square.


This used:

Image and Sentiment: Woodware Clear stamp set ”JGS483" Butterflies
Backing papers from snippet mountain
ProMarkers
Glossy Accents for highlighting parts of the butterfly
Corner Rounding Punch
We R Memory Keepers “Envelope Punch Board”
Darice Embossing Folder “mini daisy” (for embossing the flap of the envelope) - you’ve started something Hilary! My embossing folders are getting lots of use LOL!!!

Things have been very upside down here as Mr Heart managed to catch Covid from somewhere and it took him a whole nine days to get rid of it and test negative!  I have managed not to catch it thank goodness (hope I am not tempting fate there).  But of course this has meant I couldn’t go to Mum in case I passed something onto to her.  I really don’t feel she would be strong enough to fight it off.  So we had to make do with lots of FaceTime calls, and my brother and sister covered my physical shifts.

But today Mum and I had our first day together for quite a while and we both really enjoyed it.

I hope you enjoy your weekend when it arrives.

Monday, 6 October 2025

HAPPY HOLIDAY

Hi Everyone

I hope you all had a good weekend and the wind and rain didn't cause you too many problems.

Bright and sunny here today which is very welcome.

Popping in to share a creation I have made for taking over to The Little Red Wagon Challenge where the theme for this challenge is "H is for Holidays".

For me when the word holidays are mentioned I straight away think of the seaside with cute beach huts and miles of sandy beaches  .. .. though to be honest I have never seen any as pretty and lovely as these - I would love to own the one on the right LOL!!!

This used:

Image:  The Mo Gallery (via Etsy)  -  sadly not currently available
Sentiment:  Computer Generated
Backing Papers:  Pink Petticoat (no longer trading)
Corner Rounding Punch
My Trusty Sewing Machine


and that is me for today.

Thursday, 2 October 2025

AM I SQUARE OR NOT?

Hi Everyone

Hope all is going well with everyone .. .. .. I can't believe we are into October already.

They say time flies when you are having fun so I must be "having a real ball" because my time seems to disappear in the blink of an eye!  No sooner does one month start than it is ending.  

I know this because a new As You Like It Challenge has started already!!! and the theme this fortnight is "Square or Not and why".

Personally my everyday favourites are a choice between square and rectangular .. .. .. fancy card folds hardly ever feature in my day to day crafting .. .. .. not that I don't love them .. .. .. but because pressures on my time mean that my crafting tends to be quite simple when I do get chance.

I tend to plump for square cards .. .. but in a mixture of sizes.. .. .. .. although not too large as I am not a fan of big cards.  They freak me out a bit LOL!!!  For me it is a case of the smaller the better, with my favourite two being my standard "go to" which is 14.5cm square, or my "teeny tiny cards" that measure a whole 9cm square.  

So on that note here is my entry for this fortnight:

This used:

Sentiment Panel:  Woodware Clear Magic Singles "FRS147 - Birthdays"
Backing Papers:  Nitwits Collection "Farmhouse"
My Trusty Sewing Machine

Not many ingredients at all, but a few snippets used up.