AS YOU SEE IT CHALLENGE

Hi Everyone

I hope you are well and enjoying the week.

Life has been super busy here in the House of Hearts .. .. .. but that said, I am a weird and hyperactive kind of person and the busier I am, the busier I want to be and I keep coming up with new things that I want to try.  If only I didn't need to sleep or do housework!!  Just think of all that extra time I would have LOL!!

I have been playing for the As You See It Challenge.  This is a new challenge to me and you may remember me playing along a few days ago where you had to make a card in under 10 minutes.  This week we are asked to use their simple layout (with no time constraints this time LOL!!).

This is what I came up with:

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3344J" Rosy!
Sentiment:  Digistamp Boutique clear sentiment stamp set  (sadly no longer trading)
Backing Papers: Pink Petticoat "Perfect Papers"
ProMarkers
Unbranded Fishtail Die from Amazon

My Trusty Sewing Machine

and the simple layout which was provided:

and that is me for today. 

Catch you again soon.

OH DEER

Hi Everyone

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend and your week has got off to a good start. 

Definitely some more lovely sunshine here which was great to see!

Those of you who have been following my blog for a while may remember that on the run up to last Christmas I decided I was going to try and make all of my Christmas cards.  Well, I did make "most of them" .. .. and we got some lovely thank you messages afterwards which I thought was nice.

So I am thinking that if I get started early enough I might be able to make "all of them" this year.  So I am trying to design some super quick digital makes, save the files to my computer, and I will be "good to go" whenever I get a spare moment to pull some together.

This first design has been put together using a selection of different digital images and my Serif Craft Artist programme.

This used:

Image:  Bugaboo "Snowflake Reindeer Silhouette"

Background Image:  Huckleberry Hearts (Etsy) "Watercolor Clipart Set"

Sentiment:  Digistamp Boutique (sadly no longer trading)
Backing Paper:  The Lovely Studio "Doodle Flakes"

The Little Stars came from a Memory Box Die "Snowflake Heart"
My Trusty Sewing Machine

I am also taking this over to Fezziwigs Festive Frolics Challenge where the theme this fortnight is "Oh Deer".   Just hoping my images counts.  Is a Reindeer the same as a Deer?

Catch you again soon folk.

HAPPY 400TH

Hi Everyone

I hope you have all had a good week.

We have been blessed with some lovely sunshine here .. .. .. let's hope it is going to continue for a while whilst we try to catch up on some of those outdoor chores that need attending to!!  (Though to be fair even if it rains I have more than enough chores indoors as well to keep me busy)!!!

I noticed .. .. ..  what only feels like a couple of days ago .. .. .., that Di  has reached her 400th challenge post over at Pixie's Snippets Challenge.  

Well done Di!  

Just think how many snippets you have encouraged us to put to good use.

I was determined to play along for this landmark challenge and when I nipped over to see how long I had left to enter I was shocked to see there were only hours left!!!  I thought there was at least a week .. .. .eeeekkk!!!

So I decided I had better quickly pull a few snippets from the ever growing mountain range (hoping there wasn't an avalanche in the process) and get cracking.

Everything on my card was a snippet, the only thing that wasn't is my card base.  Thankfully my jar of flowers was able to be put together from die-cuts that were already stamped and cut.  I keep them all in an old Chinese takeaway container .. .. .. ready for when a quick card is needed (like today LOL!!)

This is what my snippets turned into:

This used:

Backing Papers:  GCD Studios "Ella Blue"
Sentiment Panel:  Julie Hickey "Birthday Background"
Stamp Set:  Stampin' Up!  "Jar of Love
Spellbinders Nestabilities:  Classic Circle and Scalloped Circle
Dew Drop Ink Pads
My Trusty Sewing Machine

In fact looking at my ingredients this post could have been called "a few of my favourite things" as they all rank high on my crafty "love" list!

Enjoy your weekend everyone - must fly and link up smartish!

LOVELY FLOWERS

Hi Everyone

I hope your Thursday has gone well.

Just a quick post from me today using an image that I always enjoy colouring. 

I have a box into which I put spare stamped / printed out images and I love delving into the box when I am in the mood for a serious colouring session.  They then move into a "coloured and waiting to be turned into a card" box.  

This coloured image made its way onto a card front this evening, but to be honest I have printed it out so large that there isn't a lot you can do in the background.  It is one large, fun, cute image!!

This used:

Image: LOTV "You are my Sunshine"
Sentiment:  LOTV "Everything's Better Sentiments"
Backing Papers:  DCWV "The Gilded Paper Stack" (a very old and never ending beautiful stack)
ProMarkers
Ribbon
Crystal Glamour Dust
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today.

Short and sweet.

THE DANDELIONS ARE BACK

Hi Everyone

Well all this sunshine we have been having (in-between the snow showers) has woken up the pesky dandelions!  Mr Heart's least favourite flower.

He tries so hard to remove each and every one of them from our garden .. .. but of course once they are in full bloom in other people's gardens the seeds blow across like confetti in the air .. .. and he's never happy about that.

But once "I" see my first dandelion then I immediately think of one particular stamp in my collection and simply have to colour it up .. .. this one .. .. ..

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "2070K" Frequent Flyer
Sentiment:  LOTV "Simply Cute Sentiments"

Backing Papers:  Nitwit Collection "Cherish"
Stamper's Anonymous Layering Stencil "THS032" Flourish
ProMarkers
Distress Ink:  Tumbled Glass

Nail Heads
Diamond Stickles

Glossy Accents
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and the latest new sketch from my rectangular sketch library.

My rectangular sketches are very sparse at the moment .. .. but I am enjoying building the collection up.  You will find them, along with my square sketches, at the top of my blog.  Feel free to use them if any of them take your fancy.

Catch you again soon.

A CARD IN UNDER TEN MINUTES

Hi Everyone

I hope you have been having a good weekend.

We have had very mixed weather that has included sunshine and the occasional snow flurry! 

I came across a new challenge yesterday thanks to Fiona's lovely blog here.

The challenge is the "As You See It" Challenge .. .. .. .. and the theme is to make a card in under 10 minutes using the word "blossoms" for inspiration.. .. .. I thought it sounded fun and decided to have a go.

I knew exactly what I was doing before I started and had everything set out on my desk ready for action,  (taking my inspiration from a lovely birthday card I received).

Pressing the stopwatch on my phone, this is what I achieved in 8 minutes 53 seconds.

This used:

Image:  Penny Black Stencil "25-013" Luster
Sentiment:  Wow!  "STAMPSET33" Big Words

Distress Ink Pads:  Worn Lipstick, Bundled Sage and Shabby Shutters

Clear Embossing Powder

X-Cut Corner Rounding Punch
My Trusty Sewing Machine

I really had fun with this challenge .. .. perhaps I should set myself a time limit on every card I make to speed me along and stop me faffing!!!  LOL!!!

Enjoy what is left of the weekend and I hope the new week is kind to you .. .. .. anyone booked in for a haircut this week (besides Boris)?

SNEAKING IN A FESTIVE MAKE

Hi Everyone

Happy Friday .. .. .. another week that has whizzed by in the blink of an eye.

If the whole year is going fly by at this speed I decided I had better get another Christmas card into the box .. .. .. otherwise it will be a last minute rush at the end of the year and I certainly don't want that!

So I am playing along with Fezziwigs Festive Frolics challenge where this fortnight the theme is "Santa Says"!  (But of course we all know what Santa says .. .. ..  "Ho Ho Ho")

This is my offering:

This used:

Image:  A square from a strip of fabric that I bought many, many years ago from Hobbycraft (still lots of squares left!)
Sentiment:  Computer Generated
Backing Paper:  The Lovely Studio "Jingle Bells Book Print"
Ribbon
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today .. .. with another Christmas card in the stock box.  As you can see there are lots of other squares to play with too.  Wouldn't they all make wonderful stamps?!

Catch you again soon.

BEAUTIFUL BLUE

Hi Everyone

I hope everyone enjoyed the Easter break.  

It was quite exciting here because my lovely baby sister moved house and it is now so lovely for her to be only 248 steps away!  That is how far it is from her front door to mine!  Yay!!  Not that we have been over each other's thresholds .. .. .. we have been super good on the distancing front. 

Standing at our kitchen sink I can see her house.  It is brilliant for her to be so close and we have been impatiently waiting for all the paperwork to go through for months and months.  It has taken ages!

Easter was quite busy with lots of sorting out done, but sadly not much crafting or blogging .. .. so time to make amends and get myself behind that craft desk again.

Here is today's share:

This used:

Image and Backing Papers:  Whimsy Dreams Clipart "Blue Fairy Meadow"
Sentiment:  Computer Generated
Ribbon
My Trusty Sewing Machine

I really love this image, and used another larger image from the set as a backing paper.  There are other images in the collection and I am really looking forward to playing with those too.  Loving the blue tones .. .. they remind me of our dinner service and the tea, sugar and coffee containers we had in our kitchen when we were first married LOL!!  

Take care everyone and I will hopefully catch you again soon.

ALWAYS WITH A HEART - OR THREE

Hi Everyone

Happy Wednesday!

Thank you so much for your lovely comments on Monday's post - we had a lovely evening celebrating our anniversary.  

Another bright and sunny day here today .. .. .. oh I hope this is a sign of things to come and the weather is going to spoil us again .. .. just like it did this time last year.

As I am super happy to have been able to add another tab to the top of my blog I have added another rectangular sketch today.  It looks like this:

and once put to work  .. .. .. it finished up looking like this using a pale cream card that looks a little bit darker in this picture than it is in real life.

This used:

Images and Sentiment: WOW! Stamps "Gratitude"  (Not on their website)
Backing Papers:  "Lilac Bouquet" This is an old download designed by Doreen Stoltz and sold through Aimee Asher (not sure what happened to them but it used to be a great place to find lovely design papers back in the day).
Spellbinder Circle and Scallop Circle Die Sets
Nail Head
My Trusty Sewing Machine

Amongst lots of other things, I have been trying to do some housekeeping on my laptop and part of this housekeeping led me to a collection of old download files (hence today's ancient papers).  I am trying to get them all a bit better organised and some of the file names re-worded so I know exactly what they are .. .. rather than a row of initials and numbers .. .. .. .. which is how quite a few of my downloads have arrived over the years.

It will be nice to remind myself of some of the goodies that will be stored away .. .. .. but I must admit I have already come across some that have made me think "why on earth did I buy that!!"  LOL!!

Enjoy what is left of the evening folks and I will catch you again soon.

ENDLESS LOVE

Hi Everyone

Happy Monday!

It is definitely a happy Monday here as it is our wedding anniversary .. .. .. which means a romantic dinner for two this evening at the House of Hearts Bistro.  I have booked the best table in the house but still need to clear it and get it all set up.

March is a mad month in this house and the mantlepiece has been having a steady turnaround of cards this month.  We started with Mother's Day, then my Birthday and now our Wedding Anniversary.

This is the card I made for Mr Heart .. .. .. a special card for a super special man.  I was definitely at the front of the queue when they were handing out kind, thoughtful and loving husbands (and I choose to overlook the fact that speedy DIY tasks are not one of his strong points LOL!!).  We can't have everything can we .. .. .. that would be greedy.

So here we go:

This used:  

Image:  Three Heart Design Shop "Endless Love Song Lyrics Heart Design"  -  I added the two little birds and the extra heart myself using a tiny bird that was part of a Digistamp Boutique Birdcage and Bird download (sadly they are not trading anymore)
My Trusty sewing machine .. ... and that is all!

So, nearly time for me to start finding that dining room table, the candles and the matches.

Catch you again soon.

 

SNOWY THE SNOWMAN

Hi Everyone

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend. 

Busy one here .. ..  as per usual .. .. but I was determined to enter Fezziwig's Festive Frolics Challenge. 

This fortnight Hazel wants us to use our favourite festive stamps .. .. .. .. and if you love Christmas as much as I do then all of your festive stamps are favourites.  How on earth can you choose?

So in the end I went for one that ranks high on my list of favourites .. .. the wonderful Snowy who makes me smile every time I look at him!

Lots of masking on this one, but I am left with a lovely flat postage friendly Christmas card! 

This used:

Images:  Penny Black "2521K" Snowy and "4202L" Berry Red, Snow White
Distress Ink:  Speckled Egg
ProMarkers
Ribbon
Cranberry Stickles
Chalk
Crystal Glamour Dust
My Trusty Sewing Machine

I am a bit late entering this challenge, but if you fancy playing along with your favourite festive stamps there are still a couple of days left.

Catch you again soon .. .. enjoy the rest of the weekend.

HAPPY EASTER

Hi Everyone

I hope your week has been going well.

I have been on Easter card duties today and the new images from Lili of the Valley came at just the right time for me.

Love this image.  It was great to colour and comes with lots of different sentiments that you can add to the centre .... so it will be useful for lots of occassions:

This used:

Image & Sentiment:  LOTV "Circular Floral Frames & Beautiful Messages"
Backing Papers:  The Lovely Studio "Pretty As a Posie"

ProMarkers
X-Cut Corner Rounding Punch
My Trusty Sewing Machine

Yay!!!  Success, after spending hours and hours I have finally managed to get my rectangle sketch tab to the top of my blog.

Thank you for your comment Kate xx .. .. ..  it really helped.  You are a star!

FIRST RECTANGULAR SKETCH

Hi Everyone

I hope you all had a lovely weekend.

Some of my time was spent starting off a new sketch tab on my blog .. .. .. this time it is going to be for rectangular cards.

I seem to be making quite a few of these shaped cards recently and my square sketches just don't work for me in the right way on them ... ... so here we go with my first rectangular sketch.

As with my square sketches, please feel free to use these rectangular ones if you like the look of any of them.

and this is how it can look:

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3347H" Duckling
Backing Papers:  Craft Sensations "Sweet Romance"
ProMarkers
X-Cut Flower Punch
Ribbon
Nail Heads
My Trusty Sewing Machine

Now I just need to work out how to put a new tab on the top of my blog!  It was easy in the old version, just hoping I can work it out in this new one!

Hope I don't accidentally trash my blog!

If I do .. .. .. .. it has been truly, truly wonderful knowing you all.