SUNDAY SNIPPETS, GRATITUDE & A NEW SKETCH

Hi Everyone

I hope your weekend has gone well.

No Christmas card from me today .. .. today is about remembering those who lost their lives whilst in conflict.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them

and here is my card to say thank you to all of those who have fought so bravely and selflessly .. .. ..
 

This used:

Image:  Penny Black Clear Stamp Set "30-155 Blooming Garden"
Sentiment:  LOTV  Embossed Labels
Backing Papers:  From the huge Snippet Mountain Range
Distress Inks:  Tumbled Glass and Bundled Sage
ProMarkers
X-Cut Corner Rounding Punch
My Trusty Sewing Machine

I am taking this over to the Snippets Playground where another challenge has started today - but sadly I didn't take a picture of my snippets before I started putting it all together .. .. .. I got carried away .. .. .. but I promise no full sheets of card or paper were harmed in the construction of my homework.

This card (pretty much) uses a new sketch that I have finally worked out how to draw and add to my rectangular sketch file.  My new laptop is Windows 11 and it is proving to be a big learning curve for me.

Over the last year or so I have been "doodling" in a little notebook that has gone everywhere with me and loads of the pages are full of new sketches   .. .. .. so gradually my square and rectangular sketch library tabs will be increasing in volume.  Please feel free to use them if you like the look of any of them.  The tabs to access them are at the top of my blog.

The rectangles are lagging behind the squares greatly so I will work on bulking that section up first. This is the one that has been drawn, used and  added today:

I hope the coming week is kind to everyone and I will catch you again soon..

HO HO HO!

Hi Everyone

Happy weekend!  I hope yours has got off to a good start.

After what has been a very busy week I decided I was going to treat myself today and spend as long as I possibly could in my little craft pod making Christmas cards.  I didn't manage as long as I would have liked .. .. .. but then I am never satisfied.  I always want to play longer.

It was as if fate decided that it was going to lend me a hand and treat me too, because out of the blue yesterday evening I got an email via Amanda Jayne Designs promoting a special offer on her Ultimate Christmas bundle .. .. .. a whole 130 Christmas characters and 50 Christmas sentiments for £15.00.

I already owned a handful of Amanda's images and knew how lovely they were to colour/work with so I decided to treat myself and hopefully speed up increasing my Christmas card collection in the process.

Oh my days!  I am now spoilt for choice on what to use .. .. .. so many lovely images to choose from, and all easily downloadable from just one file I received via MailBigFile. 

I made the mistake of going through the whole download straightaway last night just before bedtime (well it would be rude not to LOL!!) and filled myself with excitement at the thought of it helping me with my craft makes today.  I was even tempted not to bother going to bed .. .. but to start playing straight away .. .. but of course that would be silly!

Anyway .. .. .. .. here is my favourite make of the day.  I have also printed out lots more images and plan to take them with me when I go to spend time with Mum tomorrow.  Nine times out of ten she will have a snooze so I sit quietly colouring until she wakes up.  Then she likes to look at everything I have done!

This used:

Amanda Jayne Designs "Ultimate Christmas Bundle" for the image and sentiment
Christmas design pad from The Works
ProMarkers and Chalk for the rosy cheeks
X-Cut Corner Rounder Punch
Die Cut Snowflakes
Tag Die
Ribbon
Diamond Stickles

My Trusty Sewing Machine

Always keen to share something I feel is amazing with my crafty pals .. .. you can see the images in the collection here on Etsy .. .. .. but if you decide you "need" the collection too don't buy it from the Etsy site.  To get the super special offer (it ends at midnight tomorrow - Sunday 12th November) you need to send a payment of £15 via PayPal to stokesamanda@ymail.com adding a message saying "ultimate bundle" and the email address you want the bundle sending to.  The bundle comes via MailBigFile within 24 hours (but mine came through pretty much straightaway).

I haven't been asked to promote this offer .. .. I just wanted to share the amazing deal .. .. but I did check with  Amanda first to make sure it was OK to do so.

So that is me for today.  

Going back now to play with my download a little bit more before my day of crafty fun ends. 

Hope your day has been as much fun as mine.

TREE OF LIFE

Hi Everyone

Back to Christmas here in the House of Hearts and today’s share features a lovely stamp set from Julie Hickey that is new to my collection .. ..

This used:

Image:  Julie Hickey Designs "JH1075" Tree of Life
Sentiment:  Dovecraft "Christmas Basics" (very old)
ProMarkers
DecoArt Gold Glamour Dust
Gold Cord
Nail Heads
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today!

Have a good one everyone.

TEENY TINY TUESDAY RETURNS

Hi Everyone

Happy Tuesday!

Today sees the return of my Teeny Tiny Tuesday makes. 

In the past I would have said they were a whole 3.5 inches square .. .. .. but I have now progressed into metric mode at long last .. .. .. and now they are 9cms square isntead!  LOL!!

I am very sad because think I enjoy making the envelopes as much as I do the actual cards.

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3347H" Duckling
Sentiment:  Card-io Sentiments-1 Hello, Best Wishes
Backing Paper:  Pink Petticoat AKA The Lovely Studio .. .. .. sadly no longer trading
ProMarkers
Nail Heads
My Trusty Sewing Machine
We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board

It was lovely to pull my Penny Black drawer open today to rescue this stamp .. .. "one" of my many favourites!  

Take care everyone.

JOLLY HOLLY CHRISTMAS

Hi Everyone

Happy Monday!

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

I am happy to report that my Christmas stash is still being put to good use and my favourite make of today is this little number which involved a bit of paper piecing.  A technique I really enjoy.

This used:

Image: Amanda Jayne Designs "Holly Penguin" Digital Stamp 
Sentiment:  Computer Generated
Backing Paper:  Dovecraft 12 x 12 Christmas Basics (very old)
ProMarkers
Corner Rounding Punch
Diamond Stickles
Glossy Accents
My Trusty Sewing Machine

Hope everyone has a good week.

SUNDAY SNIPPETS

Hi Everyone

I hope you have all had a great weekend and you got the chance to see a few fireworks.  They are certainly lovely to see and much bigger and brighter nowadays than the ones that were around when I was a kid.  The most impressive back in the day always being the Catherine Wheel .. .. if it managed to stay nailed to the fence post!  LOL!!  We always saved that firework until last.

I spent quite a bit of time with Mum today .. .. which has been lovely.  It is nice to be getting back into a "new normal" routine on lots of levels.  

This morning before I left though I created a snippet creation .. .. ..  no whole sheets of card or paper were harmed in the making of this creation, everything came from snippet mountain. 

This used:

Backing Paper:  Nitwits Collections Yuletide Cheer (really loving the colours and designs in this collection and think you are going to be seeing quite a lot more of it between now and Christmas).
Sentiment:  LOTV Digital Christmas Sentiment Tags

Coloured card, metallic card and glitter card

Cheap and cheerful unbranded die from Amazon
Ribbon and Metallic Cord
Silver Eyelet

My Trusty Sewing Machine

Unfortunately though I have now ended up with a small box of circular snippets .. .. but I am sure they will come in useful somewhere along the line LOL!!!  Probably on a very similar card.

BIG BIRTHDAY WISHES

Hi Everyone

I hope you have all had a good day and are ready for the weekend.

Two clean and simple cards from me today which are "the same but different" in terms of colour.

O

These used:

My Favorite Things MFT-1779 Big Birthday Wishes Die
Papers and card from snippet mountain (on a serious mission to clear some of these)!
My Trusty Sewing Machine

Nice and quick to put together and suitable for absolutely anyone, young .. .. old .. .. .. male  or  female!

So quick on all levels .. .. quick to make and even quicker to blog about!

TIME TO THINK (PANIC) ABOUT CHRISTMAS

Hi Everyone

I hope the weather hasn't been causing you any problems.  

There has certainly been plenty of rain in my neck of the woods .. .. .. which means we must remember to check the water butts at the bottom of the garden tomorrow because I have a feeling they will be full to overflowing!

Anyway .. ..  I am pleased to report that the Christmas stash has been brought out of  hiding and this is my first Christmas card of 2023.

This used:

My Favorite Things MFT-1008 Polar Bear Pals stamp and die set
Nitwit Collections:  Yuletide Cheer
ProMarkers
Penny Black Snowflake Die
Dashed Circle, Sentiment and Tree Dies - Unbranded from Ebay/Amazon
My Trusty Sewing Machine

Quite a few of you liked the look of my new sewing machine, and I was asked what the things were I particularly liked and didn't like about it.

My likes are:

I can alter the speed I want the machine to stitch at.  So no matter how hard I press on the foot control it will never go any faster than I set it to do.  So no chance of my machine running away with me. 

When stitching something intricate you can make the machine produce just one stitch at a time.  So each time you press the foot control you will only ever get one stitch (until you cancel the command of course).   

The needle threader works .. .. yay!!!  My old machine stopped doing that many years ago!!

It will produce three different types of buttonholes.  That feels like quite a luxury .. .. .. I have only been able to machine stitch one type up until now (unless I have worked them by hand).

Lots of new stitches for me to play with.
  

My dislikes are quite minor things really:

There are no storage compartments for the additional feet/spare shuttles etc

I have been spoilt by having a metal encased machine previously, so the plastic casing I now have doesn't feel as sturdy/strong and I can't help but feel that it will eventually go a yucky yellow colour.     

My old machine had a solid cover that I could put over it when it wasn't in use, but my new one just has a flimsy plastic fabric type cover. 

But all that said I am very happy with my purchase and am looking forward to putting my machine to good use. 

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

HANGING AROUND

Hi Everyone

Many thanks for the lovely welcome back to blogland!  You are all so very kind. 

It really is great to be back and I am enjoying seeing what everyone has been up to during my absence.  Lots to catch up on that's for sure!

A quick share today that uses a lovely stamp from Woodware .. .. it is one from a collection of botanical style images .. .. and they are really lovely to colour.   

This used

Image:  Woodware Clear Stamp Set FRM032 Hanging Basket
Sentiment:  Penny Black Clear Sentiment Set 30-297 Sprinkles and Smiles
Die Set:  Julie Hickey Layers, Frames & Banners Rectangle Die Set 
Backing Paper:  an offcut lurking in the snippet collection
Ribbon
Josy Rose Nail Head (it is looking like they are no longer available - boo hoo!!)
My new trusty sewing machine

So just a few supplies and another card completed.

I will now introduce you to my trusty new sewing machine .. ..

My old machine certainly didn't owe me any favours .. .. it had been very well used for over 40 years on hundreds of projects ranging from clothes, curtains, cushions, speaker covers and of course latterly lots of card projects.  But it decided to draw the line at sewing funky turbans and the motor burnt out!

Panic!  It felt like the end of the world!

I wasn't allowed out so had to choose a new one based purely on an internet search and reviews .. .. and Mr Heart kindly fetched it from HobbyCraft for me.

It has taken a lot of getting used to, and I am still not as familiar with it as I was my old one, but I will be after another 40 years!  LOL!!

In some ways it is better than my old one, but in others not so good .. .. but I love it anyway .. .. and that is all that matters. 

Looking at your lovely blogs I am reminded that Christmas isn't too far away!  Must bring the Christmas stash to the fore.

I hope you have all had a good day whatever you have been up to .. .. and Happy November!!

FANCY FINDING ANOTHER HEART?

Hi Everyone

Serious stranger alert here!  

So sorry it has been such a long time since I posted anything here .. .. .. or visited any of your wonderful blogs!  

As I am sure you may have guessed from my absence things haven't been too good here in the House of Hearts  -  a real curveball landed with us in July 2022 when I was diagnosed with HER2 Positive Breast Cancer - and it has taken me quite a while to come out of the other side.  

It all started with me finding a lump in my armpit and things went on "fast forward" from that point onwards.

Treatment is still ongoing, and will continue into next year, but I am starting to feel more like my "old self" and I am super excited about dusting down my craft pod and starting to create and blog again.

.. .. .. and that explains what has been happening in my world in just a few short paragraphs.

The above subject is now closed other than to say a huge "thank you" to my wonderful family and my super special friends who have helped me through this challenging time .. .. .. as well as the fabulous NHS for whom nothing has ever been too much trouble.  I couldn't wish for better care and support.  

I don't intend to discuss this subject any further, or go into any more detail, either here on my blog or in emails.  There will be no dwelling/living in the past .. .. I am grabbing the future with both hands and will be simply making the most of life again. 

Lots more news to share, but I won't put everything into one blog post .. .. .. it would be far too huge .. .. .. so I will spread everything out gradually over the coming weeks.   

But I would like to say that I am super happy to report that my Mum is doing well (in fact she has been looking in far better nick than I have .. .. .. and she is now a whole 93!). 

So there we go .. .. .. .. .. .. that is where I have been all this time .. .. .. .. .. .. and my very first port of call is to run as fast as my little legs will carry me to the Snippets Playground Challenge where we are encouraged to use up all of those little bits of card, paper, ribbon, fabric etc that we compulsively save (well I do anyway almost to the point of ridiculousness). 

This is what I have created .. .. ..

These are the snippets I grabbed to play with.. .. 

Supplies used were:

Paper and card snippets
Spellbinder Circle and Scalloped Circle Dies
Julie Hickey Layers, Frames & Banners Rectangle Die Set
X-Cut Embossing Folder - Polka Hearts
Lili of the Valley Digital Block Sentiment Set
Ribbon
My "new" Trusty Sewing Machine (more on that another day)

My card is based on a You Tube video I saw posted by the lovely Natasha Foote but I have altered it to suit what I wanted. 

I hope everyone has been getting along OK in my absence and that the world has been being kind to you all. 

Have a good rest of the day .. .. it feels really great and exciting to be back!

Time now to see if I am still capable of linking up my entry!  LOL!!!

I have needed to change my computer and am on a big learning curve because I am now on Windows 11 and it is taking a bit of mastering .. .. hence me not yet getting to grips with adding a watermark to my photographs!  

TEENY TINY SNIPPETS

Hi Everyone

Happy Wednesday!

I hope everything is going well for you all at the moment.

A very frosty start here but it turned into a lovely sunny (but still cold) day.

Trying very hard here to find some time to get myself back into the swing of blogging again and I made a little inroad with a teeny tiny make (a whole 3.5 inches square for anyone new to my blog). 

My first playtime in quite a while, using an old image that I can remember buying from Ally Pally many, many years ago (April 2010 to be exact), and I still love it as much as I did on the day I bought it. 

This used:

Image:  Whiff of Joy "Henry Hugging Heart"

Sentiment:  LOTV Sentiment Labels - Clear Stamp Set

All Papers and Card from Snippet Mountain

ProMarkers

Twine

We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board .. .. for the tiny envelope.  I used a larger snippet for this, folding so that the pattern is inside the envelope.

So with a mini "hit" on snippet mountain I am taking this teeny tiny card over to the Snippets Playground Challenge. 

The challenge now has it own sparkly new home (still run by the lovely Di)  .. .. .. and it looks wonderful.

Hopefully I'll catch you again soon.

HAPPY 2022

Hi Everyone

HAPPY 2022  

.. .. may it be a healthy and happy one for us all .. .. and most importantly one that is filled with love.

I hope that everyone had a good Christmas, whatever you were doing.  

Any new crafty goodies for anyone?  Santa left a few under my tree so I am looking forward to a play with those .. .. .. "one day"!

I would like to extend a HUGE heartfelt THANK YOU for all the comments people have been so kind to leave on my blog during the last 12 months and also for all the emails I have received recently concerning my Mum.

Things are starting to finally pick up and settle into a different routine. We now have carers on board to help "team Mum" and things appear to be slowly falling into a nice pattern.  Although Mum has carers visiting twice a day, at least one and sometimes two of us kids spend time with her each day as well, so she isn't short on company, meals, drinks or love, that's for sure.

Perhaps my life will settle down a bit soon and I can get back to some blogging, and much missed crafting.

But for now all I can do is simply share some of my favourite cards from 2021 and the reasons why (mainly because I don't have anything new to offer you ... .. .. sorry!).

First Pick

I chose this first one for its sheer simplicity.  A teeny, tiny card which is great for using up those  snippets that we all hoard (I am going to be culling them big time this year I hope!).

Second Pick

This was an image I purchased from Bugaboo Stamps just before the store disappeared.  It has turned out to be a real  favourite and I have used it so many times since I purchased it.  Just change the colours and the sentiment and it works for anyone and just about any occasion.  

Third Pick

Another digital image which I love for its beauty and simplicity (and all the hearts of course).  This too works for lots of occasions and even looks lovely framed.

So that is me for today - with my fingers tightly crossed that I will be back in circulation soon.  But in the meantime have a good 2022.

No rash new year resolutions from the House of Hearts  -  I am going to simply take each day as it comes and make the most of it.  

Hoping I will see you sooner rather than later.  In the meantime stay safe and take care.

AND THE NEXT ONE

Hi Everyone

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

I am here today with another new sketch.  

and I used it to create this:

This used:

Image:  Digistamp Boutique "Watercolour Butterfly" (sadly no longer trading)
Sentiment:  Penny Black "30-105" Gratitude
Backing Papers:  The Lovely Boutique "Perfect Papers" and "Pinstripes" (also sadly no longer trading)
Circles stamped using an old stamp set from The Works
Corner Rounding Punch
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today.

Struggling big time for crafting and blogging time at the moment so if I haven't visited you for a while .. .. I apologise .. .. and promise I will be with you eventually.  I need to prioritise things a little differently now and cram crafty time into the mix where I can.  

Happy couples are coming back on the scene ready for next years weddings too.  For some of them it will be "third time lucky" and hopefully Covid won't ruin their plans again.

All routine has gone from my life and I am simply firefighting  -  thank goodness Mr Heart has an understanding soul.  

Mum is looking like she is going to need more care now, on top of what us kids were already providing, and it doesn't help that she isn't a morning person!  I get to her for 9.30am to give her her tablets and more often than not she then asks for "a little more snooze time" before we start the showering and dressing routine.  We are getting a bit more slicker at that though!

I must admit that I thought everyone was like me and the minute their eyes open in the morning they are instantly awake and raring to go!  Turns out I am just weird as I haven't yet found anyone else (other than my brother) who is like that!.  That must be why we are both self employed - it must be a necessary trait LOL!!

Anyway, time to wake sleeping beauty up again after her "snooze".

A NEW SKETCH

Hi Everyone

I hope you are all well and your day and week has gone well.

There hasn't been much time or space for me to craft whilst spending time at Mum's, but during the quieter spells I amused myself by designing some more rectangular sketches for posting onto the tab at the top of my blog .. .. .. .. along with doing just a bit of colouring.

This means that hopefully as things start to calm down, I will be able to turn my coloured images into cards, using my new sketches.  Well that's the plan anyway.

Here is the first sketch I would like to share:

and here is the first card I have made using it:

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "2754" Xmas Kiss

Sentiment:  Computer Generated
Backing papers:  From Snippet Mountain
Spellbinders Circle and Scallop Circle Dies
Star Punches and Dies
Crystal Glamour Dust
ProMarkers

Nail Heads

My Trusty Sewing Machine

My card is for sharing with Jo over at the Christmas Kickstart Challenge where the theme is Christmas Snippets

and of course

If snippets have come into the equation then Di springs to mind and I need to skip over to Pixie's Snippets Playground too.

Di is actually Jo's Guest Designer this Month (lovely to see you there Di .. .. congratulations!).  Everything on my card, apart from the base card, has come from snippet mountain .. .. .. not that the mountain range looks any smaller.  Sigh!

Take care everyone.  Enjoy bonfire night/weekend!

TEENY, TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Tuesday!

Here at last after a two week break whilst trying to sort out things regarding Mum.  We now have her back at home and we see little improvements most days .. .. .. which is brilliant considering the mayhem of the first week.

Once Mum banned me from sleeping on her settee we knew she was starting to feel a bit better .. .. and us three kids have drawn up a rota between us so that she is always being well cared for.  We make a great team!

Mum isn't able to do everything she could do before she went into hospital  .. .. .. but we haven't given up hope that as things continue to improve she will regain a bit more independence again.  But if not .. well .. .. .. we will always be there for her.

I am breaking my absence gently with a teeny tiny creation .. .. which for anyone new to my blog measures a whole 3.5 inches square:

This used:

Image:  LOTV "Hats Off" Digital Image  (I copied and pasted a few of the snow dots to extend the blizzard)
Sentiment:  LOTV "Swirly Festive Greetings" Digital
ProMarkers
Crystal Glamour Dust
My Trusty Sewing Machine

So that is me for today, but before I go I want to thank everyone who left me such lovely comments, and sent thoughtful emails regarding my Mum. It was really kind of you all, and the good wishes definitely helped.