My photo
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.

Monday, 23 January 2012

HAPPY HANDY HIPPO DAY - WEEK 19

Hi Everyone

Happy Handy Hippo day!!!

I don't think anyone is going to struggle in finding the heart on my card this week LOL!!

With Valentine's Day just around the corner I thought it would be nice to share a couple of Valentine makes .. .. one this week (the cute type) and one next week which is something "a bit different for me".

But this week uses one of the brand new Penny Black stamps .. .. which of course I love to pieces!!!  I think these little hedgies are so lovely and super easy to colour.




Below you can find the Handy Hippo magic button .. .. and if you click on it you can see all the lovely goodies I used to make this little project.  Everything I have used has been automatically added to a shopping basket and as always you can remove anything you do not need (or add anything else you can't resist). 



I could sit and colour these lovely Penny Black images for ever!!  There are lots more Penny Black stamps that you will see here.. .. including other brand spanking new ones.  Not necessarily for valentines either.  Some will do for any occasion .. .. a bit like this one really.  I will be using this image for lots of different types of cards that's for sure. 

A few people have been asking me here on my blog, and by email, about different ways I use ribbon on cards so I thought next week I would do a little session on this .. .. including ways to use up the scrappy little bits that get leftover.

Have a lovely week everyone.

I hope the weather is kind to you.  It is certainly sounding like a mixed bag for my neck of the woods!!

Love



and all the lovely friendly people at Handy Hippo 

Sunday, 22 January 2012

PIXIES CRAFTY SNIPPETS - CHALLENGE NO. 4

Hi Everyone

I hope you are all well and enjoying your Sunday. 

It has been really windy here today and I daren't even risk any washing on the line as I had visions of it making its way into the various gardens nearby.  I wouldn't want to have to go and ask neighbours if I could have my Bridget Jones panties back!!!   LOL!!!

We had a lovely meal with our friends last night and the children just love doing something crafty when I visit .. .. and last night we were cutting snowflakes and labels with the cuttlebug.

My little crafty mate Neil wanted to make "black" snowflakes .. .. which his Mum thought was just not cool!!

I said I thought they could look quite good and told Neil I would post a card today featuring one of his black snowflakes.  It's a bit much when you go to visit someone else's house and come back having used up some of their snippets and carrying a little plastic bag full of snowflakes LOL!!   Well a girl can never have too many snowflakes in her snowflake box can she?

Anyway you will have to see what you think to the black snowflake.  Is it a good look or not?!?!?!?

Here are my snippet makes for Pixie's Crafty Snippet Challenge (as you can tell I decided to give the black snippets a little hammering this week)





Lots of lovely snippets used up as well as one of the images from my "coloured ready for another day" drawer!!!!

Di certainly had lots of playmates last week.  She must have been worn out rushing round the playground to see what everyone had made!!  What a star she is!!

OK .. .. time for me to get my pinny on and get some work done in that there kitchen.  

Catch you again tomorrow with my Handy Hippo project for this week.

Love 

Saturday, 21 January 2012

PENNY BLACK SATURDAY - WEEK 185

Hi Everyone

I am a bit earlier today as we are off out and about tonight for a take-away with friends.

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my valentine make of yesterday .. .. .. I'm pleased you liked it.

Today I am playing along with the challenge over at Penny Black Saturday .. .. .  where the theme this week is "crafty bargains".  

They would like to see you put to good use any bargains you have managed to get your hands on in the sales.

Well you have already seen my main "new year" bargain .. .. but you are just going to have to see it again LOL!!

Here is my make:





This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3347H" Duckling
Sentiment:  Pink Petticoat
Backing Paper:  GCD Studios "Soul Food"
Martha Stewart Punch:  Daisy
Leone Em Pty Punch:  Ash Branch
Woodward Punches:  Flowers
Nestabilities:  Classic Circles Large, Classic Scalloped Circles Large, Eyelet Circles
Josy Rose:  Nail Heads
My Trust Sewing Machine
ProMarkers
Ribbon and pearls from the Stash Box

and here is the picture of my crafty bargain.  Good old Dunelm!!!!  I'm going to get loads of crafty makes and happy hours out of this stack!!!


So that is me for today.

I'll be back tomorrow to play along with Di in the snippet playground.

Have a lovely Saturday evening everyone.

Love

Friday, 20 January 2012

I WOULD HAVE BEEN EARLIER BUT .. .. ..

Tee hee!!

I would have been earlier but hubby was in the bedroom !!!

... "and ?" ...

I hear you cry .. ..

Well I needed ribbons for adding to my card .. .. .. and I have moved those on reels into a drawer in our bedroom .. .. .. and hubby doesn't know yet.

Yes .. .. yet another room the crafty goodness is starting to take over!!  LOL!!!  I'll cop it!!!

So here is my later than intended make




Ooops .. .. I can see my reflection in the charm.  Oh well .. nothing I can do about that!!

This used:

Backing Paper:  Hot Off The Press "Classic Creative Pack"
Sentiment:  Computer Generated
My Trusty Sewing Machine
Diamond Stickles
Lace, Ribbons, |Pearls, Cord and Charm from the Stash Box

I think this little beauty is going to have to go into a box as it would give an envelope a bit of torture treatment.

Sorry if you like searching for the hearts .. .. you can hardly hide them on valentine makes can you?

Enjoy what is left of the evening and have a fabby weekend everyone.

Love

Thursday, 19 January 2012

EMBRACEABLE

Hi Everyone

Very, very late Jules today .. .. sorry!!

So I will try to be super quick and share my make of this evening which uses a lovely heart stamp I was excited to receive from my lovely blog buddy Elizabeth.  All beautifully wrapped in pink tissue paper.

It arrived alongside a lovely Christmas card and a Christmas decoration to hang on my tree (and it will hang on my tree every year from now onwards).  Thank you Elizabeth .. .. you are so very kind and thoughtful xx

I have lots of plans for this stamp so you will see it appearing quite a bit!!

Here is my make:





This used:

Image:  Penny Black "3789J" Embraceable
Background Stamp:  Debbie Moore "THG005" Hearts Background
Sentiment:  Funky Hand "Love N That" Clear Stamp Set
Backing Paper:  GCD Studios "Soul Food"  (stamped with the Debbie Moore stamp)
Nestabilities:  Deckled Rectangle Large
Josy Rose:  Nail Heads
ProMarkers
Ribbon, cord and flower from Stash Box

and that is me for today .. .. .. must fly quickly .. .. supper is calling!!!

Love

Wednesday, 18 January 2012

JANUARY BLUES


Hi Everyone

Well if everyone was as lucky as we were here today there was no need for the scraping of frost from windscreens this morning!!

There was plenty of it to be seen as we went to bed last night .. .. but this morning .. .. all gone!!!  Wonderful!!

Today it was my turn to post on the Get Funky! Challenge blog where our lovely Lou has set the theme of 

"January Blues" 

.. .. which means your creation needs to showcase the colour blue.

Here is my little make:






and to make this I used papers from one of Anice's original CD's called The Funky One

Apart from this CD the only other things I used were: 

Woodware Punches:  Daisy
Ribbons and Brads from the Stash Box
..... and a pen for a bit of a doodle !!  LOL!!

You can win a download of your choice if you are chosen as the Get Funky! winner (so another chance to get your hands on one of the lovely downloads that Anice released at the weekend) and believe me they are both "gorgeous"!!


Steam Funk 

  Funky Kraft Stash


To take part in the challenge you just need to be following the theme of blue and use a Funky Hand product on your creation.  

If you don't have any Funky goodies yet then Anice has provided a freebie paper which you can find here. 

OK folks .. .. that is me for today.  

I'll catch you again tomorrow.  But for now favour boxes are calling me yet again  .. .. .. and if you could see all the yummy chocolates and the beautifully coloured almonds I need to put inside the different ones I am making  you wouldn't believe your eyes!!

How many calories?!?!?!

It's a good job sweeties are safe with me .. ..  although I have had permission to pop the odd Thornton's chocolate in my mouth as there are lots of spares!!   LOL!!!   (but I won't).

Love

Tuesday, 17 January 2012

PRINTED FLOWERS AND TEMPLATE LINK


Hi Everyone

I hope you are all snuggly and warm!!

What a very, very cold start again this morning .. .. but tomorrow we have been promised a slight rise in temperature .. .. but only for one day!!  Oh well  we will just have to be grateful with that for now.

A share today that could have been a snippet make if I hadn't cut into a brand new paper stack that I bought half price from Dunelm at the weekend!!  LOL!!!   Never mind I am sure Di will have loads of playmates in the snippet playground .. even if it is super cold.  I love papers with writing on and just couldn't wait for a play with my new gain!!

The flowers were stamped onto plain card and cut out .. .. there are even more flowers in the stamp set .. .. these are just a few of them!!







This used:

Flowers images:  Hero Arts "CL290"  Printed Flowers
Sentiment:  Elzybells (sadly no longer trading)
Backing Papers:  GCD Studios "Soul Food"
Martha Stewart Punch:  Daisy
Josy Rose:  Nail Heads
Buttons and ribbons from the Stash Box

Mmmm... loving this stack.  Not as much as my Ella Blue from GCD Studios .. .. but it has lots of potential.

I am going to enter my creation into the Papertake Weekly Challenge this week where they would like to see Buttons, Bows, Bling and Blooms (what a tongue twister that is!!).. .. and this can any of these or all of these!!!  

Some of you may remember this little set of notelets I made and popped into a little storage box last week .. .. but the link to the instructions for making the box wasn't working!!




Well the link is working fine now so here it is - along with lots of other templates!!  Have fun!!!

I'll catch you again tomorrow .. .. have a lovely evening.

Love

Monday, 16 January 2012

HAPPY HANDY HIPPO DAY - WEEK 18

Hi Everyone

My these weeks are flying.

Already we are on week 18 of my Handy Hippo makes!!

Plus halfway through January!!!  Eeekkk!!!  Slow down, slow down .. .. you naughty calendar!!

Here is my project for this week:






Below you can find the Handy Hippo magic button .. .. and if you click on it you can see all the lovely goodies I used to make this little project. Everything I have used has been automatically added to a shopping basket and as always you can remove anything you do not need (or add anything else you can't resist).


This is the sentiment set that I took my words from .. .. as you can see this card could have been for just about any occasion as there are so many fabulous words you can arrange in a multitude of ways.


I chose to work with these products this week so that I could let you know about the new range of Sizzix dies that Handy Hippo are starting to carry (along with lots of other goodies too .. .. so many fabulous things are on the way).

I was having a little stroll around the store on Saturday morning whilst waiting for a visitor to arrive and suddenly I spied the Grand Calibur and a host of grand nestabilities .. .. all at fantastic prices!!  Oh dear!!  So many goodies!!!  LOL!!!

Anyway, I hope you like my project this week.

I'll see you again next week with my next Handy Hippo creation .. .. there will be no problem in finding a heart on it that's for sure!!!

Catch you again soon.

Love



and all the lovely friendly people at Handy Hippo

Sunday, 15 January 2012

PIXIE'S CRAFTY SNIPPET CHALLENGE - NO. 3

Hi Everyone

Late today ... sorry .. .. too busy enjoying myself !!!

First of all I would like to say thank you to everyone who has been sending me hints and tips on curing my "white screen" problems.

I have fiddled about and changed lots of things and am going to give it a good old test tonight.  

The weekend has been mega busy .. .. but very enjoyable .. .. I hope yours has too.

Sunday for me means playing with my snippets and as you know the lovely Di has taken over the keys and is now overseeing proceedings .. .. and what a fabulous job she is doing too!!

Well done Miss Di!!

OK then .. .. ..  here is my snippet make for today.  As you can see I have raided the "brown snippet drawer" today!!







This used:

Snippets from the brown drawer (I think they are Pink Petticoat and Nitwits but wouldn't stake my life on it!!)
Main Image:  Hero Arts "G5311"  Silhouette Spray
Background Image:  Magenta "Buds and Flourishes"
Sentiment:  Penny Black "Critter party"
X-Cut Punch:  Small butterfly
My Trusty Sewing Machine
Scalloped border cut by hand using a free shaped ruler that has been hanging about unused!
Ribbon and pearls from the Stash Box

OK that is me for today with my entry to Pixie's Crafty Snippet Challenge - No. 3.

If you are here to take part in the Funky Hand Blog Hop then you need to click here.  There is still time to enter.  Closing time isn't until midnight tonight.

I'll see you bright and early tomorrow with my Handy Hippo creation for this week.

Love

Saturday, 14 January 2012

FUNKY HAND BLOG HOP


Hi Everyone and welcome to the second Funky Hand blog hop!!!

If you have visited my blog not via the blog hop and would like to take part then you need to start at the very beginning by visiting our lovely Funky Hand Boss Lady .. .. .. Anice. 

Anice will explain everything you need to be doing. 

Our blog hop is to showcase two new downloads that are being released today .. ..
we all "love them both to pieces" and are sure you will too!! 


My creation here has been made with the Steam Funk download
(which includes both the gorgeous papers and the cool alphabet which I cut up into funky shapes).





You should have arrived at my blog via my lovely teamie Ruth who will have shared a fabby make with you, and a magic letter which you will need later. 

The letter that you need from my blog is the letter

"E"

and from here you need to hop along to the next Funkette .. .. who is the lovely Lou

You have until midnight, Sunday 15th January, to leave your answer with Anice
 and the winner will receive a copy of both of the downloads.  Woo hoo!!!

Best of luck everyone and happy weekend and happy hopping

Love

Friday, 13 January 2012

ANOTHER VALENTINE .. .. BUT I WILL EXPLAIN !!

Hi Everyone

I hope your day has been good.

The weather here was lovely after a cold and frosty start .. .. so I was well happy for  my lovely bride who got married today.  I have been thinking about her all day imagining how her day will have been going!!

Just a quick make today as I haven't had time to do any stamping and colouring .. .. but I need more valentine makes so thought this make was a "bit different" and might catch someone's eye .. .. always nice to ring the changes.

Now I will explain as a few people have commented on the number of valentine makes I am showing LOL!!! . 

I don't send all of these valentine cards myself.  I make one to send myself and the rest I will hopefully be selling if someone likes them enough to send to their "loved one". 

So here is today's valentine make:




This used:

Sentiment:  Magnolia Stamps
Go Kreate:  Large Frames - Scalloped Squares
Nestabilities:  Classic Square
My Trusty Sewing Machine
Silver Embossing Powder
Ribbon, Cord, Button and Pearls from the Stash Box

I don't know how everyone else is getting on but I am still struggling in blogland.  I am sorry folks.  I am able to leave comments on some blogs but am still getting the white screen on others.

I hope it sorts itself out soon ready for the Funky Hand blog hop tomorrow!!!!

See you tomorrow bright and early.

Love

Thursday, 12 January 2012

VALENTINES AGAIN !!

Hi Everyone

Today has turned out to be a lovely day weather wise.  I have my fingers crossed that tomorrow is going to turn out to be the same as one of my lovely brides will be getting married. 

I so want all brides to have lovely weather on their wedding day.

Today I set out to make a card to fit in with a little challenge that Lisa from Wishcraft has set herself called "Waste Not Wednesday".  This is where you create something using an image that you haven't used before .. .. one that has sat around un-inked or a digi that you haven't coloured.

Whilst making my creation I decided that it would actually fit into a couple of others too .. .. more about those later.

So, here is my creation for this evening:





This used:

Image:  Digistamp Boutique "Valentine Henry"
Sentiment:  Digistamp Boutique "Valentine Sentiments"
Backing Paper:  Hot off the Press "Cardmaker's Classic Creative Pack"
ProMarkers
Crystal Stickles
Pearls, Ribbon and Cord from the Stash Box
Oh ... .. and a little bit of chalk for those little rosy cheeks LOL!!!

So that is my make .. .. .. ..  but then the old grey matter kicked in. 

I could remember Enfys starting up her own challenge called the "Going Buggy Challenge" where the theme is to use the colours Grey, White and Red .. .. or Black, White and Red.  Perfect, my little creation will fit the bill .. .. hopefully Henry's blue jeans don't disqualify me LOL!!!

Then to impress even more I could remember a little competition on the Digistamp Boutique blog when I purchased my images  .. .. so I am entering my little creation there too.

Anyway, waffle over.

Hopefully I will be able to get to your blogs soon.  Mr Blogger was being a little awkward with me this morning.  When I clicked to comment on some of your blogs all he would give me was a white screen!!!  I promise I am trying to get to you but things are not working as they should.  Is it just me or is anyone else having the same problem?

Hope you all have a good evening.

Catch you again tomorrow .. .. and a date for diary .. .. there is a Funky Hand blog hop starting at 9.00am on Saturday to mark two new releases from the lovely Anice.

Love