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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.

Tuesday 29 September 2015

SKETCH NUMBER SIXTEEN

Hi Everyone

I hope you are all having a good week.

As I am sure you will have guessed from my absence in blogland, my little world is super busy at the moment .. .. but as always, super exciting!

I have a lovely "happy couple" who are getting married on Saturday and there are still lots and lots of ribbons to be tied for that .. .. samples to be made for new "happy couples" .. .. and a wedding fayre on Sunday that I need to prepare for!!!  

Therefore, if anyone goes to the supermarket today and sees a huge bumper box of "extra time" (preferably on offer with 50% extra free) then could you grab me a couple of boxes please.  I would be very, very grateful LOL!!

So, as I can't create and post here at the moment I thought I would take this week to introduce lots of new sketches into my library so that when I "can" sit at the "general crafting station" again I can hit the ground running .. .. click on my sketch library tab and off I go.  Wish I had though of this years ago .. .. it would have saved me sooooo much time.  But hey, better late than never!

So here we go:

SKETCH NUMBER SIXTEEN


Have fun if you decide to have a play with it.

Catch you again soon with the next addition.

Have a good day .. .. I hope the sunshine makes an appearance for you.

Love

Tuesday 22 September 2015

TEENY, TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

I hope you had a happy Tuesday!

Another fast and busy day that has come and gone in the blink of an eye :-(

Many thanks for all the lovely comments and personal emails I received following my new website news yesterday .. .. .. you are all very kind and I appreciate them all very much..

As promised there is an actual card to share today (I hope nobody fainted there!).  Another teeny tiny 3.5" square creation that was inspired by a thank you card I received yesterday .. .. .. that too had a speech bubble on the front with the words "Just to Say" .. . and this is my take on it:




This used:

Sentiment:  Digistamp Boutique "Essential Sentiments Set"
Backing Papers:  American Crafts, Amy Tangerine, Plus One
Penny Black Die Set:  "A Pocket Full"
Distress Ink:  Peacock Fethers
Woodware Daisy Punch
My Trusty Sewing Machine
We R Memory Keepers:  Envelope Punch Board
and Sketch Number Two from my little sketch library (this little chappie certainly gets a lot of use LOL!!)


Short and sweet today!

Hope your day has been a good one.

Love

Monday 21 September 2015

AT LAST !

Hi Everyone

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

No pictures from me today . . . just lots of happy news.

Saturday brought a lovely new bride to my doorstep who will be getting married a couple of days after Christmas .. .. my first snowflake themed table plan and venue stationery order!  How lovely .. .. Christmas excitement and wedding excitement all at the same time.   Ooooo I hope I don't burst LOL!!

Then Sunday I worked the majority of the day with my youngest Son sorting out the final touches to my new website .. .. .. and we finished very late last night with the scary scrapping of the old website .. .. .. .. and bringing the new one to life.  Gosh my Son has the patience of a Saint!  I am not the most technology blessed person in the world, and I desperately wanted to understand everything we were doing, and kept asking him question after question.  I bet he slept well last night because I feel certain I must have worn him out!

The new website is only in its infancy but I am so chuffed with it .. .. and as quite a few people had enquired as to how it was coming along I thought you might fancy a peep at some of what has been keeping me away from blogland.  You will find it here

At last a website that I can change and add pictures to myself .. .. woo hoo!  It has taken me ages to reach this stage because I have only been able to chip away at it very gradually alongside everything else.  There are lots of hidden pages that will be making an appearance as things progress, new samples and designs, and loads more photographs to take and add .. .. .. but I am really excited about what has been achieved so far.

I'm a bit excited .. .. .. can you tell?  LOL!!! 

Hoping to be here tomorrow with a teeny, tiny Tuesday make but the next job (which I should have done before now) is to get that camera battery on charge again!!

Catch you soon - I hope the day is being kind to you.

Love

Thursday 17 September 2015

I WISH I HADN'T LOOKED!

Hi Everyone

A big day today in the House of Hearts .. .. mountains of work to get through today so I thought I would post nice and early before I get stuck in. 

The new issue of Quick Cards Made Easy is out this week (Issue 144) and I was over the moon to be asked to work on a couple of commissions.

The first was a set of Christmas Cards using the Bokeh Technique.  I love them all but these were two of my favourites:



Then I can't image why I got this commission (LOL!!) .. ..  but the free cover gift with the magazine this month is a super gorgeous Nordic Heart Christmas die .. .. and surprise, surprise .. .. I love it.

I put it into a circle aperture here;


and doesn't it look fabby heat embossed in silver .. .. ..


As you can guess this lovely die is going to be getting lots of use (not that I have even made a dent in my Christmas card orders yet!!)  Eeekkk!!

I also caught a glimpse of what looks like a super interesting machine on the Quick Cards Facebook page here.  You may need to scroll down a little because it is a super busy site (or there is a link on their side bar) .. .. but look for the video showing the office trying out the First Edition Foiling Machine that has just come out.  It looks amazing.  Bet my happy couples might like that look on their creations!!!

I WISH I HADN'T LOOKED - I can't stop thinking about it now LOL!!!

Have a good day everyone.

Time for me to become hyper-active!!!

Love

Tuesday 15 September 2015

TEENY, TINY TUESDAY .. .. .. JUST

Hi Everyone

I hope you are having a good week.

My week so far has been taken up with place names for a couple of weddings .. .. one set which needed menu choices adding to them .. .. and I have to admit it did make me feel rather peckish!  LOL!!

But my fingers were itching to have a little play so what better than a teeny tiny 3.5" square creation.

This is what I came up with:



This used:

Sentiment:  Penny Black Transparent Stamp Set"30-105" Gratitude
Backing Papers:  First Edition Papers:  Botanical Notes
My Trusty Sewing Machine
Buttons
We R Memory Keepers Envelope Board
and Sketch Fourteen from my little collection.


So that is me for today .. ..  my fingers are now happy at having had a play .. .. but I can't say I am happy about how early it seemed to get dark this evening.

Mr Heart took me to pick up a load of mountboard for up and coming table plans and on the drive home it was already getting dark .. .. and it was only 8 o'clock :-(

I'm not ready for summer to end yet!!!

Catch you again soon.

Love

Saturday 12 September 2015

MAKE LEMONADE!

Hi Everyone

Happy weekend .. .. where has the sunshine gone?!?!?  It is looking decidedly wet and dull here.

We have been back home from our London jaunt for a couple of days now (with the London kids coming back and staying with us until tomorrow).  That means we will have spent a whole week together and it has been so lovely.

Blood Brothers was really good .. .. and I can report that Marti Pellow was as gorgeous as ever LOL!! But in his role as the narrator I didn't get to see that stunning smile and those cheeky twinkly eyes until the curtain call right at the end ..  ..  but that's OK .. .. it was well worth the wait.  I wonder how long it will be before I stop singing the songs in my head?

Then on my return home there was a lovely package waiting on my doormat.  The Penny Black stamp I have been looking to add to my collection for quite a while .. .. and my lovely blog buddy Eve spotted it last week on Ebay and gave me the nod (thanks Eve - what a great personal shopper you are xxx).

So here it is in use:




This used:

Image:  Penny Black "1675K" Make Lemonade
Sentiment:  Pink Petticoat (sorry no longer available)
Backing Papers:  Nitwit "Bonnets 'n Bowties" Collection (beware .. .. the massive autumn sale is happening over there so only click the link if you are strong willed)
ProMarkers
My Trusty Sewing Machine
Josy Rose:  Nail Heads
Glamour Dust
Ribbon and a  Button from My Crafty Stash Box

and in celebration of  new the Penny Black Stamp I have designed and added a new sketch into the collection.

Sketch Fifteen


So that is me for today.

Enjoy your weekend everyone, whatever you are doing.

Love

Tuesday 8 September 2015

NEW SKETCH

Hi Everyone

I hope everyone is well and the world is being kind to you.

Once again I will apologise for my lack of appearance in blogland .. .. but "happy couples" have to come first and they are certainly keeping me super busy.

But there is a treat on the cards for me today and I am switching the computer off (and hopefully my brain) for a "hot date" with none other than the gorgeous Marti Pellow.  The London Kids treated me to a ticket earlier in the year so I have been waiting for today for many, many months (thank you kids .. .. mwah!!!).

Can't wait.  Last time I saw him he was narrating Evita .. .. .. but this time it is Blood Brothers.


A new show and storyline for me, but one which I am told I will enjoy.  But to be fair I would watch Marti doing anything.  He could be painting wall and I would just watch  LOL!!

Last time at Evita I was near enough to see his gorgeous sparkly eyes .. .. hopefully the same will be true today!  

For those enjoying my sketches I have also added Sketch Fourteen into the mix .. .. which looks like this:


I hope it is of use for those of you collecting them.  It is lovely seeing creations popping up in blogland using them.

When I get home I am hoping a pre-loved Penny Black stamp will have dropped through my letterbox and all being well I might even get chance to tickle that with a bit of colour and post it here later in the week. 

Enjoy today everyone.

Love