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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 30 October 2016

SUNDAY SNIPPETS

Hi Everyone

Happy Sunday .. .. I hope you have all had a good day .. .. and those of you that were blessed with an extra hour today have felt the benefit.

I didn't think I was going to have time to make and post a snippet make today .. .. my day seemed to be disappearing .. .. until I suddenly realised that we hadn't changed the clock in the kitchen and my little craft pod!

It was a lovely surprise.

Perhaps I should keep those two clocks an hour fast so I feel the benefit later in the day LOL!!!

So here is my snippet make for this week .. .. complete with a sneaky heart to keep you on your toes!!




As always on a Sunday I am lazy and do not list my ingredients .. .. but if there is anything you would like to know then just ask away and I will do my best to answer.

So I am off to link up with Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground as I have used up some more of those snippets from my ever growing mountain.  I am sure they multiply when I'm not looking!!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and enjoy your extra hour too .. .. if you haven't already used it LOL!!

I will catch you again soon. 

Love

Saturday 29 October 2016

HE'S BACK AGAIN

Hi Everyone

Happy Saturday!!

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

Most of my day has been taken up starting to sort out the travel kit for next weekend's wedding fayre. I like to take a few new things every time I exhibit, so I have been sorting out a few new colours and sparkly things ready for creating later in the week. But as always one thing leads to another .. .. then another .. .. and no way am I going to be able to make everything I am planning .. .. but I guess it is better that way than having no ideas at all!! 

So I haven't actually made anything today (other than lots of plans and mess) .. .. but I do have a new sketch and a little card which I pulled together yesterday to share.  

Not quite as small as my teeny, tiny cards .. .. this one is a little bit bigger at a whole 4" square and features that little dog die again:




This used:

Marianne Design Creatables:  "LR0339" Scotty Dog
Sentiment:  Computer Generated using font "Budoken"
Backing Papers:  Dovecraft Back to Basics Christmas "Traditional"
Spellbinders Nestabilities:  Scalloped and Classic Circles
Josy Rose:  Nail Heads
My Trusty Sewing Machine
Ribbons from my crafty stash box

and the sparkly new sketch from my little sketch library:


You can see the other sketches in my collection by clicking on the tab at the top of my blog.  Feel free to use them if any take your fancy.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend - and don't forget to alter those clocks.  A whole extra hour!  Woo hoo!  

Love

Thursday 27 October 2016

MORE CHRISTMAS

Hi Everyone

Happy Thursday!

Many thanks for all your lovely comments on my post of yesterday ... ... it was a card I thoroughly enjoyed making.. .. but it certainly wasn't as quick to make as the one I am sharing today.

This one was made by making use of my die box .. .. and my box of glitter card leftovers.

Glitter card is very popular in the wedding world at the moment so I end up with quite a few off-cuts which come in very useful on other projects .. .. and I save the most tiniest of pieces!!

So here is my share for today:




This used:

Lawn Fawn die:  String of Lights
Cuttlebug:  2x2 die set "Winter" (for the tree)
Memory Box Die:  Snowflake Heart 
Sentiment:  Computer generated using fonts "Sweetheart Script" and "Aracne Condensed"
My Trusty Sewing Machine
Glamour Dust
Gems from my crafty stash box

There is a die cut nestled inside the little tree but I can't remember which set this came from off the top of my head.  It isn't stored where all my other dies are .. .. it lives all on its own on a magnet mounted on the wall of my craft pod .. .. I wonder why?!?!  LOL!!

So that is me for today. 

Enjoy your evening.

Love

Wednesday 26 October 2016

WHITE CARD WEDNESDAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Wednesday!

I hope it has been a good day for you.  We have enjoyed some lovely sunshine here today and I hope you saw the same.

So Wednesday is the day I need to use up some of that white card mountain .. .. and I have to use a whole three sqaures .. .. but I did sneak in a bit of silver card too because the card was just crying out for it!!  LOL!!!

Here we go .....




This used:

Image:  Penny Black "40-427" Pretty Perch
Sentiment and Snowflakes:  Penny Black "30-316" Season's Gifts
X-Cut Embossing Folder:  Small Polka Dots
Distress Inks:  Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky, Weathered Wood and Spiced Marmalade
Clear Embossing Powder for the Snowflakes
ProMarkers
Crystal Glamour Dust
Glossy Accents (for the snowdrop and the berries)
Stampendous Frantage:  Chunky White

Lots of mask making for this one, but at least they will keep for using again.

I am entering this into the Rudolph Day Challenge for October .. .. a challenge which starts on the 25th of each month .. .. where anything goes as long as it is Christmas related. 

Time now for a BIG clear up in the old craft pod.  Too many crafty goodies not in their rightful places and that isn't good!

Catch you again tomorrow .. .. sorry folks but it is going to be Christmas again!!

Love

Tuesday 25 October 2016

TEENY, TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Tuesday!

I hope you are having a good day, and if not that it improves smartish!!

Here with my teeny, tiny make for this week .. .. .. which for anyone new to my blog measures a whole 3.5 inches square.

A more subtle touch of tartan today and one of my favourite techiques .. .. embedded die cuts:




This used:

Image:  Memory Box Die "Pine Border Outline"
Sentiment:  X-Cut Die "Merry & Bright"(my card is too small to use the whole sentiment)
Backing Papers:  First Edition Paper "Vintage Noel" and a scrap of Pink Petticoat paper
Josy Rose:  Nail Heads
My Trusty Sewing Machine
We R Memory Keepers Envelope punch board

and that is it!

Short and sweet from me today!  I am trying to get some new wedding samples together ready for the next fayre, alongside the occasional Christmas card.  Definitely what you call "happy crafting".

Catch you again soon.

Love

Monday 24 October 2016

YAPPY CHRISTMAS

Hi Everyone

Happy Monday .. .. a whole sparkly new week ahead of us!  Hopefully I manage to achieve as much this week as I did last!

My tartan theme continues with this little make for today




This used

Image: Marianne Design Creatables Die: "LR0339" Scotty Dog
Sentiment:  Computer generated using font "Sweetheart Script"
Backing Paper:  "Ephrazy Design" Christmas Tartan
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is it!

A lovely flat one .. .. great for Christmas posting!!

OK .. .. back to it for me.

Enjoy the rest of your day and I will hopefully be here tomorrow with another Teeny, Tiny creation.

Love

Sunday 23 October 2016

SUNDAY SNIPPETS

Hi Everyone

I hope your weekend is going well.

One of my brides got married yesterday .. .. and I am pleased to say the weather was kind to her.  It should have been lovely for her photographs.  Not so bright that you need to squint .. .. which to me is always a bonus.

Anyway, after a mad few days, here I am back with another Christmas card.  I am definitely feeling the love for tartan at the moment so I think it may be making its way onto a few of my Christmas makes this year.

Today's card has used up a little of my snippet mountain .. .. but not much .. .. so I will be winging my way to Pixie's Snippets Playground to see what is happening there.

So here we go (but with only a tiny snippet of tartan used today).




As always on a Sunday I am lazy and don't list my ingredients but I thought you may like to know about the stamp I used to make the wreath.  It came from Card-io and is called "Oriental Blossom" and looks nothing like a wreath.  It is just a branch.

If you would like to see how the wreath was created then you can see the technique on this little YouTube video here.  I bought the stamp set from the NEC earlier this year after watching the lady demonstrate there. Such a talented lady.. .. I could have stood and watched her all day long!

My fingers have been itching to try and re-create the wreath .. .. and I must admit I was surprised how easily it came together.

Catch you again soon hopefully .. .. with more Christmas cards for adding to my very hungry stock box.

Love

Wednesday 19 October 2016

WHITE CARD WEDNESDAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Wednesday!

I hope it has been a good day for everyone.

Mine has seen a bride come and collect everything for her wedding on Saturday .. .. I do hope the weather is going to be kind to her.  It always feels sad when I have to empty the boxes of any leftovers ready for filling again for another bride.  But it does feel good to gain some much needed space back!

So I decided it needed to be another Christmas card today and as the theme for Wednesday is "white card" .. .. here is my offering (but only one picture I'm afraid .. .. .. I struggle big time with white cards and this was the best of a very bad bunch of photographs!!)


 This used:

Sentiment:  Penny Black "30-316" Season's Gifts
Penny Black Die Set:  "51-066" Crystal Trio
WOW! Embossing Powder::  Clear Hologram Sparkle 
My Trusty Sewing Machine
Ribbon and gems from my crafty stash box

and that is it apart from some specks of Glamour Dust which the camera didn't manage to pick up.

A bit late today I'm afraid but at least I made and appearance .. .. and have another Christmas card to add to my collection.  Yay!!

See you again soon.

Love

Tuesday 18 October 2016

TEENY, TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Tuesday!

Get me .. .. posting two days on the run .. .. now that is a rare sight at the moment!!!  But there is a good reason .. ..whilst posting off orders and samples yesterday I picked up the "Posting Dates for Christmas Delivery" leaflet.  Panic!!

For normal post we are looking at Tuesday, 20th December for Second Class and Wednesday, 21st December for First Class.  (I thought we normally had a few days between second and first class posting dates not just one!!).

So writing the dates on the calendar that looked very scarily close .. .. and will be even more scary when November hits in a couple of weeks time!!

So another teeny, tiny 3.5" Christmas card it is . .. . and this is for entering into the CAS Mix Up Card Challenge where the theme this month is to use the "ghosting" technique alongside some stamping (which I embossed in white) and your pick from the list provided.  I chose die cutting .. .. and here is my creation:




This used:

Distress Ink Pads:  Stormy Sky and Iced Spruce
Imagination Craft Stencil:  Sparkles (for spraying water through)
Penny Black Clear Stamp Set:  "30-316" Season's Gifts (for the sentiment and stamped snowflakes)  
Penny Black Snowflake Die Set:  "51-066" Crystal Trio (for the embedded silver snowflakes)
Wow!  Embossing Powder  Opaque Bright White
Frantage:  Chunky White
Josy Rose:  Nail Heads
We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board

and that is me for today.

Back to that massive "must do list"!!

Have a good day everyone.

Love

Monday 17 October 2016

MONDAY'S MALE

Hi Everyone

Happy Monday!  

I hope everyone is well and keeping all the lurgy germs at bay!  Nearly every other person you speak to seems to be full of cold at the moment!!

A post today with a project I made for entering into the CAS Watercolour Card Challenge for October.  This is the first month of a sparkly new challenge and one I fancied playing along with as I do love dabbling with watercolours, but don't get around to it very often.

The theme this month is Autumn. 

So here is my creation which I made with the intention of it being for a male .. .. but to be fair, now it is finished,  I think it would be suitable for a male or a female.




This used:

Image:  Stampendous! "N136" Leafy Block
Sentiment:  Computer Generated
My Winsor & Newton watercolour paint palette 
Josy Rose Nail Heads
Twine
My Trusty Sewing Machine

Once I had added the lines of watercolour I re-wet the centre and dabbed it with a paper towel which soaked up the water and left behind that lovely dotty pattern which I really liked.

I am also going to enter my creation into the CAS Mix Up Card Challenge where the theme is "ghosting" along with my choice of an additional element from the list provided .. .. which is "stitching".

So that is me for today.  

Back to keeping my brides happy and I will see you again soon hopefully!!!!

Love

Sunday 16 October 2016

MAKE CHRISTMAS CARDS

Hi Everyone

Happy Sunday!

Ours started with mega rain here .. .. but it does seem to be brightening up a little now!

Well as promised on Friday, here are a few of the projects I made for the new Make Christmas Cards magazine which is now on the shelves just sitting waiting to tempt you!


It is one of those fun magazines that gives you lots to play with .. .. stamps, embossing folders, pretty papers with matching toppers and sentiments along with lots of inspiration for using everything to make cards, gift tags, gift bags and gift boxes.

I got to play with the decoupage papers and a lovely set of papers and toppers featuring cute little dogs.  These were some of my makes .. ..:




and I even decorated a gift bag.. .. which is quite a rarity for me .. .. and just great for those awkward presents we don't know how to wrap!!


Well now I have made myself think of Christmas (again) .. .. I had perhaps better make a much needed Christmas card for my stock box. That section of my crafty world has been very neglected so far this year!  Slap those wrists!!!  

I have no excuse really because I bought a few Christmas goodies in the sales just after last Christmas in readiness!! Just haven't got round to using them.  Guess what is top of the New Year Resolution list for 2017!!!?

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I will catch you when I do.

Love

Friday 14 October 2016

JUST REPORTING IN

Hi Everyone

Happy Friday!

Thought I had better report in as I haven't been able to make an appearance here in a while.  Thank you to everyone who has been checking up to make sure all is OK.  I promise it is .. .. I am just tied up with things that I cant share on my blog at the moment.

Life has been super busy here (in a good way) and each day seems to be lasting a nano-second!  That is always a sign you are having a good time!!

Who would have thought when I blogged this post that I would still be "living my dream" today.  I had to smile when looking back to find the old post at some of the cringe-worthy cards I posted back then.  I wonder if I will cringe at today's makes in another 6 years time!

It seems so long ago now in terms of looking at the number of years that have passed .. .. but yet it still seems so recent in other ways.  So many fabulous things have happened that I could never have imagined and Mr Heart often says "I bet you wish you had done this years ago".  Of course part of me does .. .. but I really don't think the time was right then.  I still had lessons to learn out in the big world.  

Something I still have to pinch myself about is being asked to do magazine commissions .. .. talking of which Issue 158 of Quick Cards Made Easy is now on the shelves so I can share a few of the projects I worked on.

The first was for a Vellum Backdrop Commission


and this second one was part of a Ruffle Front Commission


I also worked with the cover gift for this month which is a cute stamp and decoupage set along with a pad of Christmas papers


Definitely a lovely Christmas feel to the magazine this month!  Shame there isn't the same feeling here in the House of Hearts.  I haven't got anywhere near any serious Christmas card making sessions yet!! Eeekk!! 

One of my brides gets married next Saturday so she is my main focus at the moment .. .. place names done, table names done, guest book nearly done, readings done and table plan well on the way. So you never know, there could be the odd Christmas card or two making an appearance next week!

But for now I will love and leave you.  Have a lovely day ahead of what I hope will be a good weekend for everyone.

I do have a few cards to show you from another magazine I was asked to work on and will hopefully get those posted up over the weekend.

Love Jules xx

Tuesday 4 October 2016

TEENY, TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Tuesday!

Hope you have a little bit of this lovely sunshine today.

A quick nip in and out with my Teeny, Tiny Tuesday make for this week .. .. and for anyone new to my blog this measures a whole 3.5 inches square. 

I am getting requests for Teeny, Tiny Christmas cards now so had better get my thinking cap on to see what tiny designs I can come up with there.

So here we go with my tiny one for this week:




This used:

Image/Sentiment:  Hobby Art Clear Stamp Set:  CS059D Winter Wishes
Backing Papers:  Nitwit Collections Fireside Christmas
Vellum
Silver Embossing Powder
My Trusty Sewing Machine
Berry Embellishment, Ribbon, Cord and Charm from my crafty stash box
We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board

and that is it!

I made an "oversized" envelope so that the lovely red berry embellishment would fit comfortably inside but I am still not sure it feels right.  Wedding invitations and special birthday cards often get ordered with decorated boxes .. .. but at the moment I am thinking a Christmas card in a box might be a step too far.  Perhaps have to have a play with that another day and decide then .. .. no time for faffing this week (or should I say this month LOL!!)

Enjoy your day everyone.

Love Jules xx