Hugs4theHeart Designs

Happy Friday!!! Today has been a day full of putting the finishing touches on about a dozen of my key chains I will be listing on Etsy today.  These are easy and fun to make.  I thought I would share a few of them with you (these are the fronts only).  Thanks for looking. Hugs, Laine

Wanted to play with journals today and came up with three ideas and am also going to list them in my Etsy shop.  Making these are kind of addicting for me.  These are the small journal composition books and it doesn't take a long time to create these.  I guess you can say I am a journal junkie.  I have journals every where and just between you and me - some of them are hidden since they are already filled up with memories and thoughts as well as plans for the future.  Truth be told I have a box full of journals from the early 1980's when I did lots and lots of writing.  Now I am just trying to figure out what to do with them.  I can't stand the thought of tossing them out or burning them.  Decisions Decisions!!! I had a lot of fun making these journals today.  As you can tell I am really enamored by anything and everything that has to do with Paris and the Eiffel Tower.  And of course - adding pink and lots of bling - nothing coul...

This week our challenge at Tuesday Alchemy is  "Surf Sea and Sand."  I have been looking forward to this challenge for quite a while now.  I love the ocean.  It is my favorite place to go when I need to de-stress.  So many happy memories of times spent with my daughters collecting shells, making sandcastles, watching the waves crashing into rocks, the cool breeze against our faces and all the seagulls flying above us.  My grandmother lived by the ocean and she was only a stones throw away from the beauty of it all.  It was heaven on earth.   My precious girls would sit on the sidewalk in front of grandma's house facing each other, legs slightly apart and feet not quite touching.  Grandma would give them a metal container to roll back and forth to each other.  They giggled and talked and with each roll back and forth they were getting closer and closer to their reward - HOME MADE ICE CREAM.  So many memories ago and all of it ...

Happy Wednesday!! This past year has been full of deep introspection as well as hopes and dreams for the future.  It is hard to believe I have been in Bakersfield three months already.  I moved from Seattle to Oregon just before Memorial Day last year.  I never imagined I would be moving again further south to California less than a year later.  I guess that's why I have learned to "never say never".   The hardest part of this whole ordeal has been moving further away from my daughters and grandsons.  I miss them all the time.  I think about the events which led up to this point in my life and wonder if it was worth the cost.  I learned a long time ago I have to stand for something or I would fall for anything and now this has even a deeper meaning to me.  To take a stand against something wrong, to speak the truth and have it cost everything - is that how it is suppose to be?   Maybe at times.  Would I do it again?  I wo...

Happy Happy Tuesday!!! It still seems like Monday to me - I guess three day weekends still throw me off a little.  Spent the weekend moving everything out of storage and into my sister's garage.  Fortunately the weather was a little cooler which made the project a little more tolerable. This weeks challenge with Tuesday Alchemy is called "Fruitylicious" and I really hope you decide to join in this month.  We have a terrific prize and personally I would love to see what ideas everyone comes up with. My sister has a bowl of decorative fruit on one of her tables in the kitchen and for some reason I am fascinated by it.  If that sounds odd to you - well in a way it does to me too but I wanted to see where this creative journey would take me. I love all the colors, textures, and shapes.  I guess you can say it appeals to me on an artistic level and I wanted to make something for this challenge with that image.  I decided to take some photographs of the b...

I love love love butterflies!!  Maybe it's my fascination in how they evolve from a cute furry caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly.  There is so much to learn about life from watching them evolve and serves as a reminder to me nothing stays the same - life is always changing and evolving.  Without the challenging times in my life there would be no gauge to truly appreciate and embrace true joy and peace.   What does all this have to do with this week's challenge?   Creativity and the creative process is an evolving process for me that brings so much joy (and at times frustration) however I have learned to trust the process either way.  So this week's challenge was a reminder nothing in life stays the same forever and I desperately needed that reminder.   I decided to take blocks of wood and see what I could come up with.  This is the only one I have finished however I will share the other two as soon as I get them finished later this week...

This past week has been incredibly busy.  I have to get my storage room emptied by the end of May and it is a tedious time consuming task.  Which of course means I haven't had much time to make anything new. It just so happens I found a wonderful new digital stamp company called The Paper Shelter.  You must check it out - so many amazing digital images and other wonderful products.  www.thepapershelter.com I have been wanting to play with a couple of digital images called - A little bit grumpy and Spring swing.  Haven't had time to color the images so I decided to use the images that have already been colored and make a couple of quick cards.  It seems like I haven't been making as many cards lately and hope that changes soon.  Thanks for checking out my blog and please come back again. With smiles and hugs, Laine

Happy Tuesday!!  This week at Tuesday Alchemy our challenge theme is Wedding.  If you haven't joined in one of our challenges yet I hope you will take advantage of this one and submit your entry.  For those of you that have joined us in the past - I am really looking forward to seeing what you submit this week.  Best wishes to everyone.... This is a container I altered for the bride to be to use as a tool in planning and keeping track for her special day.  I used a really pretty "love" cardstock.  I also used lots of lace, paper flowers, beads, pearls, rhinestones, a large fabric flower for the top of the container and other ribbons.  The inside is also decorated and dividers added so the bride can add whatever categories or folders she needs for her wedding.  After the wedding she can use it to keep her other wedding keepsakes safe.  With smiles and hugs Laine

Today is such an exciting day!!  I can finally share I am now part of the Tuesday Alchemy Design Team.  I feel blessed to be part of such an amazing and talented group of women.  I hope you will check out all their blogs as well as becoming a part of the Tuesday Alchemy community if you haven't done so already. This weeks challenge is called Mother, Dear and this is my first project submitted as a design team member.   I hope you will consider submitting your own project for this challenge. The canvases are 5" x 5" and I painted them white.  Added some gorgeous paper to the front, back and inside.  Of course I had to add as much bling as possible by using stickles, strands of pearls, an elegant black button, along with lace and ric rac.  I love the colors and the photo is of myself and my two amazing daughters when they surprised me with a trip to Disneyland for my 50th birthday.  We had so much fun.   Thanks for looking and I...

Today is such a gorgeous day in California.  The sun is shining and there is a slight cool breeze which is refreshing and relaxing.  Makes me wish I could create outside all day today.  Hope your day is full of sunshine and happiness too. This weeks challenge at Tuesday Alchemy is "May Day".  I have decided to submit my magnetic board especially since I enjoy making them.  I thought I would share two photos one with the magnets and the other without.   If you haven't done so already, check out the Tuesday Alchemy Blog and submit your own creation to the contest.

It is so exciting Tuesday Alchemy is having a Design Team call.  I have decided to step out of my comfort zone and apply.  The butterflies in my tummy are wearing combat boots. (I can hear my best friend saying "Silly Laine".    Make sure to check out the Tuesday Alchemy Blog and submit your own projects. I am hooked on the creative process although I must confess it was a painful process in the beginning.  When I first started over 20 years ago I use to sit at the kitchen table and try to make something and just be paralyzed with fear and start crying.  My daughters would say "Mom it is suppose to be fun" and I sobbed "but it's NOT".  I remember that exact moment as if it was yesterday but I am so glad I never gave up.  I find the creative process fun, exciting, at times frustrating and absolutely life changing.  I decided to submit a variety of items and see what happens.  My next step will be submitting cards and other items to ...

It's not very often Hercules gets cheese.  I desperately wanted to capture a video of him doing his cute Hercules dance.  So I bribed him with cheese and I finally got my video.

Today is one of those days where I needed some instant gratification.  I made several small notebooks to give as "just because" gifts for a couple of my friends.  The first two were quick and easy to make.  The Eiffel Tower notebook took a little longer to make.  I wanted the Eiffel Tower on the front cover to line up with the Eiffel Tower on the inside when the cover is closed.  I may have to keep this one for myself. Still working on some other projects so please stop by tomorrow and see some new items.

It feels so wonderful to be creating again.  Making something always makes my heart sing.  Do you feel that way too?? I have been working on some ideas for Mother's Day.  I decided to make some gift card holders.  The theme for the Tuesday Alchemy blog is black and white I and decided to see what I could come up with for my first gift holder.  I will have more styles at my Etsy Shop (Hugs4theHeart) later this week.    Be sure to check out the Tuesday Alchemy blog and see what others have created. I really look forward to every Tuesday to see what the challenge is for that week.  Sometimes I feel like that woman in the old Mervyn's commercial with her face and hands pressed up against the glass front door chanting "open, open, open).    This gift card measures 3.25" x 5".  I used some heavy chipboard and covered the front and back with cardstock.  I added a large white flower with lots of  bling for the center of it. ...

Boy, does time fly ....  I am so excited to be back and I have so many new ideas and projects to share in the weeks to come.  The sad part is for some reason I can't seem to link up to my original blog so I can pick up where I left off instead of starting all over again.   In the meantime I hope to figure it out.  If you have any ideas please let me know. I am finally settled in Bakersfield and am so glad this move is behind me however after living in Seattle for almost 20 years I am not use to the hotter weather but I also feel like the warmth is thawing my cold bones.   I also have my Etsy shop up and running again and it is exciting and feels amazing.   http://www.etsy.com/shop/Hugs4theHeart Sometimes I need some instant gratification to get my creative flow going again and making these keys chains are always at the top of the  list.  This first key chain "Friends Always" I made earlier today to submit to a new blog I discovered rec...