"YOU" card .....

Hi Everybody,

One of the dies that I use a lot from Spellbinders is the word YOU

This simple die can be teamed up with so many stamps to say just about anything that you like

I like to cut the word from Craft foam and then add it to the word cut again in card that matches my design.

It really makes a statement piece on your creations and is very tactile for the recipient.

Here I have just used a matt black card and black craft foam

The background to my card is created with the  Criss Cross  pattern

I have added in raised panels at the top and bottom using the Curved Borders One 

My beautiful flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts  and are a mixture of Gysophillia, Roses, Camellia, small buds and some Cherry blossoms

I have also added in some long curly stems to the display and used both blue and white flowers

The steel Gray pearls are from Want2Scrap  and the butterflies are a Martha Stewart punch called Monarch

The stamp set I have used is  Simply Said - You   from Avery Elle and there are lots of sentiments on the sheet making it a very useful addition to my "Stash"

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Tuesday Tutorial - Using the waste

Hi Everybody,

This is the Grate Effect die that I have used many times and it you can create some lovely cards with the whole pattern

Way back in March I showed you  Embossing with dies  using this same die to push the pattern into your card without cutting it.

But for todays tutorial I am going to show you how to use the bits that would normally been thrown away and we will create a really sparkly card with some glitter

It is going to be photo heavy so my apologies for that before I start.


Spellbinders Supplies:

• S6-022 Grate Effect
• S4-116 Classic Circles
• S4-125 Classic Scalloped Circles 

Other Supplies:

• Wild Orchid Crafts flowers
• Want2Scrap Pearls
• Mei Flower Satin Ribbon
• Glitter Magic Sand Gold Glitter

Instructions:

With the outside edge to this die cut two panels in white card and hinge them together to form your base 

Then with a piece of double sided adhesive sheet cut another one and leave it to one side for now.

With both parts to the die and another piece of white card cut out the whole die and emboss.

Then very carefully you are going to remove the card from the die so that all the waste pieces remain in the slots

Keep the full piece for another project and make sure that all the small waste bits are seated into the die.

Peel the backing off one side of the double sided adhesive sheet and place it on to the waste pieces

Make sure to press it down onto them so that they are all caught onto the adhesive.

Then again being very careful ... lift the adhesive sheet with all of these pieces stuck to it away from the die.

With the glitter of your choice you can now spread it over the top of the panel and press it in to the glue with your fingers.

Make sure that it is all covered and then dust off the excess glitter and return it to its container.

Once the glitter is on the panel I like to remove the backing off the other side of the adhesive sheet and layer the glittered panel on to some white card.

Then I can trim it down to the size I want for the base card I made earlier.

I also layer it again onto some gold card leaving a small border around the edge

Wrap these panels with some white ribbon and stamp and emboss your sentiment

Cut it out with the Circle die that fits your chosen sentiment and layer it with the Scalloped Circle. Scatter with a few pearls

Add in the flowers of your choice and there you have a lovely card and no waste at all from your die

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Card winner is ...

Hi Everybody,

Up bright and early this morning and have lots to do before the holiday. We are going on a cruise to the Baltics and because my "Film Crew" has been so good ... I am taking him along too.  I am really looking forward to this cruise and it is a fantastic way to take a holiday.

Once you have unpacked everything is with you,  in one place and each day you wake up in a different country. With new tastes, sounds, smells  and sights to experience.  We will visit nine countries as we sail and get the chance to visit them if only for a short time

We will be taking lots of photos and I will share them all as soon as I can.  So the blog posts will be a little sporadic over the next few weeks.  I have set up some to go out automatically and I have scheduled the Tuesday Tutorials ... just to keep you busy while I am away.

But the draw has been done and the name pulled from the hat today to win the pretty pink card is ...

E Michaels ...

Can you send me your postal address please to 

christina@card-making-magic.com

so that I can post the card to you before we leave.

You have 48 hours to claim the card and I hope you will like it. Please let me know when it arrives with you.

The next post will be the Tuesday Tutorial and I think you will like it

Hugs xx

Friday Freebie - 070

Hi Everybody,

So here we are with FF card 70 and it has gone so quickly.

For this weeks card I have gone back to one that was featured in a Tuesday Tutorial

I used Labels Thirty Four  along with the matching Decorative Labels  and the embossing folder

The flowers, centre pieces and the Dove are all from Wild Orchid Crafts  and are things I love to add to my designs.

The ribbon is from Mei Flower  It is a soft satin that ties so easily into a pretty bow

If this is a card that you would like to have then join the group of followers and leave me a comment.

From those comment a name will be chosen at random and the winner announced in tomorrow Blog post.   You will have 48 hours to claim the card so please pop back to check that it is you.

Please Note ...

There won't be a Friday Freebie for the next three weeks as I am going on holiday and won't be here to post them  off to you. But I will have a treat when I return back home

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Card Class ...

Hi Everybody,

The ladies in my card class have been coming to me now for  over a year  now and they have both come so far.  We get on very well and I think we all look forward to our Wednesday sessions.

I try to do something a little different each time they are here and this is one of the weeks when we tried some water coloring.

We had to do some preparation in advance so that everything was ready to start

We stayed with the same colors for both ladies but they chose different dies to create the layers

These are Marys' Cards and on one of them she chose to accentuate the green with some pretty ribbon

 These are Brendas' card and she has chosen the blue ribbon for hers

All are A2 sized cards and although similar you can see some of the changes that they have both made.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Craft Foam Hearts

Hi Everybody,


This is a card that is part of my commitment to Craft Stash and  is using their own brand of Apple Blossom dies. This one is the Ornate Heart

To create this I have have cut the heart twice with peach colored Craft foam that I bought from Hobbycraft

Once the detailed hearts have been cut I have cut the solid die in white card and layered the two together

These I have added with foam tape to raise them up and they have then been layered onto an embossed panel

The layers have been wrapped with lace and ribbon and a floral centre added to the knot.

Craft foam is nothing new and it is not expensive but it can give you some really pretty results for your cards

If you managed to join me on Create & Craft I would like to say thank you .... And I am back on again at 4 pm and 7pm with the One Day Wonder and some pretty Sapphire dies

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Tuesday Tutorial - Cutting Felt

Hi Everybody,

We all cut card and paper with our dies to get some really pretty effects for our designs but there are so many more materials that they can be used on.

I have used Craft Foam on many occasions and I know that some of you have written to tell me that you too like the result from that.

But you can also cut felt and get a look that is different. The machine that I use is the Grand Calibur but the cutting sandwich is just the same as for card.

Spellbinders Supplies:

• S6-001  5x7  Matting Basics A
• S6-002  5x7  Matting Basics B
• GLLD-001 Petite Monarch
• S2-130 Pretty Petals A
• S2-101 Fancy Labels Tags Three
• GC-200 Grand Calibur

Other Supplies:

• Purple Felt
• Sweetheart Blossom Flowers
• Tiny Pearl Hearts 

Instructions:

With die #7 from 5x7 Matting Basics A cut two in white and hinge together to create the base card.

(Please remember that  #1 is always the smallest die)

With #7 from 5x7 Matting Basics B cut a colored panel

With #6 from Matting Basics A cut another white panel and emboss to add some texture

Using the Petite Monarch I have cut the border twice in purple felt.

If you sandwich the die and felt between copier paper that can help you get a clean cut from the felt

Stamp and emboss your sentiment and then cut it out with the largest die from the Fancy tags

Add foam tape to the back of this to give dimension

Cut several flowers from Pretty Petals A and I have used two different shades of purple

Add the open work petals on top of the solid base and I have mixed up the colors  and pinched the edge of each point

Two of the completed flowers have been tucked under the Label and a third one added to the edge of it and a little sweetheart Blossom added to the centre.

The felt border has been glued in place to the top and bottom of my layers.

Onto each point of the felt I have glued on a tiny pearl heart just as a finishing touch

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Chocolate Brown and Teal

Hi Everybody,

Todays card is a million miles away from pink and is quite a dramatic effect

For this card I have used the Medallions Three   and it is quite a large die.

But there is a smaller piece #1 that can often be overlooked and yet is such a useful addition to be used on its own.

So here I have created a card just using that die and I have cut it six times and layered it on to the embossed  teal card

These have been wrapped with chocolate brown ribbon and then added with foam tape to the another brown layer

I added them all to another teal layer before being adding them to the card

The sentiment is from Crafters Companion and it has been stamped and embossed

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Coming Soon ...

Hi Everybody,

Here is a little taster of the Brand New Platinum from Spellbinders that is coming soon.... And I for one can't wait. The video will show you just some of the things that this machine can do and I will tell you more as I find out

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Another Winner ...

Hi Everybody,

I hope you are all having a good weekend and have lots of nice things planned to do.  I will be heading off back down the motorway on Sunday as I am with you on Create and Craft at 9am Monday  20th July

There are two shows that day but the other one is later in the day.  I will be featuring the Spellbinders Victorian Garden Collection and some very pretty dies. So please join me if you can as it is always nice to know that you are there.

The winner of the red card has been selected and the name drawn from the hat is you ...

Ursula 

You have 48 hours in which to claim the card so please email me 

christina@card-making-magic.com

with your full postal address and the card will be on its way to you straight away.

Enjoy your weekend and if you have the time please take a look at the new video I have added in Inspirations. Just click the photo to go to the page.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Friday Freebie - 069

Hi Everybody,

Red and Cream are the color scheme of this weeks give away card and it certainly makes a change from ... Pink 

This one has lovely red Roses attached from Wild orchid Crafts  

I have used three different sizes and some flower buds and all have been sparkled with glitter.

 The centre to the bow is also from WOC and the organza ribbon is from my "Stash"

The background is embossed  using two deep 3-D folders from Spellbinders called Shady Allure and  Need A Rope the impression  they leave in your card is lovely.

The centre price is layered using Labels Forty Three  and Oval Majesty    and the layers separated with foam tape

Would you like to win this card ??  Then all you have to do is join the group of followers and leave me a comment

From the comments one name will be chosen at random and the winners name will be announced in tomorrows blog post.

If you add your name then you will need to come back and check because you only have 48 hours in which to claim it.  

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Majestic Labels Eight

Hi Everybody,

Today I am adding another tutorial for you but this one was requested by a lady who has these dies and is not getting the best out of them.

Here I am using the very detailed  Majestic Labels Eight 

I have tried to show you the difference in these dies as some have a complete cutting edge and some of them don't.

In the tutorial I have made three cards that all look different but using the same set of dies for all




With Majestic Labels Eight  I am  also using  the plain Labels Eight  and that way I can create even more patterns for my designs.   I have always advised  to buy the matching sets that go with any plain label.

Also in the video I tell you that you can use the dies to simply emboss the card without cutting but it doesn't show up very well.

So this photo will give you a better idea of the effect.

There is another set that matches this Label and that is Decorative Labels Eight 

This will really extend your use of all of them.

 Using any of the detailed dies with the plain ones will enable you to make frames of different sizes and for a fun way to use these Labels Eight dies please take a look at the video tutorial ... Elf Shoes .

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

International Ambassadors Informal Blog Hop

Hi Everybody,

Its time to go Blog hopping again with the International Ambassadors and we really hope you will join in.  We are a group of designers from around the world who get together to share our creation with you once a month.

The theme this time was to make ... "Anything But A Card" ... and for my project I decorated a shop bought paper gift bag and little box

The dies that I have used are the   Labels One Card Front  and this is quite a large die ... but with some careful trimming it fit the front of my gift bag perfectly

I edged the bag with lace and added in a lovely satin ribbon.

I used some Spotty paper to edge the box and to create the flowers from Urban Blooms and then mixed and matched the sizes.

I added some pearly centres to each of the flowers

The label on the front of the card is Luscious Labels One  and the sentiment is stamped onto Labels One  and these are all designed to fit the card front die

Now you can go off round the world to visit the other Ambassadors and see what delights they have conjured up for you.

Linda Lucas   ... is in Australia

Yvonne van de Grijp ...  is in the Netherlands

Christine Emberson  ... is in the UK

Christina Griffiths  ... You are here !!

We all would love it if you left us a comment to let us know that you have visited and if you enjoy our work then why not become a follower so that you will keep up to date with each of us.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Tuesday Tutorial - Fun Sun Card ...

Hi Everybody,

For todays tutorial I thought it would be good to have a little fun and create this card. So for this it is time to get out those border dies that I have featured in other tutorials.

I used them before in a much more elegant way and you will find a couple of really pretty ideas  ...  Scalloped Borders One

This card is very easy to do and the sentiment can be anything that reflects the occasion you are making the card for.

Spellbinders Supplies:

• S5-182 Scalloped Borders One
• SCD-004 Day Dreams
• SCF-002 Fabric Weave
• SCD-026 All You Sentiments

Other Supplies:

• Spotty card - AnnaMarie designs
• Avery Elle - Simply Said Stamps

Instructions:

Fold an A4 piece of white card in half and then cut that in half to give you an A2 top folded card.

From the Spotty card create a slightly smaller layer. And from more white card create another layer that is slightly smaller than the spotty one

Take the white layer and stamp the sentiment of your choice towards the bottom of the card.

Emboss the card and then take one of the cutting edges of the Scalloped Borders and place it at an angle on the card with the curve facing to the top.

Tape the die in place on your card and run it through your die cutting machine ... there is no need to emboss the card again.   Re position the die and repeat the process twice more so that you have divided the card into four panels.  

You may need to trim these down a little to fit onto your colored layer but only along the straight edges.  Add foam tape to the back of these panels

Add a piece of double sided sheet to both sides of some Craft foam and cut out the word YOU 

From either colored card or some black cut the word again making sure that you have your card the correct way round to cut YOU 

Add the colored/black layer to the craft foam ready to add to your card

 Cut the Sun in yellow card from the Day Dreams set and once all the elements are prepared we can assemble the card.

Add the spotty card to the base ... layer on the scalloped pieces with the curves facing up to represent clouds and the foam tape gives some dimension to the clouds. 

 Tuck the sun in behind the third layer with your sentiment added and place the word YOU to blend in with the sentiment.

And there is really fun card to send to anyone for any occasion.

Trampoline Day ...

Hi Everybody,

We had a lot of fun on Saturday when the trampoline went up.

This is Griff and Jay (Isabellas Daddy) putting it all together

Of course Vickie and I supervised from a safe distance with coffee and cake on hand ...

Once it was up Vickie tested it out just to make sure it was safe with a whole lot giggling in the process.

And then Isabella arrived,  to stay at Nana Vickies house for the night,  She was in there straight away.

She loved it and showed us all the things a three year old can do in an eight foot trampoline.

This garden is beginning to look like a real playground as there is so much for her to do.

This is Isabella in the house that was another story I shared with you all a few weeks ago and the flowers in the little baskets have really blossomed.

Luckily the rain that was threatened held off and we had the chance to play for a few hours in the garden.

Then it was time for one of her favorite things and that is Play Doh

Isabella very kindly made us all something with the warning ...  "Don't ruin it ..."  I had a car, Vickie had a bus and Griff had a tractor.

Then when she wanted to do something else we had permission to roll it in to a ball and "ruin it"

For a three year old she has some quaint sayings that really make us laugh.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Blue Birthday Card

Hi Everybody,

Todays cards is another of my designs that is featured on the Craft Stash website.

This is using the Ornate Hearts from their Apple Blossom collection of dies and it can be used in several ways

For this card I have chosen to use the dies as a frame and added it to an embossed background ... that sadly has just been retired from Spellbinders website

The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and are a lovely mixture of blue and white flowers.

The ribbon is slotted through the lace and added to the bottom of the layers.

The words are Spellbinders Sentiments Three  and I have cut it from Craft foam and a dark blue card and layered them together

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

The Winner Is ...

Hi Everybody,

What a beautiful day this is and this afternoon Griff and I are going to help my daughter Vickie put up a trampoline in her back garden for the delightful Isabella. 

I will take some photos to share with you as she is coming to play at her Nana Vickies house later.

But for now the draw has been done and a name chosen to win the lovely sparkly gold card from yesterday.  It is much nicer in real life and up close you will be able to see the smudged effect a lot better.

It is part of the stamp and not my mistake and it looks really good. The card is coming to live with you ...

Ruth M ...

and so can you please email me with your full postal address to

christina@card-making-magic.com

You have 48 hours in which to claim the card and I hope you will like it when it arrives with you.

I am back at Create and Craft on Monday 13th July with the Spellbinders One Day Wonder so I am hoping you can join me at 4pm and 7pm 

More tomorrow  ...

Hugs xx

Friday Freebie - 068

HI Everybody,

This card is truly sparkly and the photo does not do it the justice it deserves.

The stamp is from the Sheena Douglass  "Little Bit Sketchy"  range and this is her  Through The rain  stamp set

When I first showed this card somebody wrote to me and said  "What a pity you smudged it ...."

Nope !!  I didn't it is supposed to be like rain dripping off the words and I embossed them in gold.

The background is also stamped and then added with sparkly glitter ...  but you will see what it is like if you add your name and leave me a comment to win it

You wont be disappointed with it.

A name will be chosen from those comments and the winner announced tomorrow.

You will have 48 hours in which to claim the card and then I will need your full name and address complete with country and post/zip code.

More tomorrow...

Hugs xx

Text Stamped Background ...

Hi Everybody,

This is another of those fun backgrounds and as promised I have done a video  on the making of this card.

I have used the stamp set from Spellbinders Celebration Collection called   Your Day    and it has several stamps on the sheet

Part of the stamp set was used to create the background and this is something that you can do with any text stamps that you have in your own "Stash"

You see the thing to do is simply .... Play !!  get out your stuff and see what you come up with and if you don't like it then start again.

But you may surprise yourself and end up with some thing that you really like and may want to repeat gain on another project.

The other card on the tutorial was made the same way for the background but the Wizard image is one of those from the CD The Next Big Thing from Just Inklined and I am sorry to say that the CD is no longer around.

You may be lucky to find one for sale privately but you will have to search long and hard to find it.  I colored mine with Spectrum Noir pens

I fussy cut him out and added him with a double layer of foam tape along the centre part of the image and he stands proud of the card for effect.

I added in extra peals to both cards for a little extra embellishment and the elephant has the Googly Eye added too.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

British Grand Prix ...

Hi Everybody,

Thank you so much for all your good wishes for a really pleasant day out for us

We went to see the Formula One Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday and it was fabulous.

There was a little rain towards the end but it did nothing to dampen the atmosphere

The race was exciting from start to finish and Lewis Hamilton won and the crowd went wild

Griff chose the seats well and we were right opposite the new Pit lane.

This was the view we had of all the action as they lined up the cars on the grid and a perfect view of the lights calling them to action and then they were off.

We went a few years ago and it was really noisy but this time with the modifications that have been made to the cars it wasn't too bad.

Over the course of the weekend it was said that 250,000 people had visited Silverstone and the audience for the actual race was 175,000

Some crowd ... of very enthusiastic supporters all cheering for their individual drivers.

These are jut a very small portion of the people in part of the stand that we were in

During the day we had a parachute display team, a very noisy air display, a brass band and Alesha Dixon sang the National Anthem

There was food stalls everywhere and lots of places to buy F1 souvenirs.

Other races went ahead during the day,  it wasn't just F1,  and we watched some of them too.

Some famous faces included Jackie Stewart, Stirling Moss, Damon Hill, some of the Spice Girls and the usual faces that introduce the F1 on TV each time there is a race

 It was interesting to walk around and see other things and there was even fairground rides for the children.

This is the vehicle that holds the land speed record and it is very impressive and Griff was particularly interested in this

There was even a big red double decker bus that had been turned into a bar and that got really busy later on in the day.

So yes we had a really good weekend and it was good to get back home again yesterday.

I am glad that my blog posts have gone out as scheduled ... especially my Tuesday Tutorial

And today we have completed two videos that will be with you shortly.

Next weeks Tuesday Tutorial is a fun card that I hope you will enjoy.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Tuesday Tutorial - Labels 41 Decorative Accents

Hi Everybody,

I have a pretty Gatefold Card in black and white for you today and as always all the steps  are shown so that you can  get this look for yourself.

When working with any of the Spellbinders die sets please remember that number one (#1)  is always the smallest 

Spellbinders Supplies:

• S4-468  Labels 41
• S4-469 Labels 41 Decorative Accents
• S4-470 Labels 41 Decorative Elements 
• S6-025 6x6 Matting Basics A
• S6-026 6x6 Matting Basics B

Other Supplies :

• Want2Scrap Diamanté strip
• Sentiment Lili of the Valley

Instructions :

Take an A4 piece of card and trim along the long side to 15cms and then from each of the short sides measure in by 7.5 cms You should then have a gate-fold card that meets equally in the middle 

With die # 8 from Matting Basic B cut one black panel, this is to line the inside of the card.

With die # 5 from Matting Basics A cut another black panel and with #5 Matting basics B cut a patterned panel ...  glue these two together for the front of the card and you will have a thin border around the edges 

With #7 Matting Basics A I decided to cut another patterned panel to layer on top of the black liner. These can be glued to the inside of the card

For the Gate fold panels at the front of the card measure two black panels and two patterned panels so that they fit one on top of the other with a small border around the edges. Glue them in place

Once you have the inside and the side panels glued in place you can add the topper to the front. Add glue to one half of the panel only and add the panel carefully to one of the gate folds.  Adding glue across all of it will glue your gate folds shut .... Ah! Ah! not right !!

With #4 Labels 41 Decorative Accents cut the shape in black. We are going to use the frame but keep the centre part for another project

Stamp and emboss a sentiment and cut it out with die #3 Labels 41

For the panel you need to layer it onto you can use die #3 from Decorative Accents but I chose to use #3 from Decorative Elements because it is slightly larger

Add glue to the frame work panel and place it on the panel at the front and then layer up the sentiment and add that to the centre with foam tape to raise it up. 

Result --- one pretty card for any occasion 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx