Card & Gift Winner

Hi Everybody,

I am very late today and that is because I didn't sleep well until about 5 am and then I fell asleep untill 10.15 ... both Ruby and I cuddled up and lazing the day away.  But we couldn't stay there all day there are things to be done and doing the draw for this weeks Man Of The Moment Stamp and Die set is one of them.

With everybody being busy over the Christmas holidays the prizes on offer in previous weeks have not been claimed and so to be fair I am adding the names of those winners here also. 

So please check carefully which gift was yours.

On the 14th December
this set 

Serene Beauty 

was won by

 June Horrocks

and has not been claimed

On the 21st December
 this set 

Underwater Friends

was won by 

Nicola Parfitt

and has not been claimed

And now 28th December
this set

Man Of The Moment 

has been won by

Christi Neal 

I would appreciate it if each one of you could email me your postal address please to
christina@card-making-magic.com
so that I can send the prizes to you.

I can do no more and if they are not claimed this week than they will be added again at a later date

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Friday Freebie - Man of the Moment

Hello Everybody,

This stamp and die set is perfect for any of the men in your family that you will make a card for.

And in the video I show you some of my ideas that you may like to try

Man of the Moment

There are many ways in which you can use this set once you get the old brain working and you can have some fun in the process too.

Maybe children would like to help you with this to make their own cards for Grandparents or Great-grandparents

If this is a set that you would like to have then all you need to do is leave me a comment at the end of the post with your FULL NAME and then pop back tomorrow to see if you have won.

One name will be chosen at random and announced in tomorrows blog post and that is why I need your full name to avoid any confusion over who has won.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx 

Have a Good Christmas

HI Everybody,

This is to wish you all, wherever you are in the world, and whatever your circumstances, the best Christmas that you can have. 

May you have the peace and joy that you long for and I hope that next year brings you some of the good things in life.

In the New Year I hope to be back to videoing again and adding some lovely new cards using my new collection that has part of it now for sale and more new items coming in the coming year.

Thank you all who have stayed with me through the last few difficult weeks and I will be back in 2019

Merry Christmas

Hugs xx

Hi to everybody ...

Hi Everybody,

Today's card is another using the alphabet letters from my new collection and these are going to be so useful in personalising any of your projects throughout the years to come. 

It's nearly the day and I hope you enjoy the holiday. 

It won't be a white Christmas here in Blackpool but I can live with that.

Ruby and I will be taking some pleasant walks and we are going to Vickie's house tomorrow for lunch so she will have Dougal to play with  and keep her occupied.  

I wont be blogging mush over the holidays but there will be a Friday Freebie as usual so please come back and leave your comment if yo would like to win the prize on offer.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Balloon Die - Two Ways

Hello Everybody,

So today's card is using the new balloons from the  Border Collection and I have tried to show you just how different these can look depending on what you do with them.

I have used the Pattern Blocks Stamp Set to add 

interest to them in this card and used both parts of the numbers set for the age

For this one I have used bright Copics in three shades to all the balloons and then a white gel pen to add the pattern on top. 

The tiny gemstones make them look extra special and I hand drew the balloon strings around the sentiment at the bottom.

The clouds in the background are added with Distress Ink in Broken China with tiny "V's" added for the birds in the distance

But this is a set that you can have some fun with for any occasion you may have to make a card for 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Card and Gift Winner ...

Hello Everybody,

Thanks to you if you joined us on Facebook Live last Thursday. That was the last one that Craft Stash will be doing for 2018. They have had some wonderful gifts on offer over the year and there have been many viewers that have entered to win them. I hope the winners have enjoyed playing with their new toys.

I have done my share of giving away prizes this year too and today's winner for the Underwater Friends set from yesterday has now been chosen.

This package is going to ...

Nicola Parfitt

please email me your postal address to  

christina@card-making-magic.com

and the gift will be on its way to you straight away.

Please allow for the Christmas rush and let me know that you have it safely.

The gift from last week has not been claimed and will be offered again in the New Year

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Friday Freebie - Underwater Friends

Hello Everybody,

Not many more sleeps till Christmas now so I hope Santa brings you what you wanted

Today's magazine gift is a cute little fish bowl die set with fish and plants that you can add to it.

The video is called Underwater Friends   and will show you exactly what it is in the set and some of the ways in which I have used it.

I am sure that you can come up with many more as you play with this set

So if you would like to have this gift then simply leave me a comment at the end of the post with your FULL NAME and one will be chosen at random as the winner.

Please come back tomorrow to see if your name is listed as the winner.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Love ...

Hello Everybody,

I Coloured all the letters from the new Alphabet collection with Inks and shaded the ribbon and bow with Copics in three shades of green 

They have been embossed in  the leaf folder and then add with foam pads to the embossed Flourish panel

I dotted the ribbon and bow with a white pen.

Quick and easy to make and the finished size is 5x7.

This card has a message to you all and that is that I would LOVE you to join me on 

Craft Stash Facebook Live 20th December at 1pm

There will be prizes or you to win plus and look at some of my new collection

 More tomorrow

 ...  

Hugs xx

Coloured Image

Hello Everybody,

Today I wanted to share some images from the pen of Mo Manning   Her characters are delightful and I have bought quite a few digital images from her website in the past. 

Here I have used the same image in different colours to show you how versatile they can be.

I have added this one to a die cut background and added in some of my collection of flowers, ribbons and pearls to both cards

I will add the links at the bottom of the page for you to see what I have used.

For this one I coloured the dress in red and then added Nuvo Clear Glitter Gloss over the top .

I love the expression on this child's face and you can imagine her stomping off in a huff over some unintended  slight she has had

Take a look at some of the other characters on the Digital Pencil website

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Alphabet and Numbers Collection

Hello Everybody,

Here we are a step nearer to Christmas.  Have you got everything ready for the holiday?  I have some new cards to share today with the latest collection of dies that I have and they are available at  Craft Stash   right now.

One of them is an Alphabet that will enable you to personalise any of your projects.

These are excellent for making two cards at the same time by using positive and negative die cuts.

For this card I cut the word JOY from white card and then add the words to the
  Snowflake panel

I spread glue over the letters and sprinkled them with glitter,  and added the stamped  Poinsettias behind 

I have added tiny diamante into the centres of each flower.

With the negative piece I have stencilled the top of it with the Flourish  and added faux stitching around the edge

The addition of the gemstone flourish makes it more luxurious

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

New Collections from Card Making Magic

Hello Everybody,

Today I wanted to share with you a brand new
 New Collection from Card Making Magic.
 I have a short video to show you the first part of it to help you make some lovely cards and next Thursday 20th December I am on Craft Stash Facebook Live so please join me

Having Letters and Numbers is always a good idea for your own collection and then you can personalise all your projects.

There are some lovely border dies in this section with more exciting additions in the New Year and so I hope you will keep visiting the blog pages to see what they are.

For this card I have coloured some white card in an Ombre fashion with shades of pink ink and then used one of the border dies to cut them out. 

They have been added to an embossed background on the card,  keeping the shading in order.  

I will be doing videos with all these new additions and don't forget to join
 me next week
20th December Craft Stash Facebook Live 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx 

Card & Gift Winner

Hello Everybody,

The card that is with this weeks gift was one I made some time ago and is in the style that I really enjoy making and so I hope that the winner this week will like the colours that I chose.  There are some lovely images on the A4 stamp sheet that is on offer and I am sure that you will have fun playing with them. 

All the Friday Freebies to the end of this year were all done well in advance and then scheduled to go out each week. And that has been a big help to myself knowing they will go out without any problem

There have been very few blog posts this week but that doesn't mean I have been doing nothing.

Tomorrow there is a short video about my newest collection, and there is more to come by the end of the year.

Craft Stash have been working really hard on my behalf to get these new dies and stamps out to you, but now it is time for me to do my part. There is one thing for sure and that is time marches on and waits for no one. I know Griff would have loved this new collection and he would be proud of whatever I achieve.

Those who met him will have been shown the films he has of me and my cards that he stored on his phone ... and he was never shy of showing them to anybody and everybody that would look.

So the winner of the card and gift today is ...

June Horrocks

please email me with your postal address to 

christina@card-making-magic.com

and they will be in the post to you straight away.

Thank you to everybody for your understanding and your kinds words they have been a great comfort  and support to me over the past few dreadful weeks. And thanks also for staying with me in the past and into the future

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Friday Freebie - Serene Beauty

Hi Everybody,

I am so sorry for the lack of blog posts this week  but if you read my blog regularly I am sure you will understand why.

Now this card is completely in my comfort zone with all the beautiful embellishments I have added to it.

I have used the oval die from my own brand Card Making Magic and it is available from Craft Stash 

The A4 stamp set was with Creative Stamping  in June this year and it has some lovely images and sentiments on it.

The video to show you some of my ideas is Serene Beauty   and includes this floral card to just a simple background

So if you would like to have this stamp set then please leave me a comment at the end of the post with your FULL NAME.

I will let you know in tomorrows blog post who has won both  the stamps and the card so be sure to come back and check.

All the winners are listed each week in the Winners Page so that you can check again if you wanted to know

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Card & Gift winner

Hi Everybody,

It's Saturday morning again and it's raining. I have tried to stay positive this week and get done all the things I needed to do. 

My little Ruby is a treasure and she is with me wherever I go ... and I mean everywhere. It's as if she is scared I will disappear too.

I think we have been good for each other over the last few difficult weeks and I would not swap her for the world. She is an angel in disguise.

The draw for the card and gift from yesterday has been done and the name of the winner this week is ....

Shelley Yalden

Please can you email me your postal address to

christina@card-making-magic.com

and they will be on their way to you straight away.

And the prize to Jean Marmo is now on it's way also ... and once again my apologies for the delay.

Could both of you please let me know that you have them safely 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx 

Friday Freebie - Scenic Swallow

Hi Everybody,

Well here we are in December already and I wish some one would tell me where the rest of this year has gone.

It has been a roller coaster of a year for me and the next one looks set to be even better.

Now the beautiful die set that is on offer today can be used in so many ways to grace your designs.

I used it in a somewhat different way for my card and in the video I show you how I got this result

Scenic Swallow

I combined this with another stamp set  and I was really pleased with it once it was completed.

You too can have fun with this die and so if you would like to have this then leave me a comment at the end of the post to be in with the chance

I need your FULL NAME to choose the winner and the name will be announced in tomorrows blog post so be sure to come back and see if it is you.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Happy Birthday Vickie

Hello Everybody,

Today I wanted you all to share with me my youngest daughters birthday.

Both of my girls and both of Griff's daughters have been such a comfort to me over the past few weeks but today it is Vickie's day.

So you will get to see the card before she does as Ruby and I are not going round to her house until later today for cake and coffee 

Vickie is Dougal's mum and we all know that Dougal is Ruby's very best friend.

We have still  managed to take them both out on dry days for a good walk but as you can imagine Ruby is a little confused and follows me everywhere I go

So here's to a good birthday to Vickie XXX

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Yupo Flowers

Hello Everybody,

Gosh it's cold here today and wet and windy. Definitely the day to stay home with the heating on

Here is a card I made a while ago when I was playing with Yupo paper and Alcohol Inks and with the scraps I decided to make some flowers.

It's a really simple card and I surrounded the flowers with leaves from Spellbinders

The oval has been added to an embossed panel for a little more decoration and you can add any sentiment to the front of the card that suits your occasion.

Friday Freebie 

I will be starting the card and magazine gift "Give Away" again this week so please be sure to add your comment if you would like the gift.

  And my apologies go to Jean Marmo who won the last prize because I still haven't sent it to you. 

But it is in the pipeline Jean and I promise I have not forgotten about it xx

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Pink "YOU"

Hello Everybody,

Today's card is a hastily made one and for this I have used pre-coloured card that I bought a a raft show a long time ago.

It is a n A5 size that I have made into a gatefold style and I have lined the inside with some striped card in the same shade of pink.

The die cut "You"  has been layered four times in black and added to one side of the gatefold so that it can be opened.

The pretty floral panel is from the Layers of Flowers by Spellbinders and you can get this set from Craft Stash

An easy card to make for those super quick moment.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Father Christmas ...

Hello Everybody,

Today I am sharing some Christmas Cards with you that are from  magazine that was on sale on the 15th November. 

I made the cards for the video but sadly I didn't get to film it for you. But here are the cards.

The magazine had a lovely stamp set with it and a luxury set of foiled papers and toppers.

This is the Father Christmas from the set stamped direct to the card and I coloured him with water colours.

I used some of the stickers from the pack also for extra decoration and the foiled sentiment at the top of the card.

For this one I stamped the same image and coloured this one with Copics and again used some of the extras from the paper pack

I like the rich colours of the Copics.

I fussy cut the figure then added it with foam pads underneath to raise it up from the rest of the card.

For this card I used one of the stamps to create my background and heat embossed it in white on Navy Blue card 

I used Zig Real Brush Pens to colour this one.

I did some partial die cutting around the image to leave his hat and the dog outside the circle.

For this one I added some glue and glitter to the hat and jacket.

The dog and the cat on each card is different.

So three cards done with the same stamp set but all looking different with the colouring and additions to them.

I still think the Copics one is my favourite 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

So Many Thank You's ...

Hi Everybody,

I have so many people to thank for the love, support and encouragement that I have received since the death of my wonderful. handsome Griff. 

Today would have been our

 Wedding Anniversary

 2nd December 2000 

and we had 21 lovely years together.

I am overwhelmed by all the kindness shown in messages, cards and flowers that have been sent to me from all over the world and I wish I could thank every one of you personally.

But that is impossible so I will just leave it at ...

THANK YOU ALL xxx

I have not worked for weeks and I feel as if I have been away for ever. 

I have no cards to show you, no videos to share, and no projects done.

But now is the time for me to try and move forward and so I need to get back to work and give my brain something to think about.

Today I will make a card and tomorrow I will be back to blogging and show you what I have done.

Much love to all of you and thanks again for all the lovely ways in which you have supported me at this heart breaking time

Hugs xx

Remembering Griff

Thank you all so much for the messages, cards and beautiful flowers that have been sent over the death of my amazing husband. I am so very grateful for the 21 years that we had together and Griff will be missed by all his family members.  

I am not going into detail about things but to answer some of the questions I am getting from people I will share this.

We took him to hospital on the Sunday morning. After several tests he was placed into a deep sleep and taken to the Intensive Care Unit.

It was here that he died at 10.45 on Monday the 12th November without knowing that he had the one thing he feared the most Cancer

We were all with him and he was surrounded by loving hands and gentle words. We are all stunned at the speed of the decline and we will miss him very much.

Not one of us can go back to our own homes and not see some job that Griff did for us.

His work was perfection and he loved being a builder who never knew how to say "No" to anybody

The funeral will be held at Lytham Crematorium
FY8 4AB

 29th November at 3.30

If you knew him and would like to say "Goodbye" then you are more than welcome. 

Please don't send flowers, make a donation to Cancer Research UK as that will help them to conquer this awful disease

Here are some videos to show the fun times we had with Griff over the years.💔

This was a family trip he organised for both our families to Grassington and it was a fabulous day out 

This is Isabella' House that he so carefully put into the back garden when she was three

Griff

I am sorry I cannot blog at present. My handsome wonderful  Griff died last night and I am unable to speak

NEC Birmingham

Hi Everybody,

It's taken me a little while to add these photos and that is because I have not been well this week. But these are from the NEC Craft Show that I as at last week.

It was amazing to see my name up there and to stand in front of tables that are filled with my designs.

I cannot tell you how grateful I am for all that Practical Publishing and Craft Stash have done for me.

The whole team is fantastic and I enjoy going into their offices to see them all.

These guys are the team that I was working with on the Sunday and I did enjoy it. 

It was lovely to meet up with people who visit my blog and website as well as YouTube and I had some lovely comments from them all.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Card & Gift Winner

Hi Everybody,

Feeling much better today and hoping to be back to normal next week. Thank you for all the kind wishes and your understanding. My voice is almost there and so i will start the vidoes again too next week.

The draw for the card and gift has been done for the beautiful A4 stamp set from yesterday. You can have a lot of fun with this stamp set and make some great cards for male and female. 

The name chosen today is ...

Jean Marmo

so would you email me please with your postal address to

christina@card-making-magic.com

and I will pop it in the post to straight away

I hope you will enjoy playing with it and please let me know that you have it safely

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Friday Freebie - Bright and Breezy

Hi Everybody,

Today's card is from Creative Stamping and it was out in March this year.

There are some fabulous stamps on this set and you can create your own scenes for any occasion

The video showed you some of the ways in which I used it  and here it is to refresh your memory... 

Bright & Breezy

Now if you would like to have this set in your own collection then all you need to do is leave me a comment at the end of the post and from them a name will be chosen at random to be the winner.

You will need to come back in the morning and see if it is your name that is shown. 

You will have 72 hours in which to claim it and if you don't then it will be offered again at another time.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Creative Stamping 64 Classic Winter Scenes

Hi Everybody,

Please forgive my absence from Blogging but I have not been well since I got back from the NEC at the weekend.

I had a very enjoyable time meeting all of you who came over to say hello so thank you for that.

And today I have done the video for the new magazine that will be on sale on Thursday and I sound really croaky in it.

I hope it doesn't spoil your enjoyment of the film and I will be back to normal again soon.

The featured designer this month is John Lockwood and he has created some lovely stamps that can be used all year round. The dies with it will help you to cut out the circle toppers neatly to add to your creations.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Card & Gift Winners ...

Hi Everybody,

Today I am going down to Birmingham to join the crew at the NEC. This is a large craft show where you can buy all the latest goodies to use in your crafting whatever it is. Last year I went as a visitor and bought all sorts of items. But this year I will be working and I hope you will pop along and say "Hello"

I will be part of the Practical Publishing stand E10 and we are in Hall 20 and it would be lovely to meet you especially if you visit my blog, website or YouTube channel. Then I can add faces to the names that pop up regularly in my comments boxes

But for now the draw has been done for the Christmas Treats die on offer from Card Making Magic yesterday, and I have three to give away to ...

Maureen Killen

Michelle Coffey

Terri Rodrigue

so if you could all email me your postal addresses please to 

christina@card-making-magic.com

the gifts will be on their way to you as soon as I can.

Please bear with me as I am away and wont be back at my desk until Monday.

Hugs xx

Friday Freebie - Christmas Treats Die Set

Hi Everybody,

This little gift is another from
Card Making Magic

It was given away with Die Cutting Essentials only a few weeks ago and it is a fun set to play with ALL year round.

The video to show you some of my ideas is

Christmas Treats 

There are two sets pictured along with the cards but I have THREE of these to give away and although it is not pictured it will have a card that I will send with it to the winner.

So would you like on of these sets of dies?

If you would then all you have to do is leave me a comment with your FULL NAME and from those the names will be chosen 

I will add them to the blog post tomorrow so be sure to come back and check if it yours that is shown. 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Gilding Flakes & Glitter Snowflakes

Hi Everybody,

As promised here is the video to show you how I made the beautiful snowflakes with glitter

and also gilding flakes.

They are very easy to make and I made loads of them in an afternoon and then got busy and made my cards.

So guess what the theme for my Christmas Cards is this year .... Yep ! Snowflakes

But every one is different depending on how you stack them together, and they can also be used as Birthday cards or invitations to your party too.

So I hope you enjoy the video and will make some of these for your self. 

You can always use pre-glittered card if you preferred or mirror card for a shiny look to your design

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Simply Cards & Papercraft 184 - Scenic Nativity

Hi Everybody,

The gift with this months Simply Cards and Papercraft is a really useful scene builder die of four pieces.

And although it is called Scenic nativity it is a set that can be used all year round

In the video I have tried to show you one way to use it as a change from all the Christmas cards I have been making

So I hope you enjoy it and the sentiment gives you a laugh ... I wouldn't want to go places on the back of a camel, would you ??

The magazine will be in your shops tomorrow and so if this is a set that you would like then get there early to be sure of your copy.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Glitter Snowflakes

Hi Everybody,

Today's card is created with some of the Glitter Card that is available at Craft Stash  and it is easy to cut with the snowflake dies.

I have used a selection of dies from Spellbinders to make my design in suitable colours and then stacked them all together for effect

I created the background with greetings from my Christmas Collection of stamps and then added in some stamped snowflakes also.

This was easy to make and tomorrow I am going to do the video of how I made them but I will be using Gilding Flakes instead of Glitter Card.

So I hope you will pop back and see the video when I add it to the Blog on Thursday. And I hope you enjoy it if you view 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Baby Wipe Technique ...

Hi Everybody,

Creating backgrounds and playing can produce some fantastic results and for this one all I used was some  Distress Oxide re-inkers and cheap baby wipes.

I am sure that at some point you were thinking that I must have lost the plot ... but bear with me through the video and see the end result.

I am really pleased with all of them and by using different die cuts with them I managed to achieve nine cards, and there's no waste either

Vary the colours you use for another look and try it with any paints, alcohol inks or distress re-inkers and see what result you get. 

But be prepared to get messy as I did. 

And even if you don't like the look as you make them keep going to make them up and they will look totally different as cards.

I added all my panels to an embossed piece of card created with the Quatrefoil Embossing folder from Card Making Magic 

And I used mostly the same Happy Birthday sentiment throughout.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx