Spiky Flowers

 Hi Everybody,

These large and pretty flowers have been die cut from pink Vellum,  that was bought at a craft show, and I have had it for a long time, and I have shaped them with a ball tool to add curve to the petals.

On the end of each petal I added some glue and then sprinkled it with the fine glitter and allowed it to dry before layering them up.

I used two of each size petal to create a full flower and then used the silver mirror card to make the centre portion and the leaves

The butterfly is again one left over from another project and the card is some I got at last weeks craft show.

This one has the addition of some glitter card leaves but the flower has been cut and curled in the same way.

This landscape card is an A5 so you can judge for your self how large the flower is. 

It makes a real statement on the card and is not for the faint hearted. I love it.

The inside of this card has the same pink card as the front and the base card is black.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Roses everywhere ...

Hi Everybody,

The cards I am showing you today have all been cut with the Layered Christmas Rose die set from the original Christina Collection.

I have covered all the flowers and leaves with Glossy Accents to give them the appearance of enamel and they do look very pretty.

I have added in leaves, as fillers, from other die that I have and that makes the display look better. I have also dotted small pearls around the flower for effect.

They have been added to a mirror card heart that has been cut from the Landmark Collection, which is another older die set, and the result can look completely different depending on the colours you use

These roses have also been covered in Glossy Accents but while it was still wet I sprinkled in some fine glitter.

The background to this one is a vellum overlay that has ben embossed in a folder then added to some pale pink card.

It also has the addition of leaves from other sets and some of them are cut in silver.

Again small gemstones have been dotted around and all the sentiments are from a set of pre printed ones that I bought at the Craft Show last weekend.

This card is one I showed you a few days ago but it was a little too plain for me.

So I added in more leaves cut in glitter card and used another of the butterflies left over from another project to the centre of the card.

I added some ink to the wings before adding it in and the simple glued it to the card along the body line only. 

I am much happier with the look now that all these changes have ben made, but for me the middle card is the favourite as I love the vintage look of it.

I am pleased with all the cards and so if you have this die set in your collection then maybe it is time to get it out and play with it again.

And sadly it is not available any more. 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Black Friday Deals

 Hi Everybody,

So we are coming to the end of an amazing week of special offers in the Craft Stash website and today sees the die sets of Decoupage Delight being offered with 40% off.

The featured flower here is one of the flowers in the Hellebore set and I have covered this with Glossy Accents to add the shine.

This makes a really large flower that create a real statement on your projects. There ere three flowers in the set and this is the largest of them

I have also cut the butterflies from the Perfectly Matched panel that I had on my desk left over from another project.

Both the flower and the butterflies have been inked up and added to the Trellis background die.

This one uses the Polyanthus die set and this has four different flowers in it. I have used coloured card to make these in varying shade of yellow but they would look just as pretty in any colour

It can be added to any of the background dies in the collection, but here I have just used an embossing folder to create the texture.

These flowers are not as large as the previous one but equally as effective and can be added to anything you are making.

And last but not least is the large flower from the Camelia die set. Those leaves are amazing and would look good tucked into any other floral display.

I have stamped the sentiment onto vellum and heat embossed it in gold then wrapped it around the Trellis background before adding it to the card.

Altogether some really good deals have been offered this week, for anything that takes your eye in the Black Friday Event, but it finishes tomorrow at midnight so there is not much time left to grab yourself a bargain.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Winner

 Hi Everybody,

Are you all ready for Christmas ? It's not long now, just four weeks and already the trees are up in some homes. It is not my favourite time of year and I try to avoid it as much as possible. Once children have grown up the excitement seems to disappear as they are the ones that make it fun.

But life goes on and the draw has been done for this weeks Japanese Dreams set. It is a lovely set from Paper Discovery and it comes with stamps, an embossing folder as well as the magazine for you to browse in your own time and is full if good ideas. 

The name this week is 

Tina Zapusek 

so if you would email me please with your postal address to 
christina@card-making-magic.com
then I will get the pack in the post to you straight away.

I hope you enjoy playing with it and please be sure to let me know that you have it safely.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Friday Freebie - Japanese Dreams

HI Everybody,

This week sees a really pretty stamps set on offer that has a lovely embossing folder with it.

It is from Paper Discovery and it comes with the magazine Creative Stamping. 

As always there are lots of ideas and inspiration in the pages that you may like to try for your self and it is a really good magazine to browse through.

So if this is something that you think you would like to have then all you need to do is leave me a comment at the end of this post with your FULL NAME.

 You need to add your full name .... not initials or nick names ... so that you can be properly identified as the winner and then I will send the pack to you just as soon as I can.  No FULL NAME then no entry to the draw.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Black Friday Deals

Hi Everybody,

I hope you have been enjoying the week long Black Friday Event with Craft Stash

There has been some amazing deals and now is the perfect time for you to stock up on any essentials that you may need.

Today the Perfectly Matched Die sets are being offered at 50% off so choose your favourite design and get it while you can

The Black Friday Event runs until Sunday so you still have time to browse the store.

Craft Stash have a short video that will show you this card and I added some Sunflowers ( shown below) made from another die set in the collection a few days ago.

You can use the panels as they are once cut or you can do as I have and trim them down even more to make the two cards in the video.

The designs are really pretty and can be used in several ways and once you start to play you will find many more.

Happy shopping and crafting.

More tomorrow

Hugs xx

 

Perfect Roses

 Hi Everybody,

Todays card is another of the cards with the split front and I did a video on making this style of Panel Card  a little while ago.

It uses the Layered Rose from the original Christina Collection but is no longer on the Craft Stash website.

The one that I have substituted in the links below is a very close match and will make lovely flowers for your designs.

The flowers have had Glossy Accents added to them to give the shine and they have been coloured with inks and a blending brush.

It is a very easy card to create, but yet looks so impressive and although I have used a circle die for the front you can make this with out any dies at all.

Here you can see the panels a little better but the video will show you how I made this lovely card.

The sentiment strips I have added are some that I bought half price at the Craft Show last Sunday and they will come in very handy when I don't want to stamp something. 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Write A Review ...

 Hi Everybody,

When you purchase a product from Craft Stash they are  interested in how you find that product fits and works in your own personal crafting day.

They are now giving you the incentive to write a review saying why you bought the product , what you like or don't like about it and how it fits into your daily work.

 In fact anything you want to say about what you have bought, especially brands like Card Making Magic, Made to Surprise, Simply Made Crafts or Creative Cardmaking Products.

Then each month one published review will be chosen, and will be entered into a Prize Draw, to be the winner of a £50 voucher that you can spend in the Craft Stash Store.

You can browse their website to your hearts content and choose any items to that value you would like. 
That has to be something worth writing a review about your purchase.
It also lets other people know what is good to add to their own crafting stash. 

And at this time of Black Friday Deals then it would especially worth doing if you are taking advantage of the  items on offer

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Craft Show Purchases

Hi Everybody,

Yesterday at the Craft Show was a really good day out, despite the fact that it poured down most of the time.

I went with Pauline Hickey and we had so much to talk about. We saw lots of things that we liked and we bought some beautiful card from AnnaMarie Designs.

They were in packs of ten, so Pauline and I bought five packs each of different colours and then we split them, having five sheets each from the ten packs.

That gave both of us a good selection to play with in the next few weeks. I also got the new Distress Oxide Ink and a refill for the pad to. Plus some re-inkers for black ink pads that I have. 

The little glue bottles I need coz no matter how hard I try I always get them clogged and so I need a regular supply of new ones with the pins. I also lose the pins regularly too!!

The ribbons where only 50p a roll so I bought six of them and a very large bottle of Collall Glue ... for the little glue bottles. I also bought some really thick Acetate.

 I am very happy with my buys and I can remember years when I used to save up for months and spend loads at the shows that Griff and I went too. This is the first show I have been to since he died.

Pauline and I enjoyed it and we went for a meal at the near set pub afterwards and another natter.

Good day all round ...

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

 

Black Friday ....

Hi Everybody,

I am off to the first Craft Show in Leigh today that I have been to in four years, but I just wanted to pop in and tell you about the fun and frolics at Craft Stash this next week.

Starting tomorrow sees some fantastic deals on Craft Stash as they are running a Black Friday offer that will last the whole week. There will be some really good offers across hundreds of their own brand products that are featured on their website, and especially from the Co Brands.

So if you are looking for a super bargain then make sure you are signed up for their emails and if you aren't then get over there and do so now or you will miss out on the week long sale.

Here is the link to get on the email list and it will open a new window for you 
Craft Stash Newsletter 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

 

Winner

Hi Everybody,

It's a beautiful day here and Ruby and I are going to go for a walk after this post is done.

At present she is barking at the postman and anybody else who dares to walk past her house.!!

Ella (cat) as always is zooming round like an idiot going up and down her cat tree.
I am the only one who is chilled in this house.

But the draw has been done and the name this week is

Valerie Steele

so if you could email me your postal address please to

christina@card-making-magic.com

I will get the pack in the post to you straight away.

Please let me know that you have it safely and I do know that if you are overseas then it will take a while to get to you. But at least I will know that you have it safely.

I hope you enjoy playing with it and make some lovely projects.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Friday Freebie - Trellis Stamp & Stencil set.

Hi Everybody,

Todays gift is the lovely stamp and stencil set from Card Making Magic called Trellis.

This is an A4 stamp collection with many designs and sentiment on it to suit all occasions and a DL stencil to add pattern to your backgrounds.

It comes with the magazine Creative Stamping and you will find lots of ideas that you may like to try inside the pages.

So grab your favourite drink as you browse the pages for a little bit of "me" time,

So if this is something that you would like to have join your own personal collections then all you need to do is leave me a comment at the end of the post with your FULL NAME

From those comments one will be chosen at random as the winner and added to a blog post over the weekend, so be sure to come back and check if it is your name that is shown.

I am happy to send this to you wherever you live at my expense.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Elegant Nestables Collection - DL + Octagons

Hi Everybody,

For this card I have used the small dies from the Octagon die set which is part of the Elegant Nestables Collection.

I have linked them all together with ribbon woven through the centre and I like the look of this card with the glitter card in the background

It is a DL size,  which is coming back into fashion again, and this is effective yet easy to do. 

I have really enjoyed playing with this new die set and there are lots of videos to showcase the different sizes in the collection. I have used every style there is now and in many cases I have mixed and matched sets as well.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

                     

Elegant Nestables Collection - 5x7 + Octagons

Hi Everybody,

Today I am featuring another one of the dies from the Elegant Nestables Collection and this time it is my favourite 5x7 teamed with the Octagons.

This style of card was one I saw Marta Debicka making in her tutorial last week and I really liked the design. I asked Marta if I could copy it and so here is my version.

For mine I have used the dies from the set and I am more than happy with the finished look. I can't wait to se what Marta thinks of it too. 

The video is not long but is another that will be added to the Elegant Nestables Playlist on my YouTube channel.

Enjoy the video ...

The links at the bottom of the screen are mostly affiliate ones which means if you purchase through them I will get a small commission at not extra cost to you.

I have added in the Wild Orchid Crafts link but sadly they do not ship to the UK at present .. lets hope that changes soon. 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Elegant Nestables - 5x7 Rectangles + Circles

 Hi Everybody,

This is my favourite size of card to make and I like to keep the fold at the top as it helps the card to stand better.

For this one I have used Autumn colours and they have all been coloured by me using Alcohol Inks and Isopropyl and I have a video showing how I did that a long time ago.

Colouring Ribbons and Flowers

I have also used Kraft Card, and this is not something I use often, and it is a very useful addition to any stash. It is a cheap and cheerful card that can suit make of female designs.

So this is the video that I added to Facebook Live last Friday and I am adding it here to compliment the Elegant Nestables series that I have done and just in case you missed it 

                     

Whichever set you purchase you are sure to be delighted with it as it will make the most beautiful cards for you, and should you buy two ... or more ... then remember that they will work alone or combined to get even more for your money.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx