Non Traditional Christmas Card

Hi Everybody,

Here is the other card with handmade flowers attached and these are made from Foamiran with large stamens in the centre.

They are so much better in the hand and this one is my favourite. I have also added some silver twine to this card and two lace flowers. on either side of the foamiran ones.

The leaves are a mixture of foamiran, card and lace and they are added to an embossed background. 

I have added glue and glitter to the petals. Once again I have added the sentiment verse to the inside and the orientation of this card means it will stand on its own no problem at all.

I like coloured cards for Christmas, just to be different from the normal red and green. 

What's your choice ??

More tomorrow ... 

Hugs xx

Making Flowers

Hi Everybody,  

Over the weekend I have ben making some flowers with paper, card and foamiran. Just to see what I come up with and to practice making them for my cards.

This Poinsettia is created from card and I have used a little frame behind it for  shabby chic look. There is also some gold twine and tiny little snowballs that I got from AnnaMarie Designs a long time ago. 

I have added the Christmas Greeting to the inside of this card for a change and I have had to line the inside also to counter balance the front and stop it falling over.

This is one of the reasons I prefer to have my fold at the top of the card as that prevents it from constantly falling flat.

I have another tone to add tomorrow and that is also a Christmas card but not in traditional colours. I hope you like them both but I must admit to liking tomorrows card the best.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Lacey Octagon Mandala

Hi Everybody,

I have been getting out older dies to play with and making sure I put them to good creative use in my designs

This one is the Lacey Octagon Mandala but it is no longer available. It was designed to work with the Octagon Box, but as with all things,  new designs come out and older ones are removed.

But here I have shown the versatility of this die set and added it to a 6x6 card base with the beautiful shade of Marine Blue from Papermill Direct.

The parchment flowers are left over from another project I did a while ago and for those I silver embossed the stamped image and used the
  Clever Cuts Collection.

The sentiment strips are from the craft show from a few weeks ago and so far have come in very handy.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

 

Winner

 Hi Everybody,

Here we are at the end of another week and not long to go before Christmas. I have been invited to my grandsons for dinner on that day and Ruby can go with me. We will also be with Vickie and Dougal so I am quite looking forward to it. I have done my share of Christmas Day Dinners for all the family in the past ... it's now my turn to be pampered. 

In the meantime the draw has been done for the beautiful stencil set on offer yesterday and the name this week is ....

Doris Shawcross

would you email me please with your postal address to
christina@card-making-magic.com
and I will get it sent to your straight away.

Please let me know that you have it safely and I hope you enjoy playing with it. 

Blog Hop

There will be no Friday Freebie next week as the Craft Stash team are organising a YouTube Blog Hop and you are cordially invited to join in.

On offer for you to win is a £25 gift voucher, to spend at Craft Stash, that each participant is offering at the end of their video.

All you need to do is like, comment and subscribe to the channel of the video maker. 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Friday Freebie - Mega Stencil Set

Hi Everybody,

Todays gift is not one ... but three beautiful stencils for you to use.

They come complete with the stencil brush for you to add the colours of your choice.

There is also a little ring clip for you to bind your stencils together so that you will not lose them.

The designs on the stencils can be used for Christmas and winter birthdays and the stencil brush will be so handy to help you colour neatly.

So if you would like to have this in your home 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 as the winner and that is why your full name is needed

Good Luck everybody 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Birthday cards ...

Hi Everybody,

I have been looking back at some of the cards that I have made over the years and there are many that are my favourite ones.

As we are coming to the end of another year I thought it an ideal opportunity to re visit some of them here.

They are all cards that I enjoyed making, and as you can see most of them are pink and floral as that is my style of card making. 

Making this style gives me an immense amount of pleasure and many of these cards have been given away to family and friends either for the occasion shown or for them to  give to someone else.

Some of them have been sent to my readers, both here in the UK and abroad, and some have gone to the Charity shops I support.

I love adding all the embellishments to them. The flowers, ribbons and pearls.

Some of the flowers are bought and Mulberry ones like those to the left, and others , like the ones here above are handmade by me.

But all add that certain grace to a design that I cannot resist.

I know that my style is not for everybody as to them it is too fussy. 

But it is something I enjoy doing and will continue to do in the future.

I used to give away one of my cards each week on a Friday before I started to give away the magazines.

Many people who got them wrote to me to say that they had framed the card to keep it safe, and that was always a wonderful compliment to me and my cards.

And finally, here is one with lots of  Mulberry flowers that is not pink !!

But it does feature the beautiful a rectangle die  from the Perfect Panels & Lovely Layer Collection that was out a few years ago and which at present is no longer available.

I hope you enjoyed this little look back in time and there is of course a lot more to come in the future.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Perfectly Matched

Hi Everybody,

Today I am sharing the short video that was on Facebook Live a few weeks ago. It uses the Perfectly Matched die sets.

There are four designs in this collection and all are really pretty for the card front. 

You can turn these into gatefold Cards if you prefer or simply trim them down as I have done for these designs.

Whichever way you decide to use them the cards will be really pretty once completed.

In this video I have used inks to vary the look and the cards are quick and easy to copy.

                    

I hope you enjoy the short video and will give this inking technique a try, with whatever dies you have in your crafty stash.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Pink Flowers

 Hi Everybody,

This card is an A5 size and I really like this one. The card is a new Blush colour from Papermill Direct and I coloured the centre of each layer with pale pink ink to accentuate the shade.

The blush pink has also been used for the layers to the white embossed panel and I have rounded the corners to each layer.

The pink goes really well with the super pale green for the leaves that has also been shaded with inks.

There is a lot of dimension to these flowers and so the card will need a box to give it in. But so well worth it as the finished card is so pretty.

The added diamond shapes are some that came from another project and this is the waste that was left.  So rather than tossing it in the bin I decided to make use of it on this design. 

I am always a push over for flowers on any of my projects and they always add that little bit extra to anything.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Altenew Layered Daffodils

 Hi Everybody,

These flowers are created from a really old die set that was with a magazine a long time ago.  It creates beautiful layered Daffodils and these I have covered with Glossy Accents.

I have been using these Glossy Accents quite a lot lately as they bring out the colours in the card once they are applied and I really do like the look of the flowers once they gloss has dried.

For the background to this card I added some pale ink and then simply added the birds  in the distance by hand.

The grass in the front is from another old die and I can't remember where I got that from but I am sure they are everywhere.

I added the sequins as an after thought because .... I have a mucky fingerprint under one of them and it needed to be hidden.

And although the flowers look pretty this is not a card I would give to someone because of the fingerprint. No I am afraid this one is destined for the trash can and I will have to make it again !!!

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Winner

 Hi Everybody, 

The weekend is here again and with it all the chores that I need to complete before I can chill. But once they are done and the house is clean and shiny again I can please myself for the rest of the time. Ruby will be walked later and this may be a good day to go to the beach. 

The draw for the fabulous Triangles set has been done and the name today is

Michelle Coffey

Would you email me please with your postal address to

christina@card-making-magic.com

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

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

More tomorrow…

Hugs xx

Friday Freebie - Terrific Triangles

Hi Everybody,

Todays offering is the Terrific Triangles die set that comes complete with sentiments for all occasions.

And as a special treat you will also get the double sided paper pack, from Sentimentally Yours, that is printed onto quality paper and not the shiny stuff some magazines have.

It also has the Die Cutting Essentials magazine with it that is full of ideas that you may like to try. 

Would you like this to play with ?? Then all you need to do is leave me a comment at the end of the post with your FULL NAME to be in with the chance. from those comments one name 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 you.

This is well worth entering for and it doesn't matter if you have won before, or where you live I am happy to send the pack to you.

More tomorrow  ...

Hugs xx

Die Storage Holder

 Hi Everybody,

This is not a card but a large cardboard holder that I have covered to store some of my floral dies in. 

I wanted to keep them all close to hand so that I can easily grab them to make flowers I may wish to add to my cards.

The woodgrain is from the Craft Show I went to last weekend and the flowers are from an old Altenew die set.

I have used the Glossy Accents on these as it brought the colour out in the inked card used for the flowers and the leaves.

In this I have pockets with magnetic sheets in them and on these I have stored the dies I like to use for flowers. 

They are from different companies that I have collected over the years, some are big and others are small, but all will be used to make a full floral display for any project that I am working on.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

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