Gold Embossed Background

Hi Everybody,


Todays card has used some lovely gold embossing powder to create a rich background for my sentiments.

The first one has used the new feather die from Spellbinders and I have made my own stamp from the die and some craft foam.

I used a layer of deep teal coloured card from Papermill Direct and stamped it with Versamark

I sprinkled it with Gold powder and heated it with a heat tool until the powder is shiny and melted

Trim this layer to fit the front of a tal base card and add with foam to raise it up a little.  Stamp and emboss the sentiment in the same way and edge with gold too. Add with foam and there you have a quick and easy card for the men in your life.

This second card took a little longer ... but the base is the same stamping and embossing in gold.

I used a large Flourish stamp from Indigo Blu that I have had for a long time. Once the heated powder was cool I used three Distress Inks to create the blend over the gold.

I used Spun Sugar at the top and blended it into Victorian Velvet.  The used Aged Mahogany at the bottom for a lovely Ombre Effect over the gold

I added three gold gemstones at the bottom of the card and the sentiment is from the Pretty Quick dies range at Craft Stash

Another easy card to make and change the colours for male cards

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Stitched and Pierced Rectangles	Die D-Lites Two Feathers Etched Dies	Versamark	Gold Embossing Powder
Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue	A4 Adhesive Foam	Misti Stamping Tool	Spun Sugar Distress Ink
Victorian Velvet Distress Ink	Aged Mahogany Distress Ink	PICK & MIX

InLinkz.com

Two New Magazines ... coming soon !!

Hi Everybody,

I have two new videos to show you today featuring the newest magazine from Practical Publishing. One is Papercraft Essentials 147 and the other is Creative Stamping 44. Both have a fabulous free gift for you each month

Papercraft Essentials 147,  has this lovely free gift and it will be on sale tomorrow  (1st June)

All these fun cards have been created with the gift

The die will cut the horse and you can turn it into a Unicorn very easily with the little horn die.

There are so many ways that you can use this and inside the magazine you will find lots of ideas for you to try.

The video is here ... Happy Hooves

The Carousel is one of the stamps and the sentiments will complete the look.

Don't be afraid to cut the sentiments up to mix and match other sentences

In the video I show you this cool way to create this background

The addition of the foam between the layers makes it stand away from the card for extra dimension

I made two Unicorns to add to my design and coloured them with pens and I think this would be a good card to send to any age group

The second magazine is Creative Stamping 44 and has a wonderful A4 stamp set named Timeless Moments

This will see you though many many occasions throughout the year and will suit both male and female, young and old.

Here I have created a card for the teenagers in your life and this idea would be suitable for male cards too

But the stamp set has wonderful decorated numbers in it for the ages you may want to add and there is a special offer with the magazine of discounted dies to match them

The video is Timeless Moments 

But for a female birthday you can dress the card any way you wish and this one is for a really Nana

The magazines will be available from selected supermarkets and craft stores as well as WHSmiths.

Or you can get them direct from   Moremags.com

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Stitched and Pierced Rectangles	Stitched and Pierced Circles	Stencils	Tim Holtz Distress Ink November bundle
A4 Adhesive Foam	Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue	Platinum Die Cutting and Embossing Machine	Spectrum Noir - 24 Pen Set
PICK & MIX	Mini Ink Pad Storage tin

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Tuesday Tutorial - Cascading Circles

Hi Everybody,

Todays card is one way to use up all those pretty paper bits that you have left over in your "Bit Box" 

As long as they are large enough to cover the holes then you are fine and this is the easiest card you are ever going to make.

 Quick, simple and effective for any gender or age group.

Spellbinders Supplies:

• S5-243 Cascading Circles
• S6-001 5x7 Matting Basics A
• S6-002 5x7 Matting Basics B
• PL-001 Platinum Die Cutting Machine

Other Supplies:

• Foam pads
• Glue 
• Paper scraps
• Embossing Folder

Instructions:

Create the base card by cutting two white panels from die #7 Matting Basics A

Create another layer in white from die =7 Matting Basics B and emboss this layer.

Add these two together with foam in between the layers

With the Cascading Circles cut this two or three times in white and stack together for strength

Cover the different holes with the pattern and colours you want from your scraps and cut as many as you need to have a different colour and size throughout the card

I added my stacked Cascading Circles to some self adhesive paper and then added the circles in the colours I wanted with foam pads. The foam keeps the whole shape raised from the card base

Stamp "Happy" on to one of the largest white circles and "Birthday" onto another piece of white card and cut into a strip with fish tails at one end 

Add this strip just below the "Happy" with foam underneath

Alter the colours for a more masculine look 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Little Miss Isabella ...

Hi Everybody,

Now here is someone that you haven't seen for a little while ... the beautiful Isabella doing a little bit of crafting with me over the weekend

Isabella is my Great Grand-daughter and she is now five years old.

She has her own Sapphire machine and some small dies and she knows how to work it by herself

Here she is concentrating real hard mastering the pokey tool. She made a little birthday card for one of her friends at school

We had a lovely time and she is full of questions and she doesn't have time to get bored.

A great day was had by all and we are looking forward to the next time she comes to stay

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Pretty Quick Dies ...

Hi Everybody,

Craft Stash have a range of dies called Pretty Quick and these dies will make really impressive cards for you.

And so it is my pleasure to share with you two videos made by other members of the Craft Stash Design Team and I hope that you will enjoy both.

One is from the talented Christine Smith from  Crafti Potential and she is showing you step by step how she created the   Peacock Spinner Card 

And the second one is from  Lisa Plummer the Crafting Diva who shows you her beautiful Sunset Seascape Card

More from me tomorrow ..

Hugs xx

Shabby Chic Winner ...

Hi Everybody,

Sorry for the late post today but I had lots of things to do this morning.  But now that I am finished I can get the draw done and announce the winner of yesterdays round Shabby Chic Card.

But before I do can I just say that if you enter for the draw then YOU must come back and check to see if your name is listed in Saturdays post.  And if you miss that then the winners names are all listed in the  Winners Page  which is there permanently in the sidebar to the left of this page

I have no way to chase you up to tell you that you have won and if you do not claim it in the 72 hours .... that's three days ... then you will lose it.. So please don't ask me two weeks later about the card that you won as it will not be available.

I am happy to make the cards and offer them as a gift to you.. I don't mind where you live I  will post it at my expense. I don't mind if you have won one before and you don't need to have a blog either.

I am sorry to keep repeating this but if you enter and don't claim the card then you are taking that card from some one else who would really like to have it and that's not fair to them

On to todays winner of the pretty circular card and the name chosen is yours ...

Maureen Killen

please can you send me your postal address to

christina@card-making-magic.com

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

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Friday Freebie 20 - Shabby Chic

Hi Everybody,

Todays Shabby Chic card is a circular one in shades of lilac and cream. This one is dotted in gold glitter and the sentiment says "Thinking of You"

Over the years that I have been giving away my cards many of you have told me that you are adding them to box frames to keep and that is such a compliment to me.

This one is well worth keeping as are all the Shabby Chic ones I am offering over the neext few weeks . I really love every one of them

So if this is one that you would like then all you have to do is leave me a comment at the end of the blog post and then come back in the morning  to see if you have won it.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Easy Water Coloured Card

Hi Everybody,

Today I am adding a short video on how I made this card and if you are new to water colouring it is a very easy one to start off with.

 The stamp set is from Clearly Besotted and there are matching dies that you can buy.

The links to the products are at the bottom of the page

I have simply used a masking technique to get my sheep in a row and I have used Gansai Tambi Water Colours

The green mat was just to accentuate the grass and the sky was added with a homemade edge to some white card .... and you can see how much it has been used in the past. A great card for the men in your life

So I hope you enjoy the video ...  Feeling Sheepish Water Coloured Card 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Feeling Sheepish

Gansai Tambi Water Colours

A4 Adhesive Foam

Water Colour Card

InLinkz.com

Beautiful Backgrounds

Hi Everybody,

Todays card was shown in the video that I added last week using stencils that are available from Craft Stash

I really loved this little card once it was finished and it was very quick and easy to do.

The longest part was waiting for the embossing paste to dry ... and I left that overnight to make sure it was really dry.

I mixed Dusty Concord Distress Ink with my paste and added it to the card than dressed it up with my usual Flowers,  Ribbons and Pearls

The flowers and lace are from Wild Orchid Crafts  and the ribbon is from Mei Flower

All the layers are raised up with foam pads and that gives depth and interest to the card.

It is much prettier in the hand that the photo shows ... hope you like it

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Tuesday Tutorial - A2 Classic Waves Borders

Hi Everybody,

For todays card I have used a simple border die from Spellbinders and this is the Classic Waves which comes in three parts. 

As the border dies divide the card into two separate pieces I thought we would make two cards for the price of one with this set if dies

Spellbinders Supplies:

• S4-788 Card Creator Classic Waves Border dies
• S6-001 5x7 Matting Basics A 
• SEL-002 Grid Iron  Embossing Folder
• PL-001 Platinum Die Cutting Machine

Other Supplies:

• Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue
• Foam Sheets
• Bakers twine
• Enamel Dots
• Card - two shades of turquoise and white

Instructions:

Create two Base cards with Matting Basic A with the white card

Create three mats with two shade of turquoise and another from the white

Place the three dies at different levels and angles on the card and cut and emboss.

Ink through the die if you like to add more pattern

Use the pieces to create two cards

With foam pads layer up the dies cuts so that they create a waterfall effect on the card and they can be added at the top or bottom of the card base as you prefer

Add an extra layer of white card and emboss this if you prefer a sturdier base, and layer the die cut pieces onto this

Adding in the foam gives more dimension to the card

For the card below I have added the cut pieces to the top of the card and onto another embossed card.

The top has been wrapped with Bakers Twine and two small shells added as decoration

The "Thanks" has been cut three times and stacked together and then enamel dots placed around the rest of the card.

For this card I added the die cuts at the bottom of the card with foam in between the layers

The"You" has been cut three times and stacked together and enamel dots placed around the card

Two ideas that would make good male birthday cards with the appropriate sentiment added

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

5x7 Matting Basics A	Card Creator Classic A2 Waves Borders Etched Dies	A4 Adhesive Foam	Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue
Bakers Twine	Seth Apter Em-bossing Fold'ers Gridiron 5 x 7 in Single Sided

InLinkz.com

Ruby Update

Hello Everyone,

I am now nine months old and growing still and having so much fun though my mum does tell me off for barking too much.

I like to sit on the back of the chair and look through the window and there is just soooo much to bark at.

Here I am at the front of my house with my very best friend Dougal and I am soaking up the sun on my favorite bench.

I am an an English Cocker Spaniel with Blue Roan Sable markings, and Dougal with his lovely curly cream coat is a Cockapoo

Our mums where taking us to Cuerden Park in Preston for the day and we are just waiting to get in the car and go. They have to pack water and bowls, towels and blankets, treats and leads and it takes them ages to get ready. All we have to do is jump in the back of the car and we are ready to go.!!!

Here we are being very impatient ... and barking ...coz we now want to go and play again

But once we got there it was wonderful and so much to do.

Doggy Paradise with lots of water and hills and fields to run and sniff in.

If you have read my stories before then you will know that I like to go swimming and today was lovely as it was not too deep ... and so need for my mum  to panic

Dougal is a bit taller than me and doesn't seem to get as wet but I had a lovely time and was soaked

It was a lovely day and so I didn't feel cold and of course we ran around for ages meeting lots of other dogs too

On the way home it was time for us to get snuggled up in our Ruff & Tumble jackets and both of us fell asleep in the back of the car.

But once we got home ....

... we both had a lovely big juicy bone to sit and chew on in the sunshine of my front garden.

We have to eat our bones away from each other though so we don't squabble about them

Because for some reason whichever bone Dougal has it always seems better than the one I have and so that is the one I want !!!

We are both very tired puppies at the end of a busy day and I can't wait to go again soon

More from my mum tomorrow ...

Bye for now

Card Winner

Hi Everybody,

I hope you are all well this weekend and have lots of good things lined up to do. We are having a lazy weekend and have nothing really planned ... which makes a change. 

 Ruby will be going out for her long Sunday morning walk with her friend Dougal and tomorrow she is back with more of her adventures.

 (If you are new to my blog then Ruby is my beautiful Cocker Spaniel puppy who gets up to all sorts of mischief)

The draw for the latest Shabby Chic card has been done and the name this week is you ...

Sharon Egolf

if you would email me please with your postal address to

christina@card-making-magic.com

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

This week a couple of ladies have joined me from Patricia at Summerhouse Crafts and it's lovely to have you here. 

Patricia has made lots and lots of boxes over the years from my Origami Box Tutorial and every one is beautiful.

That tutorial,  over at Card Making Magic.  is in two parts to make the base and then the lid.

It's best to use double sided heavy paper as the inside can be seen too. 

It's not hard to do but the results are well worth the effort. so I hope you will give it a try.

They make lovely gifts and can be filled with all kinds of "Goodies"

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx 

Friday Freebie 19 -Shabby Chic

Hi Everybody,

Todays Shabby Chic card is in shades of blue, white and coffee coloured flowers and has beautiful lace  added to the c bottom
 It is  no sentiment added to it and so if you wanted to use it then it is yours to do with as you please.

The flowers and lace are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the die cuts are all Spellbinders.

So if this is a card that you would like to have then leave me a comment at the end of the post. A name will be drawn from those comments and the winner announced in tomorrows blog post ... so be sure to come back and check for your name.

More tomorrow ... 

Hugs xx