My little corner of Blogland where I can share my creations with you. There are many video tutorials as well as links to good quality websites for all your crafting needs.
These are some more of the cards inspired by the 3-D Embossing Folder I mentioned yesterday.
The pattern is much deeper on 3-D folders than it is on ordinary ones as it gives you other layers to the embossing.
Burt if you don't have this type of folder then try it with others that you do have in your own collection and see what works for you.
Floral folders always give a really pretty look and using coloured inks will make them even prettier.
This one is created with white ink on the raised areas and then I used the gold wax to highlight them even more.
The panel was wrapped several times with gold twine before adding it to a gold layer to lave a small border around the edge and then I added it to the brown card base.
The sentiment is from another collection and I am using them up on other cards as there are so many in the pack.
This was added to the same gold card and adhered with foam pads to the card front.
Try embossing parchment for another look or even acetate.
And if you make a mistake then why not fussy cut the flowers out and add them separately to another card base so as not to waste them or your time.
This has been etched with the black ink and added to a black and white Dottie card.
The sentiment is from yet another collection that has many in it.
Using a 3-D embossing folders gives you a really deep impression on the card and it is lovely when inked over to bring out the detail.
This folder from Crafters Companion is called Dahlias and it is beautiful, and it inspired me to make some Sympathy Cards ... of all things.
So I thought I would have a play with it and film it at the same time and that will be added tomorrow to show you what I have done.
They all have the addition of a handmade envelope with them, and that was also filmed and has already been added to the blog.
These are all 5x7 and they have all been inked over.
The left hand card has been inked over with gold and the right hand one has had a white ink pad swiped over it.
The middle one has been swiped in white and then had the gold added to the top.
The card shown with the folder has been swiped with a silver ink pad and they are all really pretty cards. The sentiments say "Thinking of You" or "Sending Comfort" so I suppose they could be for other occasions too.
Before I go on and announce the winner I would like to clarify my position in the coming months/ years.
The blog is not going anywhere it stays right here and I will add posts most days. the Friday Freebie will still be here each week so I hope you will continue to participate,
My YouTube channel will remain the same and all the videos are still there for you to view. I will be adding new ones as I go along. YouTube Channel
The only thing that is different is the website Card Making Magic, as that I am closing down, and that I will not be designing for Practical Publishing any more. The brand will continue but the design will no longer be mine.
But I am still here and posting on the blog so nothing for you really changes. People have said that they will miss me ... but I am not going anywhere.
Now for the draw for the Spellbinders die set on offer and the winner is
Marilyn Coombs
would you email me please with your postal address to christina@card-making-magic.com and I will get the pack in the post to you straight away.
I will also include a handmade Pokey tool for you to use in your craft room, and please let me know when you have them safely
Thank you so much for your understanding of my decision to "Retire" . Although I will still be doing the blog, and the Friday Freebies will continue, I will be doing more of what I want to do and in my own time.
The pretty offering for this Friday is from Spellbinders and is a three piece die set and a three pie stamp set to match it.
These can create the whole background for you or simply be added in portions which ever you prefer.
Vary the colours for another look and use the designs with other sentiments that you may already have.
Spellbinders offer absolute quality to all their products and although these sets are quite old they are still the very best.
You can bring them bang up to date with whatever you team them with.
So if you would like to have this set then all you need to do is leave me a comment at the end of this post.
You will still need to add your
FULL NAME to help me identify the winner when the draw is done.
Be sure to come back over the weekend and see if it is your name that is listed as the winner and you then have 72 hours in which to claim it as yours
Staying with the challenge to myself, to use only older dies to make my cards these are dies that I have had for a long time from Spellbinders.
It is fact two dies, one was called Lovely Lilac and the larger one is Rosy Summer Flowers. I have had them for so long they are probably no longer available.
But I am going with the mantra of .... "use what you have" !!
For both of these flowers I inked some white card with Distress Oxides making the centres of flowers a little darker.
I also added a little clear glue to these centres and sprinkled them with glitter.
The top layer has been cut in gold mirror cards and added to the top of the white panel which has been dry embossed in a folder.
I cut an orange frame from my own Torn Edges Nesting Dies and added it with foam tape around the edge, then dotted it with orange Nuvo Drops in two different shades.
The sentiment is from Tonic and is another that I have had for many years.
The finished card is 5x7 with the fold at the top.
This is a really difficult blog post to write and I have been putting it off for a long time but here goes and I hope you will understand my position. I have just had another birthday making me well into my seventies, and I need to do something with my time that doesn't involve concepts, deadlines and schedules, and there by remove the pressure. I have decided to retire and so my time will be more my own, rather than concentrating on work and the stress involved.
I am making some big changes in my life at present and they will also reflect in my work load as the months go on. I have started to make some of these changes to the blog already. I have removed a lot of old videos from both the blog and YouTube as they are out of date, and the items that they refer to are probably no longer available.
At the end of April I will no longer have the website Card Making Magic. and as a result of this my email address will change ... should you wish to contact me. It takes a lot of time to keep it going and I have other things that I want to do. I will no longer be designing for Practical Publishing. The brand will be still around but I will no longer be a part of it.
Iwill be continuing to write my BLOG and be adding new cards and inspiration every day so I hope you will continue to visit me. I will still be doing the Friday Freebie on the blog as I have lots of things to give way. I willadd my new email address so that you can still claim your prize in the Friday Freebie draw. Iwillstill be adding videos to YOUTUBE and hopefully replacing the older videos that I have removed with newer stuff. And this will be stuff that I want to do. I willbe using all the Card Making Magic dies that I have in my collection and showing you the cards that I make with them, though as time goes on they will be changed by newer stuff. I can also use other items/brands too. Iwill still link to Craft Stash as this is one of the best places to get any of your crafting supplies at a good price and the links will be at the end of the posts. I will still be filling my charity box and taking it to the shop as it fills up with cards.
and most importantly
I will need some time to sort all these changes out on the blog. The Friday Freebie is scheduled for the next few weeks already and that will stay as it is but the blog posts may be a bit hit and miss for while as I get everything sorted out to help me work smarter and not harder.
So as things stand you will probably not notice much difference in the running of the blog. I do hope that you will continue to visit the blog and participate in what ever I have going on. Thank you for all your support in the past and here's to new beginnings ...
Todays card is created from another Altnew kit that I have collected a long time ago. This kit is the Magnolia Blooms kit from August 2022.
I have stamped and coloured the arrangement with the layered stencils and die cut it out using the matching die but then I have cut the flowers down even more to fit onto the front of my DL card.
It gives the display a totally different look and I am very happy with the finished card.
The sentiment is also from the stamp set and there are lots to choose from.
The flowers have been added to an embossed panel with foam pads underneath to give them height.
I have added some small black pearls to the front as a little extra embellishment,
These kits are beautiful but the cost of the postage has prevented me from continuing to collect them each month.
But I still have the ones I did collect to play with and I really enjoy them all very much.
Another weekend is almost over with and they seem to come round very quickly. They say it's a sign of age when time goes so quickly and at my age it fairly whizzes past.
Still I got some gardening done yesterday, on my little postage stamp sized garden, and it didn't take me long. Most of my plants are in pots and that saves a lot of work ... no lawn to mow !!
The draw for the Spellbinders set has been done bright and early and the winner this week is
Michele Coffey
So if you would like to email me please with your postal address to ... christina@card-makig-magic.com then I will get it in the post to you straight away..
I will also include a little Pokey tool for you in the hope that you will use it when you craft.
Please be sure to let me know that you have it safely.
With all the cards that I have made recently I needed envelopes to put them in and buying them was an option.
But I needed lots of different sizes and it would have been an expensive shop around to get them all.
So I decided to make my own and this little gadget from Creative Craft Products at Craft Stash made life so much more simple.
This is the envelope and box maker and with this I used lots of the pretty 12x12 papers I have in my cupboards.
This little video will show you just how easy it is to use this inexpensive tool, and then you too can make your own envelopes of lots of different sizes, and use up any of the papers that you may have lying around.
This pretty card was created with the Perfect Panels and Lovely Layers Circular die set, and the stamp set from the sentiment.
The flowers are made from the Filigree Flowers and I have used Distress Oxides to edge the flowers with colour.
The leaves have also been inked in different shades of green and I added in a Dragon Fly cut in gold, which makes a change from the butterflies I usually add in to my designs.
For the card I have used a 5x7 top folded base and the pink layer has been embossed in a folder and then ink swiped over the top with a white ink pad.
This again is another attempt at re visiting all my collections and using a really old die set
Some of these dies are no longer available but as I already have them I need to use them more whenever I come to make a card.
Today is the second birthday of this beautiful creature that is sat on my desk while I work.
This is Ella and she has appeared in some of my videos in the past.
She is a very small Tortoiseshell and at two years old she is not likely to grow any bigger.
Although she is beautiful she is not very accepting of strangers and if any one visits me she makes a dash for the upstairs.
She loves to sit in the wardrobe and heads for that space whenever the door is open. And if she is missing then that is always the first place to look for her.
She has free access to my back garden and it has high walls, but she has never made any attempt to get out and explore the world. So I don't worry about her going into the garden as I know she is safe.
Ruby tolerates her and they get along quite well unless Ella wants to get close and then Ruby will growl at her and chase her off. But they do sit on the settee togehter, even if there is a big space between them.
They both sleep on my bed at night, in their own areas and that is fine as they don't bother each other.
I tried to get Ella used to wearing a harness so that I could take her out with us but all she does is collapse onto her side when I put it on and she will not move. It's quite funny really and as soon as I take it off she is fine again.
It has been a lovely weekend so far and I have got a lot done. I had a lot of help though from daughters and their husbands who came to help me clear out the garage on Saturday. It was full of stuff that is no longer used and it needed to go. So now it is clear and tidy again with lots of room in there for me to move about in, and I may just start my painting again in the warmer weather.
I also took Ruby to the park yesterday for her favourite pastime ... a good sniff about ... and she had a good time playing with some of her pals that where also in the park.
But now the draw has been done for the second of the Spellbinders die and stamp sets and the winner today is
Bejay Roles
so could you let me have your postal address please to
christina@card-making-magic.com
and I will get it in the post to your straight away.
Please be sure to let me know that you have it safely and I hope you will enjoy playing with it. I will also include a handmade Pokey Tool for you to use and I hope you will make good use of it.
Todays offering is another die and stamp set from Spellbinders. The sets that are being offered are very old as I have had them in my collection for years.
But the chance to win one is now open to you and all you need to do is leave me your comment with your
FULL NAME
at the end of this post.
There are different designs each week and one of them may just be what you are looking for.
So why not give it a try and you may be the lucky winner and be sure to come back and see if it is your name that is listed as the winner over the weekend.
The one offered this week is a beautiful feather that could be used to create the whole background
The sentiment can be added to the top or used separately as suits you.
Please leave your full name as it easier to identify the correct winner if you do, and you will have 72 hours in which to claim it.
The papers for the card shown today are from a CD that I had years ago when that style of crafting was popular., and now I no longer use it
I prefer to make my own backing papers from ideas that have been around for a long time, and most of them are using inks or paints
They are unique and different every time I make them plus it makes me use items that I have had for a long time and will forget about if I don't get them out regularly.
I am sure you are the same and have lots of things at the back of a cupboard that you have forgotten that you have.
Its like Christmas when you find them all again.
This paper was printed off so long ago that I don't remember which CD it was from., or even what I have done with it. It probably went to the Charity Shop
But there where some very pretty paper on it and I did use it quite a lot back then.
The flowers on this card are Mulberry ones and I have added a dot of white paint around the edges of them.
The card is a 5x7 with the fold at the top and this is my preferred size and orientation for card making.
Todays card is crated from the Fleur card by Anna Marie Designs and this is one I have used a lot.
It comes in many different colours and is really good quality and thick so makes an excellent card base.
For this card I have cut it into panels and added them to some white card
. They have then been added to the base with foam tape to raise them up.
It was part of a video I did a while agon now that mixed up patterns from the same colour family to create many cards
And in case you missed it , or you are new to card making, I will add it here again.
If you are purchasing any of the items that are listed then please consider going through the links at the end of this post, or on YouTube, as this means I get a small commission at no extra cost to you.
This means that I can bring you more articles , videos and blog posts.
Sorry for the delay in announcing the winner of the lovely Spellbinders die and stamp set. I took advantage of the weather and went out with Ruby before the rain started. It was very windy though and we were glad to get home again.
So now the draw has ben done and the name this week is ...
Doris Shawcross
Would you email me your postal address please to christina@card-making-magic.com and I will get this lovely gift in the post to you straight away.
There will another set on offer next week so be sure to come back and se what it is.
I have been giving away the magazines with the attached gifts as my Friday Freebie for years now but at the moment I have run out of them.
And so instead I am offering you the chance to have something else that you can add to your crafting collection.
Over the next few weeks I am giving away a Spellbinders Die & Stamp Set that is brand new and unopened.
Each one consists of a stamp, which is sometimes a sentiment and others floral or a border, but there is always a matching die to go with it.
This week it is sentiments and there are six dies in this collection, and they wild make a lovely addition to your cards.
If this is something 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.
Then be sure to come back and check if it is your name that is shown over the weekend as the winner. You will have 72 hours in which to claim the pack. Good Luck
Items that we often discard in our homes can be repurposed to create backgrounds for our cards. .
Over the last few videos I have tried to share some of the ways in which I make these work for me and they are ideas that you may have tried for yourself.
I have used tin foil and kitchen towel as well as shaving foam and baby wipes for all different kinds of textures and features on my designs
If you are new to card making then maybe they will give you some inspiration to try these out and see what you come up with.
Using different shapes to add to the design can also make a difference. Both these cards are featured in the video
I have created a playlist on YouTube that has all my ideas in one place and it is well worth browsing if you are stuck for ideas, or at times when cash is low but you have some of these things already in the home.
This time I am featuring Bubble Wrap for another addition to your Everyday Items.
So grab a cuppa and sit back to relax as you view the video using this idea.
While browsing through YouTube the other night I spotted a video that showed me how to create a card with this look and I was very impressed,
The card was beautiful and the demonstrator made it look so easy to do. So of course I had to go to the craft room and give it a try from myself.
I had to search for all the small Christmas themed stamps that I had and I cut the bauble from some Mylar to make the stencil for the design.
It is no where near as impressive as the one I saw made and I am adding the video here in case you wanted to give it a try too.
There are bits I have omitted from making my card but I will be doing this again with other bauble shapes and I will get better in the process, but I have to say I enjoyed making it even if it is not perfect,
A really cheap and easy way to vary the look of your cards is to use items that you are sure to find around the home.
This card has been created with an everyday household sponge that I have cut into pieces to use with water based inks.
Quick, easy and very effective and if you change the colours you will vary the look.
I have used the pre printed and foiled sentiment strip that came with the most recent paper packs that have been released and there are such a lot in each of the packs.
The video is not too long but will give you time to relax with a cuppa and hopefully a new idea. You may have already tried this in the past or you would like to do so now.
This was a technique that I covered a few years ago now and I may have shown other cards from the idea but I don't think that this was one of them.
The background has been inked with an Ombre colour scheme going from dark blue to a paler shade at the top.
Then once that was dry I stamped at the bottom of the card the lace border in Versamark.
It uses a stamp that I bought at a Craft Show and I have had this for many years and I don't know if it is still available
Once stamped it was sprinkled with white embossing powder.
The powder stands out much more once it is heated and is slightly raised from the card too. I added self adhesive pearls to each of the points on the lace
The sentiment is stamped in black and then clear embossed to give it the shine.
The flower display has been added to trail down the left side of the panel and as usual I have dotted it with glue and sprinkled it with glitter.
Smaller pearls have been added around the display and then that panel has been added to a top folded 5x7 card base.
It is a very pretty card and the techniques is easy to do. Take a kook at some of the stamps in your collection and try using them in this way for spectacular results.
Today it is pouring down and quite cold so not a lot being done outside in the garden. But yesterday I managed to get some of my very big plants re-potted and some of the new plants used to fill out the other pots so they look pretty again.
Then the whole garden ... back and front ... was jet washed to get rid to the grim that has collected this year, and now it all looks clean again and ready to face the world. And that's another job off my list of things to be done, and it is going down steadily.
This card is using another stamp and matching die set from Altenew and these have ben coloured in with the layering stencil.
Once these have been die cut I have added it to a piece of parchment that I have torn into shape and add to another panel that has also been coloured with stencils.
The parchment diffuses the background and allows the flowers to show up more.
Then the whole lot has been added to some knitted card with foam tape between each of the layers.
The little sentiment is from a Card Making Magic paper pack and I added that to some white card for strength.
The card looks prettier in the hand than it does here and it is one that I am not unhappy with
Not been around much this week but I have got loads of jobs done around the house. There are times when crafting has to take a back seat while other things get done and this is just one of those times..
This card was done on the spur of the moment and it is a 5x7 card with the fold at the top.
I have made a background from some Fleur card from Anna Marie Designs and stamped some text onto the card.
The stamp was free with a magazine and the small twirly bits are from the same set. I added black pen around the edges as faux stitching.
I inked the edges with Antique Linen and added the flowers with foam pads to raise them up.
The large purple flower and the leaves are from the CMM Hellebore Decoupage set but the Roses are from the Layered Roses set that is o longer available.
The sentiment is from a pack bought at the Craft Shows and U cut off wat I need and add it to the card with foam tape.
Quick simple and easy card that is now ready to send.
This pretty A6 card is created with inks and a 3-D Embossing Folder from Altenew. It was part of one of the Create Your Life kits that I used to get
It is a very easy technique to do and if you prefer it in a video then be sure to let me know and I will do one straight away.
The result will be different every time you do it and of course can change drastically depending on the colours that you use.
I am very happy with this one and I think the flowers stand out really well especially with the gold edging to them.
Here is another done in more vibrant colours and added to some of the knitted card from
Anna Marie Designs.
To thus circular card I have also added in some Mulberry flowers.
If you like to use flowers on your cards and always got them from Wild Orchid Crafts then it was a great disappointment when they stopped shipping to the UK.
But one of my regular readers has given me a kink to a new place that has the same types of flowers at much the same prices as WOC
So a great big Thank You to Ann Topp for the tip about Carroway Cottage
They have the most amazing range of flowers that you could need, in all colours and sizes and types, and when I need more flowers I will definitely be giving them a try.
They are a family run business based in Scotland and so will ship to you in the UK.