Todays Card Winner

Hi Everybody,

This is a gorgeous day here in the North West of UK and the sun is shining overhead. We are going to go for a wander around Lytham  this afternoon and maybe stop and have a coffee and people watch for a little while.

We have done the draw for the yellow card on offer this week and the winner is ...

Daksha Suchak 

if you would send me your address please to 

christina@card-making-magic.com

the card will be in the post to you straight away.

You have 48 hours in which to claim it and I hope you will like it when it arrives with you

Now here's an offer for you.  

Many of your seemed to like the idea with the beads that I featured in the    "What's Cooking"  story from the other day.   If you haven't seen it then click the link to see what I am referring too. 

These beads are from Ikea and are made for children and so are not toxic and when baked in your oven there is very little smell and I have made hundreds of them and put them in a little container for me to add them to my cards.

But never in a month of Sundays am I ever going to use all of them and so last night I sat and scooped them into small pockets and I am willing to share them with you.

There are about 200 in each pack and if you would like some then email me with your postal address at the above email address and I will send you one of the packs.

I have 25 of them to give away but you will have to do your own baking of them.  They are an inexpensive way to add decoration to your designs.

I must stress that these are IKEA beads and I cannot vouch for other types of beads that may be toxic and may smell when baking them ... I have only tried it with these. 

I am NOT responsible for your actions with these or any other type of beads. 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Friday Freebie - 086

Hi Everybody,

I thought that today we would go with a yellow card as this is a colour I don't use all that much.

This is created with the Spellbinders  Interlocking Love from the Laced with Love collection

I have cut the solid panel twice and then added the patterned panel to the top

I inked through the die before removing the card and added satin ribbon around the panels before adding them to the base.

A single yellow rose adorns the bottom of the card and it is from Wild Orchid Crafts

If you would like to win this card then join the group of followers please and leave me a comment.

From those comments a name will be chosen and PLEASE add your full name ... and not just your first name as it gets very confusing when I have several people all with the same name.

You will have 48 hours to claim the card and the winner will be announced in tomorrows blog post

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

What's Cooking ?

Hi Everybody,

The other day I had a trip to Ikea  and while I was there I spotted these big tubs in the childrens department and they are filled with lots of bright plastic beads

It cot me £5 and there are literally hundreds of these beads in this tub.

So what am I going to do with them?

 I'm going to bake them !!

Pre heat your oven to 200 degrees (It needs to be hot) and while you wait you can space out the beads onto a non stick baking tray.

 They need to be separate with enough space between them because they are going to melt and you don't want them to run together.

Put them in the oven for ten minutes and then take a look at them. As they melt they sink into a doughnut shape.

 If yours are like that then they need to be left for a little longer until all the centre has run together and formed a dome.

Once they are ready take them out of your oven and allow them to cool down for a few minutes

I eased mine from the non stick baking tray with a wooden spatula

And there you have a whole bunch of flat backed dots ready to add to your cards.

There are ten different colours of beads in the tub and I think it is a bargain

If you like to add enamel dots to your cards then these are so cheap you can add loads of them

And when you eventually use up all the beads ... in the year dot ... keep the container for storage

Happy cooking !!

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

More Backgrounds

Hi Everybody,

While I  was playing the other weekend I made several backgrounds with either Brusho Crystals or Distress Inks

I showed you at the end of last week the ones with the Brushos and so here are the ones made with the Distress Inks

The colour combination for this one is Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed and Peacock Feathers

The flowers on all the cards are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the little velvet butterflies are from my "Stash"

The sentiment is the same on all the cards too and has been stamped in black and clear embossed

 This one is Walnut Stain,  Vintage Photo and Spiced Marmalade

Each card has a Hat Pin in the floral display and to get the size I have simply folded an A4 piece of card in half and then cut it in half

You will get two cards which ever way you fold it and the folds will be at the top so that they will stand perfectly for you

On this card I use Picked Raspberry and Peacock Feathers but I added in some gold to make the difference

Three pretty cards and added to the three "Thank You" cards from the other day, together with the envelopes to fit,  would make a really nice gift for someone to use throughout the year ... and Christmas is on the way !!    Need I say more ??

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Tuesday Tutorial - Spellbinders Alphabet

Hi Everybody,

Alphabets can be used in lots of different ways apart from the obvious. We just need to think outside the box and see what else we can come up with to make sure we really get our monies worth from this ever useful die set

Spellbinders Supplies:

• S6-001 5x7 Matting Basics A
• S6-002 5x7 Matting Basics B
• S6-009 Font One Uppercase
• EL-015 Bricks and Bark 
• PL-001 Platinum Die Cutting and Embossing Machine

Other Supplies:

• Brusho Crystal Colours
• Enamel Dots from Want2Scrap
• Stamp from Make the Day Special

Instructions:

With die #7 from Matting Basics A cut two in white and create a hinged card 

 (Die #1 is always the smallest)

From a bright coloured background and #7 from Matting Basics B cut one panel 

(I used Brusho Crystals - Ultra Marine for my background)

Cut another white panel from #6 Matting Basics A and this is the one we will work on

Space out the Alphabet letters of your choice, face down in a random fashion, onto the correct side of your card and cut and emboss them though your machine

Then remove them from the card but keep the letters for another projects

Also keep the tiny pieces that are part of any of the letters that you have used  like the "O" or the triangle from the "A"

Once you have the dies removed then emboss the panel in any folder that you have available. I used the Bricks and Bark 

Place foam pads around the open spaces to support the card and also add pieces of foam to the back of the pieces that you saved from the previous step.  

Remove the backing from the pads and place it onto the bright background you have leaving a small border around the edge

Replace any of the pieces that you saved from the letters that you cut

Stamp in black and clear heat emboss the sentiment and add some strips of the background card around it then add foam pads to the back of it

I chose to use white enamel dots and I coloured them with a marker pen to match my card. 

They dried mottled which fitted in perfectly with my background. 

Add them randomly to the card

Designers Tip:

Another way to use the panel with the cut out letters is as a stencil and simply ink through the card to create another type of background for your cards

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx