Beautiful Card Designs Made Easy

January 05, 2016

Tuesday Tutorial - Bracket Borders One

Hi Everybody,

Todays pretty card is once again using an older die that some of you may already have in your crafting "Stash"  I know that many of you have said that you really appreciate tutorials with older Spellbinders dies as we sometimes forget that we have them stuffed away in a cupboard.

Well it's time to get them out again and put them back to work making you some lovely cards. After all dies from any company are a considered purchase and we want to get as much out of them as we can ... Right ?? Right !!
 Spellbinders Supplies:


With  die #7 Matting Basics A cut two panels in white to  Create a hinged card
With  die #7 Matting Basics B Cut one layer in pink
With die #6 Matting Basics A cut another panel in white 
(Please remember that #1 is always the smallest die)
With the smaller white panel choose one of the cutting edges and one patterns from the Border dies.
Add them to your card with the cutting edge facing down and tape in place to prevent them crossing over each other.
I placed mine about two thirds of the way down the card. This will give you two pieces once the die is removed
There is no need to emboss with the die as you are going to place these into a lattice folder and dry emboss them
Once embossed lay them onto your pink layer and decide on the sentiment. Stamp and heat emboss this in white leaving enough of a gap in between the two fancy edge to be able to read it 
Trim down these two panels so that a small border of the pink card shows around the edge
Add foam tape to the back  of both pieces and wrap the top and bottom panels with some ribbon.
Secure the ribbon at the back and then add both panels to the pink layer and then add all to the base card
From the ribbon make some small bows to be added to the top and bottom.
Arrange the flowers as you would like them to cross the channel you have created and then finally add a small pearl or gemstone to each of the cross sections in the lattice pattern
Add larger pearls to the knot in the bow

The particular die that I have used is now retired from Spellbinders website but if you don't have one and like the look then you could always go for the  Scalloped Borders Three  which has a very similar shape

More tomorrow...

Hugs xx




January 04, 2016

Seasons Giving Blog Hop Winner

Hi Everybody,

Thank you all for your support through the blog hop and I really hope you enjoyed seeing all the other blogs on route.  The draw was closed at midnight  GMT last night and so if you tried to enter your name after that you will have been disappointed.

The winner has been chosen and an email sent to to notify them of the win and the winner is ...

Brain K ...
Could you please email me 
christina@card-making-magic.com
your postal address and the prize will be on its way to you straight away.

Please let me know when it arrives with you and I really hope you will like it.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Organising Peerless Water Colours

Hi Everybody,

Water colouring is something that I have started to enjoy doing and I have some Peerless Water Colours that come in swatches

They came in a little organza bag from Jane Davenport  and they are beautiful colours

But I don't want to have to go through all of them each and every time I want to paint and so they needed organising.

I bought an inexpensive plastic book that has pockets inside and I set about storing all my swatches in colour order.  This doesn't have to be complicated but it will take you a little bit of time to do it ... but believe me it will be worth while once the job is done.

I thought it would be better to show you what I did rather than simply tell you and now I can reach for them whenever I want to paint.



I will be adding some videos with these particular paints and hopefully giving you some ideas on how to use them.

So if you have water colours then maybe it is time to get them out for a little practise together and we can create some really pretty cards

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

January 03, 2016

Sunny Yellow ...

Hi Everybody,

This is my style of card and I love making these ... full of flowers, ribbons and pearls, and I will be showing you more of this style this week.

The sentiment if from JustRite Stampers and is one on the sheet of many really useful wordings

The background is Spellbinders   Grateful Lattice  and it creates a really pretty backdrop that has been layered over the  Daffodil Yellow card.

All the card I have used is from   Papermill Direct  and is one of their summer colours of 255 gsm card stock.

Clicking any of  the underlined words will take you to the page to view the product featured.

The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and are a lovely mixture of Roses, Carnations, Camellias, Apple Blossom and they have all been sparked with Glitter Magic

The organza ribbon is from Mei Flower and it has been tied in a double bow. Into the bow I have pushed one of my handmade HatPins and it matches the colour scheme

The  flourish coming from the flowers and the edging pearls are from Want2Scrap  anmd add the finishing touch to a lovely card.

Don't forget that the prize on offer in the Seasons Giving Blog Hop is still there until midnight tonight so if you haven't added your link now is the time to do it.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx








January 02, 2016

Cute Bunny ...

Hi Everybody,

How cute is this image and it has been coloured with Gansai Tambi water colours.

I added the stripes to the shirt with a white gel pen and the background is created freehand with the paints.

The flower and the patches have been sparkled with the Wink Of Stella clear glitter pen.

The fence and  the birds free hand drawn with a black fine liner to add a little more to my scene

I really enjoyed colouring this one and it took me ages to finish the card.

I added it all to a piece of white craft foam and then layered it onto the base which is a top folded card

This would be ideal for a childs birthday and I will be playing some more with these lovely water colours ... and doing some videos too.

Don't forget to add your name to the  Seasons Giving Blog  list if you would like to win some "Goodies"

More Tomorrow ...

Hugs xx