Beautiful Card Designs Made Easy

January 13, 2016

Love those Birds !!

Hi Everybody,

These cards have all been made with the  Bird Crazy stamp from Tim Holtz and I have had so much fun with them.

They are not gender specific and so you can turn them into male or female cards with the flick of your pen.

 I have added stripes and spots to some of mine to make them look different

I also bought the sets called  Crazy Things  which creates items that you can add to the birds like ties and hats, and  Crazy Talk  for sentiments to go with them.

I also bought the matching dies too.



 I water coloured mine with Gansai Tambi  water color paints

I used Glossy Accents on the balloons and eyes and left them to dry overnight.

The base cards are all the same design in different colours and  the birds die cut and added to the front

This fabulous stamp set is sure to keep you amused for months on end and I will certainly be playing with them again

You can ring the changes for so many occasions with these and you will never be bored once the imagination gets fired up.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

January 12, 2016

Tuesday Tutorial A2 Basics

Hi Everybody,

For todays tutorial I have used nothing but the basic dies that you may already have in your crafting "Stash".   These are some of the dies that we buy and then push to one side for the fancier ones.

But they are so useful in that they can give you a beautiful base card with the embossed edges, and also lovely ovals, or other shapes,  to layer onto your base.
Spellbinders Supplies:
Other Supplies:

With the largest die from the rectangles in Matting Basics A cut two in white card and  Create a Hinged Card
With the largest die from the B set cut a patterned layer and then in between these two hand cut another layer in plain pink that leaves a small border around the patterned layer
From the stamp set choose the character that you wish to use and stamp and heat emboss it onto the card. Colour any way you prefer.
Choose the plain die that surrounds your character from the Classic Ovals and then from the plain pink card cut another layer from the Classic Scalloped dies to leave a small border around the coloured image.
Cut a larger Scalloped layer from the pink card and use another patterned card that matches the colours scheme with the plain oval.

The size you use will depend on which character you use and which words. And the positioning of them.  The blue card at the bottom of the page is set out differently to the pink one at the top
Layer them together with foam tape in between to give dimension to your card.
Here are the layers that I have and I can now add them together.
I have offset the character on my card and wrapped all the layers with lace and ribbon before adding them to the base.
I have added tiny pearls into the corners as a finishing touch.
This card has used the same die sets, card, ribbon, lace and pearls. I have chosen another stamp from the same set and created this card in blue.
I have used a white gel pen to add Polka Dots to each character

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx


January 11, 2016

Lilac Dream....

Hi Everybody,

Lilac is a colour that I don't use that often but I was really pleased with how this card turned out.

It has been created with the 5x7 Matting Basics and this has been the start of all this type of cards that I have shown this week.

I have layered lilac and another piece of white card but before adding them in place I have separated the top white layer with the Bracket Borders One

You can do this with any border die that you have in your "Stash"

Once I have cut it I have trimmed it down to leave a channel along the lower edge and into this I have stamped and heat embossed the sentiment.

Organza ribbon from Mei Flower  has been wrapped around the lower panel and then added to the card with foam tape.

Each of the cross sections of the Tied Together Embossed panel has been dotted with pearls from Want2Scrap  and is the same look as in last Tuesday Tutorial.

This is a really popular embossing folder and it sells out every time it comes back into stock so you will have to Google for it if you want to purchase it.

The bows centre and the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and they have been sparkled with Glitter Magic

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx




January 10, 2016

New Water Colors ..

Hi Everybody,

Once again it has been playtime in my craft room and I absolutely love this little card and for this I have used yet more new water colors.
These are the boxed  Japanese Gansai Tambi Water Color Paints 
These paints are rich and creamy and full of pigment to make the colours vibrant and easy to work 
I do not profess to be an artist and I can't draw for toffee ...  but do you know I had so much pleasure from coloring this image that I don't care if it's right or wrong.

I am sure that there are many many mistakes on it but I love it and I think that some child would be thrilled to get this as a Birthday card.

All I am trying to do is encourage you to give things a try.




I bet some of you have water colours and they sit in the drawer never seeing the light of day

Why not pop over to the website and see how I coloured in this card  using the 
then get out your paints and color along with me 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx


January 09, 2016

Card Winner for 2016

Hi Everybody,

Here we are with the first card winner for 2016. Even if you have one before you can still add your name again if there is a card that you would like to win.

Sometimes I do a "Give Away" with 10 cards for 10 winners ...  all in the same colour and you are free to enter for one of those too so please add your names and leave me the comment.

To all the new joiners "Hello" and welcome, it is really nice to have you on board and I wish you all good luck every time you enter.  I am very honoured that you would want to win one of my designs.

The draw is done by my husband Griff ... affectionately known as my "Film Crew"  ... because he does all the filming for my video tutorials.

Todays winner is you ...

Nancy Clark ...
who tells us that this is her first time entering for the card.  I really hope you will like the card once it arrives with you and please let me know when it does.

I need you to email me please with your postal address to
christina@card-making-magic.com
and the card will be in the post to you straight away.
I don't mind where you live I am happy to send the card to you at my expense.

(The winner of the Seasons Giving Blog Hop prize lived in Indonesia and his prize is posted)

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx