Beautiful Card Designs Made Easy

February 23, 2016

Tuesday Tutorial - Combining Dies

Hi Everybody,

For todays tutorial I have combined several dies from my collection and they have all been around for quite a while. But no matter how old or new your dies are they will all play nicely together to make a really pretty card for you. 
 Spellbinders Supplies:

Other Supplies:
Cut two pieces of white card from #7 Matting Basics A and create a hinged card with the fold at the top of the card
With #7 from Matting Basics B cut one panel in yellow
With #5 from Fancy Diamonds cut one piece in yellow
Create the frame  in white with #3 from the Decorative Fancy Diamond and #4 from the plain diamond 
Put some small foam pads around the edge of the frame and add it to the yellow diamond


Cut two pieces in white from the corner die and loop the two pieces together using the curls in the pattern, as shown in the photo. 
 Add a spot of glue to hold them together
Place small foam pads around this so that they are hidden in the swirls and this will be layered on top of the Fancy Diamonds shape
Cut the phrase that you wish to use in the set from black card and craft foam and glue them together
Again add small foam pads to the back layering them to the height that is required to span across the centre piece
Ink up the texture plate and lay some white card on top and run it through your machine with the emboss sandwich to create the letter press pattern
You will need two of these so you can move the texture plate along the card, being careful to match up the pattern and repeat the process ... OR you can simply do it twice and have two separate panels
If you create two separate panels then you will need to match up the patterns and once glued you can cut them to the size of the card.  I layered mine to some yellow card to leave a small border around the sides
The lace and the ribbon will wrap around the panel and hide the join
Once all these components are done you can now start to build the card.
Add some small pearls to the textured panel 
I decided to use some wider lace on my card and I think it looks much better.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

February 22, 2016

A different view ...

Hi Everybody,

This card is not a water colour but is created on black card with Spectrum Noir Pencils.

It was just something I was playing around with the other day to see how it would turn out.

The outline to the flower has been heat embossed in gold and then coloured in.

I think the pencils showed up really well on the black card and makes a card with a difference especially for me.

Not sure if I like the card but it was worth playing with on a cold winters day !!

However I do love the stamp which is  Peony Scrolls  from Alte New and there is also a  matching die 

I bought both of mine from  Sevenhills Crafts  and they stock a lot of the US stamps on their website

The sentiment was stamped and embossed in the same gold onto some black card and the trimmed into a little banner.   The card is from Papermill Direct and is a 255 gsm so a really good quality

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx


February 20, 2016

Todays Winner ...

Hi Everybody,

Late post ... but busy day for me and off to play with Isabella later this afternoon.  There will not be a post tomorrow as I am off to the craft show in Leigh. This is the first one for this year that I have been to and I have my list already made out to things I want to buy.

Then it might just have to be a stop for Sunday lunch on the way home and I can almost hear Roast Beef and Yorkshire pudding shouting at me as I write.

So the winner has been drawn from the hat and the name this week is you ...


Ursula 
please email me with your postal address to
christina@card-making-magic.com
and the cards will be on their way to you.

You have 48 hours to claim them and please let me know when they arrive at your house.
There will be two more card on offer next week so don't forget to add your name next Friday if you would like to own them

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx 


February 19, 2016

Friday Freebie 106

 Hi Everybody,

For the next few weeks I am going to be giving away two cards done in the same theme to one winner

All have been shown before and some are actually featured in video tutorials and here is the link to the video ... One Background - Two Cards

These are using the Brusho Crystal Colours and both are made from one coloured card making use of the positive and negative pieces.

They are unfinished on the insides so you can use them for any purpose you wish but they are pretty cards and I am sure you will like them

So if you would like to have these two then you know what to do ... leave me your comment at the end of the post. From those comments a name will be drawn and announced in tomorrows blog post ... so be sure to come back and check if it is you.

Once the winners name has been shown you will have 48 hours in which to claim it by emailing me ... christina@card-making-magic.com ... with your postal address

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx



February 18, 2016

Scheduled Video

Hi Everybody,

A little while I shared with you that I was going to be adding video tutorials to YouTube on a regular basis on the first and third Thursday of every month.

The first one  Caught In Crystal  was added on the 4th Feb without a hitch and had a really good response.

In the space of one week I gained a lot of new subscribers to my channel since I added the Channel Trailer so if you are one of them then Thank You so much,

The next one New Baby Cards goes live today and is in response to several request I had about how I made the Baby Cards

But in between those two I have added yet another one called  Ink Smooshing  and I have more scheduled to go out each Thursday

You will find it on my YT Channel  if you click the link above, along with all the other videos I have made.

And if you have not already subscribed to my channel then please feel free to join me.

I hope you will enjoy the video and that it can give you some ideas on what to make in your crafting time.

The lace, flowers, white leaves and the bows centre piece are all from Wild Orchid Crafts  and the tiny pink pearls are self adhesive from Want2Scrap

The ribbon is from  Mei Flower  and of course the dies are from Spellbinders

And just in case you have missed it there is a new page here on the blog  listing all the places where I buy the supplies that I use on my cards. It is titled "Pretty Things I Use" and the link to it is in the side bar to your right

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx