Die Cutting Essentials 35 - Enjoy Today

Hi Everybody,

This months Die Cutting Essentials is giving away a lovely Tonic Studios Flip Flop Die called Enjoy Today.

It's a quick and easy way to make cards with movement but it will help you to create other styles as well.

In the video I have shown you a few of the ways in which I have used it and how to make an easel card 

The magazine will be on sale today the 22nd March and it is sure to go quickly for the quality die that is being given away free

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Simply Cards & Papercraft 175 Home Sweet Home

Hi Everybody,

The free gift with this months Simply Cards & Papercraft is a cute house that can be adapted to make so many other styles

In the video I show you ways in which to turn this into bungalows, town houses, add extensions and so much more.

There are lots of ideas within the pages of the magazine too for you to create some fabulous cards for your self.

For the card in the video I have kept it super simple with just an ink blending technique and I am really enjoying the ink blending at present.

I have been asked what is the difference between Distress Inks and Distress Oxides.  They are both made by the same company and they both react to water.  But Distress Inks are a dye based ink and the Distress Oxides are a blend of dye and pigment inks.

They blend really well and so much easier than Distress Inks and they dry to a lovely chalky appearance. They also have the ability to layer well on top of each other which Distress Inks don't do.

So really it depends on the look that you want as to which you prefer.
But for me it is the Oxides mostly for the way I like to work.
The whole collection of  Distress Oxide colours are available at Craft Stash

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Butterfly Rainbow

Hi Everybody,

Here again today with more beautiful butterflies done in rainbow colours.

I have used Distress Oxides because they are so vibrant and they dry to a lovely chalky finish.

This is another easy to make card with the "Christina Collection"  and one that I hope you will try for yourself.

I love the look of it against the white card and the base and stitched mat are done with a 300 gsm super smooth card 

The butterflies are created with 160 gsm card both from Papermill Direct, and I have used my bargain brushes from Aldi

Most of my supplies are from Craft Stash and the links are at the bottom of the page for you to see.

You could make this card for any occasion simply by swapping out the sentiment and the verse inside.

I hope you enjoy the video and like the new style introduction that I have done to show you what it is we are making 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Pretty in Pink ...

Hi Everybody,

This card is another of the ones created with the Water Bleaching Technique  

I added a video on the process last week in different colours and they are really lovely cards and oh so easy to do. Click the link to refresh your memory 

For this one I used Fired Brick, Picked Raspberry and Worn Lipstick and blended them well together.

Then with Wilted Violet I painted in the bleached butterflies again

I used clean water to splatter the front to the card and blotted it off with kitchen towel.

This card has used a Spellbinders stamp and Mermaid Lagoon, Blue Print Sketch, and Broken China.

Then the flowers painted back with Twisted Citron

Both are lovely vibrant cards and well worth adding the technique to your repertoire of card making skills

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Crafti Potential with Card Making Magic

Hi Everybody,

Today Card Making Magic has come out to play with Crafti Potential to create a really pretty card for any occasion

Once again I have used Distress Oxides and they are so easy to blend together

For this card I have used the 

Damask A6 Background Stamp

 from Crafti Potential and the link will take you to Christine's Blog 

There are seven other background stamps in the collection and they are all available at Craft Stash

The video will show you how I made this card and I hope you enjoy it ...

Keep blending with Distress Oxides to get the look you want and where the two colours meet it will create a third that will diminish any harsh lines.

The sentiment is from Tonic Studios and there are 12 different ones for you to choose from.
Each one is in two parts so that you can create a coloured backdrop to your words and they look really special with a vellum layer

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx