Use What You Have

Circle Shaped card

 Hi Everybody,

Resisting the urge to buy more dies is hard work but stop and ask yourself just how many oval, square or circle dies do you need.
  Or even how many butterflies, flowers, leaves or hearts do you really need.

I have lots of any one of those shapes and I struggle to use them because I have too much choice.

I have not bought them all as I was on various design teams and so the dies where sent to me by the companies.
 And then of course I designed my own brand and that gave me a lot more to use. 

But having so many stops me from being creative because I am spoilt for choice,  and  that is why I give so many items away, in the hope that they will benefit some body else as they have me.

 I have given away flowers, dies, embossing folders, stamps and "Bling" and I hope they have been enjoyed by those who have received them 

Rocker Card

In this video I am using one set of old dies to make six cards that look different and are in different shapes too.

Six Ways with Circle Dies

I have not bought anything new in the process.

The dies are old, the flowers are old, the glitter is old and I have even used shapes that are lying on my desk top left over from other projects.

The styles have been around for a long time so nothing new there either but each one looks different from the other.

5" Gatefold Card

If  you have been with me for sometime then you will recognise the circle dies I have used and the butterfly and leaf dies too.

And the Mulberry flowers are those that I have had for years. They were gifted to me by Wild Orchid Crafts many years ago.

I  know it is very tempting when you see someone advertising a new product.

 I sincerely hope you will try my "No Buy" approach to crafting and stop buying those items that you really don't need, and start using what you already have in your craft room.

Try new colour schemes and  some of the older styles and you will be surprised at what you come up with and enjoy.

Bye for now ...

Hugs xx

Tall Flowers

 Hi Everybody,  

This card is one of the ones that has gone into the charity box and it was made using a really old background stamp.

It must be at the very least six years old and I have used it often on my designs. The card was made some time ago also.

The flowers on the front are from the Tall Flowers collection and I have covered them with Versamark, Gold powder and heat embossed them.

They have been added to the card with foam pads to give varying heights.

I have added in some gold hearts, black dots and coloured the odd triangle on the card  and I have no idea where the sentiment is from

The finished card is an A6 and somebody in the charity shop will find it fits their needs.

Bye for now ...

Hugs xx

Vicki Phillips - Winner

 Hi Everybody,

It is very pleasant here in the North West. No wind, no rain, no snow and not that cold really. 

Time for a nice walk with Ruby to the beach or maybe the woods. 
Either way she doesn't care as long as she is out.

The draw has been done early today and the name this week is 
Vicki Phillips  

would you send your postal address please to 
christina@card-making-magic.com
and I will get it in the post to you straight away.

Be sure to let me know that you have it safely and I hope you enjoy playing with it.

Just a little reminder about adding your FULL NAME ....  and if you never win then go back and take a look at your comment,

does it say unknown ??? is there any indication of who you may be ???
Then how am I supposed to name you as a winner if your comment is picked ???
And have you left comments on other posts ???

Those are the only things I ask of you and it's not much to ask for a free gift with a magazine and whatever else falls into the envelope at the time I pack it. Sent at my expense to you wherever you are.

Bye for now ...

Hugs xx

Friday Freebie - Spring Special

Hi Everybody,

Today I have a lovely box kit to give away and this is from the John Next Door.

It is full of items for you to make creative designs and there are also papers and toppers inside the pages of the magazine. 

I am sure that you will have some fun making cards once the kit is yours.

And if this is something that you would like then all you need to do is lave me a comment at the end of this post.

You will need to add your FULL NAME 

 and be sure to come back over the weekend to see if you are listed as the winner.

As always preference is given to those who have left me regular comments and not those who only pop in on a Friday.

Because I am doing it this way now,  my regular readers will see their names listed more frequently.

Bye for now ...

Hugs xx

Using Old Dies - PP & LL

 Hi Everybody,

These are dies from Card Making Magic that I designed a few years ago  and they where some of my favourites at the time.

They where the Perfect Panels & Lovely Layers but I don't think they are available anymore.

If you got some at the time then maybe you want to get them out to play with again and you will find lots of videos on my YouTube Channel using them.

This card has a blue and silver colour scheme which is very fresh but it would look just as good in any other colour, and some of the cards I designed with these dies had Mulberry flowers on them too. 

These paper flowers of course can be used in other ways and look amazing when added to lots of green leaves in a beautiful display.

It has been fun and interesting to revisit some of the old dies that I designed years ago and I have enjoyed making new cards from them as I have found them again.

Here is the short video using these dies and I hope you enjoy it

Using Old Dies

Perfect Panels & Lovely Layers

Don't forget to leave me a comment

Bye for now ...

Hugs xx