Beautiful Card Designs Made Easy

February 05, 2016

Friday Freebie 104

Hi Everybody,

A bright turquoise card is on offer this week complete with flower and a Hat pin pushed into the bow.

It is much better in the hand than the photo shows and it could be on its way to you if you leave me a comment at the bottom of the post.

This card was the subject of a Tuesday Tutorial way back last February and all the dies were listed then.

The inside is also decorated to match the front and it has a sentiment on the front that says "On Your Retirement"  but that can easily be changed if you wanted to use it for another occasion

If you add your name and comment then please come back to check if you are the winner. You will have 48 hours in which to claim it

The winner will be announced in tomorrows blog post.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx


February 04, 2016

YouTube ...

Hi Everybody,

The other day I mentioned that I was going to start scheduling videos to YouTube on a regular basis and they would be added twice a month ... on the first and third Thursday each month.

This seems to have been misread by some people and they think that this is the First video I have done.

Oh NO! it is not the first ... there are 270 already on my YouTube channel  for you to view and I have them on my website at Card Making Magic  as well as on these pages in the Video Tutorials section in the title bar

I am simply adding them regularly so that you know each month when a new one will be added and by subscribing to YouTube you won't miss any.

They are free to watch and will eventually be on both website and blog. This is just a way of making myself more disciplined and regular with my work each month.

So today is the day that the video Caught In Crystal Technique goes  "Live" for February as it is the first Thursday in the month.  The next one will be due  on the 18 th and I am working on that one at the moment.

I really hope you will enjoy these videos ... and of course the ones that are already there and I thank you for all the support and the comments that you take the time to leave for me

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

February 03, 2016

Water Colour Wednesday - Sealed with a Kiss

Hi Everybody,

Todays water colour is using an image from Make It Crafty

There are many images and background scenes for you to choose from.

This one is called Sealed with A Kiss  and it is so intricately drawn

I have coloured her with Gansai Tambi Water Colours  and I am quite pleased with the result though it did take me some time to complete

The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts  and I have used some foiled teal card from Hunkydory for the background. The finished card is 6x6 and I have no idea where it is going.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx






February 02, 2016

Tuesday Tutorial - Vintage Lace

Hi Everybody,

I have been a collector of Spellbinders for many years now and these are some of the first ones I ever bought.  I always bought the Accent dies that matched the Motifs and that way I could get the most out of all the sets.

This particular set is the Vintage Lace Accents and Motifs and they are now retired from Spellbinders website. If you shop around to other places you may still be able to buy them but I wanted to include tutorials with older dies as I know that many of us have them in our collections
Spellbinders Supplies:

  • S6-001 5x7 Matting Basics A
  • S6-002 5x7 Matting Basics B
  • Vintage Lace Motifs
  • Vintage Lace Accents
  • S4-114 Standard Circles LG
Other Supplies:
With die #7 Matting Basics A cut two panels and create a hinged card  for your base
With die #7 Matting Basics B cut another panel in your chosen colour 
From the Vintage Lace Accents and Motifs cut the largest circular dies in white and from the border strip cut six pieces in white.
From dies #4 and #6 cut these circles in blue to layer under the lace panels
Add the border strips to the blue panel spacing them out evenly across the panel.
 Have a dry run before you glue them into place so that you are happy with the look and the glue them in place. Trim the edges for a neat finish.
I hand cut another blue panel to fit slightly smaller than the base and layered this lace panel onto it so that it also leaves a small border.
Layer up the lace circles with their corresponding blue ones and use foam tape in between the layers
Stamp and emboss your sentiment and add to your card front.
Wrap all the layers with ribbon before adding to your base card and place a double bow in the centre
Cover the bows knot with a dazzler and dot pearls around the sentiment for effect

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx















February 01, 2016

News ...

Hi Everybody,

If you are a visitor to my website Card Making Magic ... then you may know that you can download a free booklet if you leave me your email address. It also adds your name to my website mailing list and then you will get a copy of the ezine when I publish one and I try to do that each month.

The last one went out on Friday to almost 13,000 people. In that ezine I told folks that I have been doing some training with YouTube and one of the things they advise "Video Creators" to do is add videos on a regular basis.

Now I must admit that I have been a bit hit and miss with this particular point and have added them as I have gone along. Well all that is going to change and I am now going to add two videos per month on the 1st and 3rd week each month.

So now I can have a mammoth video making session and then schedule them for the designated days and hopefully that will attract more followers to my YouTube channel. At the moment I have 32,735 followers which is absolutely amazing but I would like the channel to grow and get more. Between them they have notched up over 6 million views of my work 

And working on the principal that if you don't ask you don't get .... I am asking all of YOU ... if you are not a subscriber to my YouTube channel yet then will you please become one.

I am at   christina1716  and there is an introductory video if you are a new subscriber.  

The first video for this month will be live this Thursday and it features the Caught In Crystal Technique.

The card shows you what it looks like and it is super easy to do.  The worst part is waiting for it to dry and that is usually overnight.

I hope you will help me to grow the YouTube channel in the coming months

Click this link if you would like to join the mailing list then add your emails address at  Card Making Magic  and then you can follow the instructions to download the free booklet

And there you have two links where you can find and follow me ... and that would be wonderful

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx