Remembering Griff

Thank you all so much for the messages, cards and beautiful flowers that have been sent over the death of my amazing husband. I am so very grateful for the 21 years that we had together and Griff will be missed by all his family members.  

I am not going into detail about things but to answer some of the questions I am getting from people I will share this.

We took him to hospital on the Sunday morning. After several tests he was placed into a deep sleep and taken to the Intensive Care Unit.

It was here that he died at 10.45 on Monday the 12th November without knowing that he had the one thing he feared the most Cancer

We were all with him and he was surrounded by loving hands and gentle words. We are all stunned at the speed of the decline and we will miss him very much.

Not one of us can go back to our own homes and not see some job that Griff did for us.

His work was perfection and he loved being a builder who never knew how to say "No" to anybody

The funeral will be held at Lytham Crematorium
FY8 4AB

 29th November at 3.30

If you knew him and would like to say "Goodbye" then you are more than welcome. 

Please don't send flowers, make a donation to Cancer Research UK as that will help them to conquer this awful disease

Here are some videos to show the fun times we had with Griff over the years.💔

This was a family trip he organised for both our families to Grassington and it was a fabulous day out 

This is Isabella' House that he so carefully put into the back garden when she was three

Griff

I am sorry I cannot blog at present. My handsome wonderful  Griff died last night and I am unable to speak

NEC Birmingham

Hi Everybody,

It's taken me a little while to add these photos and that is because I have not been well this week. But these are from the NEC Craft Show that I as at last week.

It was amazing to see my name up there and to stand in front of tables that are filled with my designs.

I cannot tell you how grateful I am for all that Practical Publishing and Craft Stash have done for me.

The whole team is fantastic and I enjoy going into their offices to see them all.

These guys are the team that I was working with on the Sunday and I did enjoy it. 

It was lovely to meet up with people who visit my blog and website as well as YouTube and I had some lovely comments from them all.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Card & Gift Winner

Hi Everybody,

Feeling much better today and hoping to be back to normal next week. Thank you for all the kind wishes and your understanding. My voice is almost there and so i will start the vidoes again too next week.

The draw for the card and gift has been done for the beautiful A4 stamp set from yesterday. You can have a lot of fun with this stamp set and make some great cards for male and female. 

The name chosen today is ...

Jean Marmo

so would you email me please with your postal address to

christina@card-making-magic.com

and I will pop it in the post to straight away

I hope you will enjoy playing with it and please let me know that you have it safely

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Friday Freebie - Bright and Breezy

Hi Everybody,

Today's card is from Creative Stamping and it was out in March this year.

There are some fabulous stamps on this set and you can create your own scenes for any occasion

The video showed you some of the ways in which I used it  and here it is to refresh your memory... 

Bright & Breezy

Now if you would like to have this set in your own collection then all you need to do is leave me a comment at the end of the post and from them a name will be chosen at random to be the winner.

You will need to come back in the morning and see if it is your name that is shown. 

You will have 72 hours in which to claim it and if you don't then it will be offered again at another time.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Creative Stamping 64 Classic Winter Scenes

Hi Everybody,

Please forgive my absence from Blogging but I have not been well since I got back from the NEC at the weekend.

I had a very enjoyable time meeting all of you who came over to say hello so thank you for that.

And today I have done the video for the new magazine that will be on sale on Thursday and I sound really croaky in it.

I hope it doesn't spoil your enjoyment of the film and I will be back to normal again soon.

The featured designer this month is John Lockwood and he has created some lovely stamps that can be used all year round. The dies with it will help you to cut out the circle toppers neatly to add to your creations.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Card & Gift Winners ...

Hi Everybody,

Today I am going down to Birmingham to join the crew at the NEC. This is a large craft show where you can buy all the latest goodies to use in your crafting whatever it is. Last year I went as a visitor and bought all sorts of items. But this year I will be working and I hope you will pop along and say "Hello"

I will be part of the Practical Publishing stand E10 and we are in Hall 20 and it would be lovely to meet you especially if you visit my blog, website or YouTube channel. Then I can add faces to the names that pop up regularly in my comments boxes

But for now the draw has been done for the Christmas Treats die on offer from Card Making Magic yesterday, and I have three to give away to ...

Maureen Killen

Michelle Coffey

Terri Rodrigue

so if you could all email me your postal addresses please to 

christina@card-making-magic.com

the gifts will be on their way to you as soon as I can.

Please bear with me as I am away and wont be back at my desk until Monday.

Hugs xx

Friday Freebie - Christmas Treats Die Set

Hi Everybody,

This little gift is another from
Card Making Magic

It was given away with Die Cutting Essentials only a few weeks ago and it is a fun set to play with ALL year round.

The video to show you some of my ideas is

Christmas Treats 

There are two sets pictured along with the cards but I have THREE of these to give away and although it is not pictured it will have a card that I will send with it to the winner.

So would you like on of these sets of dies?

If you would then all you have to do is leave me a comment with your FULL NAME and from those the names will be chosen 

I will add them to the blog post tomorrow so be sure to come back and check if it yours that is shown. 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Gilding Flakes & Glitter Snowflakes

Hi Everybody,

As promised here is the video to show you how I made the beautiful snowflakes with glitter

and also gilding flakes.

They are very easy to make and I made loads of them in an afternoon and then got busy and made my cards.

So guess what the theme for my Christmas Cards is this year .... Yep ! Snowflakes

But every one is different depending on how you stack them together, and they can also be used as Birthday cards or invitations to your party too.

So I hope you enjoy the video and will make some of these for your self. 

You can always use pre-glittered card if you preferred or mirror card for a shiny look to your design

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Simply Cards & Papercraft 184 - Scenic Nativity

Hi Everybody,

The gift with this months Simply Cards and Papercraft is a really useful scene builder die of four pieces.

And although it is called Scenic nativity it is a set that can be used all year round

In the video I have tried to show you one way to use it as a change from all the Christmas cards I have been making

So I hope you enjoy it and the sentiment gives you a laugh ... I wouldn't want to go places on the back of a camel, would you ??

The magazine will be in your shops tomorrow and so if this is a set that you would like then get there early to be sure of your copy.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Glitter Snowflakes

Hi Everybody,

Today's card is created with some of the Glitter Card that is available at Craft Stash  and it is easy to cut with the snowflake dies.

I have used a selection of dies from Spellbinders to make my design in suitable colours and then stacked them all together for effect

I created the background with greetings from my Christmas Collection of stamps and then added in some stamped snowflakes also.

This was easy to make and tomorrow I am going to do the video of how I made them but I will be using Gilding Flakes instead of Glitter Card.

So I hope you will pop back and see the video when I add it to the Blog on Thursday. And I hope you enjoy it if you view 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Baby Wipe Technique ...

Hi Everybody,

Creating backgrounds and playing can produce some fantastic results and for this one all I used was some  Distress Oxide re-inkers and cheap baby wipes.

I am sure that at some point you were thinking that I must have lost the plot ... but bear with me through the video and see the end result.

I am really pleased with all of them and by using different die cuts with them I managed to achieve nine cards, and there's no waste either

Vary the colours you use for another look and try it with any paints, alcohol inks or distress re-inkers and see what result you get. 

But be prepared to get messy as I did. 

And even if you don't like the look as you make them keep going to make them up and they will look totally different as cards.

I added all my panels to an embossed piece of card created with the Quatrefoil Embossing folder from Card Making Magic 

And I used mostly the same Happy Birthday sentiment throughout.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Ruby Update - Lovely Day, Long Walk

Hi Everybody,

Today it is really sunny and my mum and I have had a good walk with Dougal and Vickie along the beach.

Here I am in my new red coat, stood on the garden bench waiting patiently to go, and I only barked at a few people who dared to walk past my house.

We walk along the beach and then my mum and Vickie stop for a coffee in the dog friendly cafe. They do Doggy sausages in there too and Dougal and I had one each Mm mmm !!

We are out for about 3 hours and we run around like mad chasing each other or the ball, until one of  us loses it and then we have to buy another !!

Once we get home again it's lunchtime and then I can settle down for a  little nap for few hours

This is me having cuddles with my Daddy on the rug and loving every minute of it.

More again soon ...

Kisses from Ruby xx

Card and Gift Winners ...

Hi Everybody,

Lovely day here this morning ... cold but sunny, and as usual lots to do. 

It is Formula One weekend and so Griff will be attached to the TV and I will be up in the craft room with all my bits and pieces.

Ruby will be out for her long Sunday morning walk and maybe a roast beef dinner. 

Now onto the winners of the set that was on offer yesterday which is the

 Best Of Card Making Magic.

This really is a full gift of an A4 stamp set and four matching dies and there are lots of ways to put this to good use.

So the two names chosen today are ...

Sheila Price

and 

Jenny Hurley

Pleas email me your postal address to 

christina@card-making-magic.com

and the gifts will be on their way to you.

You have 72 hours in which to claim them and please let me know that you have them safely

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Friday Freebie - The Best Of Card Making Magic

Hi Everybody,

So to round off October I am giving away two more prizes  from Card Making Magic 

This is the gift that was with my favourite magazine Simply Cards & Papercraft and it is a huge set.

It consists of a large A4 stamp set and four matching dies and I did a video to show you some of the cards that I made with them all

 The Best of Card Making Magic

Now if you would like to win one of these gifts and one of the cards that I made, then all you need to do is leave me a comment at the end of the bog post, and add your FULL NAME, to be entered into the draw. 

From those comments two names will be chosen at random and added to the blog post tomorrow.

So you will need to come back and check if it is your name that is shown.

You will have 72 hours in which to claim the prize.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx