Beautiful Card Designs Made Easy

November 17, 2014

Back Home ....

Hi Everybody,

Thank you for all your lovely comments to wish me well on my travels and now here I am back at home after the most wonderful trip to Spellbinders Ambassadors Retreat in Phoenix  and spending time with some amazing women.

We travelled to Phoenix airport on Sunday morning at 8.30 am and I arrived home at 10.30 am this morning after the overnight flight.  I don't know about you but I cannot sleep on an airplane and so now I am very tired.... but determined to stay awake until later tonight to try and get my body clock back to UK times

I will share some of the photos with you here but first of all lets deal with the Friday Freebie and the name that has been drawn is you ....

Jan Moss
If you would email me please 
christina@card-making-magic.com
I will get the card sent to you straight away.  Thank you all for your patience with this draw but we should soon be back to normal 

So on to the trip ...
Stacey greeted us all warmly and she has put an incredible amount of work to make  the  Retreat really special and we have been treated like royalty

We had workshops with both Stacey and Kim and made some really neat projects and lots of laughing in the process too

These two projects are using products from the new A Gilded Life range and this was such fun to work with

And of course I have brought some of the Bezels on the right of the picture back with me and will be using them on some cards as well as stand alone pieces of jewellery.

Both are much prettier than they look on the photo
This was a journal I made  and it has about 12 pages inside to record the interesting things that we learned

And again one of the Bezels has been used on the front of the book along with some ribbon and lace

Stacey did a  class with a mixed media canvas which is an area that was new to me but it is one that I will be trying again

And although it was messing about with paint it is yet another way to use your dies.

One of the things we did was take a day trip out to the beautiful red rock mountains in Sedona.

A magical and spiritual place.

It was a really warm day and we had lunch in fabulous lodge overlooking the most spectacular landscape

Then on the way back we stopped off to visit the art work and sculptures in another magical  red rock  place

We all had a try at pronouncing the name of this place ... can you ?

Inside this village there was a Pandora shop and I bought myself a little charm called Arizona Sunshine

I added it to my silver bracelet and now I have permanent reminder of my trip to Phoenix which is in Arizona
Of course no trip could go without a visit to the craft shop and this was the Spellbinders display in the Joanne's shop in Phoenix.

The stand was full and all with the new look packaging and very smart it looks too

There are lots of wonderful collections coming up and Spellbinders and Stacey are working hard in the background to bring you the very best.

The Victorian Collection  ... which was designed by Stacey  ...was just a taster of the wonderful things to come

Stay with me on this new journey with Spellbinders working with new designs ... new ideas ... and new ways to work those die templates.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx



31 comments:

  1. Welcome home Christina.. I went to Sedona when I travelled, Arizona and California are so wonderful. xxxx

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  2. Hi Christina
    Sounds like you had an amazing trip & I'm really envious. Bet you are ready for your bed and a good night's sleep. Sleep well
    Love & best wishes
    Jenny C xxx

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  3. Glad to see you back and all fired up with new ideas and hopefully more videos.

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  4. Welcome back Christina! So glad you had a wonderful and safe trip! Can't wait to see what you have to show us from your trip.

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  5. Hi Christina,
    Welcome home, sounds like you had a fabulous time. Thanks for sharing the photos.
    Look forward to seeing your new ideas.
    Lydia
    X

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  6. So happy you enjoyed our wonderful state! Those of us who live here consider ourselves blessed beyond compare for the beauty & sunshine we experience each & every day. I do hope you will get a return visit!

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  7. So pleased your home safe and sound, and had such a fabulous trip. Can't wait to see what you have to show us. Lots of Love Mandy xx

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  8. Glad you had a good time.
    Look forward to seeing all your wonderful creations.

    Patricia x

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  9. Welcome home. Looking forward to the things to come. xx

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  10. Looks amazing Christina glad you had a wonderful time. Hope you have a good nights sleep.
    Kind regards
    Anne Owens (Liverpool).

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  11. Isn't it nice to be home? I never do well coming back to the US from Europe, my timing is so messed up. Good to see your pictures and all the pretty things you made. It sounds like such fun.

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  12. Sounds like you had a magic time, we now look forward to seeing your new ideas....glad you are back safe and sound...luv Ursula xxx

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  13. Sounds like you had a great time! Looking forward to hearing lots more about it!xx

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  14. Glad you got home safe and sound and that you enjoyed your visit to Arizona. One of my sisters live near Phoenix. They chose a very nice time of year for the retreat. Not too hot nor cold.

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  15. So glad you enjoyed your trip. Make sure you to take time to recover.

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  16. Hi Christina, So glad you're home safe and sound. Thank you for sharing the beautiful photos and writing about your trip. Very, very happy you had a wonderful time and were treated like royalty!! The journal is beautiful. Looking forward to seeing what's new.

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  17. What wonderful experience Christina. Your head must be spinning with new ideas can't wait to see what you come up with now.
    Hugs
    Margaret M

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  18. Sounds like you had a fantastic time Christina. You so deserve to be the Ambassador for Spellbinders. I love their dies too! I love your blog and look forward to see what you create. Love your videos...A huge thank you to you and your 'film crew' for taking the time to share everything with us all. Keep up the fantastic work.
    Love and hugs from Alison in Oz xxx

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  19. Welcome back dear girl. Your head will be spinning from a retreat style week but one on steroids I would think ;) Who better than yourself to experience all you have, then come forth and share your own inimitable take on many and varied ways to incorporate the beautiful new products....'awesome' eh? Get some sleep then let the juices flow. Xxx

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  20. Hi Christina, Glad to see you back safe and sound and with many new ideas. Thank you for shareing this trip with us, so we could follow along. I am looking forward to all the new things to come, after a well earned rest.xx

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  21. wow Christina, your trip sounds magical, I am looking forward to hearing more and seeing the results of your workshops. Take care Hugs Lyn xxx

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  22. Wow !
    It must be fantastic to think that doing a craft you love can open so many doors , looks like you had a wonderful time ,have a good sleep Christina .
    Well done to Jan Moss on winning your card .
    Take Care
    Elaine H X

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  23. Sounds like you had a wonderful time!.... I don't live in AZ anymore, but those photos sure do bring back many memories. Thanks for sharing them. Makes me want to dig out my own red rock photos of the Sedona area. I'm sure it's changed a lot in the last 20 years, but the red rock mountains would be the same!.... and YES!.... yes, I do know how to pronounce TLAQUEPAQUE... It's pronounced....
    ta-law-key-paw-key!! LOL! :)

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  24. Hi, Christina, welcome home! It looks like you had a great time, and don't you wish we had Joanne's over here! Like you, I can't sleep on a plane, which I found out the first time I went to Australia, and there are only so many films you can force yourself to watch on a long haul flight lol. I think I like the new Spellbinders packaging, it's nice and neat. Can't wait to see what cards you have to show us this week. x

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  25. Hello Christina, I am a little late but welcome home, delighted to know you had such a wonderful time, thank you for relaying your trip to us all and sharing some photos too.
    Congratulations to the lucky winner, something for you to treasure, I know I treasure mine.
    Hugs
    Margaret corgi owner

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  26. Delighted to see you are home again Christina. It looks like you had a whale of a time and I have the impression that you'd be first on the list for any and all events!

    By the way I didn't receive this post but the one for the 18th arrived. Probably something to do with my server.

    Mary Mac x

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  27. Your trip sounds wonderful Christine glad your home safe and sound x

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  28. Congratulations again on your success Christina! Sounds like you had fun as well as bring busy. Can't wait to see what you come up with next. Thanks for sharing your travels with us!

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  29. It looks like you had a wonderful time with time to sight see and play with goodies :)

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  30. Welcome back! What a fun trip for you! I love AZ and we visit there every fall! Looks like you had a blast!
    Sherrie k

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  31. Sounds like you had the most amazing time Christina.
    Cheers,
    Di x

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