Beautiful Card Designs Made Easy

October 16, 2014

Isabella is 3 years old ...

Hi Everybody,

Todays offering is nothing to do with cards ... it is a little gift that I have made for my
Great Grand-daughter.

Today is Isabellas' birthday and she is three years old

I don't know where those three years have gone but she gets more beautiful every time I see her

This is her name decorated by me with flowers and gemstones, butterflies and ribbon.

I have added it to a little easel to hold it upright and it is going to sit in her bedroom at her Nanna's house (my daughter)

I am very pleased with the end result but at three years old I don't imagine that Isabella will give it a second glance.  Ah such is life !!



More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

October 15, 2014

Best wishes ...

Hi Everybody,


Todays card is a million miles away from a Christmas card and is created in a very pretty turquoise and white.

The little splash of yellow just livens it up a little more and it a really lovely combination to use.

The card is made with Grand Labels One and topped with the Decorative labels and is quite a large card

The list of dies is at the bottom of the post so that you can see which they are.

I have used two different ovals to create a frame and add to the top of the card with the sentiment inside.

The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts with some glitter to make them sparkle and it is from Glitter Magic    I like to use the Iridescent one called Chameleon as it matches with any color that you use for your cards.

The Diamante flourish is from Want2Scrap  and gives that touch of luxury.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx


October 14, 2014

Blue Christmas ...

Hi Everybody,

I am not staying with the Christmas theme for long ... but it is only 10 weeks away and so if you have lots of cards to make then you will have to get your skates on

This one uses the same die sets as yesterday and they are the Alphabets   in both upper and lower case and the Heirloom Ornament from 2010

Yesterday I showed you the versatility of this die and today I am showing you how different it looks again with a change of color.

The addition of the white roses from Wild Orchid Crafts make it even prettier

I have added in some pearl flourish  from Want2Scrap for the finishing touch and I think this is a lovely card that will sit in my stash until I send it to someone for Christmas.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx





October 13, 2014

Flowers ... for me??

Hi Everybody,

I just wanted to show you these beautiful flowers that have just been delivered  to my house  ten minutes ago ...  and aren't they gorgeous

They are a mixture of Roses and  Gerber Daisies with Carnations and green foliage and they are all sitting in a cream and white spotty cup.

They are from my friend Kim who very kindly allowed us to stay with her and her husband when I did the workshop in Sutton in Ashfield

I was very surprised when the delivery man asked my name and he said somebody wants to thank you ....

I sent Kim a little gift to say thank you for their company and now I have these lovely flowers from Kim and now I have shown them to you I am going to put them in pride of place in my sitting room

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Christmas Red ...

Hi Everybody,

Red and green are the traditional colors a lot of us use for Christmas and this one is created with Mirror card behind the frame.

I have created a frame from the Heirloom Ornament 2010 and backed it with the   Quatrefoil Pattern 

It always pays to get out older dies and re use them over and over again and these two cards are showing a variation on a theme.



I have simply turned the die cut up side down to give another  look and it looks just as pretty this way round.

I have used a glue pen in some of the cut outs from the patterned die cut and then filled it with glitter.

The addition of tiny pearls at all the cross sections adds an extra little touch.

The  letters on both cards are from the Spellbinders Alphabets in Upper Case  and the Lower Case  and with these two sets you can produce any name or phrase that you wish


More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx


October 12, 2014

Dark and broody ...

Hi Everybody,

Todays card is a long long way from pink and frilly ... but it does you good to change tack once in while to see what you can come up with.

So this card is using black script paper for the base and over the top I have layered in the Spellbinders Reflective Moments

This is quite a large die and will fit a 5x7 card easily.

I have topped it with a verse from JustRite Stampers which matches the Labels Twenty Nine

There are several lovely verses on this stamp sheet all about Friendship

The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and I have stayed with black and white ... but they are glittered up with Glitter Magic.

Into the corsage I have added in a silver Hat Pin and a small white bow with a silver heart charm attached to it.

Behind the die cut I have added in two silver fans for extra effect.

So OK it's in black but it is still a pretty card and some one is sure to like it somewhere..... I think .... I hope

If you live in Arizona and are near to the Spellbinders warehouse then you are going to love this piece of news

They are having their first ever "Warehouse Sale" in November and you are sure to pick up some fantastic bargains if you pop along and visit

For all the information just click this link ... Warehouse Sale  and be sure to tell us what you buy

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx


October 11, 2014

The Card is Yours ....

Hi Everybody,

Sorry for the late start today but here I am with a winners name.  We had a bit of a lie in and then we drew the name and without any more preamble here it is ....

The winner is ...

Raineys Craft Room

Could you let me have your postal address as soon as you can so that I can get the card in the post to you and I hope you will like it when you get it.

More  later ...

Hugs xx

October 10, 2014

Friday Freebie 028

Hi Everybody,

This weeks card has been shown on the blog before but it is a very pretty card in pink and white.

It has the addition of a hat pin  pushed into the ribbon and pretty butterflies along each side.

It is lined and would be suitable for any occasion all you need to do is change the sentiment if you should be the winner.

To be in with the chance of winning this card all you need to do is leave me a comment at the end of the post

A name will be pulled out of the hat early Saturday morning and the winner will be announced in the blog post.

The die used on this card is Valiant Honor  and I have just added it to a larger card base.

The ribbon is from Mei Flower  and the sparkler in the centre is from Wild Orchid Crafts

The Decorative HatPin is created by me and I use a 3" Silver plated pin that comes complete with end protector.   They are available from the Sparkles Group

More tomorrow 

Hugs xx

October 09, 2014

Busy Card Class ...

Hi Everybody,

Yesterday in the Card Class we tried  another technique of using the waste from the the dies and making them into a card.

Brenda chose pink and we used a diamond pattern and Mary chose gold and went for the Glass effect die from Spellbinders.

To create the look we needed some double sided adhesive sheet and although a bit fiddly it is well worth it in the end.

The words are some of the new Sentiments Collections  and they are so handy to just cut and stick in place

Adding them in black made them pop from the cards.  The addition f some satin ribbon and a little butterfly is all that the cards needed.   Both ladies went away happy again and already looking forward to the next class.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

October 08, 2014

One Die ... Two cards

Hi Everybody,

Being a frugal crafter I decided to make another card from what was left after cutting out the Bow Elegance die from some pretty blue card.

With careful positioning I managed to place the die where I needed it so that once the piece was cut I would have the negative to use on this card.

I added some really lovely paper behind to fill the space and then layered the other parts to the die set with foam tape.

The sentiment is from JustRite Stampers and is part of the Friend  set that matches Spellbinders Labels Twenty Nine


The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts  with the addition of some sparkle from Glitter Magic

Both types of ribbon are from Mei Flower and are  tied in  double bows

The pearls on both cards are  from Want2Scrap  and I have added it all around the edge of the frame.

This is the other piece used as a full card and the outer die used to create the solid base.

So from one sheet of A4 card I have got two pretty cards and nothing is wasted

The die is part of the Victorian Collection and is exclusive to Create and Craft until the end of this month ... but if you bought yours from the shows then you should have them to play with by now

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

October 07, 2014

Antique Gold and White

Hi Everybody,

I was asked to make this card for a wedding that is coming up soon.

It is in an antique gold and white color with beautiful ivory and white flowers added.

I used the Heirloom Rectangles from the Victorian Collection and if you ordered these dies from last weeks Create and Craft show then you have probably got them by now.

I have used the same die to create the aperture in the box lid and then lined it with Acetate.

I computer generated the sentiment and a small greeting for the inside which is added to a little pocket made from the same die.

Both card and box have been decorated with white and gold ribbon  and a lovely gold centre has been added to cover the knot.  I have lined the box with gold tissue paper that matches the card

Tomorrow is Card Class Day and my ladies are going to be working with the Glass Effects  die that I showed you a couple of weeks ago to create an unusual kind of card.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx




October 06, 2014

New Week ...

Hi Everybody,

To start the week I thought I would make a .... Pink card !! Just for a change ...

This one is created with one of the Spellbinders Trendy background and this one is Contemporary Circles  

I have added some pink patterned paper under the die cut to add the color and then fussy cut a ribbon from the same paper.

The labels is one of the new ones Fancy Label Tags One
and is a good size to add simple sentiments to the front of the card.

The little words are from Sentiment One 

I have created a bow from the same paper using the lacy die from Bow Couture which is part of the Victorian Collection.

The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts    and they have been added to deep pink flourish from Want2Scrap

The cards is an A2 size and fits into a standard size envelope.  Just a simple card to get back into the swing of being back to normal ... for a little while at least

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx 

October 04, 2014

My very best wishes ...

Hi Everybody,

This is the end of a very busy week for me and my apologies for no Friday Freebie this week.

But today I have had a lovely "Workshop" with Spectrum Noir pens and pencils in Bristol and the ladies in the class made me feel really welcome.

Tomorrow I head for home and I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed.

I have a mountain of washing to do ... and I hate with a vengeance ... Ironing  ... any volunteers ????

So this card  uses the Bow Couture from the Spellbinders Victorian Collection and it sends all my best wishes to every one who has supported me over the last few weeks ... watched the shows ... emailed in to the shows ... or written to me via another medium

Many thanks especially if you purchased the whole collection to make the dies a complete sell out in the first two days and a runaway success

My very best to all the ladies who have attended both of the workshops that I have done.

I will be home tomorrow and hopefully back to normal for a little while and looking forward to my Wednesday Class with the lovely Brenda and Mary.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

October 02, 2014

Last Show today ...

Hi Everybody,

Last week these shows stretched out in front of me and the whole week was planned around them

And now here we are at the end of the Pick of the Week and I have one more show left to do.

It has been an amazing time with so many sell outs and I know that you are going to enjoy playing with your purchases.

This pretty card in lemon and white is created with the Delightful Foliage and is one of the ones that can create a complete solid base for you.

On the top I have added Victorian Medallions One and topped it off with  Bow Couture

This Victorian Collection was designed specifically for us here in the UK but it will be available in other Countries mid/late October as it is exclusive to Create and Craft until then.

So for now I have some free time until going to the studio at 4 to prepare for the 6 pm show.... and the sun is shining too

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

October 01, 2014

Three more shows to go ...

Hi Everybody,

Well I am down to the last three shows .... I think !!

Today there are two at 1 pm and 7 pm and then one more on Thursday at 6 pm and then off to Bristol.

I have a Spectrum Noir "Workshop" there on Saturday and that class is fully booked.

Then I am ready for home and the one thing I am really looking forward to is ..... a long hot bath !!

Hotels only have showers and I long to soak in a bubble bath and just relax .... heaven.

So here is another card from the C&C shows and I really like this one.  It is created with the  Delightful Foliage which is now sold out

It is pretty and girly with my usual pink, flowers, ribbons and pearls.  The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts 

The pretty gingham ribbon is from Mei Flower and blends with the design

And so I will close now and just add ...

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx