Beautiful Card Designs Made Easy

June 20, 2016

Altered Box - Stage One

Hi Everybody,

After clearing out the garage and getting rid of garbage I found this box tucked away at the back of a shelf.

It just called out to me ... "Don't throw me away ..." and so I brought it inside.


 It was really dirty but I knew that I wanted to do something with.

At this precise moment I don't know what I am going to do with it but I have the old brain whirring around with ideas


The first thing I have done with it is clean all the dust and cobwebs off and it is looking so much better already

I have sanded it all down to a nice smooth finish both outside and inside and then got rid of all the dust

I decided to add a coat of White Gesso to it all as a base for any other colour that I wanted to add but that is as far as I have got with it so far



It really is quite a sturdy box and once I get some ideas going for it I will get to work and show you bit by bit what I have done to it.

So watch this space

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

June 18, 2016

And the Winner is ...

Hi Everybody,

Well here I am early this morning and the sun is shining today. We are taking a trip up to Windermere later and enjoying a day out.  So I needed to get the draw done before I go and find a new home for the pink and turquoise card from yesterday.

A name has been chosen from those of you who left me a comment and the the winner is ...

Linda Simpson
can you please send me have your postal address to 
christina@card-making-magic.com
and the card will be on it's way to you straight away

Please let me know when it arrives with you and I hope that you will like it

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

June 17, 2016

Friday Freebie 123

Hi Everybody,

A really bright and cheerful card is on offer this week and this was created with water colours in a random application

It has lace and pearls around the upper part and is dotted with pink pearls.

In the bottom right corner is a metal embellishment and this ... the flowers, lace and the dove are all from Wild Orchid Crafts

The pearls are from Want2Scrap

The inside is lined on this card and it could suit many occasions as well as a "Just Because" card" or it could simply be framed as a wall decoration

If this is a card that you would like to have then leave me a comment at the bottom of the post.

A name will be chosen at random from the list and the winner announced in tomorrows blog post. Please come back and check if it is you who has won.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx



June 16, 2016

Bokeh Effect Card

Hi Everybody,

Todays little card is created with water colours and this is the Bokeh Effect.

Bokeh simply means blurred and it is a term used in photography when the light is blurred in a photograph

It is really easy to do and I have a video on  YouTube  that will show you how I made this card

I hope you will pop over to view it and then try this for yourself in different colours to vary the look.  And you will never get two that look the same no matter how hard you try

Bokeh Effect Card  can be done with any watercolours that you have and you are sure to like the result.  It will be trial and error for you until you find a really white ink that stays white as you stamp it.

The best one for me is the Colour Box Pigment Archival Ink called Frost White.

It is really juicy and great for heat embossing with as it stays wet for a long time.

So be careful you don't smudge it once you have used it  ... maybe dry it with your heat tool before you move onto the next step.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx


June 15, 2016

Water Colour Wednesday-Tilda & Edmund

Hi Everybody,

Today I have used another old stamp that I have had for quite some time.

I have coloured Tilda and Edmund with Gansai Tambi colours and made it into an A2 sized card. I used a white gel pen to add white spots to Tildas coat.

The background piece is from Tonic-Gold and is the Sunflower Array

I have layered it over some red spotty card from AnnaMarie Designs

The red pearls are from Want2Scrap 

The   Hello  sentiment is a die cut that I have cut three times in black card and glued the layers together

They have been covered with Glossy Accents to give them the shiny look  and added to the front.

Pretty little card for no special occasion at all ... Just to say Hello!!

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx



June 14, 2016

Tuesday Tutorial - Labels 33 and Lonely Hearts

Hi Everybody,

The Lonely Hearts set was one of the dies introduced in the Laced With Love Collection by Spellbinders last year and it comes in two parts.  
Each can be used separately to cover different things that you may wish to do, or they can be coupled together to give you a complete panel to add to your cards
Spellbinders Supplies:
Other Supplies:
With die #8 from matting basics A cut two pieces and  create a hinged card
With #8 from the B set cut one panel in Ivory Card.
Hand cut in gold a panel that will sit between these two
(Please remember that die #1 is always the smallest)
With the inner patterned section of the Lonely Hearts die decide which side of the  Ivory panel you want the pattern to be and then die cut  ... no need to emboss at this stage 
Once cut add it to your folder and then emboss the panel. I used the Happy Birthday folder
Once it has been embossed the card may  have spread a little and you will need to trim it to fit on top of the gold panel that you have
With die =4 cut one panel out in gold and then on some Ivory card draw on the inside of the die to create a smaller panel.
If you are not quite sure what to do the the video  Faux Nesties   will show you 
Add foam pads to the back of the die cut and embossed ivory layer and add it to the gold panel
Wrap both of these with cream ribbon and glue on the back then attach them to the base card with more foam pads  
Add the bow into the centre of the patterned panel as shown and add a pretty centre over the knot
Add the largest of the Label 33 to the plain side of the card front and layer with the smaller panel to leave a small border around the edge.
Vary the side where the patterned panel will be, vary the colour choices, add in different flowers, vary the sentiment and each time the card will be fresh and pleasing for you to send to your recipient

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx


June 13, 2016

International Ambassadors Informal Blog Hop

Hi Everybody,

Here we are again with another International Ambassadors Blog Hop and we would like to say "Thank You" to all of you who take part in this.

We try to do this hop once a month and use a different theme each time to showcase some of the beautiful dies from Spellbinders

It is our way to show you the style that each of us has and hopefully you will enjoy what we come up with.

For this month we decided to use the dies by Seth Apter who is one of the licensed designers for Spellbinders

The die I chose to use is  Splatter Proof  and I have used Brusho Crystal Colours and sequins to get the look.

I added yellow, orange and red randomly on wet card and allowed the colours to spread on their own on a large piece of card.

I used part for my background and the other I cut with the Splatter Proof die. After adding the background panel I added the die cuts so that the colours would show up and dotted sequins around in blending tones

Please pop along to my talented friends and see what they have come up with this month for your delight, and please leave us a comment so that we know you have visited ... See you again next month for another IA Informal Blog Hop

Linda Lucas     Australia
Yvonne van de Grijp  Netherlands
Christine Emberson   UK

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx


June 11, 2016

Todays Winner ...

Hi Everybody,

It's been pouring down here this morning when I went to my Slimming club and happy to say that I have lost 2 lbs this week ...That's the 2 lbs I put on last week !!!! Oh well ... swings and roundabouts

So we have now done the draw for yesterdays Friday Freebie and the name chosen at random is yur s

Elizabeth Harborne 

Please email me with your postal address to 
christina@card-making-magic.com
and the card will be on it's way to you 

I hope you will like it when it arrives and please let me know when you have it.

I have some more good things coming up for the next week staring the week off with another International Ambassadors Blog Hop.
The Tuesday Tutorial will give you another idea for using some Spellbinders dies and next Fridays freebie is a really bright and flowery water coloured card.
On Thursday I have a new video for you with the Bokeh Effect using water colours and inks

Please join me for the coming week 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

June 10, 2016

Friday Freebie 122

Hi everybody,

Todays card is in a  pretty shade of blue and was offered earlier this year and went unclaimed so here it is again for somebody to love it.

It has many layers and was featured in a video for Majestic Labels Eight

It is a really pretty card and I am sure that you would be delighted with it .

So if you would like to have this card then all you need to do is leave me a comment at the bottom of the page.

Then my "Film Crew" (aka Griff)  will choose a name at random  from the comments and the winner will be in tomorrows blog post.  Please come back to check if it is you as I have no way to chase you up about the card.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

June 09, 2016

Brusho Flowers ...

Hi Everybody,

The video on YouTube today is once again using the Brusho Crystal Colours.

This one is simply called Brusho Flower and for this I have used a stamp and die set from Heartfelt Creations

This particular set has been around for quite some time but it is available on Amazon and the link is below the blog post

I have layered all the different sized petals together to create a really full flower and then added a little glitter ball from WOC to the centre.

It blends well with the diamante flourish from Want2Scrap  and the card is quite pretty. The addition of some Guipure lace  from Wild Orchid Crafts adds that extra touch and I used very little of it ... so a metre goes a long way

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

June 08, 2016

Water Colour Wednesday - Good Times

Hi Everybody,

A really simple card today using  Spectrum Noir AquaTints - Pretty Pastels

I have just done a soft wash of the pale blue in the background for the sky

I coloured the bike and butterflies with pink and that basically is all I did with Aqua Tints

I use some well watered down black for the ground and added in my sequins.

The stamp is from Clearly Besotted and is called Good Times 2 

Then I stamped and embossed the sentiment to complete the card.  I used craft foam behind the panel to add it to my card base which is an A2 top folded one.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx