Winner

 Hi Everybody,

Is it me or is it colder today ? I am seriously thinking o putting the heating on coz my toes are freezing.

Or maybe it would just be quicker to put some socks on !!
Ruby doesn't care ... she has her fur to keep her warm.

This morning I have been busy with mundane household chores that needed to be done out of the way , but no more climbing on chairs for me as I don't want another damaged cartilage. 
I have to say that the injection of steroids into the knee I had don't seem to have made a lot of difference.

I started off hopeful that they would but now I seem to be back to square one again.

I have done the draw for yesterdays lovely Tonic Box Kit and this is such a lovely gift to win.

The name drawn is ...

Maggie Gardner

so would you email me please your postal address to

[email protected]

and I will get it in the post to you straight away..

Please let me know that you have it safely and I hope you enjoy playing with the goodies when they arrive with you.

It's a Bank Holiday Weekend here in the UK so I will be back with you next Tuesday.

Try to have a good weekend and please stay safe

Hugs xx

Friday Freebie - Tonic Box Kit

 Hi Everybody,

Today's box kit comes from the wonderful Tonic and you will not be disappointed with this kit because it is full of wonderful goodies for you to play with.  The magazine will give you lots of ideas on how to create other projects too and you are sure to enjoy playing with it all.

This kit is based on a Christmas Theme and will give you endless fun in time for the season.

Add glitter to sequins to the Christmas Tree, create some crackers for your table and send out delightful cards to your family and friends.

So if you would like to have this kit then all you have to do is leave me a comment at the end of this post.

You need to add your FULL NAME or your entry will not be added, and then you need to come back and see if it is your name that is listed as the winner.

It doesn't matter where you live or even if you have won before you can still try for this kit.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Pentagon Easel for Christmas

Hi Everybody,                           

This card is created from another of the new easel dies and on some of the packages it is called the Hexagon Bauble Easel.

And I know it only has five sides so it's not a hexagon,  and we will have to blame that one on the Gremlins !!

Nevertheless it is a pretty Pentagon Easel Card once made up and just the same as the others in this collection it can be added to a full sized card if you wished.

The deer is part of the set and I have added some shading to mine and then mounted it with foam pads  to the leaves.

Another quick and easy way to create a shaped card without any measuring for you to do. Just run the dies through your machine and away you go.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Triple Star Easel Card

Hi Everybody,                   

Today's card is created using the new Triple Star Easel Card from Card Making Magic and I am sorry that this is a rubbish picture.

The light was going and my battery was also on it's last legs but you get the idea anyway.

This is a pretty die set and can be used in several ways, and would look particularly good as individual stars on a card.

You could create ornaments to dress your tree, or make a garland by gluing several of them together.

This card has just been made from pink and silver card to give it some sparkle.

It is not a big card and will fit easily into a standard envelope and so save you money on postage, but it is very impressive once opened out for your recipient to add to their mantle shelf.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Matching Dies & Stamps

Hi Everybody,

In the new collection you will find these  beautiful flowers for you to stamp out and colour with your favourite medium,.

And then use the matching dies to give you the flowers that you need for your project.

These are named Christmas Roses but can be used all year round as you can see from the sentiment on this card.

I have used water colours on water colour paper to make my flowers and then shaped the petals with the shaping tool.

The inside of the card is decorated the same and for that I have used the new Inserts and a Verse from the Birthday Verses  A5 stamp set.

These will give you a complete co-ordinated look for your cards and of course adding them to a matching box will also make them extra special too.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Winner

 Hi Everybody                                                                                    

It's very windy here this morning and Ruby has just gone out for a walk with Vickie and her best friend Dougal.

This evening Vickie and I are going out for a meal to my Grandsons restaurant as he has opened again this week for the first time since Lock-down and I am really looking forward to that.

So I got busy this morning and tidied around and I have now done the draw for yesterdays box kit.

These kits are such good value and have everything you need to get started.
 And they seem to be popular with all of you too.

There are several more on offer yet so please do come back and see if you can win one of those coming up over the next few weeks

The winner today is ...

Betty McAllister

would you email me your postal address please to
[email protected]
and it will be in the post to you straight away.

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

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Friday Freebie - Creative Stamping

 Hi Everybody,

Another fabulous box kit is on offer this week and this one is from Creative Stamping and is full of goodies for you to create wonderful cards.
 It consist of Magazine, Papers, Stamps, Dies and an Embossing Folder, everything you need to start making cards the minute you get the pack

This was also a Special Edition Box Kit and is centred around a Christmas theme.
 But having said that it can be used all year round to create some lovely spring or summer designs.
It will be yours to use however you wish if  you are the lucky winner.

All you have to do is leave me a comment at the end of the post with your FULL NAME and from those comments one will  be chosen as the winner.
 Be sure to come back and check over the weekend if your name is the one shown

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Bell Bauble Easel Card

Hi Everybody

Making Easel Cards can be a lot of fun as long as you don't let the making of them cause you stress. They really are easy to do and this die set makes them even easier as all the cutting and measuring is done for you.

In the new collection there are several designs for you to try but this Bell Bauble has to be my favourite.

I think it is so pretty and the ivy in the set can be used on any project that you want to try

I coloured my Ivy with two shades of green ink  and I used blue and white card to create the card itself  

This pretty bell can be added to larger cards if you wanted. Here I have cut two to add to the front of the card and added them to an embossed panel.

The ivy trials down the shape and I have dotted the bell with small pearls. They have been raised with foam tape underneath

The inside to this card has been decorated the same with a bell and ivy and I have used the new paper inserts in the collection to cover front and inside, and the Verses to add a lovely greeting.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Beautiful Easel Cards

Hi Everybody,

In the time that I have been away from crafting there has been a release of new dies from Card making Magic featuring Easel Cards and I was in no position to do them justice

The new release consisted of dies, stamps and embossing folders and the cards that they can create are really lovely

I have made very few cards to show case this collection but I hope to rectify that now that I am feeling a little better.

These two I did to show on the Craft World Live that I did with Lou Collins

The panel from the Poinsettias folder has been cut in half and each one coloured in differently.

For the top one I used Arteza Water Real Brush Pens and left the background white. Then I added it to another panel that I have embossed with the second folder  and silver card.

For the bottom card I have used alcohol markers to colour the flowers and a black one to colour the background separately.

Each gives a totally different look and the black background is so dramatic.

The verses on both are from the Christmas Verse Stamp Set 

Both have been decorated extra with Diamante from Card Making Magic  flourishes

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Ruby and Christina Update

 Hi Everybody,

First of all I want to wish  a really special greeting to my beautiful Cocker Spaniel Ruby who is celebrating being four years old today. She has been wonderful while I have been out of action

She has willingly gone for walks with Vickie and Dougal and been such a good girl. I would be lost without her especially since Griff died

Happy Birthday Ruby !!!
My little furry treasure

Thank you for staying with me during the past few weeks when I have been unable to blog every day. It has been very difficult to get up to the craft room to work.

To bring you up to date with what has been happening to me and where I am up to now. As you know I have had problems with right knee and left hip.

I had X-ray on left hip and my doctors surgery told me there was nothing that they could find.

I also had scan on right knee. I went through a private scheme, that I have been with since I went out to work, and they sent me to see a consultant, who had the scan pictures there in front of him.

He took the time to explain to me exactly what was wrong with my knee and he told me that I had arthritis and that I had also damaged the cartilage.
(That's what you get when you climb on chairs)

When I told him about the hip he sent me straight away for another X-ray and then told me what he had found in that picture too.  That too has arthritis in it and is causing the pain when I walk.

He said that before diving in to surgery he wanted to try injecting steroids into the joint of my knee and see if that helped, and he did that straight away. That was well over a week ago and now that it has had time to settle down it does feel less painful. I still hurts to weight bear  when I stand still for any length of time but at least I can walk around better

If this is OK then when I go back to see  him again he will discuss the same procedure into the hip, but that is more invasive. Then if the injections don't work, we can discuss surgery.

At the moment I am feeling more cheerful and positive about the outcome.
I am having a "Perching Stool" delivered which, will allows you to sort of perch on the edge, to help with support while standing, and will be very helpful if I have pain in the knee. And with this I am hoping to get back to work and doing some videos again.

Fingers Crossed Everybody 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Winner

 Hi Everybody,

Thank you so much for all your support over what is proving to be a difficult time for me. But hopefully the changes I have made to the comments page will make a difference to the people who are leaving the rude comments.  If I say they are usually women looking for men that should give you some idea of what they are like and as I said they are not aimed at me personally.

 We will get through this challenge together, what with Pandemics and rude people, bad legs and hips !! But I have done the Friday Freebie for the next six weeks so some really beautiful box kits will be on offer. As I have said before it doesn’t matter if you have won in the past you can still enter each week and try again for whatever is on offer. 

I am happy to send the pack to you wherever in the world you are at my expense and all I want you to do is enjoy the prize that you have won.  

The draw for this week has been done and the name is ...

 Carmen Ciubotariu

Please would you send me your postal address to 

christina@card-making-magic.com 

and your prize will be on its way to you

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Friday Freebie - Die Cutting Essentials Box Kit

Hi Everybody,

I have had to change the settings on my blog for comments and there is very little choice with Blogger. This is to stop the dirty comments that are being left and at the moment it seems to be working. I have had to make the comments accessible to people with Google Accounts.

As I said before these messages are not aimed at me personally but they are not very pleasant to read and so that was the only way I could do it. It may cause some inconvenience to some of you though and for that I am very sorry. If you know of another way I can stop the rude messages but allow genuine people to comment then please, please let me know.

For the next few weeks I am going to be giving away complete box kits that will consist of a magazine, beautiful papers to compliment your designs, stamps, dies and embossing folders.
 So the whole works in one box to help you make some lovely projects.

To start the ball rolling I have the Die Cutting Essential Box  and this was the Special Edition that was released. It is a lovely set to make cards for all occasions and the magazine will give you lots of ideas on how to use the items inside.

So if you think that you would like this box kit then all you have to do is leave me a comment at the end of this post with your FULL NAME.
 I say this nearly every week but still people are leaving comments with just their nick names and if that is the case then your entry will not be included.

Good Luck everybody 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Winner

 Hi Everybody,

I am having a spate of very rude messages being left  in the comments section on the blog.
In fact they are dirty messages that are being left, sometimes thirty a day and they would be very offensive if someone was to read them. 

They are not aimed at me specifically and  the writer is “Anonymous “  so the only way to counteract this is to moderate every single comment that is left. Which means that your comments will not show up until I have read them. I know it is a pain but there is no need to add the same message three or four times

I will get round to reading them all and then they will show up for everybody to read.

I apologise if this affects you adversely but there is nothing else I can do. 

If anyone knows how to stop these messages please let me know as I am always afraid that I may miss one and it shows up on the comments section of a blog post. 

My deepest apologies to everyone should that happen and if you notice something amiss then please let me know immediately so that it can be removed. Thank you for your patience and help in solving this enormous and very offensive problem

In the meantime I have done the draw for the offering this week and the name today is ....

Karen Holmes 

if you would please can you email me your postal address to,
[email protected]
and the package will be on its way to you.

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

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx 

Friday Freebie - Butterfly Kisses

Hi Everybody,

I hope you are all still safe and enjoying card making.  

I know that a few MoJo's have gone walkabouts but i am sure that they will return soon and you will be raring to go again.

To help that process I am giving away this week a beautiful Embossing Folder, Stamp and Die Set called Butterfly Kisses ... and who doesn't like a pretty butterfly???

So if this one that you would like to have then all you have to do is leave me a comment at the end of this post with your FULL NAME.

From those comments one name will be drawn as the winner so be sure to come back and check if it is your name that is listed.

I am happy to send the prize wherever you live and it doesn't matter if you have won before you an still enter again for this prize.

So what are you waiting for ... add your name

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Winner

Hi Everybody,

I know I am late again but it has been such a lovely day. Vickie and Dougal went for a long walk with Vickie’s friend and her dog, and Ruby decided to go for a swim. 

She chose the dirtiest, smelliest water she could find and launched herself into it.

So later I got a phone call From Vickie telling me that she was bringing home one really smelly dog. 

I filled the bath and got Vickie to carry Ruby  upstairs and dump her in the bath. 

I spent the next forty minutes scrubbing her clean and making her smell fresh again.

What a performance. And then once she has got out of the bath and I am trying to towel dry her she has the “zoomies” all over the place. She will stand on the towel though as I dry her with the hairdryer and she really likes that. 

Then after she has been fed and watered she sleeps for hours from all the excitement.

 I just wish I could go with them.

Now the draw for the Friday Freebie has been done and the name is ....

Michelle Coffey

Would you email me your postal address please to 

christina@card-making -magic.com

and I will get the package in the post to you straight away

More tomorrow...

Hugs xx