New Year's Eve!

Hello friends

New Year's Eve already, what happened to Christmas?

I'm staggered how fast time is flying by.  

This time speeding was evidenced by me finding this card on my 

craft desk yesterday and  realising I made it a year ago! 

It is still a real favourite of mine featuring Blooms One

and Kaisercraft papers - Timeless.

And upon closer inspection I'm thinking the music paper is upside down!

We still have Blooms One on the website here, limited quantity though...

Are you celebrating this evening?

We do not tend to celebrate New Years Eve but instead we have

a family meal on New Years Day -  oh dear, more calories!

I had big plans to do lots of crafting this weekend but things

have been a little hampered by one of our cats being very poorly

and she's in kitty hospital at the moment awaiting surgery.

Sadly it looks like Darcy is going to lose an eye which has been 

a real shock to us but we know she is in the best place right now.

The boys are attempting to keep me upbeat and asked whether I 

can craft an eye patch! :) 

Now, without further ado the Embersons would like to wish you a very

happy, healthy and creative New Year.

And most definitely thanks for stopping by the blog 

and supporting the website.

Just in case you do not subscribe to our offers,

right now if you quote the code NEW YEAR

in the coupons box on checkout all Die D-Lites are half price! 

Take care friends, I'll be back in 2018!

Friday Die Day - Cracker Drama!

Hello friends

This week's Friday Die Day came about through a series of events...

At Christmas we discovered for the first time our dog Bella has developed a

fear of crackers!  The loud snap is understandable but even looking at

them was making her a nervous wreck!

Drastic action needed to be taken, the family was due to visit for dinner, time was short...

I set off for the cabin and after quick thinking decided

we would have little gift boxes on the table instead of crackers!

So this week's Friday Die Day is hastily made Four Seasons Box.

A one piece die set, the approximate measurements of the

finished box is:

2.50 x 2.50 x 2.50 in. (6.40 x 6.40 x 6.40 cm).

You would cut it twice to create the box, once in reverse.

The picture shows the mirror image ..literally as I've used gold mirror card!

The embossing gives you all your fold lines.

Once folded, flip them over and, as pictured, affix the centre tab.

The box on its side looks like this, you can chose which is the top and which is the bottom.

Close and affix the base.

The assembled box.

For decoration (bear in mind I was doing these speedily as everyone was coming to dinner!)

I die cut three flowers from the Succulent and Mum die set.

Stacked and placed a gold pearl to middle.

Extracted the items from the forbidden crackers, added a chocolate (of course!)

A finished box.



We just pretended they went 'bang' upon opening!



If you would like to make cracker alternative boxes or indeed it is a very

useful die set for all occasion gift boxes, there is a couple of pre-loved

sets of Four Seasons Box available on the website here.

Also we have some pre-loved Succulent and Mum Flower dies

available here.

Wishing you all a great weekend leading up the New Year.

Take care friends.

Hump Day Giveaway ...on a Thursday!

Hello friends

As if the days over Christmas isn't confusing enough I'm now doing 

Hump Day Giveaway on a Thursday!

Sorry about that but yesterday was taken up with announcing the 

blog changes, thank you for your kind comments and lovey to hear

about your Christmases.

Without further ado here is Hump Day Giveaway and

I am also announcing last week's winner so scroll down please.

Last week's giveaway was a pre-loved set Wreath.

And the winner is...

Hazel Young

Congratulations Hazel, please email me: 

hope-chances@live.co.uk

with your details and I'll post your prize out to you.

If you missed out it is possible to purchase Wreath pre-loved here,
 just a couple of sets available so quick clicking!

Also a shout out to Jan on the Fosse - you are the winner

of pre-loved Ho Ho Ho but I haven't heard from you, please email and I'll

also send your prize out to you.

OK..let's see what we have this week...

Tea Light Flower

I have a pre-loved set to give away, this is a clever simple die,

you fold in half and wrap around a battery tea light.

Quick and of course you can match to your party decor.

If you would like to win this pre-loved die set 

please leave a comment on today's post 

A winner will be picked out and announced next Wednesday.

It is also possible to purchase Tea Light Flower here.

Take care friends - I'm back tomorrow for Friday Die Day.

Changes ahead - please have a little read...

Hello friends

I do hope you had a good Christmas.

Ours was lovely, we indulged in lots of food, some drink 

and the all important chocolates!

Every member of the family was thoroughly spoiled with gifts...

I enjoyed taking a few days out but now back to it...

Today's blog post is to announce some changes ahead.

For some time I've been running two blogs, duplicating over each time

to Creativity Continues and Hope and Chances.

From now on there will just be the one blog, this one Hope and Chances.

We have been busy putting everything under the same Hope and Chances umbrella.

We had considered re-branding but we like the name and we are

steadily becoming known for being the 'home for all things Spellbinders'.

This blog has had a little makeover,

it coordinates with the website and we have also made the link buttons

a brighter colour and updated all the social media links.

We are on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.
There is round clickable buttons over there on the right sidebar.

You can also see a email link, the little envelope, 

we always try to respond very speedily to emails.

Do you know, just those changes took me hours, Elliott stepped in and did 

most of it in minutes, apart from when I kept changing my mind about colours!

So hopefully you will not mind, after today there will be a permanent button 

link on the Creativity Continues blog that you can click to reroute you to here.

(I'm not deleting the Creativity Continues blog as it has so many posts and projects

it will just stay as it is).

In other news if you now order from the website you may notice
with your deliveries the postal is a little different.
We have been chatting with Royal Mail and we now have a new
postage system, our website is being linked with theirs
(that was easier said than done - thank goodness for Elliott!)
This new system should make things even more efficient
so that can only be a good thing.

Thank you friends for always being so supportive and I look forward to
seeing you here!

Festive, frazzled and a little piece of home...

Hello friends

Are we feeling festive or frazzled?

How are your Christmassy plans going?

Today's post is a festive idea using maps.

I designed these cards for Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L and also

recreated them to send to my special friends in Iowa and Chicago.

There's a full tutorial on the Scrapbook Adhesives blog here.

So simple to do, I found the map online and printed it.

I realise your cards are probably all made, written and sent by now

but perhaps an idea for next year!

Christmas here...

I finished up my city job last night although I am working in London

between Christmas and New Year, I actually don't mind going in as

the city is so quiet and the commute takes half the time. 

Elliott and I did a big food shop late one night and we managed to avoid

lots of crowds.  We've probably forgotten some items

but I've decided that's fine, we really have enough to last us a week

not just a couple of days!

We are still working right up to Christmas with Hope and Chances,

truthfully it's hard not to, we don't like to leave anything unfinished!

Keep an eye on the Pre-Loved, that's a job on the list for today.

I am going to be signing off from blog posts for a few days,

I'm going to be spending an inordinate amount of time in my kitchen!

This is an opportunity to say ...

Take care friends, keep warm and safe at this special time of year.

Friday Die Day

Hello friends

Not long now!

This time next week we will still be eating turkey I'm sure!

Today's Friday Die Day is Lilly Pearl Fold/Flower Border.

A clever die set that works so well as flowers and an effective scallop border.

Three dies in the set and the approximate measurements are:

Small Flower/Border: 6.00 x 0.75 in. 15.2 x 1.9 cm

Medium Flower/Border: 6.00 x 0.90 in. 15.20 x 2.30 cm

Large Flower/Border: 6.30 x 1.20 in. 16.00 x 3.00 cm

This is how they look cut/embossed.

You can see that once cut/embossed you have fold lines, this creates the curl -

very simple to do.

Once complete you can place a button, brad or pearl to the middle.

The die set works beautifully as a border.  I've cut it twice, once from white card

and then with silver mirror card to create a shadow.

I then cut a piece of patterned paper - Kaisercraft - Black and White Timeless.

I placed the border section to the bottom.



Attached silver ribbon over the top and mounted onto a card front.

Positioned the flower with leaves added from Wreath Elements.

Finishing touch was a typed and die cut sentiment - Happy New Year,

I'm thinking ahead...!

The font used is French Script.

The edging detail on each petal is so pretty, this is what really appealed to me

with this die set.

 Lilly Pearl Fold/Flower Border is available on the website here.

Wreath Elements for those very useful leaves is available here.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, I'm sure there will be a lot of

shopping, wrapping and cooking going on!

Take care friends.

Hump Day Giveaway

Hello friends

It's time to make Wednesdays much nicer with Hump Day Giveaway!

I am also announcing last week's winner so please scroll down please.

Last week's giveaway was a pre-loved set of 

Ho Ho Ho

A super set that has four dies with the words:

Ho Ho Ho, Noel, Joy and 25

And the winner is...

Jan on the Fosse

Congratulations Jan, please email me: 

christine.emberson@blueyonder.co.uk

with your details and I'll post your prize out to you.

If you missed out it is possible to purchase
Ho Ho Ho new on the website here.

This week's giveaway is a pre-loved set of Wreath.

I used Wreath along with Wreath Elements on this card project recently.

If you would like to win this pre-loved die set 

please leave a comment on today's

post either on this blog or the Hope and Chances' blog here.

A winner will be picked out next week.

Also worth mentioning...a Christmas elf has sneaked into our stock

room and decided that over half the products in our Winter Sale

should be only £5, time for a stock clearance!

You can see bargains galore here.

Take care friends - have a super Wednesday!

Dashing through the...craft!

Hello friends

Gosh I've been busy! 

Apologies for the erratic blog posts, with being away at the weekend

everything in Blogland got a little behind.

I had a great time at Sir Stampalot, two busy workshops

and lots of lovely ladies.

I enjoy doing workshops, there was a couple of very new crafters

and I love seeing the wonder on their face with their creations.

One of the most popular projects was this card using Gilded Ornaments.

These are still available on the website both new

and pre-loved here.

Back home I've been busy updating the website and I'm pleased 

to report that certain sell out items are now back in stock - 

Double Heart Gift Box.

This was Friday Die Day last week and sold out instantly.

It is teamed here with Succulent and Mum Flower.

Textured Flowers is also back,

particularly like the petal detail on these.

I used them recently with Blessings Vine Frame.

We really are on the countdown to Christmas now,

I've yet to marzipan and ice my cake and also need to wrap gifts.

I should have put aside an hour or two but instead caught up 

with some episodes of Kirstie's Handmade Christmas - 

are you watching it?

I find it fascinating even if some of the projects are very ambitious

and require a kiln, forge or a trip to Lapland!

Take care friends and don't forget Wednesdays is giveaway day!