Friendship

Hello friends

Today a little card of mine has appeared in the Spellbinders™ Gallery 

featuring one of the Die D-Lites™ - Medallion Nine.

These Medallion dies are brilliant, I like to create a coloured background

with the border die and then highlight it with the inset.

I'm thinking cut with foils against a deep red for Christmas....

All the details are here - I got a bit carried away with layering!

Just to let you know the very lovely Spellbinders Die Carry Cases

are now back in stock - available in my Amazon shop or feel free to contact me direct.

I've got more new Christmas products in my Amazon shop too including 2013 Heirloom Ornaments, Build A Wreath and lovely stamp sets that match Heirloom Ornaments...
I think I've mentioned Christmas quite a bit today - well, it is only 74 days away...!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

Take care friends - I'm back soon.

Big Smile and Paper!

Hello friends

Thank you for your kindness and good wishes for hospital yesterday.
 Elliott is being well looked after and we are further forward in discussing and developing
ways for him to cope with wearing his mask for radiotherapy.
What also helped was a certificate arriving and here he is - one very proud boy!

It costs £25 per night for a family to stay in a Ronald McDonald House so we have
already enabled 40 nights of accommodation.
We have raised a little more than the £1,000 with the September Add-On Kit
and I will be launching the October one very soon.
We intend to keep going as this is a wonderful cause and a very
good distraction for Elliott.

VERY grateful to you all.

Talking of keeping Elliott busy....

 I've received some enquiries with regard to some additional insert paper for your Charity Recipe/Notebook.  Elliott is able to supply this paper pre-die cut in cream or white in

either the Grand Rectangle 

or Grand Large Labels shape

(so it matches your design of Recipe/Notebook perfectly).

This is Elliott's project - (very soon I will have every single member of my family die-cutting!)

You will notice the paper is slightly thicker than regular paper - always nicer for writing.

Each pack contains 20 sheets and the price is £2.50 - postage and packing is included in the price.

We had tried to list PayPal buttons for each design but they were misbehaving!
Instead, if you would like to purchase any additional paper, please email:
christine.emberson@blueyonder.co.uk
with your choice (cream/white, Grand Rectangles/Grand Large Labels)
and we can send a PayPal invoice or making arrangements if you would
prefer to pay by cheque. 

Take care friends, again HUGE, BIG, MASSIVE thanks to you all!

Magazine Winner

Hello friends

Today announcing the winner of the Make Christmas Cards magazine

(with those 279 pieces!)

The winner is......

Jane Willis

Congratulations Jane, please drop me an email - christine.emberson@blueyonder.co.uk 

with your address details and I will get it sent straight out to you.

It seems appropriate I should share another festive project made using papers

from the magazine.  A treat bag, I've used a glassine bag (these are super cheap on eBay).

To create a texture, I embossed it with Snowflake Impressabilities.

Added strips of the free papers to the bottom section and cut/embossed a Standard Circle,

folded it in half, secured at the back and the front flap is kept closed with a mini peg.

A tag and snowflake (Create A Flake Three) finishes the design.

Although it is not technically finished...it needs something yummy inside!

Today heading off to The Royal Marsden, still in the preparation stages for 

radiotherapy but good progress at home with Elliott wearing his mask so fingers crossed.

Thank you everyone for all your kindness and good wishes - truly helps.

First Aid!

Hello friends

Glad you liked the sneak peek of the October Charity Add-on Kit -

the chalkboard item seems popular.  I'm rather proud of it as I designed

it completely.  I downloaded fonts and a chalkboard background and spent

a fair amount of time at my computer creating it!   

(Elliott kept laughing at me!)

The big reveal will be soon....

Today, something a little different - I'm doing a crafty First Aid blog post.

I am always happy to answer any Spellbinders® questions and I thought I would post

some of the more frequently asked questions and the answers.

I have gleaned some new tips from some craft forums and thought it would be

good to pass this knowledge on. 

Q: My die isn't cutting on all the edges:

Move your die around your base plate, the Grand Calibur™ cuts more deeply at the outer 

edges as opposed to the middle.  Also, try placing your die at an angle. 

Q: My die is cutting the edges but not the area in the middle:

Again, try moving your die around the base plate. 

If that doesn't work, place a piece of masking tape on the back of the die on the problem area.  This helps to shim just that area and will hopefully add a little bulk to cut that 

area without having to shim the whole die.

Q: My die cut is stuck inside the die:

Spellbinders dies have little holes that you can use to insert a pokey tool through to help release the die.  If this doesn't work, try cutting with a piece of waxed paper first and then leaving that waxed paper inside the die and continue cutting.  It acts as a release layer.

Q: My A4 M-Bossabilities™  folder will not run through the Grand Calibur :

As you create your sandwich insert hinged section of the folder so that it overhangs the end of the plates, this should allow it to run through more smoothly.

A diagram to explain:

Q: The embossing seems a little faint:

Try misting the cardstock/paper with water in a misting sprayer.  

This helps loosen the fibres in the paper so they accept embossing a little better.  

Do not over-mist - you don't want soggy!  

It was suggested that opposed to water you can use vodka!

Yes vodka!! I think I may have other uses for that.... :)

I hope that helps, as mentioned - always feel free to contact me with Spellbinders questions.

I do my best to find the answer and if not I can direct you to the right people :)

Take care friends.

Winning Charity Kit Number and Sneak Peek

Hello friends

Today I am announcing the winning number for the September Add-On Charity Kit!

It is a yellow ticket and the number is......

If you are the winner first of all...congratulations!

I then need you to rush over to Waltzing Mouse Stamps -

click here and select 6 stamp sets - WOW - how brilliant is that!

(please ensure you select the ones that are in stock -
you don't want to be waiting for these lovelies!)

Jot the stamp names and numbers down and pop them on an email to me, don't forget your postal details and I will contact the lovely Claire at Waltzing Mouse
and she will dispatch them directly to you.

Now how about a little sneaky look at the October Add-On Charity Kit.....??
Something with a chalkboard theme... (all the trend right now).

 Wooden bunting and natural twine...

That's it for now, I'm not going to show any more just yet - I am a tease!
I will be revealing the October Charity Add-On Kit very soon, my family is working
super hard doing all this while Elliott and I go to and fro hospitals.
Again, with each kit a lucky number will be enclosed with another chance to win
6 stamp sets from Waltzing Mouse Stamps.

Finally, ...goodness I'm waffling on today!
 Oh yes, the Spellbinders® die cases - more are due in stock as
they have proved popular.  They are lovely, the suede is very stroke-able!

Inside it works like a clip folder and comes with plastic pocketed inserts. 

It can hold quite a lot - there are 2 inside cover pockets measuring 8 x 5". One page of small die template pockets (10 per page) measuring 2-7/8 x 1.5". One page of medium die template pockets (4 per page) measuring 2-7/8 x 4.5". Four pages of large die template pockets (2 per page) measuring 5-7/8 x 4.25".

It is possible to purchase more of the inserts, I am tracking 

them down and I will let you know as soon as they are also available.

Have a wonderful Sunday friends.
Take care.

A Little Giveaway!

Hello friends

A quick injection of Christmas today and a little giveaway!

This is another card from Make Christmas Cards.

It was the final card I made when I was working on this commission

and realised I had lots of scraps of paper left over.  

I then recalled a design that fellow design member Michelle Woerner had made

and was inspired - thank you Michelle!  

I cut the paper pieces into strips, adhered them to cardstock using an Adhesive Sheet 

and then cut/embossed with Stars Five.  

Tied some red twine around one star point and finished the card with one of the 

sentiments also free in the magazine.

Easy, quick and effective! 

I have a new sealed copy of the magazine to give away - 

it comes with all the papers, stamps, toppers and more - in fact it has 279 pieces -

(what an odd number, you think they would have rounded it up!)

If you haven't started thinking about Christmas cards and projects it might just be 

the little bump start you need or perhaps you are already in the throws of 

Christmas creating and would like more!

Either way - really simple, just leave me a comment today and I will

ask Elliott to pick out a winner.  

Thank you for all your kind comments on my crafty space yesterday,
remember to look up the Crafty Storage blog from time to time,
there are some great ideas.  Talking of storage - did you know Spellbinders have
a gorgeous raspberry coloured micro fibre suede die case available...

I have managed to get my hands on some of these and I'm stocking them in my Amazon shop.
Ooops! They have sold out! But I have placed an order for some more so
if you would like one I'm very happy to reserve one for you - just drop me an email.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend, I'm planning to have a lay-in at some point,

if you knew me you would laugh, I think I last managed to lay-in circa 1995!

Always been an early riser!  

Take care friends.