Simply Cards & Papercraft 192 - Nautical Scenes Dies

This months copy of Simply cards mag has a Nautical set of dies as a freebie

They are a bit fiddly to use - the little seagulls were so small that it is easier to draw them on with black pen!

Its hard to line up all the different waves and backgrounds too

But it is a good way of using up some of the off cuts of coloured card that we all seem to accumulate!

Merry Christmas to you all, and I hope that everyone appreciated your Christmas cards and other home made crafted goodies!

I made over 450 Christmas cards this year - 400 of which went to various local charities to help with their fund raising. With a bit of a push I hope to exceed that total next year but find it hard to get in the festive mood until September.

Just to finish with card to you all, made with a freebie embossing folder and bauble die from a magazine and silver bow saved off the crackers last year!

Happy Christmas everyone.

Labels Galore

In this months issue of Simply Cards & Papercraft there is a very useful label die cut and stamp set

I went through my pile of odd pieces of card and cut these out. The lacy border looks very effective against a coloured background

And this is my first card made using them! The little wooden bird was coloured with my French Lavender gilding wax to match the flowers.

Great Free Gifts!

I just love the free gifts that came out with magazines this month! The Poinsettia nesting dies from Papercraft Essentials are a lovely size and the dove from Simply Cards and Papercraft Magazine is so pretty.

I managed to combine both of them in this Christmas card.

And I added the dove to this wedding card I made made previously. I have made another dozen or more poinsettia flowers yesterday from scraps of red and green paper  - so another Christmas card session beckons today!

Using More Freebies!

I subscribe to 3 magazines - Craft Stamper, Cardmaking & Papercraft and Quick Cards Made Easy, plus I often buy one or two more each month depending upon the free gift. 

This means I get lots of ideas and inspiration, a range of different freebies

plus I try to enter lots of the competitions and giveaways too!

This embossing folder and stamp from Cardmaking & Papercraft had been sitting on my desk for a while, so I thought it was about time to try it out. It worked well with  the bright green core'dinations cardstock that was a freebie too from a magazine several months ago!

Bird Cage Embossing

A couple of similar but slightly different cards using the new birdcage and swirl embossing folder that came free with Mays issue of Quick Cards Made Easy Magazine - which lived up to its name, because these cards were very quick and easy to make!

I've got a family 'get together' tomorrow but nothing in the diary for Bank Holiday Monday, so planning for a bit of a crafting session that day - hope you all can get a bit of crafting too this weekend!    Dawn