Never give up!

I hope you have been enjoying our daily card front give-aways. Remember they are only free-for-all for 24 hours so if you want them you have to go get them.

Now then; we have all heard stories about Royal Mail taking an absolute age to deliver something. At Charmed Cards & Crafts we have a collection service which means that Royal Mail pick up from us each day. We get sacks to put the parcels in and on a couple of occasions through the years we have found the odd stray letter in them. You can see how a letter could go amiss as it nestles into the creases at the bottom of a white sack. Parcels going astray is a different matter, they are not so easily overlooked. I sent a card in a 7" x 7" box to a friend on the 30th December - First Class post - and it arrived LAST WEEK! It was not damaged in the slightest, and there was nothing on the box to say where it had been all that time - but perhaps it had been nestling in a corner in one of their darker stiff bags. I can just image them throwing the empty bags onto a great big pile and then only returning to them when more sacks are needed. Only when they pack the bags into another will they discover that they weren't quite empty. I think that scenario accounts for quite a lot of smaller lost mail. So the moral of this story is "NEVER GIVE UP" :-)

Here is the card that took over a month to get from London to Scarborough.

This is such a cute image. I've used it on a couple of occasions now. I coloured it in with Copic makers then added a little glitz here and there with Stickles.

Products used:
Scallops were cut with a Grand Nestabilites die - Basic Grey alpha's - K&Co heart crystals - Bo Bunny white rose trim - Pearls - Lace. Basic Grey paper -Mo Manning digi stamp - Prima centre - Dress-it-Up Party button - Lace and ribbon.




Thanks for popping by ♥

Second Free Download

The second free download is now available - but only for 24 hours so get it quick :)

CLICK HERE TO GET IT

Free Valentine Topper Downloads

Every day until Valentines Day we are giving away a FREE Valentines Card download. Use it as it is or re-size for tags etc. They are only available to grab without purchase for 24 hours so make sure you visit every day and get them all. Many are suitable for other occasions too, not just Valentine.

POP OVER AND GET THE FIRST ONE

Enjoy! I hope you all like them and they make life a little easier :-)

Random Followers Candy

Quick shuffle through the followers of the Crafty Goings On blog, it's time for a little thank you for following. We are giving away one of our Delectable stamps and the winner is...

........... HEIDY

Please email your address through to us within the next seven days. If I haven't heard from you by then I will draw another follower.

Bye for now :-)

New Magnolia - You're so Special Collection....

Woohoo, we have the first collection of 2011 from Magnolia landing on our doorstep on Friday. The "You're so Special" collection comprises a myriad of characters, sentiments and accessories. Click the picture below to see all the available designs.

They are available for pre-order right now for immediate delivery when they arrive:


Thanks for popping by ♥

MORE FREEBIES!!

Yep, we just keep on giving ha ha ha. Well it is Christmas after all. If you need a quick card then here are seven templates/card fronts for you. Just PRINT-CUT-STICK! Couldn't be easier! Just click the picture below to go straight there.

***The Great Christmas Give-Away ***

You must know by now that we love to give away goodies at Charmed Cards & Crafts. We like to reward lyality and what better way than some free goodies! Every year we have our Great Christmas Give-Away and this years is starting NOW! Check this out (click on images to find out more):

Available Worldwide

PLUS

How about that then boys and girls? Sound good? :-)

Moving Moving Moving...

Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat! Are ya ready for the big day? You may think you have plenty of time but you don't want it to come up behind you and grabbed you unawares now do ya? It'll be here in only two weeks! Still time to make some cards so if you haven't got your supplies pop over the Charmed Cards & Crafts and get shopping ;-)

Some of our neighbours very sadly left London for Hartlepool last week, I wish them a happy life there but they will be missed.

I decorated the inside too but can't show you that as I wrote in it before taking the pictures ha ha.

I used Prima Fairy Flora papers inside and out. The branch border on the front is punched with a Martha Stewart Woodland Branch edger. I used my Grand Nestabilites for the scalloped circles. Now the smaller sizes from the large pack can be used in the normal Wizard machine, so you can use them without the need for a Grand Calibur. I love these larger shapes.

The corner has been turned down and secured with a Basic Grey glazed brad. That's a Tim Holtz Ticket (if you don't buy anything else get these!) and I used some pearls to finish. I coloured the cute Mo Manning image with Copic Marker pens.

Again I have sewn a border inside and out. I'm really getting the most of my John Lewis sewing machine, what a find!

There's a new challenge on our digi blog so please join in, there's a prize again so don't miss out.

Thanks for popping by ♥

It's Wicked!

My daughter is 14 - SOB!! Can't believe she is getting so big! Thankfully she is still innocent and sweet and I'm doing my very best to keep her that way!!

Part of her present was a theatre visit at Victoria Apollo to see Wicked. The girls have seen it already and raved about it so I was looking forward to it. What a show! I was enthralled by the voices of the main singers, particularily the "not so" wicked witch.; WOW!! We had seats in the dress circle above and this is the main stage as seen from the top:

It was a bitterly cold night last Thursday with more than a promise of the snow that lay ahead (we are totally snowed in now here in London) but this show sure warmed the heart. This was one of my favourites - no comparison to the real thing though:

It's the Broadway version but you get the drift. Here's another fab song. This one is actually performed by two of the main performers we saw, Rachel Tucker and Lee Mead:

Rachel Tucker is a truly amazing singer!

Here is my 14 year old enjoying a birthday dinner at Zizzi's at Victoria prior to the performance:

Shocking how time fly by!! Seems only yesterday I held her as a tiny baby in my arms!

I made this card for her:

The image is a bratz colouring page freebie, I've included it below in case you want to use it. I coloured her in with Copic markers and mounted her on two large ovals cut with my Grand Scalloped Oval Nestabilities. These larger shapes are terrific when you want to use a bigger image. My card here is an A5 size.
You can't see it but her eyelids, top, belt and shoes are glittery, as are the scallops.

Products used:
Main patterned papers is Basic Grey Eva and I sewed a border all around it on the front - I sewed decorative borders around the skewed panel too and dotted with pink fabric stars - HOTP Musical brads - Bo Bunny Olivia trims, this pack contains that green imitation leather trim and gorgeous brown ruffled ribbon - I made the sentiment and have included that below for you too, minus the name of course :-)

Click on the images below and save the larger versions to your hard disk:

Thanks for popping by. Keep warm!!! :-)

COPIC CANDY WINNER

Sorry I'm late with this. Thank you to all who entered. We have had some entries by email which have been linked to the blog in Mr Linky.

Here is the winner of the Copic Markers:

That is RACHEL. Congratulations Rachel, please email me your address HERE.

Thank you very much GRAPHICS DIRECT for sponsoring us again.