We have 3 more Spellbinders Shapeabilities for all those who have die cutting machines for card making whether it be the Cuttlebug, Big Shot or Grand Calibur. Ooh, these ones are just lovely.

First are the new ribbon buckles Shapeabilities. There’s a total of 9 dies of different shapes, sizes and intricacies designed to take different widths of ribbon. We’ve cut some from Stardream card – which would be just perfect for coordinating with your wedding stationery - and glitter card and they look gorgeous.

The other two new sets of Shapeabilities dies can be used alone or together – Moroccan Motifs and Moroccan Accents. Inspired by the architecture of Morocco (hence the name) the are really intricate dies but they cut and emboss easily.

There are 6 different dies in Moroccan Motifs and 7 in Moroccan Accents including a fabulous long border die that will create a border for an A5 card.

This Spring Kanban have brought out a lovely range of clear stamps for card making.  As they are Spring themed these sets of clear stamps have a strong floral theme and there is Wildflower Garden, Vintage Rose, Floral Scrolls, and Spring Bloom sets. In addition Kanban have created this wonderful butterfly set called Spring Butterflies and a sentiments set entitled Spring Thoughts.

At only £5.25 a set these stamps are excellent value for money.

Decorative stickers make easy card making so they are just the thing if you are a beginner or need a card in a hurry.

Our two new ones couldn’t be more different. This one comes just in time for the main wedding season and will make delightful wedding day cards.

There are 12 separate stickers on this sheet and you can either use them singly or arrange some together to build up a picture on your card. The stickers are full 3D and some have faux gems, sequins or are decorated with glitter.

The second set of stickers is ideal for anyone who loves wine and. if your Dad is a wine lover, will be perfect for Father’s Day. The champagne bottle and glasses could be used on an anniversary card or for some other extra special occasion.

There are 11 stickers on this sheet which again can be used separately or together and you should get several cards out of one sheet. Also on this sheet are little extra stickers die cut on the backing sheet. Why not add one of these to the inside of your card to jazz up the insert?

Not only are these decorative stickers 3D and self adhesive but there is an extra dimension to them. When peeling them off the sheet lift the sticker slightly and you will see that the backing paper under the sticker is die cut. Peel the sticker from the backing sheet before sticking on your card and you’ll have a greater 3D effect.

Our range of Nestabilities seems to just keep on growing but they make such beautiful mounts for embellishments and really add that extra special touch when cardmaking or scrapbooking.

First of all is the new labels – Labels 25 which are great for larger cards as the largest die measures approximately 6 inches x 3.75 inches.

The other 2 new ones have intricate fancy edgeing. The first is the Romantic Rectangles and the second is the Splendid Circles. Both sets have four dies in the pack.

Sometimes with the more intricate dies they may not cut cleanly on the first run through. This is not a fault on either the die or the machine you are using.  Spellbinders advice is to simply give the die a half turn and run it through your Big Shot or Grand Calibur again.

From Kanban comes a whole new range of card making toppers for Spring 2012 that are really delightful. Many have the appearance of a watercolour painting and are sure to make some enchanting cards.

Many of the card toppers come with a co-ordinating A4 high quality printed backing card in the pack so all you need do is mount the topper using glue or foam pads, add an embellishment or two such as ribbon, gems, or a flower and your card is made.

The wonderful thing about card making toppers is that you can make a professional card with the minimum of effort so these are ideal for anyone beginning card making.

Take a look at this lovely roses one with its pretty coordinating backing card.

All the card toppers are die cut, although you may need to snip the retaining pieces with scissors, and all are foiled in either gold or silver foil or pearl foil in a shade that compliments the picture.

All the Spring 2012 card making toppers from Hunkydory are now on the website and there is a lovely selection from which to choose.  Adding to the cards uploaded earlier are card toppers for birthdays, retirement, get well, weddings or anniversaries, and Easter.

Card toppers are easy to use so are perfect if you are just beginning card making. Here is a card that Linda made using the First Dance card topper as a wedding day card.

Full instructions for making this card are in the Gallery.

In addition to the lovely pictorial card making toppers are these number card toppers. There are 2 sets of numbers per pack – 1 -5 and 6 – 0. Each number is approximately 60mm high so they are quite large. There are 2 packs to choose from – pink pack or blue pack. Here is the pink one.

Hunkydory have started bringing out their own card making magazine called Crafting with Hunkydory. The magazine is filled with loads of projects using the Hunkydory card toppers and stamps.

Issue 5 is now available from Craftsite.  With 68 pages and over 50 card making projects and tips using many of the items that can be bought from Craftsite such as card toppers, stamps, ribbons, and gems.  The magazine is excellent value as it is only £3.99 and comes with a free card kit worth £4.99.

The free card kit makes at least 5 cards and has A4 printed backing card, A5 printed backing card and 2 A4 sheets of die cut foiled card making toppers.

We just love Penny Black stamps when card making. The designs are fabulous and the rubber on the stamp is deeply etched to create a perfect stamped image. So we’ve added 4 more to our range.

Two of the rubber stamps feature the famous Penny Black hedgehog which is a firm favourite with card makers and these ones are both so cute.

The third new stamp features Mimi and a barrow load of love – perfect for a little girl’s birthday card.

The last stamp of 2 cats with their tails entwined and surrounded by roses would be ideal to use when making an anniversary or engagement card.

Just added to the Card Toppers page are 9 new card making toppers for Spring 2012 covering Mother’s Day, Fathers Day, Sympathy, children’s birthdays, anniversary, new baby, new home, wedding day, and engagement.

Each card making topper is die cut for easy card making and comes with an A4 printed card and a free accent foiled card. These cards can be scored to make the base card or take a tip from Linda and cut the card and glue to the front of a plain white card getting twice the value out of the pretty backing card.

We are pleased to see a topper for younger children amongst the new ones as there is so little choice at the moment for this age group. There are 2 toppers on the sheet – one for a boy and one for a girl. Here it is.

From Tonic Studios comes a range of border punches designed to punch through heavier weight card.

The Simplicity geared punches are said to punch card up to 400gsm. We have tested all the designs an both Stardream 285gsm card and Ice Silver 300gsm card.  The punches went easily through the Stardream card and also punched the Ice Silver card when a little more pressure was applied.

Different cards of different weights, or even of the same weight, may also be of different thickness. For example boxboard is only 15gsm heavier than Ice Silver but is quite a bit thicker and the thickness of the card will also need to be taken into account when using these punches.

Tonic Studios say that their Simplicity geared punches are jam proof and we found this to be true on all the card we tested.

There are currently 8 designs to choose from: Daisy Strip, Butterfly Strip, Butterfly Border, Stars Border, Vine Border, Celtic Strip, Celtic Border, and Floral Border. Here is the Celtic Strip.

The strip borders punch out a complete pattern strip and can be used as a border or a card or in conjunction with the corresponding border punch to give an interesting effect using either contrating or complimentary colours of card to bring a new dimension to your card making.