Thankful for the End of the Year??

For Decembers class we made two Thank You cards in anticipation of the Christmas presents we hope to receive; plus a small gift suitable for a teacher or fellow work colleague, a desk calendar.

The first card was made using a new technique I have been longing to try out, and was quite happy with the result; watercoloring using aqua painters.  (I found the idea from a fellow demo, Lisa Curcio on Pinterest). First we stamped the Watercolor Thank You stamp in Jet Black StazOn ink onto some Stampin Up! watercolor paper and brushed on Rich Razzleberry, Coastal Cabana and Daffodil ink across it using aqua painters (we did need to use a heat gun to dry the paper during class time) to give an almost rainbow effect.  We also did the same on a small piece of watercolor paper and cut out using the Bitty Butterfly punch.  The main cardstock colours are Basic Black, Rich Razzleberry and Coastal Cabana.

The second card was based on a design I made my up-line's demonstrators training.  I didn't have the same stamp sets as were used at the class so improvised using Four You, Gorgeous Grunge and Papillon Potpourri stamp sets and used Pear Pizzazz, Marina Mist and Crumb Cake cardstock and inks.

For our 3D project, we copied the design of a very simple desk calendar that I had received as a swap at a recent regional demonstrator training (thank you Victoria McLafferty).  We used the Flowering Flourishes stamp set to decorate the card and calendar pad and the Feel Goods stamp set for the sentiment in Bermuda Bay ink on Coastal Cabana cardstock.  As an alternative, my crafters could omit the sentiment and add some more flowers from the Flowering Flourishes stamp set and add a butterfly from the Papillon Potpourri stamp set.  To finish off the design, we added some punched flowers using the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack using Bermuda Bay and Whisper White cardstock.  To make the easel effect of the card stay up, we used a piece of 1/8"th Bermuda Bay Taffeta ribbon.

Novembers Class (Better late than never!)

Where has the time gone? Christmas is now only 4 weeks away and I still haven't told you what we made at Novembers class! And to top it all our December class is a week early due to a busy venue so will now be next week! I had better get my skates on and start writing the post for that class now too (and I hope I won't be needing 'ice-skates' either!!).

 I gave my crafters the option of making either a(nother) Christmas card or a New Home card by using the same set of stamps and design with just a slight change in decoration.  The stamp sets used were from the Autumn/Winter catalogue, White Christmas and Holiday Home.  The DSP is taken from the Subtles Backgrounds DSP Stack amd the main colours are Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Mossy Meadow, Soft Sky, Crushed Curry and Wild Wasabi.  The photo doesn't show it too well but Dazzling Details were used as snow on the trees, ground and roof of the Christmas card.

To take a break from Christmas cards, we made a general greeting card using Pictogram Punches and coordinating punch. The 'stars' going vertically down the side of the card were punched out of the top layer of Night of Navy card using the Confetti Stars Punch to show the Crushed Curry card underneath.  This punch is great for making confetti for shaker cards - watch this space for a future card design!!

 Our final Christmas themed gift for 2014 - a table centre piece tealight holder (don't worry, its a battery operated one and definitely not intended for use with a real candle!!).  This is such a simple idea that I saw being demonstrated at a recent Demonstrator team training (thank you Victoria McLafferty) and just had to share it with you.  We used Endless Wishes stamp set to decorate the Whisper White cardstock in Night of Navy, Marina Mist and Pool Party, and again using Whisper White heat embossing powder on the vellum cardstock in the centre of the circle.

That's all for now but will be back again soon with more designs and maybe some Stampin Up news I can share with you!!