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.