November Classes - All Set For Christmas!

With Christmas fast appraoching, we are now making more Christmas themed projects but I also wanted to use a stunning set of stamps and coordinating thinlet dies - Lighthearted Leaves and Leaflets Framelits, which are perfect for Autumnal projects.  As Stampin Up is an American company and celebrate 'Fall' in a big way, they have quite a lot of products based on this season.  The card we made uses some lovely autumnal colours, Daffodil Delight, Tangelo Twist, Garden Green and Mossy Meadow to match with the colours in the Into The Woods DSP strips.  The greeting was taken from the Cottage Greetings set stamped in Early Espresso and puched out using the Washi Tape punch. First we emobssed some vellum card stock with the largest leaf in gold embossing powder and coloured in the detail of the leaf using marker pens creating a stained glass window effect.  Then either cut it our by hand or by using the Leaflet Framelit.  The background was stamped using the Gorgeous Gunge stamp set.

For our Christmas card we used mainly non-Christmas products save for the greeting which was taken from the Lots of Joy stamp set.  The Bird Builder punch was used for the robin in Soft Suede and Cherry Cobbler card stock and the leaves in Old Olive.  The greeting was stamped using Cherry Cobbler ink and the Hardwood background stamp was inked with Soft Suede onto Crumb Cake cardstock.  The centre was punched out with the 2" diameter circle punch. The berries were created uisng the 1 /16th hand held circle punch.  A small bow was made using the 1/8th Gold ribbon.

At our Christmas Card making workshop, I gave all the attendees a Christmas Pudding made using the Curvy Keepsake die filled with chocolate and was asked if we could make it at this class.  The Curvy Keepsake die is so quick and easy to use to make a lovely box to fill with goodies.  The colours used were Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler and Garden Green.  The holly was made by punching our a large oval of Garden Green cardstock and then 'nibbling' the edges with a 1" diameter circle punch.  The berries were made using the larger circle from the Owl Builder punch in Cherry Cobbler.  The dimpled effect of the 'cream' on the pudding was made using the Decorative Dots embossing folder.  The greeting was taken from a retired stamp set stamped in Chocolate Chip and punched out with the large oval punch.

Octobers Card Class

My, where is the year going? October already and yes we are celebrating Halloween and Christmas at this class to make sure we have time to fit all the projects in this year that I would like to share with you!

But first a non-seasonal card - this uses one of my many favourite stamp sets, Petit Petals and its coordinating Petit Petals punch.  This bunch of flowers would be suitable for lots of occasions and here we have used the Happy Birthday greeting from the Endless Birthday Wishes stamp set.  The main colours used were Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight and Melon Mambo for the flowers and Old Olive marker pen for the stems with Crumb Cake cardstock and Whisper White cardstock.  Old Olive bakers twine was used to 'tie' the stems together.

Our Christmas card uses a stamp set that we used at our Christmas Card Workshop at the beginning of the month, Lots of Joy but a different stamp from within the set just to show that it is quite a useful set.  The colours used were Whisper White cardstock, Real Red ink and cardstock and Red Glimmer paper.  The ribbon was taken from the 1/8" Striped Ribbon set which comes in a pack of two with Real Red and Garden Green colours.  The background was embossed with the Large Polka Dot embossing folder.  The DSP was taken from the Merry Moments DSP.

For our Halloween element of the class, we created this little pumpkin gift box/treat holder using the Curvy Keepsake die and Pumpkin Pie cardstock, stamped in Pumpkin Pie ink using the 'stripy' stamp from the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set.  The leaves were made using the Bird Builder punch and Garden Green cardstock.  The features were punched using the Tree punch to 'nibble' triangles from scraps of Basic Balck cardstock. The greeting came from a retired stamp set.

Christmas Card Workshop

This years Christmas Card workshop at Frampton on Severn Village Hall proved very popular with 13 attendees - two of whom had never been to a card class before and I think they enjoyed the experience. For this workshop we made 6 Christmas cards with a matching gift tag and a seasonal gift box.  Everyone was given their own set of Rhinestone Basic Jewels and a reel of Silver 1/8" Ribbon to add to their designs.  The Scalloped Tag Topper was used for all of the gift tags.
The projects were as follows:-

 Who can resist these fun snowmen??  These images are taken from the Snow Place stamp set and use the coordinating framelit set Snow Friends Framelits Dies. The main colours consist of Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede, Garden Green and Momento Black.  The snowflakes were heat embossed using White Embossing powder and small Rhinestone Basic Jewels were stuck to the centre of some of them to add a bit of sparkle.

This card design was also made using the Snow Place stamp set and the coordinating framelit set Snow Friends Framelits Dies.  There are several other stamps within this set to add 'accessories' to either the penguin or snowmen eg scarf, tie, bobble hat so its a very versatile set to have in your collection of Christmas stamp sets! The main colours used were again Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green and Momento Black.  The background was embossed using the Decorative Dots embossing folder.

This card was created using what I think is one of the must-have stamp sets from the Annual Catalogue (pg 69), Lots of Joy. It contains a good couple of images and greetings suitable to make a variety of different cards and gift tags.  The two colours used were only Whisper White and Island Indigo which made for a simple but effective card.  The background was embossed using the Stylish Stripes embossing folder and the Silver Glimmer Paper added the extra sparkle. (The design for this card was taken from Just Judy Designs posted on Pinterest).

This is another card that only used two colours, Old Olive and Whisper White with some Silver Glimmer Paper for the sparkle.  Again another simple but effective card using another of my favourite stamp sets, Festival of Trees along with the coordinating Tree punch.  We also used Merry Everything stamp set and coordinating Note Tag punch. (The idea of this design was based on one from Barbaras Kreativ-Studio on Pinterest).

I wanted to create a card using the Confetti Stars Borderpunch but with a 'background' effect.  Therefore the Night of Navy card was punched with the Confetti Stars Border punch and layered on to Smokey Slate card to give the impression of the night sky.  I used the snowman, reindeer and polar bear from the White Christmas stamp set in Night of Navy ink and punched them out using 1 1/2" and 1 3/4" circle punches.

When I saw the example of how to use the Berry Merry stamp set and coordinating Boughs & Berries embossing folder in the A/W catalogue, I decided I just had to use it too!  I love the mix of Christmas colours; Cucumber Crush, Real Red, Crushed Curry and Pool Party along with some Gold Glimmer paper.  The greeting was heat embossed with Gold embossing powder.  The greeting on the gift tag was taken from the Sassy Salutaions stamp set.

Of course we had to make this adorable little penguin using the Curvy Keepsake die and Big Shot! The rest of the tools were Extra Large Oval, Large Oval, 3/4" and 1/2" circle punches, Washi Label punch and the beak was made using the heart from the Owl Builder punch.

I hope I have inspired you to make some cards for yourself. Its never too early to start making Christmas cards!!