Finally the last card from class!!!

Oh my, oh my.................  it's only 3 days left until Christmas and I have been such a bad blogger of late that I'm sure to be crossed off Santa's list!!!  I hope it doesn't work like that.........

I'm finally getting around to posting the final card from my Christmas Card Class at the end of November.  Since then there has also been a December class where we did thank-you cards, and I will try really hard to get those posted before the New year rolls around.

Unfortunately I'm working between Christmas and New Year, but I hope to have a play with loads of NEW Stampin' Up! goodies that have been arriving these past few weeks on my doorstep.  I;m sure it hasn't escaped anyone's attention that Stampin' Up! are for the first time ever releasing a SPRING MINI catalogue on 4th January!  There are lots of lovely things, and I hope to post a few sneak peeks for you over the next week.

However, on with today's card.................

A lovely Christmassy Santa Owl punch art card that was inspired by a card I saw on a sample board at Convention.  I'm not sure who's the card was, but I changed mine up a little.

The card base is Old Olive, with a night sky layer of Night of Navy.  I stamped some snowflakes in Whisper White from Serene Snowflakes stamp set.  The roofing is Basic Gray card, punched with the Scallop Border Punch and dauber with Whisper White ink.  The Chimney is a 1 1/4" Square of Textured Cajun Craze, lined up with another piece punched with the Word Window Punch.  Again these were daubed for a snowy effect.

My owl was punched from Chocolate Chip card.  I stamped the Santa Suit image from Tags til Christmas and punched it using the Owl Punch for the chest piece, and added eyes and a Santa hat.  The present is simply a piece of Daffodil Delight punched with the 1 1/4" Square and then tied with some Linen Thread.

I used this design for another card which I will show you before the year is out.  One of the girls at work asked me to make cards for her Grandsons.  One of them has never had anything with his name on as they can never find it.  I also had a very strange request for a Christmas card relating to peanuts!!!!  I worked with it and was really pleased with the results.............  Check back to see what on earth I am talking about!

Christmas Card Class and Craft Fair Makes

Hello everyone - I want to share a couple of the cards from my recent Christmas class.

Everyone made 10 cards and 10 gift tags, but in my haste at preparing for convention I didn't take pictures of everything!  I seem to be doing this a lot lately............

However, a couple of the cards I made extras to sell at a craft fair I am doing, as well as making up 20 packs of gift tags, so these items I can share with you, though you will have to excuse the cello wrapper which doesn't make for the best picture ever!

All of the cards used the Welcome Christmas stamp set and the Tags til Christmas made the gift tags a really quick make.

This first card has the effect of looking into a house where the family are decorating a tree.  It is not an original idea by me, but I have seen lots of variation on the Internet and this is just my take on it.

The main image was stamped onto Very Vanilla card, then the wreath image was added along the top before the card was cut into four pieces.  These were mounted onto Early Espresso, and the other layer is Crumb Cake and then Always Artichoke for the card base.

The sentiment was stamped in Cherry Cobbler and then cut by hand, a little fiddly but not too time consuming.  It really makes you appreciate the ease of using punches when you have to cut something like this by hand though :o)

The bow at the top was made using Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding Ribbon.

This second card is made with a Crumb Cake base and the sledging image from Welcome Christmas stamped in Crumb Cake ink at the bottom corner.  The Cherry Cobbler layer has been distressed using the Cutter Tool, and the Old Olive piece of card has been through the Big Shot with the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder.  Again the sentiment was stamped and hand cut, then added to the card with Dimensionals.

The Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding Ribbon was wrapped into a bow shape and then the prongs of the brad were opened out and the ribbon pushed inside.  Closing the prongs and popping it through the Old Olive card layer then secures the bow.  The brad I used comes from the pack of Antique Brads (20 brads, 4 each of 5 designs for £5.50) which are gorgeous and a real bargain price.

 

 These are the lovely tags we made in class, 2 of each.  We made full use of the punches for these, which is exactly how the stamp set, Tags til Christmas, is designed.  However, if you don't have any punches you can very easily use a trimmer and mount them on square and rectangle pieces of card just as easily with the same fabulous results.

 

The punches used include the Decorative Label Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Large and Extra Large Tag Punches, plus the Two tags Big Shot Die.

Here are all of the sets of five tags laid out for me to bag up for the craft fair.

And here they are all bagged up.  I used retired Jolly Holiday DSP and the Top Note Die with the Big Shot to create a bag topper.  Then I added a label using the Just Perfect Alphabet stamp set and Oval Punch.

I hope this has given you some inspiration for your Christmas wrapping, and I hope those attending the up-coming craft fairs I'm attending like my cards and tags too.

Happy Crafting

Julie xxx

Sign Up Now - Christmas Card Class 12th November 2011

Come and be a Crafty Bug at my Saturday morning card classes. 

Classes are held at my home from 10am - 1pm

Special Christmas Class - 10 for 10

12th November

Make 10 Christmas Cards and 10 Gift Tags for £10

(using Tags til Christmas / Welcome Christmas)

Here's a little sneaky peek of some of the cards and tags you could be making!

Advance booking is required - please contact me

07786266722

craftybugjules@yahoo.co.uk

All supplies, except glue, included in the price - please bring your own glue, both wet and dry, and anything else you cannot craft without.

If you would like to attend but the date / time are not suitable to you, please do let me know.  

If I have enough interest I will add additional dates and times for all classes, but I need to know that people are interested.

Alternatively I can bring the class to you!

Just gather a minimum of 5 people and we can hold the card class in the comfort of your own home.  The same pricing applies.

Shine a Light..............

Hello,

I have been having so much fun recently making lots of candle gifts.  Most were for show at my catalogue launch party, but I did a couple of different ones (stupidly didn't take pictures!) for a couple of lovely girlies at work.  They loved them............

First I decided to make some gift boxes to pretty up basic tea lights.

These boxes, once I got the dimensions right, were quick and easy to assemble.  You could make them from any colour card stock and with so many different packs of Designer Series Paper, the options are endless.

I used Pretty in Pink and Wisteria Wonder card for one, with Flirtatious DSP and the sentiment, inked in Wisteria Wonder on Whisper White card, from the Oval All stamp set.  This was mounted on a Scallop Oval of Wisteria Wonder.  The 1/2" Circle Punch was used to punch the end tabs to enable you to pull the tea lights out.

The other box was made with Real Real and Wild Wasabi card, with DSP from the Just Add Cake pack.  I used the ornament image from Tags til Christmas stamp set, inked in Real red and punched out with the Ornament Punch.  This was tied to the box using Linen Thread.

I then moved on to stamping directly on candles.  I thought this was going to be quite tough and time consuming, but I was so wrong!  This is the most simple thing ever, and really quick too.

I got plain white pillar candles, some tissue paper that matched the white candles, and then basic grease proof paper from the kitchen drawer.

It's best to use bright, vibrant colours, and solid images for this technique as they show up best.

Stamp your image onto the tissue paper and then roughly cut around the edge, don't leave too much excess.

Lay this onto the candle where you want it, and then wrap a piece of grease proof paper around the candle so you can grab the ends and wrap it tight.

Use a heat gun and go over the image that you can see through the grease proof paper.  As it sticks to the candle you will notice the image take on a glassy appearance (you will notice a change).  Once it's changed all over it should be done.  Gently peel back the grease proof paper and your image should have melted into the candle!  If an area is still loose, just re-heat gently a second time.

With this candle, after stamping the image, I embellished using Clear Rhinestone Brads of varying sizes to match the flower sizes.

It was stamped all round, about 6 images in total, but here you can just see two. The Island Indigo worked brilliantly.

I then went to town and tried it with other colours, did a bit of rock n roll technique with the butterfly's, and even some masking with the hearts images.

As you can see, the Delicate Doilies images don't stand out quite as well.  The images are quite delicate, as the name suggests, and I also used lighter colours with Calypso Coral and Pool Party.

The tall pillar candle with the I (Heart) Hearts images, was inked in Real Red, Poppy Parade and Cherry Cobbler. The butterfly images from Butterfly Prints was inked in Melon Mambo and Rich Razzleberry.

Don't you think these would make great, inexpensive, gifts for friends and family this Christmas????

Why not give it a try and let me know how you get on, or even better, send me a picture of your gorgeous candles to craftybugjules@yahoo.co.uk

Just be safe with those heat guns!

Julie xx

New Catalogue Blog Hop

Wowsers!  What a day I had yesterday - after weeks of preparations and then two evenings spent setting up the lounge and conservatory, the launch party finally arrived!

I had a fabulous day with lots of lovely ladies popping in the check out the new catalogue and take part in two projects :o)  I hope a fun time was had by all, it was certainly fun for me.

Over the coming days and weeks I will be sharing with you projects from the launch party, plus other crafty creations I made for the event!

But today - it's New Catty Blog Hop time...............  If you arrived here from Maggie's blog, then I hope you loved all she had to share with you.  There are 37 hops on this blog in total.  Hopefully all of the links will be working so you can get round in one big circle, but if you get stuck along the way there is a full list of all participants blogs at the bottom of this entry :o)

This first card was made for a new catty online swap.  I went with the Posy Punch stamp set which is a new hostess set, and simply gorgeous.  I teamed it up with one of the new In Colors called Lucky Limeade, which is just luscious............  and we also have a staring role for the new Lace Ribbon Border Punch.  This punch is brilliant, with so many elements to it.  I went with weaving 1/8" Daffodil Delight Taffeta Ribbon through the centre, the cutouts in the flowers are the perfect size for this ribbon.

I made 10 of these to send out for the swap, and I got some brilliant cards back which look great on my sample boards.

The second new catalogue item to show you isn't a card.  I made these for the Regional Training I attended recently.  They are Mini Post-It Keyrings - perfect for making notes and reminders!

I went with a Christmas theme and used a new stamp set called Tags til Christmas.  All of the stamps in this set work perfectly with a whole range of the Stampin' Up! punches.  They will make your Christmas wrapping so much easier!

This is a picture of the 45 key rings I made - and it didn't take that long, about 4 hours (and I was watching tv and being distracted at the same time!)

Here's a close up!  I just loved this sentiment................

I went with Real Red card stock and ink, and then Old Olive for the Scallop Square punched piece.  Finished off with a book ring and tied with 1/8" Real Red Taffeta Ribbon

My last item to share with you today uses the wonderful and fabulous NEW Designer Fabric that Stampin' Up! have added to this years catalogue.  There are five different packs and each comes with three designs of fabric.  I have used Timeless Portrait which has the colours Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler and Very Vanilla.  

Having been to a recent team training event I have seen that there are so many things you can do with the fabric which don't even involve picking up a needle and thread, so please, if you are not a sewer, don't be scared of the fabric!

I have used it in my Big Shot with the Fun Flowers Die to cut layers of flowers in the three different designs.  I have then layered them up and stitched them together (though you could hot glue them!), added a Designer Button and a fastening to make a gorgeous brooch.

I made 18 of these for yet another training event (it's a busy time of year!), and they went down really well.  I found it made a nice change to move away from making a card and doing something a bit different.  It inspired me and got me thinking about all sorts of other things I could do with Stampin' Up! products..............  

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I really hope you have enjoyed seeing the things I have been creating with some of the NEW products for 2011-2012.........  If you like what you see then sign up to follow me and you will be notified whenever I post something new.

From here you can head on over to Elizabeth's lovely blog.  She is simply fabulous so will have some wonderful things to wow you :o)

Enjoy the Blog Hop and your sunny Sunday

Julie xxx

1. Lauralou http://airingcupboardstamping.blogspot.com/
2 AlisonP www.craftyalisoninlyon.blogspot.com
3 Glittermum http://www.mygroovystampinup.blogspot.com/
4. Theresa M http://my-next-chapter.blogspot.com/
5. SarahLP http://stampingobsession.com/
6. Sassy Stamper (Elaine) http://www.thesassystampers.blogspot.com/
7. Sarastamper (http://craftingandstamping.com)
8. JJ66 http://jan-crippin.blogspot.com/
9. Evy c http://evyscraftycreations.blogspot.com/
10. DonnaM http://www.head-over-heels-by-dlm.blogspot.com/
11. Scrappydiva http://www.stampin-divas.blogspot.com/
12. Natalie http://www.natalieoshea.co.uk/blog.html
13.Dawn http://www.tartanstamper.blogspot.com/
14. Vicky www.vickylouscorner.blogspot.com
15. Maggie (maggiemae) http://thefineartofstampin.blogspot.com/
16. Julie H (The Crafty Bug) http://www.the-crafty-bug.blogspot.com
17. Elizabeth (Stash Fairy) http://elizabethscraftroom.blogspot.com/
18. Michelle (ShellieStamps) http://michellescraftypaper.typepad.com/
19. Keren. http://www.kerenbaker.wordpress.com
20. Emma (Daisydaye) http://emma-daye.blogspot.com/
21. Rachel (Rachel) http://www.stampingurl.blogspot.co.uk
22. Valerie (valmoody) http://stampingwithval.wordpress
23. Kara (KaraM) http://karascraftycorner.blogspot.com/
24. Sarah (IOW Sarah http://www.stampinsarahiow.blogspot.com/
25. Tracey Rossos http://www.derbyshireducks.blogspot.com/
26. Patricia (Beckscraft) http://stampinbeckscraft.blogspot.com/
27. Sarah-Jane http://cardsandacuppa.blogspot.com/
28. Claire http://stampinupscrapper.blogspot.com/
29. Cupcake http://pinkycardsandcreations.blogspot.com/
30. Kimf http://kimfeecrafter.blogspot.com/
31. carolineskinner http://stampinupandbranchingout.blogspot.com/
32. Emma_H http://www.emma-letsstamp.blogspot.com/
33. Sally - Pink Sky. x http://pinkskysu.blogspot.com/
34. Carolyn http://stampaholix.blogspot.com/
35. Tina http://littlewhitehousecrafts.blogspot.com
36. Hayley (craftydevils) www.mycrafthaven.blogspot.com
37. allyf - http://serendipitypapercuts.blogspot.com