What a treat - a day of Chrsitmas card making at Steph's!
22 September 2012
Yes, there it is in the title, the C word . . . but given that the shops have festive wares already I don't think I'm the first to mention it!
I had a lovely day yesterday at Steph’s making cards in readiness for both the Windsor Emporium in October and a Craft Fair that Emerald Gallery are taking part in November and that Cath kindly asked me to supply some cards for. I know I won’t be able to produce enough cards on my own for the November Fair so asked my chum Steph, who you will know from previous blog entries is a 'card making extraordinaire' to take part too.
I filled the back of my Smart car up (again) with a selection of crafting stash as you never know what you may need! Steph had raided her Craft Room (deeply envious) and bought out everything Christmas related into the kitchen already. Between us we had soooo much stuff it was a bit overwhelming and difficult to decide where to start.
Steph decided that we needed some Xmas music playing in the background to get us ‘in the mood’, much to her daughter Annabelle's amusement, but we had to turn this off in the end as it got quite depressing. Steph is the quickest card maker I know and while I was faffing about trying to decide what to do she had made four cards in the time it took me to make just one!
That said, Steph spent a while trying out new techniques and ideas afterwards (involving Flitter Glu and Charles Dickens) and by the end of the day I managed to overtake her on the production front (10 v 4) – something that will never be achieved again believe me! In fact Steph worked through her ideas on Sunday and produced another seven cards at last count so my lead is overtaken already.
We had a break for lunch and a trip to Hobby Craft in Aylesbury to get some more ideas and inspiration and I was really proud that we both managed to resist buying more Xmas themed stash and stick to using what we already had.
The cards that I produced were a bit fiddly to construct with the threads and buttons but I was pleased with the finished result. When you need to produce a lot of cards I find it easiest to pick a few designs and then do variations on a theme so that you can get a little production line going. Ten is a good start but I'll need to get a wiggle on and produce a few more!
The products I used for the cards on the slideshow below are:
1. Miniature Christmas themed post cards (Blade Rubber Stamps, London: http://www.bladerubberstamps.co.uk/ )
2. ‘I believe’ 12 inch glitter card stack by Mindy Terasawa (Hobby Craft)
3. Vintage sheet music (Charity Shop)
4. Tim Holtz Distress Ink pads (peeled paint; worn lipstick and festive berries)
5. Stickles Glitter glues (fruit punch; lime green and icicle)
6. Sakura Gelly Roll and Metallic pens (clear star; gold and silver)
7. Bakers twine (The Ribbon Girl: http://www.ribbongirl.co.uk/catalog/ and Blade Rubber Stamps)
8. Thread off cuts (Oliver Twists Threads)
9. Vintage buttons from my Grandma’s Button Tin
10. 6 x 6 inch card blanks
It was lovely to spend a day crafting with Steph as weekends get booked up so quickly. To able to spend a day in good company, chatting, laughing, putting the world to right, drinking tea, eating chocolate and crafting is a rare treat.
Yes, there it is in the title, the C word . . . but given that the shops have festive wares already I don't think I'm the first to mention it!
I had a lovely day yesterday at Steph’s making cards in readiness for both the Windsor Emporium in October and a Craft Fair that Emerald Gallery are taking part in November and that Cath kindly asked me to supply some cards for. I know I won’t be able to produce enough cards on my own for the November Fair so asked my chum Steph, who you will know from previous blog entries is a 'card making extraordinaire' to take part too.
I filled the back of my Smart car up (again) with a selection of crafting stash as you never know what you may need! Steph had raided her Craft Room (deeply envious) and bought out everything Christmas related into the kitchen already. Between us we had soooo much stuff it was a bit overwhelming and difficult to decide where to start.
Steph decided that we needed some Xmas music playing in the background to get us ‘in the mood’, much to her daughter Annabelle's amusement, but we had to turn this off in the end as it got quite depressing. Steph is the quickest card maker I know and while I was faffing about trying to decide what to do she had made four cards in the time it took me to make just one!
That said, Steph spent a while trying out new techniques and ideas afterwards (involving Flitter Glu and Charles Dickens) and by the end of the day I managed to overtake her on the production front (10 v 4) – something that will never be achieved again believe me! In fact Steph worked through her ideas on Sunday and produced another seven cards at last count so my lead is overtaken already.
We had a break for lunch and a trip to Hobby Craft in Aylesbury to get some more ideas and inspiration and I was really proud that we both managed to resist buying more Xmas themed stash and stick to using what we already had.
The cards that I produced were a bit fiddly to construct with the threads and buttons but I was pleased with the finished result. When you need to produce a lot of cards I find it easiest to pick a few designs and then do variations on a theme so that you can get a little production line going. Ten is a good start but I'll need to get a wiggle on and produce a few more!
The products I used for the cards on the slideshow below are:
1. Miniature Christmas themed post cards (Blade Rubber Stamps, London: http://www.bladerubberstamps.co.uk/ )
2. ‘I believe’ 12 inch glitter card stack by Mindy Terasawa (Hobby Craft)
3. Vintage sheet music (Charity Shop)
4. Tim Holtz Distress Ink pads (peeled paint; worn lipstick and festive berries)
5. Stickles Glitter glues (fruit punch; lime green and icicle)
6. Sakura Gelly Roll and Metallic pens (clear star; gold and silver)
7. Bakers twine (The Ribbon Girl: http://www.ribbongirl.co.uk/catalog/ and Blade Rubber Stamps)
8. Thread off cuts (Oliver Twists Threads)
9. Vintage buttons from my Grandma’s Button Tin
10. 6 x 6 inch card blanks
It was lovely to spend a day crafting with Steph as weekends get booked up so quickly. To able to spend a day in good company, chatting, laughing, putting the world to right, drinking tea, eating chocolate and crafting is a rare treat.
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