Christmas Card Making in July
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Although I have always enjoyed sharing my crafting experiences with you online my crafting, in a physical sense, tends to be done in isolation.
I occasionally have a card making afternoon up at my sister’s place in Wallan, which is always fun and we both enjoy it. But I’ve never really had a group of papercraft-minded friends that I can hang out with. You know what I mean, people who you can talk to about scrapbooking or card making without watching their eyes take on that glazed look and roll back in their heads.
But a few weeks ago I went along to a surprise 50th birthday party for a work friend of mine and I met his wife for the first time.
Well, it turns out that not only is she into stamping and card making, but she has a bunch of friends who are into it too. She saw the card I had made for Tim (it was a hybrid scrapped card) and recruited me into the bunch.
Yesterday was my first chance to get into it. Marla organised a sensational Christmas Card Making in July Day. And when I say organised, this woman knows how to organise an event.
There were 17 of us in her living room and she managed to cram in work tables for us all, a table with stamps, inks and other stuff which were available for sharing/borrowing, an embossing table with heat guns and embossing powders, and a table with stuff to buy if you wanted to. It was crowded but still comfortable to work in, if you know what I mean.
To get in the right frame of mind the room was all decorated for Chrismas and it was strung with heaps of examples of cards so you could grab one and use it as an inspiration point for your own or straightforward copy it if you liked.
It was a fantastic, friendly day with people sharing stories, tips, techniques and of course food. Just like I had read about in magazines but had not experienced before (my one experience of going to a crop held in a scrapbook store was not a fun memory with the other women there, including the shop owner, sticking to their own clique).
I had a lovely card making day and with all that inspiration around I managed to make five cards. So I was really pleased with my productivity, given that there was plenty of chatting going on.
I think card making is easier than scrapbooking to do in a group situation like this because the projects are smaller and so the need for concentrated focus is not so high. At least for me anyway.
So a big thank you to Marla. You rock.
Do you have any ‘real life’ cropping experiences? Were they good, bad, ugly?
I’d love it if you’d share them in the comments section below.
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11 Responses to “Christmas Card Making in July”
I am sooo jealous. I to have no one near with a passion for scrapping or paper crafts.
By Laura on Jul 20, 2009
Well until now, neither did I Laura. So I’m a bit excited about this.
By karooch on Jul 20, 2009
Sounds like you had a great time. what a cool idea!
By Kelly aka ScrapGirl on Jul 21, 2009
Christmas & cards – that’s exactly the event for me!!! Now, why didn’t you invite me?? :p
The scrapbooking workshops in our local scrapbooking shop were always lots of fun and I met some great people (and finished some beautiful projects). Alas, the shop closed and now I’m ‘groupless’
Hmm.. may I reserve the card with the ornaments (far right)? I’ll send you my address *blinks innocently, straightens halo*
By Antoinette on Jul 22, 2009
You are a total Christmas-aholic Antoinette!
Naturally the card with the ornaments was made with you in mind. How could it possibly be for anyone else (smirks knowingly).
Send me your addy so we don’t have the crossed purposes that we had last Chrismas.
By karooch on Jul 22, 2009
Can you please tell us how you did the circles card (back left corner)? Anyway, they are all so lovely! I am jealous, too…my scrapping store closed and all we have for supplies is Michael’s and JoAnn’s. Both are okay, but I end up shopping online 99.9% of the time.
Thanks for sharing!!!
By Cassie on Jul 24, 2009
It was easy peasy Cassie, but sometimes the easiest techniques can look the best can’t they.
First I cut a strip off the front of the right side of the card so you can see part of the inside when it’s closed. Then I just stuck two strips of ribbon on the card, one red velvet and one white sheer. I also stuck a strip of red velvet ribbon on the inside of the card so you can see it when the card is closed.
Then I stamped some small Christmas images on cream card with Versamark ink. I used gold embossing powder and a heat gun to give them a raised shiny finish. But you could just use a gold coloured ink and not worry about embnossing them if you wanted.
I punched them out using a circle punch big enough to see the whole stamped design in. I ran a gold ink pad around the edges of the circles and arranged them down the side of the card using foam tape on the back of some to give them dimension.
By karooch on Jul 24, 2009
Starting your Christmas Card Making in July is a marvellous idea, especially if you do it like you did – in a group of likeminded folk.
If you are making cards for charity this is a marvellous way of getting a lot made in one go – if necessary you can all work together and produce a range in an almost prouction line fashion.
Hopefully your group will get together again for another session.
By Susan on Aug 29, 2009
How do I make the beautiful cards. They are awsome , thank you for sharing
By Annie Aponte on Oct 8, 2009
Thank you Annie. The cards are made using rubber stamps and an ink called Versamark that you sprinkly with gold embossing powder and then apply a heat gun to get that raised sparkly look. I also glue ribbon and other coloured papers onto the cards to create the overall designs.
By karooch on Oct 8, 2009