Merry Christmas, everyone

My last class of the year is over and it feels weird to take a break. I do so love getting together with my wonderful scrapping ladies every week. Some weeks I don't seem to have much mojo and it takes me a while to come up with a class, some weeks the ideas just flow. Thank you for coming to my classes all year, putting up with some crazy techniques, broken punches and other disasters. Thank you for sharing your stories with me and for listening to mine. It has been a fantastic scrapping year. Here's to 2011 being even better! Have a very merry, blessed Christmas.

Faces of Christmas

My last class of the year! (Tue Dec.21) Time flies...

I used some Christmas photos from 2 years ago and did a little mini collage...

...complete with a little Christmas bunting...

... some stitching and sequin stars...

... little clay gingerbread men, good enough to eat:

... and a little taste of home with some Froebel stars:

Feeling a little home sick right now! They've got 30cm of snow and I'm melting in the rain!

I wish you all a merry Christmas time, regardless of the climate.

XOXO

Christmas card tutorial

Do you need a last minute bunch of Christmas cards? Here is a tutorial to help you whip up 12 in about 2 hours. Sounds good? Take a peek:

Here is what you'll need:

3 patterned papers

6 white Bazzills

1 pink Bazzil

1 green Bazzill

1.5m ribbon

It will cost around $15, but you can cut costs by using cheaper cardstock from Crazy Clark's (do check the size though, they're often slightly smaller and you'll have to adjust measurements).

You will need some tools too:

Cutter and scissors

tape and foam squares

edge punch or edge scissors

something to cut a circle and a scalloped circle (I used Nestabilities and a compass)

a Christmas stamp and a word stamp

STEP 1: CUT THE CARDS:

Score your white cardstock at 4" from the left and 4" from the right:

now cut it in half:

mark out lines like shown and cut:

It should look like this:

now fold it:

(I inked the edges so you can see it better, you don't need to ink)

Do that with all 6 white Bazzills. Easy, right? Keep the little cut-offs, we'll use them later.

STEP 2: CUT THE PATTERNED PAPERS:

From the snowflake paper:

Cut 3 strips of 4" and cut each into half. You should have 6 pieces of 4x6"each. Mark and cut each one like this:

(Please be aware that if you mark it on the back of the paper you will have to reverse the diagonal line.)

From the blue & green paper:

Cut 2 strips of 4" and cut these into 4" squares.Cut each square in half diagonally like this:

You should now have 12 triangels.

From the chequered paper:

Cut 3 strips of 4" and cut each into 3" sections so you have 12 pieces of 3x4" each.

You should now have 12 of each of these:

STEP3: EDGES:

Use a border punch (or edge scissors) and cut 12 strips of the pink and 6 of the green Bazzill:

They get taped behind each piece of patterned paper and trimmed like this:

STEP 4: DECORATE THE FRONT:

Tape a piece of ribbon (about 12cm) to the snowflake paper and tuck in the ends:

You can use some embellishments you already have but here is what I have done:

Stamp a Christmas stamp onto a cut-off piece of white Bazzill and cut it out as a circle. I used my compass, but if you have a fancy tool to do this all the better. The size will depend on the size of your stamp. 

I used my scallop Nestabilities to cut out a matching mat from the leftover green Bazzill. You could use some edge scissors instead.

 

Stick them together and use foam squares to pop the angel on top of the ribbon:

Now tape all the pieces down and trim off anything that sticks over the edge. Stamp a Christmas greeting and you are done!

Pat yourself on the back! 12 fancy cards done.

Be Merry

I think it's the first time in my life that I have a photo of me on Santa's lap. Yes, it takes some of us a little longer! When I was a kid we had Santa and Christmas and all, but no shopping mall photos with him.

What a deprived childhood! Nevertheless, I seem to have pulled through somehow.

So, here is my Christmas page with me and Santa, which we'll use in class on Dec 14 and 16: 

I used my holly embossing folder, stars and flowers to make a wreath and there is a bit of scrolling happening on the background. Putting together the wreath will take a little while so I have kept the rest of the page very simple. Feel free to add more embellies!

Merry Christmas to all!

I'm on the design team for My2angels

Great news, I got on the design team for My2Angels! As a lot of you know I wanted to be on a design team for a while and am so excited to have been picked! Tracey has a really nice shop there and it's where I got my glitter glass from. Go on, have a sticky beak!

Who's been good?

Every year in December I do a few Christmas projects in class. Even naughty scrapbookers are allowed to come along! (you know who you are...)

"Where is the photo?", you might wonder.

Just pull here:

and the door pops open!

So, who's been good? My kids have! For the first time EVER I have a Santa photo with 3 smiling, happy kids. What a treat.

If Christmas photos is not your thing then you can add some "normal" flowers instead of the poinsettas and make it a page about your home.

Christmas card bonanza

We all had a great time last Saturday making Christmas cards. We all got 6 cards done, listened to the first Christmas music of the season (I'm ignoring the shopping centre music which has been trying to "silent night" me since October!) and had some very delicious nibblies. Thanks to all my wonderful friends who came along and thanks to my awesome hubby Greg who kept the kids amused all day elsewhere. Ready for a little looksie to see what we made?

Here's an old-fashioned Santa card using Graphic 45 paper, some muslin and organza:

Then there's a snowy card. I do miss snow and the cold at Christmas! Hot Christmas, I will  never get used to you.

A gorgeous mirrow snowflake:

Making a poinsetta from really thick glitter cardstock and some cute Basic Grey paper. I do like the little twirly glitzy silver bits I found at Choice.

An angel card, being really economical with the patterned paper here by using thin strips.

The angel is covered in gold Opals, though everyone else was happy to leave it in plain wood

A little lace Christmas tree. I used some lace by the meter from Stampers and Scrapbooker's Wonderland and dyed it green with Walnut ink. Thanks, Barbara, for the fantastic idea!

And last comes a tri-fold card with the sweetest little felt reindeer. Another super-economical paper saver, using only 3 sheets of patterned paper for 12 cards.

Well, it was a great day. Thanks, everyone, for coming along.