Normal(ish) service resumed!

Well done Michelle on your blogging! Wouldn't let me access it from Menorca and even then I wouldn't have been able to do photos (apart from my holiday snaps and didn't want to bore you all!) Still Michelle has forwarded me the photos from the last workshop so will make up for it in this post. Looks like you had fun with your glitter paste and stencils, Christmas papers and embellishments...

And not forgetting your card club selfie that you sent me:

This is what we were doing while you were crafting - Cheers!

Oh and a couple more holiday snaps - look who lived in a rosemary bush in our garden:

We called him Herman as that's what type of tortoise he is. And of course the girls couldn't resist a bit of sand sculpture of him:

That's it now - got my holiday snaps in anyway! Won't bore you any further! See you next week now due to the date change.

Stencil mania

A very productive evening on Wednesday with lots of cards created and lots of photo opportunities. So here goes - stencils and glitter paste first! For a step by step guide on this technique click here.

And now stencil bumping...For a step by step guide as to how to achieve these results, click here.

Wednesday was also the deadline for our humorous card challenge. Michelle and I found it very difficult to judge once more, but we had to make a decision!

Our winning challenge card was created by Carol S. She wins free entry into our next workshop - well done Carol! The caption reads "If I knit fast enough does it count as aerobics?"!! We loved the attention to detail, the humorous crafty reference and the hand knitting on cocktail sticks!

We had a tough choice with choosing just one winner again, so we chose a runner up who will receive half price entry to the next workshop. Linda W. is the worthy runner up. Not sure if this is a wedding or a divorce card!! Loved the sheet music to go with the caption "Another one bites the dust!"

And not forgetting our other entries of course which did make us chuckle and some were even a bit cheeky!!

 "Now remember ladies the secret of a long and happy marriage is early to bed and up with the cock!" 

"Madame President, where's the jam?"

 "Pinterest Anonymous were on their first outing. But Clarabelle had concealed her iPad under her hat"

 "Good girls go to heaven. Bad girls go everywhere!"

"Mine's a Pint!"









"Come in No. 9. Oops! No. 6 are you in trouble?"

Stencil Techniques

 

Lots going on this Wednesday at Card Club. There will be two stencilling demos going on this month. My demo will be with glitter paste and stencils. This is a one-step process with the Glitzcraft pastes, rather than the two-step process we explored previously with paste and then glittering over the top.

Kay's demo will be on the "stencil bumping" technique. This involves using distress inks through a stencil then moving the stencil to one side slightly and then stencilling through again, only this time with acrylic paint in a lighter shade than the distress ink. This gives the illusion of a 3D effect on your cards. Looking forward to seeing this technique in action and the resulting cards.

Michelle will be coordinating Village Day projects - quick and easy crafty items to sell on the stall to boost club funds. Not giving anything away just yet! But feel free to have a go on the night.

Don't forget to bring your cards for selling at Village Day too and of course your Humorous challenge cards and Pearl/30th Competition cards. And can someone remind me to take piccies!!

Stamping workshop photos

Well here are some of the results of our "Stamping with a twist" workshop last week. Below are the masking tape technique cards. (Click here for step by step instructions). I love the way different colour combinations have been explored with these designs.

With the stamping through a paper mask technique (step by step coming soon!) lots of different floral designs were experimented with on the Easter Eggs, and other finishing touches such as embossing and glossy accents were added. Kay P also used the reverse masking technique with her heart design.

Michelle and I had a very difficult job indeed with judging the Envelope Memory Book Challenge. The entries were all very different, personal and very impressive! In the end we chose two worthy winners.

Rachael B for her two entries (one for each of her sons as she couldn't do one without the other!)...gorgeous mementoes of days out with her boys with good use of bright colours, photos, tickets, embellishments etc.

And Carol S for her "Garden Memories" book. She made good use of the pockets too with photos, quotes, memoirs etc documenting her feelings, thoughts and memories of her grandparents' garden. Even a photo of herself aged 2 or 3 - we could tell it was you when you pointed it out Carol!

Well done to both of you - one free workshop entry for each of you. And well done to everyone else who took part. 

Our next challenge is due in May. If you didn't pick up a stamped image and would like one to make a "Humorous Caption Card" then please let me know before the next workshop so we can stamp some out ready. You don't have to use those images, but the card must be humorous. Can be as cheeky as you like!

You will notice there are now links to Pinterest in two places on our blog. (below the Challenge posting and below the Crafty Inspiration listing) If you follow either of these links you will see a pin board with some examples of humorous quotes. Feel free to use any of these that you feel are appropriate or just use them for inspiration for your own.

Check it out and let us know what you think!