Dib dib dib!!!

Well a change of venue and time for this week's extra November workshop - the Scout Hut in Ashtead 8.30 till 10.30pm (where we have done our Saturday workshops previously). We will be making Christmas decorations this week - three variations on a Christmas star/snowflake theme. Please bring any kitchen roll tubes you may have for Kay's demo.

Plus the Cuttlebug and dies will be available to make simple cut-out or 3D decorations.

Dob dob dob - till Wednesday!!

Christmas Gift workshop and lots of Christmas Pop-up cards!!

Our next Saturday workshop is coming up soon - December 8th to be precise. This time we will be making crafty Christmas gifts and decorations. Christmas decoration projects available include wreaths, table decorations and tree decorations. Gift projects include notelet sets, coordinating notepad and pen sets, altered table mats and laminated organiser charts.

Workshop Cost: Half Day (10am-1pm or 1pm-4pm) - £6 Members, £7 Non-Members Full Day (10am-4pm) - £10 Members, £12 Non-members

As always, project costs vary and will be charged for in addition to the workshop costs above.

We are now taking bookings so please contact us for more information if you are interested.

Our last workshop was not so much a crafting session as a card engineering workshop with our pop-up Christmas cards! Some of the designs tested the old grey matter, but some very successful results were produced. For demo notes and reminders on the techniques, click on the links below.

By Penny

By Mary - front of card

By Mary - inside card

The presents in this card are made from strips of patterned card. For dimensions of card strips click here.

By Brenda

For notes on how to make this two tiered 3D tree click here.

By Rachael

To link to Robert Sabuda's template for this card click here.

And who is this mysterious green haired lady?!!

To link to instructions for creating this pop up card click here. (N.B. this link is for a pop up flower card but can be adapted as Michelle did for the snowflake version.)

And finally don't forget:

• to bring your Christmas decoration entry to the workshop on 14th November
• to start collecting items for our Charity Christmas Raffle on 28th November (you can bring them either on 14th or 28th)
• to check your diaries for the Christmas meal at the Woodman on Wed. December 12th and bring £5 deposit to the next workshop

Christmas Crafting in 3D!!

And you won't even need your funny 3D specs, because these cards really are 3D, but fold flat for posting! At our October workshop there will be a choice of 3D designs to make - Christmas trees in several varieties, presents and pop up snowflakes.

Don't forget to keep your kitchen roll tubes and also another request for glass jars - the smaller Gu or creme brulee style ones - for our Christmas decoration workshops coming soon!!

87 days till Christmas...

And don't we know it!! Christmas began with a vengeance at ACMC this week with many of our members leaving with glittery noses, clotheses and toeses and - James Bond watch out - even a few Goldfingers!! The Flitter Glu table was definitely the messy table this month. Click here for a step by step guide on how to use Flitter Glu with your rubber stamps. See below for some of the results from Wednesday.

Less messy, but just as blingy were the trees and wreaths etc, created using all manner of sequins, gems and other shiny stuff all carefully coordinated to create some really impressive designs.

Michelle and I had a difficult job choosing the winner of the GB/Union Jack Challenge this month. We finally narrowed it down to 3 (Kay, Linda and Mandy) and then, after much deliberation chose, Kay P's card as the winner. We liked the use of several techniques in the card including doodles on the wheelchair, clever use of materials chosen for the basket and the globe doubling as the basketball. Well done to all who took part and to Kay who wins free entry into next month's workshop. Don't forget our new challenge (decided after reminiscing about toilet roll tube decorations!) which is to make a Christmas decoration out of a household object!! - due in on November 14th.

And the winner is...

...Kay! Well done.

We are looking forward to seeing your inventive ways of recycling household objects to make Christmas decorations!! So get thinking now for November.

Bring back the bling!!

September is nearly over so, as is traditional for ACMC, it is time to roll out all things bling in ready for Christmas! From here on in you will be covered in glitter, foil, flock, sequins and sticky gems - you have been warned!!

Demos this week include stamping with Flitter Glue, which allows you to use your Christmas rubber stamps with foil, glitter and flock. So if you have a favourite stamp that you think will look good with these products then do bring it along. It's a good way to give your old favourites a new lease of life. Club stamps will of course be available too.

Michelle will be showing you how to bling up some stamp designs with sequins, gems and buttons. The good news here is that there is a dragon fly and a butterfly stamp available too, so if you are not quite ready to cope with Christmas yet you have an alternative!

Your GB Olympic themed Challenge cards are due in this month too. So don't forget to bring them as you get one free workshop entry if you win - more money to spend on Christmas shopping then!!

Beads and more

Another fun day of crafting at the Scout Hut on Saturday. We welcomed a few new faces and a few familiar ones (with their offspring in the afternoon!!) Kay showed us how to make paper beads and other embellishments to decorate picture frames and wall hangings.

Michelle demonstrated shrink plastic embellishment making to our younger recruits. And I was in charge of Fimo bead, brooch and other embellishment making.  The results can be seen below.

Don't forget we have a third Saturday workshop on December 8th where the focus will be on making Christmas gifts and decorations. And Christmas begins at our next Wednesday workshop on September 26th!!

Doodletastic!

First of all a big CONGRATULATIONS to Vanessa for her competition winning card (see above). Vanessa entered her photo card into a competition for the Cornwall Hospice Care Calendar and won first prize. Her photo will be featured in the 2013 calendar and Vanessa has earned herself a photography workshop with David Chapman, a wildlife photographer. We look forward to seeing more photos and the calendar soon Vanessa!

We had a very therapeutic cardmaking workshop last month with lots of floral pen designs and doodling going on. Here are some of the results. Well done to Linda on a fantastic first demo and thank you so much for bringing along a little prize for the best doodler, which was won by Olly. (Well done also to Rachel for her runner up cat doodle)

Linda's original doodle background

Don't forget our Saturday workshop on 15th September. We will be covering some basic jewellery techniques to make brooches, keyrings, bag charms and other beaded items, including frame hangings like the ones below. You will be able to make your own embellishments or jewellery items using Fimo, paper beads and shrink plastic, amongst other techniques. Feel free to bring your own beads, embellishments etc and if you want to make a keepsake frame hanging you will also need to bring along photos to mount. Please send either Michelle or myself an email if you are interested in attending.