I hope that you are well, and I realise you may be wondering what exciting content I have for you today! We did the latest card class in June, and the focus was the brand new Daisy Lane stamp set from the new Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalogue. I wrote this post just after the class, but for some reason I never posted it, so here it is, finally! So let’s start off with a visual for you:

Each month in our Deep Blue Crafting Classes we are focussing on a particular style of fancy fold as well as a number of different designs of more simple cards. That’s not to say that the fancy folds are difficult, though – I don’t do complicated with my cards!! Life is too short for making things complicated when there are so many straightforward options out there! You can totally get an effective and “wow” effect without it taking a long time or a lot of effort and energy.

Diorama box card

The fancy fold this month was the diorama/ box card. It folds beautifully flat to send in the post without extra postage cost, and this design is actually a surprise for the recipient as it pops up when they open the card. Always a bonus! Let’s have a look:

This card, as with many of the cards I like to make, is seriously easy to create, and just requires some measured scoring. Firstly, you cut the card to a height of 14.9cm, maintaining the full A4 length. Then along the length you score it at the following distances: 10, 19, 20, and 28.8cm. Cut or punch the window through to the back panel in the final piece before the short flap, and then decorate the card. Fold the card flat to stick the flap onto the “spine”, and the box will pop up when the card is opened with no indication of the surprise on the front panel!

Daisy Lane

The Daisy Lane stamp set includes two sizes of daisy stamp, and these each coordinate with an available punch. There is the existing Daisy punch, and the new Medium Daisy punch which has been released with the new Stampin’ Up! annual catalogue this month. The Daisy Lane bundle includes the stamp set and this new punch size, saving 10% on the individual item prices.

In this class we made use of the Daisy punch, as the Medium Daisy would not have been available in time to arrive to use for the class. Having the two sizes of punch will allow you to layer the flowers in different combinations, and to produce even more variety of flowers than we have done on the class cards.

The dark-based card actually used a retired colour for the card base, but our class attendees used either Crumb Cake or Night of Navy to create their version. I am not prescriptive over the cards we make in class, and all attendees are welcome to use their supplies to mix up the card designs to suit themselves! This month we found that the ladies really inspired each other by incorporating their own ideas and creativity! So feel free to go “off-piste”!

The class this month is on the 17th of July, and the subject is Christmas in July. I am really excited about what we are making, and I adore the stamp set and punch which is the focus for the class. So why not come along and join us, or arrange a small group of friends and have your own private event on a date to suit you?! Give me a shout to arrange that.

Have a great week.

The post Daisy Lane June Card Class appeared first on Deep Blue Crafting.

Seriously, though, unfortunately something has come up for me which means that I will be unable to hold the Deep Blue Crafting class on the 10th of July now, as it was planned. In discussion with the attendees who are already signed up, we have postponed the class for a week so the new date is July 17th.

The reason for the change is that I am going on a major training course the week of the 10th, and so the attendees to my revised class date are going to seriously benefit from my new knowledge! There will be more information coming, especially if you keep your eye on my personal Facebook page: I am sure I will post lost of updates on there.

So for now I will leave you wondering what this exciting training might be, and checking your calendar to come along to the class on the 17th to be one of the first to benefit from it. As always, contact me to sign up to class, and I look forward to seeing you here!

The post Change of date for Christmas crafting! appeared first on Deep Blue Crafting.

How many crafters (mainly female, it has to be said, but even some males as well!) struggle, or claim to struggle with masculine cards? Designing them, making them, having appropriate stamps for them… And yet how many people with “masculine” tastes do we have in our lives who we want to send cards to?!

This is why I decided to make the first Deep Blue Crafting card class all about the masculine! Apart from the fact that I am an engineer by trade, and I love the more masculine design of card, I wanted to prove that it does not have to be difficult or time consuming to come up with card designs to suit the masculine energy in your world. The ladies who came along to the class loved the cards they made, and I hope that you will, too.

For this class we focused on one product suite from the Spring/ Summer catalogue, which is also carrying forwards into the new 2019-2020 annual catalogue. This gives it plenty of longevity for people to use and enjoy it! I am especially pleased that the coordinating embellishments are also carrying over, but more on that shortly. I aimed to show the versatility of the chosen stamp set, and to prove that you don’t need loads of sets to make plenty of different cards. Due to time constraints we stuck to six cards (making five at the class) but there were additional samples available. Including a card that my lovely 7 year old daughter made in a more feminine style to prove that these cards are not only suitable for the masculine!

Would you like to have a look at what I made? I completely forgot to take any photos at the class, either of proceedings or of the finished results, so we will have to hope that the ladies share their cards in the comments below! Here they are:

Classic Garage

We focused on the Classic Garage suite of products for this Masculine Cards class. The stamp set is Geared Up Garage and includes images of a classic car, an oil can, a tool box and others; as well as sentiments to tie in with them. The Garage Gears dies coordinate with the stamped images and cut quite a few of them out, and they also include a number of cogs and gears. One of the dies involves a lot of the cogs linked together, and as you may have seen it makes a fantastic focal point to a card.

The ladies’ favourite card was the Z-fold card, so we went with that as the first make of the evening, even though it was probably the most complicated! It isn’t that complicated, but it involved the most measuring of all the class cards. Let’s go ahead and give you the “how-to”!

Masculine Z-fold instructions

The basis of the card is an A4 sheet of card, cut to 28cm long and scored at 14cm and 7cm. Then cut the card to 10.5cm tall (the opposite way to the scoring) and cut a strip of 2.5cm tall off of one of the pieces. It doesn’t matter which piece you cut the strip from, as they are both the same – you have cut the A4 card in half! Turn the strip so that the folds are on the opposite side of the card (ie scored at 21cm not 7cm) and stick the strip to the base card. You can fold the pieces before or after you stick them, but be sure to only glue the first and last 7cm, so that the mechanism pops up.

Then go ahead and decorate the card. We used the car image and coloured it with blends before sticking it to the front strip, and stamping the sentiment on the strip which is hidden when the card is closed. We stuck the front layers over the stuck-down strip as we felt that gave a neater finish for the design.

Cut the panels for the front to 6.5x10cm for the white card layer, and 6×9.5cm for the Gingham Gala paper. The back panel piece is cut to 13×9.5cm and we stamped repeatedly with the tool box image and stuck the panel to the card base before sticking the mechanism strip in place. We added gears and a sentiment to the front panel for a clean and simple masculine appeal.

Use what you have

Two of the cards use the off-cut from each other – did you spot them?

Yes, the two cards with Old Olive base cards use the positive and negative image from the multi-gear die! If you ink the die gently with your ink pad before cutting it out (making sure not to move it when you put it down!) then it really accentuates the embossed areas within the pattern.

Take another look at the two cards together:

The beauty of using the offcuts in your cards is that you are effectively getting two card toppers for the price of one! And by using Very Vanilla cardstock behind the Whisper White Oil Stain Window, it gives that extra contrast between the two layers. I love how the two cards complement each other yet have quite a different feel to them.

And did you notice the wrench?! I love these embellishments! Often the embellishment packs are only “live” for one catalogue, and don’t carry forwards even if the stamps and dies do. But this time, they have! And I am so pleased. The package contains 16 pieces; 8 of these wrenches and 8 of the old-fashioned type car keys – the ones we used to have before they all became electronic remotes! They are awesome, and really finish off a simple card beautifully.

And finally

The other cards were kept incredibly simple, to keep the time down for the class, and also to show that simple really can be elegant. Using texture stamps like this oil stain creates depth without adding any physical layers to the card. Which is ideal if you have to post your cards to their recipients, due to the cost of additional postage these days. I’m sure we all want to keep our postage costs down where we can. As a note to that, the wrench embellishments are metal and sturdy, but weigh a very small amount and have a low profile so they are great to add to your cards without adding postage cost!

I came up with what I think is a genius way of masking off the panels for the Father’s Day cards – but if you want to know what it is, I’m afraid you will have to come along to class to find out! At least until I patent it or something! I know, evil, right?! Maybe I will share it in a new project sometime… if people let me know they are interested… I will add here that the class ladies also thought it was genius, because it does not involve any masking tape or other sticky substances, and can be reused again and again if you are batch-making cards for Christmas or other events where you need a lot of similar cards. Let me know if you are intrigued.

Come to class!

If this has whetted your appetite to come along to a class, the next one is being held on Wednesday June 12th 2019, at my home in Beggarwood, Basingstoke. We will be using the brand new Daisy Lane stamp set and making use of one of the coordinating punches which go with the set – yes, there’s more than one!

Get over to the Deep Blue Crafting Classes page to sign yourself up for June, and any other classes which fit into your schedule – we already have people booked in as far as December! Each class is guaranteed to be fun and light-hearted, and you will go away having made some lovely projects.

And as always, if you want to purchase the Classic Garage suite items, then head on over to the suite in my online store, where you will find the stamps, dies and embellishments, along with coordinating papers, ribbon and cardstock. The papers and card pack are only available for the rest of the month, or while stocks last, though, so make sure you get them soon if you want them! Also only until the end of the month, the stamps and dies come bundled together with a 10% discount for buying them together. Although both items carry forwards into the new catalogue, this bundle pricing doesn’t! Don’t miss out on saving money…

Until next time, happy crafting!

The post Masculine Cards – Deep Blue Crafting Class May 2019 appeared first on Deep Blue Crafting.

If you are a die-hard Stampin’ Up! fan, or just love nature-inspired, quick, easy and beautiful projects, you are going to want to keep reading! Especially if you regularly send cards to people who appreciate cards with a feminine feel which incorporate natural colours, images and textures. Read on to know more…

Paper Pumpkin

Though Paper Pumpkin isn’t currently offered outside of North America, Stampin’ Up! wanted to share this very special kit with everyone. And because the global markets such as Europe have long been curious about the Paper Pumpkin program, we thought you’d love to have this unique opportunity to see what it’s all about.

Paper Pumpkin is a monthly papercrafting kit offered by Stampin’ Up! that is currently only available in the United States and parts of Canada. Because the Hugs from Shelli kit is so special, Stampin’ Up! want to make sure demonstrators and customers everywhere get the chance to experience it. To accomplish this, the Shelli kit is being offered as an exclusive, limited release in all of our global (Europe, South Pacific, Japan, and Quebec, Canada) markets starting 15 May.

About the Hugs from Shelli kit design

Listen to what Head Office have to say about the kit:
“The look and feel of this kit is all Shelli. It’s elegant and feminine, and so full of springtime details that you’ll probably just want to take a walk, breathe in the fresh air, and then go home and stamp every card in the kit. And the box it comes in? We predict that you’ll be keeping it . . . like . . . forever. Wait and see.“

The Shelli kit is the perfect product for all kinds of crafters, but Stampin’ Up! die-hards will love it the most. The fact that it’s Shelli’s kit and is a limited-time, exclusive offering gives it a level of collectability Stampin’ Up! fans won’t want to miss. The kit is a rare and unique opportunity to experience Shelli’s personal approach to crafting, in line with her favourite colours and design elements. Shelli collaborated with concept artists and designers to develop the kit, which gives everyone who buys this limited time kit a papercrafting experience inspired by Shelli herself.

Shelli describes the kit as “A touch of earthy and elegant spring with lots of layers and texture.”

And remember, everything in the Hugs from Shelli kit is pre-cut and ready to go. No planning or prep is required . . . which make these kits perfect for an event or party! If you and your friends order these kits (details below), then we can get together and have a fun evening in creating beautiful projects. More details about this option can be found below.

Important Shelli Kit Details

Part of what makes a Paper Pumpkin kit special is that Stampin’ Up! don’t reveal the projects inside the box ahead of time. This allows the purchaser to experience an element of surprise and excitement when they receive their kit in the mail.

To keep the projects inside the kit a surprise, the marketing materials will only give you a sneak peek of the box and the Make & Take project featured at OnStage, which is shown on the flyer below. This allows demonstrators to share what the project looks like without spoiling the surprise for their customers.

To see the rest of the projects, you will have to purchase the kit! So here are the details of what is included in the kit.

The Shelli kit from Paper Pumpkin includes the following:

IMPORTANT NOTE: A clear block is NOT included with this kit. The strategic decision was taken NOT to include a clear stamping block inside the Hugs from Shelli kit. This provides the flexibility to sell the kit at a lower price point to customers. Many Stampin’ Up! customers already own stamp blocks, and if you do not then you can easily add Clear Block D (item 118485) to your order.

If you are a new stamper who does not already own a block to mount your stamps on for stamping, make sure to add Clear Block D (item 118485) to your Hugs from Shelli kit order in order to stamp the projects.

Purchase details

Even though it is Paper Pumpkin-branded, the Hugs from Shelli kit will be sold like any other Stampin’ Up! kit. On 15 May, the kit will be available for customers and demonstrators to purchase through the online store or through the demonstrator ordering system. The kit is available while supplies last; in other words, once they’re gone, they’re gone!

The kits are £20 (or 26,00 €) each, and are available in English, French and German. The item numbers for these are as follows:
HUGS FROM SHELLI (ENG): Item 152032
BISOUS DE SHELLI (FR): Item 152872
GRUSS & KUSS VON SHELLI (DE): Item 152873

Hugs from Shelli Paper Pumpkin_flyer

Coordinating Stampin’ Up! products

The Hugs from Shelli kit coordinates with the Bird Ballad suite that will be released in the upcoming 2019–2020 annual catalogue. When the new catalogue is released, there will be a new flyer to promote and show the coordination. Think of the possibilities! Because of the coordination, the Hugs from Shelli kit provides you with the perfect opportunity to get a feel for the new catalogue before it arrives!

If you want to get one of these very special, limited edition kits, then don’t wait! These kits are available while supplies last and could sell very quickly.

Group gatherings

As mentioned above, the Hugs from Shelli kit is the ideal girls’ night in activity to share with your friends. Each kit has the supplies for 12 cards, 3 each of 4 different designs. So you could choose to each purchase your own kit and make multiple cards of each design (or use the pieces to design your own cards!), OR you could split a kit between 3 people and make one of each design per person. Make your choice, order your kits, and let me know if you want me to help you out with making your evening go with a splash! I would be more than happy to come along and help, and to loan you stamping blocks if you don’t have enough (or any at all!).

Kits are available from tomorrow morning – May 15th. Get your order in soon!

The post Exclusive Shelli Gardner Paper Pumpkin Kit appeared first on Deep Blue Crafting.

If you are interested in coming along for a sociable, creative fun evening to try something new, then you will want to check it out.

If you are intrigued about how you can tap into your innate creativity – *especially* if you don’t believe you have any – then I highly recommend that you take a look at the details and get yourself to a class soon!

We have already had fantastic feedback from the lovely ladies who attended the Masculine card class in May. All of our attendees will be encouraged to provide us with testimonials and feedback on their experiences, so that you can hear their thoughts in their own words.

We are really looking forwards to booking you into a class soon, and to welcoming you to join us for the next round of fun! Don’t forget to check out the dates and details now!

The post Deep Blue Crafting Classes Page Published appeared first on Deep Blue Crafting.

Everything is Rosy for the month of May with Stampin’ Up! For the duration of May, or as long as the stocks remain, whichever is the sooner, Stampin’ Up! are offering a product medley bundle called Everything is Rosy. The bundle features rose gold accents and products including rose gold shimmer paint and rose gold foil sheets.

Check out the Everything is Rosy flyer for more details on what is included in the bundle; it is basically a suite in a box! The items included are listed below:
“The Everything Is Rosy Product Medley includes these exclusive products:

“

Here’s an indication of what some of that looks like!

Beautiful, right? The product medley is a new concept from Stampin’ Up! and they are trialling it with Everything is Rosy. Demonstrators have not been able to pre-order this item before it becomes available to customers, so Stampin’ Up!’s Head Office have provided us with lots of inspiration to share with you all. Don’t be surprised if you see lots of the same images popping up all over the web for this promotion! No-one has stolen anyone else’s intellectual property for this, they are all sanctioned images to share.

The suite/ medley costs £74 plus shipping and handling, is available in English, French and German, and we anticipate that it will be a hot and highly popular product, so don’t hang about if you want one!

As Stampin’ Up! themselves say, “We hope you’re ready for a ray of sunshine in your life, because the Everything Is Rosy Product Medley is here! This exclusive, limited-time collection of coordinating, petal-packed products has everything you and your customers need to let your creativity bloom.“

The stamp set in the medley is as such:

As listed above, there are 10 coordinating dies, though not all of these will cut out images in the stamp set, I am sure. There’s a video to show the suite in more detail, and below that I have attached the ten beautiful projects from Stampin’ Up! to show how the products can be used. This is not a project kit in the traditional Stampin’ Up! sense, so Everything is Rosy will not come with a project sheet of instructions. It is freeform and you can do with it whatever your heart desires! But if you get stuck, I am sure there will be more than a little inspiration across social media and the wonderful interweb, or I would be happy to help you with your kit. Enjoy, and don’t forget to order yours first thing tomorrow through my Deep Blue Crafting online store!!

Don’t forget to place your order if you want one of these amazing product medleys – you will likely have to be quick!

The post Everything is Rosy Product Medley – Limited Edition appeared first on Deep Blue Crafting.

OnStage NZ!

So as you may know, Stampin’ Up! host a six-monthly live event called OnStage. There is one large, 3-day Live event, and then local one day events around the world. I have been fortunate enough to attend all of the Live events around the world, including visiting Utah, Amsterdam, Brussels and Brisbane – and now Auckland in New Zealand! I realise that not many people are able to do this, and I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have done it, and especially the support of my family in allowing me to go.

Today I am going to share some images and stories from the OnStage Live event, and then in the coming weeks I plan to share projects and information we were given at OnStage. As anyone who know me will tell you, I am an incredibly sociable person, and I am rarely happier than when I am surrounded by “my people”! And crafting comes high on my happy list as well, so you can imagine that I am in a good place to be able to attend an event which includes friends and crafting. Here are a few photos showing my happy zone at OnStage this time around:

As you can see, there are some big smiles involved! The first picture is of our little group of Musketeers – all for one and one for all. I am so grateful to have Astrid and Constanze in my life, and I look forward to seeing them as often as possible. It was fantastic when Constanze was desperately waiting for the traffic lights to change so she could charge across the road to hug me – so special! It is friendships like this which would not be possible without Stampin’ Up! and I am thrilled that I am involved. It has become traditional for our little group to wear something fun on our heads, mainly to be able to find each other in big groups, but also just because! The others forgot to bring their deely boppers with them this time, so it was suggested that we wear bunny ears as Easter was approaching. Astrid and I popped out and picked these beautiful sequinned ones up before the event on Friday morning. Don’t they look cool?!

The second image is our “collection” of international travellers from all over the world including Germany, the UK, the USA and Australia! A number of us have been to all of the OnStage Live events and it is great that Tamra made us little signs for our country of origin!

Finally, you have a picture of Andrea and me together again after more than 4 years since our last event in the same place as one another! I am grateful for social media to keep in touch with this gal, but boy have I missed her! Andrea works for Stampin’ Up!, and she is featured in a number of their videos. I love it!

Meet the bosses!

I also get to meet the Co-Founder and the CEO of Stampin’ Up! each time I attend OnStage Live – here they are, Sara and Shelli!

These lovely ladies do an amazing job, and they make every demonstrator feel special, no matter how long you have been with the company, or how many sales you make. One of my favourite parts of OnStage Live is when this mother-daughter team are stamping on stage – the script is irrelevant, they couldn’t care much less about the time limit, and the love between them is palpable! It is adorable, and we all get to be a part of that.

International friends and gifts

Over the years, I have “collected” quite a lot of amazing International friends. And Jackie here is a native Kiwi (New Zealander). She was so generous and made a number of us international visitors these beautiful paper satchels as gifts! They are so lovely, and they also had chocolate inside them! Amazing. I am so spoiled to have been a proud recipient of one of these special gifts.

Time for some crafting

To round out this post, I am going to share with you one of the beautiful projects from the OnStage display boards. This uses one of the new stamp and die sets coming in the new catalogue in June, which is awesome and is called It Starts With Art! This set is part of a product suite called Follow Your Art, and I predict that it will be very popular with crafters who like to share their passions. Let’s have a look:

The stamp set is based on some of the core Stampin’ Up! ingredients for card-making, including pens, ink bottles, ribbons, buttons and clips. the possibilities for this set and the cute sentiments in it are seemingly endless, so watch out for plenty of projects using this when mine arrive in the mail!

Inspiration

The inspiration and ideas I came home with from OnStage are massive, so watch this space for regular updates and shares for what they can mean for you. If you want to get involved and hands-on with the new products as soon as possible, then be sure to sign up for my classes or to host an event of your own. I will be hosting a launch event for the new catalogue including a make-and-take project for all attendees, so check here regularly for details on that.

Finally I would like to share an image from one of the banks in New Zealand, which I thought captured the country and the OnStage event really well!

Get Involved

I hope you have enjoyed this brief insight into my experience at OnStage in New Zealand, and if you would like to know more about it, including how you could be eligible to attend these amazing events, then please don’t hesitate to contact me. Have a great week, and I will be back soon with news of a limited-edition bundle of beautiful which will only be available during May and even then it will only be available while stocks last… check back tomorrow for more details!

The post OnStage New Zealand – a report! appeared first on Deep Blue Crafting.

The classes will be held monthly, on the second Wednesday of the month, unless I have another commitment – like the fact that this month I will be in New Zealand for OnStage with Stampin’ Up! They will be for 2 hours from 7:30pm to 9:30pm, at my home in Beggarwood, Basingstoke.

Each class will have a theme, and there will be an average of 4 projects for each event, including cards, gift wrapping, tags and 3D items. Not all types of item will be made each month, obviously, but we will make at least two types. Maybe something like this:

The current plan is to focus on a particular stamp set each month, but this is the Beta testing phase of the classes, so they will evolve based on what works for me and my attendees. If you come along as an attendee then you will have a chance to help me to shape the classes to what works best! The main aim of the classes is to get together and make cards and items to share, while also having some social time and benefitting from the relaxation effect associated with crafts. I am here to help you to de-stress, and the idea of the projects is not to increase your stress levels by being overly complicated! We will make items at various levels of difficulty, and they will all be easy to achieve, I promise!

In order to sign up for a class, you will need to email me to save your place, and then pay your class fee to guarantee your attendance. The base level cost of the classes is £15 for the beta level, and this will cover the cost of all materials required for the class. If you would like to order the items used in the class then this will be possible at additional cost.

I hope that you can join me at my classes – but be quick, as there are only 8 spaces available each month! As I mentioned above, the classes will be held at my home in Beggarwood, Basingstoke, and will be small and intimate for us all to get the most benefit from them. So make sure you don’t miss out!

For those of you who are further afield and so it is not feasible to come to Basingstoke for the evening, I will be holding some online events, which are still in the alpha planning stages! I hope to be bringing you more news on those in May.

Next week I am off to New Zealand for the OnStage event where they will launch the new Annual catalogue for demonstrators, and I am very excited about that. But it does mean that my first class will be delayed and so it will be on Wednesday the 24th April. To join, simply email me and I will let you know how to pay.

The dates of future classes in 2019 are listed below:

I trust that those dates are currently free in your diary, so you can put the classes in your priority list and come along for fun and friendship. Particularly the April class, as not only is it the first event, but I will also have information to share about the new catalogue and some new products to play with!

Get your emails in quick to secure your place, and to pay your £15 class fee. I will see you soon, and I will be back before you know it with more exciting news!

The post Deep Blue Crafting classes are Live appeared first on Deep Blue Crafting.

Retiring List

The retiring list is here: Year End Closeout-UK and is valid as of today, December 6th, when I am writing this post.

Shop Now

Alternatively, you can go to my online store and visit the Year End Closeout sale pages to see the current in-stock items. Shop here with Deep Blue Crafting.

Annual Catalogue /items

There are two items from the Annual Catalogue which have been included in the Year End Closeout, and these are the Simply Shammy, which is perfect for cleaning all of your stamps after using them – particularly the photopolymer ones; and the Red Rhinestones which are ideal for your cards including Christmas, Valentines, Birthday and anywhere else which needs a bit of sparkle added in rich red! These items are being sold at a discount during the Year End Closeout and they are not retiring or while stocks last, so they will be available throughout the rest of the year. So it’s well worth stocking-up if you use a lot of sparkles on your cards. I like to have a shammy with me in a plastic stamp case as nothing else is required to clean your stamps while you are out and about. No mess and clean stamps – I love it!

2019 Deep Blue Crafting Classes

I have set up my class plans for the beginning of 2019 already, and places are open for booking. There are only 8 spaces available for each class, so make sure you get in quickly to ensure you get the chance to come along for some crafting and socialising! If you come, and bring a friend who is new to me or hasn’t been before, then there might even be a special bonus in it for you ;) There will be a separate blog post on classes, so watch out for that, or contact me if you’re all ready to find out more now! There’s a lot of fun coming with the new Spring-Summer Catalogue, and don’t forget about Sale-a-Bration…

Next Steps:

So all that remains for today is for me to remind you to head over to the store or contact me to get your last-chance Year End goodies, or to stock up on the discounted bits you need for the new year. And to let you know to keep your eyes open for the class schedule and details. Get ready to schedule in some “me time” for the new year and reconnect with your creativity!

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To start with I am going to be holding some December Memories classes. As I have shared previously, I create an album each year, where I capture the month of December, and all that we do throughout the lead up to Christmas. A lot of people have admired my albums, and expressed an interest in wanting to make their own, but without really knowing what to do. Which is where these December Memories classes come in!

If you would like to participate in capturing your December Memories, but don’t think you know what to do, I am here to tell you that is is completely possible! You don’t even need classes to do it – so why am I offering classes?! They are not classes in the traditional sense, but more of a weekly gathering at my home, with drinks and snacks, and access to my vast array of crafting goodies! There will be 5 classes, running from the last week in November to the first week in January, with no class during Christmas week. (Mainly because everyone is usually rather busy that week!!)

Class Details:

When? Wednesday evenings 7:30-9:30pm

• 28 November 2018
• 5 December
• 12 December
• 19 December
• 2 January 2019

Where? Deep Blue Crafting Headquarters, Beggarwood, Basingstoke
Cost? £5 per session, or FREE when you buy the £30 album bundle as shown below
Commitment? Whatever you want it to be!

So what will this involve?

If you buy the album bundle, you will receive a pack of “Memories and More” cards in the Santa’s Workshop design, a 6″x8″ album and 2 packets of 6″x8″ photo pocket pages to put inside your album.

The 6″x8″ December Memories bundle looks like this (with two of the packs of pages, here I only have one pack shown):

You will need to print your photographs out to add to the album – I usually do this at the end of the project, and get them all printed together using an online printing service. But I make a note of which photos are going where as I work through the album. You will also need a pen or two, to write the stories to go with the images, but I am sure we all have some of those (if you want a “specialised” pen for the project, then those are also available with your album bundle, just speak with me about that).

As far as December itself goes, you just do all of the things you would normally do, capture the events and photographs as you normally do, though with perhaps a little more intentionality with this project in mind, and come and be sociable for a while each week to work on our albums together! I always find that this project helps me to capture the fun and the magic of the season, instead of letting the cold, dark and “busyness” of it all overwhelm me. I usually add in more fun and seasonal activities, so that I can add those memories into my album each year…

Album Bundle:

In your pack of cards, should you choose to go for the album bundle (and remember you get the classes/ social evenings for FREE if you choose this option!) you will receive a total of 50 double-sided cards, 6 single-sided glittered speciality cards, and 4 sticker sheets! There are stickers for each of the 31 days of December, as well as glittered, phrase and image stickers. You obviously don’t have to use all of the date stickers, but it is a lovely option to have them all included.

The pack of pocket inserts for your album includes 12 pages in 5 different designs, so in the two packs you get 24 pages for your album. Additional packs of pages are available at £5.50 per pack. The page designs are shown below:

These are my two favourite page layouts – they have one horizontal and two vertical pockets each. The large pockets are 6″x4″ (a standard photo print size) and the small pockets are 3″x4″. The Memories and More cards are sized to fit these pockets, and it is easy to print your photographs to fit as well. (I have a “trick” to getting 3″x4″ photo prints, which I will be sharing at the classes! So come along to at least 1 if you want to learn how to make that bit easy!)

These next two page layouts have the same pocket sizes as the first two, but in different configurations. I find these good for stories with either lots of photographs, or lots of words! But they get used a lot in my albums. Finally, you get a full 6″x8″ page which is fantastic for a title page, or to house things like programmes from shows, or enlarged photos from special events, that sort of thing. This can be seen in the photo below showing all the 5 layouts together:

(They were very hard to photograph to show the layouts without having glare!)

Sign Up!

So how do you sign up to the classes or to buy the album bundle? You contact Katie! You can email me, call me, contact me through this site, see me at a craft club or other event, or just let me know any way you have to get in touch! I will need the payment when you order, to guarantee your place on the classes, as there are only 6 spaces available for these at the moment. (And there are already people who I know are interested in this opportunity and are waiting for ordering to “go live”!) There may be an additional session added at another point in the week, but as it stands the Wednesday evenings are my December Memories sessions. Obviously far more people can buy the album bundles than can attend the classes – I currently have no limit on this, but it can depend on the number of packs of cards available through Stampin’ Up! These card have already been incredibly popular and have been on back order for a while. I am anticipating being able to get sufficient numbers to fill these orders, but it pays not to delay getting your on order!

If you do happen to miss out on getting the class space you want, then please don’t think that I will leave you in the lurch with no help to achieve your December Memories plan, you just won’t have ready access to all of my additional crafting resources including stamps, dies, ideas and more.

So I shall leave you for today with this thought – Get your class space booked and your album bundle ordered as soon as possible if you would like to join me this December to create your very own amazing December Memories album! Anyone can do it (including your children) and it adds a lovely element of appreciation and focus to what can be a stressful time of year.

I look forwards to receiving your order and to working with you on our albums!

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