Christmas Card Crafternoon

Since Christmas is getting closer and closer I thought it would be fun to have a Christmas Crafternoon with my sisters, Angie, Melanie, and our friend Mabel. I’ve had a card making crafternoon with my sisters before but all three girls were still relatively new to creating cards. Since ‘handmade’ is still going strong—and pretty popular, they wanted make their gift giving a little more personal by making their own cards for friends and family, this year. So, what I did was come up with a few sample cards that I could teach them how to make but they were also free to use all the stamps, paper, and embellishments to create their very own designs. I’d say they had the most fun, getting messy and making their own cards—who wouldn’t have fun doing that?! Hehe. 

To set up, I covered the dining room table with Kraft wrapping paper, and simply organized by stamps, paper, makers, acrylic blocks, paper trimmers, ink, etc. on one edge of the table—so they could have everything within reach. 

Here are a few of the cards they created…

I love all of the cards they made, I’m happy that I was able to teach them a few new techniques but most of the designs they created came from their own minds. We’re already talking about having a Christmas Crafternoon part 2, where we will make Mason jar snow globes, treat bags, and tags. I’m definitely going to enjoy that one!

Crafternoon

Today was so much fun! My sisters have been asking me to teach them how to make greetings cards for some time now and we finally managed to sync our schedules’ so that we could have a ‘crafternoon’ card making class. I taught them the basics of card making, stamping, and paper piecing. I was laughing at how they’d listen to a little bit of information I’d give them, then be like, “Ok, got it” and start pulling out all the stamps, ink, and paper, and then get stuck and not know what to do because they weren’t listening to me in the first place. But, it’s totally understandable. How can you sit in front of all these awesome crafting tools and expect to be lectured, LOL. I thought that was really funny and I was teasing my sister about that for the rest of the time, haha. A little while later I managed to convey all the basic skills they’d need to complete a card, and they caught on well—very well actually.

I talked to them about the different types of stamps there are; such as, acrylic, silicone, rubber, and photopolymer. The different kinds of ink you can choose from, and how to keep stamps nice and clean. We also used my new Copic markers. I’m so in love with them.

Here are their cards! The Valentine’s Day themed card was created by my youngest sister, Melanie, and the card on the right was made by my older sister Angie (who I call, Angus). I have a nickname for everyone.

We were also visited by our beautiful niece—who also loves to craft. I bought her, her own stamps, paper, and ink…but that still doesn't keep her from dipping in my stash. So I figured I might as well teach her how to properly use them if she’s planning on using them on a regular basis, haha. She’s so cute. Lastly I've been thinking about creating a ‘Crafting 101’ feature here on my blog for those that would like to start scrapbooking or cardmaking. What do you think? Is that something you would like to see on my blog? I think if I get enough votes I just might do it :-p 

A Sunny Crafternoon

Happy Monday! It’s the beginning of the week once again and as always I’m excited to get back fulfilling orders, blogging, and designing new items for my shop. Yesterday I went to visit my favorite crafty friend, Yang. I’m always excited to visit her and her wonderful collection of papercrafting tools. She is a true collector, with a wide variety of paper, stamps, stickles, inks, craft punches, and so much more. It’s always fun to craft in good company and yesterday we got to craft together for a total of nine hours. So fun!

Since both of our shops are already, ready for the Christmas season—with X-mas themed tags, cards, and the like fully stocked on our virtual shelves—we decided to begin designing our collection of Valentine’s Day items. We’re going to save all the sneak peeks for later but as sellers it’s always a good idea to stay ahead of the game. 

Isn’t her crafty collection so dreamy? I took some of my stamps, and other crafty tools as well—but my collection seemed so minuscule compared to hers, LOL! Feel free to check out her Etsy shop, she’s got a wide variety of amazing cards, tags, and more. 

Thanks for stopping by again & welcome!—if this is your first time visiting.