Christmas Party Classes 2015

Morning all, sorry this post didn't happen yesterday, my internet went down completely. I think it's safe to say that everyone enjoyed the Christmas party classes on Friday. Each of the three hour classes went by in a flash, so much so that we didn't get to even start the name badge project, so we're saving it for February.

Every year, our wonderful Rosemary makes the beautiful table decorations & every year she outdoes what she did the year before..........

There were lots of spot prizes as well as the main raffle prize, which contained over £150 of crafting goodies.............

It was won by Sandra Franklin, who attends the evening class. Congratulations Sandra!!

We still had the promotion tables, full of new goodies to tempt everyone............

The Starlights paints are still extremely popular...............

Lisa had decorated this Anna Marie Designs Merry Christmas wreath for herself - it is gorgeous - & the blank ones sold out at the class................

We were delighted to have a selection of the new Designs by Georgina chipboard products for sale...........

And of course, there were lots of our samples to provide inspiration for everyone........

We kept everyone busy for the first few hours, decorating their poinsettia toppers, with Starlights & Imagination Crafts' Alchemy Waxes............

 

   

And then it was time to eat.........................

There was LOTS of food................ :)

Once everyone had eaten their fill, it was time for a riotous party game in which assorted hats & wigs were worn & passed from person to person to music, with one person & a hat being eliminated each time the music stopped.............

Mavis' wig matches the robin on her sweater.......... :)

Doesn't Yvonne make a very cute elf??............

 

Caroline, you look fab-u-lous!!...............

- That wig matched Caroline's lovely apron perfectly - :)

We were all having so much fun, that we got hardly any photos of the finished card hangers...........

The ones we did manage to get a photo of looked great....................

Thank you very much to everyone who joined us on Friday & thank you for the gifts & cards, it really was very kind of you. 

As always, enormous thanks goes to Kate, Rosemary, Julie & Jo for all their hard work, you know we couldn't do it without you. Shout out to Jan, who unfortunately couldn't make it on Friday, we really missed you, honey. 

Thanks to Lisa's hubby, Paul, for all his help with setting up & then taking down at the end of the day. 

That's it for the 2015 classes. The year seems to have flown by. There's no January class, as the first Friday of the month is New Year's Day, so the first class of 2016 will be Friday, February 5. We'll be using new Hobby Art stamps, details will be announced in January. 

The new blog challenge is on the challenge page & I will be back tomorrow with my first post of December. Enjoy the rest of your weekend & & I hope all your Christmas preparations are going smoothly.

Kirsten

Starlights Bauble

Hello Crafters, do you have that Friday feeling?  It's party time :o)  I hope you're all looking forward to it.

I've had a bit of a busy week so today's card is quite simple.  I've used lots of familiar things so lets get started.

This was a 6" x 6" card matted with black, silver and then white card. 

Ingredients as follows:

Starlights Silver

Starlights Red

Starlights Menthol

Sue Wilson Holly Sprays

Leane Creatief

Spellbinders Ornament

Hobby Art Winter Wishes Stamps (Reduced on the website)

Versafine

Super Smooth White Card

Black Card

Stickles

Diamond Gems Iridescent

I cut out one of the Baubles from one of my Spellbinders ornament dies and painted it with Starlights Silver, mixing it on a tile with a very small amount of water.  Left that one side to dry. 

I then cut out a Poinsettia Die and some Holly Sprays and again painted them in the same way.  I painted the little berries on the holly spray with a little of the red Starlights but decided they needed a little extra sparkle so topped them off with some Xmas Red Stickles.

Here are the components:

After matting all the card stock, I glued the holly spray in place leaving the end so I could tie a small piece of cotton through the bauble to look like it was hanging from the branch, then glued the bauble in place. 

The second Holly Spray was cut in half and glued either side of the bauble, then mounted the assembled Poinsettia in place and finished it off with an Iridescent gem.

I then stamped a Merry Christmas Sentiment and the card was done.............

 

As I said very quick and simple, but a little festive cheer.

See you soon, love Jan -x -

 



Starlights, Stencils and Butterflies

 

Good morning all! My last Starlight Paints post for this month and not much time left to enter our Monthly Blog Challenge showcasing your creations! Make sure you enter; the winner is chosen randomly and you could win £20 to spend on whatever crafty bits you NEED!

 

To begin my card, I cut Super Smooth Cardstock to fit a 6x6 card blank, allowing for coloured card layer beneath. I chose an Imagination Crafts Stencil (Lisa does not have this one in stock at the moment but there are others that would also work well) and sectioned off the part I wanted to use with Masking Tape. Using a Blending Tool and working some Blue Starlight Paint well into it, I applied the paint through the stencil. You do not need much paint at all to do this, and it is best to work it well into your sponge before you apply to your work. Once finished, I removed the stencil and cleaned in water straight away. It did not take long for the paint to dry and the finish is more like a sparkly ink effect than paint!

 

To add another colour into my work, I have also used some of the Platinum Starlight Paint. I really love this colour; its subtle gold tones blend beautifully with all those I've tried. I used the end of a paintbrush to light dot the colour within my stencilled picture.

 

To create my butterflies, I have simply painted some of the paint onto cardstock, stamped and die-cut. I used a brayer to apply Blue Starlight Paint onto Super Smooth Cardstock and then immediately went over this with Platinum Starlight Paint in the same way. As the paint was wet, the colours blended beautifully. Once dry, I stamped on the paint using Jet Black Staz On. I then die-cut the butterflies and dotted more of the Platinum Starlight Paint in certain areas to bring it all together.

 

The final stage was to stamp a message from the Lisa B./Imagination Craft Floral Collage Stamps 'Poppy Elements' and adhere the butterflies using glue gel. The whole panel was then layered onto some soft gold card and a card blank.

 

Above is another example of a card created using the same principle, this time using a Christmas Sweet Poppy stencil and Menthol Starlight Paint. I did not have the Red Starlight Paint so I have used Stickles for my red, but if you manage to grab it I am sure it would look much better! The sentiment is from the Card-io Christmas Sentiments set.

 

I look forward to seeing all your creations on the challenge blog and/or on the Facebook page!

 

Thank you for reading

Love

Martina

xx

 

 



December Christmas Party Class Newsletter........

Hello, welcome to the December newsletter.........

 It looks like winter has finally arrived, the last few days have been freezing. Hope you're all managing to keep warm. As usual, it's been a busy month. Thank you to everyone who visited the Imagination Crafts stand at the NEC, two weeks ago. It was a marathon four days of demoing, but it was lovely to speak with lots of crafter's & see them leave inspired & buzzing with creativity.

Since I got back, I have been preparing for the final classes of the year, the Christmas party classes. I look forward to these classes every year, as they are always great fun. We will be using scenic stamps to create a miniature scene, which you will use to make a name badge & then we will use Starlight's paints to make a Christmas card hanger. Here's a sneak peek of the card hanger..........

There will be lots of goodies to eat, including a full buffet, we'll play some party games & generally have fun. If you've attended the classes during the year, make sure you have kept your raffle tickets, as the winner of the Christmas raffle will be chosen.

**Please bring a medium-sized, flat paintbrush & your piece of mylar from last month's class.**

If you would like to bring your own supplies, we will be using the following:

Starlight's Metallic Paints

Gilding waxes

Glitter Glues (gold, silver)

Scenic stamps

Jet Black Stazon ink pad/Archival Black ink pad

As usual, the classes will be held in Fant Hall, Barming, Maidstone, ME16 8NN, on Friday, December 4. The afternoon class, 2.30-5.30pm, is fully booked, but there are still places available in the evening class; 6.30-9.30pm. The cost is £18, which covers the cost of your project supplies & food, a deposit of £6 will secure your place. You can contact me by email; lisabaker1@btinternet.com , or by 'phone; 01622 675078, or message the Lisa B Designs Facebook page.

If you are unable to attend, three days notice of cancellation is required. This gives me time to fill your place & your deposit will be moved to the next available class.

There will be a smaller shop than usual at the classes. I will be bringing mainly Christmas items & a few other things. If there is anything you require, please let me know before 8pm on Thursday, December 4 & I will bring it along the next day.

**Don't forget to wear your Christmas finery, the more sparkles the better!!!**

As well as preparing for the December classes, I have been adding new items to the website, including new stencils from Sweet Poppy......

You can see all the available stencils here.....

http://bit.ly/1MPe05t

(I also have restocks of the Sweet Poppy Dimension Pastes.)

There are new Christmas cutting dies on the website, including these lovely Berry Branch & Pine Cone dies from Elizabeth Craft Designs....

And more from the Festive Collection by Sue Wilson.........

All of the Christmas items can be found in the Christmas section on the website.

Remember to keep an eye on the What's New section too.

The current blog challenge; 'Christmas with Starlights'; continues on the blog until midnight on Saturday, December 6. We've had beautiful entries so far & there's still plenty of time for more. The randomly chosen winner will receive a £20 e-voucher to spend at Lisa B Designs.

Please visit the blog; http://lisabdesignsinspiration.blogspot.co.uk/  

for project inspiration & tutorials from myself & the design team.

All our projects can also be found on the Lisa B Designs Design Team Pinterest board.

It just remains for me to wish you all a very Happy Christmas. Thank you for all your support throughout 2015 & I hope the New Year is a peaceful & prosperous one for all of us. The first class of the new year will be on Friday, February 5th. Details to be announced later.

Thanks again & best wishes,

Lisa B & the team - without whom, etc., etc.