January preview - boxed flower card or framed cameo

Brenda will be running the class in January and there is a choice - the first is this boxed card with elaborate ribbon flower.

The second choice will be two cards - one monochrome card of an intricate die cut frame with a cameo centre

and a second where the main feature will be a cutout (disregard the red background - I only used that to make the cutout stand out in the photograph!)

Tealight card template

Just in case anyone didn't copy the template for the tealight box before using it, I have uploaded it here. 

To download it, click on the image on the left to get it to full size, and then right click and "save as".  It will save as a jpg file on your computer and you should be able to print it out at the full size.  Fingers crossed...!!

My Memories Suite - digital scrapbooking software

I've just been given a free copy of the My Memories digital scrapbooking software in return for publicising it. As an incentive, I've been given another free code to give away as a prize. All people have to do to be in with a chance of winning is to pop on over to my personal craft blog and read this post - which explains what to do. This is digital scrapbooking software that is rated #1 by Amazon and which has a value of $40... and they do have quite a few freebies on offer that you can adapt and use. It''s an American site - but I downloaded everything with no trouble at all.

I'm giving everyone two weeks to enter (my craft blog isn't exactly teeming with visitors, but I did warn them of that!) and at the end of the time I am going to pick a number at random from the comments. Hopefully there will be one or two there by then!! Anyhow, I thought I'd give busy bee visitors a chance too - but you would have to leave a comment on my blog so it can be seen as being all above board.

I've only had it a few days and have played with it a bit - the first page I had a go at was for Remembrance Sunday and it was really very simple. I think you can use it for card layouts too, but I haven't tried that yet.

You can find out more about the My Memories Suite at

Blog- http://blog.mymemories.com/

Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/pages/MyMemories/140359372717593

Twitter- http://twitter.com/#!/mymemoriessuite

November - Tea light cards

It's very nearly the end of another crafting year at Busy Bees... the last monthly class for 2011 will be on 26th November and we will be making Tealight Cards.  This project is being led by Jackie.

There will be a choice of two - Holly and poinsettia for the traditionalists, and a cute decoupaged birds layout for those who like their Christmas more contemporary.  Samples are shown below, but of course, they can be decorated as much or as less as you like!

Dates for next year have been booked and have been listed on the side panel.

Birds choice

Bird choice outside

Bird choice inside

Holly choice outside

Holly Choice inside

October - Christmas Cards by Debbie

Our October project is a Christmas card, and a gift token card by Debbie.

These cards will involve some stamping and colouring, matting and layering and we will make paper flowers.

The main card has a diecut element which was mounted on plain card, and the stamped bear image was placed on top.

The paper flowers were used to provide an accent, and the sentiment was made from the same card as the roses.

The gift voucer was made from A4 card, and was scored at 10 cm, and 20 cm.  It was folded so it would fit into a DL envelope.


The Exterior of the card was layered with toning paper and a small bear topper was stamped and coloured with promarkers.  Diecuts were used to further decorate the top.

September 2011 - A festive door card

The class in September will be doing a project led by Brenda - this one will be a festive door card.

The key feature will be a door, with a cosy scene visible through the window panes.  We will be making a traditional Christmas wreath for the door using a fleur de Lys punch and a festive red ribbon.

And a good time was had by all....

Another summer workshop is over...

I think it is fair to say the ladies enjoyed themselves - we didn't even really notice it was raining really hard until a drip from the ceiling came to our attention!  This was as a result of thieves stealing lead from the church hall roof.  How mean.

But we all made cards,had a good natter, ate cake, drank tea and if there was time, had a play with some of the equipment that was there to try out.

Looking forward to September's class now - this will be on Saturday 24th, and we will let you know who is running that one shortly.

Craft Taster Workshop Day

Edited to add: sorry, all places are allocated now for this event.

Tea, coffee and cake will be supplied but please bring a packed lunch and other snacks with you

Saturday 20^th August 2011

10.00 am to 4.00 pm

Only £15 for the day 

During the course of the day, you will have the opportunity to try a variety of crafting techniques such as:

• Die cutting with the cricut machine
• Die cutting and embossing with the cuttlebug 
• Using the Sissix small embosser
• Use of embossing score boards 
• Rubber stamping
• Paper marbling
• Paper flower making using punches and die cuts 
• Use of Heat gun embossing with embossing powders
• Distress ink techniques

  

Please bring with you basic supplies such as pva glue, doublesided tape, scissors (a pair of large and a pair of small will be helpful), and if you have them, tweezers and a “pokey” tool.

All card-making materials will be provided to make two lovely cards,

 A boxed “book” card with embellishments and

 

an easel card which doubles up as a post it note holder.

June class sneaky peek...

We will be doing three cards in June, courtesy of Debbie Williams. 

All three will feature decoupage and the use of embellishments.

Apologies for the quality of the photos - the batteries went in my camera and I had to use my phone...

May 2011

The class this month further developed the flower technique that we started with last month's card.  Pink roses are always popular, and the addition of some sparkly pink paper behind them enhanced the whole look.

Advance notice - papercraft summer workshops

Our summer workshop this year will be for papercraft only, and will be on 20th August 2011 between 10am and 4pm.

We will be covering various techniques during the morning and then will use what we've made to make our cards in the afternoon.  There will be two cards to make, both boxed.  One will double up as a post it holder, and the other will be an embossed book.

Look out for further details...

Links!

For those interested in doing paper flowers, I have listed below some useful places to get your punches either online or by personal visit.

In2Crafting based at Wickford, if you want to make it a personal visit

Pinnacle Crafts - based at the Barleylands Craft Village, Billericay

The Glitter Pot (this one is in Sussex, so probably online only)
 

Joanna Sheen (in Devon, but really speedy, and FREE P&P)

Paper flower tutorial 1 - roses and daisies

For the cards in April, we are going to use paper flowers.  If you want to have a go, here is a guide on how to make some roses and daisies. If you right click on the pictures, you should be able to save them to your own computer.

March Class Cancelled - will now take place on 23rd April 2011

Apologies - due to an unforeseen clash of bookings, the class for March has been cancelled.  The next craft class will therefore be in April.  The cards that were to be done in March are now likely to be done in May - going to be done on 23rd April 2011.

March 2011

This month's cards will be courtesy of Jackie.

The first card we will be making will be a gatefold card with a difference, and utilising paper flowers.

The second card will be a tri fold DL card.

Watch out for an updates on techniques after the class...

February 2011

Our cards this month are going to be just for the children (or the very young at heart). 

Thanks to Brenda, who is responsible for the project in February, there will be a choice of a nice pink and glittery fairy castle for the girls, or a handsome butch grey castle for the boys.  Both cards have decoupaged fronts, and are a real feature any little boy or girl will be happy to get for their big day. 

Also, whichever card is chosen, it will come complete with a compact envelobox, which will prevent any squashing.