Update - May Class

Owing to a family bereavement, Jackie is unable to lead the class in May, which will now be taken by Debbie.

3 cards in May...

The class in May will be led by Jackie, and we will be doing three cards, utilising computer generated sheets for the decoration.  Using the computer to make cards can be a quick select and print job using dedicated software, or any of the various CD roms that are available.  But it need not be a quick fix - the key thing is that it is possible to utilise the potential of a larger amount of choice for papers and toppers than most crafters have room to store. And the card can then be elaborated upon, and embellished further with items from your stash.  It's still crafting!!

The first is a very simple tri fold card, that features daisies and utilises a downloaded sheet from Craftsuprint.

The second is a plain square card, topped with topper,  embellishments and complementary backing paper from the Debbi Moore Shabby Chic Victorian Botanical cd.

The third card is a square easel card, utilising a scalloped edge card base and a further downloaded sheet from Craftsuprint.

April sneaky peek...

Brenda is providing the project this month, and this time we will be making a sumptuous boxed beauty...

The card will feature organza ribbon, and die cut embellishments.

March preview - 3 cards from Debbie

This month we will be doing up to three cards and this class will be led by Debbie.

February preview - Easel card

Final card

Card front lying flat

The card we will be making in February will be a double easel card, featuring images from the Joanna Sheen Diary of a Country Lady cd.

Joanna does a large range of cds, to suit all tastes, and can be bought online from Joanna's famous wobbly shelves.

There's free postage for purchases over £5, so go ahead and have a look!  (It's not my fault if you spend too much money there though - the site is seriously addictive!)

Card from the side

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.