Christmas in july

On saturday i went to a fab little class run by vicky, who is a stampin up! demonstrator. The theme, as the title of this post suggests, was christmas in july. Vicky runs her classes from her kitchen, for a limited number of people. There is a very relaxed atmosphere, and as the newbie to the group i was made to feel very welcome and no one was patronising towards me at all, while still offering me great hints and tips =)  she runs a couple of other clubs/classes so if you're in the northamptonshire area check out her blog and see what shes up to.

My lovely handmade bookmark and it's cute packaging

We were greeted with a lil handmade gift and christmas songs in the background to get us in the festive spirit, our goodies consisted of a set of tree trimmings stamps and jolly holidays designer papers.

We made a lovely selection of cards, some were quite simple but looked great. Which is great if you've got lots of christmas cards to make.

I love the colours we used, because while they are traditional colours, they aren't old fashioned and have a fresh modern feel to them. i can't wait to actually order my christmas supplies and start making my own batch of christmas cards (i don't have too many to make so i won't be starting my just yet).

I got the chance to have a go with the big shot, which we used to make some gift packaging and add some texture to one of our cards. I've been thinking about selling my grand calibur as its a bit restricted with the dies you can use and after saturday, its on ebay as i type!!!!

I think i actually enjoyed this class more than the workshop in doncaster as there were fewer people and you could really chat and it was nice to go somewhere local to me and get to know other crafters. I can't wait till next months class.

As well as the projects we made vicky gave us ideas for christmas packaging and decorating. she had an amazing advent box on display, which i must work out how to make in time for christmas! Suffice to say i placed my first (of many i'm guessing!) order today (its taken me this long to actually decide what to buy!) and i've already got a rather large list of things i want from the catalogue. well its my birthday in september, so guess what i'm getting!!!....