Stamp-a-faire Summer Camp 21st July 2012

As you can see from this wacky photograph, we had a really good day together rising to the Stamp-a-faire challenge online.

In the photo you can see Pam, Julie, Chris and Mary (well just about!), prior to knuckling down to our crafting.

I have to say how impressed I was with Julie, the card making novice amongst us who made her second card only, which meant that she used a die cutting machine for the very first time, stamped for just the second time ever, as well as watching the video on making the ribbon flowers and producing these lovely spotty coral flowers. I have a feeling we may just have a new card maker in the wings.

The second card was made by Mary. I really liked the way she stamped white onto the deep coloured card at different intensities to create a lovely effect. Like Julie she watched the video, made a flower and used it on her card. The tiny embellishments in lemon just finish it all off beautifully.

Then we come to Chris's card. Chris decided to use butterflies instead of ribbon flowers which look lovely. What a fresh carefree effect she has created with this card. I like the little pearls on the lacy header.  Lovely.

Then last is mine. I have to say I am not too keen on    it.  I made three flowers and really enjoyed making them but when I placed them on the card I didn't like them so decided to put little buttons on the card instead.  The card is not right and I am sure there will be something else on it before I give it to anyone.

I can really recommend getting together with friends and having a crafty day, what a delight it was.

I am looking forward to the 2013 challenge.... with a little more idea of what to expect next time.

I want to give a special thanks to Chris who introduced us to this lovely day, for all her help and teaching.

If you want to see some beautiful cards then do visit her blog... the link is on the right hand side of this posting.

Thank you for stopping by to take a look.

Papertrey Ink Stamp-a-faire Day 2012

What a fantastic day I have had today with three very special friends, Chris, Julie, Mary and myself. We joined the Papertrey stamp-a-faire which was held online today 21st July 2012.

We called ourselves the Cotswold Crafters because that is where we spent our day eating, chatting, drinking tea and coffee and making cards... of course!

The idea was that if it wasn't possible to go to their big event in the USA and craft cards with many other card makers, then you could still join in by going online to 'Capture the Moment' with Nicole Heady where they showed a range of instruction videos which were so interesting and then we set about re-producing similar cards ourselves which included the basic design but all with our own take on it. These are the first ones we made.  As you can see from the pictures, we all used the same colour  Papertrey card, but used different stamps and inks to create different effects.

Once completed our cards were photographed and uploaded onto the 'Capture the Moment' site so that all participants could share their work.

I don't think the others would object if I said I thought Julie was the star of the day because it was her first time at card making never mind stamping, and she produced the first card with the sentiment Thank you.  I loved the way she stamped the peony in pink and then edged it in a darker colour, I thought that was a great idea. I think a new card maker was born today!

The next card down was made by Mary, who is a keen card maker and I was really interested to see how she so successfully pulled together some quite different colours.  I would never have thought of putting yellow sunflowers with bright pink card, and yet it worked so well because she cleverly included small pink butterflies that matched so well.

Card three was mine and I decided to also use the peony stamp in pink but used blue with it. I particularly liked the idea of using velum and scoring it to create an opaque line at the top and bottom.

Card four, well that was made by the real expert in our midst.... Chris, who  gave so much of her time helping us whilst making her own card. If you want to see the cards she makes then just click on the link to her blog 'Purple Peonies' on the right hand side of this page, she creates some fabulous stuff.

We can't wait to meet again and spend another day crafting... Three cheers to the Cotswold Crafters... hip hip hooray, hip hip hooray, hip hip hooray!