We have not blogged for such a long time... so our apologies, but we are not sure where July went... if you have any ideas, please let us know!!!
While Embellees is very important to us, there are times that our family lives just get hectic and, well we all know families - can't predict what might be the priority on the agenda at any given time! Enough excuses ... let's talk about what we have been up to creatively and get back into the 'swing of things'.
On 3 July we hosted our big 'Christmas in July' Workshop with all our lovely ladies... and what a great day. Now I (Lizzie) didn't start the day off too well and everyone had a great laugh when I arrived with my car literally bursting with kits... yes it is very hard to fit 30 bags full of large canvas frames and all the other goodies + workshop necessities, oh and yes my 9 year old DD in 'Roxy the Red Rocket Mazda' . My DD thought it was such an adventure as I had to let her sit in the front seat (much to my distress) for the first time and then still piled stuff around her... she laughed all the way from home to the workshop venue (some 40 minutes). Bad planning on my part and wasn't at all sure how I didn't think about this earlier ... why I ever thought I would fit all that in my car still confounds me.... sadly we did not have a camera on hand to give you the visual image... so you just have to picture it ....which I know any dedicated 'scrapper' can!
We had a great day and, thanks to everyone who contributed to the 'secret santa' ... so many generous gifts under our very much 'coveted' (yes, Miss Debbie we know it was you who tried to sneak it out) Christmas Tree.Just take a look at our beautiful advent calendar we got stuck into (not including the gorgeous layout we also did on the day).
We just love how our Workshop participants interpret our ideas and go with their own versions. There were so many great ideas from those that used their canvas in full and are attaching their tags with brads, to those that followed our ideas and cut, distressed, inked and stamped onto the canvas frame. And, there were some other creative lovelies who stripped the canvas back to the bare frame and inked and stamped the wood - they all look fabulous lined up around the walls of our Workshop room!!!
If you look carefully (see below) you will see that we used a large canvas (long and elongated for that contemporary feel). We then cut the canvas away and used the back of the canvas frame - the idea was to have a 'shabby/vintage' look with the staples showing.
We then got stuck into inking and stamping, distressing the bits of canvas to give it that authentic 'vintage/shabby chic' look.
Then we measured and used cotton twine and fabric to create our 'rungs' to attach our gorgeous numbered tags to ( by cute tiny wooden pegs). We made sure the string and fabric stayed securely in place by pulling out the staple gun and voila... the frames were complete.We then worked through 25 individual tags... we gave everyone ideas to follow and our kits had all the bits and pieces ready from; stamped images and words, embossed tags to ink, hybrid embellishments to cut and embellish, diecuts to add, fabric to tie and cut, crochet doilies, organza flowers, ribbon, sequin waste strips and the very popular bakers twine to wrap around. And to finish it off a gorgeous felt diecut rocking horse (you can see him on the right here).... nothing like having 60 of these lovelies in my stash (Lizzie)!
We loved the finished look in a vintage inspired colour scheme to compliment our Christmas 2011 theme ... lots of bookpaper, kraft cardstock (Ala - natural), red, black, white and a of obligatory bit of bling to liven up the creation.
We encouraged everyone to use up their 'stash' of sticker numbers and some letters to finish off the countdown idea.
We looked at theme(ing) tags to suit Christmas activities like:
* Santa photos
* Christmas Tree Trimming
* Visiting the Christmas Lights
* New Christmas Outfit (see our gorgeous bling diecut dressform on number 14 above)
While our day was full with lots of laughter, another finished layout (more pics to come of this) and the inspiration for our 'December Daily' in the workshop kits... time was at a premium ... we left with so much creative inspiration from all our lovelies that attended - so thank you!
We promise to add some extra photos to our Workshop Photos tab shortly so that we can make sure everyone gets a feel for the great atmosphere we have at an Embellees Workshop!
For now... 'Merry Christmas in July' from
Lisa & Lizzie
