This week I held a workshop for my sister Helen and some of her friends. The theme was Christmas, so the make and take included a Christmas card in traditional colours, and a gift box which could be adapted for any occasion. I also demonstrated some simple cards and ornaments using punches.

The Christmas card used Wild Wasabi as the base, with Very Vanilla cut with the Bigz Top Note Die, then embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Folder. The Very Vanilla was then sponged with Wild Wasabi chalks [pastels] to highlight the polka dots. A strip of the now retired Riding Hood Red 1 1/4″ striped grosgrain ribbon [sorry the Real Red ribbon did not arrive in time] was used as a backdrop for the three punched out ornaments. These ornaments were stamped on Whisper White using the ornament from Contempo Christmas with Riding Hood Red ink. To give definition, the first ornament was stamped directly after inking, the second was stamped off (i.e. stamped after the first one without reinking), and then the third used the Rock’n’Roll technique where the edge of the stamp was rolled around the ink pad to give a different look. They were then punched out with the Ornament Punch.

These two cards used Designer Paper and Scallop Border Punch / 3/4″ circle punch. I can’t take credit for these designs as I CASED them from Splitcoaststampers some time ago.

The Christmas Ball Ornament used Designer Paper and the 1 1/4: circle punch, whilst the other ornament is made using 5 cutouts from the Ornament Punch.

Hopefully, this has given you the inspiration to start your Christmas collection.

Enjoy