Christmas Craft Parties

Well it is coming up that time of year.  Argggg some would say, and to be honest, when the first Christmas craft displays started showing themselves in the local shops in late August I had to immediately text everyone I knew to demonstrate my disgust at how early Christmas had started...However!!!!! I have decided there is too little time, when now in October, I have far too much to do!  I declared this year there would be 'NO MORE' Handmade Christmas cards for anyone and so far all the card making items are still safely stashed away in their respective boxes.  Don't let me fool you  though, there is Christmas everywhere in my craft room!

This year I am branching out into giving crafty parties and workshops.  After my very successful demo to the lovely WI from Dorchester I now have a party and another workshop booked.  As Christmas is nearing the theme for these will be ..... (wait for it).....CHRISTMAS (surprised?). 

Here are some of my creations, I will be making them into kits to buy so you can make them yourself or if your local you could always book a party and you and your friends can make some while having a glass of wine and friendly banter.  

Here we have two handbag boxes, lidded box, exploding box and a treat pocket.

Here is a close up of the treat  pocket.  An easy little craft which can be used for teacher gifts, friend gifts, tree decorations or even advent calendars.

This is the exploding Box close up.  Once the lid is removed the sides fall down to reveal a card and 3D Christmas tree.

Here are some of the creations the ladies at my last party created! We had a wonderful time and I was so impressed at all those creative juices flowing around!

Everyone got the chance to make a Handbag box with card and a treat pouch.  There was also time for some tea and cake and a raffle!  What a wonderful afternoon.  Thank you ladies.

If you would be interested in a party or demonstration don't hesitate to contact me on bouncytigglet@hotmail.com.  Keep checking here as new courses will be added soon.

Handbags at dawn!

Well it was nearly handbags at dawn! I was up early enough preparing some of these beauties for a craft demo I gave today for the lovely ladies of the Dorchester WI.  

What a fantastic few hours with a lovely bunch of ladies making these bags.  I really wish I had taken photos of their creations as there were some truly wonderful bags made.  These humble offerings were mine.  The larger ones are made from 12x12" scrapbook heavyweight papers, the middle sized one was 9x9" and the baby one 6x6".  The card you can see was an example of the cards we made to go inside!

Also hidden among these luscious girly bags is a 'man bag' (without a handle!) it is meant to look like a mans shirt, the tie lifts with the collar to reveal the box inside.  The paper I used for this was 12x11".

'But what could I do with them? I mean they look nice but...' I might hear you say.  Well in the past I have bought large tins of sweets and split them up between the bags so my daughter can give them as thank you presents to her teachers.  (that is if there are any sweets left I have tested a few out...wouldn't want to give them gone off sweets would I!)  Other ideas? maybe you could roll up a pair of socks, or pop in a lipstick and a mini tube of hand cream.  I occasionally sell my jewellery in them as they provide a good open space inside and look fab.

If you would like to see how to make these bags I did a tutorial a few years ago which you can find on this blog under tutorials, or follow this link http://alltcrafty.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/handbag-tutorial.html there are a few differences as I have developed the design since creating this video.

Happy bagging!!!!