Merry and Bright

This was the name for my Spellbinders class taught by Kim Kesti for Spellbinders at my #cropandcreatedelivered event aka "the big box". I was moaning about the number of die cut pieces from last years event for their wee dancing elf  HERE but compared to  this year I didn't know how many die cuts it was possible to put on a card. I was really organised this time around plus much more confident I could do it! Here's the sneak peek before I got started of how many die-cuts I'm using in 2023....

We were very lucky we received as part of our kit swag this time this wee divided dish from SCT but as you can see I needed probably 3 of them for this class. All the cardstock was provided by Spellbinders and we received brushed gold, 2 greens, 2 pinks, 2 reds, 1 pale blue and their Snowdrift White (which I love). Also pictured in the fab stick on gems we received as well called Spectrum AB (for Aurora Borealis) and gosh do they sparkle and take on the hue of the colours around them. It didn't really take that long to die cut all the bits if I'm honest and we got to make THREE fab cards from all the bits.

The fab sneak peek above to whet our appetite and what we actually received in our kit other than cardstock: All Occasions Bow die set, Merry & Bright Tree die set, Petite Blooms & Sentiments die set and Peppermint Strips embossing folder. No stamps which was a first.

I always chop the packaging down I receive so it fits in the smallest Avery Elle storage pockets that I can get it in whilst retaining any relevant pictures and also put the dies on magnet sheets here. I love that I don't have to chop apart their dies.

Now one of the best tricks I learnt in this class was how to get really small gem stickers of the acetate I'm sure I'm not the only person that chases them about trying to lift up with the edge of my scissors or a stabber jabber, look at how Kim did it as demonstrated by moi (and let me assure you I'm holding my tweezers in my left hand to take the photo which wasn't that easy). Now these are a pair of Sizzix tweezers with pointed ends and they don't lock but it was so easy to squeeze and lift especially if you're holding the tweezers in your dominant hand.

Now for my fab 3 cards all lined up together:

Looking at my book I thought the bow was just a really fancy gift tag and it could be but it's actually a shaped card!

And a close look up of the other "white" card:

Looking at my photo I may need to add a bit more glue under my ampersand. We also made the gold star for the card above by adding ultrafine gold glitter to an adhesive sheet stuck to a piece of white cardstock and burnishing into the adhesive sheet with your finger. Kim says making your own is more glittery than bought and I think she may be right but its messier.

And last but not least and this was the most fiddliest and I wouldn't recrate "as is" as it really used so many die-cuts but lots of examples in our albums of something similar with less die-cuts:

Now none of these have been released by Spellbinders and I've seen a Christmas release from them for 2023 already, so it maybe all exclusive but often they do release part of what we get after the event so stay tuned, I think everything is fab and worth adding to your stash. 

Well that was the sum of my day 2 creating again with only one class completed. Scrapbook and Cards Today (SCT) also made a HUGE announcement at the wrap up for this day that they're stepping back a bit and in 2024 they're doing smaller events which are one day and you receive one stamp, die set and stencil and THREE tutors make 3 cards each with the kit. The cost is a lot cheaper and seems really worthwhile and much more affordable so I've signed up for the first one in early February. They still plan to do one "big box" next year but again the Fall one in late September and I was actually thinking that I probably wouldn't do a Fall box again as I've now done two with them and if I'm honest we don't do Fall cards in NZ or snow either; so now this announcement has thrown a spanner in my thinking but I think it is the right decision so feeling a bit sad no more "big boxes" for me but re-arranging my wee crafty space to fit in 16 kits every six months is quite hard as it's pretty full.

Until I see you again thanks for popping in.

✿ Karen ✿