Last week was certainly...

...Christmas in July.

WARNING: Lots of photos so you might want to grab a cuppa before you go any further LOL

In addition to various challenge sites setting Christmassy themes, the folk at Catch the Bug had a week long challenge and a blog hop - and the folk at Wild Orchid Crafts joined forces with Lili of the Valley to have their own Christmas event. On top of this I won two lovely prizes which made it feel even more as if Christmas had arrived early.

However, if that wasn't enough...last week was also Dawn Bareham's monthly 'all-day' card workshop and if you haven't already guessed, the theme was Christmas in July - go figure LOL

As always, Dawn had some lovely creations lined up for us and we started with...
...a box...but look what is inside...
...a 'Snowman' book-style card.
The first two pages have phrases from the song 'Walking in the Air'.
They also have framed openings leading the eye through to...
...the decoupage scene on the back page. Although there was quite a bit of work to this card & box it was actually quite simple...but oh how lovely the finished item is. This is where it becomes difficult to even consider giving these cards away.

The next card was a triangular card made from scratch.
Now I am not, and never will be a great fan of the process of hand-cutting decoupage but this was the second card of the day and the second one where I had to cut out the decoupage bits...
...but I have to say it was worth it. My photos probably don't show the detail well enough but the Teddy & parcels at the foot of the tree do look rather effective.

Dawn's workshops always involve learning something. Sometimes it is a crafting technique or as with this time - the construction of different style/shaped cards.

The third card was based on a easel card but not only was it on it's side...
...it was also scored into 3 sections instead of the normal two.
When stood-up the card gives the effect of a bay window.

The final card was fiddly - not because of it's make up but because despite a brand new blade in the Cricut the doily design just did not want to cut so we all ended up cutting the design by hand.
This card is a rocker as the main part of the card is a shaped circle folded in half.
The decorative panel is mounted onto the rocker and all the edges of the red & green CS were inked gold.
The sentiment on the front was printed onto a tag and heat embossed with gold.
The card was finished off with a simple printed panel on the inside.

It was a fabulous day as usual and very busy. However, these workshops are always fun and it is great spending time with 'like-minded' folk and at the end of it coming away with four lovely cards............................