My Very First Stamp Camp

                                                                               

 

 

For the past 11 months I have been preparing for my first card making camp.

The venue was Avalon Homestead.  I have been on a few of Pat Carr's camps at Avalon and have always thought I would like to do one myself. I was lucky to get a spot as trying to get a date at the Homestead is almost impossible because they are so booked up in advance.  It is a lovely setting only 4kms from Toodyay in Western Australia. Peter and Delveen, the owners of the Homestead are the most lovely and accommodating people you could meet. So I've been doing my preps and the time finally came to pack my car and head to the Avon Valley. Actually it was my husbands car because I wouldn't have been able to fit it all in my little car because I had to pick up two other ladies to bring along.

I arrived early and set up with the help of my Mum, Jan and friend Cheryl. We were ready in plenty of time and had some time to settle and relax although it was very easy to set up. I was quite organised. The girls began to arrive and the Oohs and Ahhs began. I was quite pleased that they were impressed with the projects they were about to make over the next few nights and days.
Here below you can see our working space and that view is on three sides of the room. Gorgeous.

 

Avalon Homestead is really home away from home. Peter and Delveen do their utmost to make our time with them very relaxing and enjoyable. The meals are delicious and are real homely. The accommodation is superb. Some of the girls chose to stay in their room on their own while others shared with their friends. One naughty lady didn't go to bed at all for the first night and eventually went late on the second night.  Here are just a few pics I took. One is the hallway to our rooms and there are gorgeous little alcoves between each room with old relics from sewing, telephones, fire station info and more. You need to be there to appreciate all of the beautiful relics that are scattered around the place.

Beautiful homemade patchwork.

The view from our room.

One of us is missing

We managed to scrape ourselves away from our crafting
and feel the sunshine while we had our pics taken.

Well I guess you would like to see some of the projects that the girls made. Some of them are copies from Pinterest and I will endeavour to make a mention to the lovely ladies who shared the projects.

This is a copy from a friend Jan White. I am
not sure where she got it from. The stamp is
not a Stampin' Up! one but I thought it was
perfect for this particular project. The paper
is the gorgeous Floral Boutique DSP from SU!





The next one is a mini album. I saw this one on Pinterest on the Embrace Serendipity blog. Here she did a beautiful mini baby album. I made mine early in the piece and just recently we had to have our family Rottweiler put to sleep due to cancer so I have put some memories into this little album.

I have used various retired SU! DSP for this one so most of the ladies had their very own colour.

 

 

I do apologise for the next one because I cant remember where I got this idea from. It was a very simple project. One to relax with.

 

The next one I think was the first project I made for my camp. I got the idea from Bronwyn Eastley I think. The girls enjoyed doing this one. Of course I had already stamped most of the images and they had to cut them out.

 

 



Sweet Cupcakes was a favourite of mine. Please ignore the rough edges on the inside of this card. It seems that one of the ladies was not concentrating and glued the inside of her card to the inside of mine. Not mentioning any names. :) Unfortunately I didn't take my photos before the camp so some of them were damaged and I had to remake them. Some like the one below got a bit bent but I haven't had the chance to remake this one.

 



Stars and Stripes was the next one which was a very simple one. Some of the girls got a bit frustrated poking the little holes in the cardstock.

This next one I almost scrapped because I thought it was too simple but it seems that it was quite a favourite among the ladies. A couple even put an order in so that they could make this card at home. Not everyone thinks the same as me I guess. This one was made with the Irresistibly Floral DSP which is already embossed and they just sponged over with Bermuda Bay Ink. I am not sure if you can see the Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper as the base for the butterfly.

I love this card. Garden In Blooms. Also made with Irresistibly Floral DSP and Rich Razzleberry Ink. I think this one has a Carolyn King look about it.

 

The fish card I cased from Priscilla stamps This is a very clever idea. I have thought of other ideas since seeing this one. This card uses Seaside Shore Stamp set and By The Shore DSP from SU!

I used Garden In Bloom again for this card. I just love this stamp set. I have also used Vellum and then turned the Vellum over and traced on the inside with the scoring tool to get the white shading.



The Fruit Crate you will have to go here to see it because I gave mine away to one of the ladies who hadn't got around to making it. I used the Fruit Stand DSP for this one. Another of Bronwyn Eastley's lovely projects.

Time for a masculine card although it doesn't have to be. I really enjoyed making this card. I saw the gate on Pinterest and adjusted the card to my liking.

The box album was another project I enjoyed making. I made it in blue because our son was married in February and their colour they chose for the wedding was blue. I did soften the photos though so the true colour did not come out. I will give this to them now that I have finished with it.

Tarnished Foil is the next project. The girls enjoyed making this one. Another masculine one which is always good. I finished it off with Timeless Textures with a hint of gold on the leaves and grid.
For the tarnished foil look ( I used aluminium but you can use the Silver Foil from SU!) you need to adhere some alfoil or SU! foil to a piece of card and then go over it with Staz On Black. Place a scrap piece of paper over the top and run it through the Big Shot using the Hexagon Dynamic Embossing Folder. Once that has been done dab with Versamark and scatter gold, copper and silver Embossing Powder and heat set. You can also run the card through the reverse side of the Embossing Folder which looks great.

This one is a favourite of mine. I found this one on Billie Moan's website and I made it straight away for our grand daughters 20th birthday because it was just her. She has been dancing since she was two years old and still dancing.  Here are a couple of photos of our grand daughter. We are so proud of her. These were taken at dance comps.

Here is the card.

I took ages to purchase Wetlands. I kept wanting it but other products seemed to come before it. I finally purchased it and here it is.

Pat Carr gave all the Stamparoos at Ngaire Anderson's meeting one night a note book to keep in our bags when we are out and about. Carolyn King cased the notebook and adjusted it slightly. This particular one was made by Carolyn and you can get the dimensions here if you wish to make one.

 

 

I saw a card ages ago on Anni Kartens blog and so wanted to make it but Stampin' Up! did not have tiny envelope framelits so I thought I was going to have to make them up myself. That was until they decided to bring out the gorgeous little Love notes Framelit Dies. They are in the Occasions catalogue until 31st May 2017 so be quick if you wish to purchase a set. We never know if they will continue products from the Occasions catalogues. This card is also using the Sending Love DSP.

 



Hey Chick! This one was a real favourite at the camp. Some of the girls have chickens so we had some pretty nicely coloured chickens amongst our cards. Unfortunately this stamp set is no longer available as it was a Sale-A-Bration item. Isnt it cute. I cased the idea from Beths Paper Cuts

The Ladybird Thank you card was cased from Natalie Lapakko on her Stamp Witch Blog and you can get the dimensions from here

Sheltering Tree is another favourite. You can have all seasons with this stamp set.

 

Pop Up Box Card is next. I wanted to use DSP for this one but because it was getting close to camp time there was no time to purchase some that I could use for 20 ladies at one time. I ended up using cardstock for the box which is okay but it would have been better to use DSP. This one was probably the most trickiest one to make because you have to have your measurements correct and have the pieces the correct way around. We used a few extra card pieces for this one. You can find the tutorial  on You Tube

Nearly there!
I chose to do another masculine card with Lovely As A Tree. This one is an easel card. I have inked the tree with Always Artichoke and Chocolate Chip and then huffed on the stamp and stamped my cardstock. I had the clear Embossing Powder ready before the ink had a chance to dry. It came up really well although you probably cant see it in the photo.

 

The very last project was my favourite. It is a Dome card in a box. I have had an order for this one for a wedding which I will post once the wedding day is over. I cased this one from here

I adjusted the size because I wanted to save as much cardstock as I could because it does use quite a bit. I have used Pool Party and stamped the Timeless love flowers in Pool Party Ink.  The girls really liked this one. Very easy too.

 

 

Well that's my camp for 2017. I was very lucky to score a date for 2018 and I hope to manage one the following year but we shall just have to wait and see. I have no more spots left for next years camp so I am guessing they were all very happy.

Oh but there is more!!!!!

The girls made me cry by giving me this gorgeous album (made by Cheryl Houghton- a very talented lady and a dear friend) Pat Carr and Cheryl had all the girls make a little card that Cheryl had prepared. I was so touched by this and did not expect it at all. The girls said I kept coming around nearby when they were trying to make their cards. I didn't even notice. They also gave me a Visa card with $250 on it to help out with an Aromatherapy Course that I intend to do. I literally sobbed as this was such a kind gesture. I didn't do this camp to get recognition. I did it because I wanted my lovely ladies who come to my classes experience what it is like to get together for a few days doing what we love and sharing each others company. You also get to know each other more. I cant wait for the next one. Here is the album. There is also room for me to write my journal of my very first Camp.

Cheryl had the little cards already cut out and the girls had to do their own designs using what was in the boxes from the projects. They then had to write a little something inside. They are so special and I will cherish them always. Thank you girls.