Festival of Trees – Christmas again already?

Yep, I’m at it again! I’m sharing Christmassy stuff in January! Have you noticed that Festival of Trees, along with some of the other lovely stamp sets, punches and framelits (among other things) have carried forwards from the Autumn/Winter seasonal catalogue into the Spring/Summer seasonal? I know it seems a little odd to be pleased about carryovers when there are so many lovely new products to drool over and get excited about, but this is really great news.

Firstly, there are very few Christmassy items in the Annual Catalogue any more – they have all been moved into the seasonal offerings. As such, if you like to get crafting for Christmas early, SU wouldn’t have had anything for you to buy to have something “new to you” if you wanted new stamps in the summer, say. Also, some of the sets, like Wonderous Wreath, are gorgeous when presented in different colourways and used for seasons outside of the “festive” one. So I’m really pleased that that is another one (with is coordinating framelits) which has carried forwards. Of course, there are always some which don’t, like Holiday Home, and White Christmas, both of which I am very sad about as they were also great for non-Christmas cards, but they can’t carry everything forwards!

So, on to todays share:

Okay, so there are only two things about this tag which are “Christmassy” – the Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details, and the red ribbon! If you wanted to use this tag for a gardening-themed present, for example, no-one could tell you it wasn’t appropriate. The little flowers are just that – flowers! And plenty of people have plants and trees in pots so that’s not “Christmas-specific” either 🙂

So you could either get ready mega-early (as I’ve said before, how about making a few Christmas cards each month so you don’t have to do tons at the end of the year when things are busy enough anyway!), or just make a few of these pretty tags in different colours to have ready for those present-giving occasions throughout the year? How about a retirement present for a gardener, for example? Or a Mother’s Day flower? Or, or, or….

And the Scalloped Tag Topper punch is available in the Annual Catalogue, along with the Angled Tag Topper, or did you notice the new one in the Spring/Summer seasonal catalogue? There’s an Ornate Tag Topper punch now, too! (Page 35, in case you can’t spot him.) These punches are very versatile as they can be used for much more than just tags – how about bookmarks, or boxes, or gatefold card closures…? The possibilities are seemingly endless! The longer these punches are around, the more uses creative crafters seem to come up with of how to use them! Take a look on Pinterest or YouTube for some inspiration.

I hope you like today’s share, and it gives you a little “food for thought”. For those of you who saw my message on Facebook over the weekend, I believe that I now have a plan of what projects we will make on Saturday at my open house event, and if the samples turn out how I hope they will, it’ll be great! We will be using a couple of different stamp sets and one of the new thinlit dies – I just need to get them out this week and have a play with them to make the samples up and probably write some instructions. All being well, I will also share the project details on here after the weekend (so as not to spoil it for my attendees!). There will also be some of the new “toys” to try out, like the bow builder punch… he ought to arrive today! So on that note I will leave you to have a fabulous day, and I hope that you are able to join me on the 31st. Just don’t forget to book your place so that I have a project pack ready for you.