'Twas The Night Before Catmas

'Twas The Night Before Catmas

Twas the night before Catmas
When all through the house
Not an animal was stirring,
Not even the mouse.

The kittens were snuggled
And tucked in their beds,
While visions of craft goodies
Danced in their heads.

Their stockings were hung
By the craftroom with care,
In hope that Father Catmas
Soon would be there.

Out on the rooftop
There arose such a hissing,
I knew Father CatmasWas having trouble parking.
I jumped on the couch,

Stuck my nose to the curtain.
"Here he is!",
I purred"It is him,
I'm certain."

What to my deep blue eyes
Should appear,
But Father Catmas himself
In his Cat sled gear.

He purred and he purred,
But through the kitty door he went,
Then stopped and smelled the air
As he picked up a scent.

The cat cookies we left him
Were by the back door.
The kittens had baked them
Not an hour before.

He went about his work
With never a sigh,
Filling the stockings
With goodies piled high.

He waved at me
With his mighty paw.
Although I was hiding,
'Twas my little nose he saw.

Out the kitty door he went
In oh such a rush,
Jumped on his cat sled
And yelled out, "MUSH!"

The Wightcat Craft team
Were raring to go.
They hated 'stand stay',
Especially in the snow.

I could hear him purring
As he disappeared that night,
"Merry Catmas to all!
OK team, turn rrrrright!"

Don't be Square - New Flexigrids

Good News is that Parchcraft Australia are bringing our some new Flexigrids, these are circular and Oval.
If you are lucky enough to already own their Straight and Diagonal Flexigrids then you will be certain to like these as well!

The new grids are on their way to us as this email goes to press, so they should be arriving in the UK very soon. Be sure to order yours early!
http://www.wightcat.com/crafts/parchment-flexi-circle.htm
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New Parchment Craft Kits coming soon! Watch this space!
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Happy Crafting!

Craft Workshop

New Craft Workshops for Autumn

This week a new schedule of workshops for September through to December has come out.
The list is going up on the web in the next couple of days. Make sure you pick up a leaflet when you come into the shop.

Cardmaking is now twice a month on the 1st and 4th Saturday of the month. This months theme is Unusual Shaped cards....

Scrapbooking with Kate is back with September's theme of Mini Books and Picture Frames.

There is also a display in the shop of some of Kate's Scrapbooking pages, which are absolutely gorgeous.

Have you seen the cards Hilary has made from Martha Ospina's new book My Passion My Parchment, they are stunning. If you want to learn to do Parchment Craft ask about the New Beginners Parchment Workshop is starting in September.

Keep Crafting!

scrapbooking my life

One of the biggest debates in the scrapbooking world is what you scrap. Do you scrap the big occasions, the birthdays, holidays, weddings, births....or do you use your scrapbook to record the little things, little stories, quirks, odd moments that aren't really a special event, but make you happy and are worth recording?

I think for me, everything is worth recording. I don't scrap chronologically (in that I don't stack my photos up and say "well, I can't work on this pile until I've finished that pile"). I organise my photos by theme, or by occasion (whichever works best....that's a post for another day) and I make pages about the things that I feel are important or interesting. Sometimes I scrap about what we did, sometimes I scrap about how I feel.

That's what I love about this hobby: there are no rights and wrongs. If something works for YOU - then that's all it needs to do. There are so many different styles and formats, so many different papers to play with...it's easy to get overwhelmed. So just remember that you are doing this for you - and there is no-one else you have to please.

kate x

Why I am so Happy?

Well you know how it is one day is pretty much the same as the next and before you know it they have merged together and its another Year that gone rushing by.

Yes you've guessed it I am another year older !

and Wiser ? Don't think so !

and Happier? Most definitely !

What makes me happier is sharing my time with my Beautiful Wife Hilary, who gets more and more beautiful each year, whilst I just get older and Grayer!

But what makes my Birthday so special each year is that it's also our Wedding Anniversary aswell.

Here are the two cards I got from Hilary.

This card was embossed using the Cuttlebug before being coloured and finished with a 3d-decoupage parrot.

This card made use of a peel off which was enhanced by colouring with Sakura pens, the centre of the card was cut out to show the rubber stamped insert paper.

So I just want to say Hilary I Love you lots

Cardmaking Workshop 28th July

Cardmaking Workshop 28th July

In my workshop this month we had the theme of "Tags".

The room was packed to capacity, and it was a real hive of creativity, and noisy too with everyone throwing ideas around.














Everyone came up with fantastic cards!
















We always have a laugh at the workshops!






I am sure everyone enjoyed themselves because I had lovely feedback

Here are some photos of the cards June made in the workshop- Brilliant!!



















Next month we are making " Different Shaped" Cards....so a craft knife, craft mat and pointy scissors are the must have items for my next workshop.
For a list of our workshops click here

Have you seen this page?

My first published page - in this month's Scrapbook Inspirations magazine (page 82). It feels like such a long time ago - the photos are of our holiday last August, I created the page in October, and I answered the call for publication about 3 months ago!

It's a really simple way to show off several photos - none of them were enough for a single-photo page. A good tip for holiday photos (of which I had about 500) is to go through and arrange them according to topic - so although these pictures were all taken on different days and in different places, they all came under the 'transport' heading, which made planning my pages much easier.

Using lots of photos can be tricky, but by overlapping them like this they don't overwhelm the page. Mount the photos on contrasting card or paper, and trim it to a very thin border (mine is probably a fraction of an inch). This gives it just enough to 'stand out' from the page, without overwhelming the other photos.

Yes, those are original tram tickets in there - I know they're not acid free, but by mounting my photos on acid-free paper, this protects them from the tickets. If you're really worried about preservation, you could always use plastic pockets or laminate your items (though remember that some tickets are printed on thermal paper so you must use cold laminating pouches).

The title was handcut from funky foam - we have a great selection of this in the shop, but I do like neutral colours for effective titles, especially as the green on this page is so vivid. The green felt flower was also handmade, so I could cut it to exactly the right size for my page. If you're not so keen on the hand-cutting, there are plenty of ready-made flowers for you to choose from.

Have a go at doing some multi-photo pages for your summer album!

Kate x

One and two

One set of papers, two different looks.

This beautiful nautical paper forms the basis for our next workshop - this Saturday. They're not just photo frames, they're mini albums as well. A choice of accent colours means it's really easy to achieve a unique look to suit your photos. I think Mindy looks particularly chic in this black and white picture :)

Kate x

Parchment Fairies

The Fairies have arrived!
Here is a sneak preview of some of the pictures in the new Japanese Parchment Fairies 2007

For more information, have a look here

http://www.wightcat.com/crafts/japanese_books.htm

So much fun

I keep meaning to share the fun we have in our workshops, and for one reason or another, I haven't managed to yet - no camera, no batteries, forgetting to take photos until everyone has left...

For May, though, I managed it, mostly. Which is quite fitting as I think it's a year since we began the process of scrapbooking and cardmaking workshops (Mum, correct me if I'm wrong). In that time my style has certainly changed, and so has everyone else's....it's been fascinating to see everyone grow in confidence, try new things, and enjoy the process. Scrapbooking is more than just about the pages - it's about the memories and stories that we share. And in the same way, the workshops are more than just about making something - we chat, we share ideas, we share our stories, we share our stash. I think (and hope) that everyone enjoys the projects that we make, but I know for sure that everyone enjoys the chance to spend some time together, doing something fun.





Don't forget that next month our workshop is on 16th June, and I will post a sample of the project so you can all bring the photos you need :)

Kate x

Do you believe in Fairies ?

Well we do, so we have searched high and low to find them !

New from Japan "Parchment Fairies 2007"

For further details of this Parchment Craft book from Japan see

http://www.wightcat.com/crafts/japanese_books.htm

April Oriental ATC Swaps

We had a fantastic number of entries in our April ATC Oriental Swap, which is now completed hopefully all those that entered should have received their swap now.

Visit http://www.wightcat.com/crafts/atc-swap2.htm to see more

May Newsletter

The May Newsletter is now available see http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wightcat_crafts/

ATC Reminder

Don't forget, if you haven't made your ATC's there are only 2 weeks left till the end of the April ATC Swap. Everyone is welcome to join us and if you would like more information about the Swaps have a look at our website www.wightcat.com or email me on crafts@wightcat.com
Hilary

Abanico

I've just finished fan no 21 from Julies new book and here it is! Do you like it? It was fun to make. Comments always appreciated :)

Hilary

World Exclusive new book Abanico Parchment Fans

Wightcat Crafts
is very proud to introduce a very new and exciting book
created by our own Julie Roces

Abanico Parchment Fans
In this new book, Julie has 27 completely new fan designs she has created and worked on.Each finished fan is shown in colour with smaller pictures showing fine details and whitework. The patterns for each fan are separate and printed in full size, which will enable you to follow the instructions.

We sell worldwide from our website and this book is only available from Wightcat in the UK

Check out our website for details
http://www.wightcat.com/

Wanna see?

In all its glory....see you tomorrow!

Kate x

Workshop next weekend

Just a couple of peeks at the page we'll be doing at next weekend's workshop...bit more technique-driven than usual, and certainly a very different style - it'll be interesting to see how everyone uses this! Don't forget, we're working with one large picture (I used an 8x10)

Kate x

Weekend Special

We've got some really good offers on our website this weekend, so have a look at www.wightcat.com and pick up some good deals only available until Midnight on Sunday!

ATC's

The first of the ATC's for the Swap have started arriving and I have to say they are awesome!!

Here's one I've made a start on, this is a Parchment ATC.

ATC Swap

Here we go!!

We are hosting our first ATC swap. It should be lots of fun and we need everyone to sign up for it. We are running 2 swaps, one for everyone who likes the usual type of ATC's and because we know lots of you are into Parchment Craft we are doing one with Parchment as well.

Have a look at the details on our website http://www.wightcat.com/ and if you need any more info please email us crafts@wightcat.com

All the ATC's need to arrive at the shop by the end of February (please include a stamped addressed envelope if you are in the UK or an International Reply coupon for anyone overseas)

So come and join us!!

New year - more layouts!

Just a quick one - we are all still here, honest!

Already January is flying past and it's business as usual at the shop. Our new opening times mean we are now CLOSED ON MONDAYS - but you can still place your orders online.

Thought I'd share a quick layout with you - this was from our scrapping workshop earlier this month. Some Christmassy pictures and I've used felt to create my own accents - I'm loving the unique look you can create by making your own page accents.

Next workshop is Sat Feb 10th - drop us a line for more info.

Kate x