Now that Remembrance Day is over & the 100 bell rings were done at 5pm across Ontario ...
we are now seeing all the beginnings of Christmas being displayed. Many stores deferred putting out their Christmas / winter decorations & celebration pieces in respect to Remembrance Day services. Many conversations & arguments around whether it is respectful or not to wait for Christmas to be display until after November 11th .... this year there were more businesses waiting at least until noon of November 11th. The 100 bell rings were to mark that it was 100 years since the end of World War I - The Great War. In our little village our church is the only one with a bell.
Our church is preparing for the biggest fund raiser of the year - our Christmas Bazaar; one of the biggest draws is the money tree & the wine tree raffles. We are all asked to contribute a bottle of wine & a new five dollar bill for both of these "hot" items.
Last Sunday & Monday I attended card making workshops. The same cards were made at both classes. The Monday night workshop was one I organized for 8 of the folks at my church. Everyone had such a fun time, a lot of laughter. I've been asked to organize another for late January or February when everyone is feeling the winter blues. They loved the Stampin Up demonstrator. Below are the three cards we made. The card on the right is from Sunday's workshop, the one the left from Monday's workshop. Just little differences. I felt my tree ink blending turned out better at the Monday workshop. I changed my salutations from what was her models were on all the cards ... I am a rebel.
On the tree cards above, the Sunday night workshop card is on the bottom, the top one is from Monday night's workshop.
What lovely cards! I had never heard of a money tree raffle prize but what a great idea, I'm sure that will be a great fundraiser.
ReplyDeleteThanks Deb. Oh the wine raffle is the biggest seller of tickets ... 12 bottles for $5.00 ticket!
DeleteChristmas seems to have been visible in London's shops for a good few weeks ...
ReplyDeleteAh yes London - Christmas a perfect blend. I would like to see the wands display for the Magical Beasts premiere ...
DeleteYes I was thinking I wished they waited until November 11th here!
DeleteI like the cards - and I'm a rebel in changing up what I do from the examples too.
I like to have general greetings so that I can write a more specific message inside the card. In the city stores, I think Christmas, Thanksgiving & Halloween all blur together. Then we get hit with the American Black Friday - I find it too much greed.
DeleteChristmas exploded here on November 1st. Stores are already doing "Black Friday" sales and the crowds are already thick. I'm happy I started my shopping in October because I don't much care for being in stores once the crowds start.
ReplyDeleteLess than 24 hours after Remembrance Day it looks like Christmas threw up in the stores!
DeleteI started seeing Christmas items in Target before Halloween. It's earlier every year it seems.
ReplyDeleteThe money tree and wine tree raffles sound like they'd be easy to sell tickets to and fun to participate in.
The card-making workshops sound like they'd brighten up the darkest day. What fun!
The lady the puts the two raffles together does get creative with the display of each.
DeleteYep, we've had Christmas decorations up around here since Nov. 1, and a few before Halloween. Christmas displays are everywhere in the stores. Didn't they used to wait until after Thanksgiving. . . or am I just dreaming! All the cards are lovely. I especially love the beautiful trees on the last one. (And I think both bows are well done---just tied a bit differently.)
ReplyDeleteThe big chain stores have had all their Christmas stuff out for weeks. With a huge campaign on to buy from local individual stores, they are the ones mostly holding off the overlap of holidays. For us having Thanksgiving in early October, then halloween, it may be easier to hold off on Christmas. It's the Black Friday sales that drive me around the bend. Thanks about my bows, I'm getting better at the bunny ear technique - with more practise I think I'll get better at the ink blending.
DeleteGlad to hear that the workshop run by you was such a success. It does sound like fun.
ReplyDeleteFor the idiots among us (me), can you explain what a money/wine tree is? Do all the money/wine donations get hung on a tree which in itself becomes a raffle prize?
You are not an idiot ... the wine tree is actually a wine rack, which holds about 12 bottles, the whole thing gets auctioned off. I think tickets are $5.00 each. The money tree is a fake evergreen branch shaped into a triangle shape (tree) the bills are pinned to the branch, I cannot remember how the tickets are for it.
DeleteLove your cards! I got inspired at a "Stampin Up" workshop one year and bought all the gadgets, but my results were pitiful!
ReplyDeleteThanks Chris. You should see if your Stampin Up person in your area does card workshops, for me it is the only way I have gained any confidence in attempting to stamp. "My" demonstrator has all kinds of tips that have helped me be brave to that stamp commitment (col).
DeleteNot come across the 'Money Tree' idea for fund raising.
ReplyDeleteLovely selection of cards.
Thanks for stopping by both this week and last. Sorry I didn't get back to you before now.
I wasn't going to buy those snowflake dies as they're limited edition and not much time to demonstrate but I loved them so much I couldn't resist in the end!
So glad to see your postings ... I am definitely back & forth on the snowflake die cuts - it is rather an expensive set in our dollars & I have some flakes in other sets that might just have to do for now (col).
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