Christmas in July

I have some good friends with the same quilting/mixed media interests as me and we meet every month or so for a play day. We pick a theme or project, and work on it together. This latest one was to each come up with ideas for a wee project to start us on the way to Christmas!
My idea came from Ruth Rae's wonderful book, which I recently got for my birthday.
Her book is fabulous, with very clear instructions. We made cards from scraps. The coolest things was sewing organza over text or music. I will definitely be using this technique again.Left to right : Katherine's, My card, Lisa's. It is cool to see how we each approach things and how the finished cards are individualised. We always learn lots from each other.Katherine showed us how to stitch felt and organza together to make lovely christmas stars. This is mine finished. The velvet is layered over felt, and free motion swirls are stitched with metallic thread over the top.
Lisa's technique was to try a stencil with moulding paste pressed through. We cut a simple shape out of acetate, and then smoothed the moulding paste over the top. When dry, we coloured it with chalk. I tried letters too.Not a great pic, but hopefully you can see that the moulding paste is raised and is textured so creates a cool effect.
Another fun day, with some lovely friends. And lots of ideas to pursue in the future.