"Merry Christmas"

Wishing You All a Very Merry Christmas

and

A Happy New Year 2011 !

Enjoy the holidays, however you celebrate them, and I'll catch up with you all again next year.

What's this White Stuff?

During the very cold spell of weather we had last week, Mia experienced being out in the snow for the first time.  There wasn't a great deal of actual snow, but the flakes that came down were quite large and she enjoyed leaping up and trying to catch some of them.  I don't think she knew what to make of all that "white stuff" though! 

  

Check out the bushy tail - all fluffed up because of the snowflakes !



A few days ago we decided to put up the Christmas decorations - we set up the tree, tested the fairy lights, decorated it with lots of tinsel and baubles.  We put up garlands and tinsel streamers around the room and Graham festooned more fairy lights around the bay window in our front room.  All the while, Mia was investigating what we were doing - checking out the box of baubles, running off with tinsel, exploring under the tree, sniffing the lights - absolutely no problem, nor had she with the decorations in the hall.

Then we put up some tinsel garlands in our living room - well, what a pallaver that turned out to be!  Mia saw what we were doing and went and hid behind the television for ages, too scared to come out, despite all our coaxings.  After a while she made a dash for the stairs and hid in the bedroom, until I picked her up and carried her back down, wriggling like mad and "shrieking" - I cuddled her and tried settling her on my lap, but she kept peering up to look at the tinsel then immediately buried her head in my arms so that she couldn't see it.  I thought she was finally getting used to it, but then she spotted some on another wall and that was it - up she jumped and fled behind the curtains, before once more going behind the TV.  No matter what we did, none of us could coax her out.  It wasn't until we all came to bed and switched off the lights that she ventured out and came upstairs to spend the night in our bedroom (as per usual).

Next morning, all seemed well - Mia was as perky and playful as ever whilst we were showering and dressing, but refused to come downstairs with us for her breakfast.  Once again, we had to carry her down and once again she wriggled and screamed in fear.  Sooooo ..... that was it ..... the tinsel had to go!  I pulled it all down and Mia was happy again.  We just can't figure why she took so against the tinsel in the living room, but is absolutely fine with it everywhere else in the house - Graham believes it's because she thinks of the living room as her safe place (it's where she spent most time the first few weeks we had her) and was scared by the tinsel being in it. 

What a comic Mia is - never a dull moment these days with her around! 

Brrrr!!!

....... how's everyone doing in this freezing cold weather?  We've been lucky here not to have had any real snow (so far), just a few flakes, but it's definitely feeling Arctic with frozen and slippy pavements.  It was like an ice rink in our garden where water had frozen over the paving slabs.  I hope the rest of you are all keeping warm and safe, if you're surrounded by snow and finding it difficult to get out and about.  Wonder if we'll have another White Christmas this year?

I've now swapped out all the ATCs and Xmas Triptychs for the last swaps of the year and hopefully they'll all be posted out tomorrow.  Here are pics of the four Triptychs I received for the swap ..... aren't they lovely and all with a nostalgic Christmassy feel to them ......

Sheila's

Chris's

Sandra's

Hilda's

As I mentioned in a previous post, I won't be running any swaps during December, but hopefully will come up with some new ones again after the New Year.   

It's all been happening in Blackpool!

Well, it seems that Blackpool was THE place to be this weekend!  I've been going along to some of Blackpool Football Club's home games - it's within walking distance of my house, it's a good afternoon's entertainment in the fresh air, with a good-natured crowd - and this weekend our opponents were Wolves (we won 2-1).  Little did I know that Prince William (complete with blue baseball cap) was also at the match, not tucked away in the director's box but in the stands with the rest of the crowd - he was spending the day in Blackpool on a "stag do" with friends and was also seen later enjoying some of the rides at the Pleasure Beach.  The media are now, of course, speculating that he was checking out the resort for his own "stag" celebrations next year!

And then, Saturday night, "Strictly Come Dancing" was televised from our own Tower Ballroom (the mecca of ballroom dancing) - tickets for this event are like gold dust, a friend of mine has been trying to get tickets for us for this event for the past couple of years, without success.  I've been watching the show each week on TV and there are some wonderful celebrity dancers this year - my favourites have to be Matt Baker and Kara Tointon - but I cannot believe that Ann Widdecombe is still in the show; I was sure this was the week she'd be voted out but no, it wasn't ....... sorry, Ann, but the 'dance' routines aren't funny anymore and poor Anton now looks like he wants to be put out of his misery as her partner .... definitely time to go and make way for the better dancers now.

Now .... just a reminder that the "Movers & Shakers" ATCs and Christmas Triptychs are due to me in a week's time. I hope everyone's getting on well with making them, but I know how busy everyone must be starting to feel with Christmas starting to appear large on the horizon, so if you're likely to be a day or two late, please let me know. As this is such a busy time of the year and we all grow short of time, I've decided not to run an ATC swap in December ........ I'll think up some new swaps for after the New Year and hope that's okay with everyone.

What a Night!

It looks like Lancashire took one of the biggest hits with the heavy winds (80 mph here in Blackpool) last night so I hope none of my fellow Lancastrians suffered any big damage.  The wind didn't sound too bad at the front of the house where our bedroom is, but in the bathroom you could really hear it roaring outside and it set up a very weird and ghostly-sounding high pitched whistle - creepy!  This morning we found a tile had blown off the roof and a few more have become dislodged, so we're now waiting for a roofer to come and take a look at what needs repairing (roofers were in very big demand today!!!) .... apart from that, we seem to have escaped fairly well.  But neighbours had several fence panels blown down and someone else had a lot of their roof tiles blow down and smash through their conservatory!  In Blackpool, some of the scaffolding at the top of the Tower blew down so the roads beneath were cordoned off, an estimated £1,000,000 worth of damage was done to the Illuminations and one of the sails was blown off the Windmill on the seafront at nearby Lytham ..... thankfully, no-one here appears to have been injured.  Tonight all is calm again, thank goodness.

I've not been able to craft much lately, but I did receive my beautiful altered book home again and as promised, here are pictures of all the pages everyone contributed ....... there were quite a few blank pages at the end of the book so I plan to turn them into an extra "shaker niche" type page and I've still to decorate the front and back covers.  The title/theme of my book is "Flights of Imagination".

My Pages - Collaged, Painted, Stamped

Ali's Pages - "Found Poetry" Technique

Liz's Pages - "Window Technique" (1)

Liz's Pages - "Window Technique" (2)

Mel's Pages - "Tipped-In Tags" Technique (1)

Mel's Pages - "Tipped-In Tags" Technique (2)

Barbara's Pages - "Folded Pages" Technique with inserted ATCs

Mima's Pages - "Karen Whimsey" Technique

Sandra's Pages - Own Choice Technique

These pages are all so beautiful and wonderful to see and touch close up, I'm very happy with how it turned out and hope to alter some more old books in the coming year - maybe some of you will be inspired to have a go at altering an old book too.

I can't believe how quickly November is moving along - and I'm looking forward to seeing your "moving and shaking" ATCs coming in for this month's swap, as well as the Christmas Triptychs .... still time to join up to one or both swaps though, if anyone is considering having a go.

Bonfire Night

I have to admit to being a real "scaredy cat" when it comes to bonfire night - I do like to see the dazzling bursts of colour as the fireworks explode across the night sky and I don't mind sparklers, but I'm not fond of the big bangs and the nearest I want to be to the fireworks is behind the safety of a window (or TV screen)!!!  Graham, on the other hand, has always loved bonfire night so for many years, especially when Max was younger, I've gone along to the local fireworks displays or stood at a safe distance in the garden whilst he let the rockets, volcanoes, starbursts, catherine wheels and roman candles off.  So I hope for those of you who enjoy this night, that you've had a safe and happy one and that your pets have all been tucked up safely at home too. 

Mia has been okay - it got very noisy earlier on and she was a bit uncertain as to what was going on, but it didn't stop her looking out through the window to watch the rockets shooting up into the sky.  Now all is quiet and she's curled up asleep on her cushion at the side of me as I type.  Max had been to the local shop on an errand for me at the start of the night and came in furious, because he'd seen a dog (spaniel type) running down the middle of the road, obviously unnerved by all the loud bangs going off around it, and cars having to slow down or swerve to avoid it.  There was no-one with it so it had either escaped from someone's garden or, even worse, someone wasn't bothered that their pet was running around alone and afraid in the dark.  It ran off down the road too fast for Max to be able to catch it (if that had even been possible) but he was disgusted, to say the least - he absolutely can't stand any kind of cruelty to animals at all!

It also looked like there'd been a bit of an incident too, up the road from us - there was an ambulance blocking the road and a police car, outside a house where some new people have just moved in this week.  Several people were standing around in the road, but we didn't see who had been put in the ambulance - I know there are young children in the family that moved in and I'm guessing they might have been having a bonfire party, so I do hope that if anyone has been injured as a result of a firework accident, that it's not too serious.  The daughter of some friends of ours was injured by an exploding firework a few years back - she did recover, but it was pretty traumatic at the time.

Now - to something more arty.  I've just received a link to a new blog by Laura Carson, an American lady who creates beautiful artwork and some of whose ATCs I'm lucky enough to own.  Laura will be posting instructions for some of the techniques she uses in her art (check out the wonderful stained glass effect one) and will also be having a draw every month where you can win a piece of her art.  So I would highly recommend that you check out her Artfully Musing blog right now - you'll love it!

NOVEMBER ATC SWAP - "MOVERS AND SHAKERS"

I had such fun creating the "shaker niche" into the pages I made for the altered book round robin (see previous post) that I thought it would be a good idea for this month's ATC swap.  You can make your cards in any style you like, to any theme you like, but you must include something that moves or shakes on each card - it might be a shaker niche as I have done, something that opens like a door or window, maybe a tag that swings - these are just suggestions ..... I'm sure you can all be inspired to create your own "movers and shakers" and I'm looking forward to seeing all your cards.  (Details of the swap are posted in the sidebar).

The "Things that Go Bump in the Night" ATCs are now all swapped out and I'll be popping along to the post office shortly so they'll be with you in the next few days.  Thanks to all who joined, I loved seeing all the spooky ATCs you created and I hope you all enjoyed making them.

Don't you just "love" the Internet? ......

Grrrr!!!!  There I was, typing up this post last night, just about to check and upload it, when our whole internet connection went down - funny peculiar how it always seems to do this when the weather is horrendous outside (it was bucketing it down and blowing a gale!) ..... neither myself nor Max could get back online and I went to bed feeling very exasperated at the thought that everything I'd meant to post had been lost!  (It's as frustrating as the times I've gone to delete one character in a long text message and instead it's deleted the whole lot ..... aaagh!!!).  Anyway, with much relief, I've just discovered that most of the post had saved before the system went down, so here it is complete .......

I haven't had a lot of time for much creating as it's been quite a busy week one way or another (including a trip to the dentist - just a check up!), but I did manage to spend a couple of hours yesterday finishing off some pages for an Altered Book Round Robin.  For these final pages we could do what we wanted (in previous months we've worked to set techniques and instructions) and now this book will be travelling home to its owner, Liz, on Monday ...... mine will be on its way back to me soon too (can't wait to see it)!

I actually remembered to take a photo of these pages so I thought I'd share it with you to give you a flavour of what you can do with an old second-hand (NOT rare or valuable) book!

The theme of Liz's book is "Life's Tapestry" and we could choose whatever colour scheme and interpretation we wanted.  I decided to use all the remaining blank pages at the back of the book and cut out a rectangular window shape in them.  I then glued them all down (apart from the top sheet) with a gel medium to the back cover to form a shallow aperture.  I gessoed over the top pages, then coloured them with acrylic paint dabbers (boy, do I have trouble with those dabbers ...... they always seem to dry up on me and I end up smearing some of the paint over the sponge bit to get them to work at all ..... grrr!).  I then stamped flourishes and flowers onto the background and added some images over the top (some from Crafty Individuals mini books).

Inside the aperture, I stamped an appropriate quote and added some feathers, sequins and Beadazzles, plus some copper metallic rub-on and ink, before adhering some acetate over the top and then sandwiching it beneath the top page.  I finished the pages with self-adhesive ribbon strips, more words, paper flowers with button centres and fibres.

These old books are wonderful to work in, the pages are quite thin but they have a wonderfully absorbent quality which is great for throwing gesso, paints and inks onto.  It's also important to choose a book that's stitched not glued so that you can remove several pages in order to allow room for embellishing the pages you're working on.  I know that a lot of people find it very difficult to "deface" a book and of course I would never suggest cutting up anything that was rare or valuable, but visit any charity shop or car boot these days and you'll find stacks of old hardbacks that nobody wants any more ...... why not have a go and breathe new life into them as a "work of art"?  (They'd also be brilliant for art journalling into ..... hmm, I may well have a go at that)!

I'm really looking forward to seeing my own completed book "Flights of Imagination" and I'll be posting photos of all the pages in it as soon as I can.  I was wondering if anybody might be interested in trying out some techniques to alter an old book some time after the New Year - either just for yourself or part of a swap/RR, it could be fun!

Well, it looks like all the cards are now in for the "Things that Go Bump" Swap (and some really spooky cards there are too - love what everyone did!) so these will be swapped out over the weekend and posted Monday.  If anyone fancies having a go at creating the Vintage Christmas Triptych, there's still plenty of time - you only need to make one (see details in previous post) and it isn't due to me until the end of November.  I'll also be posting a new ATC swap theme on Monday, so do come back then and check it out.

Finally, don't forget the clocks go back tonight (well, 2 a.m. to be precise, but I always change them earlier in the evening before we go to bed)!

VINTAGE CHRISTMAS TRIPTYCH CHALLENGE SWAP

I was hoping to post the promised Christmas challenge a few days ago, but you know how it is, the realities of life have a habit of taking over and eating away at any free time!  However, here is my Christmas swap idea for you.

I'd like you to create ONE Vintage Christmas Triptych but larger than ATC size - I would suggest that the centre panel of the triptych be about 4" x 6", the other panels can be the same size or smaller (however you wish) and the tops can be any shape you like - rounded, gothic arches, triangular, etc.  You may join the panels together by whatever method you choose - for example, eyelets and ribbon, wire, small binding rings, beads.  Please use sturdy mountboard or chipboard for your triptych and add as much embellishment as you like, using your preferred techniques for decoration, and ensure that the triptych is able to stand up properly when completed.  Please remember to decorate the back of your triptych as well and add your name and any other details you wish - thanks.

Usual swap rules apply - your finished triptych should be with me by 30th November (if you join next month's ATC swap you can send them all together), plus postage and address label for return.  Please email me if you want to sign up for this swap and I'll let you know where to send your completed triptych.

I haven't created a Christmas triptych before but I did make an ATC-sized triptych with a "Goddess" theme some while back so here's a picture of it to give you an idea of the sort of thing I have in mind.  You may also find lots of ideas if you try googling for Christmas Triptychs. 

 Goddess Triptych - ATC Size

I hope some of you will fancy having a go at making a Vintage Christmas Triptych as I'm sure there'll be some fabulous creations and wouldn't it be lovely to have one to add to your own decorations this Christmas? 

I'm Still Here!

Yes, I'm finally back, posting again - nearly two weeks since I last posted (shame on me!), but I've been suffering with the same "lurgy" that struck down David and Lindsay (and numerous other folks too).  So I'm afraid I've been doing very little craft-wise, but I am at last feeling more normal again so hope to get caught up on some crafty projects over the next week or so. 

I've been receiving some absolutely gorgeous ATCs in the post this week for the "Things that Go Bump" swap - I really don't want to part with any of them! - so if you want to participate and receive some of these spooky cards, there's still plenty of time - the deadline isn't till the end of October.

Rather belatedly, here are photos of all the wonderful and varied pages in my Grunge Chunky Book - I intended posting these sooner, but what with a combination of being unwell and the new Blogger uploading system which played up last time I tried to use it, this is the first opportunity I've had to show them off to you all. 

Grunge Chunky Book - Front Cover

The Timekeeper - Susan Jenneys (Artyjen)

Heart & Soul - June Benton

Heavy Metal - Sheila King

It's Only Words - Hilda Moffett

Ghost in the Machine - Ali Brandist

With a Little Flourish - My Page

I Dreamed a Dream - Lindsay Mason

Vintage Journeys - Sandra Zengler

Take Flight - Joanne Parkin

As you can see, everyone created some beautiful grunged up pages - thanks to each of you for making these books so gorgeous!  Now Sheila is running another chunky book swap (sorry, folks, it's already fully-booked!) with a deadline next March, but this time there are 12 of us in the swap and we've each chosen a theme for our own books (mine is "Heavenly Bodies" - interpret how you will, angels, planets, stars, sun and moon, glamorous ladies ......!!!) - there are some really interesting themes this time including "steampunk" (which I love but have never been confident enough to have a go at before - so time to jump in and play)!  Anyhow, I'm sure we'll all end up with a marvellous book each and lucky Sheila gets to see everyone's pages too (the biggest perk of hosting)!

Well, enough from me for now ...... I'll be back posting again soon (and I haven't forgotten that I promised you another challenge with a Christmassy theme, so watch this space)!

A Mystery Torso!

Well, I WAS meant to be posting this yesterday but my computer decided to have an argument with Blogger's new downloading pictures link and I couldn't load up any photos .... grrr!!!  But, today it all seems to be behaving itself (fingers crossed)!

So, anyway, look what came in the post for me yesterday ...... these wonderful Torso ATCs from the recent challenge swap at "Something Completely Different" (see Link in sidebar).  I love these cards, but unfortunately one of them has no details on the back so I don't know who created it - what a shame!  So please, if you recognise this card as being yours, let me know as I'd love to put a name to it!

This is the "anonymous" torso which I believe was created for the "Red" Challenge

I received this great "By the Sea" Torso, which was created by my friend Joanne

I love the poppies on this "Bling" Torson by Gina

A lovely "Memories" Torso made by Zoe

Thanks to each of you for these beautiful cards, I really enjoyed the challenge of making them myself too and hope those who received my attempts are happy with them as well.  Unfortunately, I've not been able to join in the recent SCD challenges but hope to have a go again soon.

OCTOBER ATC SWAP - "THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT"

It's that time again, the first of the month and time to post a new ATC swap.  As we have now very definitely entered the autumn season (in fact, today is particularly unpleasant with lots of lashing rain and winds - more like winter actually!) and as Halloween seems to be becoming more popular over here in the UK, I thought we'd go "spooky" this month.  I know a lot of you love creating cards with a Halloween theme so hope this swap will appeal to many of you and you'll sign up.  You can really have fun creating your cards for this swap - witches, ghosts, spooky creatures, spiders, cats, broomsticks, haunted houses, ghost trains - anything at all.  Why not try shaping your ATCs too into haunted houses, windows or arches?  I'm sure you can come up with all sorts of spookiness for this swap!  (Details in the sidebar, as per usual)!

All the "glitter" atcs are now here for September's swap so I'll be swapping these out over the weekend - thanks to everyone who joined in!

Just a Little Reminder .....

...... to say that the Glitter Swap ATCs are due to me by next Thursday, 30th September.  There's still time to join in this swap if any of you are still thinking about whether to or not.  Next month I'm hoping to post details of a new swap with a Christmassy theme (sorry to bring Christmas up in September!) - it will be separate to the regular monthly swap - so I hope some of you will be interested in joining that one.  All I'll say now is that it won't be ATCs.

Lindsay's Matchbox Shrine Workshop

On Saturday I made the trip over to Oswaldtwistle once again to attend one of Lindsay's workshops at the Dawn Bibby Studio/Topaz Crafts and also to hand-deliver some of the "grunge" books to those 'girls' who were going to be there too.  In fact, I was the last to arrive as they were already hard at work decorating mirrors in Lindsay's first workshop of the day.  Still, it gave me a chance to browse round the shop and pick up a few Rangers products whilst it was quiet. 

   

 These are the two matchbox shrines that Lindsay had created as projects for this Workshop

 After a bit of a hectic half-hour to tidy up and set out everything for the afternoon workshop, we all set to work trying to concentrate on making our matchbox shrines (I wasn't the best pupil, in fact I should probably have ended up in the 'naughty corner' because I had to keep asking "please miss" questions of Lindsay due to lack of focus and thinking I'd missed some instructions - honestly, I really think I was away with the fairies on Saturday, my mind was all over the place *LOL*)!  Still, I did manage to get most of my shrine finished, just got a few bits and pieces to add to the front and put a backing on it and I'll be able to hang it on the wall with other pieces of art I've received or made. 

My shrine - a work in progress!

Of course, we took much longer than anticipated working on this larger shrine, even though Lindsay had a second smaller shrine for us to make too ...... everyone jotted down notes so that they could recreate it at home if they wanted to.

  

It was lovely to meet up with everyone again - Joanne, She, Gez, Elaine, Chris - even though we didn't get a lot of time to natter ... and also meet Sioux (Artyjen) for the first time (sorry we didn't get more of a chance to talk)!  We did all get to swap ATCs and I came home with a bunch of gorgeous cards and I think everyone liked their grunge books too.

 Lindsay modelling her pink & black furry slippers

(comfort is all when you're standing around all day)!!!!

Joanne, Sioux and Gez hard at work

Joanne, Sioux, Gez and She - just look at the concentration on their faces!

Here's everyone looking very happy with all their day's work!

 

A gorgeous set of "Alice in Wonderland" ATCs that She gave to me,

(all contained in a beautiful ATC tin)

 

ATCs I received from Chris, Sioux, Joanne (top row)

and Gez and She (bottom row)

 These were from Joanne too

(love the flower on that ATC - I'd really like to know how to make it)!

By the time I got home again I was really tired (I think we all were) and not fit for much besides putting my feet up in front of the tv, but it had been a good day out (of course)!

What the Court Decided ......

I can't believe how quickly the days are flying by and now we are very definitely into autumn, just this past week I've noticed all the yellow-brown leaves swirling around on the ground as they drop from the trees.  Actually, this is one of my favourite times of year ... there's a particular fresh feel to the air, especially early in the morning, and the light takes on a certain golden glow in the early evening (when it's not raining that is!).

So ..... we had a letter this morning to let us know what happened to the teenager who attacked Graham (he was in court on Monday) and as we suspected, as Graham says, he just got away with a "slap on the wrist".  Basically he received (1) a Rehabilitation Order with a supervision requirement for 12 months (this means he has to visit probation several times while they decide how best to rehabilitate him); (2) a Curfew Order from 9pm to 8am for 28 days (hmm, fat lot of use that is - four weeks! AND don't forget, he committed the offence at 4.30pm in the afternoon!); (3) an Activity Requirement for 28 days (this is some kind of community work that probation decides he has to do); and (4) £30 Compensation for Graham (which this youth is supposed to pay, contributing a bit at a time, and Graham won't receive it till it's all paid - so you can bet that'll be a long time coming!). 

It's all a bit of a joke really, isn't it?  And of course, just to add insult to injury, he can appeal if he thinks the sentence is too severe but the victim can't appeal if he thinks it isn't severe enough!  But that's the law for you - and the police are just as frustrated too, they put all the effort in bringing these "yobs" to court and then it all gets watered down by the "do-gooders".  It's really not much punishment at all, but we mustn't criminilise the little darlings, must we? ..... (that was the cry at Social Services when I worked in one of their children's homes).  So, anyhow, that's an end to it now and Graham just wants to put the whole thing behind him and bring closure to it.

I'll be at Oswaldtwistle on Saturday for Lindsay's Matchbox Shrine workshop at Topaz Crafts/DB Studio and will be bringing some of the grunge books with me for those of you who'll be there as well .... the rest are being posted out on Friday. 

Grunge Book Update

Just to let all those taking part in the grunge book swap know that I've now received everyone's pages - and what a wonderful lot of pages they are too!  What a job I'm going to have sorting them all out into books (81 of them - pages, that is)!  I've been working on the covers this week and I'll be setting aside a few hours over the next few days to put all the books together - I really can't wait to see what they all look like.  Some I'll be delivering by hand when I come over to Oswaldtwistle next weekend (18th Sept) for Lindsay's latest workshop at the Dawn Bibby Studio/Topaz Crafts and the others I hope to post out after the weekend (so keep a watch out for your postmen delivering some goodies next week) ..... :o)

I also just found out that some of my emails weren't being delivered, for whatever reason, so if you've sent me an email and not had a response - that's the reason why and NOT that I was ignoring anyone!  Suze, I know you left a comment to say you received the seaside atcs - yes, I did get your email and replied, but that's one that apparently just vapourised into cyberspace - grrr!!!

For anyone who's been wondering, the teenager who attacked Graham appeared at the youth court last week but his case has been adjourned until next Monday (13th Sept) at the magistrates' court, pending more reports from Social Services, etc - I hope this doesn't mean there are some "do-gooders" there trying to come up with justification for what he did (deprived childhood, etc, etc) - as my son says, lots of people have a bad start in life one way or another, but they don't all use it as an excuse for a life of violence or crime.

And finally, if anyone wants to join the "Glitter" ATC swap, there's still loads of time to play - just drop me an email to let me know and I'll sign you up!

SEPTEMBER ATC SWAP - "ALL THAT GLITTERS" !

The "Seaside" ATCs have now all been swapped and posted out to everybody, some may even have reached their destinations today (thanks to everyone who joined in and sent such beautiful work), and it's time to post a new swap again.

I had a few different ideas floating around in my head for the theme this month, but this is the one I finally settled on ....... you can actually choose whatever theme you like for your cards, just so long as you really "glitz" them up with lots of sparkly bits, glitter, sequins, Beadazzles, shiny beads or threads ...... you get the idea!  Just have fun!  Usual "rules" apply - details in the sidebar under the "Object of Enchantment" ATC that I posted, just to give you all a little taste of the sort of card you could create - oh yes, for this swap, you are definitely allowed to go over the edges of the cards with your embellishments if you want to!

So ...... hope you all fancy having a go at this one - enjoy!

"Of the Sea" Torso ATC

The final week's torso atc challenge at SCD is "Of the Sea" and I was quite pleased when I read this, because I'd already created a sea-themed torso (1) because I was having so much fun making "torso" cards and (2) because I was already creating some sea-themed cards for the seaside swap on my blog.  This is the card I made and which will be joining the other torsos to be swapped out by Carol from "Something Completely Different".

I inked up the background and stamped text from Crafty Individual's new seaside stamp set CI-278 onto it.  I stamped the "bather" from the same set onto white card, then coloured it with some Pro Markers and layered it onto the card with the stamped sun.  I finished by adhering some frayed hessian, shells and stickles to the bottom of the card and around the edges.

I created another torso atc with a vintage seaside feel, in more muted, sepia tones, this afternoon - but haven't taken a photo of it yet ...... I haven't made my mind up yet whether it'll be going out as part of my Seaside ATC swap or whether it'll be going into my own stash of cards for swapping.

I'm pleased to say that I've now received all the cards for this swap - and some beauties there are too! - so I plan on sorting these out over the Bank Holiday and posting them out soon as I can.  Don't forget I'll be posting the new monthly ATC swap sometime on Wednesday (1st September), so pop back then if you want to see what the theme is!

Hope you're all enjoying a lovely extended holiday weekend, whatever you're doing - no big plans here, just general pottering about and doing a bit of art when I can. 

Red and Black Torso ATC

Well, after my lovely day out yesterday and then popping over to see my parents this morning, I've been able to spend a bit of time this afternoon making my torso atc for this week's Red and Black challenge at SCD.  I already knew the kind of card I wanted to create and had found a suitable image - it was just a case of putting it all together and hoping it turned out okay ..... and here it is .......

For the background, which you actually don't see much of in the finished ATC, I used some black velvety card cut from a cologne box that my son had finished with and asked if I wanted (the family are so well-trained nowadays - don't throw anything away till they've checked with me first! *LOL*).  I then attached a luxuriously soft red feather and added the image of the young lady, at the same time wrapping part of her body with some lacy red fabric.  I also added a lacy flower, button filled with silver stickles and a red heart, plus a black gauzy flower with a red gem centre and another red gem in the top right corner.  Stuck the word "pose" across her back and added more silver stickles around the edges and under the flower.

Hope you like it!