It's the First of the Month ....

..... and time to post July's ATC swap.  Just before the Football World Cup started in South Africa, they held a wonderful concert which I watched on TV.  The music, the singing, the joy that everyone shared was so uplifting, it ended up with Mia and I dancing around the living room in the early hours of the morning - I know, I know, probably not a pretty sight, but we enjoyed ourselves!  Anyway, this was the inspiration for the title of this month's swap theme - "OUT OF AFRICA" - and you may interpret it any way you wish (Africa is a BIG continent!) ...... you might want to feature Africa's wildlife or you may feel inspired by the vibrant colours and patterns of African art and sculpture, tribal costumes and beadwork, the colourful sights and sounds of a Moroccan bazaar or maybe look back into Ancient Egypt ...... you might even want to create cards to mark the ending of apartheid, Nelson Mandela and the fight for freedom.  However you choose to use this theme, I hope lots of you will join the swap and feel inspired to create some really interesting cards.  (Swap details, as usual, are listed in the sidebar).

A few items from my collection of stones, beads and beadwork with an African flavour

Today I've been swapping out the cards I received for the "Midsummer" ATC swap, beautiful cards they all were too, and these will be going out in the post tomorrow.  Apart from that, I've not been able to spend a great deal of time doing any art or craft work the past few weeks, there's always been something else that's had to be done first, but hopefully that will change soon.  I did manage to complete some cards for a Vintage Geisha ATC swap though, three for the swap itself and two extras for my own swapping stash.  Here they are:-

  

I don't often create cards with an oriental theme so these were a bit of a challenge, but I'm quite pleased with the way they turned out.  I used all sorts of bits and pieces to make them - origami papers, Stickles, Beadazzles, gold cord, metal charms, buttefly stickers, even cocktail sticks coloured gold with a Krylon pen!