AJ pages done and in progress

Aj page for Leanie  done - check!

I so anted to do a happy affirmation type page for her but I ended up feeling stressed bout the time so I made this.

However, it is at least happier looking than her first (abandoned) page which currently looks like this and will be recycled elsewhere!

Chunky ATC Time Again - Halloween!

Time for more chunky ATCs. I think I love making these, even though they normally sit naked and untouched for a week or three after I've got my swap details before I get around to actually covering them in goodies.

Anyway, the theme for this round of chunky swaps (the ghoulies) was all things spooky. I'm not going to say who these are for as they've only just been sent today, but here are my contributions.

First chunky - a gothic (hopefully) haunted house, spooky graveyard, flying bats. You can see in the second photo how boingy the bats are as thy were still moving when I took the picture. The house windows, skull and moon have all been painted with glow in the dark stuff so when you turn the lights out they should still have a spooky afterglow.

The second has witches over a bubbling caulron with an array of potion bottles and a broomstick (although only one - do they have to share I wonder?).

The reverse with a spooky tree, owl and pumpkins. On this one the cauldron contents, two of the potion bottles, moon, owl's eyes and pumpkins should glow in the dark too. France's blog is here

And last but by no means least, here is the surprise one I got from the lovely Frances, who made me this after I lusted after a similar one she made for the swap. A big thank you Frances - it's gorgeous and it was such a lovely surprise and so very thoughtful. Her blog is here where you can see lots more fabulous chunkies.

Well that's it for now, but I am working on more Halloween stuff at the moment. Thanks for looking.

Alice Themed Circle Journal

I've just started a new circle journal - Once Upon a Time - so I've chosen to base mine on the Alice stories by Lewis Carroll. Now, I've seen a couple of other people's starts and they are stunning and mine looks quite dull, but I struggled with the covers I wanted to do and instead went for something plainer that would at least protect all those lovely entries.

This is my cover to keep the page protectors from getting damaged. I want to stick the finished pages into a book but postage costs make it cheaper to send it out like this.

The inside of the cover, with the rules by Royal Command of course!

The sign in page - I decorated envelopes with little labels to look a bit like tea bags (well, if you squint and the light's bad!) and some characters and there are little tags inside for people to decorate.

I quite like the 3D look when you take the tea bags out.

And this is my first entry.

I'm really looking forward to getting this back - there is lots of superb talent in the CJ so it will look amazing I'm sure.

Octopode Freak Cards

These are for Sian's card swap and the theme was FREAKS with two optional themes of dark rich colours and grunge. For once, inspiration was immediately forthcoming and I dusted off a couple of my Octopode collage sheets (pre-coloured so that made it nice and easy), hand inked, stamped, stained and painted some backgrounds, then stuck on my freaks with an apt (but useless) sentiments. I know, when are you ever going to need a card with these sentiments? Still, they were fun to make and they fit the criteria of the swap so that's good enough for me.

Thanks for looking and have a good day!

Leanie's Collage Swap

First of all, a huge thank you to the lovely Leanie for organising this swap.  We all made little bits on a colour and theme (mine was marmalade and metal) and Leanie mixed them all up and sent them back. I mounted mine onto a canvas and used the space to put a photo of Isi. She would have loved it - it's so tactile. It has pride of place on the wall next to my craft table so I can admire it every time I do some work. Thanks to everyone who took part in the swap for all of the wonderful pieces. I hope my arrangement has done them justice.