Halloween Chunky for Frances

I can't believe it is time to make a Halloween chunky again already, it hardly seems any time at all since I made Bones and sent him on his way!  This year I have Frances as my swappee, and she expressed an interest in vintage style images and nothing scary!  This felt totally different to my usual Halloween ideas, and I did struggle a bit. 

I ended up with a much simpler looking chunky than usual, although the paint finish on it took up quite a bit of time as there are 5 layers in total:  gesso to seal, two coats of black acrylic for coverage, a thick coat of crackle paint and then orange acrylic rubbed well in to get into the cracks.  I used some Graphic 45 paper for the front and back with digital downloads from http://www.alphastamps.com for the top and sides.  I had a couple of buttons which suited the images quite well but as I didn't want to cover them up too much I didn't want to add too much more.  I couldn't find anything suitable to sit on top either, so left this bare.


View of front: 

View of left side: 

View of back: 

View of right side: 

The top of the chunky:  

I hope she likes it!

 

September Calendar pages

I have managed to squeeze in some more crafting for August, my calendar pages for September.  I liked the background but it has been nearly lost behind the punched journaling circles.  Themed around the Autumn Equinox, with info about it around the outside of the pages.

Door/Wall Hanger

Back on the Secret Swappers, I am taking part in another swap, this time decorating and swapping a door hanger to the other person's theme or quote.  I was making for Frances and her quote was "Please don't frighten the Mojo away"

The wording on this was always going to take up most of the space, but I wanted the Mojo to be a kind of fairy who was originally going to be trapped inside the birdcage but later I changed my mind and had him hovering outside instead.  I hope she likes it!

Mini Canvas received!

My own theme for the mini canvas swap was Gothic Shrine, and I received this absolutely gorgeous little treasure from Justine:

Thank you Justine!

Mini Canvas and Easel swap

This is the first swap on UK Scrappers that I have hosted, so a bit special for me.  The brief was to decorate a mini canvas and easel in the theme of my swappee. 

I had a lady called Joy, whose theme was dragons.  I thought it would be easy, but these  canvasses are tiny and it took me a lot of searching to find a small enough dragon for the main feature.  I finally found I had the right one in my possession all along, and made a mould of it so I could remake it in Fimo.

I chose to decorate the back of the canvas as the main side, so I could put the dragon in the niche created by the frame, sleeping on a bed of treasure;  I put a dragon image on the front too so Joy can display either side as the whim takes her.

August Calendar Journal

Anyone who is paying attention  may notice that July hasn't been posted, that's because I didn't finish it completely until after I had started writing in it, and I am not comfortable letting anyone read my diary entries I'm afraid! It was only a boring page anyway...

I have had August planned for months though, so I was able to get it finished and photographed before I had started writing in it, so here it is:

Secret Vices

Once upon a time, quite a long time ago, a swap called Secret Vices was proposed and started among the Secret Swappers.  I got the lovely Sian for my swappee, and had to make something of my choice to celebrate her little vices:  Shopping, cake, craft, chocolate, stationery, Dylusions stamps and sprays.

This was quite a long list, so I concentrated on shopping, chocolate and cakes.  Over the course of the time I was planning it, it changed quite a bit, and in the end to get it done I simplified it.  It still gave me some difficulties, but I think it turned out ok and I hope that Sian likes it.

The black purse in the corner is held on with a tiny magnet, because it contains a chocolate lip gloss - I bought it quite a while ago and haven't seen it for sale since so I am keeping my fingers crossed that it's still ok!  The chocolate squares on the top and sides are moulded from Fimo.  The whole thing is actually a photo frame, the back unclips easily so Sian can change it to her own photo if she wants to.  I enclosed a Hello Kitty notebook and a bar of chocolate  just in case she doesn't like it though!