A little bit of creativity ...

I've only been back at work 2 weeks after having a lovely 2 weeks holiday and have started feeling really run down, so haven't done too much creating.  But when the weekend comes, look out ... I'm suddenly on fire and all motivated ... funny how that happens.  So here's a couple of things I've been up to lately:

I've finished the cover of the altered board book I worked on with a group of girls in Brisbane in 2009.  The theme for this altered book was "Imagine" and I wanted a simple, but rustic cover for my book.  The only thing I'm going to do now is add tags with the techniques used on each spread and the book will be finished.

I've also started our next altered book project with the same group and this year I've chosen to document the year of my birth - 1969.  The book I'm altering is a Dutch and English dictionary that I especially went searching for, due to my ancestry being Dutch.  I'm so excited with this project and the research is so much fun.  Here's my first layout and it's on the song that was top of the charts the day I was born.

Here's my latest ATC for the face-to-face swap held on the third Sunday of every month in Helensvale.  I'm on a mission to use up my collection of napkins as they're taking over my craft area, so this set of ATCs used up 4 of them in the background and I really like how it turned out:

I got together with Pam yesterday and got a little arting and crafting done and finally started this piece for the Paper Arts Yahoo Group Spooky Book Page lottery.  They're holding this lottery because one of each page was held back from the swap for another participant who did not send their pages in.  So far there are only 2 or 3 players, so I think I'm in with a chance.  There were a few rules to follow, the page had to be 5 x 7 and the other criteria was you must use itkupilli images (http://itkupillishop.blogspot.com/).  The skull with the candle on the top of my tree was made by Kelley Smith at this blog http://lifeandartwithglammafabulous.blogspot.com/2009/10/halloween-skull-with-candle.html ... and I thought it was perfect to be at the top of my Spooky Christmas Tree.  There's a bit of lace and crushed velvet ribbon all sewn on with Pam's sewing machine and Pam hand cut out my tree in about 1 minute, much better than what I could do.  The "blood" is red dimensional paint and all the skulls are tied on with red DMC thread.

On the home front, Beau has found a new friend ... I thought it was a lovely dog from the neighbouring property until we were advised it's our Neighbour's pet dingo!!!  You can imagine that we're not encouraging this dog to hang around the house ... not with 2 young children around ... although he does seem good-natured!!

"A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself."
~Josh Billings~