Splash!

Here is my entry in Sonja's Disney CJ - which has the theme "water".

I decided to go with the daddy of all log flumes - Splash Mountain in the Magic Kingdom, Florida.

I had fun putting this little homage together, we all love this ride.

Here's a close up of the boat coming down the main drop - elevated on foam tabs:







And the super cool lil' film strip:






That film strip is part of the Tim Holtz Ideaology line of products. Other stuff on the layout are a Cricutted title in 'Benjamin Franklin' font, which I have watercoloured a darker blue at the bottom to emulate the ride signage; blue pearl gems (Papermania), and blue acetate embossed in my Cuttlebug to make the "water" at the bottom of the right hand page.

This CJ goes to my pal Michelle next, I hope she enjoys it as much as I did.

a homemade Christmas

It's been an expensive year, especially after having my bag stolen in Florida and having to wire money over to replace everything that was lost (hopefully one day the insurance will pay me at least some of it back....)

So I didn't have much cash to buy Christmas presents with....in fact I had pretty much nada.... so I used some Argos and Amazon vouchers I had been hoarding, and tried to make as many presents as possible...

Here are a couple of the things I made, Jay got a hand stencilled t shirt (he likes graffiti hence the three spray cans - Banksy stylee) - and if you look closely you'll see his necklace that I also made - it's a Jens Pind chain in brass, bronze and copper.

Darby's girlfriend Beth loves turtles, so I made her this charm bracelet:



and I made Darby a dinosaur themed gift box and fake "tickets" for a Dinosaur show that he is going to go to next year in London - I'll buy the actual tickets next payday - forgot to take pics of that one, sorry

Last but not least, this one wasn't technically a Christmas pressie, but was delivered just before the big day so kind of counts, a Helm bracelet in rubber and anodised aluminium for my bessie Alison:



Next year hopefully I'll be able to afford to buy real pressies, but it was kind of fun having to be a bit inventive and thrifty this time :)

I'm obscenely proud of this :)

It's bloody hard work joining a full Persian weave into a continuous chain, you know (well I found it bloody hard work lol)

Dead chuffed that it worked out, the bracelet is just big enough to roll on to my wrist easily - so no need for a clasp - but not so big that it hangs loose.

Two more piccies, just because I love it :)





Did I mention I love this bracelet, and I made it all by myself, and I'm very clever? :D

PS the rings are red and purple, not red and blue, but it looks blue in the photos

Stampers CJ - #2 - "the key"....

... where #1 was my own book, and the stamp was "the door"

This is my entry in Di's book for the UKstampers latest "take one stamp" style Circle Journal.

I've done a few of these before so you might be familiar with the format by now - it's one of those collaborations where a stamp is provided, and each participant designs a page using that stamp in any way they wish.

Di's stamp is this ornate key:

I was a tad stuck with this one to start with, as it calls out for a "vintagey" type treatment, and I don't really do vintage.

Jay thought it looked a little like an elephant's head, so I tried for a while to do something with that, with an elephant's head peeking out through the jungle leaves, kind of thing, but I couldn't get it to work.

Then I thought maybe I could use the little man in the middle of the stamp and use him repeatedly to make a crowd scene, looking up at the giant key. Not sure where I was going with that exactly :) And it would have been a nightmare of selective inking and masking to get it to work.

But anyway, I continued along that train of thought, and ended up here:



The backstory is on the back of the page here:



Not sure how well you can see in the pic, but they key statue has been stamped onto metal and embossed from the back to make it 3D. I filled the back in with glue lines so hopefully it will stay puffy.

Other stamps used are a pedestal from, I think, The Stamping Ground, the crowd scene from Viva Las Vegas, the Venice skyline from Green Pepper Press, and a moon, and silhouette of pine trees, unknown.

This CJ goes to my pal Alison next, I wonder what she will do with the key?

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....it's a secret.......

I think perhaps I was a little ill advised to take on two brand new CJs starting within a fortnight of each other....they have taken up every second of my free time for about the last 6 weeks, but never mind, they are both now out on their journeys, and I have thoroughly enjoyed getting them ready for the off.

This time the theme of the circle journal is Disney....a subject dear to my heart after our recent Orlando holiday....I am hosting this one over on UKScrappers.

My book's specific theme is "Disney Secrets" - eg hidden Mickeys, the back stories for the attractions, in jokes and easter eggs in the movies, the little details most people miss, etc.

Here's my intro page...in keeping with the "secrets" theme, I decided to hide away all the information behind flaps and in envelopes, I hope the recipients enjoy delving into the various nooks and crannies:



The book itself is a 7 Gypsies envelope book, so what I am asking each participant to do is decorate their envelope to give a hint at what is inside, and then fill the envelope with whatever they choose that will tell their story - eg a folded scrapbook layout, a large tag, a mini book etc.

Here is my envelope, front and back:





Can you guess the subject of my entry???

No?

How about with a close up of that wallpaper? :



Yup, you've got it....my subject is Secrets of the Haunted Mansion, one of the best rides in the whole of the Disney empire, in my opinion.

The contents of my envelope look like this when first pulled out:



And that unfolds to this:



Some close ups:






I had a lot of fun researching this entry, I found hundreds of legends, secrets and details about the Mansion, but only had room to include a handful.

For example, did you know that when the Doom Buggies descend into the house as you start the ride, they go down precisely 6 feet, signifying the riders' entry into the world of the dead.

Or that the reason the ladies appear to be leading as they dance in the ballroom, is that the imagineer who designed the dancing animatronics, forgot that they would appear reversed once reflected in the mirror used to give them their ghostly appearance.

There was limited room in that envelope, however, so I had to narrow it down (and just as well because I could have ended up working on this one for months! I ended up a day or two overdue as it was).



I can't wait to see the book again, in 11 months or so, filled with everyone else's juicy secrets :)