Holiday Charm Swap

Yes, it has been a long time since I posted to my blog - what a busy time of the year. The most exciting thing was a two week visit from our friend Adrienne Goodenough from Wales. She flew to Portland for Art and Soul, then to Wisconsin for two weeks. We had a great time with Chrissy Bornfleth, Deborah Cochran, and Kathy Berringer. Although I did lots of "art," I am just now finally getting back to my blog.

HOLIDAY CHARMS:
Below are five one-inch charms I made for five friends in a small round robin group that I belong to. We know each other from Oriental Stamp Art and decided a few years ago to do round robins. Each RR has been very special, and we have gotten to know each other. I certainly hope that I can meet the other four (Sonia Evans lives here in Waukesha and we do "damage" together!) Two of the gals live in Hawaii - what fun it would be to meet them some January while everyone in Wisconsin is up to their necks in snow! Enough chatter.
The challenge was to select a holiday and make two charms for each of the other members in our little group. I selected Valentine's day and finally got them made! Below are the five individual charms, each made from a 1" square of stampboard. I punched some Art Chix faux postage for the image and added a heart charm and a lobster claw clasp. I do not do well with "jewelry making," so adding the charms, etc., was really challenging! Thank goodness for the Cropadile for punching holes.



Below is what the back of the charms look like. I used alcohol ink for the color, stamped with India Ink, and colored the image with Twinkling H2O's. I also made a bead charm with Oriental beads, coins, and a heart charm. These need to be sent out before Thanksgiving - I am almost two weeks ahead of schedule - gotta be a record!


I'll be working on other posts during the weekend. Watch for the collaborative tag calendar I made with four other gals and used my new favorite toy, Bind-It-All!