French book page, Family canvas & a sock monkey!!!

The theme for this month's Creative Soul Retreat book challenge is "All things French". Of course Eiffel towers are the first thing that pops into my mind when thinking of France, or rather, Paris, but I wanted to do something a little more .....well, just a little "more". So here is my page and I'm debating whether to add some word, or rather just one word....REVOLUTION! I like the softer colours of this page and doing a little collage for a change is refreshing. There is mica over the face of Louis XVI in the little metal frame and some embossing in a beautiful pale pearl blue, as well as some swarovski crystals and a metal embellishment under Marie Antoinette. It wouldn't be complete without the hordes in the streets and the guillotine!

I've also made a canvas for my mother-in-law for Christmas, using a picture of my husband's family when he was a small boy, including the dog Smithy! I made the frame by using foil tape adhered to chipboard and then running it through the Textile plate of the cuttlebug, rubbed it over with Burnt Umber paint and then wiped most of it off immediately. I do love how the distressed look contrasts nicely with the foil tape for this technique. The picture itself is my faux tin-type style. There's also some white German Scrap, some texture paste, glimmer mist (sand dune and dew-drop colours), a metal key and the words are the Olivia font (cuttlebug). Gwen doesn't "do" computers so there's no chance of her seeing this before Christmas so I'm safe posting it here.

Last night was our staff Christmas party at Natalie's house. We did a secret santa gift swap and I received a wonderful Pandora jigsaw piece charm for my bracelet(s) from my partner Jenny. It went straight onto my bracelet and I love how wonderfully full my bracelet(s) - yes, I have 2 - are looking. My secret santa partner to buy/make for was the delightful Mel. She is such a joy to work with as she's always so happy and skips about and is a good pal to boot! I bought her a little angel rubber duck (she collects rubber ducks), one of the new speckle brushes that Tim Holtz has been using on his 12 tags of Christmas, some bird stencils from coffee break designs and I also made her a sock monkey!!! I know she loves quirky and boy did she become attached to the sock monkey! It was carried around all night with her, draped over her shoulder or sitting on her lap. I was really pleased that she loved it and it was secretly nice to do a little bit of sewing and stuffing again....don't tell anyone though!!!

Christmas greetings to everyone and for some of us, 2009 can only get better!