My blog kind of got away from me this holiday season. Luckily, the Friday Freebie post was scheduled or else that wouldn’t have happened either.  We had company both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day…in fact we still have a guest sleeping upstairs.

Lets get caught up with the 12 days of Christmas swap shall we…

On the 10th day of Christmas I opened 10 Lords a Leaping by Penny A.  This was very unique since it opens to reveal,

the Ten Commandments. Penny aged the paper which gave it a really nice look.

The 11th day had me opening the fun fabric bag with my name sewn at the top. Very cute…I’m hanging on to that goodie!

Inside the fabric bag was this great 11 Pipers Piping by Jackie.  Love the tartan. For some weird reason I couldn’t get the green cardstock to appear true to color…frustrating.

And finally, on the 12th day of Christmas we have Twelve Drummers Drumming by Rita. What a cute little guy to round out our pages.

I now will need to create covers and bind my book. But first I’ll need to thank one more person.

 Another art friend sent me a surprise on Thursday.  Isn’t this tree so darling! Kat did a beautiful job with this tree!

Here’s a view of the other side. I love it. Thank you Kat!!

Have you stuck with me throughout my rambling? I’d be impressed if you have.

Merry -belated- Christmas.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of opening this page from Patt. It’s very clever. Spots for the cow and the frothy milk. Very fun!

The 9th day of Christmas is my page so it wasn’t too surprising for me.
I didn’t get too carried away with the wrapping, although I wanted to make sure my tag didn’t fall off in transport. I used hot glue to adhere the button on the ribbon.

I found the image on Flickr commons, which is an excelent resource for copyright free images.

I used a number of materials on this piece…tissue paper, paint with foam stamp, fabric, instant coffee to stain the cardstock and of course another button.

Hooray! I’m caught up with my swap posts!

I think I’ll make myself a cup of tea now…

I’ve been putting this off way too long…

I knew the 7th day of Christmas page would be difficult to write about.
Gina Wise, the wonderful artist who created this page, passed away suddenly before the swap had even ended. She had already completed hers and sent them off.

What a beautiful page! The background has so much depth…more than I am able to show in this photo.

And wait until you see the handmade box she created to house her page!

The box is a treasure in itself.

I miss you Gina…you’re whit, you’re kind words, you’re friendly advice. 

Rest in Peace my friend…

I opened the second of Elizabeth’s pages. I love the texture on the goose… 

We ar half way through the pages and I have yet to start the covers of my book. It will wait I suppose.

Today is being spent baking… I’ve used almost 5lbs of flour and a dozen eggs already!!

I finally got around to opening this one. The kids may be disappointed that I opened it without them but not likely…we just have to much going on for them to notice! 

This package was wrapped in a pretty napkin and ribbon…both of which I’m saving for future projects!

Just look at the wonderful page Connie made for 5 Golden Rings!

I am falling behind!!  To much to do and to little time I guess.

On the 2nd day of Christmas I opened this clever packaging by Jan of Dandelion and Daisy to reveal…

Two turtle doves. Aren’t they sweet in their little nest.

On the 3rd day of Christmas I opened another clever page by Jeanene.

I didn’t realize that the little gift opened to reveal….

3 French Hens until today. I had tugged a bit at the gift thinking that it should open but didn’t want to wreck it. Today I found the velcro.  Very fun!

Today, the 4th day of Christmas I opened the first of two days that our swap host graciously stepped in and fulfilled other participants obligations when they dropped out last minute. Thanks for doing that Elizabeth!

Hopefully I’m back on track now and will be posting daily as I open these fun pages!

It that time of year again… I joined a Christmas swap with some of the great artists on abc_alteredbookclub for the annual swap. In the past we’ve made fun little gifts for each participant but this year it was slightly different. We each make a page based on the 12 days of Christmas song. At the end we’ll each have a wonderful Holiday book to cherish every year.

Here are all the little gifties just waiting to be opened.

Today’s 1st day of Christmas page was made by Corinne of Glitz-oh Girl.

A great piece of digital art!  Thanks Corinne!

Each day I’ll be opening another page…or maybe I should say the kids will be opening another page. They love to open presents!!