Swaps - Altered Letters

Last month and this month, I have been put in charge of the swaps on the Artistic Creationz Group. This was the first time I've hosted any swaps there so I decided I'd do things a little bit differently to try to pump up the interest in the monthly swaps.

The July swaps, which are to be crafted and posted to me by the end of August have closed but the August swaps are still open for sign ups, so if you are up for a challenge then pop on over, sign up and join in the fun. The group website is http://artisticcreationz.wall.fm/index. There is a fantastic group of people on here from New Zealand and Australia and we are looking for new members to join in with all the fun, so be sure to pop by for a look and to sign up for all the fun and of course the swaps.

Here is a run down of the swaps for July:

• ATC Group Swap - Theme: Shattered Pieces
• Art Journal Partner Swap - Open theme, swapping one on one with partner
• My Favourite Things - Group Embellishment Swap

I'm still working on my ATC's (well actually I haven't started, but I have been thinking about them) and I'm half way through making my art journal for Karley (my partner for the swap)... so alas you will just have to wait on pictures of those but I have just about completed pulling everything together for the embellishment swap.

For the swap we have to create packs for all the other participants which include the following:

• 3 pieces of lace 12" - 18" in length
• 3 pieces of ribbon 12" - 18" in length
• 3 other embellishments of your choice

We had 11 people sign up for the swap - way more than anyone, especially me, was expecting. So to be honest that all adds up to be a lot of lace and ribbon and stuff... but just think about all the goodies we will be getting in return!!

I'll show you one of the things I have made for my other embellishments because I really love the way these all turned out.

I started with some chipboard alphabets that I picked up at the Warehouse years ago. I love them, but haven't used them a lot of late, but then I've been a bit lapse in creating layouts recently... so these were the perfect starting point.

I coated the letters and surrounds in gesso then allowed that to dry before painting on some Lindy's Stamp Gang mists in various colours from my collection.

Once this painted layer of colour had dried, I then used the same colour of mist but added some drips and spots to add some interest and some WOW shimmer factor!!

I've added my usual with and without camera flash pictures so you can see both the colour and the shimmer these incredible two-tone mists from Lindy's Stamp Gang add to your projects. Once they really haven't photographed all that well. The colours are much brighter and the shimmer much shinier in real life!!

 Here they all are lined up together. With eleven in the group, I've had to create 10 sets to give to the other ladies. Usually I also create an extra for myself, but this time I didn't.

For Fiona and Faith - the purple looks the same in both pictures but the gold looks really different. These two colours were - Witch's Potion Purple and Golden Doubloons.

For Tracey, Teresa and Tai. These colours are Buccaneer Bay Blue, Screamin' Banshee Black and Dark Chocolate Truffle

For Leanne and Jeanette. These colours are Cadbury Milk Chocolate and Cotton Candy Pink - both these look darker in real life!!??!!

For Dawn, Sue and Brenda. Freaky Franken-Lime, Hag's Wart Orange and Tiffany's Blue. 

I have created these so that each of the ladies can use both their respective letter and the surround on projects... bit of a two-for deal lol.