Oct and Nov Swaps

Problem with my maid again - stealing SIM cards and incurring a few hundreds dollars of phone bills!  Now into the 8th week without a maid and trying to train the children to be a bit more independent, but tough going.  I have to cut back on crafting and computer time too to do more household chores :(  Nevertheless, I still try to do something. 

During the ATC sessions we had in Bishan Library the past 2 months, we did simple activities yet they could developed into pretty complex works. For Oct session, we did rubbing or frottage. I tried my pencilbrush for the first time, it worked real great, producing smooth pencil rubbing in record time. 

The theme for Oct was "Windows and Doors". I used windows and shaker boxes to create the snowmen and heart cards. 

Vicki used stained glass effect to create the butterfly, while Valerie used images from Alice in Wonderland to illustrate this Turkish proverb "A small key opens big doors." .  And this was my pencilbrush rubbing.

For Nov ATC session, we used strings to wrap around all sort of paper shapes. Using my nesting star die-cuts to cut the shapes made them look neat and cool, and a bit different from the usual geometric circles and squares. I did a very simple one with flowers too! 

The theme for Nov was "Masks". Loved this theme, and I did some homework on Chinese opera masks to make these informative ATCs. The mask on the front was that of Bao Zheng, done by building up paper cutting layers. Bao Zheng (or Bao Gong) was the semi-legendary fearless and impartial judge of the Song Dynasty. His mask is mainly black, symbolizing honesty and firmness, an impartial and selfless personality. 

The other set of ATCs I did was inspired by a tutorial I came across recently. It was a basic face with different coloured parts, for one to mix and match freely to compose the face. The same parts were used (or some parts not used) to create these 3 totally different looks! I feel like I'm back in my childhood days!

I managed to swap a few more cards this time: From top left clockwise, Lion (torn paper) from Jessica Chua, Yearning #2/6 (Mulit-media) from Valerie Ho, Vase paper-cutting from Moses, Kimono Lady from Jennifer Lum, Monkey from Vicki Quek and Faces of Flowers from Selina.

My Oct and Nov swaps were sent out to Debbie earlier in the month. Going from top to bottom and left to right -

Oct swaps: (1) What's under the Bed? ATC, (2) Oriental inchies with stamped Chinese words, choice inchies with tatted flowers and 2-word encouragement phases. 

Nov swaps: (1) Winter time ATC with snowman outside the window (shaker box with mica flakes & glitter), extra ATCs for Debbie (Prayer flag ATC and School Days), (2) Winter outwear inchies, (3) College choice inchies (batik), (4) Glitter inchies (snowflakes), (5) Holiday Baking inchies (ginerbread men), (6) Choice inchies (holly with tatted berries). 　 

For the Oct doll swaps, I did a pirate girl for Lynette McNamara (New Zealand). 

My Jack Sparrow paper doll from Phyllis Boggs (USA) arrived too - very nicely coloured and those colourful beads on the yarn hair really stood out!

The ATC-doll for Oct were on flowers, I enjoyed creating these and almost couldn't stop!  A pair of these went to Phyllis Boggs (USA),  one is going to Kayenderes Green, a couple was swapped out in the Nov ATC session in Bishan Library, while 3 will be swapped in the Movable Doll ATC swap I'm currently hosting. 

For the movable doll ATC swap, the first cards from Sarah Pharr (USA) came in.  I have kept the theme open, just that it has be jointed with movable parts. What would the rest be doing?

I spent some time tatting these too. What are they? Can you guess? Eyes! To go on crochet dolls my pal, Betsy, is doing. She must be crocheting up a storm!