Changes, Halloween and Graphic 45.

I have a few funny quirks, don't laugh!  One of them being I hate change, unless of course Im the one making the change ;)  Some change is for the good and thats ok, but some change makes me sad and its come about through a state of progressive evolution I guess would be one of way of putting it.  So I bet you're wondering where Im going with this?!

Well, at the weekend I went down to Timaru with one of my Scrappy BFF's for a day of creativity.  Its a two hour drive to get there and it starts at 10am-10pm, we generally get going about 8am.  It got me thinking about how we got to this point, I mean its a long way to go for a monthly scrapbook crop!, but thats the way scrapping seems to have evolved.  Our dollar became so high against the US that people found it cheaper to buy from overseas, and with that came more variety of product being available.  And Im not saying that its right or wrong but that change, changed things in NZ and shops closed down with the decrease in sales.
For me that means theres only one wee store in Christchurch  www.thepaperteapot.co.nz when we used to have about 5 I think, depending on how far back you go, and that also means those weekly crops that some stores used to have, where you got together with your friends, chatted and created, learnt new tips and made new friends, have gone.  Hence my monthly trip to Timaru, spending the day at Artfull Crafts.  So yes, sometimes I hate change, and you could say its a purely selfish reason but I just find it sad.

Don't get me wrong, I love my days creating in Timaru, its just the journey of how we got to this point, I find sad for scrapbooking.  A group of us try to get together on a Wednesday which doesn't always work - my shift work often interferes :(  and things come up, thats just life.

So what did I create?  A few things, but this was my favourite.

In  NZ we don't really celebrate Halloween, although there is more and more of a Halloween influence here as the years go by, but nothing like Ireland or America.  Graphic 45 produced Steampunk Spells and I fell in love! and I don't even like Halloween!!  But those colours and graphics are just so cool!!

The base of this is two books that I found on sale at Typo, I just covered them and started building my layers and embellishments.

The bats are two layers stuck together, cut on my Cameo and the chipboard oval is Dusty Attic that I have painted and then inked to give it an aged look.

This handsome devil I found in the $2 shop and Ive given him 'wings' of spider webs again cut from my Cameo.

Aren't those flowers beautiful?!  The purple vine is from  Manor House that Ive been holding onto for awhile waiting for that perfect project - guess I found it :)

So considering I don't do halloween I bet you're wondering what Im going to do with it!  I did look at it when it was finished thinking I love it so much do I really want to give it away?  But I think it needs to be shown off and treasured by someone who loves Halloween, so its winging its way to Ireland tomorrow :)

See you next time!