What do you wish for?

Hello all!  I'm absolutely thrilled to be a guest over at Frilly and Funkie as part of their new challenge theme, Holiday Hues.  You can select any holiday to play with - Christmas, Valentine's, Easter - up to you... and create something in your favourite colours for that holiday.

Well, I know there are people who rip down the Christmas decorations the day after Boxing Day (well, you would if you've had them up since November, wouldn't you?!), but round here we're Twelve Days of Christmas types - so the tree goes up as close to Christmas Eve as possible and stays up until 6th January... that means I'm still deep in the festive season, so I've stuck with Christmas as my chosen Holiday.

I'm afraid I'm pretty much CASEing one of my own creations - is that allowed?!  I was so pleased with my altered book covers that I wanted to play again, and I dare say this won't be the last variation on the theme.  The previous one, A Christmas Story Book burst out into some very traditional holiday hues, which were an unusual sight around here.  (Do check out the story of Josef and Luigi if you missed it - it's a tale for the festive fireside.)

But I thought for this one I'd stick to my own personal favourite Christmas palette (you'll find it all over my Christmas Pinterest board as well as in my December Tim tag, not to mention many of the actual decorations at home)... so my Holiday Hues are whites and neutrals with the absolutely essential holiday greenery.

This altered book started with the sweet Found Relatives Occasions image, which echoes this utterly wonderful video clip which turned up this year - 40 seconds which are enough to restore anyone's belief in the magic of Christmas.













Because of all the storytelling, I didn't get to tell you much about the making of the last one, and I think these are going to become a regular feature around here (as long as I can source enough dilapidated books!), so I'll add a couple of details this time.

The book was already on its last legs - I still can't quite get my head around ripping apart a perfectly good old book.  (The new mass-produced hardbacks are another matter, but it takes more work to give them a sense of character).

I removed all the pages which obviously weakens the binding if it doesn't destroy it altogether.  So tissue tape is the first step to constructing my book window.









Next a bit of measuring and a craft knife to cut the aperture to fit the die-cut Tim Holtz window frame.  I think this one was cut out of Grungeboard, so it was more than capable of coping with the DecoArt Chalk Crackle process.












I gathered pieces of ephemera that the little girl has been collecting... obviously the one that matters most is the Perfect Attendance certificate, necessary to prove to Father Christmas that she has been a good girl!

So good, in fact, that she was asked to sing the first verse of Silent Night as a solo in the school Christmas concert.

Of course, she's been writing letters to F.C. and hoping for replies...

.... and counting the days off in her calendar until the big day.

(Again I've been using some of the leftover negatives from my December Tim tag to provide the touch of festive greenery, just as I did with my romantic Holiday Greenery tags at CVC.) 












I think now she can hardly believe she's sitting here with the man himself.













She's a quiet child - a collector (too early to say yet whether it will turn in to a hoarding habit).














But she always keeps her parent's theatre and cinema tickets...














...and their Christmas party invitations, even though she didn't get to go herself (so it's not looking good!).






The "negative" pine branches on the collaged interior are an echo of the front cover.

Even though the book boards themselves are green, I still wanted plenty of holiday greenery to decorate them.

I cut Kraft Core in a couple of shades of green with the Holiday Greens Thinlits, then distressed the branches with a sander, and added touches of glue to adhere a frosting of Rock Candy Dry Glitter.















The holly leaves were an afterthought really.  They're from Calico Craft Parts, one holly bough cut in two, and they'd been sitting on my desk since the autumn.  (They'd had a sweep of dark Pan Pastels, but then didn't make the cut on my tower of Autumnal ATBs.)











All I did was add a couple of spritzes of DecoArt Mister in White Shimmer and I got this magical antique silvery effect... hard to capture in a photo as usual, but I really love it.










The word is made with the large Bigz die, cut in Grungeboard again, painted in DecoArt Titan Buff, sanded back and inked.  Then it was out with the Rock Candy Dry Glitter again - I'm not generally much for glitter, but this stuff I'll make an exception for!












And it was some Calico Craft Parts which came to the rescue when I needed some supports to glue the word in place with a pop of dimension.













The tiny "innards" (pressed out from cogs and gears and snowflakes, and carefully preserved in a little pot) were perfect to lift the "wish" clear of all the greenery underneath.  So there are times when the hoarding tendency comes in handy!













As well as greenery, whether die-cut, punched or stamped, the outside and inside have other things in common...














... the tiny stars...














... and lots of snowy splatter.














I'm afraid we've only been able to dream of a White Christmas where I am - and far from dream weather, so many people have suffered nightmarish flooding over the Christmas period... my heart goes out to them with wishes that 2016 will be altogether kinder.













So that's the combination that makes up my Holiday Hues - neutrals, whites and greens.  When you stand the book cover by a light, the glow lights up the inside just perfectly... I hope you like it.











You'll find lots more colourful holiday inspiration over at Frilly and Funkie where the Frillies have already shared their beautiful creations, and the Funkies will be long next week with more.  It's been an absolute pleasure to contribute to Pamellia's lovely theme as a Guest Designer, so a big thank you to the team for having me.

I hope the next year will bring you what you wish for.

Happy New Year everyone, and I'll see you in 2016!

It seems to me that we can never give up longing and wishing while we are still alive.  There are certain things we believe to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger for them.
George Eliot

As a partner to the Christmas Story Book, I'd like to enter this at the Craft Stamper Take It and Make It, Sharing the Season
I'd like to enter this at Love to Create where, as usual, it's Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes
And a final fling for the year at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge for their Winter Wonderland