January Swaps

 I've joined three swaps in my online group this month.

The first one is a "winter" house - there will be three more during the year to make a total of four seasonal houses. These are approximately 7.5" h x 4" w.  I used some paper collage for the background and added a light coat of gesso over all. In the lower left corner I added a piece of vellum embossed with a snowflake folder. The edge of the roof and the bottom of the house have white texture paste sprinkled with a fine white glitter. I punched two snowflakes from a metallic white paper and added the Tim Holtz "people trio" as a focal point.

I also joined the monthly junk journal page swap. These pages are 5" x 7." There was no specific theme and I went with a winter theme since I was already in that mode.

I collaged the front with two different security envelope liners and a scrap of a vintage bill. The pocket is half of a window envelope that I collaged with scraps and added the cute little Tim Holtz girl with her coat and hat and mittens. I glued this to the page over a white doily. The tag inside is a blue paint chip with another winter image.

The back is also collaged with different papers - a piece of map, dictionary page and music paper. The pocket/tuck along the left edge is a piece of mesh "ribbon" with white dimensional spots on it (like snowflakes). This ribbon is so old I have no idea where I got it but it worked perfectly for this project! The birds-in-snow image is the front of a vintage Christmas card and the second card is a library card with a few collaged elements.

And, finally, I am hosting a tag background swap. There are 12 participants and we will all make twelve tags (7 1/4" x 3 5/8") with background only and mail one to each person. Once we receive all the tags, we will further embellish the tags with focal points, quotes, sentiments, etc. and then create a cute little book with them.

Here is my background. I did not have any ready-made tags the right size, so I made mine from old file folders. I didn't cut the tag corners at the top so that the recipients can match them up to the others that they receive. I can't wait to see the varied ones I receive!