Its beginning to look a lot like....

HALLOWEEN!!

ha - you thought I was going to say Christmas didn't you! ....  I've had a day off from from christmas & embraced Halloween!..  I wanted to make something just for fun - a play day - and sometimes they are good days to have - however busy you may be - it clears the mind and something can always be learned from playing & experimenting...

There's been a halloween project idea buzzing around in my head for a while and it all came together this year - its not a big project... and after visiting a couple of places I got the inspiration I needed to put it in motion...

Inspiration 1:  While I was at Birds in the Barn the other weekend I was inspired by the papers Sue had used on her beautiful projects - the lovely Graphic45 Steampunk Spells papers...

I bought an 8x8in pack and brought it home... and looked at it... and looked at it some more - there's so much on the papers its hard to know which elements to use :o(  luckily there's 2 of each design in a pad.

Earlier in the year I used the outside of a configuration box to make this project:

which meant I had lots of little boxes from inside left over, empty, waiting to be made into something or thrown away (and believe me I was very close to throwing them away!)... I happened to visit France Papillon's blog (while following a link for something else) and she'd used the same left over boxes to create a little hinged box....(thats Inspiration 2)
This was perfect for what I had in mind - little boxes to fill with spooky stuff and using up the now-frankly-just-getting-in-the-way-&-cluttering-up-the-place boxes.  Bingo!
It looks like a mini trunk! (and we know how much I love a trunk... or two..)

I painted 2 boxes black, covered them with Graphic45 papers added a (surprising fragile) closure (I broke 2!!!)...
Here is the finished project - which surprisingly doesn't have any stamping on it! shock-horror!! none at all...

This is the front:

The hinge is a Tim Holtz pieces, the black elements are 'gold scrap' from my stash.. and the arms are from a skeleton I bought in Asda last year.. (Inspiration 3:  Asda - its a great place for Halloween bits and pieces...)

The back:

.. has one of my favourite images - the cat - taken from a French Art Nouveau poster (Chat Noir cabaret?).. and because we have a slinky black cat :o)

The sides:

This is what I like about the papers - lots of different size versions of the same images - perfect for my little box 'trunk'

Inside things aren't quite so pretty..... mmmwaaaahhahahaaa (thats my evil halloween laugh!)

In one section there is a cobweb covered scull, and in the other is a spell, a bottle of potion and a spider... I wanted the trunk to look as if it hadn't been opened for a long time so I added 'cobwebs'... The black 'ironwork' in the top right hand corner is more black goldscrap - so glad I remembered I had a bag of this is several colours - this is why I buy 'stuff' when I see it - you never know when you might need it!)...
(and the cobweb 'material' is THE most evil element on the whole project - it sticks to EVERYTHING but not always what its supposed to!... evil I tell you!  Use at your peril! lol)

So there you are... definitely NOT a christmas project!