Okay folks gather round.....again

This swap is for 1 Chunky Book Page to 1 partner.

There will be a series of these swaps, one a month and if you chose to play each month by the end you will end up with several chunky book pages for you to bind into a book. Each month there will be a different theme, feel free to suggest future ones in the comments section below.

The Chunky Book Page will be 6 x 6 inches (I considered 4 x 4 but I want a change from working on such a small space)

Please use heavy cardstock, glue at least 3 pieces together if necessary this has to withstand embellishments and years of people turning the pages!

For simplicity these will be bound on the left so leave an approx 1.5inch margin free of thick/dimensional embellishment on the left hand side. Bulky items should be kept to the right. And nothing to interfere with where you partners punch holes will be. Do not punch them yourself this is for you partner to do.

Some examples of binding could be ribbon, book rings, spiral coils etc (I use a hole punch and book rings which you can get in all sorts of colours and sizes)

The back of the page will be visible so although your art does not have to extend to the back please do something with it, whether its painting it black, a doodle or covering it in scrapbook paper, you should sign the back and put the title as well.

This months theme will be: Dark Literature.

So this is a pretty open theme there's so much you could do with it, intepret it as you wish, it could be a Edgar Allan Poe inspired page, maybe you have a favourite Stephen King novel you would love to portray somehow, or is there a particular character/line/scene from a novel/poetry that you just love. Maybe you have a thing for the gothic novel: Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Emily Bronte.Or the black comedy of Vonnegut or the poetry of Bukowski or maybe there's a Pablo Neruda poem that makes you despair. It's really upto you, those are just some suggestions of the top of my head and from what I can see on my bookshelf lol :)

This is an artistic exercise any medium welcome, mixed media is particularly good for chunky book work, also paint, colour pencil, pen + ink, collage....but no sticker or indeed embellishment slapping and put some effort in you don't want to be the one page that ruins the rest of your partners book do you? :p

I also really want to emphasize that although your page should be dimensional and "chunky" this doesn't necessarily mean you have to smother it in large embellishments, the main art work should be the focus and any embellishments should be there to enhance your work but not distract from it. You can make your page chunky by simply layering if you wish or stitching into the paper etc some other embellishment ideas are: eyelets, brads, fibres, lace, ribbon, charms, beads, buttons, tags, little envelopes with messages inside, little trinkets, glitter, puff paint etc etc. I know some people have been struggling with the chunky aspect of this so any questions please ask. I'm here to help :) Flickr is also a useful resource for ideas.

So in summary....

1. One 6 by 6inch page to 1 partner
2. The Theme this month: Dark Literature
3. Any bulky embellishment kept to the right.
4. Nothing to interfere with binding to the left.
5. Decorate the back and sign and title.
6. Heavy Cardstock (you may have to glue several pieces together)

Any questions I will try my best to answer I know this is new territory for some but If you can make and ATC/PC/Skinny etc I'm sure you'll be fine!!!!

You can start your page now as this is senders choice. It shouldn't cost too much to send internationally either.