Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby.

As of tomorrow [25th Oct] my parents will have been married for 40 years. A good excuse, if ever one were needed, to sit down, forget everything else ... and get gluey, painty and messy.

I've been so busy this last fortnight that I haven't had chance to help out with their preparations for the Ruby Wedding party they're holding tonight. Speaking to my Mam on the phone yesterday she listed the decorations she'd already bought and then added "But ...if you can think of anything else we could use ... ".

Words like that are something of a red rag to a crafting bull. So this afternoon I sat myself down with my latest Gauche Alchemy kits and made a little hanging decoration, inspired by those which Anna has been sharing on her blog recently.

I used a sheet of chipboard for a base on to which I glued cards, sections of dress-making pattern, tickets, fabric and gems all taken from Gauche Alchemy's 'Red mixed media and papercrafting colour kit' and the Ball & Chain kit.

The handsome faces come from my parents!

I applied lots of glue, 3D gloss, powder pigment and pearlescent paint to my finished collage and to get it to dry, I subjected the whole piece to a rather brutal attack of the heat-gun. In a happy accident I realised that the heat was melting the band of sequins along the bottom edge! Watching it curl was quite transfixing and I love the curled effect it produced. I'll definitely be melting my sequins again.

[Is it just me or does that sound like a euphemism for something risque?? ;)]

Now, it wouldn't be a party without party clothes and I think I've settled on the outfit I'm going to wear tonight:

It's a 1950s style grey and white dress, burgundy tights [still not worn the purple ones yet Clair!], burgundy pearl beads and silver heels. Nothing says 'party' like a pair of silver heels does it? If the outfit works and if I get any good party phots, no doubt they'll end up on a layout on here at sometime too. [This is also my contribution to Clair and Kathrine's 'Fashion Forward' fun-blog-fashion-idea-sharing-type-play-along thingy!]

OK then, I've got lots of things to tackle on my 'To Do'. [Funnily enough neither 'make an impromptu collage of Mam and Dad' nor 'photograph what you might wear tonight' were actually on my list of weekend jobs ......].

Before I go, I want to say a huge 'Thank you' to everyone who took time to leave a comment, Tweet, Facebook, UKS message and email me after hearing about the end of Scrapbook Inspirations. I really appreciate it.

A big thanks also to those who've already signed up to the online workshop Kirsty and I will be delivering in November. If you haven't already joined us you're still very welcome to - the full details are here.

The timing of it all was purely coincidental but there was something wonderfully reassuring about having a new venture ready to announce the day after the SI news came out of the blue.

Silver linings, doors opening, first day of the rest of your life....and all that, eh?

J :) xxx