My secret project!

I can now blog a little project I've been working on for Lynne's birthday. Although it isn't her birthday until the weekend I have now given it to her, so you can see it too! Not particularly wonderful from this angle, but if I tell you that this is the lid of a box, and the box looks like this...
You are a bit more impressed now aren't you? I made the backgrounds with adirondack colour washes in lettuce, stream and eggplant. The fern stamp is from the wild meadow themeplate from Graphicus and is stamped in Versamagic turquoise gem. The butterfly is from the crafty Elements Butterflies sheet from Crafty Individuals, coloured with promarkers and then clear embossed. And now for the next bit... (drum roll please)... slide the lid off and Voilà!
It's a magic box! Not bad for my fist attempt, eh? The butterflies are on strips of acetate and coloured and stamped on both sides (and clear embossed). The punched flower and leaves are coloured on both sides too.
The full instructions to make a box like this can be found here and some breathtakingly beautiful examples can be found on Elaine's blog. Thanks for the inspiration, Elaine. I don't think mine will ever be as stunning as yours, but I'm very pleased with the results and your instructions were so easy to follow.
It's been a funny day today. I've been on a course that was a bit abstract at times and a bit hard to follow. If you want to be a 'leader' these days you need to know an awful lot of jargon. Oh dear! I'm beginning to sound like I'm ready to retire!!! I'm not really, but maybe I should join the Campaign for plain English!
BTW this is my 200th post!!!! I can't believe it! I am well and truly addicted. I am gathering some blog candy ready for my bloggerversary on 19th October, so keep dropping in!