Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - the Final Two

 

The remaining 2 letters for the Craft Barn Alpha Challenge are X and I. I am just scraping in before the deadline as we have had quite a hectic holiday season. The first letter is X and I only had half a page of definitions. I looked at the usual X options such as x-ray and xylophone and x-ray would have been appropriate at the moment as my dog has been unwell and has spent a couple of days at the vets. We have seen a few of her x-rays but TBH her intestines are not something I want to inflict on all of you. I did toy with xenophobia but it's not a word I could depict very well through the medium of rubber. Finally I opted for xerophyte - a plant that is adapted for growth under extremely dry conditions. Amongst the cacti and yuccas I spotted a Californian Poppy also known as eschscholzia californica,  the seeds of which can lie dormant for a long time but with a little rain they will spring to life, germinate, flower and set seed in a matter of weeks (who knew?). With the help of my Memory Box poppy die I cut several poppies and coloured them with my coloursoft pencils. I did debate going over 2 pages onto the Y's but I thought I'd leave this as the only single page entry as that's all there was.

Next comes I with many more options. I have had this Artemio London stamp set for a while and have used it quite a lot. I wanted to use it somewhere in my dictionary but thought about it after doing C for Christmas early on in the year. I had no L for London definition so couldn't use it. However it occurred to me that all these images of London (my home town) are iconic - you don't have to be a Londoner or even British to recognise them. The text is cut with Sizzix petite petals strip die which I just bought in the Craft Barn sale (I brayered red & blue inks over some card and outlined the letters for more definition). BTW this stamp set is also in the sale (in store) and I like the fact that the union flag is in 2 parts so you can do the red and blue bits separately.
So that's it... I've really enjoyed this challenge I only have to decorate the outside now and I will post that later. Thanks to Isabelle and everyone at the Craft Barn for coming up with this. I'm looking forward to a new challenge next year. Thank you also to everyone who has followed and commented on all the dictionary posts - we have become quite a community.
Have a Happy New Year!