paper + card - ahoy!

with this card you get two for one
by carefully cutting out the letters with a sharp carft knife
and keeping the small insides of the letters a and o
you get a positive and negative image from the same base
i reckon the photo guide is fool-proof:

this card is bitter sweet
i made it to cheer up a friend, lifeboat mentor and teacher, called Bob who was suffering with cancer
his illness was short but painful and unbeknowst to me he had taken a sudden turn for the worse
i delivered the card on a saturday morning and, later that day, heard that he had died that morning
i doubt he even saw the card but i have no regrets about the sentiments i expressed inside
Bob was a great bear of a man and yet the gentlest and kindest person i think i have ever met
he had a laugh that was always bubbling and ready to burst out
if you heard it you couldn't help laughing too, even if you didn't know what you were laughing for
he was the living embodyment of father christmas
everyone who knew him will miss him
as i do

found = carved wooden birds

there's something about wood that is so simple and tactile
like wind and water is a primative thing for me
i feel calmer around wood
when that most natural of materials is linked with another love, birds, for me, that's the perfect combination
 

appreciate = sea and sky studies

living on an island i suppose i am naturally draw to the sea
browsing my posts it's a recurring theme or image
i feel very draw to these two images
mostly because these famous artists both capture the beautiful wilderness that is the sea
i had no idea turner painted images of the island but tate britain proves otherwise 
turner: 'study of sea and sky, isle of wight'

 this one is constable. It broods so magnificently, 'the sea near brighton':

paper+card - first paper cutting attempt

there's no method to my madness, alas
just some paper
a rather blunt craft knife (note to self: don't use a blunt craft knife)
a cutting mat
a pencil
and my brain
that isn't meant to be arrogant but i like coming up with words that are mine
i enjoy quoting as much as the next person but i feel less lazy if it's come completely from my own cerebral mound (mound isn't a pleasant word is it)  
i didn't use a tutorial or anything
i just sketched a design on the paper (just some writing paper from Paperchase) and cut
what was tricky, you ask?
well, not having a blunt blade... hmmm... would have been better
practice needs to be done to improve on some of the jagged edges or over cutting on corners etc
the placing of letters could have been better planned, too
above all though I think it looks pretty good for a first go

the words are about someone who is special to me and reflects our shared love of our beautiful surroundings

i'm liking this craft at the moment and have already started on my second piece

appreciate = lia melia

songs of melusina 4
saatchi online

i want to mark this day

i had a mini revelation today
i just felt it was the first real day of the rest of my life
this is the first day where i have not been paid to work
the change i elected to make has happened
i just enjoyed making something beautiful and unique
this special feeling will fade and i will forget that moment of epiphany
a sense of freedom
but i couldn't let this day pass with puttung a mark down somewhere

my weekend = fire

my weekend was gorgeous, actually

i rowed my little boat in glass-like water and had a garden fire in the evening

there's nothing better than fire

it makes me think of all the people who've sat around fire for millenia 

were they all as mesmerised by it

as i am?  

 what's your vital force?