Early wake-up for the 6th-grade bus. First day of school. Son's birthday. For which I did all the shopping and wrapping today. For which I redecorated his room today. For which I am eternally grateful because he's one awesome little kid who deserves an awesome room.
And I'm exhausted.
Today's card takes its color scheme from the color of royalty--purple--to portray the King of King's birth in a very humble stable. There's a bit of bling on the star that's hard to see in the photo, but it totally makes this card.
Now, for the question. Someone emailed me about the mistaken placement of the wise men at the nativity. Technically, yes, the wise men didn't visit Jesus until much later. But this anachronism never bothers me because the symbolism trumps the facts for this English major. Kings and shepherds bowed down to worship a baby born in a manger. I like the balance in that iconic imagery, mainly because it speaks to the spirit of the occasion perfectly.
So here's today's question: Are you bothered by inaccuracies in holiday images, such as wise men at the manger or 8-pointed snowflakes? Why or why not?
Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts Greatest Gift
ink: Memento
paper: PTI white
accessories: dimensionals, purple rhinestone
Not at all phased by these issues. There are way too many other things in life to worry about!
ReplyDeleteI'm a little bothered when Santa's paying homage at the manger; that's just mixing too-divergent traditions/symbols/whatever for me. Wise men? Not a problem. I will confess I have a five-point snowflake in an otherwise great set that I tend not to use. :D
ReplyDeleteThis card is quite lovely, wise men and all, and I like the choice of purple.
No, the images you mentioned don't bother me. I appreciate the beauty.
ReplyDeleteI think the purple is even prettier than the black! You're right about the tiny touch of bling...perfection! Like Lindsey, the only thing that bothers me is mixing Santa and the manger.
ReplyDeleteI'm not bothered by the wisemen in nativity scenes, probably because the creche has evolved from an educational tool to a decorative one. They now say more about our society's aesthetic values than our religious values.
ReplyDeleteI do struggle with five-, seven-, and eight-armed snowflakes. Some that look more like medallions are fine, but the others just look wrong.
I love the purple in this! And no, I don't think I'm bothered by the inaccuracy in this. After all, these are symbolic images for the Night that Christ was born.
ReplyDeleteI can't stand 8-point snowflakes...I actually went to the art teacher in the building I work in and taught her how to fold paper in a way to result in 6 points, because her students were making the 8-point snowflakes! Luckily, she and I are good friends so she wasn't offended!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I hate stamps with grammatical or punctuation errors. I've seen stamps that say things like "Its your birthday," or "Your a star!" Gosh...how do those errors get past quality control?
The wise men at the manger don't bother me.
Love this in the deep purple! This image always brings tears to my eyes...love it! Not a niggler for the fact the wise men came later - it's all part of the same story and the core of who I am because of this story being played out :)
ReplyDeleteLove wise men--any where. Snowflakes can have any number of points, it's not important to me. I don't even mind Santa at the Manger. It's a time of love and joy. Let's just enjoy!
ReplyDeleteNope, these slight inaccuracies don't bother me. As said above, it is allpart of the same story.
ReplyDeleteAs for snowflakes - we don't get snow here so I don't buy stamp sets that have snowflakes in them. Easy.
I love the purple ink for your card - such an unusual colour for Christmas, but it really works for that image.
ReplyDeleteThe only Christmas image I would be fussy about is the snowflake - I guess because it's a scientific fact that a snowflake has 6 points. The wise men are part of the Christmas story so having them anywhere in the image is fine with me. And stars can have any number of points for me - we use many 5 pointed stars as Christmas tree decorations, Christmas cookie shapes, etc. - I think the point is just using stars as a Christmas image.
No don't have any problems with the wise men. Didn't realise about the snowflakes, but as Jennifer R said, I HATE grammatical errors. It makes me think we just don't care if the language we use is correct or not.
ReplyDeleteLove the card, it is a really beautiful stamp, and the colour is perfect.
Nope, not bothered. Any creche I have ever owned has the 3 Wisemen.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that snowflakes only have 6 points. I do know that they come in all sorts of magical shapes. I learned something new today! The symbolism of wise men at the manger doesn't bother me. Grammatical and spelling errors bother me beyond belief, so much so that I have been known to tell restaurant owners how to spell their menu items. . .but that is another story, LOL!
ReplyDeleteMichelle.
8 pointed snowflakes REALLLLLY bother me!! why can't people be accurate? also images of polar bears and penguins TOGETHER!! they live on different sides of the world!!
ReplyDeleteI have a personal niggle with the apostrophe disappearing out of the british spelling of Hallowe'en, but now both spellings are considered acceptable in the oxford english dictionary I think I fighting a losing battle.
but the wise men at the crib doesn't bother me (to be honest, I'm not religious and didn't know it was inaccurate!)
Gee, can't decide if I like this card better than yesterday's black and white or not. Both are gorgeous. For those of us who mass produce cards, using both these cards would help break the monotony. What ink did you use to so completely cover the stamps? And did you line up all the stamps on one acrylic block, or stamp each with a stampamajig? And no, the wise men being there doesn't bother me any more than the cow giving praise! If you want to be strictly correct, the Baby shouldn't even be in the manger until Christmas morning, but mine is there as soon as I can get my decorations up!
ReplyDeleteWhen the inaccuracies are part of art, they don't both me at all. Art is art. Now, when somebody misspells, it drives me crazy.
ReplyDeleteYour card is beautiful! I'm not bothered at all by the 3 wise men being shown at the manger. It's not about those who was there, at what time. To me, it's all about the birth of Jesus; and the celebration and wonder of His birth.
ReplyDeleteI'm not bothered at all by inaccuracies. It's art (well the closest I get), symbolism and style trump fact. If it did, I couldn't use most images (think smiling fruit, animals doing human things, all the whimsy that can make this so fun). On the other hand, the stamps that say "When live gives you lemons, make margaritas" and "When live gives you limes, make margaritas" bug me. The fist because who makes margaritas with lemons, the second because who ever says "When life gives you limes..." So everyone has their pet peeves and it doesn't bother me enough to fret over it.
ReplyDeleteGreat conversation.
I love the wise men. In face, our home email address is we3roys. Roy . . . roi . . . king. Lots of people don't get it, but I'll bet you do.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great blog. I look forward to checking it out each day.
Gorgeous purple. Life's too short to worry about all this nit picky stuff. Just enjoy the art.
ReplyDeleteI'd be delighted to get this card. The Wise men are fine, give that they DID visit the manger according to scripture and tradition.
ReplyDeleteThe snow flake thing does bother me, and grammatical errors-aargh! Especially misplaced apostrophe's-hee hee!
LOL! Isn't it funny how some things bother us and some things just don't... even if we're a bit of a perfectionist. I guess the key word there is "bit". I don't know how I can be such a perfectionist about some things and not about others. It doesn't bother me at all to have the wise men in the Nativity scene... but anything but a six pointed snowflake does bother me. I won't buy snowflake stamps that don't have six points. But, I'm picky about my snowflake stamps anyway. I don't like just any snowflake, six points or not! LOL!!
ReplyDeleteYour card is lovely!!!
Not much bothers me-I agree, the Wise Men are just fine at the Nativity!
ReplyDeleteI have a question about the card though-why did you stamp the image on a separate piece of paper? Why not just on the card? Maybe it's the photo, but my eye keeps going to the crack between the layer and the sentiment? Just trying to rouse some rabble on an otherwise hot day....
No, I'm not bothered by the Wise Men at the manger. It's symbolic. I used to try to keep the baby Jesus out of the scene until Christmas morning, but my kids would sneak him into it when I wasn't looking. They wanted more animals, especially sheep, so I ordered a catalog of nativity set figures. We ordered a camel herder along with three camels and a few more shepherds for our large flock of sheep. Maybe not strictly accurate, but it held their interest for years. Grammar is another issue! I love the royal purple!
ReplyDeleteNothing offends me except bad spelling and grammar..just awful...the purple is stunning! Even better than the black of yesterday...royal purple for a King!
ReplyDeleteI came back in to this post as I was interested in everyone's answers. I noticed a few people commented on my mention of a snowflake always having six points - in case anyone wants to know why, it's because a snowflake is a six-sided crystal of ice - in other words, they have a hexagonal structure. So while every snowflake can have a unique pattern or design, all snowflakes have six main sides.
ReplyDeleteBut I agree with Colorado Crafter who said she's fussy about her snowflakes - so am I! The design really matters to me. It's one of my favourite images for Christmas cards and winter cards so I have a lot of snowflake stamps, stencils, etc.
This royal purple is a perfect color for this scene!! Not bothered at all!!
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I'm not keen on Santa in a bathing suit but for the most part inaccuracies in a visual like you mention aren't even a consideration. Christmas is all about the feeling generated. I have to say your use of these stamps is making me want to run out and get them. Great cards!
ReplyDeleteLura
Darn! Now I have to go and check all my snowflake stamps and punches. I'll admit, I didn't know snowflakes could have only six points. (How very un-Canadian of me!) Now that I know, it's gonna bother me!
ReplyDeleteI'll also admit I'm always a little intimidated leaving a comment on your posts, Susan. I'm hoping my...lets say "creative" (read: incorrect) use of grammar and punctuation doesn't sting your eyes too much! ;-)
Lovely card, Susan, the purple is a great choice for a one colour scene. The wise men don't bother me too much for the same reason as you mentioned. The 8 pointed snowflakes bug me as someone who moved to a snowy region only 11 years ago I am still awed by the beauty of snow each winter and like my snowflake stamps to reflect the incredible designs of the creator.
ReplyDeleteDear Lura, half of the world is in Summer at Christmas and 99% of stamps, cards etc are about Winter. Do we, most of whom will never have a cold Christmas not deserve a Santa too? (I am normally slow to be upset by individual peoples' opinions but this hurt! Lots). Please remember that the majority of the world will never see snow nor snowflakes either and chill out on details like snowflake accuracy, as another commentor said animal inaccuracies abound in the craft world too.
ReplyDelete