Thursday, October 20, 2016

Thanksgiving Crusade Gets Layered

I'm sure NONE of you knows ANYTHING about impulse purchases. No. You're all so restrained and sensible when it comes to craft purchases. You walk right past the Hero Arts Color Layering Fall Trees set and think, "Well, now isn't that pretty! But I don't need it so nope, nope, nopity-nope nope."

You're better people than I am.

Or perhaps not. Perhaps you DO know a thing or two about crafty temptation.

Isn't it delightful? Of course, it is.

Anyway. Here's my first successful card with this very cool set.



I can't tell you what joy it is to play around with every color of the rainbow with this set. Oh, my. I need more shades of ink for sure. Oh, wait. I did just order a whole bunch of Archival and Distress ink pads that should arrive early next week. Yay!

Abandoning myself to consumerist culture is so. much. fun.

Design Note
This image presents a design dilemma for the CAS stamper. Its size is both a bit too big and a bit too small to stand alone on a standard 4.25" x  5.5" one-layer card. The proportion of inked space to white space simply doesn't work as well. There must be something else to carry the design...layers, a ribbon, embellishments, something. My next experiment with this set will be to try it on a smaller note card...maybe 3 1/2" x 4 7/8", for which there are ready-made envelopes.  I'm hoping for success there, because, as much as I love these white-on-white layers, I really want this beautiful image and the colors it showcases to be the whole focus.

A Personal Note and My Soapbox
My plan was to finish this post last night while my son Jack was getting ready for bed. Nick, my older son, was going with a school group to see Jersey Boys, the Broadway touring show about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.Well, at 7:10, Nick called to tell me that some kids were no-shows, and the extra tickets could be used by parents who wanted to go. The only catch...the doors to the Schuster Center would close at 8:00. George couldn't go (he needed to get up extra early for work this morning) but I WAS ALL OVER THIS! After a mad dash into Dayton, I sprinted through the doors just before they closed, sat down amidst a bunch of teenagers (some of whom had no idea that Frankie Valli was a real person) and enjoyed a FABULOUS show. I got home way too late to blog about anything but my pillow.

What a great opportunity, but it revealed a serious shortcoming in our culture. How in the world are teens not learning about their parents' and grandparents' music? I grew up listening to my grandparents' favorites on vinyl played on a massive stereo cabinet that took pride of place in their small home and to my parents' favorites played on smaller stereos and 8-track tapes, and now there are my favorites, played via CD or bluetooth for my children much of their lives. Our elders' music becomes the soundtrack of our childhood.

We drag previous generations' music forward in this way, yet some children appear to be denied this heritage. It made me sort of sad, in a first-world kind of way.

And while we're on the topic of music, let me go on record (pun alert!) as saying that the Nobel committee's choice of Bob Dylan for the prize in literature was fabulous, and I'm not even a big Dylan fan. The objections to him smack of cronyism and snobbery, neither of which should carry any weight in the arts.

Whew. I feel better for having gotten all that off my chest. Thanks for listening. Or reading. Whatever we want to call this. Feel free to share your thoughts about the card, the design note, or my soapbox in the comments. I promise you I read and appreciate every comment!

Blessings to all. I'm off for a nap.

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts Color Layering Fall Trees, Clearly Besotted A Little Sentimental
ink: various Hero Arts and Archival
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: rhinestones

9 comments:

  1. Sadly, I'm JUST like you, despite my best efforts to walk past stamps calling my name .. I'm just a sucker for a lonely stamp that just wants to come home with me - I'm like a stamp rescue centre!!

    FAB make with your new stash so at least it was worth it, it didn't end up in a drawer!

    Kathyk

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  2. I saw, I loved it, but I conquered ... or common sense said that fall trees are not really found on tropical islands. But there are plenty of others that have made their way over here.
    The kids may not be taught about "our" music, but they do eventually find it. I have loved watching (and listening) to my son "discover" all sorts ... like Frankie Valli, Chuck Berry, Elvis, Phil Collins. He would play music from his phone in the car while going to and from school and it was fun to see his reaction when he realised I knew the music.

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  3. I feel the same way about hymns no longer being sung in church. They are so frequently replaced by praise choruses and the latest hits on Christian music radio stations. I have nothing against those songs. I love most of them. However, hymns are a part of our heritage. They are beautiful poetry put to music. I like singing a song that I know my ancestors also sang in worship. It makes me sad that so many of our kids will never know the hymns I can still sing from memory after learning them in church 30 years ago.

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  4. I have definitely made crafty purchases "against my will" if you know what I mean!! That's why I now own 11 mini distress inks and 6 bottles of Nuvo drops...My grandson knows a lot of old school music thanks to his parents and maternal grandparents that he sees all the time. (He lives across the country from us, his paternal grandparents. But we play old school music when he visits us in the summer.) it makes me happy to know he appreciates some of what we grew up with.

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    1. Sheila - I had to come back to look at your reply. I remembered the Nuvo and did a search. Forgot the drops. I had to come to get that. Now perhaps I shall be able to find them. It was amazing how many things came up when I searched Nuvo.

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    2. Sheila - I had to come back to look at your reply. I remembered the Nuvo and did a search. Forgot the drops. I had to come to get that. Now perhaps I shall be able to find them. It was amazing how many things came up when I searched Nuvo.

      Delete
  5. I love this card. I am a total sucker for fall tree images as fall is my favorite season! Living in NC I miss my Ohio seasons.
    How wonderful you got to go see Jersey Boys! I saw it here in Charlotte and loved it! My son who is now 15 has heard some of his Dad's and my music throughout his life. Not all of it has been a hit, some has been appreciated but only for a "season" in his young life.
    Over the last two years thanks mostly to some movies using "old school" music in the soundtrack, I've enjoyed driving my son to and fro while he plugged in his phone to play songs by Bon Jovi or Journey as well as The Beach Boys!

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  6. Love the card. And, if I had avoided the temptation of sets (SU catalog) and all of the DSP and inks, my craft room may be back in shape after our new carpet. It has not happened. So excited that you got to have the Broadway show experience!

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!