Thursday 13 March 2014

What a difference a...

Song makes!   More about that later.  Just wanted to share this with you,  this frame used to have a lovely poppy in it, sadly the light bleached it...   So I decided to revamp it.   I managed to find some ultra black glossy card,  gorgeous stuff!  Anyway I knew that I wanted to use the Chinese stamps on it,  I also knew I had to be careful and keep everything free of fingerprints.   I dowsed the card with talc,  then stamped the image,  painted on some perfect pearls and - here it is.  I buffed it all up and was so happy with the clean result.  So it is now back on display.




And here is an empty box - my memory box.  Today it got a coat of paint,  an interesting mix of emulsion and polyfilla. Not my idea, but that of my tutor, he says it gives a lovely finish.  That was fine, except I just wanted a smooth finish.  I got some TH ideology paper,  and that was to go on the box,  everyone in the room drooled over it.  I did offer to share it.  This is of course the bare bones of the box,  it has to be filled.  I want to put some contrast paper on the sides of the box, inside that is,  then think about how to construct the layers.     I was getting a tad frustrated with a fellow student, she was wondering how to cut down a photo to fit in hers, I showed her how to, and got ignored, the result was: she cut the photo far too small.  Tutor also tried to advise her, but neither of us were getting through,  not sure why,  I'm guessing a lack of confidence,  I could see what she wanted to do,  so could the tutor, but we couldn't convince her to go with our advice, no matter how gentle we were.   In the end it is her work.

Back to the start.  I hadn't had the best of starts to the day,  for this last week I've either slept in and not wanted to wake up, or been wide awake at silly o'clock.   I know why, this week has been preying on my mind, it is when my mum decided she'd had enough of living.   She kept going until my birthday,  I cooked us a nice meal,   mum had wanted to do the cooking but she wasn't up to it. We had steak au Maggie,  my take on steak au poivre,  season steak with peppercorns and garlic salt/powder, leave for a couple of hours,  cook on a hot griddle, medium rare is best, serve with new pots and veg, mushrooms in a creamy sauce.  Mum made a brave effort to eat it all,  but barely managed half.  The next day she stopped taking her medication,  she was winding down, she'd had enough.  I wasn't aware of what she was doing,  I just kept trying to cheer her up, cooking her favourite meals and throwing them away.  So my birthday is bittersweet,   knowing that she wanted to spend my last birthday with me is of great comfort, but hating the thought of her not being here tomorrow.    Once I had woken up I took ages to get going,  and was on edge as I'd been told to expect a delivery,  it arrived - a case of wine!   I had my art therapy class to look forward to, I decided to take in some chocolates,  it seems that is what people do when they have a birthday near or on the day of the class.   I was also looking forward to seeing my friend, and having a natter with her, but she didn't arrive, which left me worried.  I handed out the chocs, explained why and was treated to Happy Birthday!   It is a VERY long time since anyone has sung Happy Birthday to me.   I also got lots of hugs,  it was also nice to see another lady who is very timorous,  and has an awful time with her neighbour.  I got nice and messy,  covered my box with the paper,  listened to the others explain what they intend to do with their boxes, I can't wait to see them all finished.   And when I got home my friend rang,  she had just had a really bad night, but she was okay,  phew...    Postie had also left lots of cards and parcels,  how blessed am I?    I feel like a very lucky lady right now, no idea what I have done to deserve such wonderful friends, but I am truly thankful that they are in my life.




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