Happy Crafting,
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Stephen Fry, George Washington and an Ass
- I struggled with a title for this post. I thought about titles like:
My family is going through a really rough time right now and my ability to create seems to be slipping away. I know great art sometimes comes from great turmoil, Vincent Van Gogh comes to mind. He was tortured by personal demons and through it he created masterpieces that are light and colorful. I can't do that."Oh No, No Mo Mojo" "Sometimes Good Enough is Good Enough" "Struggling Through"
I work in a creative field and need all the mojo I can get for my "pay the bills" job so I am content to let my studio work be "good enough". I still try to make a paper and ink creation everyday. Unfortunately there isn't a lot of studio work and what there is isn't great. The 2 pieces I am sharing today will have to be good enough.
The
first is a card. This image is from a Christmas set by Recollections. The image has
been floating around my desk for months. Since before Christmas actually. I finally decided it was time
to give it a permanent home.
I used the Silhouette to cut the sentiment banner,
because the machine was set up for another print and cut project and
decided this sentiment could hitch a ride on the carrier sheet. I find myself doing that a lot and it works well when I make those extra projects. Of course sometimes I make the extra print and cut pieces and then don't get around to making the project they were designed for. In due time I guess.
The layout on this card is maybe a C-, the coloring is perhaps a B but the
sentiment is an A. I can think of many people who could send this and
maybe a couple I could send it to.
The next project is a scrapbook page. Another one of those pages where my son does the hardest work and I simply make a pleasing frame and appropriate title for his art. I love the way he has drawn George Washington, the expression is a bit aloof, a bit cocky. I imagine him saying, "Yo!" or "How you doin'?" with a Joey Tribiani accent. 
I attempted to cut out the title of this page with my Silhouette. The background and title are both Basic Grey cardstock. Basic Grey is thick and needs to be cut twice with the Silhouette. It wasn't. Only the first couple of layers of paper were cut.
Because I couldn't get the letters out of the background I did the next best thing. I rubbed white ink over the title and then peeled the top layer of paper off of the cardstock. The title has more texture and the words are readable without me having to recut. Again sometimes good enough is good enough.
Watching Instead of Making
Over the last few weeks instead of making things I have taken to watching videos on YouTube, I'm particularly fond of those starring Stephen Fry.I had written a long paragraph about how wonderful I think Stephen Fry is, after reviewing it I decided against posting it. I will instead offer up a list of videos that show how perfectly imperfect he is. Suffice to say if I ever had the chance to meet him I would not pass it up.
I feel a bit silly bullet pointing this list as it seems so un-Fry-like but here goes.
- The Stephen Fry episode of the BBC version of Who Do You Think You Are?, which is one of my favorite NBC shows,
- Stephen Fry in America, in which he drives a black London cab in at least a bit of all 50 states. His conversations with locals, whether a fisherman in Alaska or a madam in Nevada, are always interesting.
- Stephen Fry's The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive.
- Stephen Fry - 50 Not Out a retrospective of his brilliant career.
- Numerous chat shows and games shows with Mr. Fry as a guest.
- My personal favorite is QI (Quite Interesting), which is a comedy quiz show hosted by Mr. Fry and featuring British celebrities. Most of the questions are so obscure, that it's unlikely anyone would give the correct answer. Points are awarded not only for right answers, but also for interesting ones, regardless of whether they are right or even relate to the original question. Points are deducted from a panelist who gives "answers which are not only wrong, but pathetically obvious.
Happy Crafting,
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