These are ATCs of mine and a friend. The theme
was War. These were done about the time the
Iraqi War started. Mine the one on the left is
one of the most subtle things I have done.
My friend's on the right is titled, "War Tears".
what is not evident in the scan is that there is
a tear coming from the corner of the eye. Also
notice the torn upper right corner. Think about
both of them. There is a lot going on in these
two little pieces of paper.
Being a daughter and neice of WW II veterans, sister and cousin to Vietnam veterans and now mother of an Iraqi Freedom veteran I sometimes question the need of war. Just sometimes you might ask? Yes, just sometimes. And this was one of those week-ends. On a Sunday morning program I saw a story about two young American women who were wounded in combat in Iraq, one lost a hand and the other her whole arm. Both were very pretty. One was a mother of a 9 year old and the other was single. Both had been fitted with prothesis but they chose to wear them only at certain times. Neither of them were whining or crying about their injuries. They were going about their business of daily life. Both were proud of their completed military duty and said they would do it again knowing what would happen to them.
Then sometime on Monday I watched a news story about the curious revelation that people who serve in the military and saw combat have a 60% chance greater then people who did not of developing Lou Gehrings disease, ALS. It is a wasting away of muscle tissue. The man who was being interviewed is a Vietnam Veteran. He survived the jungles of Vietnam only now to be slowly wasting away.
And of course there were the pictures of row upon row of white head stones in cemeteries from around the country. In one cemetery they were 'celebrating' the erection of several new head stones. I was only half listening to the TV when the word 'celebrating' caught my attention. It seems that time had erroded some old head stones from Veterans of the Civil War and that the locals in the community had had fund raisers to replace them. And it was done on this Memorial Day.
So many dead, so many hurt and wounded. Why? And for What?
Ah....that's the question!
It is so we can sit in front of our computers and write in our blogs or play stupid games. So that we can picnic and bar-b-que on a Monday in May winding up a three day week-end. Drive our cars and cut our grass with now very expensive gasoline. Mindlessly going about our trivial daily lives. Being able to open a small business. We are so lucky to live in the USA. Even with all of its problems this is the place to be. Thank a veteran. And remember some of them are Females.
I know this doesn't have anything to do with the Artfull Hand and rubber stamping. Sometimes you just have to think about somebody else rather then yourself. And don't forget to question -- somtimes.
Cartoon by Ralph Hagan
Carol reminded me that she had scanned Bev's cards and sent them to me. thank you Carol. I really wanted you to see the cards. The stamps used were all Hero Arts. Bev did a wonderful design job. I am so lucky to have her, Carol, Linda and Jane.
Bev's 3 for $3 was last Saturday. I have yet to scan her cards. They were really great. Carol's 3 for $3 is today. I bopped in around noon and the place was jumping.. There was so much activity going on.
The Patriotic one just doesn't show up well scanned. The fireworks are all glittery. The stamp I used was a Fred Mullet, the sea urchin.
A friend and I were walking down Main St. in St. Charles, MO last Saturday and spotted these hanging baskets. Wow! The color was glorious. So it demanded that several pics were snapped. Aren't digital cameras wonderful. You get to see your shot immediately and throw it away if it isn't any good.
The Holy Moly Mackeroly Mini-MO-Treat of 2007 has now come and gone. Here is the group in the shop. SueP is demonstrating some of her metal techniques. We had 12 in attendance including two significant others. The group arrived on Thursday and most of them left Monday morning. It has taken me this long to recover to a point where I can arrange words into sentences. It was non stop from the day they arrived. Friday we traveled to Hermann, MO to visit the Red Barn Antiques. Think cool rusty stuff and you will get the idea of what we were shopping for. Then it was onto Columbia, MO to meet up with the HOly Moly Momma herself, Gloria Page. We met at Brady Commons on the University of Missouri Campus. We shared stories, lunch and art. From there we visited Poppy's. A unique gift store where Gloria started selling her hand made cards. On Saturday we traveled to St. Charles, MO and the Art Foundry. After a briefly history lesson we got to tour the galleries on our own. The work there is outstanding. Unfortunately the same week-end was a big art show in St. Louis County and the artists in residence were there instead of their own studios working. So the group didn't get the experience of talking with the artists. But everyone still enjoyed the exhibits. Then on Sunday we stayed in Washington and had classes at the Artfull Hand. I taught the group how to make a flag book to hold the ATCs that we had swapped. I also exposed them to bees wax collaging... Then Sue demonstrated ways to patina metal and to image transfer onto metal. All very cool. She had made up packets for each of us so that we could make a technique book. I have all ready made a visit to the hard ware store to purchase copper tubing and a little tool to cut it.... I can't wait to start patina-ing little copper beads.....
We had a very good turn out for our Make and Takes at the Collinsville Convention. Our tables were full for the whole hour that we did them.
These are ATCs of mine and a friend. The theme
Here is card number two. We will do one design per day and will be doing the make and take for one hour only per day. So these cards will be very limited in production. But if you go and buy the stamps from Laura you can make as many as you like at home.
As promised here are the designs for the FREE Bug-a-wumps make and take that the Artfull Hand will be doing at the Collinsville Convention June 9 & 10, one design per day. Laura from Bug-a-wumps has agreed to discount the stamps used in the make 'n take when you take the finished card to her booth. The only stamp in this design that is not bug-a-wumps is the grass at the bottom of the card. Both Linda and I felt that the design needed more grass. That stamp is from Stampscapes so Laura won't have that stamp available for sale.
Hello Friends, The Artfull Hand is hosting a 3 for $3 on Friday at 10:30 am and again at 1:30 pm. A 3 for $3 is a card making session where you the customer makes 3 cards for three dollars. The card above is one of the cards we will be making on Friday morning. Come and join us. The next three for $3 will be next Tuesday the 22nd, again at 10:30 and 1:30. Check out www.theartfullhand.com for the full schedule. Hope to see you soon.
