Home is...

A looooong time ago I bought a sort-of printer’s tray in a funny shape. A specific shape, considering what I wanted to do with it - I wanted to celebrate the concept of 'home', which, for me, isn't a house, a town, a country; it's less tangible than that. It's a feeling.

Anyway, I’ve been working on it slooooowly and thought I’d finally share some of my progress.

I've used some of the ancient letterpress kit I found that same day to embellish

First I asked my husband nicely to sand it for me and stain it that dark red colour. Then I started collecting bits and pieces that I’d like to add to it. I cut some shapes for the wallpaper of the little ‘rooms’, and selected some photos to fill the spaces with.

'home is where the heart is' is so true for me

And that’s as far as I’ve got. Maybe in another 18 months it’ll be completed. When it is, I promise I'll share it fully.

it was a great idea, but I've been slow at completing it

It's All About Cards

As those two ladies of Good Mail Day write, there's nothing quite like receiving something personalised and made and sent just for you in the post; emails and e-cards just don't cut it. They talk about the rules of mail art sending - that you should honour everything you receive with a reply - and then reiterate this in a softer way - that if you want to receive something, all you have to do is send something and wait for the response. I'm happy to say it's working: my Postcard-a-Week postcards have resulted in this, which came through my letterbox yesterday:

 

Which spurred me to on make a reply, even though I didn't have an awful lot to say. Last week was very full of work and not much play. The weekend, however, was full of relaxing, wood walking and going to the market on Sunday to buy yummy artisanal food for lunch (and dinner, it turned out. Never shop for food when you're hungry!). So that's what informed the reply I sent:

 

The little play I did get to have last week was very time-pressured and resulted in a handful of little-effort cards that I'm not thrilled with. But freelancers must not say no to work. I did make it a bit difficult for myself, but at least I didn't fall to pieces.

I used my Letterpress for the sentiment on this card - I'm waiting for the opportunity to use it more!

 

 

 

And finally... Tuesday was the 25th. That means, according to my resolution, and like Sandra and my mum and probably many others, Christmas creation day. I stuck with a theme and got some cards under my belt (11 to be exact. It would've been 12, but I stamped the inside of one of them upside down):

And with that I think I'll have a little break from card-making. Got to save my efforts for wedding invitations (coming very soon!).

Striking a Balance Between Hoarding and Rejecting

When I was a lot younger, I had a far-off vision of myself living in a foreign land, and at the weekend enjoying a morning coffee on a cafe terrace, or haggling at a flea market. I am very lucky to be able to say that these visions have since come true.

Sunday morning was gorgeously sunny, warm enough for short sleeves, and full of promise. There was a big flea market/car boot sale (without the cars) in the park around the corner from us, and for once I had a definite idea of what I was looking for. There was a gypsy swing band playing music, the smell of delicious pastries wafting through the air... but nothing would distract me from my quarry.

I didn't actually expect to find the thing. When I clocked it I fairly pounced on it, and when the lady at the stall said to me "Two euros" I nearly dropped it.

I finally get to start my own letterpress tray-like project! It'll be a long time coming, but watch this space...

 

(The mug is for scale, and the chipped piece of wood to the left of the mug is due to me. And our dog. While we were queuing for said pastries, Django dog decided to make a dart for a pigeon. I was holding the house frame in the same hand as the leash. The house frame went flying, but possibly worse, Django dog caught the pigeon, much to the distress of onlookers. A few minutes later a passerby saw the feathers on the floor and joked to me that our dog had been eating pigeons... he stopped smiling when I told him that it was the truth. I can't report that the pigeon is OK, but I can say that Django dog had his teeth around it for less than ten seconds, after which it went into hiding.)

All in all I spent ten euros, and I got the house frame, three tins (one of which is for altering) and an old letterpress hand-printing set, which was too fascinating to put down, even if it's incomplete and doesn't work so well anymore.

So my tip for today is not to underestimate the value of things, and in particular the things in which others no longer place value. Go to the car boot sales, the jumble sales, the flea markets, the house clearance warehouses. Be prepared for a lot of junk, but hold out for that gem you know will make your day. This one made my week.