Configuration box part 3

Still a long way to go on this yet, but here are my updates so far.

This is the August box. Obviously August means summer holidays, so I put a plane rub on in the background (the paper has icecreams on it - another delight of the summer) added a Bon Voyage title across the front of the box, and found a metal globe.

This is the April box. Whenever I hear the word April i think of the song from Fantasia, April showers, so i found some wooden clouds, painted them white, and added some blue rain drops made from polymer clay. I then used thread to attach them to the box so that they dangle. I added a plastic swallow charm from the Vintage CC box in the corner, but it was still missing something. Then it hit me

The Tim Holtz umbrella man die is perfect! I cut him out of black shrink plastic then shrunk him. He ended up a perfect size!

This is the summer part of the cover. I tore the background paper so that it looks like the sand and sea, with the actual configuration cover depicting the sky. I then made a palm tree, beach ball, hot air balloon and sunglasses out of polymer clay, and stuck them on using double sided tape. At least I finally found a use fot my polymer clay sun.

This is my favourite of the four seasons; both on the cover and in reality. I used some grey paper as a backdrop, then cut out two copies of the bird in branch die, and cut off the bird. I inked it in black, so that the wooden leaf buttons and the embroidered fox (which is actually an iron on patch) were accentuated in their colour.

Outside of the box I have been making my first set of christmas cards. I ended up making twenty of them.

I started off by stamping the santa gingerbread house stamp onto card, and colouring with promarkers (haven't got to the shading part yet with the whole imagine where the light hits) . I then embossed each card with a snowflake embossing folder, and brushed with sparkle mica powder. Once this was done I found some paper from last years Hobbycraft christmas pad (I love vintage/nostalgic christmas stuff) for the bottom of each card. I then added a bit of gold glitter on the stamp, and attached some christmas lights onto the side. It was still missing something so I found a Christmas greetings stamp, inked it with old paper distress ink, then coloured in the holly with forest moss and fired brick stickles and the stars with a bit of old paper stickles.

I have also been working hard on the photo stitch, and have finished page 5.

I was a little unsure of the shades they had chosen when I ordered the kit, but it works really well.

I have avoided talking about depression on this blog for a little while, and I thought that I had managed to clamp down on my anxiety, but a small incident at work proved otherwise. I had a panic attack. Now, ordinarily, I would have sat in a quiet place and calmed down but I was working alone and had customers so I could do nothing but try to stop it erupting into a full blown attack, until someone arrived.

One thing that I have noticed is how some people are simply unable to understand depression, anxiety, and the myriad of disorders that come under the umbrella of mental health. If you have a panic attack, or are anxious, there must be a reason behind it, when occasionally there simply isn't. I cannot blame these people; it is difficult to understand something if you haven't been through it yourself, but there are far too many who think you can just snap out of it, or that Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is just a label for a few funny little quirks, when in reality it can take over your life entirely. Everybody can have bad days. It is when those bad days far outnumber the good, when it threatens to engulf your entire being, that it is more than just a low mood. We cannot always choose how we feel, or how we can express our emotions, and not everybody can hide behind a happy face, or put aside their problems at will. In fact, there is a large genetic component to your general demeanour, not to mention how others moods can subtly affect you. There have even been studies related to the weather and how it affects your mood. I've tried in the past to keep my problems bottled within, to be strong for other people, and ultimately it led to my first breakdown. Thankfully my breakdowns have never been too bad, although I have had times when a day without the compulsion to throw myself in front of traffic are what I termed a good day. It has been a long time since I felt like that, and I hope never to again. The point of this little speech, is to tell others who think that they might have a problem that there is no stigma to depression, to anxiety, to any illness. Just because it is difficult to see and understand does not make it trivial, so do not let anybody make you feel that way. 

Emma x