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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



















Comments

  1. Ems ... firstly the box: You are coming along LEAPS AND BOUNDS with that box! I'm pretty certain that I'd have still been on the first box bit of it, still trying to work out what background paper I was going to use! (But that's me. I can never make up my mind {sigh}). I had to re-read the description because I couldn't believe that you made those sunglasses! They look like professionally made and bought doll sized sun glasses.

    Next - the cards! I love the spotty paper backgrounds! (I'm having a bit of a thing with spotty paper over the past few weeks and find myself drawn to it ... and yet I have no idea what I'd do with it. I just know that I must resist the urge to buy until I KNOW FOR SURE that I'll use it and not add it to the mountain of paper I already have.
    I never got the hang of promarkers. There was just too many similar colours that had to be used for a bit of colouring in. So I returned to my old favourites... paints. Paint I understand. Promarkers just aren't for me. But I love that others can make them work. (I do still have some Promarkers - and will use them - but not very often.)

    Like the little christmas lights up the sides of the card. I've had two strings of those for about five years, and I just can't bring myself to use them because it would mean giving them away, ... and I want to keep them! LOL!

    The photo stitch: You know I'm in awe of you for being able to do that, don't you?. I think you're incredible. Such talent. Me? I'd still be trying to thread the darn needle. But then being as blind as a bat even with the glasses on probably is the reason! lol

    Finally: The depression and talk of it's associated problems. I know how much it must upset you when these things happen. I can only imagine what a panic attack feels like - and if what I'm imagining it feeling like is what it's actually like then it must be horrendous.

    But ... if someone like a colleague doesn't understand, then wait until things have calmed down - maybe even days later - and then see if you can teach them what it feels like, and suggest things that they might try doing which you feel might help the situation. (Get you into a room by yourself, sit you down, give you a drink and tell you that they'll be back to see you again in a few minutes ... just to check you're ok. Or .. whatever it is which might work for you personally.

    If you teach them - then maybe they'll learn that they have a part to play in helping you. You need them to help - but they don't know what to do, so they probably bluster and fluster, and that might be making you feel even worse. Teach them Ems. You have the magic wand which might just be the very thing that could get a chain of events going which could be like a drop of water, dripped into the centre of a pond.

    Last but not least: Love you Ems - for both who you are and how you are. I don't care one jot that you have a or any health problem(s), because to me, you aren't your health problem. You're quite simply, Ems. And Ems, to me, is beautifully incredible. ~ Cobs. x

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  2. What a lovely and really supportive comment above,there are thankfully some wonderful people out there.

    Sadly Emma,a lot of people have trouble relating to things that don't apply to them and quite simply a lot of people are wrapped up in their own little world and don't want anything to upset it so they pretend things don't exist. It's amazing the amount of people think you can just snap out of it,don't think that attitude will ever change sadly.

    Still,it's good that you have your art to express yourself. Have you tried starting a journal? That might help to express feelings on days when everything gets a bit overwhelming.

    Love your progress on your box by the way,it's looks like you are really enjoying doing it.

    Hugs
    Donna xx

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