A good idea gone way bad.....

Remember the art papers that I went insane over?  This was the idea in my head behind all that.  I have a secret fetish for books and for cut out cardboard shapes.  I've been wanting to make books out of them thinking how nice and sturdy they would be as a substrate for mixed media. 

Well, I'm glad I took those pictures because that was a week ago and I have long since overworked the pages, murdered the pages, ruined the pages.   Whatever fresh appeal these bright colors had- long gone.

See- I have issues with edges.  I like to layer 'skins' over other papers but can't seem to romance myself into enjoying those edges.  I'm better if they are torn vs. straight cut by scissors but really- I want them flat.  I want them to melt right into the other surface all neat and tidy.  My answer to that is to make the paper and scan it into the computer.  Or- to scan the design and print it on to the art paper- a two step process.  See- the problem there is my print shop program won't fade away the background and I can not- will not spend hours of my one and only life going around the edge of the object to crop it.

   

Now- I do have Creative Suites with photo shop and a couple other programs but alas-don't already know how to use it and am unable to download the information straight into my brain like they did on The Matrix.  Dang, that was a good concept!  Many is the time I wish that part of the story were true!

Back to the book.  I don't know what to do.  I swished some paint around and then wiped it off around the pictures.  I think this is where I lost some of the freshness.  Then I tried to perk it up with some gold leaf foil....this took me hours....I'm thinking of adding in some really bold text- like "Damn it all!"  "What the Hell!"  No! No, not really.  A bold font with just a simple paragraph strung across the pages and then a light coat of resin.  Why resin?  Because when its good and dry it won't stick to itself and it will get rid of that uneven surface.  I don't know.... any advice?

Oh, here's a couple of Easter Cuties that brightened up my house.

No- we couldn't afford shoes this year.  They had a good Easter.  

I did as well- in a strange way.  I woke up during the night before Easter with terrible pains shooting through my ear.  Now, some of you may know I just had surgery to remove scar tissue in my abdomen that was causing all kinds of interesting problems.  We didn't know going in that scar tissue was the culprit and that should explain a previous post (eh hem, its my blog- I'll discuss my parts if I want to) wherein I imagined the loss of an organ at an inconvenient time and place.  Whew, all parts that are supposed to be there are still intact and functioning much better. So that's issue #1.  

I take a long time to recover from surgery, I just do.  Two days after surgery I broke a tooth on a bread stick.  I knew I would have to take care of it quickly.  But in Chris World lately I only do one major thing at a time.  So, on the Monday after Easter I had a dentist appointment to look into the tooth that had now been broken for two weeks.  The tooth is issue #2.  

Back to Easter Eve- yes, shooting pains in the ear.  Must be an ear infection.  Rather than continue with the fun of that pain I chose to send my family off to Easter dinner and church service without me while I found a med center that was open on the holy day.  Yep, ear infection.  Antibiotics were perscribed and off I went to the drugstore.  The drugstore was surprisingly understaffed and I was going to have a half hour wait so I took myself out to lunch at Qudoba's- one of my favorite fast food Mexican restaurants.  Then I went home to a quiet house.

Monday- dentist's office- no, the tooth was not broken, the root canal that was in it was.  If I was lucky I could still get in that afternoon for ORAL SURGERY- if not- how was 9:00 the next day?  "Really? Errr, that won't do" I said.  "Its not a question of if it abscesses, its a question of how soon and if that happens it will be bad and yes, it has to be pulled sooner rather than later."  "Err,  No, I'm sorry, I need at least two days to panic before the surgery."  

Last Thursday a man knelt on my chest and pulled out this root canal with a pair of pliers from the trunk of his car.  At least that is what it seemed like.  I cried.  I wish I was braver, stronger, tougher but....I've done all that and what I learned is that you are going to cry anyways so why put it off.

By Saturday I had received a thank you note from the surgeon for allowing him the opportunity to provide his service.  But what I read was- "Thank you for paying me 300.00 to kneel on your chest and slowly rip out your tooth with my old pliers from the trunk of my car.  I was a bit aggravated that morning and I sure felt better after I took out my frustrations on your tooth.  Sorry I made you cry."   Its a bit like when the manufacturers of Kotex ran their "Have a happy period." ad campaign.  

Today I will go to the doctor and have my ear flushed out.  A relatively easy and unobtrusive procedure and then I will have all of my hearing back.  I will no longer be able to hold my hand up to my ear and ask my husband to repeat what he is saying three times over- or repeat words back to him that make no sense at all and look at him as if he is insane.  Ahh, the fun is done!  

Thank you for listening to all my woes.  Its part of the reason I have been obsessed with making art paper and books vs. well, just about anything else, because its about all I can manage right now- just one thing and why shouldn't it revolve around art??