Tuesday 16 September 2014

A Birthday Card

Hello and a warm welcome to Magpieheaven. Autumn for the Magpies of Magpieheaven is just full of birthdays: my son, my daughter and my brother-in-law all celebrate birthdays at this time. As I've no doubt said before on this blog, greetings cards don't come easily to me these days.Nevertheless, I wanted to make something special for my son Isaac that worked in the small space available on a card. Recently I won some blog candy from the lovely Lesley Ebdon, so I took a beautiful red card blank that had been part of this. I really liked the idea of a coloured card blank rather than the usual cream or white, so things were starting well. I gathered together some bits and pieces I had created as experiments over the last few months. There was an experiment with an alphabet decorative strip, both the letters and what was left behind. I rejected these eventually, but I'm sure I'll be able to use them on another project.
I liked the scraps of master-board and hand-made paper, which I thought would look good layered. The corners of the card were embossed, so I decided to accent this with some Treasure Gold. I painted a Prima Mechanical with Turquoise Fresco and then added a touch of Sapphire Treasure Gold and a red gem at the centre.
The Lynne Perrella image on the top layer was stamped onto painted tissue. Tearing her down the middle seemed right, matching the fragments of Artistic Outpost quotes on my master-board.
As I worked, a line from T. S. Eliot's poem, 'The Wasteland' kept running through my brain:
'These fragments I have shored against my ruins...'
Although The Wasteland is a difficult and - at times - bleak poem it does have an unusual  beauty about it, the way Eliot uses language and quotes from so many sources: mysticism, literature and popular culture creates hope and order out of the chaos, I feel. He created out of the 'ruins' a new kind of art and re-kindled interest  in almost forgotten dramatists like Webster and Thomas Kyd.
The moth in her frame is a piece of Tim Holtz tissue with a Glossy Accents glaze and the little leaves are fragments of my master-board. I wanted the card to create the impression of a gallery! Eliot becomes in a sense a curator of an art gallery or museum, displaying through the rich descriptions of his poem, scraps of parchment, lengths of tapestry and even some curious stone carving. 'The Wasteland', first published in 1922, beautiful and strange, grew out of the ruins of post World War 1 Europe and it was in a sense the beginning of Eliot's quest for understanding of a world recovering from the terrible ravages of war.

 My card for Isaac grows out of little treasured scraps that I could not bear to throw away and I've created it at a time when once again our news media carries stories of wars and rumours of wars, but all around us there is still great natural beauty and incredible courage and human kindness. This card comes with loving wishes for my son's  birthday on the 24th when he will be 24 and  with appreciation of his companionship and kindliness. Thank you for dropping by Magpieheaven today. May you find beauty, peace and poetry all around you this week wherever you are.

15 comments:

  1. wow Julie Ann, as always you make us stop and think with your posts. Love the card, it's beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fab card, love the coolours, great metal embellishments, I sell them on my website and it made me smile to see one used lol :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wonderfully done Julie Ann!! Happy birthday to Isaac! My youngest son turned 28 this day! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  4. How beautifully you used the card Julie Ann. I knew you'd find a special way to use them and this is fabulous! As Helen said another enthralling post from you and such an enjoyable read. Please wish Isaac a very happy birthday on the 24th. It's scary how fast the time goes isn't it? We tease Jamie now by saying he's closer to 40 than 30 but as his mum that really makes me feel old not him, lol!

    Hugs
    Lesley Xx

    ReplyDelete
  5. I read your post and just sat……….your card is fabulous, as are your words! Happy Birthday to Isaac! The years do roll on don't they? My youngest is 32 soon! Hugs, Chrisx

    ReplyDelete
  6. A beautiful card made with fabulous pieces and thoughts. TFS.
    Hugs Brenda xxx

    ReplyDelete
  7. Happy birthday to Isaac on the 24th, hope he has a fabulous day!

    Great use of your candy, agree about the colour of the card it is rather bright and makes a wonderful backdrop for your ArT :-) xxx

    ReplyDelete
  8. A gorgeous card x sorry for the lack of comments it has all been a bit busy x

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is gorgeous,love the fab image and colours.xxx

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hello Miss Julia Anne, first please tell Issac I wish him a WONDERFUL Birthday. What you have created is just amazing, that red card is now a work of art, to embellish it with your gorgeous scraps was just brilliant I'm not a big lover of red but what you create is breathtaking, Thank you my wonderful teacher, I read the poem twice and it is so thought provoking, this card belongs in an art gallery so beautiful and filled with love. I adore your cards, they are so unique, who would want an ordinary one :O). Thanks my sweet Cuz for always teaching me something every time I visit your warm and wonderful nest,, have a wonderful week, can't wait for you next SPECIAL card. ((( BIG HUGS )))...

    ReplyDelete
  11. What a wonderful use of your scraps on this beautiful card for Isaac!
    He will treasure it, I'm sure!
    Alison xxx

    ReplyDelete
  12. Happy Birthday to Isaac. Your card looks fantastic. Great details.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Coming to visit you is always a beautiful respite full of beauty...kindness...creativity...sharing and more!
    Brightest of Birthday Blessings to your dear son and the other special birthday people in your life this month.
    What a beautiful and meaningful card you've created that I'm sure he will treasure very much.
    Lucky lad to have you for a mother dear Julie ~♥~
    Sending Peace...Love and Light your way all ways...
    oxo

    ReplyDelete
  14. Happy Birthday to Isaac! How beautiful card Julie Ann. Have a wonderful birthday parties xxx

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wow I bet your son loved it, Happy Belated Birthday Issac. I love all those gorgeous details and the way you have presented them. It's so true about the news media, sometimes I can't watch it. My partner says I should watch to find out what's happening out in the world but sometimes I prefer to not watch and believe everything is in harmony with each other and each living thing. Kezzy :-) xxx

    ReplyDelete

Due to high level of spam recently I have enabled comment moderation on this blog, so any comments will be moderated before appearing on the blog.