Ah-ha...now I know why she included the word "challenge"....
And a challenge it was on many different levels...
The first challenge was getting out of Target without straying from my short, concise shopping list. Suffice it to say, I didn't pass the first challenge. Nothing extravagant, but one of these and one of those begin to add up quickly, don't they?
Yet as I rambled through every aisle it was like taking a walk down memory lane of when my children were little ones. Children crying--more pronounced {and did I mention louder} the closer I came to the toy section! Mothers giving "that look" to those screaming children and me pretending like I hardly noticed that child on the floor thrashing from side to side {professional courtesy from one mother to another} desperately clutching some much-needed toy...
Memories...they are known for showing up in the most expected, and even unexpected places.
{The flowers on the box were once the color of the freshly cut flowers!}
Our challenge was to take these little boxes that originally contained soap and give the box a makeover. After painting the box with a Martha Stewart paint sample called Sultana I began to adhere individual little blossoms of pressed verbena. It took way more than I had on hand and there was no time for pressing more so I even slapped ripe ones to the underside of the top cover and blasted them with my heat gun. Results...not bad.
After hemming and hawing, staring into space, and staring some more, I finally decided to make mine a memory box.
A few years back I purchased from this gal's Etsy shop two pieces of mirrors she had washed in acid and just like it was meant to be, the pieces were exactly the size of this box. The words were cut from an old novel printed in a large font I nabbed at Goodwill specifically for the larger font size. {Not to read it...but for artsy pursuits!}
The second mirror was used over the photo... a few more scratches were added using a file as to open up more peek-through area for the image.
The photo is of my cousin Johnny and myself when we were wee little ones...fifty-one years ago with the sun shining in our eyes...{not a lot of camera tips floating around for the novice photographer back in those days!}
Our families were inseparable...we gathered together every Sunday if not more often during the week, every holiday including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, many sleepovers, and so on.
Johnny and I accumulated hundreds and hundreds of hours through the years traipsing through woods, sometimes I was a passenger on his bicycle with the tiger banana seat, or on a mini-bike, snowmobiles, and even harrowing rides on his motorcycle hanging on for all I was worth. He grew up on a large dairy farm and any chance I got I loved to spend days at the farm. They had an old car we drove through the fields long before we ever had a real license. Finally, a chance for me to give him a scary ride!
Sadly so, it will be five years in July since his life ended tragically. It's still hard to believe at times...I cherish the times I get to visit with my Aunt and we are able to share memories we each hold so dear. He had a brilliant mind, was an accomplished photographer who developed his own film, flew airplanes, motorcycled across the country just to visit places he'd never been before & surprising relatives in many states when he suddenly appeared on their doorstep {!}, backpacked across Europe another year...always looking for an adventure.
It took me way longer to create this little piece than it should have...so many interuptions of getting lost in my thoughts and memories...
Yes, some memories are best never to be forgotten even if they make you cry.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. ~Kahlil Gibran
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To view the creations of more participants in today's art challenge, head over to Lisa's blog, Tarnished and Tattered. If you've not been there before, take a peek around as Lisa is a talented Texas gal who creates some gorgeous stuff! She is also being featured in a soon-to-be-released Stampington publication due to hit the streets any day now! Thank you, Lisa for hosting this challenging event. Who knew one little box could be such a fun challenge {or make such a mess of my once clean workspace}!
