House Box and the Dream

Today after visiting IKEA yet again for more acrylic hearts (computer says 67, shelf says NIL, Doh!) we took an uphill stagger in the rain......... see below for pics of where we ventured but first some crafting......

This little house box is the project we made at Victoria Stampers workshop on Saturday, run by our group member, the one and only fab Paul! It was such a great day, so relaxing, good fun and lots of nattering but, thanks to Paul, we did manage to get some crafting done.

I used printed scrapbook papers to cover the box then grunged it up with gesso and stamped swirls. I collaged the roof before treating it in the same way.

Inside the box is a concertina book and mine ended up filled with bird images so I can use it as a sample at next week's show and they are all UMs from stampattack , mostly my designs. I contemplated adding a door and windows but I thought that whoever gets to live there can just lift the lid!!

I decorated both sides of the book with stamped images and added ribbons, embellishments and lovely spotted quail feathers.

The book covers have a ribbon tie attached

The Dream...........

We took a detour on the way home from Ikea to visit the Dream in St Helens. We have seen this fairly new sculpture, standing so high in the distance, as we pass on the M62 motorway  (apparently so will 35 million other cars each year) and have always wanted to see it up close. We first had step into a foot deep pit at the gate, created I think to stop motorbike access, then trekked up a rough uphill track, in the rain, for fifteen minutes to get to the  point of my first photo. Very disability UNFRIENDLY especially after watching a family struggle to get their elderly father out and back into his wheelchair after lifting it over the pit. I wondered if it was worth it?

Then we saw the reality of the Dream and she is beautiful, serene and calm, in her position over a disused coal mine. The artist, Jaume Plensa, from Spain, created her with her eyes closed to appear forward thinking and to symbolise looking inward, as homage to the miner's dream of light whilst they were underground. You can see me there under her chin (sheltering from the rain!) and she towers over my five foot nothing, whilst the depth of the foundations are about four times the height of the statue. Quite a site and a sight and now I'll pass by on the motorway knowing I've touched her and her beauty touched me!

I love the artist's comment that in our dream space anything is possible... so hold on to your dreams.

(It worked for Fluffy!)