i owe nicola an apology, too...

...because even though the sketches at my paper world get posted for two entire weeks each...and even though said sketches make it just about impossible NOT to make a fabulous card in minutes...i managed to totally not make ANYTHING AT ALL for sketch number five!

however, to atone for my slothful ways, i managed to already finish my card for sketch number six...which was only posted yesterday--GO, ME!!! (sorry to be braggy, but if you know anything about me you know that to have something done on time...much less early...is such a massive rarity that i may never have another chance to be smug about it!) here is a card for lovely husband jeff's lovely father's birthday. (if you can say that 3 times fast and it is after 3pm in your locale, you may have a margarita, wahey!) (although my lovely friend ruby's will need to be tequila-free...sorry, rubes!) i realized midway through that it also qualifies for the current CAARDVARKS challenge, which is to make a card with a transportational theme:

(ship picture and map cut from old books; patterned paper: dcwv, my mind's eye, textured glossy origami paper; cardstock border sticker: wild asparagus; ribbon: we-r-memory keepers; compass sticker: k&co; flourish diecut: dcwv; photo corners: heidi swapp; other: colorbox inks, foam tape)

a word about cutting stuff out of books: the first time jeff saw me do so, he literally *GASPED*...and truthfully, i felt a pang as well. i love, revere, and collect books. i have hundreds of them that i would never, ever consider doing anything but read! the book from which this beautiful painted image came was a 1920's anthology of poetry and short stories for children, purchased at a garage sale for 25 cents. its cover and spine were not just falling apart, they were so imbued with mold that i had to take a benadryl before i could even touch it...and then i sat in my driveway (b/c trust me you would not have wanted this object in YOUR house, either!) and gently removed and dusted off the undamaged pages towards the center of the book. granted, this is an extreme case, but the books i buy and take apart are all damaged in some way: they've been written or crayoned in, they've been torn, they've gotten wet, they are missing pages or covers or spines...they've pretty much already ceased to be books in any meaningful way. the "tipping point" for me on this issue came when i happened to be at a used book sale just as they were closing down. i noticed a number of boy scouts and their leader waiting around, and asked why. they'd come to take away the leftover books, i was told. "oh isn't that nice," i thought, "they will donate them to needy children and hospitals and old folks' homes!" ummmmmmm...no. turns out, they take 'em to a special recycling place where said leftover books are pulped. the boy scouts get paid by the pound for the paper. suddenly the old books i had seen, with those neat maps in them, the children's books with the beautiful illustrations, the travel guides with their funky 1970's tourist photos...the ones i didn't want to read, i just liked "bits" of...were all DEAD BOOKS WALKING. suddenly, the idea of buying a few of them, and (after checking that they were not marvelously rare and worth millions) perhaps just using the "bits" seemed not so much like destruction, but actually a way of saving and honoring them! now, i'm not suggesting that everyone should go out and buy books to cut them up. what i am saying is...depending on the exact books and the exact circumstances...it might not actually be a cardinal sin to do so. having said that, i kind of hope the librarians at my local branch are not reading this...just in case! :)