Keys. . .and Birthdays. . .

July 12, 2008

Keys. . .and Birthdays. . .

The TGIF challenge of the week is to use keys in your artwork, which I have done. But first a word about birthdays.

Birthdays were a really big deal in our house when I was growing up, and they continue to be hugely celebrated in my home now. They are such a big deal, that the perfectionist in me rears its ugly head and I begin to stress about celebrating them "perfectly". One thing you need to know about that word, "perfect". It's considered the only true 4-letter word in our home. Not that we go around using all the others, but "perfect" is absolutely VERBOTEN!! Why? Well, my husband and I are both first-borns (read: Type-A) -- worse -- we are ONLY children. My daughter -- the first born -- quite definitely acquired the Type-A gene from us. Our son, thankfully, received his genes from the pool of more laid-back ancestors, and is amused by the rest of us when we lapse into perfection mode. What does this have to do with birthdays in general and this particular card specifically? If you notice the sentiment, the card is "belated".

Very rarely do I ever get a birthday card in the post on time. Everything else, absolutely everything, goes on schedule. But birthday cards, if sent at all, are notoriously late. Why? Because I stress so much about perfection in connection with birthdays in general, that if I even end up creating the "perfect" one, it's already past-due, so I'm not compelled to send it. I can't do birthdays imperfectly!

OK, so I'm exaggerating a bit. Maybe a lot. Most of you probably have gotten a card from me at one time or another. But I do stress about the birthday cards like no others. So I've decided to circumvent the problem and add a dash of humor to the situation by creating "belated" birthday cards, with my own little group of sentiments that rationalize the "belatedness" of the card. Hence the card above. The keys are symbolic. They represent the "key" to solving my problem by creating cards that are designed to be late.

The background is glossy cardstock with Tim Holtz broken china and faded jeans Distress Ink applied with a Color Box stylus. The Punch stamp is unmounted rubber from Artful Illusions, and the keys are by 7Gypsies. The sentiment is my own, computer generated onto a transparency sheet, and attached with Diamond Glaze (keys too), as is the German scrap border that surrounds it.

Have a great day, Everyone!

Posted at 03:16 PM in Thank God It's Friday | Permalink