Catch-up

As you know, work has been getting in the way of my creativity and my blogging. No making = nothing much to blog about. Then I went from no making to not doing anything else overnight, and that's why you haven't seen me. It's also why my house is covered in a thick layer of dust and little bits of paper, and looks as if the complete contents of both our wardrobes have been moved into heaps in and around the ironing basket, and every door has creased shirts hanging from it.

Just after we'd waved goodbye to the visiting family after Christmas, a chest infection came to stay instead, and it stuck around for a long time. I had 10 days with a fever that paracetamol and the first antibiotics combined didn't touch, and 3 weeks of attempting to sleep sitting up. I haven't been that ill since I had something that wasn't glandular fever, when was living at home with a father who smoked. That's maaaaany years ago.

Once the second course of antibiotics kicked in and I was starting to get back on my wobbly feet again, I was asked if I would produce a farewell scrapbook for our Team Rector, who was leaving us on March the 8th. March the 8th was the only date on my calendar for the next 7 weeks. There was no life after it. "Ask me again after March the 8th" became my catchphrase. While I was deep into it, with the study floor mosaicked with black card-stock, photos, luggage tags, and printed die-cut labels (sorry and THANK YOU DH!), the Team Rector himself asked whether I would make him 60-odd hearts for the Parish Open Day on Valentine's Day. I couldn't really say "well actually I'm teensy bit busy at the moment" so I took a couple of days out and came up with these (and another 24, but you get the idea).

Meanwhile, as I had suspected might happen, the album grew into a bit of a monster. By the time I had finished it (officially at 9:40pm on March 7th) it had 50 pages and had taken upwards of 180 hours. Its sections featured the clergy and churches, parish events, parish groups, and 16 pages of messages from the people (blood out of a stone, anyone?) and matching photos of them. Sounds easy doesn't it? Nope, had to rally round volunteer photographers to snap them while the Rector wasn't about and also while he was. Subterfuge and deception right under his nose, in the very house of God!

Here are a few pages from it. I'm not going to show the personal pages, obviously. The colour scheme was black with the liturgical colours of red, green, purple and white, with the alternative colour of blue. I added gold touches as well, and used mostly the same die-cut fonts throughout for cohesiveness.

 

Here are the Team Rector and his wife receiving the album on the dreaded March the 8th. It's not easy to see here, but it's a good 3" thick and weighed enough to need both hands to hold it. I received a lovely little e-mail thanking me for it. I'm very proud.

 

That's what I've been up to. I've also made some cute Mothering Sunday things, but they will have to wait for another day. Watch this space!