Each time I begin a new LTC project, I am faced with a big challenge or two. The challenges always seem to differ, though, with each card making it's own demands for creativity and each piece of carving medium asking the question, "What are you going to keep, and what are you going to carve away?" At other times, it's the basic card idea that seems to be so elusive.
When I joined the the recent Star Wars swap, I knew almost immediately that I was going to carve a quotation. Ideally, I wanted a portrait and a quotation, but portraits have proven to be a bit out of my league. (Call me a chicken; I don't care.) I knew that if I could find the right quote, though, the rest of the card would follow.
Given that it was SHH's Star Wars swap, I wanted a quotation that was particularly meaningful to her -- and one that she hadn't already carved, herself. Tall order, don't you think? The odds were against me, but I started poking around on her blog anyway. I even picked her brain for favorites. Nothing seemed to satisfy me.
So, I slept on it. *smile*
When morning came, everything began to unfold! This was going to be my "All About the Swap Hostess" card.
THE BACKGROUND
Now, this one was going to be tricky. You see, I still wanted a portrait in the background, and I am a stubborn girl. What I could not do myself, I would just have to commission someone else to supply. That "someone else" was my daughter, a budding little artist, who graciously agreed to undertake the project. I used her sketch for the background. Don't ask me what I paid her -- it was not nearly enough!
Isn't she beautiful?
THE STAMP
Buried somewhere in SHH's newly rearranged Ruminations blog was the quotation I was after -- not just any quotation -- no, it was to be her own words! Here's the catch: I wanted it in her own handwriting, too. (No problem. Every computer comes with the SHH font installed with the operating system, doesn't it?)
I pulled out my stack of SHH LTCs, along with the little notes that accompanied them, and got to work. One letter at a time!!! Copy. Scan. Crop. Copy. Crop. Copy. Crop.
Fourteen rounds later . . . voila!
Not a perfect forgery, but every letter was indeed her own.
What do you think?
THE CARD
Yes, in the end, she's a Jedi.
