I'm sure you all know the saying "Necessity is the Mother of Invention"..??...well January's PaperArts swap was just that for me!
This incessant, unrelenting heat-wave that we are experiencing at present,plus too many visits to doctors this past month,one being to try to knock out the Bursitis that has taken up residence in my hip...I had two more cortisone injections this morning plus a bi-opsy on another incessant problem; a rash on my foot,(and the other reasons are not fodder for here at present)....let alone getting the normal hum-drum things done...like eating, washing and sleeping...hard thing to do when the hip you lie on is the sore one and which is not easy anyway in a furnace.... made for me having to make ATCs for this month's swap...
in a hurry!However, how can one hurry when one's muse has gone on strike???
Oh...and did I mention the "apple bandit" that played havoc in my studio for four days???
NO ?...
OK...this furry, four legged critter which insists on taking up residence in our roof, just beside a window in the studio that is from floor to 2 foot off the ceiling, so there is a wide gap for it to slide up into the roof area when open!
And at great cost, we have had him transported to better pastures..or should I say roof areas, three times already!
Anyhoo...as possums do, he was scrabbling and scratching around in his nest...which has all mod cons...air con in summer and heating in winter 'cos the vent for same is located in the floor at the base of the window...close to parks, low traffic area.... and and all this for no rent!..he's not silly...vbg
This must have put him in a playful mood 'cos he managed to knock down a heap of "stuff" from the shelves of stash in my studio before pooping on my lap-top,which luckily was closed at the time, and the in floor there...and then on my desk and the floor in the pooter/printer room !
So, it was time to call the big white hunter,who just happens to go by the name of "Possum".
TRUE....but apparently it didn't originate from his talent of catching the critters...it is a left over from his youth. Something to do with the speed of which "possums " can run up a tree!!!...if you get my drift.(think about it...vbg)
Anyhoo..."Possum" in his short shorts...another left over from his youth....arrived with the trap and I supplied the delicious apple and the trap was set up in my Desk-top and printer room, cos that's where the first pile of possum poo was found, and we went to bed that night feeling safe with the thought that we would have him in the morning.
Not so!...the little blighter was apparently hungry for a midnight snack 'cos the apple was gone and the trap was empty!
Soooo..back came "Possum", still in uniform (short shorts)and reset the trap in my studio where the second pile of poo was found.
Around mid-night that night, I heard the clatter of a spoon in a bowl coming from the kitchen which is located opposite our bedroom with only a 4 foot hall between.
I quickly checked to see if hubby was still in bed and hadn't gone out for an early breakfast, (I leave the table set for him...saves me getting up and playing maid early in the mornings)and,
Yes...he was still there pushing out zeds, so my thoughts immediately jumped to the conclusion that it was our home invading furry critter out looking for a midnight snack again!
So I poked hubby hard enuff to wake him...he is a
VERY sound sleeper...and we raced out to the kitchen to find the critter up on the table eyeing off hubby's breakfast orange!
Of course, it quickly jumped down and hid under one of the cupboards so we went to check the trap...and the apple was gone...
AGAIN!O-KAY!!Hubby is very clever at what he does but doesn't do much other than his chosen work, so
I set the trap with the trigger set at "hair-line" position and the apple strapped on the hook with a rubber band and off we went to bed again.
I bet you can you guess how surprised I was when, in the morning, I found the rubber band dangling from the hook and the trap...
EMPTY!!!RIGHT!!!...ENUFF is ENUFF!! ...I have had enuff of taking care of its hygiene problem! "Possum" to the rescue! and
quickly!He arrived, in his obligatory uniform of course, and we decided to hunt it down.
Didn't take us long...the three apples that it had consumed had obviously made him sleepy and the top of a cupboard in my studio must have looked the most inviting place to sleep them off, curled up in a ball.
"Possum" donned hubby's gardening gloves (which, incidentally, are 10 years old and still "as new")and grabbed the little apple thief by the scruff of the neck and jammed it into the potato sack I was holding.
HOORAY!! ...now I can finally clean up the rooms and we can sleep tight, with the knowledge that the critter has once again been transported to another tree...but for how long???
Next job...find someone to get up into the roof and block all possum entrances! I wonder if there is someone called "Roofie" out there???...LOL
But, I digress...let's get back to ...ATCs.
OK...dead-line has arrived!...what to do???...I had procrastinated long enuff!... into my studio (which some would call a mess) and go for it girl!
And how lucky
COULD a girl be???..sitting there, in amongst the wondrous array of flotsam and jetsam on my desk, were a couple of left-over ugly ducklings that I had begun from an ATC swap last year...just waiting to be turned into beautiful swans!!
The B/Gs are of
RUSTED PAPER with an image of some mythical Grecian broad who really needed a make-over, shown here.....(if you have been reading my blog you would be ready to realise that I
LOVE that
RUSTED paper???...vbg)
So, with beating heart and tongue out...(doesn't yours come out to watch your hands create wonders??...vbg), I picked up my treasured felt tipped Sharpie Gel pen (hmmmmm...now...where DID I get that??... I will need another one soon) and began doodling...or should that be Zetti-ing?..vbg
Then it was into my
OTHER work-room....one
COULD call it the printing press room.. where I can choose from an ink-jet or a laser to print out gorgeous images...and quickly find an image of black and white striped paper for her hat...it would be much quicker than drawing each one on individually!
Did I say "quickly"???....forget it!!..of course, when in a hurry one can count on things being in "go slow mode" and there was no
B & W image to be found amongst my zillion images was there???
So, quickly...
GOOGLE for it!
AGAIN that "quick" word must also be on strike 'cos it took ages to find one suitable, but, an hour later I had a nice laser printed B & W striped sheet of paper in my hand.
OHH-KAAAY...Cut out her hat, glue it on....
A few white dots with my
INKSSENTIALS Gel pen, a couple of teeny, tiny cogs, a splash of red gel pen dots to liven up her drab Grecian style garment and a mouth cut from some floozy in a weekly mag, and there we have her!!
Oh..and some black and white paper scrap down the side...
O-oh!...back to the printer...LOL..and she's done!
Now, some would say that she really should have consulted her "Fairy Godmother" before accepting my idea of "beauty", but then, beauty
IS in the eye of the beholder, isn't it???....and who knows..there might just be a "Zetti Benni" waiting for her just around the corner....LOL.
And the two
only took me
4 hours to make!!!...LOL
(BTW..the ones I made last year did not finish up as ugly ducklings either!..vbg)
