Catalyst Four

Catalyst Four

April 6, 2008, 3:47 pm
Filed under: catalyst

 

As always, thank you to all of our visitors and all the encouraging comments you left for us. For those of you who did, thank you for playing along with us. We will do a drawing for the RAK and announce the name mid-week. And if you didn’t join us before, we hope you do this time.

 

Ok! It’s time for catalyst number four:

 

Something you remember from your childhood.

 

We’re incredibly honored to have Dedra Long as this week’s Guest Designer.

 

I first had the privilege of seeing Dedra’s work on the A Million Memories Design Team, and immediately got hooked on her art. She has a very unique and amazingly inspiring style. If you haven’t seen Dedra’s work before, make sure you take a look at her blog. Her art is always stunning. You can also see more of Dedra at paperclipping: an interview, one of Dedra’s amazing mini books, and a tour of her beautiful scraproom.

 

 

Dedra’s art with this catalyst is below and you can click it to see the larger version.

 

 

Journaling says:

throughout my life I have had one dream in particular….I remember as a pre.teen asking my Mom what this dream meant….I told her that I was five years old and my Dad and I were in a field of sunflowers….He was swinging me in the air and it was during sunset….In my dream we always picked as many sunflowers as we could hold….Dad and I walked back to the house and gave them to my Mom….After I told her about the dream she said that Dad and I did those very things before he and my Mom divorced….My memories of he and I….Journaled 4.5.08….

 

Thank you so much Dedra, we’re truly honored.

 

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Here are some interpretations of the catalyst from members of our team. Click on the photos to see the bigger versions.

 

Christine:

 

Journaling Says:

How can one photo be so significant to me? Maybe it’s because it’s one of the very few photos I have of myself at this age. It’s quite rare for me to have any pictures of the time when I was three or four years old. Perhaps it’s because I happen to be in costume and sitting on a pony…

 

I don’t remember dressing up like this too often in my childhood. However, I believe that I treasure it so much because my mother valued capturing this moment in my life. I remember her agreeing to have this picture taken during a time when our family didn’t have much money. In fact, when my father saw it, he was quite angry that my mom had spent money on it.

 

But I remember her saying then that it was worth it, and today I am so thankful for her foresight! If it wasn’t for her, I never would be reminded of the excitement that I felt putting on the chaps and cowboy hat, how giddy I felt as I sat upon the pony, and how elated I was knowing that my mom gave me a chance, for this moment, to pretend that I was a little cowgirl.

 

Thanks, Mom, for capturing that moment and preserving those memories in this photo! I will never forget it!

 

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Becky:

 

Journaling Says:

I’m still this girl. The girl with the brown eyes and long brown hair, although I don’t sport pigtails too too often anymore. I still love the outdoors. I am still an easy forgiver. I still have an attitude at times. I still don’t like to be told what to do. I am still happy and I still wear my heart on my sleeve.

 

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Karen:

Karen Says:

My whole life I was this sad, little girl. I always worried that something was wrong with me or that I would always be unhappy. I wish I could tell that little girl now that Life is going to work out for her and that she should give up constantly thinking that something is wrong.

 

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Kris:

 

Kris Says:

I have many memories from childhood, but the one I most tell my kids about is rain. When I was little, I remember my mom letting us go play outside in the rain. We used to march up and down on the sidewalk with our pots and pans, playing in the rain band. I always loved to be out in the rain with my umbrella because the smell was so fresh and sweet. It was the one time you were allowed to splash in the rain and mud puddles without getting in trouble!

 

Whenever it was too wet or not safe to be out we would spend the day inside, drinking hot chocolate and playing board games. I always smile with I hear people say they hate rain. For me, it holds some of my favorite memories. (My father used to take so many pictures of us kids. This is one he took of me.)

 

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Angela:

 

Hidden Journaling Says:

My Dolls. When i was little, my favorite thing to play with were my dolls! I would spend hours dressing them, nurturing them and talking to them! Nothing made me happier~

My mom and I (oma Nate) kid around about the fact that very often i had to pack all of my dolls! Never leaving any out! That maybe, it was an indicator that I would be the mom to 6 wonderful kids!

 

Today at almost 43, I am rediscovering my love for dolls~ 4-6-2008

 

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Brenda:

Brenda Says:

My Papa-I loved him so–he always worked in a hardware store and I loved to go visit him there. It’s probably why I love hardware stores and tools so much today. He used to take me to the ice cream store and sit me up on the counter and and fill a little white bag with candy-yum. Our favorite flavor was chocolate shower…..He always hung out in his garage just fiddlin around–and listened to country music. Funny after growing up in Sacramento, CA and listening to country music I would be living in Nashville,TN!

I used one of his old watches and his picture standing in front of his garage as the center piece and put some hardware pieces inside of the watch. The dangle has a fishing lure piece, cause he LOVED to fish and a blue fabric bead-as blue was the color of his eyes. I called him Papa,so I made the metal tag, and there is an old key—-He was always cutting keys at the store…my wire wrapping is a bit rugged this time because I wanted the hardware/wire to really stand out..

 

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Karan:

Karan Says:

When I was little, my grandma taught me a bunch of poems. Whenever we had a family get together, she would have me recite these two poems. They were taught to her by a Vaudeville actress in 1923 and she recited them as a kid herself. I remember they were the big crowd pleasers. Every time I recited them, there wouldn’t be a dry eye in the place. As a 5 year old, I didn’t understand the impact of the words of the poems. I knew they were sad. I knew the little boys both died in the poems, but as a kid, you just think it is a sad story. Now as a parent, I can’t even recite them anymore. I choke up every time. I would ask her “Why do they always cry when I say the poems Gramma?” She would smile and say, “One day when you are a mother, you will cry when you hear them too.” She was right as always. I do cry every time. They still ask me to recite them at family functions once in a while, but I can’t do it any more. Must be why grandma taught them to me, because she was always a sucker for a sad story, but she couldn’t tell them herself without crying.

 

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Now it’s your turn: show us your therapeutic art around “something you remember from your childhood.” Give it a try. Embrace the healing power of art. It can be any form of art as long as it speaks to you. Leave us comments with your work and we will send a RAK to a random participant. You’ll have to link your work by Sunday night, April 13th, midnight PST to qualify for the RAK.

 

For our RAK for catalyst #4, Cupcake Scrapshop is very generously donating a November kit to one participant. This kit is full of 7gypsies, Jenni Bowlin, as well a beautiful stamp, crocheted leaves, and many other goodies.

 

 

Remember, this is not a competition. If your art makes you feel even a bit better at the end, you’ve won.

 

Until next week, enjoy each and every moment.

 

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