Laying on the layers

When do you do your thinking? I find that either gardening or walking the dogs gives me a good chunk of headspace time to sort out the day ahead or consider life in general. Not huge life and death issues but the kinds of things that niggle and need sorting out. I often find that while walking Meg and Tess in the woods behind our house - the same woods that I can see from my studio - I think about a card or scrapbook layout for a particular occasion. Then by the time I've fed the girls and made my coffee when I get home I am ready to jump in and make my layout. Yesterday I was thinking about some cards where there were lots of layers and textures but not so thick that they needed to be posted in a box! It came to me that describing the way we build up a card or scrapbook is kind of like a piece of music - some are very clean and simple like a solo voice and they rely on the beauty of the paper and colour of the card ( like the timbre of the voice and accuracy of the note ). The look I was trying to achieve could be compared to a rich orchestral or choral arrangement - full of detail and depth but without becoming confused and muddied. It takes the skill of the conductor and the composer to avoid jarring clashes - that's the crafters skill in choosing colours and patterns that compliment each other and giving some subtlety rather than just throwing it all together! How about comparing the tiny "ting ting" contribution of the triangle to those two brads that just balance a corner or the composer adding the flutes along with the other woodwind section for particular emphasis being like our beloved inked edges. You are hardly aware of it but it adds a certain ping! So maybe get some inspiration for your next page or card from listening to your favourite music and translating it to our lovely medium of paper and card. Let me know how you get on!