A MAGICAL MAP...

Dear old garden of long ago,

Part of my childhood memories,
Hollyhocks nod in your farthest row,
Under the linden tree.

-1891 Sampler-

Today I am making a journey to a dear old garden of long ago where the best of my childhood memories grow and hollyhocks do indeed nod in a row...

To get there I must first unfold the map to the most magical of places... Unfurling a world where time and memory and scenes seem to stand still...To make this marvelous journey you must first cross the crystal clear creek...On a lucky day it will have tumbled upon itself in play spilling out over the stone bridge babbling happily to the other side where you may step from your carriage and wade across its shimmering surface as it tickles your toes. Or if you prefer a drier method you can just skim your carriage right on across making a happy splash. Either way the crossing is quite magical, the weight of the studiousness of each day begins to fade away like the drifting smoke of an extinguished candle...Leaving you as light as a leaf enjoying the out of doors... From there you take the long and winding road that leads to a place I think most of as home...Flowing through the tunnel beneath the arch of handclasp trees blows a ruffling breeze...Which is created by the stir of angel wings... It ushers you along to the edge of the enchanted forest...Where the garden begins...

Lyrical birdsong and the feeling of love mingle and dance on the breeze to the tune of the angels song... Take a right at the old rusty mailbox which more often than not houses birds nests...Or food stores for chattering squirrels than it does mail... Across the way stands a farmhouse enclosed by an ancient moss covered stone fence where the hollyhocks grow... Scampering squirrels skitter across the lawn in silly antics while the presence of the angel grandmother smiles... I will step on the soil of the dear old garden of long ago, where the best of my childhood memories grow and hollyhocks nod in the farthest row... Where new memories I will sow under the shining silver leafed maple trees.

Sometimes it is fun to visit places and things of the past and in this post I am sharing a real life journey to the farm as well as a blast from my artful past, a little fold out pop-up book that I made back in January of 2007.

This little book shows the evolution of my paper art. It is poorly constructed, the card stock being too heavy weight so it does not open fully and the pop-up mechanism is not hidden, plus I got the layout mixed up so the book scenes are not in proper order. At the time I did not have any real ephemera so I used cutouts from magazines with the exception of the real photos of the creek, road, forest, mailbox, hollyhocks, and the mini cutout of my grandmother that were all taken in the fall of 2006.

(FREE IMAGE - please feel free to snag this for your artwork!)

If I were to do this book over today it would be with far different results but sometimes in art, as in life, you do not get a do over. Its not perfect and parts of it are not even pretty, referring to the art and sometimes the life, but its all a part of my evolving journey and I cherish it. Praying each of you can look past the imperfections that might mar your view or rob you of the joy in your own journey and discover own magical map to a place of peace. Have a blessed weekend!

Blessings,

Miss Sandy