With a Song in Your Heart - April Challenge at OCC

Alison (aka butterfly) is hosting this month's challenge over at Our Creative Corner and of course she chose a word related theme - this time connected with song lyrics you are to use and display with your creations:

With a Song in Your Heart!

I have always been very much drawn to songs because of their lyrics and there is an album I really never tire of listening to: Nik Kershaw's "15 minutes" from 1998. 

Honestly I really couldn't decide for some days which song to choose for my DT project as they are all together just brilliant observations on daily life issues and "being too human" in many situations, relationship problems or even philosophical reflections on life in general and the journey we are all on. 

I finally decided to go for "What Do You Think of it So Far?" as it matches some of the new Tim Holtz "Found Relatives" images so perfectly.

The song's chorus says 

"What do you think of it so far?

Do you wonder there might be something better?

Do you think about where you are?

Do you wonder where you're going?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD9LTPa_tDs

and these are simply the most essential questions there are to life, aren't they?

You will find that I didn't put the single phrases in their order of appearance in the song but I assigned them to the appropriate stages of life shown in the pictures. Which gives the questions even more meaning as if I would have done one after another.


The words in the metal labels at the bottom of each compartment on my tray are meant to express some outer or more general view on that stage instead of the one person's view who's life stages are shown. I believe that we are never completely free from seeing "us" and "our lives" from society's (or other peoples') point of view too. Which sometimes makes it hard for us to stay true to our very own believes and goals.

 Taking time to rethink our lives can be a good thing! And I am definitely not talking about quarrelling with all the bad things that happened to us in the past. I am sure we all will find things we are proud of or which made us happy and things we'd rather leave behind if we looked back at our journeys so far. Maybe this helps with recognising that mistakes are an essential part of the process and of life in general. We are meant to make them so we can learn from them and find out about ourselves: what we really love to do and where we are only following a call that hasn't been ours from the very start. We don't have to be perfect and we will never be - but we can try to find the perfect balance between our very own duties and dreams, wishes and responsibilities, between loving and letting go.

I know - the question seems rather selfish or even harsh when seeing it combined with the great "quest" of successful marriage ;)
But we have to make a lot of decisions during our lives that we have (or at least think we are meant) to stick with for almost the rest of it. So wondering if there might be something better often prevents us from getting lucky I suppose...waiting for the better thing to come and letting slip a good thing from our hands.
But "love" makes this question vanish, doesn't it?

I remember my son asking me about two years ago why he was born at all and what he is meant to do, fulfil or become "here on earth". The one big question above all the others! And rather difficult to answer....
I told him he was here to make of his life everything he thinks might be good for him and which will make him happy and feel meaningful. And that mankind is here because of some kind of "accidental" evolutionary process (just like all the other creatures and plants on earth) and that it is not our duty to live up to some unreachable higher noble goals or having to follow any of society's actual ideas of living a "successful life".
Well...he surely didn't like my answer as it didn't help him then, but it was the best I could come up with and I believe that I said the right thing. ;)
I really hope for my son that he will be able to live a life that will make him happy!

 Children still are able to trust. And have to have someone and something they can trust in. So the question to "do you wonder where you're going?" might rather be a "no" at that stage ;) When we are children we feel the world is lying at our doorstep and just waiting to be conquered! (Sadly we loose most of this feeling almighty and being great conquerors while growing up).

I made my tray from thick corrugated card (that was a left over from the packaging of our new kitchen's fridge and furniture) and old book pages scraps which I glued over some washi tape using matte DecoArt Decou-page glue and sealant. After all had dried I gave the tray some washes with Ranger Distress stains "vintage photo", tea dye" and "antique linen".

The chorus was printed out on heavy copy paper,  blended with DI "vintage photo" and glued in place. The metal labels were fixed to the images before I glued them into their compartments.

 For a finish I embellished my tray with some goodies I mainly got from Sandra (SanDee1899) and Brigitte (coutureuse)! Thanks again, girls, for all the lovely stuff you sent me! xoxo. I chose of course embellishments that partially are meant to work as symbols with the images and texts they are combined with.

The DecoArt Decou-page holds them  in place perfectly well! I used the gloss version for the fractured doll to add some porcellain effect to it (as it was a plaster done in a mould).

I hope you like my tray and give Nik Kershaw's fabulous song (or even album) a listen! Hope to see you entering the "With a Song in my Heart" - challenge at Our Creative Corner soon! I will love to hear some new songs and see your interpretations! There is a prize to win, the chance to become the challenge winner and therefore get a guest designers spot or the chance to make Alisons's Top3! So get your favourite songs out and start creating! :)

Hugs and happy crafting,
Claudia x