Creating for an Angel

I have always believed in Angel's both those with wings and those without. The tale I weave surrounds the creation of a special present for one of my own earth-bound angels, my beautiful sister. It all started one Friday night, the night of the week we refer to as "Friday Night Finger Food". Where the members of our immediate tribe gather to consume wine, eat the aforesaid finger food and debrief from the hustle, bustle and interactions with the not so smart folk that inhabit this world. In other words we have a little whine with our wine.

So this particular night, we were discussing the upcoming celebration of my younger sister's 50th birthday. An event I was going to make damn sure was a success. All she wanted was a party at home with a few close friends. Her eyes drifted to the corner of the room, she sighed and I could see how disappointed she was to see the SIX-FOOT-HIGH stack of newspapers. Yes I am not kidding it was at that point at least six foot high, today it is a little higher not much but at any moment we are still expecting the avalanche to engulf any who dare to venture too close.

The creator of the offending pile was her husband a former journalist and news correspondent. Who has a pension for overlooking the obvious and tending to the mundane and insignificant. An example of this is that he will spend three hours vacuuming and sweeping a small house but fail to remove or sort his oh so valued "old" newspapers.

Me being who I am, I decided I was going to do something to cover/hide/camouflage this Leaning Tower of useless pulp. Firstly I spied upon the thought to create a massive birthday card out of old cardboard boxes and cover it with pictures. But I squashed that idea as she is such the minimalist and one who detests clutter. Allowing my crafty brain to quickly think through the problem the answer came. A memory blanket, calico on one side and a fluffy soft fabric for her to snuggle under on the other, perfect.

Great a simple idea you would assume. You know create the blanket and do not forget a frame for it to hang from to position it in front of the eyesore. Yeah. Oh but here is the rub, this massive masterful stroke of genius was decided just two and a half weeks before the event. Yes a mere SEVENTEEN days.

"Insanity," I might hear you say. Well, yes very much so but I am the type of person who works well to impossible deadlines. This was not the only deadline I had set myself. There was her actual birthday present, I was vowed and determined to make her a substantially sized Opal ring in 9ct gold. This creation of which caused me many sleepless nights as there was a substantial amount of self-imposed pressure because I wanted it to be "PERFECT". Not to mention the final little icing on the cake which was to actually decorate and ice her birthday cake. Yes totally certifiable and ready for the funny farm.

Back to the cosy memory blanket that I was going to produce not just out of a necessity to hide a pile of papers but out of my love of a beautiful person. As I said before a seventeen-day deadline and this was to be done on the sly without her knowing. Ha Ha that will be the day, my sister is a blood hound. I had a piece of calico at an appropriate size a good two metres square. By my calculations plenty big enough to do the job.

Now what do I want to put on it. My criteria was simple. Messages and pictures of love adoration and fun. Nothing and I mean nothing that was overtly embarrassing. My next stop was resources, I personally messaged each person that had been invited to the party knowing that she had only invited those nearest and dearest to share this celebration. They were asked to supply a memory be it words or photographs to add to the blanket. Of course as any good project manager would I gave them clear deadlines and followed up. I also hunted through any family photo albums I could get my hands on.

As anyone that has ever ventured into the realm of creating photographic images on material would know that it can be a very long process. Won't bore you with all the details but the most important thing is that you need to create mirror images of what you want to transfer then use some form of transfer media. Be it, t-shirt transfer paper or media like Mod Podge photo transfer medium.

I spent literally hours cutting trimming and arranging the images, to end up elbows deep in the sticky photo transfer medium. There was glue, strips of paper and other craft gunk all over my workshop table, benches and floor. If you have never used this transfer medium it can create a huge mess in the final part of the process. You basically wet and rub the paper away to reveal your image right side up (if you have done if properly of course). What I failed to mention was that before you could Rub away the backing paper you needed to wait a nail-biting period (twenty four hours) which had me greatly concerned that I might miss the deadline.

At the eleventh hour, yes it was 11pm the night before the party, I rubbed away the last of the backing paper. Looking at the various images and beautiful words that her friends and other family members had shared made me smile. Again be it a desire to create something wonderful or just that I am really a nutcase of a big sister, I then started to use fine line permanent markers to draw what I referred to as graffiti (my mother calls them flowers on ivy vines) in between the images to create one enormous art work. Deciding enough was enough after exhausting half a dozen markers. My final act to trim the calico, so it looked neat. The sewing of the soft blanket to the back of the calico we would leave until after the party.

The boxes I mentioned before that I was going to create a card from did become the stand for the work. Once ready I transferred all to stand proudly before the Leaning Tower of Paper successfully hiding its existence. The smile that burst across my sisters’ face was worth every single scissor nick, paper cut, glue in my hair moment. Yes I did finish the ring which she now wears all the time and finally yes I did decorate her cake seven-layer rainbow cake our mother had baked.

If you would like to read a little more, I do want to share the piece I wrote for her blanket. It's a little abstract. It expresses my belief that the creator lent me his angel, in the form of the little girl born a mere eighteen months behind me. For you see my sister is my guardian angel. She rescued me from a bad situation, changed her garage into a workshop so I had a place to create and made room for me in her life. So please enjoy.....

AN ANGEL'S BARGAIN

A young Angel sat at the feet of the Creator bargaining, “look Creator, you sent her down there first without me. She is lonely and you know I will be her best friend.”

“Yes, child but I need you here,” the Creator answered gently.

The Angel looked perplexed, “you know she will need a confidant. Someone who she can share all her secrets without judgement.”

Again the Creator repeated, “yes, child but I need you here.”

The Angel looked to earth and knew that was where she needed to be. Her tone now inquisitive, “but Creator who will keep her out of trouble? Be there to wipe her tears and sooth her fears. Not to mention make her laugh and share the jokes only sisters understand."

“I understand why you ask child but I need you here,” the Creator was still reluctant to let her go. He cherished her and wanted to keep her safe.

The Angel could not understand why the Creator could not see what she saw. She picked up the great book of life and read over things that was to occur in this mortal’s life. Pointing to a line on the shimmering golden page she insisted. “See, that is when she will be in her greatest need. I have to go now if I am to walk this journey with her.”

The Creator looked to his most blessed Angel and wondered if she knew the depths of despair, she may face herself. Then his heart softened. “Your heart is pure and your intentions divine, I will allow you to join my mortal children only on one condition.”

The Angel beamed, “anything Creator.”

“When your time is done and you return to my side you bring that one with you.” The Creator pointed to the one they had been discussing.

"Oh Creator that is a given, for I know that once we meet on the earthly plane not even death will separate us. We may seem to be polar opposites but really, we are one. Stronger together than apart. Wiser at each other’s side. There will be no battle, foe or woe, we cannot overcome."

At the conclusion of her words the Angel reached up and kissed the wrinkled cheek of the Creator. With a final wave she bid her Creator, a farewell for now.

"Bless you Child," the Creator called as the Angel flew to her future.

Thank you for letting me share this with you.