Thursday, April 19, 2012

Apothecary Art Wonderful You Card

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  What Does It Mean To Truly Understand Something
Last week while traveling, I sat next to a man who found me to be a willing audience.  I wasn't really determined to read or put my headphones on, so when he said hello and began to chat with me, I decided to listen.  It was apparent to me that this man and I had different views on a number of different things.  That made me curious about him, so I kept listening.  At one point our conversation (or should I say his conversation...since I did a lot more listening than speaking) turned to the topic of fracking.  If you have never heard of fracking, it is a technique by which substances such as natural gas are removed from rock formations.  This man is a supporter of fracking and went on to describe the technique and the chemicals and steps that are gone through as a part of the extraction process.  When he finished his lesson on fracking I was curious since I know there are a lot of different views on the impact that fracking has on our environment and quite a lot of debate about it.  So I asked him why some people are so against it if, in his view, it is perfectly safe and fine to do.  His response was "they just don't understand."  I found this response curious and I wonder how often we think, feel or say this - that the only reason why someone doesn't agree with us is that they just don't understand and if they just understood it like we do, then, of course, they would agree with us.  I don't believe it is that simple.  As a matter of fact, if this man really wanted to influence my views on fracking, it would have been much more influential if he had been able to present a different perspective as well as his own.  Had he been able to do that it would have demonstrated to me that he truly understood that other perspective and that taking that other perspective into consideration he still felt that it was safe.  If we can't articulate another person's view/perspective as well as or better than our own, do we truly understand the issue?  It's a question I've been pondering a lot lately...
Today's card began with a Very Vanilla card base that I spritzed with champagne shimmer paint and Soft Suede ink.  I then stamped the Apothecary Art image with Soft Suede and cut it out with the Big Shot and one of the Labels Collection Framelits.  I sponged the edges and watercolored the flowers with Rose Red ink and my Aqua Painter.  I added some gold smooch to accent the flower centers and a touch of dazzling diamonds.  The greeting from Loving Thoughts was stamped with a combination of Soft Suede and Rose Red ink.  The flower was made using the faux suede technique with some flowers I had punched with the Blossom Punch.  I then sponged the flower with Soft Suede ink and colored some of the flower edges with gold smooch.  A small piece of crochet trim was added to complete the card.  I hope you like it :)
ps  Four Ways Friday will be posted a bit later in the day tomorrow (or possibly on Saturday morning).  It has been a travel week once again so I am a bit behind :)

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