Gear Head Gal

Wow! The holidays have finally left town.  Christmas can seem a bit like a house-guest who has overstayed.  Fun at first, but soon vacation from the normal becomes a chore in itself and you find yourself longing for a quiet moment, permission to skip breakfast altogether, and the freedom to roam the house in whatever you choose. The departure of the holidays, much like the departure of the house-guest,  heralds a longer than normal household to-do list.

There is always a certain amount of housework when a guest leaves because, quite frankly, it feels rude to vacuum in front of him/her or spend hours washing and folding laundry.  And so now that Father Christmas and Baby New Year have finally shuffled out my front door, I am left with the aftermath- a seven foot pile of holiday ornaments to carefully wrap in tissue and box away, garlands and lights, and all those new festive touches that now need summer homes in my attic. But not today!

Today I am digging my inner artist out of the holiday rubble.  She has some new experiences to draw from, new rubber stamps to christen, and new Copics with which to do it all.

My family ushered in the new year with a rumble, not a roar and definitely not a whimper, but a body-vibrating, not-quite deafening- rumble.  We took our son to our first Monster Truck event.   What a truly American event!  Just the concept of the largest loudest vehicles humanly possible, guzzling huge quantities of black-smelling diesel fuel, crushing primer-coated automobile shells all in the name of entertainment screams of American excess.  Some would argue that watching such a spectacle from my cushioned theater seat inside my convention center suite box (thanks to a silent auction) is not the authentic experience.  Others claimed that the lack of dust and mud detracted from the red-neck glory of it all.  I however loved my clean comfortable seat as well as the thrill of watching these incredible machines at play.

Each machine had a personality of its own, a personality carefully and lovingly rendered in paint and sometimes even embellishments, such as the horns on the Toro Loco and the nostrils that actually vented steam.  I think my favorite moment was watching one truck turning donuts so perfectly on the polished cement stage that it literally hovered above the ground.   I don’t think that more than two tires touched the pavement simultaneously.   But in the end it was all the beautiful paint that held my eye.  The finishes shone like mirrors reflecting back images of flames, and poltergeists, and the sheer pleasure of color.  My son and I particularly liked the green and black Monster Energy truck, you know the infamous black can with the green M showing through.

I brought the Monster Truck Jam into this week’s crafty moment.  I knew that one of my new Greeting Farm images would make a perfect tribute to the Monster Truck experience.  And so I dug out the images I had colored while traveling and found the one I was looking for, the girl with attitude and goggles.  I began the project by tearing the black paper and layering it over the green.  Then how’s a girl to create an homage to loud engines without a little diamond plate.  So I used the Cuttlebug diamond plate embossing folder.  I threw in some gears for good measure, but I was still missing one key ingredient- tire marks.  Monster Trucks wouldn’t be Monsters without those massive tires.   Did you know that each one weighs over 1,000 pounds?  So, I set to work carving some tire tread.   While I am not waiting for a job offer from Firestone, I am pleased with the outcome.

Although, at the time of posting I realize that in my haste I have forgotten to finish.  She needs some words-  I am woman; Hear me Roar.  Suggestions?  

Have a Monstrously Great Week!-  Renee