Not quite a Greek tragedy, but still …

By: Julie Kirk

This morning I’ve been looking online for a definition of  ‘Gauche’ and so far I’ve found; ‘lacking in social grace’;  ‘tactless’ and even ‘being all fingers and thumbs’. I suggest you keep those words in mind as I introduce you to my latest layout.

Please give a warm gauche welcome to my friend, Prometheus:

He’s a statue we found on a sculpture trail leading through the grounds of Newby Hall, one of my favourite places to visit. My sister [also a scrapper] and I really had to stop and pose with our new found, naked friend, as you can’t  pass up a photo opportunity like that can you?

Prometheus himself is a figure from Greek mythology who was eternally punished by Zeus for stealing fire from the Gods and giving  it to Man. Go Prometheus!  Apparently … so I’ve read …  the pipe-shaped thing he’s holding in his hand is the stalk from a fennel plant which he used to steal the fire! Don’t ask me any more than that … I only found out those few details so I could add it to my journaling:

The fabulous green background was a magazine page from my Geekery kit, which also had in it the Charles Dickens card [top left]  and the wiggly arms and the die-cut cogs I’ve used at the bottom of the page:

So what do you think then? Is a layout of a naked man alongside some double-entendre-filled journaling a suitably gauche enough project for me to end my time as a Gauche Alchemy Design Team member?

I hope so. Because it is. I’ve decided that now’s a good time for me to step down from the Gauche DT. I want  to spend more time following my own venture and there’s a new DT heading your way this week. Their incredible  energy and vision is going to blow through the Gauche doors and knock them from the hinges and that’s exactly how it should be!

Happily Amy and Heather won’t be changing the locks behind me to say they’ve been gracious and supportive since I told them my decision would be an understatement.  They’ve made me a GA partner which, in brief, means we’ve got a mutual arrangement to continue tell the crafting world how fantastic we all are! And we’d all be right! I won’t go on telling  you how wonderful they and the rest of the DT are because [a] it might just set me off crying and [b] you already know their fabulousness.

Writing this post is definitely something I’ve been putting off doing but something I heard yesterday gave me the gentle push I needed.  When the ever-talented Lara heard I was leaving, she sent me a lovely message in which she talked of admiring people who knew “when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em” –  a sentiment which I loved [as well as being one which has had me humming the tune  ever since!].

Cut to yesterday when I was attending a wonderful crafting day at a local community centre and at one point found myself  crouched at the top of the stairs heat embossing a chipboard heart [as you do!]. From there I could hear the strains of a song being sung live in the sport’s hall downstairs [I don’t know which community group was in there, but I’m guessing some sort of dancing].

Now, you know me, I enjoy life’s little coincidences which I can read as a ‘sign’ if I choose to. So, does anyone want to take a guess at which song it was I could hear?

Exactly! And as sad as I am to be leaving … it’s never a bad thing to know your own mind, make your own decisions and in the words of Lara [and Kenny Rogers], to know when to  fold ’em:

Best wishes Gauchites, I’ll see you around. I promise.

Julie x