The man with the hollow tooth: Mon's entry in Nicole's "Out of the Box"

Nicole's journal was so freeing and "out of the box" for me that it took me a while to find what I'd be doing as my entry. Normally when working to a theme I try to push the boundaries and think outside the box.

With the theme of "Out of the box" it was more the opposite for me: a working "into a box" if that makes any sense.

I based my entry on a story my Grandpa used to tell me when I was little. It is one of those never ending  stories that loop. The sparse reference i could find on the net implied it was a Swiss story as it was apparently not known in Germany. The story goes like this (translated from Swissgerman:)

There once was a man who had a hollow tooth,
inside the tooth was a little box,
inside the little box was a letter,
inside the letter was written:
There once was a man who had a hollow tooth,
inside the tooth was a little box,
inside the little box was a letter,
inside the letter was written:
etc. etc.  you get the idea.

Somehow as a kid I could not get enough of this story and I must have driven my ever patient Grandpa nuts with urging him to go on and on and on.
In my mind I could see it clearly; the man with the hollow tooth who's tooth housed increasingly smaller versions of himself and at the same time I was still curious as to what the next "little box" might contain. But of course it always was another letter with the same story in the box but that did not dim my fascination with it.

It was a bit like holding both mirrored bathroom cabinet doors to my face and seeing an infinite and ever smaller version of myself. Or like going for a walk not knowing what the next bend in the path might reveal.

My entry in Nicole's "journal" (it is a box not a journal) became itself a little box as this is a hollow double layer about 1cm thick. Inside the hollow tooth sits a little box with a wee letter stuck in it and with a wee drop of sealing wax which landed partially on my finger. I have a blister to prove it. (Note to self: When working with sealing wax on tiny areas it is safer to use a toothpick or similar to hold down the piece.)

On the back I wrote the story as many times as would fit onto the paper and then used an aqua brush to paint a man's face with water and the soluble ink from my writing pen as the only paint.

I enjoyed working in this box of a journal and it brought back many memories from my childhood.
xoxo

Natura - Louise's pages

What a beautiful journal with a glorious theme for Spring.
I am a keen gardener and I get that thing every spring

 where I need to get seeds into the ground, 

Spring Fever so my page was inspired by wonderful seeds. 

I have been playing around with seed themed elements

 for a while now, and they fascinate me.

Deb's journal is just gorgeous,

 I love her cover with its combination of painted papers

 and sewn fabrics, it is adorable.

I always admire sewing in a journal, 

it is something beyond me so I am always taken

 by its tactile and rhythmic qualities. 

This journal has so many sweet pages 

and this lovely girl being swept along 

by a leaf in the breeze is Debs entry. 

Sharon takes us right into her neighborhood

 and shares the gorgeous nature all around her.

Danielle has us pondering over a magical dandelion.

Nicoles beautiful pages really pop and I can almost smell that flower,

Jan brings in some texture and

 transports us across the world on her travels,

I love the roots growing down through the ancient bricks.

Roz's beautiful pages

 continue with wonderful texture and details.

This cute little owl  caught my eye.

Janene has bought her lovely layered texture into her pages.

I decided to do 2 pages as one page just wasn't enough

 and there were plenty of pages to play with

 and it is Spring after all !

All of that wonderful texture 

in the pages I had to add some as well.

My last page is inspired by Gaia
I used John Seed's Invocation from Deep Ecology
Council of All Beings

Invocation

"We ask for the presence of the spirit of Gaia and pray that the breath of life continues to caress this planet home.

"May we grow into true understanding — a deep understanding that inspires us to protect the tree on which we bloom, and the water, soil, and atmosphere without which we have no existence.

"May we turn inward and stumble upon our true roots in the intertwining biology of this exquisite planet. May nourishment and power pulse through these roots, and fierce determination to continue the billion-year dance.

"May love well up and burst forth from our hearts.

"May there be a new dispensation of pure and powerful consciousness and the charter to witness and facilitate the healing of the tattered biosphere.

"We ask for the presence of the spirit of Gaia to be with us here. To reveal to us all that we need to see, for our own highest good and for the highest good of all.

"We call upon the spirit of evolution, the miraculous force that inspires rocks and dust to weave themselves into biology. You have stood by us for millions and billions of years — do not forsake us now. Empower us and awaken in us pure and dazzling creativity. You that can turn scales into feathers, seawater to blood, caterpillars to butterflies — metamorphose our species, awaken in us the powers that we need to survive the present crisis and evolve into more eons of our solar journey.

"Awaken in us a sense of who we truly are: tiny ephemeral blossoms on the Tree of Life. Make the purpose and destiny of that tree our own purpose and destiny.

"Fill each of us with love for our true Self, which includes all of the creatures and plants and landscapes of the world. Fill us with a powerful urge for the well-being and continual unfolding of this Self.

"May we speak in all human councils on behalf of the animals and plants and landscapes of the Earth.

"May we shine with a pure inner passion that will spread rapidly through these leaden times.

"May we all awaken to our true and only nature — none other than the nature of Gaia, this living planet Earth.

"We call upon the power that sustains the planets in their orbits, that wheels our Milky Way in its 200-million-year spiral, to imbue our personalities and our relationships with harmony, endurance, and joy. Fill us with a sense of immense time so that our brief, flickering lives may truly reflect the work of vast ages past and also the million of years of evolution whose potential lies in our trembling hands.

"O stars, lend us your burning passion.

"O silence, give weight to our voice.

"We ask for the presence of the spirit of Gaia.

A Touch of Alice -

When Sharon's gorgeous travelling art journal arrived I could not wait to see what was inside this beautifully created book case. It was like a birthday present.

It opens right up to reveal a beautiful art journal, wont you come for a wander through the woods with Alice to see all the beautiful pages created so far.

This is Sharons cover, a lovely mixed media page using some papers I have in my own stash and they never look so good when I play with them.

Sharon has obviously lavished love and attention onto her gorgeous journal and included beautiful gifts for us all - this is her front page, I covered up her details with a dragonfly for the picture.

Sharon also did this first spread and it has an extra surprise in that cuppa, 

and with the mad hatters tea party a scene from Alice we have lots of  tea taking pride of place in Danielle's spread.

I have fallen in love with Nicoles distinctive quirky style and her page is adorable. 

Jan takes us back to the tea party with this gorgeous stack of cups and so many Alice inspired details and layers.

Roz's page actually inspired me to read Alice and Mr11 and I also watched the Alice movies one weekend. I dont think I had ever read it before. 

Janene's pages are so lovely and whimsical and textured. I love the variety of interpretations and styles we are collecting in our journals.

These are my pages I wanted to play with the woods and the checkerboard landscape.

I even gave Alice a themed package to wing her way off to Reniet and there is my handy dragonfly to cover up another address.