2. Six Impossible Things

*COPY*:

My plan for Project No.2 was to use a song lyric as our starting point, but somewhere along the way I got distracted. Thanks to a misremembered Bjork chorus and an amazing Gwen Stefani video, I ended up going back to the bookshelf and picking up Alice in Wonderland.

This suitably curious quote comes courtesy of the White Queen in Through the Looking Glass:

"Why, sometimes
I've believed as many as
six impossible things
before breakfast. "

Through the Looking Glass: Lewis Carroll

*PASTE*: Kirsty's project =

The Alice quote was definitely an influence when I made this for my sister's birthday a few weeks ago. The colours and the Lauren Child playing card happened to match the underwear packaged inside the eggbox (yes, yes - an odd present, I know), but that was really as far as the Alice-ness went. For my take on the project, I was thinking about designing a symbol for impossibility - if infinity can have one, why not impossibility? - but, for some reason, I kept coming back to eggs. In their own, curious way, they already seem to stand for things improbably and impossible - life, strength and fragility, not to mention the enduring 'which came first?' conundrum.

The added text-strips each represent something I believe in, and - in case you're wondering - none of the six beautifully-coloured eggs have been painted. We're planning to eat them for breakfast later in the week.

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*PASTE*: Julie's project =

Here's how Julie described her project: "The quote Kirsty chose made me think about belief systems, being open to possibilites and new ways of thinking. I realised that I could probably track my interest in similar things by looking at the books I've collected along the way." [See here for a closer look].

"None of these contain one single, solitary answer or truth for me. But, when considered all together, they [and many others] ahve contributed to a pretty decent framework of broadening my understanding of the world, the people in it ... and myself. and that's why I believe in books."

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I somehow think the curious and all-questioning White Queen would approve of our efforts, even viewed from her peculiar point of view.

If you want to play along and take inspiration from the Queen, Alice or any other part of Lewis Carroll's splendidly surreal world, we'd love to see what you make.

Leave a link in the comments below, or add your pictures to our new Flickr group, and we'll be back with more wordy wonderfulness before you can say 'impossible'.

Kirsty.

Scraps of news and prettiness

I've been sitting here for twenty minutes now, trying hard to think of an adjective to describe someone who uses one of our wordy starting points to create something arty and wonderful. Challengee sort of works, as in 'one who has risen to a challenge', but it's a bit vague. Copy and Pastee isn't so good, largely because it sounds like 'pasty', which isn't usually offered up as a compliment (being two shades lighter than a milk bottle, I should know). And Project Member is accurate, but sounds suspiciously like the kind of job-title made up by a desperate human resources department. So, for lack of anything more generic, I'm just going to describe Anna as the very lovely and talented creator of our first Shakespeare-inspired Copy + Paste contribution. Her Love Story layout documents a trip to Juliet's house in Verona, and is utterly beautiful - soft colours, lots of small, clever details and an amazing graffiti-ed wall. I love it, and am so excited to see the way someone else interpreted Project No.1.

In other news (because I've always wanted to say that), Flickr has been our hangout of choice this week. When it comes to visual stimulation, there are few places better, even fewer you can browse in your PJs at 2 in the morning. And as of earlier this afternoon, The Copy + Paste Project bagged its own, tiny corner of the world according to Flickr. If, like Anna, you've taken up the Shakespeare challenge, or want to join in with any of our future projects, you can now share them in our Flickr group. To celebrate or, more accurately, because it's a good excuse to spend time searching, browsing, lurking and sighing, I thought I'd link you up with a few of my current favourites, all in a C+P kind of vein.

We'll be back soon with Project No.2 and a fresh challenge.

Kirsty

1. King of Infinite Space

*COPY*: In search of something suitably inspiring to base our debut Copy & Paste projects around, I turned to my trusty, well worn, copy of Hamlet, and stumbled across this:

"I could be bounded in a nutshell

and count myself

a King of infinite space".

William Shakespeare: Hamlet Act II Sc2

...which led to this ...

*PASTE*: Julie's project =

I'm not certain whether you would consider it cheating though, that is: reading Shakespeare on the off chance you'll be inspired.

After all, reading Shakespeare cannot fail to inspire. It's like shooting inspirational fish in a barrel ...like taking enlightening candy from a baby who doesn't like sweets ... like....well, in short, it's a complete no-brainer [although that's possibly not a Shakespearean term, I'll have to check].

Materials used: Head Trinket Keepsake by Coffee Break Design from 3DJean; scrap of wrapping paper designed by Jon Burgerman; a Prima Marketing rub-on; crayon; white ink pad; Stickles; Blonde Moments pearl pigment powder.

...and it also led to this ... [make sure to click on the photo to see a close up of its gloriousness!]

*PASTE*: Kirsty's project =

"It wasn't until I came to photograph my take on the project that I realised quite how 'infinite' a space it inhabited. OK, maybe infinite is an exaggeration, but my paper and card nutshell managed to contain a surprising quantity of linen, thread and ink".

Materials used: Alphabet stamps from Banana Frog and Hero Arts;black inkpad; natural linen; DMC embroidery threads; and papers - Sassafras Lass and Amy Butler for K&Co.

So there you have it: a snippet of The Bard, a scrap or two of paper, a little linen, a squiggle of Crayola and a button. We hope you've found something you like amongst it all.

You're welcome to join in by sharing how you've copied and pasted your own responses to any of Mr.Shakespeare's words, not just the one we've focussed on here.

Feel free to leave a link in the comments and, while we may not have a prize for you, ... we can compliment, ooh and ahhhh, flatter, caress your artistic ego and make you feel kind of warm inside with the best of them.

Soon,

Julie ;)