Serendipity

I stole this from my friend Alane's blog:

Serendipity:(noun) the gift of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.

 

Let me tell you how we met...About 2 years ago I was preparing to attend CHA Summer which was held in Chicago.  I was doing some research online about the upcoming show and stumbled upon some women from Duluth, MN that were going to dress up in crazy pink outfits and push a pimped-out shopping cart around CHA to gather donations for the Duluth chapter of Young Survival Coalition (a non-profit community made up of young survivors and supporters of breast cancer).  I remember thinking two things:

1.  Those women are just a little bit nuts.

2.  That's gonna take some guts to do that.

Fast forward a couple weeks or so and I am standing in the booth in Chicago and I see a group of women all dolled up in pink (no shopping cart though, I believe CHA would not let them bring it in) approaching...I see the t-shirts they're wearing and guess that they are the group I read about.  I don't remember who approached who, but what I do remember is they were very surprised I knew who they were and what they were trying to accomplish. 

Alane introduced herself and we began to talk about what their group was all about and why they were doing what they were doing at CHA.  We had a nice conversation and the group left the booth (here's where the serendipity comes in)...Alane came back to the booth to share her book she made about her journey through breast cancer.  Made from a 7gypsies Teeny Weeny book (only about 4 x 4 in size), it was about 4 inches thick with the most amazing artwork.

I still say it should have been published in a book.  I was touched by her personal story, her artwork, the use of innovative ideas, etc, etc.  I love when you can feel someone's heart by looking at their artwork.  Alane's book did that for me.

Fast forward again...I see that on Alane's blog she has posted another book she created, totally different from the first one.  I will post some of my favorite pages here, but you will have to go to her blog to read the story of the book...no matter who you are or what your situation, you need to read the story of the Book of Dreams and why Alane gave it that title...Feb 4th post, it starts with the words: So here it is

 

 Book of Dreams

by Alane Davis

Click to enlarge the pictures...that's when you will see the beauty of the book.

 

 I love how the pages are washed with paint and ink and how the number 1 is rubbed away.  The layers of dyed doilies and ephemera work together to create something that you makes you want to turn the page to see what's next. 

 love the random paint against the old book paper...

 The vibrant color of turquoise works so good with the pink and orange (I would have never thought to put that color combination together).  The little envelope with the fading word "secret" stamped over and over makes me want to know what's in the envelope!

You can't see from the front that there is a vintage button on the tag inside the pocket...love the detail.

 The rest of the pages of the book can be found on Alane's blog -post from Jan 17th.

Thank you so much Alane for sharing Book of Dreams and your story....paula