Saturday, Jan 12

It doesn't seem like I got much done yesterday but I realized that I did more than I thought.  With my craft room in better shape (I can actually work on two of the three "tables") I'm more inclined to get stuff out to work on.  I made one more card.  Right now I'm working on the Close to My Heart kit I bought years ago (3? 5? who knows).  Last year I used different papers to make the same set of eight cards.  Now I'm making the cards with the papers, stamps, inks, and embellishments that came with the set.  Before Christmas I had shopped at Hobby Lobby and got a batch of coordinating double-sided papers to use to make more sets; one of which will be included in the Raffle Basket for SRD this year. But first I have to finish the original cards.

I finished the "How to Build a Carousel Horse" layout and posted it on the blog. That inspired a layout about our tour of London featuring, among other things, the Plane tree.  The Plane tree was something that I found very intriguing and made me wonder if the trees would work in some of our American cities as well or if maybe we've got something similar.

I also got started on the assignment for this week on the Art Journal Caravan 2013.  I'll do it two ways, one for my blog and one for the Studiographics gallery.  This assignment builds on our trip to London. Part of the tour we took on the 28th was to St. Paul's Cathedral. It's a magnificent cathedral built on the same grounds as a cloister and church that was built during the time of the Romans.  But the thing, besides it's massiveness, (and the 1059 stairs to the top of the dome - no I didn't climb them - if I had I'd still be bedridden) is its history during WWII.

Located in the City of London proper (the Square Mile) and, until the 1960's, St. Paul's Cathedral Dome was the tallest structure in London.  It was also the landmark/target chosen by the Germans to bomb London. On December 29, 1940 a major blitz took place after several days of no bombing, a seemingly quasi Christmas truce. The City of London Square Mile is the historical heart of London and was heavily bombarded and water mains destroyed. Winston Churchill sent out a message to the people of London to save the Dome at all costs. Volunteers stood on the Dome during the blitz, and threw off the incendiary bombs that landed.  (Explosive bombs weren't used at this time or the Dome would not be standing. Incendiary bombs burn when they land and are devastating to wooden structures.)  One in particular landed on the Dome and started melting through the lead covering the wooden structure when a man shoved the bomb to the courtyard. The Dome was saved.

During a lull in the bombing, a famous picture was taken of the Dome still standing above the ruins and smoke.

Later today I hope DH will scan the post card of that picture so I can put it on the layout.

Either the post card (scan) or the layout will be featured in the blog on St. Paul's Cathedral. Ultimately I believe I'll have a two page 12x12 layout for the cathedral.