Things I love to hear / Envelope Book / Altered Art

Another swap has come to an end....  When I decided or should I say when it was decided I would do this swap I really had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach but halfway through it was a WOW.  I don't have a lot of "things" to work with, or fancy machines, so I just had to do it my way..   The book is the
"KEY" to where I live, what I love, how important nature is to me, and with the help of hearing aids being able to re- hear what I didn't know was right in my back yard, around the corner, down the road,  as the hearing loss was gradual so what one can't hear, we sometimes don't know we have.

I chose yellow and brown with a throw in of blue as I worked on the book portion...and with the way the envelopes are "put together" this little book opens several different ways and I just love it.  I used a punch I had of Martha Stewarts that is lacey and pretty, scrapbooking paper that I had, and some sheets of cork which were fantastic along with some letters that are mismatched, yellow ribbon, a key, train ticket,  etc. 

I have ALWAYS lived near enough to train tracks to hear the clatter of the wheels on the rail, the whistle as it goes throught the town and it is a reassuring sound to me at night as is Wind, thunder, rain, the tinkle of wind
chimes, the chirping of birds, a stream of moving water, and my great love of
waterfalls. 

One requirement I had for our porch on the house was a tin roof so I could really hear the rain.  The porch is lined with different sizes and types of windchimes right outside the bedroom window so I hear a variance of high and low pitches when the wind blows.    Adjacent to the porch is a pond where the birds frolic in the top of the waterfall, and there is a minature grist mill that adds even more water sounds.   We have approximately 58 large trees on our land so I can hear the movement of the wind within the trees from a gentle breeze to a fierce storm....all sounds I love.   And the train, yes, the train.  It runs  behind our house a street over and up the hill just close enough for me to know it is there.

Waterfalls, rivers and streams are abundant here in Oregon and readily accessible for rafting, walking the path along the stream, and getting behind and in front of huge waterfalls.
 
Back to the book.  In each of the envelope compartments is a manila tag which is tied with a ribbon and I found photos that pertained to the sounds I love.  I printed them onto transparency sheets and then adhered  a photo to the front and back of each of the tags with descriptive words beneath.  I like the way I was able to layer using the transparency. 

I will use a goodly amount of yellow ribbon with lampwork beads and charms attached to wind around and around this book before it is mailed off to my partner.  The book is part of me.  It is going to be hard to part with so I just may have to make another for myself.

Words can be conveyed through writing them onto a piece of paper but sounds are sounds and nature is God.