Hi, friends. Thanks for stopping by for the 7th edition of CAROLE’S CREATIVE COMMOTION! (Forgive me – I like seeing my name in all caps. Even if I’m the one doing the typing.) Last month, I shared with you that there are certain images I prefer to avoid, most notably: elephants. I thought I’d balance the scale this month and tell you about a certain species of image that I LOVE and scoop up whenever I can: SHEEP.

Yep, I’ve got a thing for those fluffy little flockers. And, just as I can pinpoint the source of my distaste for the elephant, I know where my love of sheep images originated. Take a look…

Aaah… Princess Diana in her sheep sweater! Princess Diana first wore this sweater to a Polo Match in 1983, when I was 12 years old, and from that moment on, I have been positively smitten. Of course, this is back in the day when there weren’t a million celebrities, and you couldn’t Google their name if you wanted to see a photo of them or know what they were up to. You were at the mercy of the magazines, and in Diana’s case, photo books. One day, my mom brought me home a book called “Princess Diana, Lady of Fashion.”
(See? I can even Google an image of the cover of that book!) I swear, I thumbed through that book thousands of times. Believe it or not, I still have it somewhere around here. Guess what my favorite picture in the book was? You got it: Diana in that red wool sweater, woven with dozens of white lambs, and one black sheep.

Several years ago, I found a tiny sheep stamp and created an homage to Diana for an ATC swap I was in. I’ve recreated that sweater in paper and ink at least 10 times since then. And here’s my latest version, using YNS’s Cute Sheep stamp:
Diana would be 50 years old had she not been killed in that fatal car accident in Paris, in 1997. I can still remember exactly where I was (in my bedroom, in the house we lived in before our current home) and what I was doing (rocking Truman, then 11 months old, and trying to get him to fall asleep) when Sean came in the room and told me that Princess Diana had died. Now, I’m six years older than Diana ever got be. My son, Truman is now 15 – the same age Prince William was when his mother died.

In my own small way, I honor the memory of the Princess, who captured world’s imagination with her style and beauty, every time I make one of my sheep cards. As I do so, for a few minutes, I turn back into that ‘tween-aged girl, laying on my twin-sized bed with the rainbow sheets, leafing through that book, and imagining Diana had a life as perfect as it looked in the pictures.

So, tell me: what images do you collect? Are there any themes you’re drawn to, again and again? Tell me about them, and on Saturday, February 25th, Karen will randomly select one lucky commenter to win Cute Sheep.

See you next month, on the 18th.

xo – Carole

PS – I used the February Sketch For You To Try as the blueprint for my card. YNS is sponsoring the SFYTT this month, and Karen is generously giving the following discount to everyone who participates.