the alisun! revealed! positivity pajaki style...

as you can see above - my lovely and talented (and continually compliment giving) friend alisun proposed a project this month that would force me to pay attention to what people say...especially the nice things they may direct my way. i mean WHAT? yikes. not good with compliments over here. but hey, i was ready to see where this challenge would take me. i have to say right away that i got a fair amount of practice looking someone in the eye and sincerely saying "thank you."

i hope this makes clear why there was secrecy surrounding the project...i mean, i didn't want it to feel like i was soliciting compliments/kind words because that would be cheating right?

but how to create something artsy out of these words...that was also a challenge! luckily, i randomly saw a picture of a pajaki (polish folk art chandelier) and thought A-HA. it's bright and whimsical like alisun and it has a lot of paper components...to write on of course!

i found directions for a pajaki on a great website called honestlywtf...even though they were actually based on a kit i was not gonna buy and had a color scheme that was not happening for my project, but i liked the overall design and size. (month over month i am noticing that not adhering to directions AKA winging it - is happening in most of these challenges. hmmm, perhaps that aversion to following directions is directly related to the fact that i don't like to bake. ok, i digress.)

once i gathered most of the "ingredients" that mattered - give it up for bookbinding thread and buttons yo, it was pretty easy and dare i say meditative to assemble. the only weirdness was at the bottom/lower half - since i didn't have the exact dimensions and measurements i had to do some questionable engineering to get it balanced. my poor dormant mathematical brain, well this isn't called a challenge for nothing! and it was fun to hide the compliments in the stacks of papers.

but seriously, you should make a pajaki, they are so colorful and it twirled in the breeze when i hung it outside. the world needs more breeze twirl adornment.

a HUGE THANK YOU to the folks who said nice things to me over the course of the month. i think you meant them. really why am i so uncomfortable with compliments? that's just dumb? maybe that lady at the indeed brewery was right...my fanny pack IS really cute. and wow, i'm so lucky to be surrounded by wonderful people - some known to me and some randoms - who felt moved to spread some positivity my way.

here's something unexpected (to me at least) - at least 85% of the compliments i got had to do with my hair. and ladies, can i get a hi-five when i say that dealing with our hair seems like a constant battle?? personally, mine's curly when i want it to be straight and straight when i want it to be curly...and sometimes both in random spots on my head. argh. BUT all that being said, it appears that friends and strangers alike want to give me some hair love. i'm talking about people waiting at the crosswalk with me...talking to me about my hair. whoa. OK, i'll totally take it but i must fess up: (1) i'm not a natural redhead - my brother is, darn the luck and (2) i get my cut/color done at the aveda school. that's right, i'm a total cheapskate and random youngsters make my hair compliment worthy. what a great thing to discover!

PS. again, alisun, you are such an amazing woman and friend. thanks for challenging me on a daily basis...i'm so lucky to have you in my life.
PPS. some of the paper i used in this project is from your friendship anniversary present to me...yay!