lara

Finally got Bono's card done!



Every year African Well Fund holds a fundraiser in honor of Bono's birthday raising money for clean water projects. We invite U2/Bono fans to donate and sign an online card which we then send to Bono through his management company. The first couple of years we just would send a print out of the messages, then I started crafting more seriously and the last 4 years have been handmaking cards that incorporate the messages. It's an honor to do and even more of an honor to be involved in such an amazing grassroots organization that literally started by "dreaming out loud."

Here is the whole package as Bono will first see it. It's an envelope and card dealie. The envelope is a standard office envelope I painted the shit out of. Mostly acrylic paint, however the "grace" is spray paint stenciled letters. And, yes, more of the screen from my old backporch :) Oh, and my other favorite material - duct tape!

I took inspiration from their new album cover - black and white and greys and no real lines - i tried to integrate everything with no real lines anywhere.




This is a heart embellishment I got somewhere on a washer - its the only real scrapbooky thing on the card, I guess :)



These lyrics are from the song off the new album "Magnificent" - they've really stuck out to me and I'm sure will be making future appearances on AWF artwork!


OK - now it's time to OPEN the envelope....




The envelope opened. The photos are from the visit to Ghana earlier this year.



This is the card itself - inside are all the messages donors left for Bono printed out. The card itself is chipboard with spray painted "One" and acrylic paint then all duct taped together. It feels nice to hold - these photos don't really show any sort of texture or tactile detail.



The whole package:



(I hope Bono can figure out that the card is inside and pulls it out!!! LOL)

Now, here is our certificate for the fundraiser. This year we also added in a small fundraiser for Adam Clayton's birthday which fell during the time period we were holding the Bono Birthday donation period. Thus, for the first time in AWF he gets a certificate too!



and



I used white typing paper that I crumpled up and soaked in a cup of tea (so it smells good too!) and then spray painted the heart mask and some texture on the edges. (OK, scratch the smelling good part). Yes, the photos are stapled on - i was trying to create a little frame for them using the staples :-p

Here's last years card btw
Here's 2007 card
ALSO
This is very cool and humbling.
African Well Fund thought enough of the Bono card to do a little Q&A about it...

http://www.africanwellfund.org/archives/2009/08/bonos-birthday-card-leaves-a-mark.html