Introduction
The part of this story was written in Russian as an advertisement for the set of greeting cards, hand made using dried flowers and herbs. Тhe collection was presented to the ecological competition of the newspaper "Youth of Moscow".
I think each of us has inside a lot of characters which are dominating in us at different circumstances and at different periods of our lives. Many of such kind of characters exist in me. In this piece of memoir I am presenting you two of them: Vita-Engineer and Vita-Artist. I imagine myself as a collective image - Viktorina Yurievna, who is coordinating and judging behaviour of my insiders.
 

Both of them have always lived in me. One loved to think, the other was sentimental, loved art and craft. At the age of 17, they broke up for a while. The first graduated from the Polytechnic University and made a successful engineering career. Work fed her, developed her brain, gave her many friends and a good husband. The second, the Artist, seemed to disappear for a while, and many did not even suspect of her existence. For the sake of fairness, it must be said that it was she who could easily make, using Russian rough expression, a candy from the "Shit". It was believed that this was because of poverty.
 

With age, people become sentimental, and around the age of fifty, the Artist began to gradually squeeze the Engineer, had surprised everyone around with an artist diploma on the Eve of retirement. However, she would have remained on the sidelines, since Viktorina Yurievna was by then financially safe
 

Then Perestroika happened, moving the Engineer into the background, deprived her job. Rather, she went into the shade herself, urgently mobilizing the Artist, who was able using just eyes and hands while working; also, as she liked to assure, with help of soul and heart. Moreover, in her own words, - with the brain completely turned off.
 

Since then, the Engineer is having a hard time. Having imagined a lot about herself, the Artist cannot start anything by herself. So, the Engineer needs to be an ideologist and pusher, staying in the shadows and giving this fool a start in life. Created by them collection of handmade greeting cards is called Viktorina Cards.

This essay contains photographs of greeting cards with collages composed of environmental materials: dried flowers and their petals, leaves, bark and dried herbs. The photographs are arranged by themes:

New Zealand

Our trip to New Zealand exceeded our wildest expectations. It was a dream come true, a fairy tale, fireworks! It was a victory over our age and life circumstances! Having driven 7500 km in a rented car, we had the opportunity to stay in any place we liked. We were young again, traveling with a tent and planning our route without a guide. Every minute of those 35 unforgettable days brought us the joy of the discoverers: the turquoise ocean and picturesque lakes; bizarre outlines of the mountains and peaceful meadows; rivers and waterfalls; volcanoes and volcanic valleys; caves and modern cities; fjords; cruises; sunny days; heavy rains and many, many things that will undoubtedly enrich our best memories.

Landscapes

We love nature, travel a lot and walk a lot. Mountains, forest, sea and river at different times of the day and different times of the year can change colors so bizarrely! See how it looks in the cards:

Compositions

It was difficult to limit them: a lot were created.

These photos do not need a description.

Exclusive cards

Two postcards shown are just a small part of the orders made for the Russian famous singer Nikolai Baskov on the days of his significant events. According to reports, our cards were recognized among thousands of others received by Nikolai Baskov.

Angel Day:

The romantic central composition (a collage of dried flowers, rose petals and leaves) is mounted in a frame and placed on a card. Blue silk decoration of the front part (water and the upper frame), as well as the inside with poetic congratulations, make the card exquisitely elegant.

Birthday:

A collage with nested miniature photographs depicts Nikolai Baskov and his wife Svetlana in Russian costumes in a carriage with three horses.

Thanks for your attention.

Viktorina Yurievna Savelieva, engineer.

Viktorina Savelieva, Viktorina Cards designer.