Thursday, March 19, 2009

Memory Doll

In January I always challenge myself to try something new. I'd been thinking about doing a memory jug for awhile, and then I happened upon Laurie Zuckerman's blog where she has a memory jug cd available.

In the meantime, I got a great deal on some wreath holders, and decided to make a piece with that. Eventually, the doll's head, the wreath holder and the bird cage came together, and so instead of making a memory jug I made a memory doll. Or memory cage or...well you get the idea. The doll's upper body had a large crack that had been repaired. The glue left a long brown streak along the repair line. I decided to cover that line with some pieces of costume jewelry. This gave me the neckline for her dress. Then I found a small pink vase to serve as her torso. I cut up two necklaces, and put a pin on the back to complete her upper body.

On the skirt, I added some vintage christmas light reflectors. I covered the empty holes with some costume jewelry pearls. The peplum on her dress is made of old book hinges which I wired with pearls.
The pin on the very front of her dress says "Sweetheart" and has a relief of the capitol building on it.
Finally, one day I found the little pink bird in the thrift shop. It matched the vase, so I knew it had to go inside the cage. Getting it in there was a little tricky, but I figured it out eventually.
I am constantly collecting little bits and bobs of things, so this was a perfect project for me. I have several bins started of items that have something in common, and hope to do another one soon.




Monday, March 2, 2009

Little Friends Easter Parade

This is the other collage that I did for the "pastels" challenge with the group that I belong to.

My friend Janet and I were junking when she discovered an old story book that I'd loved as a child. It was called "Little Friends Kittens, Puppies, Bunnies" and it was published by Rand McNally in the 50's. It had photos of animals dressed up in clothes, and I know my father must've read it to me 100 times.

Janet was kind enough to let me have it, and I was really excited to take it home and show it to my children. They did not like this book at all. They thought the photos were "creepy". So, I decided to make a collage. I cut up a few of my favorite photos and decided that it looked like an Easter Parade.
Here are some of the details. Peter Rabbit is hiding eggs in the background. I punched tiny blossoms out of book paper with a hole punch and then added them to a Halloween tree stamp that I have. After that I stippled on some green dots.

These birds came from the fly sheet of another old book that I had. I colored them and decided that they were the spectators for the parade. The cobblestones were done with book paper, and layed with tissue on top. Then I added a coat of clear gesso so that I could use watercolor pencils on top to add depth.

I proudly hung the collage in the front hall until my daughter asked me to please remove it before anyone came to visit!

Oh well, you can't please everyone.

Seventh Folder, Seventh Photo

I discovered this on Patti Szymkowicz's blog, and had to try it.
Go to your computer photo album
Go to the seventh folder
Go to the seventh image
Upload to your blog and tell what it is
(By the way, I am a huge fan of Patty's.)
This is a photo that I took several years ago at Elkwood Crossing Gift and Garden Center in Elkwood, Virginia. Laura at Elkwood creates beautiful little vignettes to find as you're wandering through the greenhouses and gift shop. She also has a very elaborate fairy garden complete with live plants to scale with the fairies. I'll have to post pictures of it in the spring.

I designed the logo for Elkwood when they first opened. I think that photo was taken when I was working on a brochure for them. Here is the logo:


The Elkwood photo is in sharp contrast to the weather that we are having today. Snow, snow everywhere. School is cancelled today and tomorrow. The kids are thrilled, and I have to say I'm enjoying it, too. This little snow family was left as a surprise on my doorstep on a snowy day last winter. Aren't they adorable?