Mixed Media Monday - Wedded Bliss

The very talented Rosie is hosting Mixed Media Monday this week and has issued the challenge of "wedded bliss". This was the perfect opportunity for me to do the comical piece I'd had in the back of my mind for a long time. I wanted to use the ridiculous advice for housewives published in a magazine in 1955 - you can see it here if you are interested. I chose some of funnier pieces to use in my piece, which I printed out along with the image of the 1950's woman. The background is done with layers of acrylic paint. I was having a good old giggle about this advice and then I realised - this was my mother's life! Although to be honest, I'm not sure how closely she would have followed these rules, grin! Thank goodness things were a little more liberated by the time I was married - and it's even more so now for my daughters!

Mixed Media Monday - Mothers

Over at Mixed Media Monday this week Cindy has issued us with the challenge "mothers", which is well timed with Mother's Day next Sunday here in Oz and in lots of other parts of the world. I decided to make a box in honour of my daughter-in-law's first Mother's Day. You can see a pic of her and my absolutely gorgeous first grandchild, Lucy on the box. The box is covered with vintage papers of all sorts which were then further distressed with gesso and distress inks. I also used computer generated words and image, and "sunk" it all under a few coats of acrylic wax medium. A beautiful flower motif and some lace around the lid finished the box off. I don't know what it is with me and show tunes at the moment, but the words to the Stephen Sondheim song kept running through my head when I was thinking about this project, so they had to be a part of it. I hope my lovely daughter-in-law enjoys this small gift in honour of her first Mother's Day.

Mixed Media Monday - I Feel Pretty

After the success of "hello Dolly" on Mixed Media Monday I decided to choose another show tune this week - "I feel pretty". Then spent almost two weeks wondering why - I couldn't get inspired by the challenge in the least. I finally decided to make another piece of jewellery. I must say I enjoyed the process in the end. The pendant was difficult to photograph because of the silicone coating over the collage because it was really reflecting the light, but you get the idea. The silicone has a lovely crackle to it, that also doesn't show up too well in the photos.

Mixed Media Monday - Look What I Found

I chose "look what I found" as the theme on Mixed Media Monday this week because I thought it would be a fun and really open theme for people to participate in. Then I set to work using some of my favourite "found" items as an example piece. I have to admit that I didn't find the gorgeous aged tin I used - my daughter bought it for me in a little antiques shop, but it is just perfect. I used some papers and a chipboard bingo card for the backgrounds and worked out from there, adding a silver toned frame and key that I "aged". The embellishments are a vintage lace motif and buttons, some little flowers and a little "dream" button that I also aged. The bisque doll is another one from my collection of dolls from a bombed out factory in Germany - she is complete, if a little rusted :-) I have a bit of a crush on them at the moment! The tin is approximately 7 cm or 3 in square when closed.

Mixed Media Monday - Hello Dolly

I must admit I had fun doing this piece! My son gave me the book "Who's Your Dada?" by Linda and Opie O'Brien for Christmas. Since then I've been searching for interesting found objects to make some of the Dada style dolls. I finally decided I had enough in my stash to make my first piece, and this is it. The body of the doll is a beautifully aged and rusted vintage cigarette tin. Likewise one of her arms is a lovely aged vintage key, while the other one is a plastic arm attached with a screw. The legs are made from small wooden reels, which I aged, and I also aged the little wooden clogs which came from a doll. The head is from a vintage bisque doll, dug up from an old doll factory which was bombed out in Germany. The word on the "buckle" says "spirit". She stands about 20 cm or 8 in tall.

Mixed Media Monday - Eggs

After a terrible week - I'm finally back on the computer and hoping to get everything back to normal as quickly as possible. Our computer crashed on Monday morning when we went to switch it on.....grrrrr!!!! We ended up having to buy a new computer - not sure if we will be able to retrieve anything from the old one yet - and of course, I wasn't up to date with my backing up. Ah well......I only have myself to blame for all the stuff I've lost!

This week on Mixed Media Monday the theme was going to be "eggs". I've decided to put the challenge up now (five days late) and have it run next week as well - so everyone has a chance to catch up.

My piece is an art doll of sorts. It's body is a little stretched canvas (10 x 7cm or 4x2.75in approx.), which I covered with vintage papers. It's wings are made from feathery angel wings that I painted, the legs are twisted wire, and the head is computer generated. The whole piece stands approximately 18cms or just over 7 inches tall. The egg is a quail egg the my daughter gave me.

Mixed Media Monday = Vintage Children

This week over on Mixed Media Monday Cindy is guest hosting again. Her challenge theme is "vintage children". I chose one of my favourite vintage children images and worked from there. I used an old photo frame, removed the glass and filled out the inner sides a bit so it is more like a shallow shadow box. I covered the backing with some fabric and vintage laces etc. The flower in the corner of the image is one that I crocheted myself for this piece. The embellishments are some vintage buttons, a gorgeous old and rusted vintage key and a beautiful bisque doll that is around 100 years old, dug out from a bombed doll factory in Thuringia, Germany. (You'll probably see a few more of these appearing in my art once the lot I won on Ebay arrives, grin!) The piece measures around 20x15 cm or approx. 8x6 in.