My Nanie, O!

Some time ago I stumbled upon the delightful blog Cappuccino and Art Journal by Pamela Gerard.  Pamela is a mail artist extraordinaire and her use of vintage papers, postage stamps and other postal-related ephemera really sends me.  So I was thrilled to learn that I was the winner of a 2017 datebook that Pamela offered to her blog readers at Christmastime.  It arrived in an arted-up envelope and the whole package really made my day.  I've been "using the heck out of that datebook," let me tell you.  As a thank you, I created this mixed media collage for her.

I knew I wanted to use an old bingo card and this lovely girl's photo, but the piece of Victorian scrap (the hand holding the flowers) and the stanza from a Robert Burns poem were pure serendipity.  I found both of those items in a pile of scraps that I was sorting through and they were just the right size for this collage.

I found the photo a couple of years ago in an antique store and bought it because the photography studio was not only located in my home town, but in the part of town where I grew up. With just a little online research, I was able to find a reference to that very studio in a 1922 trade publication for photographers; it was a one-sentence announcement of the opening of the studio.  (It's amazing what people have scanned and uploaded to the internet, isn't it?)

After mounting the finished collage on a piece of poster board, I decorated the back with vintage postage stamps and faux cancellation stamps. 

Happy last day of February!   Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:
Print of bingo card; print of old photo; Golden gesso; Tim Holtz flourish stencil; pumice stone, fired brick and gathered twigs distress inks; spatter background stamp by All Night Media; cursive text stamp unknown (Stampington maybe?); Ranger Archival black ink; Victorian scrap, French postage stamp and Robert Burns poem from my stash; black Stabilo All Pencil; Ranger tarnished brass and espresso distress paints.

Puppy Love

Last week I went to a "book arts" activity at our public library, where adults make arts and craft projects using (in part) donated or discarded books.  The projects for February were Valentine related and cute, so I decided to go.  Unfortunately, it ended up being kind of a bust.  The projects were darling, but they didn't have enough of the tools needed to complete them and people weren't doing a good job of sharing.  So I simply snagged some items to bring home to use however I wanted.

One of the discarded books they had featured page after page of adorable dogs with uplifting quotes.  I cut out several of the dogs including this dapper Basset.  With his red bow tie, I knew he would make a cute Valentine's Day card.  I backed him with some patterned papers by Authentique and added the die-cut word.  Easy peasy, Valentine squeezy!

Have a lovely day!

Supplies:
Black cardstock by Bazzill; naturals white cardstock by Stampin' Up; patterned papers by Authentique; die-cut word by Little Yellow Bicycle.