50's Paperdoll Collage

I bought these cute vintage paperdolls awhile back and wanted to do some sort of a collage. I started with a blank 8 x 10 canvas and dove in...head first!

The canvas is covered with vintage wallpaper. The cute little pups peeping through the window came from a vintage get well card. The couch is from an anthropologie catalogue and the other pups from another greeting card. Embellish, embellish, EMBELLISH!!! The little crown on the peeping pup says, "be bold." How appropriate for a peeping pup! There are swavorski cystals on Jackie's cute little dress.

To finish it up, I painted melted beeswax over most of it. Everytime I look at it, it makes me smile. Hope you enjoy it, too!

Wooden Crate Makeover

I have a wooden crate on an end table in my living room that holds a lamp because the lamp wasn't tall enough to do any good with the size of my couch and loveseat. It's one of those crates you buy at Michaels to store stuff. I got tired of looking at it's ugliness and decided to do something about it.



I really didn't have a plan, so started by painting it with white gesso. I then wondered, "why did I do that?" I, then, proceeded to cover it in scraps of pretty papers with medium gel. Wasn't THRILLED with the outcome, so found a package of pretty napkins I picked up on a clearance at Hobby Lobby. I separated the layers and started tearing them up and applying them with water thinned Hodge Podge.




I'm liking this, but felt it needed something more. I hot glued scrap lace I had and velvet ribbon to the top and hung three german glass glittered numbers I'd picked up for a steal at a favorite boutique. The numbers have no meaning whatsoever. I just happened to grab 'em! I love them because they're starting to tarnish and look really cool! I attached some little forget-me-nots and seam tape to the top of the numbers. Ok, NOW, I'm HAPPY with it!




To finish up, I added some of my favorite things....my favorite rose photo taken by my lovely step-daughter, Adri...the photo of Kira and Denise, 2 of my fav girls...a
Wedgewood candy dish, a gift from my sister-law when she lived in England...and a cute little spray of millinery flowers picked up at my favorite antique mall.






The lamp is sooooooooo old! I bought it about 28 years ago from a potter. I loved it so much, I commissioned her to make me a matching one. I have always loved pottery and still do. I'm just waiting for that special lamp to jump out and scream at me, so I can retire these to my 21 year old son, who thinks they're so cool!

Tutu Apron

This is my "up-cycled" tutu apron! I guess it's not really a tutu by tutu standards, but that's what it feel like when you put it on.
It started with a trip to the thrift store, a frequent occurence for me. I came upon this darling little girl's giraffe print skirt. I think it's a giraffe print...it's brown and I believe leopards are black. Anyhoo....I bought the little skirt and took it apart when I got home. It had a blue velvet ribbon around the waist, which I used in another project....my latest crown!



I had the ruffle in my stash and the pink polished cotton. I knew I wanted a dash of hot pink, so I went with it. I just happened to have a spool of dark fuschia velvet ribbon. It was long enough to wrap around the back and come back to the front to tie. I tried it on and just wanted to dance around the room...and I DID!