La Mal du Pays

A simple piece: Wooden frame, written letter background, found metal piece, inscription on copper, and a chicken.

The metal piece was found on my parents' farm. Not sure what it is, but I enjoy it.

"La Mal Du Pays" is a French phrase translating to our "homesick".

And a little plastic chicken makes it all the more "homely".

Vintage Sewing Theme

This piece is a small assemblage made for Luna Girl Moon Beams challenge vintage sewing. 

Finally getting to use my old McCall's sewing pattern sheet and some other pieces like my spool and mini dress form. 

rust and white

this piece nicely reflects my new-ish love of mixing rustic country with industrial. it started with a simple wood shelf from the Dollar Tree (whoo!) spray painted white.

then i started to add some little pieces, trying to keep with a white, pink and silver color scheme. 

after that, i decided it needed more rust and wood textures. so i added the screws etc. on some tree bark.

then i thought i was done...but i didn't just want to hang a white piece on a white wall...so i brainstormed for a few days and figured out how to connect the piece to an old rusty door. 

just mounting it on there (with contact cement) and putting it on a wall was not an option. the door had rusted so much that the handle could not come off, and it would hang awkwardly on the wall. so i added a wooden square to the back and disguised it with some tree bark, now it can be propped up like a picture frame!

...which turns out to be a nice change...you can't hang everything on the wall...

obligatory configuration box: Margaritte

last year for our anniversary my husband got me a bunch of art stuff (remember that?) and i finally got around to using the Tim Holtz configuration box. i decided to follow the directions on the video online. i use Tim's tissue tape and the Lost & Found paper stack. 

the objects added are a few doll parts (post on that to come!), antique spool of thread, an old button and watch parts. the key is one of those fabulous $1 Michael's finds. 

i stamped the outside with some more $1 Michael's stamps and it was done. i like the girly cute feel that it has. 

however, i don't think i'd work the configuration boxes again. i love the way you can change up the arrangement of the boxes however you want, but they're awkwardly deep for what i do. and i also enjoy the original and spontaneous setups i can get from using old drawers and shelves and found pieces of wood. 

not to knock Tim's boxes, they are excellent, but i wouldn't make it my only medium. a configuration box every now and then is a nice addition to the collection.

Home Insecurity

finally finished this piece! it's been in the working for about...4 months? hard to make art when school is in, too much other art to be made for grades. but here it is: Home
Insecurity.





This piece started with a tiny little grandfather clock from a thrift shop. it was the first piece to make its home here. i knew that i wanted to use two other items for this; a small Harbor Breeze bauble, i think it's from a fan, and the rusted key hole from the rusted door i used in my Phrenology piece.


the next things to come in were a broken fork and a weird shaped cork. i wrapped some extra fluffy yarn around the fork like spaghetti, and i kind of liked it, but i wasn't sure where i was going with that. i decided to place it behind a tiny piece of glass that i got from a friend who used to work at Lowe's and would give me glass shards etc. i placed a fortune cookie behind the glass with the form that says "you are talented in many ways". i do love using fortune cookies.



the next box i worked on included the puppy and button. this section was supposed to include a few more comforting items, but still ones that were broken or tethered.
next i filled the bottom center box with broken mirrors, tacks, a key, some wire, and a card stock "h".


the last section i completed is my favorite: the center. i found a mutilated doll at Goodwill and used its torso. this section had been half finished forever and i was very surprised when that doll bit was exactly what i needed. last i added a wonderful cog that i salvaged from an old clock. i love this section because it has a very mechanical feel to it with the rusted key hole, gear, and the ball chain of the bauble.


this piece was made to portray the stress and tension in a broken home, which is a subject that interests me. i used all household items (basically anything, not like fairy tales or space). it was difficult to make this piece unified because of all the different colors of my items, but i feel that it was successful in the end.

making assemblages for class??? ok!

finally! people who get me are making lessons for my classes! in our secondary education class, the students make their own lesson plans and those are the studio projects we do that semester. my friend kelly made a lesson based on Joseph Cornell and used idea of secrets as a theme. so we were to make assemblages from cardboard boxes we made ourselves to convey a secret of ours. my secret was that i loved fashion. i've always been kind of an anti-girl kind of girl and pretend to not care about clothes....but secretly i love love fashion. so that was my box theme! i made some tiny bunting to go across the top and used a gold painted barbie doll as my mannequin. about a week earlier, i pick up a fabric sample book from a consignment shop (only $4!) and used many of those for my background. the mesh was added to break up the space and the zipper was put on for interest, and it did become one of my favorite parts of the piece!

inspired by sewing...

and other womanly tasks. this altered tin uses the theme of womanly duties in society.

i found these wonderful women in a national geographic magazine with the caption "now look pleasant, that is all." i used a green, pink and gold color theme because i actually started thinking this was going to be a fairy tale tin. instead it turned into this after i added the women. i love the layers in this, especially the lace. my little spool was black and bare, so i added some green shiny yarn and colored it gold to fit the color scheme better. i also love the ribbon and beads on the bottom, i think it utilizes all of the tin and makes it an interesting piece.

this was a slow moving piece because of all the drying time. i had to work on everything a little at a time instead of my usual multitasking way.

but it was finally finished and i am satisfied with it. i'm not sure how to display it though. the beads keep it from being able to stand up, so i guess i'll find a way to hang it.

Alter-It Monthly Challenge: Home Sweet Home

july's challenge on Alter-It Monthly is "home sweet home"; make an altered art piece with the theme of homes or houses. so my entry is this piece. it is made from a house shaped canvas i got from the NAEA conference a couple of years ago along with flower and heart shaped canvases. my method for this was simple. i picked a black white and blue color palette with silver as an accent. the background was done with watered down acrylic paints to give it a washed feeling. then i dripped water from the top to make the paint run and give it some interesting subtle lines. i used black sharpie to add dots, lines and swirls to keep the eye busy. i also had this great silver crayon that i used for swirls and dots to give it some extra shine. the embellishments i used were silver hearts and stars and bits of mirror. the text "home is where the art is" was taken from magazine pages. i outlined those with sharpie to make them stand out and added some pearl beads in the bottom corner to anchor the composition. and there it is! my finished piece that can be hung on a wall or propped like a picture frame.

***last minute changes***
i added a door! made from the same black illustration board i used for the back and prop. i cut it out skewed and added some window panes and a mail slot. i really love this piece now, very happy!