I made these two collages in July. Each one is a postcard that I sent through the mail to two different friends.
I made this one first:
The words on this one read: “Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” It’s a quote from A. A. Milne, from one of the Winnie-the-Pooh books, I think.
I made this one second:
I took this photo of The Wheel, my latest collage creation. It’s a piece of interactive art, maybe a divination tool…
This is my latest collage. I created it in April 2015.
I wanted to create this to include in the January 2015 Truth or Consequences art show I participated in, but I didn’t have the right spinner. I found the right spinner at my favorite mega super thrift store. (It was from a How the Grinch Stole Christmas board game.) I found the Wheel of Fortune tarot card at the hospital thrift store in T or C. I removed the spinner from the card it came on, collaged the card, glued on the tarot card, then reattached the spinner. Then I glued on all the words I’d cut out of magazines and catalogs.
I call it The Wheel. (The tarot card is the Wheel of Fortune, and The Wheel is a Grateful Dead song, lyrics by Robert Hunter and music by Jerry Garcia and Bill Kreutzmann, which is related to that tarot card. For more about the song and the tarot connection, see http://artsites.ucsc.edu/GDead/agdl/wheel.html.)
To see what your future holds, just spin the wheel…
This is my solar powered lamp. I made it myself.
I had a cheap solar powered outdoor light that I never used in a yard; I used it in my van as a nightlight. I’d leave it in the sun all day, and by dark I had a nightlight that lasted almost until morning. It wasn’t bright enough to read by, but it provided me with enough light to find my phone or my keys in the middle of the night.
First the long part meant to go into the ground broke off. After rolling around on the floor of the van for a while, the plastic protector around the tiny light bulb broke too. I thought I had nothing but a piece of trash, but for some reason, I didn’t throw away the chunk of plastic housing the light bulb and the solar panel. I stuck it in the pocket on the van door and forgot about it.
While I was cleaning the van at the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous, I found the light bulb/solar panel combo. I thought I’d drop it off at the free pile in the event someone could use it for something. Then I thought, maybe I could use it for something. I thought about how I could use the light and solar panel to make a lantern.
My first idea was to glue the bulb/solar panel piece into a mason jar. I knew the solar panel had to be able to receive sunlight in order to charge the battery inside. So I thought I’d turn the mason jar upside down so that the lid sat on the table (or floor or whatever surface of my choice) with the light bulb facing down and the solar panel facing out of the glass.
The next time I was at the Quartzsite Salvation Army thrift store, I took a look at the mason jars they had for sale. Nothing seemed right. Then I saw a sturdy, thick glass mug for sale for a quarter. AHA!
This is what I see when you look down into the mug as if I were about to drink from it. The light bulb is facing up, but when the mug is flipped over so the sun can reach the solar panel, the light “hangs” from what is then the top of the mug. The glass allows the light to shine out of the mug.
This is the solar panel glued to the bottom of the mug, facing so the sunlight can reach it. 
The original cost of the yard light was 99 cents. Even if you add that to the 25 cents the mug costs, plus a penny’s worth of glue, the lamp only cost $1.25, But when you figure I was about to toss the solar panel/light bulb, and I already had the glue, this really only cost a quarter, and kept two items out of the landfill.
Here’s my solar lamp lighting up the night.
I found the sock monkey in a thrift store in a small New Mexico town. It was the Christmas season, and because the monkey was wearing a Santa hat, it was on a table with trees and lights and ornaments. I paid less than a dollar for it, not even sure why I wanted it.
I wish I had taken before and after photos.Unfortunately, my camera was no longer reliable, and I had pretty much stopped even trying to get photos.
The first thing I did was cut off most of the Santa hat. Then I folded the ends in and sewed them to make an entirely different looking hat. (Yes, it’s true, the hat is a bit lopsided.)
Imagine the monkey in this photo wearing a Santa hat. I turned that Santa hat into the hat the monkey is now actually wearing. I took the photo of this monkey.
The next thing I did was make a dress for the monkey. I went back to the thrift store and found two squares of red felt to use in the dress making. I cut out two (mostly) matching sides and sewed the monkey right into the dress. I also cut a hole in the back of the dress so the monkey’s tail could be free.
I cut a small circle from the felt to add a bit of decoration to the monkey’s hat. I sewed that right on.
The last thing I did was make earrings for the monkey. (Unfortunately, they are not so apparent in the photos.) I used tiny red beads for the earrings.
That’s how I turned a Santa monkey into a lady monkey.
I promised more photos of collages I created as soon as I could.
I created this collage for a friend. 
This is a detail from the collage. 
The words are my favorite quote in rock-n-roll, from the song “Already Gone” by the Eagles. The song was written by Jack Tempchin and Robb Strandlund. I’ve used that quote on collages before, one I made for myself and the other I made for an art show in Truth or Consequences I mentioned before. (That one went to my friend JC, so I can’t show it off on my blog.)
I wanted to show off the four collages that were in the show in Truth or Consequences, but Sue forgot them on her way to China, and I don’t yet have them in my possession. Sue’s promised to mail them to me when she gets back home, so I will eventually be able to post photos of them.
Here’s the “Already Gone” collage that I made for myself. 
The keys in both collages are actual metal keys, not paper cutouts.
This is a collage I made to cover up the stereo panel in my van. The stereo doesn’t work, so I wanted something to look at other than the nonfunctional stereo panel. The stones along the bottom are real stones, and the three spirals are made from metal.
Here’s the right side detail of that collage.
Here’s the left side detail of that collage. 
I also have some tins I collaged. I had more, but I’ve recently given two of them away. I have a few more tins, and I do want to add collages to them, but I’m worried they will get scratched up in the van. Even a “safe place” in the van often does not offer adequate protection for things that need to be treated gently.
Here’s the top and sides of tin #1: 
You get the idea: farm and healthy food theme.
I collaged two very small tins, both with a sweet treat theme.
Here’s the first one, top first, then sides: 
And here’s the second one: 
I’m sorry these photos aren’t better. I’m still trying to figure out how to use the macro setting on my camera. I need more practice.
I create collages.
(It took me a while to figure out the correct verb to use. Is “collage” itself a verb? Should I say, “I collage”? Is “I do collage” better? Maybe “I make collages”? I settled on “I create collages.”)
My last boyfriend (the most recent one, and probably the last one I will ever have) would disparage my collage work by sarcastically asking me if I was cutting out little bits of paper again. He didn’t take anything I did seriously; it wasn’t simply confusion about why I was cutting images out of magazines and catalogs.
This is a collage I did on the front of a journal I bought with a gift certificate last Christmas.
This is a closer up shot of the collage on the front cover. 
This is a closer up shot of the collage on the back cover. They are two separate collages that I think fit together as a larger piece.
Inside the journal, I did another collage called “What I Want.” Here is the two-page spread 
Here’s a close up of the left page 
And a close up of the right page
I created five collages for an art show in January of this year at the Happy Belly Deli in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. All of the pieces in the show could be no larger than 6″x4″, postcard size. I didn’t take photos of the pieces before I submitted them because my camera had quit working, and I haven’t gotten them back yet. The last I heard, the Happy Belly Deli went belly up, and the woman who organized the show had not been able to get into the building to retrieve the art. Supposedly, the landlord did not have a key to his own property. I don’t know why the person who was running the deli didn’t let the organizer in to get the art. In any case, I hope to get those pieces back. When I do, I’ll post photos because I think they’re awesome.
Some folks who know me know that I’ve been on a hat making kick this winter.
Here are some of the hats I have available:
The ones on the bottom left have pompoms!
If you desire a hat, let me know. We’ll work something out.
