Showing posts with label photo collages. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photo collages. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Photo collages - final

Years ago, we were all back in Indiana at my aunt's bed & breakfast. It was Sunday morning and Aunt Eleanor sat down to play the piano. Soon, everyone was singing church hymns...everyone except mom. She had her camera and was snapping photos of everyone singing. She went home and started painting. I think she painted every single person that was there....over 20 of us!

She painted my son laughing and singing.....and then took a photo of the painting and sent it to me. I have loved this photo. He was with family. He was singing. He was laughing. He was about 15 years old at the time....and I have held true to the fact that no matter where his journey in life will take him, I know the fun loving, laughing, happy little boy is inside of him....looking for a way out! And so I wrote:

You are the light of my life
You give joy to my day
You're the song in my soul
You're in my heart to stay.

From the day you were born
No matter what's been done
I'll love you forever
Jason, my firstborn son.



Nothing more than a photo, mounted, with my poem. A simple photo collage for sure.

And then there's this photo of Jeff, taken when he was about 2 1/2. I remember that it was a "window" for us. He had so many seizures and would fall down and get bruises or cuts....always on his head and face as well as the rest of his body. I remember waking up, looking at him and saying, "We have to go get photos done today!!!" It was a rare moment when he didn't have any visible signs of his seizures showing.

But more than that, I remember the fear of losing him. The hours that he was unconscious after a seizure, how I daily held him in my arms and prayed for his safety. I just remember my heart aching with love for him and fear for his life. Thinking back to the time of this photo, I wrote:

I used to sing a song to you
Every single night
I'd hold you in my arms
and hug you really tight

Sometimes I'd sing an hour or two
And hold you in my heart
I find I still hum the tune
Though we're miles apart.

And it's so true! I find that out of nowhere....I just start singing the little song that I made up and sang to him all those years ago. I wonder if it's my daily prayer. Although I still worry about both of my boys, I have turned them over to Jehovah. I know that HE alone will keep them safe. But I will always love them.



So, now I have all the photos mounted on the glass doors on the shelves....it's time to add the final touches.  A rub on sentiment....did you know rub ons work on glass?

A Star of David and snowflake and lots of swarovsky crystals in the center top panel


And rather than use my white pen, I made my dots with heat set crystals on top of the glass....oh!  does this "bling" when you walk by!!!


Well, it took me a couple of days.....but I actually "altered" the bookcase.  And I'm so happy with it...because you can't see the MESS that's inside!  LOL!!!  


Don't worry.  It will all come off with undu if I decide to move the library back to another room!


Footnote: For those of you who read my blog via emails....I have added a link list on the right on the web where you can click and easily get back to each of my video tutorials.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Photo collages

I'm doing a few more photo collages for the front of my library cabinet this week. So, what is a photo collage? It's a collage based or centered around a photo or photos. It doesn't have any specific size or shape. So it's not 2x3 or 8x8 or 8x11 or 12x12....it's whatever the size ends up being once I'm done! Talk about liberating freedom! And of course, since these are going to go on the outside of a cabinet and not into an album or envelope...who cares what size they end up??? LOL!



I truly love how this one turned out. On my birthday, mom sent me a card and inside, she had included this photo of me. For years now, mom has been a watercolor artist....and I've been pulling everything she puts into the trash and stockpiling it! So today, I started cutting up paintings with flowers in them. The 2 tulips here....yep...she threw them into the trash!!!



She had put this photo of her next to the photo of me in the card she sent. I honestly never realized how much we looked alike. All my life, everyone said I looked just like my dad and the "Moores". I think it's because I was dark complected and mom was fair-skinned. But when I saw the endless curly hair, the knobby knees, the curved in toes...the nose....well, you be the judge! And yes, more flowers from mom's trash on this side!



I honestly do not know where the poetry comes from. I laid these 2 photos next to each other and it was just "there"!

Just two little girls
Playing on the farm
Dressed in white
And full of charm.

Take another look
It's amazing to see
It's mother and daughter
They both look like me!



And then the final question. Did Grandma save the dress and shoes mom was wearing....and they hemmed it up and it's what I'm wearing? Sure looks possible to me!!!

Treasure your photos. You never know what you might "see" in them one day years from now. Oh! and don't hesitate to go through mom's trash! Who knows what wonderful scraps, bits and pieces you might find there!!!