The Queen Bee, a Mixed Media Piece

While on a leaf-peeping excursion in New Hampshire, I came across a lovely antique shop in Petersburgh, Grove and Main.  I picked up some vintage glassware as well as a few pieces of ephemera.  Among the ephemera were 3 miniature porcelain dolls, one of which is featured in this mixed media craft.

Last weekend while my husband and I were sitting in our car in the parking lot of the mall I fell in love with a beautiful miniature maple tree with vibrant red and orange leaves.  I Googled it and discovered it's proper name is an Amur Maple.  I plucked a few branches and pressed the leaves.  I also used these in this mixed media piece.  While I was at it, I grabbed a few deep red leaves from a neighboring Fire Bush and included them in my creation as well.

I took an unfinished shadow box I purchased from Michaels and painted it with a mixture of acrylic paints in shades of coffee bean, vanilla & gold.  I whirled the colors with a sponge brush and applied it all over the box.  I then wadded up a paper towel and dipped back into the gold and dabbed it on here and there.  I then added an abstract scrapbooking paper with birds inside the box and dabbed some gold on it as well.

Then I began layering the dried leaves around the outside of the frame, making it heavier on the bottom right.  From there I added a ribbon and flower in the center and behind it placed the porcelain doll and added butterfly wings to make her a faerie.  I donned her with a bee to hide her nakedness and gave her a bronze crown as a finishing touch.  A brass butterfly, a flower with a crystal center, a feather and the words The Queen Bee all became a part of my creation.  I sprayed the entire piece with gold glitter spray.

I love creating mixed media art but sometimes have difficulty transferring my idea from my brain to the craft table.  This time, however, it came together well and I love the results!  Even though it has a fall feeling to it, I will keep it up all year round as I like it too much to put it away.

Not Your Ordinary Garden Border

If you have worn or chipped china or mismatched pieces and you're thinking of tossing them, why not use them in your garden as a decorative or even functional, border. I do mosaics, so had a lot of salad plates left over from projects I completed. I purchased the china from yard sales for near nothing. Since I already had a stone border, I placed my dishes further apart and used them more as an accent piece. But if you have enough, place them close together or even overlap them a tad and it makes a great and attractive border for your garden; not to mention a neat conversational piece.

Another great idea is to take clay pots of varying sizes; turn them upside down and line them up across a flower garden. Clay pots are relatively inexpensive, and the construction of the border is effortless. One caveat for zones that get to 32-degrees F or below though: clay pots do not survive winters outside. They crack and crumble and can't be reused for the purpose originally intended. Therefore, you will have to gather them up and put them inside your shed or garage and bring them out again in Spring. If you do forget and leave them out, don't toss the shards of clay you most certainly find after the last days of winter, but rather, save them for the bottom of your containers when planting time arrives. Stone or gravel is always recommended for the bottom of pots before adding soil, and clay shards work just as well.