Mapples or Upcycled Apple photo holders Vintage Maps, Sheet Music, Text

Hi guys! These are my newest babies! I had bought a box of wooden apples of dubious age at an estate sale awhile back because 1. they were a great price and 2. I thought they could be made into something. I put them in my booth for quite awhile at $1 each but alas, no takers. So back home they came with me. Some of these were stained and some were natural...some were large and some were smaller. I laid in bed and brainstormed what I could do with them. I love old paper so it was not a huge jump for me to get to "cover them with vintage paper". I tend to like things with a purpose so wire photo display was the next idea..next thing you know...MAPPLES!

This one is Kansas...and by the way, why is Kansas "kan-zas" and Arkansas not "ar-kan-zas"? Or at least why is Kansas not kan-saw? Hmmm. Anywhoo, some of the apples already had stems too. Since these were already shaping up to be odd apples, I decided a black leaf was OK too. It co-ordinated with all those little black dots and squiggles on the map and just looked darn sharp! I added white gel pen stitches to the leaf. The map paper reminds me of patchwork quilts so the faux fabric black leaf works for me.

This one is The Big Mapple since it features New York.

Then I got bored and moved onto vintage French to English dictionary pages. These didn't have a stem so I added a black painted screw as sort of an industrial substitute. Yes I could have used a screw that was already black, but of course all I could find was nice silvery ones..never fear..I have the Krylon stash of a graffiti tagger!

Vintage sheet music.. the lady in this vintage pic always reminds me of Cynthia Nixon from Sex In The City!

I like the decorative element of the musical notes and the text. Even if it doesn't have words, I find I like repurposing old sheet music..I am drawn to pieces with dense angry notes!

On this one I used pages from an antique German bible study book. I don't read German, but have German and German speaking Swiss ancestors. There is something about the print that is familiar to me..maybe it resides in my DNA somehow! It also always reminds me of old German American Fraktur folk art, which I love!Again..I don't speak German, but I am pretty sure this is bits of the 10 Commandments..I should've found pages from the garden of Eden and Adam and Eve since it was an apple! Hoping you are having a great weekend. Ed and I went estate sale-ing this morning (finally) and got some goodies! Yay! A fun day. Until next time! Julia

Sheet music wedding flowers

Hi guys! I apologize for the gap in posts..I have had a horrible cold for the last week and a half! I'm getting back to work..things just pile up when Mom is sick! This is what I was working on today. These are some sheet music paper flowers I made for a wedding bouquet. These are made with the bride's personal sheet music. She picked pieces that held meaning for her... you can even see her notations on a couple.

The centers are silvery flashed crystal beads.

I like how the different "densities" of the music lend a different look to each layer...there is even a layer of musical "text".

Each one is different. One the edge of one of them, you can even see the words "All You Need Is Love"!

She is planning to mix these in her bouquet with real flowers and peacock feathers...I think they will look fab! Hoping your day is coming up roses.. Until next time! Julia