FilbertandFern

In high school, I loved to make big collages on poster boards featuring girly imagery from magazines. It was a pleasing process for me to cut out colors and patterns and rearrange them on the page. I'd say for me that was the beginning.

I came back into collage making when I made one on wood as a wedding present for my brother in 2008. Since then, I haven't stopped, though being a teacher inhibits my habit at times.

When my kids were little and I wasn't teaching, the majority of my collages ended up being given to school auctions or as gifts. Several hang in my house. One time I made a collage for my hairdresser's nursery in lieu of a tip. The first collage I sold in this shop was to my mother-in-law. She also graciously purchased a bunch of collages and pillows once during a visit, returning to Michigan, her suitcase stuffed with Tia-made gifts. Her luggage was lost and never recovered. Who knows where those creations ended up.

I'm still an elementary teacher and mom of two teen daughters and I am figuring out how to make my collage-crafting a HABIT, occurring often rather than cyclically. The reason to keep making is about feeling alive and happy when I create. I’ve discovered how to involve Shutterfly in producing cards printed with my collages because that will allow me to sell them for less and ship them for less.

My next idea is to make educational posters with positive messages for use in elementary classrooms. I made a design on a large canvas to hang in my classroom. The letters are made of children's book illustrations (I snatch the large copies when the library has a sale) and then I did a color photo-copy of the spines of books for the bottom.....The message is: READ.

The joy continues. I love this hobby of mine. Thanks for stopping by!