60's Collage Craftiness

So, one of Matthew's dear friends from high school got married this weekend and we had a blast at the wedding! I'm always so excited to go to these things as I'm just hitting the age where everybody we know is getting hitched (and I'm just stockpiling ideas for when Bab and I eventually tie the knot). The couple explicitly stated that they didn't want gifts, but I found this eight-by-eight, sixties' art print and just had the hankering to do something extra to it. When I saw it on the shelf at the Hendersonville Goodwill, I obviously loved the frame, and the colors in the picture are pretty, but it just felt kind of "blah".

Nice....but boring.

I was at the McKays "free bin" the weekend previous and scooped up about ten vintage Louis L'Amour paperbacks, planning to do something with the covers. The same trip yielded a Richard Scarry anthology from the seventies', and a science text on wildlife. I can't help myself sometimes when I find these things! So I grabbed a pair of scissors and chose the first thing that spoke to me. Which was this pig:

NOW we're getting somewhere...

I was torn between the pig and some giant insects, and some Indians, but I thought the pig matched the flowers and was just the right oversized proportion for the picture. Then I found a set of frogs, and debated for several minutes whether to just do a whole scene of too-big frogs with some kind of calamitous caption ("The Frogs were EVERYWHERE!" in cut out words, or similar). Then, Matthew suggested I use both. Which brings us to:

Look how sweet the little frog's expression is!

"Does it read like he's riding the pig as a means for transportation?" I asked Bab. Bab said yes. But we weren't through!

((royal trumpet fanfare))

 I found a page of yellow and cut out a little crown for the frog. Adding a royal pedigree to the little guy made it seem that much more "storybook".

Last but not least, caption time:

I don't know if you can read it, but it says "Tomorrow they would start on the big hunt"

I borrowed the text from the aforementioned story about Indians, nixing the characters themselves being included for fear of cultural insensitivity (and the fact that they weren't radioactive-ant sized for the photo). "Tomorrow they would start the big hunt" seems to just put the whole surreal thing in perspective. I love how it turned out! Two coats of Mod Podge later, this guy was ready to be wrapped and deposited on the gift table (I'm glad I wasn't the only one to disregard the no gifts stipulation!!).

Anyway, I was so proud of the finished product that I thought I would share it with you. I don't usually like "upcycled" stuff, as it can have a tendency to ruin a perfectly good old thing to make it "more modern", but I have to say in this case I prefer the done-over picture to the original. Maybe I'm biased because I made it, though! From start to finish, this took about 40 minutes, which was mainly deliberating over which image to use and waiting for the Mod Podge to dry. And I didn't have to feel bad coming empty handed to the wedding! :)

How about you? Been up to any craftiness this past weekend? Any good scores at the sales? Let a girl know!

Happy Monday, see ya tomorrow!