Queen of the 4th of July Parade

Happy 4th of July, everybody!

This little collage idea just came to me about two hours ago. It's amazing how sometimes I'll go days and weeks (or even longer!) without creating something and then BAM!! inspiration hits and I can't wait to play. This is my first holiday inspired collage.

I first started thinking about making a collage with a picture of a child holding a sparkler and then I started looking for an appropriate picture. I stumbled across this little girl, Yvonne, on divas and dunces Flickr photostream and she called to me. I thought that she would look fabulous with not only a sparkler in her hand but an American flag in her other hand as well. The background is a copy of "America the Beautiful" and cool papers. I colored Yvonne's dress with chalks and enhanced it with a gold pen. Her flag is made of an image I found online and a toothpick while her sparkler is hand-drawn (that's about the extent of my drawing ability!). The buttons are ones that my mother-in-law let me have, and the trims are from Marilyn at Outside the Lines (check out her Etsy shop; it has lots of fun things to create with). Um, as I finished up, I knew that the little girl would need a crown, but I don't know where my little crowns are, so, I, um, took one off an ATC I got awhile back. *gulp* Sorry! As soon as I find my crowns, I'll put it back, I swear, but Yvonne needed a crown!

So, I hope you enjoy your 4th of July, if it's a holiday you celebrate. If it isn't, I still hope you have a lovely day!