Thursday, April 09, 2026

BINGE & TONIC TROPHY -fresh mixed media art by (me!) sandra mickanen * inspired by deidre gourlay


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i had the absolute most creative fun  -pure fun and all joy! creating this mixed media trophy

some background:


my daughter had the great pleasure of meeting, in person, some of her favorite youtube stars
   -from josh & momma southern cooking show

how cool is that?!

-that, of course, got me to thinkin'...     which youtube star would i love to meet in person...

and there are many, but at the top of that long and growing list:



deidre gourlay!   of  'our upcycled life' on YOUTUBE

- i mean,  -endless inspiration..  great ideas, hacks, recycle, upcycle, dyi 

and, as i've only recently been introduced, via..    algorithms, apparently..

i have the benefit of getting to watch, like 5 years worth of her videos..

and realized..   well, i made a few interior design changes based on her influence and love the results..   raised a plant here, added one over there..   more attention to charm factor of home decor staples, like, tissue boxes, planters, lights..

and!  -having just recently cleaned out some drawers, cupboards, i came across a beautiful, rather, singular, vase..      i set it out, all by its lonely self, on a wooden lazy susan i use as a coffee table centerpiece..

i did know..    

perhaps directly under the influence of deidre's plethora of videos

probably not going to use it as a vase...    -how boring that would be...

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evening ponderings included realizing they [they, as in YouTube] must already have the equivalent of award shows, oscars,   -something celebrating the best & brightest, the most fun, entertaining, creative, etc.

and then..    

i wonder what their trophies would look like?

and..

that's what i'll do with that beautiful vase!!   -i'll make a trophy, as if,   as if i am the one responsible for creating a trophy for our upcycled life!

*****
that next morning,  despite a list of 5 or 7 other *projects in waiting..

skipping a shower, skipping breakfast, in my pajamas i skipped over to my studio 213..

vase as the base..    i mean, obviously! the trophy itself needs to be 'upcycled'

    remember i told you,  mixed media artist have the most fun out of all artists..
it's because, the more materials and tools you get to use, the more fun it is!    the more imaginative..
the more fun!

and for the mixed media artist..   there is no write or wrong..  only, like or don't like;

love or kinda like; keep or toss or adjust and tweak

i did operate with this one self-imposed rule:  only use what i already have; no purchasing anything new to use.     *details as footnote

so, i had the beautiful vase.   -it needed a platform, a foundation..

i already had a wood shape  (6 sides...  called... ) hexagon from the dollar store; perfect size, width, depth, length to house the vase.  it did already cover it with a sticker, but..  too..

too...  

so, i also, already had some more interesting paper, with beautiful earthy colors, and share here:  i think, the paper i used..   sold as paper for train model landscapes;  i think it was left-over from when my son had a school project in middle school, and he like, graduated from college several years ago..

anyway..  covered the sticker, with the earthy paper; love.

from the beginning, there was only one way the vase was going to be used at that was...  upside down.

love.

i glanced over, and had a    -i mean, the perfect! flat, circular, silver candle holder with blingy, scalloped, decorated  -tiara-like edging     -and guess what..

PERFECT FIT on top of the..   bottom, now top, of the vase base of my trophy.   and, already had the perfect size circular botanical sticker to place inside for nice touch..

voila!

already had an empty small orange juice container to recycle..   upcycle..
sparing stories here about removing the labels & worse..  the stubborn sticky adhesive that remains after labels are removed from the plastic..   all hacks employed; none seem to work..   last resort:     *blow dryer 

hey..   i can sculpt this into a whole new shape!!

anyway..

i already had some artificial tulips, some artificial flowers leftover from previous projects..

placed..   and then, stuffed and manuevered the tulips inside the orange juice container, turned it upside down also..   

voila!

she needs a crown..   of course!  i mean, it's a mixed media trophy, for the queen of upcycling herself!

k, 

here, again..   no write or wrong, only..    love or kinda like..

i kinda liked using the 

    -gold paper cupcake baking cups i already had..    gold seemed crown-ish, and it had scallops..

and i already had some cute tiny gems to glue on..  so i did that...  experimented with that, but..

seemed,  little too..     too predictable and ordinary..

glanced over, and saw, i had a couple vellum shapes left on a piece of sticker paper, that i had not used..

so very glad i did not toss that!   i grabbed a new gold cupcake baking cup, and placed the fancier stickers on it..

way better! than the tiny gem stones..

and!   glanced over, and saw..   like, a straight pin with a pearl end on it.   -on the floor, as a matter of fact, behind my potters bench..   had to drop something, look for it..  and..

Christians believe these things are not 'accidents'     -more, like, when i went to grab the thing that fell, and saw the straight pin with the pearl..

struck with creative lightning..    and a thank you prayer to unknown source of help and guidance..

because, i took the straight pen, poked it through the gold cupcake crown with vellum shapes stickered on..  and

voila! again..     -then, searched and found about 6 or 7 more straight pins i had with different colors balls on the top..

in my creative estimation..   the crown with tiny sparkly gems glued on..  vs., the 2nd choice, crown with vellum shapes and straight pens..

difference between,  paint-by-number vs. original abstract

looked and felt so superior, i completely abandon my original concept and idea..

same with,  i had experimented with dripping heart garland from the sides..   vetoed that idea along the way too..

the pink ribbon..   i opted for instead; already had that, in a drawer..   just waiting.    love how it looks hanging off the side, little touch of vintage charm

the little bamboo hearts,  already had; left over from last year's mother's day picnics i designed; they were bamboo skewers..   

already had the flowers, the little sparkly gems to hot glue on..

  -now!  i'll tell you the hardest part for me..  i mean HARD..  the temptation was GREAT!  because, i placed some little white rocks i already had..    set them on top of the silver candle holder, around the base of the bottom of the orange juice container, to fill in the space with something interesting..

and the reason it was soooo hard, is because, i had just recently watched deidre on one of her videos create beautiful upcycles using..    PINK HIMALAYAN SALT chunks/rocks..

and, my goodness..  if this trophy is for her...  "i have to use pink himalayan salt rocks..!!   it's only write and proper..   it would be perfect!"

but..   i did not   -already have-   pink himalayan salt chunks...        the internal battle began..

i went to amazon..     if i decided so, it would have arrived on my front patio that afternoon even!!

but, 

spent an embarrasing amount of time, looking, thinking, imagining..    

had zero to do with cost..     had zero to do with accessibility, availability, or zero to do with what anyone else would ever know or think..

but,   -i had self-imposed that little, stupid rule:   only what i already have..

i have a lot.    i have so many little this's and that's..     so many 

i should be embarrassed to need or shop or purchase..  my God..

so, 

i successfully resisted, and used the cute white rocks i already had.

i embellished here and there, with sparkly gems..   

and, 

finishing touch..    in addition to my self-imposed rule of only using what i already have;

i have made a prayerful   -what to call it?  promise?

another one of the ways i can say "Thank You Jesus!" for taking from the pit to the palace..

from bondage to freedom,   from torment to peace..   on and on, long list..

is to share my appreciation for the fruits of the spirit, so,  -here on out, and a little before now even, 

i include, 

in some way, form or fashion,  -as the saying goes..

the fruits of the spirit on my mixed media art.    -i already had a sheet of sticker paper with the fruits of the spirit on it..   designed it some time ago to wrap around my wine bottle art..    so, 

it already fit perfect around the front of the hexagon base of my mixed media 'binge & tonic' trophy inspired by and created with deidre gourlay in mind,   so, 

"Thank You!"     love to binge on your 'our upcycled life'  youtube channel; it is my creative tonic. 
*****

hallelujah & amen!

   -really cool if i could get a nonagon shape base for future mixed media trophies.  i had so, so, much fun creating this,   -hope to make some more; no two ever alike.

posted by SANDRA MICKANEN @ 9:44 AM

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