Box Top Collage

I've started working on some mixed media collage. Its something I've been wanting to try for a while. I just didn't know what kind of substrate to use. Wood seemed too heavy. It seemed wasteful to use watercolor paper if I wasn't going to always paint the background. Cardstock didn't seem sturdy enough and plus, I didn't like the glossiness of what I had for this project.

Since I'm always of the mind to use what I already have, I looked around my studio until I found these glove or tie boxes a friend gave me after closing her shop. They were perfect! They were already covered with brown paper, so I didn't have to do anything to prepare the background if I didn't want to. I had a lot of fun doing these and plan to do more.

Here is my conundrum: Do I only collage the tops of the boxes and sell them as collaged gift boxes or do I collage the tops AND bottoms as individual pieces of art? I appreciate your comments and ideas on this.

Next, some of you may be following the progress of our little baby finches. Boy, do they grow FAST! The oldest ones are getting to be just about the size of the parents. I would give the largest another couple of days before it leaves the nest. I only count 4 babies, now though. I'm not sure if they're sitting on the two smaller ones, or if something has happened to them.

These pictures were taken last week. This week the oldest 2 are now the same color as the parents and just about as big. The one on the left, here, is Puff (daddy). They seem to be more skittish, now, so its harder to get good pics.