Auction Find to Art Display

I have a great brother-in-law who often has horse related finds for me.  Most recently he brought me an old leather horse fly blanket. 

It definitely had seen better day...  but still quite a find.  I had never seen one before.  I suspect it was used to keep flies off working draft horses.

I spent some time imagining ways I could use it and knew I wanted it to be a wall hanging.  And realized it might be a fun way to display some of my horse photography.  For this project, I used sepia tones.

My horses are Honey and Love.  (I always feel the need to clarify that I did not give them these barn names, but that they came with these names.  And even if they are fitting, it is almost embarrasing to have them both with names that are such sugary terms of edearment... )  And it is great to be able to use photos of them.

 I added beads or buttons on the pictures to help me display them.

And added beads, baubles, and wire to fill in holes and add a bit more interest.

 It really was a fun project that turned out much the way I imagined it. 

And here is the final project, in all its messy re-used glory.

And some of my horse photos that I used for this...

Linking up at a few parties: