Oooow Yummy, Scrummy Hearts!

Over on the PaperArtsy Blog their challenge at the moment is 'Hearts' ------  and if you have read any of my previous blogs you will realise I'm partial to the odd heart so I had to make something to enter.

To see the wonderful collection of different hearts Leandra has put together and all the inspiration of the DT click here.

On Friday the postman delivered an order I'd placed with a firm called Artcuts who sell wooden cut shapes, words etc. The timing was perfect as in my order there was a box of 'Not Quite Perfect' items which consisted of may beautiful shapes including lots of hearts!

I was thrilled with my order and if you too use wooden shapes you might like to look on their site

http://www.artcuts.co.uk/section.php/116/1/special-packs-kits

So equipped with my base I was off.

The 12cm base needed a slight sanding on one side then it was given a coat of White gesso. Dry wall tape was added to the lefthand side and the definition of Home was torn from an old dictionary and struck on the righthand side.

Next I brayered some Fresco Chalk Acrylic in Haystack, Hint of Mint and Nougat. Grunge paste was added through a Clarity stencil, and once dry these were dry brushed with London Bus. The ivy was stamped to the edges using DI in Peeled Paint and then using clear EP heat embossed.

Then using stamp sets Crowns and Castles 2 & 9 and Archival Watering Can ink stamped images onto tissue paper and coloured in with water colour pencils.

The hinges were stamped onto shrink plastic with black archival ink and when dry coloured from the back with a gold Pro-marker pen. One hinge shrunk a little on the wonky side( probably my uneven cutting out) but I like the quirkiness it adds.

Using kraft card and Jofy 42 'Home is where the Heart is' was stamped and white embossed, then cut out and each of the 3 pieces edged with a black pen.

Treasure Gold was added to the hearts in ruby and olive bronze on the ivy leaves.

A length of rusty floristry wire was attached to the top and a carved wooden bead wooden.

Then all the elements were attached with either matt medium or Pinflair glue.

The material heart was simply made by cutting a paper shape for a pattern, embroidering 'Love' onto a piece of 16count Aida and sewing this onto the front of the heart along with the ribbon before sewing the back and front together leaving a small gap for the stuffing. Once stuffed the gap was sewn up.

If there was more time in the day and more space on my walls in my craft room I would make many more hearts of all shapes,sizes and materials but alas there's not !

Thanks for taking the time to read this blog, I hope you have a relaxing Sunday afternoon---- perhaps making something 'Heart Shaped' Have a good week,  Jane X

Mother's Day Card with a Twist

Welcome, I hope you are all well and have survived all the fluey, coldy, coughy germs that have been doing the rounds. Tonight I thought I'd share an idea I had for a Mother's Day card which can be hung up or displayed on a stand and kept out a little longer than an ordinary greetings card.

For this I have used the heart and Mum from Tando Creatives large Mum/Baby Feet/ Heart set and a single bird from their Minis Bird and Branches set, lots of PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk Paints, Grunge Paste and Crafty Individuals frame mask.

To begin with I coloured the heart and a piece of white card with the paint in the following colours using a small brayer. Lake Wanaka, China, Blush and Nougat on the heart and all of the previously mentioned colours + Very Berry, Spanish Mulberry, Pumpkin Soup and Snowflake on the card.

Once the paint was dry I then added grunge paste through the mask, this had to be repositioned a couple of times to fit the heart shape. The mask was then washed and dried so it could be replaced over the dry grunge paste for colouring.

For the leaves I used a distress marker in shabby shutters and the flowers were coloured with versa-magic ink in mango madness and pink petunia. For the centres of the flowers I applied a dot of liquid pearls in bisque.

Next I stamped Happy Mother's Day in versa-mark ink onto a piece of tissue paper and then applied some Pan Pastels in Yellow Ochre Tint and Light Gold. this was then stuck onto the back of the heart and cut around with a craft knife.

The leaves on the heart were lightly rubbed with a mix of Inka Gold in Platinum and Treasure Gold in Olive Bronze.

The bird was painted in a mix of nougat and pumpkin soup and then when dry over stamped in Versa-Magic Pumpkin Spice. This was then sat on a small piece of pressed heather.

Mum was given 3 coats of embossing powder ( not my real Mum you understand!) in a two-toned colour called Geranium Coral/ Blush.

The flowers were cut using Tim Holtz Tattered Floral die using the painted card + some scraps left from a previous project that I had coloured with mica sprays. The centres had pearl beads glued in.

The tag was cut from cream coloured card, stamped "With Love" in Archival Watering Can and the edges coloured with the pink petunia and mango madness ink.

The grey ribbon was then attached to the back of the heart.

As my Mum is 95 years old ideas for cards are becoming a bit of a challenge as over the years most shapes, books, stepper cards etc, etc have all been explored so I felt it was time for something a little different.

I would like to enter this for Tando-Creatives monthly challenge for February which has a colour theme.

Thanks as always for stopping by, its much appreciated. Hope you all have a good week, take care Jane x

Ooops, just linked to the Tando - Creative blog and the theme has changed from Feb colour palette to cover with paper ------ I did cover the back with tissue paper!!! x