Trust Your Heart

This  month DIY Design Studio is bringing you "Art from the Heart" and we encourage you to join us. 

Tag us on social media and show us what you create with #DIYartfromtheheart.  

Come along with me on my very first project of 2019!

I have created a mixed media piece by upcycling a heart shaped chocolate candy box that I saved from Valentine's Day 2018.  To create this I used cardboard pieces, gesso, acrylic paints, Gelatos, misc. inks,  chipboard as well as lace and other embellishments. 

Here was the process.  

 I applied gesso to the box, then added torn cardboard using Aleene's Tacky Glue. 

Another layer of gesso was added so there was a primed surface for everything else to adhere to.  Not necessary, but I just tend to gesso most surfaces. 

 Next, came a layer of pink and white acrylic paints. 

Next, I dry fit papers, die cuts and vintage Rolodex cards for a textural base. 

Lace was added and painted paper hearts were attached with mini clothes pins, paper flowers and more painted card board pieces were glued down. 

I also added a little text sentinment for a title.  I just printed this on my computer and outlined it using my micron pen and adhered it with Tacky Glue. 

You can better see the paper flowers I used in the pic below.  These specifically came in white and I added the same pink ink to the centers that I used to colorize my background of the entire piece (you can see the drippy ink elements in the 2 photos above).  I also dry brushed a bit of black acrylic paint to the edges of the petals.  You can NEVER have too many layers of color.  The Little Birdy paper flowers are very pretty on their own, but colorizing them to 100% match the other elements ties the whole look together.  

The final element was diluting white acrylic paint and adding white splatter marks to the entire project.  Okay, that gets everywhere so be aware of that before you go flinging watered down paint on your work of art. You will find white little dots for days.  But, hey that is all part of the fun!  Get a little inky and painty...it is good for your soul!  Oh, a fan brush works best for splatter...well that or running your finger along a toothbrush drenched in watered down paint.  WHAT FUN!!! 

I hope you enjoyed this project.  

I hope your New Year is off to an amazing start.  

I also hope you are inspired to make Art from YOUR Heart.   Stay tuned for more inspiration from the DIY Design Team!

Be sure to check DIY Design Studio for all of your 

craft, vintage and painting supply needs!

Happy Friday! 

~Stephanie