Saturday, January 14, 2012

Valentine artwork

 I posted the Heart specimen art on my other blog here and thought I would post a tutorial on this blog! Enjoy!
I took some time yesterday to play in my craft cottage... I have several projects I am working on right now, so fun! I did manage to finish 2 Valentine artwork frames. They are completed like the ones I did for fall here, this time I took some pictures so I could show you how I did it! I started with an inexpensive Walmart frame.
 I spray painted it with some white spay paint I had on hand.
 After the paint dried I sanded some of it off, cause I like things distressed and I think it adds more dimension.
 I already had a color scheme in mind so I tied 3 different ribbons on the outside upper left corner. I like to add a bit of black here usually, to make things pop!
 Here is the back before I added the glass back in.
 Big tip here... put the glass back in by itself! I have broken a couple pieces of glass by not following my own directions! Ha! I chose to use some light colored burlap so I used the cardboard backing as a template to cut it to size. Then place the burlap on the glass and then seal up the back!
 It will look like this!
 Next I pulled out some glittered letters I wanted to use.
 These I found at Target for .99 cents each word!
 My friend Jessica loaned me her punch, not sure how I didn't have the correct size! I do have some Nestabilities I could have used though, but this was easier! I'd say this punch is about 2 inches?
 I went to my scraps, this is a great way to use them up! I will be making these for St. Patrick's day, Easter, Summer, of course I already have my fall one which I love.
 I thought I would include another tip here... I store my scraps by color in large ziplock bags. Being able to see through the bag works great for me! I store each of the bags in the basket above and keep it on the floor near my feet. When I have pieces of multicolored paper I look at the color that first comes to mind when I look at it and that is the color it gets filed under.
 I started just punching out hearts.
 Sometimes I was able to punch out 2 from the same paper and use each side :)
 My little pile of hearts! LOVE!
 Next I placed my glittered hearts down on the glass, I knew I didn't want them to be on the same lines. The red one on the bottom is a suede look one.
 Then I just began laying them out on the glass the way that was pleasing to my eye.
 I wanted the edges to pop just a bit, so I used a bit of this Barn Door distress ink on each of the hearts.
 Like this...
 and this. It doesn't need to be perfect, trust me!
 Next I used glue dots to apply each heart to the glass.
 I find it is easiest to put the heart on the glue dot and pull it off.
 Like so...
 Then place it on the glass.
 I could have left it... it was ok without some accents, but I couldn't. I had to add some bling!
This one I added little pearls, LOVE it!
 A close up of the silver glittered heart. I punched a small heart out of some glittered red paper.
 This is a close up of the suede look heart.
 I also added a small red glittered heart to my black ribbon.
 Another little tip here... I keep all my rhinestones in a photo box, (I do the same with primas, glitter, my distress inks and sprays, stickles etc) that way I can just bring the whole box over to my work area.
 Okay, maybe I love me some rhinestones huh?!
 I pulled some out I thought I could use.
 In the end I wanted to use that little pop of black once again!


Let me know if you create one of these fun framed artwork! I had to give one of these to my lovely friend Jessica, she did lend me her punch ;) I have one more to make for a special friend of mine!
Keep warm, we got snow last night, ugh! I am headed out to play in the craft cottage!
Have a lovely day!


PS To get more crafty ideas check out this linky party!

6 comments:

Full Circle Creations said...

These are so sweet. I love the way they turned out!

Holly

Kindra-At Home With K said...

Laurie, I love your valentine art! I featured them on my blog today!

http://athomewithk.blogspot.com/2012/01/terrific-under-ten-tuesday-48.html

April said...

This is cute! I like the burlap and distressing elements.

Erin of Salvaged Whimsy said...

so cute, I've pinned it!

Laurie said...

Thanks Holly and April for your wonderful comments, Kindra for featuring my blog, and Erin for pinning my project! I feel so honored :)

Laurie

Kristina said...

I came across your project on Pinterest and fell in love and had to make it! I personalized my frame a little differently but your project was the total inspiration and I want to thank you! I am a blogger and shared some Valentine decor ideas in a blog post ... I shared a link to this post because it's such a great idea and wanted to share it with other crafty ladies:) Thanks so much for the idea!