Home Is Where The Heart Is

 Little wooden block houses have been big in home decor for a few years now. So, when I saw packs of 3 houses at Target, I had to have them. It's so much easier having them on hand already cut & ready to create something cute.

The blocks are in 3 sizes per pack, & I chose the smallest size for a Valentine project.

I stained the raw wood with Voodoo Gel Stain from the Dixie Belle Paint Company using the color, Up In Smoke, which is a pretty gray. The Voodoo stain is perfect for raw wood, & is water based for easy clean up. There's no need for gloves like with oil based stains.

I wanted a pretty pattern on the front of the house, & chose to use Dixie Belle's Peony Pattern decoupage rice paper.

I traced around the house onto the paper, then cut it out.

I applied the rice paper to the front of the house using ModPodge.

It was pretty with just the paper, & would be perfect for Spring & Summer.

 I wanted this to be for Valentine's Day, so I cut a heart out of watercolor paper.

I painted the heart using a red watercolor.

I crumpled up the heart while the paper was still wet. This gives the heart more texture & dimension.

I uncrumpled the heart then glued it to the house using tacky glue. I made sure not to glue it flat so I would keep some of the dimension of the heart.

I found a pretty metal, vintage style key on Amazon & tied some twine around it.

I glued the key onto the heart. Then I wrapped the twine around the block twice & tied a bow.

This little house will be perfect for a tiered tray, on a shelf, or in a Valentine vignette.

Home really is where the heart is. And, this little home may need to stay out all year, not just in February!

Here is another fun project where I cut the blocks myself...

and another...

Linking To:

Ginger Snap Crafts, Chic On a Shoestring,  Simply Sweet Home, The Cottage Market,  Funky Junk Interiors,  Sugar Bee Crafts, Flour Me With Love, The Answer Is Chocolate, Skip To My Lou, The Thrifty Home, Flutter Buster,,  Finding Silver Pennies, Our Hopeful Home, My Thrift Store Addiction, The Painted Hinge, Yesterday On Tuesday, Confessions Of A Plate Addict, My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia, Creatively Beth, My Hubbard Home, County Road 407

Heart Art DIY

 This was going to be a project for Valentine's Day. But, with the neutral colors, it turned out to be a valentine that I can leave up all year long.

I used an 18" wooden heart from Signopoly.

I stained the wood with Voodoo Gel Stain from the Dixie Belle Paint Company using the color, Tobacco Road. Voodoo Gel Stain is water based & is perfect for raw wood.

I wanted a rustic look on the heart so I did a smear technique. To achieve this look I put some chalk mineral paint in the color Fluff, onto a paper plate, then dipped the edge of a 2x4 block of wood into the paint.

I drug the block over the heart using light pressure.

To embellish the heart, I grabbed a flower from WoodUBend. I painted the flower with Fluff & set it aside to dry.

While the flower was drying, I cut a leaf shape out of a dictionary page & added glaze to the edges using a damp rag.

To keep the colors neutral on the heart, I used the color Van Dyke Brown glaze. It goes nicely with the Tobacco Road stain.

I glued the flower onto the heart using tacky glue. Then I glued on twine to make a stem, & then glued on the leaf.

I added the glaze to the flower to give it dimension.

I painted the glaze on heavy on the flower & underneath the flower.

I used a damp rag to wipe away the excess glaze, allowing it to rest in the grooves.

The glaze brings out the details of the flower.

I also added glaze the the edges of the heart.

I painted the glaze around the edges of the heart then lightly wiped it back with a damp rag.

I used the same twine that I used for the stem to hang the heart.

This Valentine isn't going to get packed up after February 14!

Linking To:

Ginger Snap Crafts, Chic On a Shoestring,  Simply Sweet Home, The Cottage Market,  Funky Junk Interiors, The Dedicated House,  Sugar Bee Crafts, Flour Me With Love,  Domestically Speaking,  The Answer Is Chocolate, Skip To My Lou, The Thrifty Home, Flutter Buster, The Foley Fam,  Finding Silver Pennies, Our Hopeful Home, My Thrift Store Addiction, The Painted Hinge, Yesterday On Tuesday, Confessions Of A Plate Addict, My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia, Dabbling And Decorating, Creatively Beth, My Hubbard Home, County Road 407

Decoupage With Dixie Belle

 I come across these half tables quite often & can never pass them up. They're perfect if you need a small table by a chair or sofa, or even as a bedside table or in a bathroom.

This table had a decorative piece that was missing on one side.

Luckily it was only decorative & glued on, & popped right off with the slightest tap of a hammer.

I cleaned the table with White Lightening from the Dixie Belle Paint Company. After using the White Lightening, I cleaned with just water to make sure that no White Lightening residue was left behind.

Then I painted the table with two coats of Dixie Belle's color, Gravel Road.

I typically wait 24 hours before moving on to the next step. So, the next day I added Gilding Wax in the color Zinc, using my finger to apply it.

The Gilding Wax highlights all the detail.

Dixie Belle has some beautiful rice papers for decoupage. I've been waiting for the perfect piece to use their Art Deco Bird Pattern, & this table was it.

I used Dixie Belle's Satin Clear Coat as my decoupage medium & as a sealer for the table top.

The background color of the paper matched Gravel Road perfectly. Although it would have also looked great with a contrasting color.

The rice paper measures just over 23" x 24" so I have a lot left over for another project.

Now I'm on the hunt for more of these tables to decoupage!

Linking To:

Ginger Snap Crafts, Chic On a Shoestring,  Simply Sweet Home, The Cottage Market,  Funky Junk Interiors, The Dedicated House,  Sugar Bee Crafts, Flour Me With Love,  Domestically Speaking,  The Answer Is Chocolate, Skip To My Lou, The Thrifty Home, Flutter Buster, The Foley Fam,  Finding Silver Pennies, Our Hopeful Home, My Thrift Store Addiction, The Painted Hinge, Yesterday On Tuesday, Confessions Of A Plate Addict, My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia, Dabbling And Decorating, Creatively Beth, My Hubbard Home, County Road 407