Easy Mixed Media Valentine Art

 

If you're looking to add a little Valentine art to your home, or want to create something easy to give someone special, this is it!

I love to decorate for every holiday & season. So I change my decor often. And, every year I always want to add something new. This year I made this sweet little artwork that combines canvas, watercolor paper, acrylic paint, & watercolor paint.

I painted a 5" x 5" canvas with Deco Art acrylic paint in the color, Jewel Green.

While the canvas was drying, I cut a piece of watercolor paper to be approximately the same size of the canvas. I dipped a heart shaped cookie cutter in to Artist's Loft watercolor, Alizarin Crimson.

I pressed to cookie cutter onto the watercolor paper.

While the paint was still wet, I saturated my paintbrush with water & filled in the heart. There's no need to dip the brush in the paint. The water will pull the paint into the heart.

I tore about an inch off of the paper around the heart. The rough edge gives it more interest.

So there wasn't such a stark transition between the white watercolor paper & the Jewel Green, I painted a thin, watered down wash of Artist's Loft watercolor, Earth Green. I went a little heavier on the torn edges & kept it very subtle on the rest of the paper.

I used Tacky Glue to adhere the paper to the canvas. 

I didn't add glue all the way to the edges of the paper. I wanted it to appear as though it were attached to the canvas with nail heads. So, I added these nail head type stickers to the corners of the paper.

Having a Galentine's party? This would be a fun project to do with friends. It would also be a great project to do with kids. Fun, easy, & inexpensive!

Linking To:

The Cottage Market,  Funky Junk Interiors, The Answer Is Chocolate, Flutter Buster, Our Hopeful Home, My Thrift Store Addiction,  Confessions Of A Plate Addict, My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia, Creatively Beth, County Road 407, Pieced Pastimes, Southern Sunflowers, The House On Silverado

Valentine Or Anytime Art

 

I have been waiting for the perfect piece of furniture to try out the Waterslide Transfers from Dixie Belle Paint Company. However, since my husband retired a year ago, & I closed my booth where I sold painted furniture, I've been a little lazy when it comes to painting furniture. So, I haven't actually been on an active hunt for that perfect piece. 

I've still been wanting to try the waterslide transfer so I thought it would be perfect for a Valentine project.

I first painted a 5" x 5" canvas with the chalk mineral paint color, Fluff. 

The colorful side of the design, that you will see when transferred, has a clear plastic sheet over it. The back is more like paper & is in shades of gray. Having the design on the back helps you line it up properly for your project. I turned the transfer over & used a pencil to trace the canvas on the paper side, then cut it out.

I then removed the plastic sheet from the colorful side of the transfer & placed it on the canvas with the colorful side down. Once I had it placed correctly on the canvas (this is where the gray side comes in handy), I laid a wet paper towel over it. I rubbed over the paper towel with my fingers to make sure the transfer was laying flat against the canvas. 

After letting it sit for 3 minutes, I removed the paper towel & pulled up the transfer backing, leaving the beautiful baroque design on the canvas.

Now for the Valentine part...

I used Sculpey oven bake clay. I conditioned the clay to make it soft & workable, then flattened it to approximately 1/4 inch thickness.

Once the clay was flattened out, I added texture with a stamp from Redesign With Prima.

I used a cookie cutter to cut out a heart. 

I preheated my oven to 275 degrees, then baked the heart for 15 minutes.

I wanted to stick with the neutral colors of the transfer, so once the heart was cooled I painted it with a brown acrylic paint that matched one of the colors in the design.

I didn't worry about perfect coverage because of the next step.

To highlight the texture in the heart, I rubbed on Silver Gilding Wax. I typically go for gold or copper gilding wax, but in this case I wanted to pull out the silver from the transfer. Copper would have been pretty too & given it a completely different look.

I glued the heart to the center of the canvas using E6000.

This is a pretty, neutral piece of art perfect for Valentine's decor if you don't decorate with the traditional red & pink. And, the neutral colors make it perfect for enjoying all year long.

Linking To:

The Cottage Market,  Funky Junk Interiors, The Answer Is Chocolate, Flutter Buster, Our Hopeful Home, My Thrift Store Addiction,  Confessions Of A Plate Addict, My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia, Creatively Beth, County Road 407, Pieced Pastimes, Southern Sunflowers, The House On Silverado

Slikscreen Stencil Valentine

 I love it when an experiment turns out how I envisioned. This is one of those projects. Unfortunately, there are plenty that didn't. But, that's how you learn, right?

This project not only worked out how I wanted, but was super easy & quick!

I love working with the air dry Modeling Material from Re*design With Prima. Typically, I use it with their molds. But, in this case I wanted to create hearts & didn't have a heart shaped mold. I did, however, have heart shaped cookie cutters.

After rolling the modeling material out with a rolling pin, I cut 2 different sizes of hearts with my cookie cutters.

Another of my favorite things to work with are the Silkscreen Stencils from the Dixie Belle Paint Company. For this project I chose the Mandala design. Each pack has 3 different sheets of designs.

 The screen helps prevent the paint from bleeding under the stencil so you get a crisp image. But, I had no idea how it would work doing it on the modeling material while it was still soft.

I placed the sticky side of the stencil on the heart, then scraped on the chalk mineral paint color, Peony, from Dixie Belle.

When I peeled up the stencil, I was excited to see that it worked perfectly.

Now my mind is spinning with all the ways to use these. I have them on the table riser on my kitchen table. But while soft, they could be glued onto candles, vases, artwork...

The possibilities are endless!

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, Pieced Pastimes, Southern Sunflowers

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