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

Pressed Flower Art

 About a year ago, I attended a class with my daughter & some friends, where we made trinket dishes using clay & pressed flowers. The class was taught by Brush And Blossom. I usually teach art & craft classes, so it was nice to be the student for a change. 

After the class, I became a little obsessed with gathering & pressing flowers. I would pick flowers from my yard, & there are beautiful wildflowers & weeds growing along my dirt road. 

To press them, I placed flowers, ferns, leaves, etc. between 2 sheets of  paper, then placed the paper between sheets of parchment paper, & placed them in a book. I have a huge dictionary that works perfectly. 

I have so many pressed flowers but have only done a few projects with them. At Christmas, my son & daughter-in-law gave me packs of these fun stickers. I added some of my pressed flowers to them to make pretty bookmarks.

I wanted a better way to display the flowers rather than hidden in a book. So, I came up with an easy art project using the flowers & the stickers.

I started by painting a wooden canvas with the color Caviar, from the Dixie Belle Paint Company. 

I set the canvas aside to dry, & painted a simple wooden frame with Dixie Belle's color, Weeping Willow.

When dry, I glued the frame to the canvas.

The hardest part of this project was deciding which one of the stickers to use. There are several different ones in each pack, & I have 6 packs.

Once I decided on the one I wanted to use, I peeled off the clear back, & added flowers to the sticky side of the bottle design. 

When making the bookmarks, I add the clear backing back onto the "bottle". But for this project I left it off so I could simply stick it onto the canvas inside of the frame.

I then added a few flowers at each bottom corner of the canvas using ModPodge.

I added a fern across the top of the canvas to complete the project.

Now to figure out what to do with all the other pressed flowers I have!

Linking To:

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, The House On Silverado

Mixed Media For Valentines Or Anytime

 What do you think of when you think of Valentine's Day? For me, it's flowers & candy. This mixed media project includes flowers, but not candy... I'm on a diet! And, the colors make it perfect to keep displayed year round.

I started by painting a 10" x 7" wooden heart with the color Fluff from the Dixie Belle Paint Company.

I cut a piece of decoupage tissue paper from Re*design With Prima, called Zoey, to fit across the top of the heart. I applied the tissue paper to the heart using Dixie Belle's Clear Coat, but you could use ModPodge.

I used a 120 grit sandpaper to remove the excess paper. I placed the sandpaper at a 45 degree angle to the edge of the heart & used a downward motion to sand off the paper.

I stenciled a design on the rest of the heart using the color, Gravel Road. I like to use a makeup wedge to stencil. I off loaded most of the paint to prevent the paint from bleeding under the stencil. I could've added a second coat to get good coverage, but I wanted more of an irregular, worn finish.

I added two greenery stems, from Prima, by putting a little glue at the base of the stems. 

I placed a floral cardboard sticker at the top of the greenery. I didn't trust that the sticky back would hold, so I added some glue.

I glued two flowers onto the heart, letting them come off the edge of the heart.

I added a pretty butterfly cardboard sticker to the flowers.

I could've stopped there and it would've been fine, but let's keep going!

I added a second butterfly & another cardboard sticker that says, "Bee-you-tiful" to complete the Valentine.

You can use any colors for this project, so if you're not a fan of red & pink in your decor, you can pick colors that work for you.

Just about anything goes at my house. Can you tell I like color?

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