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

Faux Tin Valentine Art

 The Christmas decorations are down & the winter decorations are up. But it's almost time to switch over to the Valentine decorations.

I love decorating for every season & holiday.  And, I like to create something new to add to the mix every year. This year, I'm adding this faux tin art.

To make it, I first painted an 8" x 8" wooden canvas panel with the color, Cotton, from the Dixie Belle Paint Company. Once the paint was dry, I used a brayer to add the color, Caviar, to a decor stamp from Re*design with Prima, & added the design to the canvas.

I also added a leaf & rose design to the canvas.

For the faux tin, I used peel & stick tiles from the Dollar Tree. These are so easy to work with & the possibilities are endless. You can't browse Pinterest without seeing a multitude of projects using them.

The tiles are 12" x 12" & since my canvas was only 8", I cut out a quarter of the tile. They easily cut with scissors.

I drew half of a heart on one side of the tile, folded it in half, then cut along the lines I drew.

I painted the heart with the color, Honky Tonk Red.

I let the paint dry completely, then used a damp rag to wipe away the paint from the high spots to give the heart a worn look.

This highlights the detail on the "tin".

I glued the heart to the canvas using tacky glue.

I used tacky glue to adhere twine around the heart to hide the uneven edges.

I'm excited to decorate for Valentine's Day & have something new to add to my decor.

Linking To:

The Cottage Market,  Funky Junk Interiors, The Answer Is Chocolate, Flutter Buster, 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, County Road 407, Pieced Pastimes, Southern Sunflowers, The House On Silverado

Dragonfly Art With Terra Clay Paint

 One of my favorite things about summer...

dragonflies!

I also love creating art with Terra, a clay based paint from the Dixie Belle Paint Company. So, I combined my love of both dragonflies & Terra to create a pretty piece of art.

I started by painting a wooden canvas with Dixie Belle's chalk mineral paint in the color, Caviar. Then I used a Re*design With Prima decor stamp  called, Handwritten Note, along with Dixie Belle's metallic paint to add an all over design to the background.

I used my Cricut Maker to create a vinyl stencil of a dragonfly, & placed the stencil on the center of the canvas.

Now for the fun... I started finger painting with Terra.

Terra is perfect for furniture, especially if you want a blended or ombre look. It reactivates with water so once you mist it with water, you can move it around. Because it reactivates with water, it is very important to seal it, especially if you use it on furniture.

Once I laid out a few colors, I used my mister bottle to add a little water so I could easily blend the colors. 

If I had painted the background color with Terra, it would have blended with the dragonfly colors once I wet it. That's why I used chalk mineral paint as the base. Another option would have been to use Terra, then seal it before painting the dragonfly.

Once the Terra was dry, I added Chameleon Wax to the body of the dragonfly. This is an iridescent wax that looks  different depending on the color it is applied over.

I used my finger to apply the wax.

I peeled up the vinyl stencil to reveal my pretty dragonfly.

Here is a piece of art I created after watching a video by Melissa of  The Top Drawer RVA. She shares the steps to painting beautiful roses with Terra. You can find her tutorials HERE.

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, The House On Silverado