Buttons and Baubles - Heart Canvas

taking some time to dust off this blog...(ooh lots of dust here) and it feels good to get back to posting some artwork.

With Valentines Day around the corner I wanted to make a new décor piece.  All of the items in this project were in my studio just waiting to be used. I'm calling this piece the "Buttons & Baubles Heart"

I had a 6 x 6 inch white canvas with wooden frame that became the starting point for this project.  Initially I thought of painting hearts on the canvas with some lettering. 
But after cleaning up the studio (yes, at times that does happen)  I noticed several embellishment boxes were overflowing and in need of some organization.  As I poked through the boxes I found a jar of wine colored buttons and that started the idea of creating a heart image of buttons.  Then more embellishments came out and they were added to the mix.

I started by painting a heart shape with acrylic paint.  I lightly traced some pencil points on the canvas to give me starting points. Heart shaped stencils could be used here too.

I let the paint dry for about an hour then started placing buttons and pieces on the canvas.  For adhesive I used Weldbond Glue.  I really like this glue for glass, metal, and plastic pieces.

I just kept adding pieces until I got the look I liked.  As some piece dried I placed others on top to give it added dimension.  I let it set overnight to dry.

To finish it I added a ribbon around the edge - mainly to cover the staples on the canvas edges.

 

after letting this dry for a few hours the piece was ready to display. I'm happy with how it turned out.  It felt good to use some embellishments I had been hanging onto for years.  And that reminds me...I still need to organize those boxes.