more Valentine art...

finished up two more pieces of Valentine art.  This beaded piece started with a scrap of wrapping paper with a dragonfly image that I loved but didn't know what I wanted to use it for.  I glued the wrapping paper to card stock and die cut the heart shape.  Using Modge Podge, I added more paper scraps and an old stamp for a collage look.  I used Glossy Accents to adhere misc. beads and findings from my embellishments stash.  One of these days I will organize all of my embellishments, beads, findings, etc.  Right now they all reside in a storage box with no organization whatsoever.  I'll admit sometimes it's fun to rummage through the box and discover new bits and bobs that I didn't know I had.  But some organization would be helpful though.  In any case it was fun putting this together. 

As I was rummaging through the said embellishment box I discovered misc alphabet letters from sticker sets over the years.  Really cool dimensional metal alphabet letters, a few scrabble tiles, round sticker letters of an "a" and "h" (really? why did I save these two letters?) and a cloth brad style button ampersand.  

So I decided to make another Valentine piece (a nod to my love of calligraphy) with some scrap writing paper and these various alphabet letters.  The "a" and "h" round stickers were a cranberry color so I decided to color the other pieces to match (or a close match) using Alcohol Inks.  This worked well with the metal letters since they were silver.  

Also colored an old pen nib and added it to the piece.  A small white feather (also from the box) finished off the piece.   

Both pieces were adhered to paper from my paper stash and set in black frames (without glass). 

I really enjoyed putting these Valentine pieces together.  Hope these projects inspire you to create something with found items from your studio.  Or perhaps just enjoy exploring storage boxes :-) 

Steampunk heart

I wanted to make a new Valentine's Day decor piece and decided I was going to go with a steampunk design.  I really like steampunk but haven't make a lot of art pieces with this look. 

When starting a piece like this it does help to have a box of "odds and ends" pieces that you can choose from.  I can't remember exactly where or when I got the gears from but it looks like it was from a package of Tim Holtz idea-ology mini gears. Same thing for the spinner piece - it was from a package of game spinners.

The heart was die cut from cardstock, then wrapped with aluminum duct tape which I always borrow from my husband's work shop.  I think by now he's used to looking in my studio if he's missing some materials.  But this time I actually put it back after I used it!  (lol)

Then used an embossing folder with gears design on the heart piece.  Afterwards I colored the embossed heart with alcohol inks - started with Teakwood then added Gold.  I colored all of the pieces with the same inks then glued them to the heart using Weldbond Glue. 

The heart was then glued to a piece of striped background paper from my paper stash (which oddly enough never gets any smaller after I use papers...why is that?).  I put it in a black frame without glass.  Really liked how this turned out.  Here's to more steampunk art in the future!