Valentine Step by Step

With Valentine's Day approaching at break-neck speed (less than a month away - what happened to January?) I created a little home decor and documented the process. Here is a quick step-by-step.

1. To begin, I laid down some neutral patterned paper in strips - 6 strips total. Paint over the paper with zinc white in a random fashion leaving some of the texture uncovered.

2. Using the edge of an old credit card, scrape on a bright, cheery color to cover about half of the textured paper. I used Phthalo Turquoise - yummy! Next, add some spirals with pearl white ink using the dropper in the ink bottle. Random visual interest is always a plus!

3. I laid in some gold painted deli paper that I tore in tiny strips to bring a third color into the background.

4. Get BOLD. I was a little nervous to add black to a Valentine, but bold is good! These black circles are torn by hand and placed on the outer edges of the board.

5. My stash of red painted papers. I had just painted a batch of red papers with a lot of gold texture. I picked those papers out of the pile for the Valentine. I like the way the gold paint gives the papers a luminous feel.

6. Collage the heart by tearing and placing your red papers one piece at a time. The more pieces you have, the more detailed your heart will look.

Collage Details

7. I considered adding a black outline to the heart in a "Scribbly" style. Instead of going straight in to the piece, I placed some wax paper over the piece and "auditioned" the scribble. Final decision - NO!

8. Paint the sides of your panel with the same color you used in the credit card scrape.

9. Add white paper strips to the sides of the panel as well as a small black paper accent. The strips don't have to be the same size. I like the random look of the torn edges.