Decorated Wooden Heart by Karen

For our 'Love is in the Air' theme this month, I have decorated a wooden heart I bought a little while ago. I recorded the process and edited it to a short video:

I love using Brusho as a stain on bare wood: It colours beautifully and brings out the grain pattern. This was my first treatment for the base. I mixed the Brusho with some water and brushed it on to the heart (the sponges are only there to prop it up while it dried).

Almost everything else I'd gathered to (maybe) use was painted with Eco Acrylic Gold paint and then all left to dry. I love mixed textures so in addition to the wooden heart, I'd gathered a chipboard key, some old lace, a square of scrapbooking paper and a metal butterfly. In the photo below you can see a duplicate bare wooden heart and the ribbon before they were decorated so you can see there is quite a difference before and after!

The painted ribbon was glued on to the heart and, while that dried, the chipboard key was 'aged' round the edges with Eco Acrylic Black. I also dry-brushed what was left of the paint round the heart to give it more depth and focus the eye on the surface.

Pewter Design-It paste was stenciled on to the heart and left to dry before sticking everything in place with Flexi-glue. Some word stickers and a twine hanging were the finishing touches.

I have to admit I am quite fond of my little heart and just need to find a nice place to hang it now.

Thanks for reading

Karen

x

Metallic Paint	Acrylic Paint	Design-It Paste	Clear Spray Bottle	Plastic Painting Knives
Eco Acrylic Paint	Golden haired nylon brushes	15g brusho	Brusho 24 Colour Boxed Set

"Pouring" your heart out- a pouring medium project

February is just around the corner, which means Valentine's Day is! What better way to show someone you love them then to make them a piece of art, and why not "pour" out your feelings using Brusho Flow Medium and testing out some pouring techniques.

                                   

 This week I decided to try two different pouring methods.

First I made a template out of freezer paper which I ironed onto my canvases. Then I mixed my colors. I mixed normal white acrylic paint with the medium in one cup, and then added Brushos in Rose Red, Sunburst Yellow and Purple in my other cups. I stirred well and then added water until I got the consistency I wanted.

My first canvas I decided to do what is called a "balloon pour". First I poured some of the white inside of my masked area and spread it out. Then I dropped and swirled the other colors.

I didn't find my balloons so I took some bubble wrap which I pushed into these areas of paint. I kept dripping paint and then pushing the bubble wrap into it. It started to look like this:

I wanted to have a bit stronger colors, so I sprinkled more of the Brushos into the colored areas and blew a bit with a straw.

 This is what it looked like when I took the freezer paper off. It had bled a little under my mask, but that was ok! I sponge painted around it in Aztec Eco Metallic Gold paint and then drew in flowers with a paint pen.

For my second heart, I decided to do a flip cup. You can read more about that technique and even see a video on my earlier blog on pouring (link later in this blog).
I did the same thing with the mask, then I made my flip cup by adding the Brusho mixed colors to what was left in my white cup. I then flipped it onto the canvas, and tilted to spread around the colors.

 After this one dried, I removed the mask, used a stencil to add some DesignIT for texture and then painted the background with a rose gold color I mixed from Aztec Eko Metallic Bronze and Silver.

 Tada! I think they both look quite cool. I have to warn you though- pouring is totally addictive. I am really pleased with the depth of color I got using the Brusho medium plus Brushos! And it didn't take much of the pigment to get a lot of color. The medium is sticker than others I have used, but just adding a bit of water makes it perfect for these techniques.
Here they are again! Give it a go!

If you want to see more pouring techniques with the Brusho medium- check out another blog post I did here.
And the link for the pouring medium again is here: Brusho Flow Medium

Brusho 24 Colour Boxed Set

Aztec eco metallic paint starter paint

Valentine Heart

Hello Everyone,

I have a fun project for you today, using a wooden heart, bits and bobs from my craft desk and some wonderful Colourcraft Products.

Step 1

Take wooden heart and apply a layer of white gesso and dry with heat tool

Step 2

Fix down various bits and bobs from your supplies to your wooden heart using matte medium and dry with heat tool.

Step 3

Paint another layer of white acrylic paint over the top of your heart surface and dry with a heat tool.

Step 4

Using Colourcraft acrylic sprays of your choice, (I used scarlett and copper shimmer) spray over the entire surface of your heart and dry with your heat tool.

Step 5

I used Gold SprinkleIT mixed with water to create a highlight wash to brush over the top of the heart surface and dry with a heat tool.

Step 6 

I used a chipboard "love" word and painted with black acrylic paint and dried with a heat tool, before fixing to the front of the heart.

Step 7

I added some dark brown lace trim around the edge of the heart to finish it off

This completes the project for today, thank you so much for popping round and I shall see you all again soon

Sarah x

Brusho Mist sprays

Brusho Shimmer Sprays

Finnabair Heavy Gesso - White

Ranger-4-ounce-MULTI-MEDIUM-MATTE