The Story Behind My Handpainted Hearts
by Helga Strauss
I'm absolutely IN LOVE with these gorgeous, little hearts! Let me tell you a bit about how they're made.
I kicked off the new year by collaging and painting lots of backgrounds. I had soooo much fun! For this background, I simply pulled papers out of my scrap drawer and started ripping and cutting them up. I layed them onto a piece of wood and moved them around until I got them the way I wanted them.
Then I glued them all into place. For this background, I used an archival Modge Podge.
Next, I went in with white paint and watercolor crayons to blend the papers together and highlight different areas. Fun stuff!
For this background, I pulled out some of our new vintage papers: Vintage Medical Prescriptions, Vintage Cigar Labels and Antique Court Documents. And adhered them all down into place. Love!
I also had a hoot painting this background with red, orange and pink acrylic paints. And then splattering on some lime green paint for extra oomph.
I even tried painting wood with gesso. And then handwriting and doodling on it with a Sharpie pen. For this background, I also rubberstamped a beautiful design onto it too.
Then I went over the entire background with watercolor crayons and blended them in with a damp brush. So pretty, eh?
And with the magic of my dear hubby, all of my handpainted and hand collaged backgrounds were cut up into these gorgeous hearts! Each and every one is totally unique...like tiny works of art in themselves.