Light In The Heart

Hi friends! Hope you're having a great day! I made a little mixed media number today and really loved the process on this one! I was watching this super talented gal on YouTube named Nika in Wonderland and her process videos rock! She has done several different pieces using the same fabulous heart stencil and it was that stencil that first made me want to mimic her creations. Instead of jumping online to try and find the same one to buy, however, I just made my very own heart stencil with my handy dandy Cricut cutting machine and some heavy clear plastic that my brand new Heidi Swapp planner came in--veering off track for just a moment, I'm in LOVE with my new planner and I plan on making a blog post all about it asap! I will be doing weekly and daily planning all year in this planner and since it's on trend in the industry right now, I figured I'd share my entries along the way. Maybe once a week or every other week. So if you have a planner too, let's go on this journey together! I'd love to see your planner stuff too! Now, back to the post! So, suffice it to say that I'm a huge fan of this artist, Nika and her clever mixed media ways. This 8x10" canvas board piece is in honor of her fabulous style and inspiration!  I hope you like it!

I really like how it turned out. I followed several of Nika's tips along the way and took several photos of the process. Fair warning now, this is a photo-heavy post so stop now if you want to. And iff you're interested, here goes....after I cover the bare canvas with a layer of Gesso and letting it dry, I colored on these 5 shades of Gelatos and rubbed them with my finger and water to create this effect.

After this dried, I added pops of metallic purple Gelatos here and there the same as above.

I then stamped swirls, circles and dots with different Unity stamps in Jet Black Staz-On ink. I often randomly stamp in mixed media, but this was a bit different. I kept in mind how the designs would look after the heart stencil process, so I had to visualize a little more than normal for me.  Next, I laid down my heart stencil where I want it to be and sponged around the entire stencil with ColorBox chalk ink in Dark Cherry.

This is how it looked after I removed the stencil....

Next, I took a Black Gelato and traced around the heart, then used a tiny bit of water on my finger to blend it in. After it dried, I traced around the outer side of the black line with a White Gelato and rubbed it with just my finger, no water at all. (dry blend technique)

Now, time for more stenciling! Here I used a variety of stencils (I can't reference the stencils, sorry) with black, white and gold inks. I also added interest to the canvas with a bit more stamping.

Nearing the end of the process, I needed another stencil (or stamp) that I don't have--it's that one that looks like circle stains from the bottom of a coffee cup? Anyhoo, I decided to try and be resourceful, lol. I took the top of a SU! button container and brushed white Gesso around it, then used it for a stamp. I did it on the top of the heart on one side, then the bottom of the heart on the opposite side.

It didn't turn out half bad and it was free (my favorite price) ;)

Finally I chose THIS really good sentiment from Unity Stamp Co. and cut it in half, layered it on black cardstock, then glued it to opposite sides of the heart, much the same way I did the big white circles.

 I added little splashes of watered down gesso with a paint brush all over the canvas til I was satisfied with the overall look. 

Thanks so much for hanging in there with me! And thank you for visiting me today! It is happiness to see your lovely comments and feel your friendship across the miles. Wishing you a most creative and blessed day!