VINTAGE VALENTINE DECOR PIECES AND TUTORIALS TO SHARE

Hello my friends in art! I'm baaaack! 

I don't know how the weather is where you are but here, it's COLD!  Our average snowfall for an entire winter is around 16 inches and we've already close to 23 inches.  We are expecting two more "waves of winter blasts" (as the weatherman is calling it) to come through...what is now sounding like a smaller one on Tuesday and a bigger blast that sounds like it could dump quite a bit of snow on Thursday or Friday.

I don't know about you but I'm sick of winter already and our typical "snowy" month is just now starting.  Yikes!

Anyway....

I am so excited to share some projects with you that I have been working on.  I was recently asked to be a guest designer for My Artistic Adventures by Heather Hudson.

I met Heather through her beautiful challenge entries at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge when I was on their design team. Heather has some really fun holiday collage sheets in her Etsy store and she asked if I would want to have a play with a few of them and see what I could come up with.

 Since Valentine's Day is fast approaching, I chose a couple of her Valentine collage sheets, pulled out lots of different art supplies and just had the best time playing and creating these two very different vintage Valentine home decor pieces.  

First let's talk about the fan ...

I chose her Romantic Focals Collage Sheet because of the elongated hearts.  They are perfect for the base of this fan.  These would also make a cute little Valentine banner or make a complete circle out of them for a vintage Valentine style "quilt" doily.  I also chose the Vintage Shabby Chic Valentine Cupid sheet for my sweet little circle medallion at the center of my fan.  There are three sizes of medallions; the smallest one being the perfect size for this fan that ends up being approximately 12" across.

I started by cutting out the elongated hearts and the medallion. See what I mean about the hearts creating a perfect fan shape? I set the hearts to the side and concentrated on making a layered and vintage/shabby chic medallion.  And I will say this now, I inked ALL of my cut edges with a Prima Branch Bark ink edger.  It doesn't matter what type of ink you use on the edges: Prima, Color Box Cats Eye Ink Pads, Ranger's Ink Applicator, Tim's Distress Markers, etc.  What IS important is to not leave white paper edges when doing vintage work!

I began with some cream flat crepe paper that I sprayed with some Honey Stain to instantly age it. Then I folded the paper in half and gathered it with a running stitch.  This would create a gathered ruffle around the edge of my medallion  I also found a piece of lace with little hearts (appropriately enough) on it.  So, I lightly sprayed it with Heidi Swapp Primrose Color Shine and water.  I blotted the lace and then added a light spritz of Perfect Pearls Sunflower Sparkle to add a touch of glitz.

I added Scor Tape to the back side of my medallion and then added the pink-ish lace as my first layer.  Next I added more Scor Tape and added the gathered crepe paper.

Here you can begin to see the layers added to the medallion; the pink lace first followed by the gathered crepe paper.  Stickles are such an easy way to vintage up any project.  They add bits of sparkle but are not gaudy.  Only half of the medallion has been stickled so you can see the subtle difference that they make in defining edges and adding sparkle.  

I lightly went around the scalloped edge of the paper medallion with a pink Cotton Candy Stickles.  Next I added my favorite vintage Stickles color, Mercury Glass as an edging around the gathered edges of the crepe paper and the outside edge of the red and white polka dot circle in the medallion.  Mercury Glass is one of those chameleon Stickles colors that can be an antique goldish or silverish color, depending on the colors around it. Here, I have applied the Mercury Glass Stickles around half of the medallion so you can see the definition that Stickles give to any piece.  I also added a clear Stardust Stickles on top of the red and white polka dot circle to really pop those colors.  I added a soft blue Waterfall Stickles to the cherub's wings and the garland she is carrying.  Finally I added a pink-ish Fruit Punch Stickles over the rosebuds.

I decided that I wanted to run a piece of 1/4" ribbon through the fan for interest and also to help hold the hearts together.  So, I measured up 4 3/4" from the bottom point of the heart and in 1/4" from the side.  I drew a straight line a little over 1/4" long on both sides of each heart.

Then with a Tonic Craft Knife, I made a slit along the line I had drawn.

Next, beginning behind the heart and pulling the ribbon up through the slit I began to join the hearts together.  You could also do this technique for creating a little banner but I wanted to make a fan shape, so I made sure that the heart points all met at the bottom.

So here is my fan with all of the hearts gathered together by the ribbon.  I played with the ribbon on top of the fan to have just a small amount of "give" between each of the hearts.  Also notice the definition that the Prima Branch Bark ink edger gives to each of the hearts.  I also lightly spritzed over the hearts with Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearls Mist to give it a subtle golden sheen.

I had never made a fan like this before so I just started figuring out ways to connect the hearts.  Here I simply added some tape to the back of each one and I would later cover the back with cardstock hearts that I cut out using one of the hearts as a pattern.

Now that the fan was taking shape, I started thinking about ways to make it look even more vintage and shabby chic.  I had some little 4" white doilies.  I sprayed them with Honey Stain and cut them in half.  Then I sprayed them again with some Gold Paint from a Paint Dabber mixed with water in a spray bottle.  I topped that off with a spritz of Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearls Spray and dried them with a heat gun.  They would make a perfect border behind my hearts of my fan and further define the rounded edges of the hearts by the contrast of the beautiful colored hearts against the cream-ish doily background.

Here is the backside of the fan after I had added the half doilies. Working from the front side of the fan, I centered each doily behind the heart and then stuck it down onto some glue I had added to the back of the hearts.

**Note - I added the cardstock backing onto the hearts before I thought to add the doilies as a border.  So, I cut out more hearts from the script cardstock and later added them over these hearts to give the fan a finished look.  Like I said, I'd not made one of these before...trial and error.  (smile)

Next I wanted to add some dimension to the front of my fan.  Since this is a Valentine's Day fan, I decided to continue with the heart theme.  I cut three of the shorter hearts from Tim Holtz' Mini Hearts Set using Inky Antics Cream Honeycomb Paper.  Then I cut the heart in half so that when each outer half of the heart was glued down to the fan, a full little honeycomb heart would be sticking up.

Here is a closeup look at the honeycomb hearts on the finished fan.  I lightly ran my finger with some Mercury Glass Stickles over parts of the honeycomb surface to give them a bit of a shimmer and blend them into the other parts of the fan that are outlined in Mercury Glass Stickles. Don't you LOVE the colors in Heather's hearts? They contrast so beautifully with the cream honeycomb hearts and lacy doily edging.  I also applied Mercury Glass Stickles around all of the edges of the fan and the outer edges of the lacy doilies.  Again, it just adds so much definition, a bit of sparkle and a vintage festive feeling to this fan.

Finally I wanted to add a romantic bow with some little roses onto the medallion that would be glued onto the lower center of my fan.  So, I took more of the gold ribbon that I had used to gather the fan and a piece of pink organza ribbon and created little bows and tails. I glued the bow on top of the Melissa Frances Cream Tulle trim that I glued into a circle shape.  I also tucked in a remaining piece of the pink heart lace I'd put around the medallion in with the ribbon tails. I glued those in place and then hot glued the sweet little rose buds amongst the shabby bow.

Here is a picture of the medallion and bow assemblage.  After I hot glued the medallion and bow in place, I added one more complete doily (colored in the same manner as the lacy edging) to the backside of the fan.  This hid the unfinished backside of the medallion and also gave an added lacy edging to the underside of the medallion.  Cute, huh; with a shabby chic/vintage feel. 

Moving on to the Valentine box ... 

  
I chose Heather's Primitive Folk Art Valentine Clown on a Bingo Card for this project.  The second I saw this little clown, I loved her.  I especially love the colors; the golds, blacks and reds...definitely not traditional Valentine colors but I loved working with them.

I began by painting a plain paper mache 6" square box with Paper Artsy's Little Black Dress Fresco Finish Paint.  It's a wonderful matte finish black with a hint of a chalky feel to it.  Next I added a layer of Fresco Finish Crackle Glaze because I wanted my box to appear aged and old.  By painting the first layer in black, that color will appear through the crackled top coat. After that was almost dry, I applied a top layer of Caramel Fresco Finish Paint. What a great rich, goldish yellow color!  Then I lightly and randomly distressed the some of the edges of the box with Black Soot Distress Ink. 

Here is the box after the crackling has taken place.  Once you begin to apply the top coat, the crackling begins to take effect almost immediately. I'm an instant gratification kind of girl!

I found a heck of a deal on some metal trims (in various sizes) at a local craft store and bought tons of them for a dollar a roll.  I wanted to use one of the pieces on the sides of my box so I added 1/2" Scor Tape (twice) all the way around the sides of my lid.

This trim was originally silver.  I merely painted over it with Little Black Dress and let it dry.  Isn't it just too cool?  Then I stuck in in place going around the lid of my box.  I love it's almost art deco look.  

 Next it was time to start working on the embellishments for my newly crackled box.  Here is the basic Vintage Bingo card from the collage sheet.  There are several sizes included in the collage sheet from an ATC side to this large one.  I could see all sorts of possibilities for getting some dimension on this little clown.

I began by printing out another of the cards so that I could cut out an extra head, pocket and arm.  Next, I gathered two ruffles of red crepe paper to replace the collar around the clown's neck.  (Remember from the fan, I love incorporating crepe paper on vintage pieces!)

I used 1/8" Scor Tape to hold the stacked crepe paper ruffles in place over where the original color is printed. Next I pop dotted another head directly on top of the original.  That gives dimension and also hides the edges of my now dimensional color.  Instead of the flat heart that the clown is holding, I cut out my own honeycomb (half of a) heart to the appropriate size and using the same technique I did on the fan above, I glued it right over the flat printed heart.  I also made my own little black bows out of some cotton black ribbon that I had and glued then in place on the honeycomb heart and also on the clown's hat. (I'll talk about the pocket and the frame later).

I added some Glossy Accents to the "HEART" letters and the heart at the top of the bingo card.  Glossy Accents is a glue dries clear but it also can be used to simply add dimension to flat images.  I also added some Glossy Accents to the clown's shoes and red bands on her hat to give them a raised shine.  Next I added some little black pom poms to her jumpsuit and also on top of her hat.  Finally I glued another arm (at the shoulder area) right over the top of the first one so that I could lift the arm off of the paper.  I later inserted a resin frame under the hand. Talk about dimension!  

The Bingo card was almost finished but it needed something to pop it against the Caramel crackled box top.  So, I found a scrap piece of Graphic 45 harlequin paper (perfect with a clown, right?).  I cut it to size and added some Barn Door Distress Ink around the perimeter to pull in the red from the clown and hearts. Amazing how a little ink can really change something's appearance!

The box lid is a 6" square and the Bingo Card is 4 1/2" across.  So, I had an obvious blank space on my lid.  What to do??  Easy solution!  I used my BRAND NEW TIM HOLTZ HONEYCOMB die cut that I was lucky enough to receive at CHA at the Sizzix booth.  (Thank you Tim Holtz and Sizzix!) 

I cut the honeycomb pattern out of Plain Grungeboard and painted it with Little Black Dress.  I found a bunch of little scrap images and papers and using the centers from the honeycomb as a pattern, I cut out an image for each of the holes in the honeycomb.  I glued them in place on the back using Glossy Accents.

 Here is the box lid now, after adding some Black Diamond Stickles around the perimeter of the Bingo card and harlequin cardstock.  I am loving it but it still needs something. I lightly added some Black Diamond Stickles to the top of the honeycomb for just a very subtle shimmer but it still needed more.

I looked around my craft room and came across this sweet little Melissa Frances Resin Frame that was originally stark white.  I painted it with Little Black Dress and added some Gold Paint Dabber (using my finger) highlights, found a sweet picture of a loving couple on my many saved image files on my computer, sized it to fit in the little frame and put it all together....

Looks way different than when I started out with just a little stark little white frame!  Isn't it amazing what a little paint will do?  The image and the colors are perfect for my vintage Valentine box!  I added a little folded "love letter" to the pocket of my clown and glued it in place on her jumpsuit.  The I lifted her hand and added the frame.

Here is a look at the top of the box when it was all finished.  I probably could have still added more to top but I wanted the clown to be the focal point.  So, as a finishing touch, I simply added a little plaid ribbon bow at the bottom.  I love that ribbon and how it pulls all of the colors and patterns together.

I love the gold highlights so much on the little picture frame that I decided to add them to the ornate metal band I had run around the lid of my box.  Here you can see the difference before and after adding the gold highlights. I love the dramatic effect that the gold gives.

As a final touch, I added a piece of metallic Dresden trim to the bottom of my box.  It was gold so I covered it with Little Black Dress (using my finger) then heat set it.  I added a strip of 1/4" Scor Tape around the bottom edge of my box and added the trim all the way around. 

I finished off the interior of the box by painting the lid black and covering the bottom with more scrap harlequin Graphic 45 paper.  I gave all of the creases inside a light "wash" with Little Black Dress mixed with water, blotted the excess, heat set it and my box was complete!

  Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope that my two little Valentine projects using Heather's beautiful collage sheets have inspired you to create something fun!

February has only begun.  You've still got time to create some beautiful Valentine decor pieces to give as special gifts to someone you love or to liven up the holiday in your home. 

I wish you a very Happy Valentine's Day to share with those you love!  'Til next time ...
Take some time to play! It's good for the soul!