Fun & funky mixed media flying heart by Betsy Skagen

 

Many years ago--before her orange jumpsuit days--I was somewhat of a Martha Stewart wannabe.

Here's one example: I spent days sculpting an elaborate firetruck cake and building a firetruck prop for my son's birthday. Not only was the fire truck big enough to hold six children, it was complete with flashing red lights and horn.

The kid was three.

I could have given him a cardboard box and he would have been happy. Some (like the entire Western Hemisphere) might say perfection was my middle name.

Despite my best intentions some of that perfection still resides in my crafting. I am meticulous in creating the ideal scene. Many projects, like my Valentine Station, involve excruciating details and endless hours of work.

Once in awhile, I remind myself to let loose and shake things up a bit--to let go of perfection and just create for the sheer joy of it. This project was all about having fun and combing different materials into one funky piece.

I love how the different layers, textures and materials all came together.

However, I discovered when writing the tutorial that I might have let loose a little too much....I made this piece shortly before I had some surgery and I made the mistake of not writing the steps down since I was certain I would remember everything. Surgery, prescription narcotics and several weeks rest have lead to a different conclusion. If I miss a small step or two, you will know why.

Begin by covering the non-word pieces of the Flying Heart Wall Hanging with a coat of gesso.

Then cover the heart with red acrylic paint. Don't be afraid to add texture and varying degrees of red.

Give the wings and crown a base coat in colors of your choice. While I like the initial color of these wings, I later changed it to have more contrast with the heart.

After the pieces dry, apply embossing ink and a thick clear embossing powder. Use a heat gun to melt the powder. Repeat this process several times to add depth and dimension.

While the embossing powder is still warm, stamp the heart with a clean decorative rubber stamp. Use different materials, such as a liquid paint pen and micro beads to fill in the stamped areas.

Apply another layer of embossing ink/embossing powder and again heat, being careful not to blow away any glitter or beads.

Next, while the embossing powder is slightly warm, rub gold gilding flakes onto the surface and reheat.

Repeat the embossing steps for the crown and wings. For the wings you can add layers of color with each embossing application. Complete the wings by adding gold embossing powder to the edges.

Wrap colorful wire around a pencil to create two long coils. Attach a button to the end of one of the coils.
Glue the crown on top of the heart and the heart on top of the wings with a strong adhesive. Adhere the button coil to the back. Make a loop with the second coil and also attach it to the back and your Fun & Funky Heart is complete.

Thank you for stopping by the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Blog. I hope you have a fun & funky week! - Betsy

Great Stuff

Flying Heart Wall Hanging
Heart
Clear embossing powder
Gold embossing powder
Radiant Gold Gilding Flakes
Micro beads
White paint pen
Acrylic paint assorted colors
Gesso
Colored wire
Gold button
Beacon Fabri-Tac

Flying Heart Wall Hanging Kit

This is one of the new wall hanging kits from Gina's Designs and it was a pleasure to assemble and decorate.

The kit comes with the following:

• 6 x 6 chipboard square with a small hole punched in each corner (I used my cropodile to insert eyelets into each hole).  This square piece is intended to be at the top
• 6 x 7.5 chipboard rectangle with two holes punched at the top and one hole punched in the center of the bottom.  This piece is intended to connect to the square at the top, and to hang the large key from the center of the bottom.
• A large heart and a smaller heart
• A pair of wings
• A crown
• Large key (to hang from the bottom of the chipboard rectangle) and also a smaller key
• Corrugated cardboard lazer cut shape (I used this on the top piece)
• Corrugated cardboard strip (fits the length of the bottom piece, and I chose to cut mine in half)
• Three words (Dream, Inspire, and Create)

Please see the bottom of this post for a list of the other items from Gina's Designs that I added to my hanging.  This piece looked gorgeous just as it was without the extras I added, but that's just me, I can't stop once I get my hands on my chippies :)

Gina's Products used:

Flying Heart Wall Hanging

Steampunk Shape Set

Steampunk 2 Shape Set

Hinge Straps Shape Set

Brick Wall

Other Products used:

Butterflies from Renea Bouquets on Etsy

Tim Holtz Design paper

Prima Chalk Inks

Crackle Accents

UTEE

Metal Effects Iron Paint by Modern Masters (used on the chipboard keys and hinge)

Metal Effects Rust Activator by Modern Masters (The activator is part two in the above process)

Rub n Buff in silver, in gold and in patina

Tim Holtz silver metallic distress dabber paint

Tim Holtz distress embossing powder (on the wings)

Metal roses from my stash

Recollections gold roses

Magic Mesh in pale green

Tim Holtz chain clasps