heART cards

The heART cards arrived this week - & they are all so beautiful!! They arrived wrapped in pink tissue paper - perfect for making some more beeswax collage :)

My grand daughters quickly began 'claiming' cards - "I want THIS one!" . . . I explained that while we could make some similar ones, these are mine for now :)

THank all of you for making this exchange so fun! Some of my favorites are the itty bitty ones - who would have thought??

Of course, i love doll's houses & minatures - just received some dolls from England, & am thinking of making 'herbal healer's' cottage, based on Monica Furlong's 'Wise Child' series, set in Middle ages. Several homes are described in great detail.

I've checked a few doll house books out from the Library, & have been jotting down ideas. When Mary & Josh were young, I drew paper dolls, & we loved doll house stuff. For several years she played with one from her grandparent's attic, then gave it back to the aunt for whom it was originally constructed.

Our dear friend Kate also loved doll houses, & refurbished one from her own childhood - which entertained my kids for hours. The grandkids have passed a sturdy wood 'kid style' home back & forth - i'ts currently at Emily & Gregory's home.

I gave some of the earlier beeswax heart cards to my office buddies & a group of gal friends - stamped a word on each (my original idea for the heART cards) & everyone smiled at getting a home made valentine!

Thanks again to all the heARTists for participating in theValentine's exchange!

heART Card - the creation

Here's a brief tutorial on beeswax collage - feel free to ask questions!

I found a 'butter warmer' at Bi-Mart, it's perfect for warming a small amount of wax. The tea light lasted for all twenty valentines. For a larger project, I'd use a double boiler or crock pot, but for a small job, this worked well.

I propped the brush against my knife rack, to keep it upright. I used a piece of cardboard as my surface for placing the elements & ironing them.











The base is a watercolour paper circle, covered with a 'donut' cut from a pretty red & gold print napkin. Next comes a doily.










Each step includes painting the surface with melted beeswax, then heating that with the blow dryer (which seems to work fine) & Ironing that layer down.






This is repeated for each layer.







I covered the center of the doilies with a layer of pink tissue paper.






Next is a heart cut from a napkin scrap. I covered this with a layer of plain red tissue.







I printed hearts on red tissue, using gold acrylic paint on a stamp I'd cut into a heart shaped eraser. & last - a shimmer of gold powdered pigment, to outline each heart! Viola - heART Art :)







The valentines remind me of the ones my mom would help me make, using construction paper & doilys. Before deciding on the stamp, I'd thought of running a banner with a word (like a candy hart) across each heART, but I like the gold stamp!

Last Friday, I picked up a two pound block of beeswax from a local beekeeper - so I'm well set for salve & collage :)