Monday, November 26, 2012

Challenge: A Project with Heart

    What is crafting, if not done with a bit of heart? When I create I do so from a place of creative happiness. I stay true to my own crafty heart, and I enjoy every minute. With this in mind, I came up with this week’s challenge. To craft a project with heart.
 
Whether you create a heartfelt card for someone dear to you, create a mixed media canvas with a heart focal point, use hearts as embellishments on your next layout, or art journal about what is dear to your heart we have a feeling this is going to be a lovely week of projects. I can’t wait to see what the design team has dreamed up - lets check out their creations from the heart starting with our very special guest!
 
Jim, aka the Gentleman Crafter is our guest this week, and he took the challenge to heart!Be sure to check back this Wednesday when Jim shares a tutorial and more photos of this amazing creation of his- the Tricycle Heart.

Jim says - A fast and easy altered art heart with a steampunk feel.  The heart box glides along on three pulley wheels.  Once the Bead Chain is “unhitched”, the inside reveals a little mini book perfect for pictures and memorabilia.
I can't wait to see more photos of this project as well as the tutorial for building your own. Tune in Wednesday! Now, let's check out what the design team did for this challenge-

 
When Sandra Mouwen saw this heart shaped coaster made of stone, her creative juices immediately started flowing.

I'm getting more and more into mixed media projects. And for those projects the sky is the limit, so why not use a heart shaped stone coaster on my canvas? One thing is a fact, I need some strong glue to hold it in place and let it dry for a while! The first thing I did, was put some Gesso on the canvas as a primer. For the background I used stencils (Letter Jumble and Mini Bricks) and stamps (Classics #6 and Bitty Grunge). I cut out those half doilies from the Classic Calico 2 and glued them to a piece of Jute string. And embellished it some more with some random items, like Corrugated Cardboard and some buttons.


Sarah was thinking it had been rather a long time since she last got her Tissue Tape out...
I wanted to make a hanging heart and was wondering how to create an interesting but randomly patterned background. I also thought it would be good to recycle some of the cardboard that is collecting under my craft table! I drew and cut out three hearts and then bound them in Tissue Tape. I wanted a more white washed effect so I gave it a coat of Gesso before adding a few faded, stamped flourishes. and edging my heart in Distress Ink. I wanted to keep the design simple so as not to hide the background and thought two Papillion butterflies, a few Tim words and a rusty key were just enough
 


Suzz decided to use the hearts to create fun tags in a mini pocket book.

I had the sweetest set of tags with pockets  Melissa Frances Bags & Tags which had me thinking how fun it would be to put heart tabs at the end of the tags.  The thought of heart shaped tags had me searching for paper that fit and I found the perfect match with My Minds Eye Honey - The Sweetest Thing.   I added images from the Stampendous Queen Bee to the pockets to float along with the bees on the hearts.  A whimsical mini book with tags to pull out and explore.

Candy's vintage Christmas box affirms the sentiment that all hearts come home for Christmas and is filled with layers and detail.
Christmas is such a special time of year and perfect for creating vintage home decor.  I recently purchased some of Kaiser's new Christmas Turtle Dove collection and they are perfect for this heart shaped paper mache box!  "Merry Christmas" and the banner the snowman is holding are Stamps from Kaiser's Turtle Dove collection.  The textured snowman is Tim Holtz' Winter Wonder with a Mini Heart cut into his tummy. The small snowflakes are Tim Holtz' Mini Snowflakes covered in Snow Tech and embellished with Platinum Stickles, and also edged in Platinum Stickles is Tim Holtz' new Tattered Poinsettia with a Kaiser Turtle Dove Giant Rhinestone center.

 
Anna-Karin had fun altering a wooden heart into a metallic heart with lots of love:
I love mixing different types of metal and this wooden heart was a perfect surface to play on. I covered it with metal foil tape that had been dry embossed, painted, inked and heat embossed. From the heart hangs a little inchie book made from a Vintaj blank embossed with a lovely tree and coloured with patina inks. I hid tiny pages inside the book, and another embossed piece of metal. The heart is embellished with different Tim Holtz Idea-ology pieces, a stamped sentiment, a die cut heart covered with Distress Stickles Rock Candy dry glitter, a Vintaj star and other bits and pieces.

Trace was excited to use up some of her embellishment stash for this Heart project.


 I have always loved hearts, especially on projects, so I knew that I would definitely use one or more for this challenge. My mixed media heart board uses so many different brads, pearls, gemstones and buttons from my stash, which by the way does not look any different even after this project! A few of my favorites are my Hero Arts Pearls and American Crafts Buttons. My favorite tool at the moment is my Epiphany punch dome maker, you can customize your embellishments with any patterned paper to match your project - LOVE that!
 
Dan is getting into a festive mood with this holiday wreath.
I've often thought to myself that the heart on Tim Holtz's "From the Heart" stamp set looks a little like an ivy leaf, so I used it as my starting point for this holiday wreath. I stamped the hearts onto Retro Grunge card stock, which has several sheets of various shades of distressed green, perfect for this project. Other products I used included Glue and Seal Gloss and Fired Brick and Aged Mahogany distress stains. 

 
 Ashli was inspired by this sweet photo of her little girl to scrapbook a page full of hearts.
When I was flipping through my photos and found this picture of my little girl with a heart-shaped mouth, I knew it would be perfect for a page full of hearts. After cutting out a large heart from some Basic Grey Soleil paper, I die cut some more hearts out of vellum using my Tim Holtz Mini Hearts. The softness of the layered vellum adds just the right touch. With all of my hearts layered up and journaling added, I finished things off with some Studio Calico veneers sprinkled around my title.


Terry altered a frame to create a wall hanging with heart.
I do LOVE hearts. I thought it would be fun to make a small project with a huge heart in it. On the frame I used Tissue Tape, Metallic Distress Stain and Metallic Distress Crackle Paint. On top of the frame I used the gorgeous stamp set from Wendy Vecchi. On the background I used Tissue Tape covered with Crackle to give it a fragile look, and I think that worked out really well. The heart was made out of Corrugated Paper and I placed a Spinner on top for more interest and also to hold the chain. Finally, I added a two Corners from The Tim to give it that shiny look of silver and I played around with a little more of the Metallic Distress Stains. 
 
I (May) created a grungeboard ornament that is ready to decorate my tree - or be used as a gift topper.
My one regret about this project is that you can't all come over and see it in person as it is one of those projects that looks so much better in person than it does in a photo. It came out utterly amazing if I do say so myself- and the depth, the layers of color, and the texture that the UTEE I topped this with really add up to make this one of my all time favorite (not quite traditional) ornaments. I have someone very special in mind for this foil covered heart, and I hope that they enjoy it as much as I enjoyed creating it!



Tracy loves hearts and is often referred to as the heart queen due to her obsession with all things heart related, so this was the perfect challenge for her!
I love hearts and dimension so the Art Parts Hearts, Love and Stars were the perfect starting point for my card. I am also a huge lover of flowers and I love the Simon Says Stamp Fresh Daisies Die which I felt worked beautifully with my textural heart. A lovely rich vibrant colour palette was achieved using Dylusions Ink Sprays melted chocolate, postbox red and squeezed orange. There is more involved than first appears with this card!


I encourage you to check out each of the design team member's blogs for more photos, supply lists, and more. Simply click on their name (above the photo of their project) to visit their blog. Also - don't forget to check back Wednesday for an amazing tutorial from our special guest Jim!

Now that we've shared the team creations - we're ready to see yours! As always, Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $50 gift voucher that will go to a random entry chosen by Random Generator. The challenge will close at 11:59pm Eastern time on Sunday, December 2and and the winner will be announced during the following week. To qualify all you need to do is create a new project that ties in (in any way!) with our theme and post it, along with a link back to this challenge, and add a link here.

For the full rules, read the "challenge rules" posted in the side-bar here on our blog.
 





20 comments:

  1. wow, what a beautiful works you made, so great, thanks for the inspiration

    groetjes Coby

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  2. Such lovely creations! I adore the wreath. This should be a fun challenge. :)

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  3. I love all the creations, and start to make it mine for the challenge

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  4. Beautiful projects full of heart, so to speak. Love your inspirations!

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  5. Lovely inspiring pieces.

    Great job, everyone!

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  6. http://davehingsburger.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-quiz-about-values-and-ethics.html?showComment=1353994579859#c5670202762216234120

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  7. Absolutely amazing all the things people create! I'm a little jealous... :)

    Challenge: http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6772327763326613422#editor/target=post;postID=6473025104526085530

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  8. Fabulous DT work on show this week.
    Thanks Guys you rock!
    xx

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  9. Gorgeous challenge, and fabulous inspiration as ever!
    Alison x

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  10. Love the inspiration from the design team. xx

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  11. Jim has done it again! He has such an amazing talent. Love all the other projects too. Who would have thought hearts could be so different!

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  12. Wonderful work by all the artists and lots of inspiration here. Thanks for the great feature!

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  13. Thank you for all the awesome Inspiration !!!!!
    Liane :-)

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  14. Gorgeous Creations as usual DT! always a treat to drop in and sneak peeks at your lovely designs.
    Voted Most Inspirational Blog in my book.
    Tons of Hugs, Dangina

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  15. Stunning design team samples...you have a fantastic team! Thank you for the "heart" challenge!

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  16. Gorgeous artwork by the DT, thanks for sharing your inspiration.
    ava g

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  17. Spectacular DT creations...luv annie


    http://annieforeva.blogspot.com.au

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  18. May your days of Advent be filled with love.

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