Mixed Media Heart Box

Hello Everyone!  I'm back today with something that may seem a bit unusual from me.  I haven't used acrylics in so many years, but I've been thinking about getting back to them lately.  I've had a cardboard heart box in my craft studio for a while now and just didn't know what I was going to do with it.  I tend to collect things when I go to the craft store.  I'll see something and know that I'll want to use it some time and figure that it just won't be at the store any longer when the time comes.  So, I buy these things for no other reason than I may just happen to want to do something with them somewhere down the road.  This heart box was one of those things.  

I've been thinking of different ways to use rubber stamps other than on card fronts.  I wondered if I could stamp one and incorporate it into a mixed media project.  I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Never trust your heart to a flower

with an even number of petals...

After digging around in my craft studio for a short bit, I found some molding clay, mod podge and acrylic paints.  Then I went after my old collection of stickers from my scrapbooking days.  First I tinted the molding clay with some red paint and coated the entire box.  I found some scraps from the LDRS Summer Sorbet designer papers and tore them into strips.  They were applied to the box randomly with mod podge.  I really love these papers!  My DT and I have been able to use them in so many different ways...on cards, scrapbooks, altered projects and now in mixed media!  They really helped bring this project to life!

Next I stamped my image...the LDRS SC Valentine Petals.  She comes with sentiments too!  One of which I used on this box.  I stamped the sentiment, cut it apart, mounted it on some textured paper and set it aside.  I colored the image with Copic markers, which wasn't as difficult as I thought.  It's not as good as when colored on paper, but it worked!  I wasn't sure how it would be over the mod podge though.  Just don't expect to be able to do any blending.  Next I added some more color here and there with the acrylics.  Then I grabbed some old text stamps and rub on's and just started adding them wherever they seemed to work.

Next, I grabbed some self adhesive black pearl strands and strung them around the edge of the lid.  I had some wooden heart buttons, whose color was nowhere near what I needed, so I covered them with a crackle paint, threaded them and glued them down.  I grabbed the sentiment pieces and put them into place.  Lastly, I added some random doodling all over the lid.

So that's all I have for today.  I will be back as soon as I can.  Til then, try to think outside of your comfort zone and attempt to do something that you've never done before.  It doesn't have to be anything drastic.  It could be as simple as coloring a stamped image on a mixed media project!

Til next time...

Angie