Home is where the heart is...

My final sample for this week..... I promise to play and come up with more. 

I decided I wanted a fabric frame, I really didn't get much further than this thought in the planning stages. So, while I did indeed make a fabric frame, it changed so much by the end. 

I began by cutting a square of heavy weight smoothy, make sure you can divide up the edges into decent sized sections. I chose to work on 8inches by 8inches. next I cut out 28 squares of greyboard, and 28 squares of fabric. I also stamped some images onto scrap paper, just so I could play around with placement. 

My plan was that some of the pattern would show through, so I varied the patterns that I chose. In the end, none of the pattern shows through, so if you want to make this as I did then just use any old fabric. 

I glued the fabric to the squares of greyboard, then glued each square to the edge of the heavy smoothy card. Once it was all dry I used a craft knife to cut away the centre. The squares now have a stable backing, though they do still have some movement, which I like. 

Next I  stamped the border from EDY07, using snowflake fresco paint. This was just so that I could get my placement right. 

Once I had my border worked out, I then used a palette knife to carefully spread grunge paste over the border, following the lines of the swirls. while still wet I stamped into the paste using the background stamp from EDY06

 When it was dry I painted the grunge paste with Space Cadet, and I coloured the rest of the fabric that was showing with Autumn Fire, Blood Orange and Claret. Doing this totally obliterated the pattern on the fabric, so as I said at the beginning, you can use any cotton fabric. However you are still left with the texture of the weave, which I really like. 

I then worked in some Treasure Gold. Here you can see the individual squares of fabric, linked with the grunge paste swirls. I painted the sides with French Roast, just to hide the greyboard edges. 

Next I took another square of heavy smoothy, the same size as before. I streaked on some Chocolate Pudding, Sage and Toad Hall.

over this I added a coat of Crackle glaze, and then a top coat of Nougat. The crackle glaze did it's magic, and while still damp I rubbed back some larger areas. 

I tried it inside my frame, and really liked it..

Next I stamped the 3 hearts from my new collection.  the smallest is from EDY07, the one in the ring is from EDY06 and the middle one is from the birdie mini EM02.

These were all stamped onto regular smoothy. I coloured them with Tango, Autumn Fire and Blood Orange. then I cut them out, turned them over and popped them onto a mouse mat. I then used a dry embossing tool to make them slightly domed. 

I stamped the flower stem/border from EDY06 directly onto my crackled background, and attached the 3 hearts using a little foam pad. 

You  can see how doming them gives a nice gentle curve. I added some flicks of pearl glaze to the flower ring, just to add a little shine. 

Now I stamped one of the houses from EDY08.  I coloured it with the same colours used on the rest of the project.

 I also stamped the wheels again, so that they could be layered on top. Again I turned this piece over, and made the round sections a little domed. 

I glued the house into place, attached the wheels on foam pads. I decided that the raised hearts and wheels needed to stand out a little more, so I added a couple coats of satin glaze to them. I added some darker paint to the edges, and also a line around the middle, just where the frame will sit. This inner line will add shadow once the frame is glued on. 

I then  glued the fabric frame on top of the crackled piece.

Lastly I needed to add some text. On a scrap of deli paper I wrote 'is where the heart is...' using a black fineliner. I glued this down the right side using matte medium. Deli paper is great for this, as when you glue it on, the paper all but disappears leaving just the text visible... in the same way as tissue paper, but deli paper is stronger. 

This left me a space at the top for the word 'Home' I wanted to keep it simple, so I painted some smoothy with Space Cadet and a little Ice Blue, then I stamped the word using the brand new alphabet from Jo Firth Young. JOFY21

I cut it out and added a little French Roast to the edges. 

To add a little more texture and interest, I backed the text onto a scrap of hessian. 

and here it is all finished. I really love this piece, so much to look at and to touch but none of it overpowering. 

Darcy x

My stamps are also available from 

The Craft Barn... Country View Crafts.... The Stamp Attic