Follow your Heart & Dance by Gwen Wruck

Hi, Creative friends!!

Gwen here today sharing with you another "clean mixed media" project, this time featuring a beautiful rose cut file.

The idea for this project came from this divine Roses cut file I have used to fill my entire background.  I love cut files like this one as it is a great start to a page, add some sparkles and the page pretty much makes itself.

To create my page, I started with a few small splatters in the top left-hand corner and bottom right-hand corner of the page using the Colour Shimmer Cubes in Blush and the Colour Shimmer Spray in Blush as well.  I find the colour in the Colour Shimmer Spray to be quite light compared to that of the colour in the Shimmer cubes (especially if you don't water it down very much) so it's nice to use the same colour in a couple of different products for a colour on colour affect.  The dark splatters here are the Colour Shimmer cube and the light ones are the Colour Shimmer spray.

Next, using a combination of Blush in the Colour Shimmer Cube and Lipstick in the Colour Shimmer Cube as well as more of the Blush Colour Shimmer Spray, I have painted the cut file.  I have not been too particular with the painting as I really wanted a variety in the depth of colour - I was really hoping to see the variation in the colours here, whilst they are all in the same colour family, the Lipstick is a bit darker so I tried hard not to blend it all too much.

Once I was happy with the colour on my cut file, I dried it off with a heat gun. I then layered it over the splatters I created in Step one and glued it down to onto my background.  I didn't use very much glue, just enough to keep it in place for the next step.

Now was the time to add some stitching.  I have created loose circles with my sewing machine creating a few circles around each of the flowers.  This took some time but was worth it considering it was the main feature of the design.  You can see a close up of the stitching below as well as the different shades of pink on the cut files; I love that the colour is not perfectly blended and in some sections, you can see quite a bit of the white cardstock showing through.

Next, it was time to add my photo and embellishments.  Whilst I had the 9 Roses in the background sorted, I wanted to add two main focal points for the actual design, a smaller one in the top left-hand corner which features a chipboard piece that says "Follow Your Heart" and the larger one including my photo in the bottom right-hand corner of the page.

I've mounted my photo keeping the photo mat pretty simple as I already had quite a bit going on with the rose background.  I've added a few embellishments on the left with the main cluster on the right including some pretty flowers and a geometric heart embellishment.

Finishing up the page, I added the word "Dance" to round out my title - Follow Your Heart & Dance as well as some pretty yellow butterflies for contrast.  I like how these ones look painted without the mess and hard work :)

and there you have it.. my second Colour Blast project - I really hope you like it and it inspires you to pull out your cut files and work with the new Colour Shimmer cubes, and your Shimmer Sprays they really are beautiful!

But, before I go, I just wanted to share one last image... this one of my swatch book.  I have swatched out my collection of Colour Blast onto plain white cardstock, punched a hole in the top left-hand corner and placed onto a jump ring.  I love how I can quickly and easily see what a product will look like once dry and compare to other products in the same colour family.  If I have a colour in more than one product, I have placed them side by side on the jump ring for easy comparison.  This also shows me at a glance the colours I am missing and what I need to add to my collection next!

I give this project a "mess level" of Low

 (A quite wipe of the messy mat with a baby wipe after painting the cut file, 1 paint brush and 1 cup of water)

Hands, nails and workspace remain totally colour free!

Thanks for popping by

Gwen

xox