Shabby, Chicken Wire Hearts

Hello dear friends...

How is your week going so far?

I hope it's been peaceful.

 Full of love and inspiration.

I look forward to the start of each new day.

It seems that I awake in the morning so full

of ideas and hopes for the day!

(What's your favorite time of day?)

There are always so many fun things to play at!

And I love to work.

Apples have been on sale. 

We bought 20 pounds and I'm glad because

 they are so crispy and delicious!

 My intention for some of them

 was to make dried apples.

And so this morning, I grabbed our 

Ronco dehydrator

from our storage room and began slicing.

********

If you like to create, you probably have 

projects that you have in mind to work on.

I have been wanting to do something with my roll 

of chicken wire for a while now. 

I decided on hearts.

I didn't really have a plan or how to.

So I just laid a cardboard heart on top of the wire 

and started cutting around it.

 My gloves in the shape of a heart..

That just happened.  I see hearts all the time.

They just catch my eye.

Is that strange?

Since I didn't have a frame of any sort,

I had to take a pair of pliers and twist the cut ends together.

The hearts didn't turn out symmetrical

and have sort of a rough look to them.

I gessoed the hearts and then painted them with one coat of

Vintage White acrylic paint.

And then went to work on the design.

This is what I came up with.

I had some strips of sari silk that I used for the bow here.

The velvet yo-yo is from a thrifted shirt. The shabby flower is

made from a strip of old sheet and lightly colored with

a pink stamp pad. The white filigree flower is gessoed with

a pink cabachon added. 

I also used some soft, pink seam binding as a bit of filler

between the paper heart and shabby flower.

The heart and sentiment are from The Romance

paper pad by Prima~I love the rich colors.

I enjoy adding a piece of rusty hardware

or something from nature. I found a small stick and 

wrapped some floss around it. Mixing soft shabby

and rough grays and browns is something that I love to do.

In my home, I have weathered barn wood and lace curtains 

on the same wall. 

For this heart, I made a vintage, sheet music rosette.

I distressed the edges with Tim Holtz Frayed Burlap ink.

After gluing it to the wire, I then glued some of this moss

to the rosette. I added the angel which I had 

hi-lighted with gold Rub and Buff. That paint lasts

an amazingly long time. That tube is probably 20 years old!

I glittered a small oval acrylic piece and added these

words from the Tim Holtz Ideol-ogy Chit Chat Stickers.

In all of this soft loveliness, I used gold tulle, 

organza ribbon, satin ribbons, lace seam binding,

and a piece of gold, vintage trim that I found in

a box of antique, Christmas ornaments. 

It's a very heavy, woven trim. 

I thought it was gorgeous. I don't have many

authentic, vintage trims. I would love to find some.

Do you have a favorite source for these?

It looks as if this sweet little angel 

has her hands clasped in prayer. 

What a lovely thought.

Thank you so much for visiting my little place here!

Best wishes for your week.

Tamara Xo