Obsessed With Creating

"How to get your art into the world: be obsessed with creating and in keeping the fire burning and rising. Then let it go, almost like a balloon. Be completely detached with where is lands, or who sees it or how many people if affects.  Just completely free it from you. Then, with empty hands, go and create something new."  Victoria Erickson.  

I stopped in to see Margie today. The first two blooms on her amaryllis were done...a third is full and fabulous ...and two or three more are on the way.  

And I will admit....I almost brought these spent blooms home to dry.....

and as I write this I'm kind of regretting that I didn't. I love them!

Some of you might be glad when Art Hearts are behind me...but I do think the tips and tricks I'm sharing can apply to other collage and card making. 

I took 12 Art Heart kits to the local Handiwork shop yesterday....and I'm still filling envelopes. I want each envelope and kit to have one mounted handmade Art Heart....so for now...I'm still "obsessed with creating" them.

I do like just plain white as a background on some them like I shared a few days ago...but I also still want to use painted papers when it works.  

I thought this would be a good time to share a little bit about my mounting process. 

Here I glued 4 pieces of painted papers together...and it was my intention for them to be a little off. I stitched on the heart BEFORE I trimmed up the paper.  If I cut the background first...I would never get the heart centered...or where I wanted it. I'm the master of crooked.  

Once it was stitched....then I trimmed it up using my rotary cutter and a ruler leaving as much border as I want all the way around.  And I WILL use the  tiny scraps.

I do the same thing when I mount it onto a background...whether it's white or a color. 

Here I stitched on the trimmed heart image....THEN I trim it up the border. There is NO way I could center it perfectly or get it straight on a precut card.  

I pull my threads to the back and tie them off.

Here's another example....I used a combination of  a couple painted papers and a book page for the background.  I think it's soft and pretty framed in white.

 

And the background on this one is a painted paper scrap and scrapbook paper. I use really cheap watercolor paper for the border paper...no use using the good stuff! 

I'm keeping the fire burning and rising!

Too much?  ha ha...I know. 😉