Front Porch Friday

Hi everybody!  Hope you're having a great week!  My family and I are wrapping up our vacation...we've spent the week in Florida, and it has been wonderful...much needed. I've definitely got beach brain...I just now remembered I was supposed to do this post this morning.  Oops.  Please forgive me....I'm not prepared like I wanted to be (my plan was to do a step-by-step tutorial on how I did the heart canvas from the kit) but I think I can still give you a good idea on how it's done.  Ready?

But before I start, let me just say that I've been blown away by inspiration this week.  The colors here are breathtaking.  I get so caught up in the sights here, all the beautiful little details, and let's just say....my boys don't appreciate it at all. ;)  Lol....at least they are mostly patient with me while I take it all in.
As much as I love the beach, I think my favorite part of the trip was visiting this little town (pop. 1200ish) called Seaside.  It's about 15 minutes away from where we're staying at Santa Rosa Beach, and it's the most picturesque, darling little town I've ever seen.

All of the stores have these sweet porches, beautiful displays....my brain was on overload. ;)

I mean, seriously....these colors?  They spoke to me. ;)

And I found this paper tree in a little children's store called "Duckies." I mean...STOP IT. :)  Love.

I expected to walk away from this trip re-energized, rested, and ready to make the most of the rest of our summer.  I didn't expect to be so inspired by everything I saw....but I have been.  Ready to get home and get busy on some home decor projects, and some scrapbooking as well. Can't wait. :)

Ok...the canvas.  Here is one closer up shot of the heart itself.  I have been playing with this concept for awhile, trying different techniques to get it right, and I bombed every time.  When I finally decided to simplify things a bit, I finally got it right...mostly.  Still have some tweaking to do, but overall I'm happy with the outcome.

I used an 18x18 square canvas, and  painted the edges and sides black.  Next, I drew the heart. I free-handed it, wanting it to have more of a whimsical look, and then placed scraps of all different sizes from the kit around it using mod podge, inking them first. I opted not to put a coat of mod podge over the top of the scraps, but that is a matter of preference. 

Next, the scary part. ;)  The heart.  Here's the secret to making the heart: joint compound and polyurethane.  Yep...that's it.  I took a spoon (a butter knife will work too, but I felt like I had more control with the spoon) and started scooping out joint compound and spreading it all over, filling in the heart outline I had drawn.  You want it nice and thick.  After I was happy with the size and shape of the heart, I took a pencil and drew in my swirls.  Next, you have to wait for it to dry COMPLETELY (that's important), which takes 24 hours.

The next day after it had dried completely, I painted it with a higher quality acrylic paint.  You want it to have a thicker consistency than some of the cheaper ones do. I chose a dark red, and then brushed a little bit of black and turquoise over the top after the red had dried somewhat.  It blends better if the red is not completely dry.  After all of that dried, I brushed on polyurethane over the top. Two coats...it has to be the type you paint on, NOT the spray.  After that dried I added the "X" and the "you are here" letter stickers, using a little liquid glue.  And then....you're done!  See?  Not nearly as scary as we thought. ;)

So there you go...hopefully this little tutorial was helpful.  And as a bonus....we've had a couple of rainy afternoons this week, and luckily I brought my scrappy stuff.  When I was in TX in April I visited The Little Blue House, and bought the stuff to make this Fancy Pants journal.  I have really missed journaling, and figured if I could combine that with scrapbooking it would be just what I needed to get back in the habit.  I can tell I'm going to have so much fun with this....I'm making mine a family journal...things about us, our favorite things, places we go, people we meet, etc. 

Do you recognize the pinky-red trim along the spiral?  Yes...it's from the Sew Artsy kit!  It was one of my favorite trims in the kit, and I'm so glad I had some leftover to add to the journal.  I've got some more ribbon to add to the spiral, and then I'll be ready to start filling it up. :)

Have a wonderful weekend....take a little time to record something important, scrap your latest favorite photo, or take some new pics of your favorites.  See you again soon!