Valentine's Day. The air is filled with love and there are red and pink hearts everywhere.
I don't do much for Valentine's day and keep my decoration minimal and simple, just like last year, when i had the Valentine's Tree with tags from hand-made paper. This year i wanted to create something bigger, yet still unobtrusive colorwise.
I spent an entire day trying to get an idea, but nothing inspired me. Then, as soon as i laid down in bed in the evening, the visions started coming to my mind and within a minute i knew exactly what i wanted:
a giant heart made from papier-maché.
On a sidenote: This happens to me quite often, i cannot think when i am sitting or walking, but as soon as i am cuddled up in my cozy bed in a horizontal position, my brain seems to be exploding with creative visions. And texts. Actually, the majority of my blog posts is "pre-written" mentally while i'm in bed.
Is this normal? Does that happen to anyone else? If you are, or know, a brain specialist, please leave me a comment to explain the connection between lying down and the function of the creative part of a brain.
Back to the heart.
I already mentioned my love for stripes in my post about the eyeglass case makeover, and my latest obsession are black and white stripes. I want to paint our hallway like this one, or how about a bathroom like that one? And i really want this Oscar de la Renta gown. No idea when or where to i could wear it, but it is fabulous!
So, with this obsession, i knew my Valentine's heart should be black and white, with accents of gold in the form of stripes and my favorite love song titles.
You know i'm frugal, and i did not want to spend one single cent on this project. Now i had to find a way to create a mold or some kind of frame to construct the paper heart, with items i already had.
Cardboard and wire might have worked, but seemed to be too time-consuming. Instead, i ended up with plastic sacks, stuffed with towels and bedsheets. Tadaaaa, there is my heart-shaped base:
This was the biggest obstacle, the rest is easy peasy:
Old newspaper and grocery store ads, egg cartons and homemade glue ( a mixture of water, flour and sugar)
After a drying time of three full days, the papier-maché heart is ready for further processing- a generous coat of white paint.
For the stripes i used black masking tape and golden washi tape, and the song titles are written with an Edding.
Frankly, i am not 100% happy with the result.
My actual plan was to paint the stripes with black and gold acrylic paint, but when i made the first stripe i realized that this method would take too long, and i had only one day to finish the project. Tape was so much faster, but i really dislike how its glossy surface reflects the light.
God, i hate that my stupid day job regulates and limits my time for creative actions!
However, i like how the actual heart turned out ( though i wanted it to be a bit larger)
I spent the last 50 minutes redocorating our bedroom and this is what i came up with so far.
#1: On the dresser with a pink heart
#2: With these male and female sculptures
#3: With a golden sequin table runner
#4: On the radiator with the pink heart, the sculptures and a black paper flower
Now help me decide where to put this thing and let me know which option you think looks best.
This project is linked up to my favorite parties and the Dog Days of Winter Love-It Link Party at Design, Dining + Diapers