ONLY A MONTH LATE

Yes, I know February is gone.........and it's waaaay past Valentine's Day. But, I want to show ya'll bout my 'first' swap. which just happened to be a heart for Valentine's Day.



I had only started my blog on January 31, 2012, so I was liiiiike......ONLY 3 days into this wonderful new world when I ran across http://www.apetitecottage.blogspot.com/.  I really enjoyed reading her blog and then saw where she was doing a 'HEART SWAP' for Valentine's Day.  Well, I wasn't even sure what she was talkin about, but I had already noticed that this swappin stuff is a biggie here in blogland, and thought, "why not", so I signed up to take part in the heart swap.  Then I read on.  OOPS, I saw that it is to be stitched to a certain size..........ah, WHAT??.  Stitched???  Uh un, no, I don't sew.  Not a bit, no more than a button.  I do not own a sewing machine.  I didn't want to back out on my first lil venture in this new community I've just become a part of.  Sooooo,  I asked Ana, the lady/owner of http://www.apetitecottage.blogspot.com/ if maybe I could just PAINT a little wooden heart or something.  Her answer was, "sure, paint one, but please try painting a fabric heart."  That way she could do the stitching and make a heart that would fit into her collection of little stitched hearts.

                                          Well, worth a try, right?

So, first, cut out a couple heart shapes.  I used a muslin cloth.
Then gather my supplies, brushes, acrylic paints, water basin, paper towels, Styrofoam plate to use as a paint pallet.

Place the colors of choice for flowers to come, out on the plate.  Starting with the liner brush (the thin round), I just did a thin line to look like vines and from there little rosebuds sprouted.

After the rosebuds, I added tiny leaves here and there, then tiny blue flowers.  Then just draw, with the brush, little lines connecting the dots...........or connecting everything to the vines.  Just be loose and it'll look more natural.  Ohhh, but then when I'd finished, I remembered, Ana would have to have enough room around the design for a seam.  Soooo, I decided this would not do.  So, I did another, starting in the center rather than around the edge, then I'd send both in hopes that she might get one good finished heart from the two.

So........WHA LAAA....

These are what went off in the mail to Ana.

                                          And, in a few days, this is the heart I received in the mail .  How sweet....with one little hand rolled rose, another yoyo flower with button center, and a third flower made from what looked like individual tiny petals with frayed natural edges.  LOVED IT!!!  And, this is where she landed.......her new home, atop my little vintage thread spools in a basket that I made years ago. 

Then in a few more days, I received an email from Ana with pictures of what she'd done with my little 'flat' hand painted hearts.

                              They did turn out to be kinda cute, don't cha think?  

Thank you so very much, Ana, for allowing me to take part, even though you did have to change directions a tiny bit just for me.  It was fun..........especially on my THIRD DAY IN, to be involved in this exchange.  It was my first, but I'm sure it WON'T be my last.

HAVE A GREAT SUNDAY, YA'LL     8-)

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