Mixed Media Autumn Heart

So I got my paints out!

I've had this wicker heart sitting in my drawer for months...maybe even a year and I was kind of feeling a little bit sorry for it lying there...all naked...looking very sad...poor sad, lonely naked heart....

So I decided to make it a happy heart and cover it in lovely autumn colours! (big, big love for autumnal colours!)

So here's the things I used:

♥ Wicker Heart (which I got from hobbycraft)

♥ Silks acrylic glaze - Autumn Leaf

♥ Silks acrylic glaze - Ginger Peach

♥ Copper coloured wire (22 gauge)

♥ Different autumnal coloured and types of beads.

♥ Petaloo Botanica Mini flowers - Cranberry/Amber/Orange

♥ Prima Medley Leaf Stems - MIDAS

♥ Prima Aglow Metallic Leaf With Glitter & Wire Stem - Coffee Bean 

♥ Wild Orchid crafts mixed red open roses (10mm)

So to started I painted the heart with silks autumn leaf waited for it to dry then painted ginger peach on top. I did this  multiple times until I had the desired colour.

I only painted the front because I don't think I'd ever see the back and being as I have a busy life (thank you work!) I didn't want to spend all my time painting. (I know, lazy right?)

I then strung beads on wire and wrapped it around the heart. I positioned the beads so they were at the front. To keep them from moving around bent the wire into the heart gently. You can do this with your fingers but I ended up splitting a lot of my nails so if you're quite precious about your manicure use jewellery making pliers. 

(Heart when painted and wrapped with the beaded wire)

I made sure I left space on the places where I wanted to put my flowers and leaves (I figured there was no point if I was only going to cover them in the end - that way you don't waste beads because wasting beads is a very sad thing...)

I then decided on the positioning of my flowers and leaves and used a glue gun to stick it down.

I'm entering my autumnal heart in the That's Crafty Lovely leaves challenge ♥

Have a lovely Autumn!

♥