Americana Heart Flag

I've missed my beloved paints soooo very much the last few weeks.  Seriously, I started to envision my children turning into little paintbrushes at the kitchen table and was dreaming that I should paint the dog pink!  Finally tonight I just pulled 'em out and looked away from the mess in the house.  It was time to get my hands dirty!  I know I may be skipping a few holidays...but Summer is coming, Memorial Day...4th of July,  I'm not really a collector of Americana but I do LuV the American Flag!  I pray for our Country every day as I pray for a hedge of protection to surround my kids as they leave for school...So I'd like to share a DIY with you.  A Heart Flag!

Before I get started with that I want to share with you a few more blessings recieved today!  This has been the most amazing week! When I made the recycled dress for Alexis, I was tempted not to blog about it. There were many reasons which all seemed pretty good to me, like I am not the worlds best seamstress for starters. But, Oh my word...Shut the Front Door...thank you Jesus I did.
What an overwhelming response to that post! It's ok with me that my daughter stole my spotlight! She's enjoying all the hubaloo & feels like quite the rock star! So thank you to all of you wonderful loveable bloggers out there!

We were most viewed last week here too,











 

And mentioned by Stephanie Lynn here,

Again!  Thank you ALL!

Onto the Heart Flag.  The painting that follows can be painted on any shape...a square, rectangle, even circles...I had a heart, I luv the flag on a heart so that's what I used.  So you need a wood heart to recreate mine, but you can paint this on any material! 

 -- Material to paint on.

 -- Acrylic paints (I use almost any brand)

      white

      Red- one pure red, one a little darker.  (I used a Merlot.)

      dark blue

      Burnt Umber

      Dark Green (I used Thicket)

 -- Float Medium (you can use water too!)

 -- Brushes.

      1 very small thin liner brush (optional)

      1 small flat brush

      1 medium flat brush

      Large brush to basecoat with

 -- Star stencils 

 -- Scruffy or stencil brush 

 -- Clear sealer

First...after sanding and priming your piece if necessary, paint the entire piece white.  This may take several thin coats. 

2. Now, if ya'll don't already know by now,  I eyeball (almost) everything.  Paint the top left quarter of the heart with the dark blue.  This may take a few more coats...go thin,  it really does look better!

(Hey, i'm talking about the paint process...you've seen my photo!)

     

3.  Next, using your medium flat brush, load up with the true red color and squiggle your way in solid lines, somewhat evenly spaced across the heart...no rules...go with it!  Even a shakey hand can do this.  You don't want the red lines straight anyway!  Again, several thin coats are better than one thick gloppy one! 

4.  I poured a bit of each red right next to each other on my fancy scmancy styro plate.  This is were the double load comes into place.  If you don't know how to double load or you don't think you can...don't worry...it's really easy.  Remember the little engine...repeat several times 'I think I can' while practicing your double load.  Dip the whole small flat brush into the lighter red, then only half of the brush gets dipped into the darker red.  I actually only dip like a 1/4 of the width of the brush.  Then gently run the brush back and forth like 2 or three times to bend the 2 colors togeather.

5.  I went over the red squiggley lines again, now with my double loaded brush, with the darker paint toward the bottom of the line...I'm not sure if you can really see this in the photos...it was night time and the lighting was not great!  Sorry. (my paint actually looks kind of brown in the photos) I actually went over this step twice to get the amount of shading I wanted.

I think you can see it better here!

6.   Next,  you will float a thin line of burnt umber along the bottom of the white stripes of the flag.  Floating is almost the same as double loading...except your using the float medium or water as your first 'color' loaded on the brush (just like you did with the red)  I've shown you below using white as my float so you can see it.  Float medium is just the base to hold the color in acrylic paint basically...it's almost like glaze.  It keeps your paint wetter longer.  Instead of dipping the brush 1/4 or 1/2 way into the brown, I only dip the very tip of the brush into it.  Work the color in by swiping 2 or 3 times on the plate again.

7.  Now,  this is one of those rare projects where I will actually use a stencil.  Believe it or not, I can't stencil to save my life!  Never could... So I used this little stencil I picked up last year at Joanne's and with a VERY dry brush,  swirl or tap the paint just slightly around the edges of the stencil opening.  I like to let the blue show thru a bit... adds to that Old Americana charm.

 I luv the way the stars look...random, different sized, some cut off as if a patterned fabric were used.
Some of the stars were more heavily painted than others.  Have fun with it!  It's your project!

8.  At this point the Heart Flag is ready for sealing with the sealer of your choice.  You could also sand it a bit around the edges to add to that vintage charm...or if your like me you need to add just one more thing!  Vines and leaves... almost everything needs vines and leaves.

This step is optional! I your afraid, just practice on some paper first!  It really is easy,  using a thin liner brush I load the green with some water to thin it...dip the tip into the brown...then just the tip into some white.  Hold your liner brush loosey goosey like and wiggle & wobble along the area where the red stripe meets the blue creating vines.  You can trail off lightly or make some curley Q's.  Add some simple one stroke leave if you're feeling confident!

and Whaaa Laaaa:

HOpE You EnJoY!  I'm sure you'll do fine, but if you need any help with any of the steps or have a question...just let me know.  I'm always happy to help a friend!

Before you go...Be Sure to EnTeR the GiveAway!  It is still open.  Just hit that follow button and your automatically entered to win,  but if you want to up your odds pop over here to see how!

Linkin with these parties so far:

http://www.bluecreekhome.com/2011/05/treasure-hunt-thursday-6.html

http://thetrendytreehouse.blogspot.com/

http://www.mygirlishwhims.blogspot.com/

http://verymerryvintagestyle.blogspot.com/

http://www.somewhatsimple.com/2011/05/sys-blog-link-party-4/

http://www.theshabbychiccottage.net/

http://craftomaniac.blogspot.com/

http://www.houseofgrace.blogspot.com/

edit:  Due to issues with Blogger, I managed to miss a few of my fav. parties this week.  I'll be back to them next week though!  Kim