a sprinkle of imagination: Listen To Your Heart...

(or....another way to use indian inks!)

Hello!
I've been playing with Indian Inks again, another one of those 'old school' techniques. In fact, I'd go as far as to say this is literally an old school technique, as I used to do this with paint when I was about 5 years old at school!!!
I made this panel.....

(This is also about the closest I will ever get to clean and simple.....and I'm still covered in ink!!)
The heart shape has been cut out from an inky background, a background that is both loads of fun and a total doddle to do!
You need to get two pieces of glossy cardstock (has to be glossy, regular cardstock just absorbs the ink and you don't get the smooshy movement). Drip a few drops of ink onto one piece of card, then place the other piece over the top, glossy side to glossy side. Squish the card with your fingertips, then peel back. You'll have two pieces of multi coloured, vibrant backgrounds! I made lots....

You need to experiment with colour combos and the amount of ink you use....as you can see some of my pieces ended up a little muddy! You can use a whole sheet for a very surreal other-worldly look, or you can choose to use just a small portion, as I did!
I swiped some of the same coloured ink across my plain white panel, then added a piece of washi tape. I attached a strip of card I had die cut, and lightly glued down the heart on top...

I then got the sewing machine out, and added a border, and fastened the heart down with stitching...

After all this was done, I wanted to tone down the vibrant colours, and add a little grungy-ness! This was done very simply by gently brayering with white paint. I waited until this point to do this as I knew I wanted to take the harsh black-ness away from the stitching too!
The only crisp black colour comes in the form of my rub on words....