I've been dreaming of this project for months and I'm so smitten with how it came out.
Perusing Instagram one day I spied a medieval painting with a young man holding a heart shaped book and I KNEW I wanted to make my own.
Apparently heart shaped books were quite popular during the late Middle Ages. A quick search and you'll find loads of beautiful antique examples.
For my book, I've used a Book Of Love Heart Mini Album and paper from Graphic 45's Flower Shoppe (one of my favaourite collections ever) to embellish the outside, with a chopped up a Rose Border for embellishment.
Inside I've covered each spread with music paper, and painted the pages with symbols associated with love and love magic.
A bit of advice: be sure that your layout is dry before moving on to the next. I had a couple of pages so in love they wanted to stick together and not be unstuck.
I added some stamped elements on a few pages and applied gold embossing powder. I think it gives a nice nod to the gilded illumination in old manuscripts.
There's runes and symbols and all sorts of love elements in my magic little book, but don't feel bound by my example. You could make a book based on self love.... or not about love in the least!
The petite size of this book make it wonderful for exploring and experimenting. With just 7 layouts to complete, it's not an overwhelming commitment. AND the chippy pages are pretty great at accepting an enthusiastic application of mixed media.
Want to see how I put this heart-shaped book of love together? Great! I've made a video to guide you though the process. Pop over HERE to see it.
Here are all the bits I used to make this book
Rose Border
Foam Stamps
music paper
scrapbook paper (Graphic 45's Flower Shoppe)
glue
hockey tape (cloth type)
acrylic paint
gold embossing powder
Here's hoping you too are filled with love and magic.
