Love is in the air...

Valentine's Day is less than three weeks away. There are so many great art projects that are inspired by love, the joy of love, the ups and downs in love.... I thought I'd put some of it to canvas.

My friend got engaged last year and the two of them are so cute! So when she asked me to help with a guestbook idea, I was more than happy to jump in. 

Fingerprint colleges are really on trend in the wedding world right now and there are a ton of perks to offering a guestbook this way. One, it displays beautifully in your home instead of tucked away in a closet. Two, your guests don't have to scramble to re-invent how to say "congratulations!" because the last ten guests wrote the same well wishes too. And three, it's a fun activity that keeps your friends and family engaged in your celebration.

But that's enough about weddings, let's get back to the crafting...

I set out to create a tree painted on canvas. Simple enough. I decided to free hand the tree from some examples I found on Pinterest.

Here are my tools:

• H2 graphite pencil 
• Black paint pen
• 14 x 16 canvas
• Ruler 

I used the ruler to set out where I wanted the names and wedding date to fit before touching anything else. Then I moved from the trunk - bottom, up - kinda going with branch shapes that felt normal.

Once the basic shapes were laid out I added the black paint to outline everything. I wanted to keep it fairly minimal and I made sure to leave extra room throughout the branches. The tree needed to be a backdrop to the beautiful fingerprints that will be added by the wedding guests later.

Lastly, shading was filled in and this took a very light hand. The paint pen blotted easily, so I was careful to keep scratch paper on hand to "clean my brush" as it were.

A simple and hand drawn effect.

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My Repurposed Life