Doodle Heart Background

Here is a technique for the doodler in you.  You need oil based metallic pens – I’ve used both a Zig Painty pen that I’ve had for ages which is gold on one end and silver on the other.  I’ve also used Sharpie Paint Pens.  You also need watercolor markers.  I have a beautiful set of 48 colored markers from Stampin’ Up that have a writing tip one one end and on the other a wider brush tip.  Finally – you need some white card stock to draw on and to finish, a piece of colored card stock and some adhesive so you can mount the decorated paper on to the colored piece.

In my examples, I wrote out the words of a song for the center of the page and did the Doodle Heart Background all around it.  It could also be used for a card front or to frame a photo or poem.

I’m a member of the Threshold Choir in Marin.  As it says on our website: “The all-women Threshold Choirs honor the ancient tradition of singing at the bedsides of people who are struggling: some with living, some with dying.”  The songs are from our repertoire: the one with the red background, “I’m Sending You Light”  by Melanie D’Amore is a healing song we sing at every rehearsal to send healing out to those we name and hold in our hearts and I did that one for my father.  The other song  which we sing for caregivers and is called “In These Hands” is by the choir founder, Kate Munger, and is for my mom.

I cut a piece of white card stock large enough to write out the song with lots of empty border left around it.

Be sure and work with your card stock on another layer or two of paper to protect your work surface because the paint markers might bleed through the page.  Now with one of the metallic pens, draw a bunch of hearts to fill in the space around your message.

I kind of skipped ahead here and didn’t capture all the steps in pictures along the way, but after drawing these hearts, go back and draw two or three smaller hearts inside each one. Then go back and add dots and dashes and curlicues in all the layers.

Add larger hearts around the original hearts and lots of flourishes and swirls inside of all the hearts. You want to make all the heart touching each other. Go in the smaller in between spaces and add more curlicues and scrolls; have fun! Go all the way to the edge of the paper.  Doodle away.

Your song or poem or greeting should now be surrounded by metallic gold or silver hearts filled with layers of doodles.  Take the colored markers and start coloring in all the layers of hearts and swirls.

I like staying with colors that are fairly analogous or close together on the color wheel. Try and keep the colors balanced by moving around the design with one color of pen and doing a bit in one area before moving to another section.  After coloring several hearts with one color, switch to another color of pen.  Fill in the whole page.

Cut a piece of card stock in a coordinating color that is just a bit larger than your decorated piece.  Adhere the decorated piece to the colored piece and sign the back.  That’s it.  Now it is ready to present to a person dear to your heart, with love.

The songs:

I Am Sending You Light

by Melanie D’Amore

I am sending you light.

To heal you, to hold you.

I am sending you light.

To hold you in love.

In These Hands

by Kate Munger

In these hands great blessings.

From these hands great healing.

All around, all around,

All around these hands peace.

Thank you for the visit, do come by again.