Not a Valentine’s page - Still About The Heart

This background went off the rails almost immediately and nearly ended up in the bin. One of those pages that simply refuses to cooperate, no matter what you try. Instead of starting over, I kept layering, softening, and letting the chaos stay until it finally settled into something that felt right.

Sometimes the page comes together only after you stop fighting it.

The Project

This page explores contrast between chaos and balance through layered color, texture, and heart imagery. The focal elements ground the composition and bring direction to the background’s movement.

Materials used

The colour palette behind the layers.

• Art Journal 8x8

• Distress Oxide ink

• Paper Artsy Infusions, coloured stains (Rocky Road, Are You Cerise)

• Paste

• Stencils (one text and one shape)

• Stamps (one text (smaller than stencil) and 2-3 textures)

• Printed images from Giraffe Creative Studio, regular printer paper 160g

• Permanent ink for stamping, grey and dark pink

• Black ink, distress ink black soot

• Water proof black pen (for details)

• Little piece of white cardstock (for the text)

• White paint (for splatters)

  
  

Process

I began by applying texture paste through a patterned stencil and also spread some paste freely in a few areas with a palette knife. Once everything was completely dry, I sprinkled two colours of Infusions powder randomly across the page and sprayed water over them. I tilted the page to help the colour move and lifted the largest puddles with paper towel, then let the page dry thoroughly.

Next, I blended Distress Oxide inks onto the surface with an ink brush, adjusting the colours to work with what was already there — enhancing areas where certain tones appeared and adding new shades into the lighter spaces. This allowed the Infusions pigments and textures underneath to remain partially visible.

To create additional texture, I splattered water randomly across the page and lifted it again with paper towel, then let everything dry completely. After that, I used a text stencil with black Distress Oxide ink and added stamped patterns and textures using dark pink permanent ink. Finally I inked the page edges with black ink to frame the composition and add depth.

Building the background with layers of colour, texture, and controlled chaos.

Once the background was finished, I printed the image and cut out the elements I wanted to use. I also cut extra hearts from leftover scraps in different sizes.

I glued all the pieces into place and stamped additional text with dark grey permanent ink to add interest. After the adhesive had dried fully, I drew stems for the hearts and loosely outlined them in a sketch-style line. I added subtle shading with black ink where needed and finished the page with white paint splatters.

I wrote the text on white cardstock, cut it into small pieces, and arranged them on the page.

Finished page

Final Thoughts

This page reminded me that sometimes a background doesn’t need fixing — just time. What first felt chaotic slowly settled into something balanced once I stopped trying to control it.

If you’ve ever rescued a page that almost ended up in the bin, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

You can find more of my mixed media and art journal work on

Instagram @susisscraps