DIY Valentine's Pillow - Creative Team Thursday with Kristin Van Valkenburgh

“The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.”

— Audrey Hepburn 

Helllooooo & Happy Creative Team Thursday!

I was so excited when I saw Jessica’s latest stencil - “Seven Hearts” by Stencil Girl - that I just had to play with it in time for Valentine’s Day. The only challenge was what and where I was going to use it. Since I had a few canvas pillow covers lying around (and a pension for all things pretty and pink), a DIY Valentines pillow seemed to be the perfect solution . . . .

I began with a nice coat of gesso that was both scraped on with a palette knife and then smoothed out with a brayer. Once dry, I followed up with several coats of acrylic paints and paint splatters before starting in with my sweet new stencil.

Speaking of sweet, I’m learning that I just plain prefer to use an ink pad with my stencils. Don’t get me wrong, I love playing with molding pastes, spray inks, gessoes and other mediums, but when I want a crisp, sharp image, permanent ink just does the job better than anything else. In this case, I love how clear the pretty little hearts, scalloped edges and lettering come out when a thick coat of ink is pressed onto the canvas with a simple cosmetic sponge.

Once all the stenciling was complete, I simply glued and sewed (well ok, only a tiny bit of sewing took place) on fabric and trim scraps to the bottom and sides of the pillow for a quirky final touch.

Love the stencil as much as I do? Be sure to join the Jessica Sporn Design Team for our next Blog Hop on Tuesday, February 7th for more Valentine inspired artwork and your chance to win your very own “Seven Hearts” Stencil.




In the meantime, you can watch my video on YouTube to see how I created this Valentine's Pillow step-by-step. Click here to watch on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/ttHOY9Yp4BA 

Until then,
Kristin xo

A childhood obsession with Hollywood starlets led to an early life in the theater, where Kristin Van Valkenburgh spent many happy days on set and behind the scenes as both an actress and makeup artist for the stage. Kristin has a passion for all things mixed media and loves to create whimsical pieces with lots of layers, bright, poppy colors, big eyes and positive affirmations. Her work has been featured in numerous Stampington publications including Somerset Studio, SomersetStudio Gallery, Somerset Life, Somerset Apprentice, Artists’ Cafe and Art Journaling.  

You can find Kristin on her blog, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

THANK YOU KRISTIN!  To see all of the Creative Team posts, click here!

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