A Valentine’s Tale-ing Fragment (#3): My Sweetheart

Hello everyone,

I know – it’s been AGES… Things got really crazy around the turn of the year. I had plans for a ‘time flies’ sort of post at the beginning of the month, I even started working on it (if you follow my Instagram you may have caught a glimpse of it), but then I blinked and it was mid-February, and Valentine’s kicked my broody time contemplations out of the way – love has a way of demanding attention. 

To be fair, this Fragment has been in my plans for a while, ever since I laid eyes on this sweetheart in one of Tim Holtz's ephemera collections. The expectant look in his eyes and the almost-there-but-not-quite-yet smile made me smile back and he whispered his story in my ear.

                                         his heart full of bright hopes

                                         he waited.

                                         My Sweetheart.

As in all my fragments, the story is for you to complete.

Who is the sweetheart? Is it this young man or the one he awaits?

Who is it he is waiting for? Will they come?

And who is the figure in the window?

I have entered My Sweetheart to this week’s Wednesday Simon Says Stamp Challenge that is themed ‘It Must be Love.’ In my head it fits perfectly with this story, because, well - it must be love, no? I didn’t really use their exclusive products this time around, but felt like sharing this anyway (Sorry! Hope you don’t mind...). 

I went a bit crazy with the details on this one (well, crazy for me), building layer upon layer to create more depth. I originally planned the have text in the background, but then this floral stamp arrived in the post and I could not resist – can you blame me? I swear, after stamping it I just stared at it for a few minutes – so beautiful! And perfect for this dream-ish tale. The house is 3D with textured walls and I sort of let the vines run wild. I ended up raising the frame to create a diorama (I do love dioramas) so I can accommodate everything. To be honest, I did not plan on using all these things (I had a big pile of optional elements/embellishments to choose from and ended up using almost all of it... oops haha), but I rather like the result. What do you think?

The best thing about having lots of details is that they open up new story options. 

I hope you enjoy imagining this story, and maybe come back now and then to give it different ending – that’s half the fun!

Oh and - Happy Valentine’s Day ^^ 💕