Tic Tac Hearts

This is one of my summer collages - a Hearts Tic Tac Toe.  The words are on the outside edges of the piece. 

"ENJOY" runs up the left side of the frame.

Made with a flat canvas board, painted black.

"LOVE" is printed across the top of the collage.

Hearts from foam core, painted and covered with a variety of papers.

"EMBRACE" runs down the right side of the collage.

Scrap wood make the frame behind; then painted and lettered.

"LIFE" is printed on the bottom of the collage.

 This one is very different from my other work.  A sort of experiment, but I am pleased with how it turned out.  I like the simplicity and the patterns.  I like its hidden sentiment.  This collage and more are available at The Purple Poppy.

EMBRACE - LOVE - ENJOY - LIFE

Hearts on a Hike

Last week the girls and I went on a hike.  We went to one of my favorite hiking places, Marshall Mesa Trail.  It's a fairly easy, scenic trail head about 20 minutes from our house.  When we're hiking, we look for things, flowers, birds, and animals.  Just for fun, I suggested we look for hearts.  (inspired by another blogger - who posts Random Hearts - I told my girls that we should take photos of all the hearts we see).  A fairly odd thing to look for, but you would be amazed... I am not sure if we see what we want to see or if they are always there.  Call me crazy if you want, but this is what we found that day. (Be prepared - this is a photo heavy post)

 We spent a few minutes making hearts - and then looking for them. I was surprised at how many hearts we actually found on our hike. We looked for hearts in the rock, leaves, shadows, flowers, and sky.

Petal hearts fallen from this wild rose.

  

Look at the top of this mal-formed flower.

The sightings didn't stop there.

Shadow heart.

Lots of hearts in the rocks.

Graffiti heart in the sandstone.

Lichen heart on a rock.

Look between the girls, a heart worn away in the sandstone.

Take a closer look at that heart.

Worn away in the sandstone.

We found too many rocks and pebbles on the trail - here is just a sampling:

And finally, a heart shaped pool or water as we end our hike.

So, we found some hearts on a hike.  A little cheesy, yes.  A little silly, yes.  But, the proof is in the pictures.