The territory of the human heart, unlike the streets of a city, or the borders of a country, can never be fully mapped. 

The landscape within is ever evolving and transforming as life flows through the veins. 

To play with this idea, lovely papers from the Prima Cartographer Collection were selected.

The labyrinthine and complex details of the city will serve as our background…and symbolize the inner neighborhoods of the self.

The outer frame - the context - is symbolized by a map as large as the region in which we find ourselves.

A fine line of rich gold serves as the meeting place twixt inner and outer territories.

Micro and Macro realities, intersecting:

To encompass the whole, an ordinary frame begins to resemble the dark night sky.

Ornamentation as florid and multi-layered as the tales we tell ourselves begins to find a place of balance within the whole.

Bright points of light surround us.

Encrusted by passing time and bejeweled with rich experience, the heart floats free. Borders and boundaries have no meaning here. 

Here and there the void of no-thing peeks through the shimmery constructed self. 

Despite our glittering adornment, at the deepest levels of the heart we are the rich fullness of peaceful eternity. 

While we’re here, we build layer upon layer of ornamentation over the quiet center. 
Celebrate both the quiet, and the splendid disguise. 
 

Thank you for joining us at The Muse today. May your heart be ever uncharted, and may the jewels of your being gleam brightly in the darkness. 

If you would like to lose yourself in a project as beautiful as this, Heather has graciously written up a Snapguide to help you on your journey.

Products used:
Relics & Artifacts 'Chivalry' Archival Casts 
Dresden Trim "Gold Scallop & Fleur" 
Dresden Trim 'Gold Rosette'
Art Basics - Heavy Gesso - Black
Art Ingredients-Mica Powder: Black Cherry  
Art Ingredients-Glass Glitter: Pitch Black
Art Alchemy-Acrylic Paint-Metallique Steampunk Copper
Cartographer- A-4 Pad