Monday 7 October 2013

Mixed Media Canvas


I was inspired to make this canvas by CeeCee from Creations CeeCee on YouTube. She made a beautiful canvas using the same Poppy stencil by Donna Downey Studios and tags. I liked hers so much that I decided to make my own very different version. CeeCee  is an excellent artist and demonstrator for Scrapbookcentrale in Canada. If you don't know of her already you should definitely check out her Channel. 

I  adhered three white tags and their strings, which I placed into various positions onto the canvas, with Claudine Helmuth Studio Matte Multi-medium Gel. I then created the poppies using Artist Spackle modelling paste through a Donna Downey Studios stencil. I used various makes and colours of acrylic paint to colour the background, blending with my fingers. Once this was dry I stenciled through a piece of Punchinella with a sponge dipped into white gesso to add texture with the small white dots. The poppies were painted with Daler & Rowney, System 3, Fluorescent Pink paint, with darker accents added with Crawford & Black Acrylic paint in Rose. For the centers of the poppies I mixed together Artist Spackle and black gesso then added some seed beads to give it texture. I punched out the letters for my words from black card using a Martha Stewart set of Alphabet punches. I then used the remains of the punched out card as a stencil and using black gesso added random letters to various parts of the canvas. Using a Tim Holtz  Stampset "Papillon CMS106 by Stampers Anonymous, I stamped  butterflies onto tissue paper with StaZon black ink. Once dry I tore carefully around the edges of each butterfly and then adhered them to the tags with the Matte Gel medium. I added my letters in the same way to each tag, then gave them all a good coat of Gel Medium over the top,

I was very happy with the outcome.

Sunday 6 October 2013

Altered Box in a Winter Shabby Chic Style


I've been quite busy lately working on a few projects and Id like to share one with you today.

It's an altered heart shaped box which as the weather is turning colder has inspired me to complete it in a winter shabby chic style. I'm not a fan of the cold, but I do like the look of those winter frosty mornings when everything seems to twinkle with it's icy coating.

I used a blank white coloured chipboard box which I painted with dark- brown acrylic paint and left to dry. I then painted on a layer of my favourite Folkart Crackle Medium, then best to leave to dry overnight. The last coat was a cream coloured acrylic paint called Tapioca 903 by Folkart, which you must ensure is painted on thickly in even strokes, all in the same direction,   The crackle effect happened almost instantly. 


I made up some pine cones and roses from coloured card using the Tim Holtz  "Tattered Pinecone" die. I also cut several leaves from this same die in different leafy colours, some leafy flourishes from the Cherry Lynn  "Mini Fanciful Flourish" die in gold,  half a clock face & the hands from the Tim Holtz "Weathered Clock" die, which I painted dark brown. I also used some cheesecloth which I aged with Lindy's stamp gang spray in Creme Brulee Creme and some gold bead sprays from my stash. 

I worked out the positioning of all my pieces and then used hot glue to adhear them all down securely. Once in place I librally coated everything with Snowtex paste by Decoart and sprinkled on some glitter to give it an extra wintery sparkle. 



I  distressed the edges slightly with some Tim Holtz distress ink in Vintage photo, then hot glued some gathered lace and a line of gold Chinese braid to the sides. 

I added a touch of gold Run-n-Buff to the clock hands and Cut out the word "Memories" from designer paper and tucked it into place over the cheese cloth.




                                     

A step-by-step video showing how I created this box.