My First Mixed Media Canvas and a HUGE Thank You!

Here it is!! My first mixed media canvas. I had a lot of fun making this. I did it in several steps, spanning over at least a week. I like to be able to do a layer, step back and take a second look at it, and come back to it with a fresh perspective (plus I needed a lot of drying time in between!). I have to admit that I got a lot of inspiration from a fabulously talented artist/designer/everything else named Mou Saha. Go check out her blog sometime. It's definitely worth linking up to! (and I'll just go ahead and admit now that attending one of her classes in Florida is on my bucket list!!)
This canvas was a Christmas present to a wonderful friend who is taking life by the horns and really proving and shaping themselves right now. I wanted to make something that would be an inspiration during the hard times and somewhat decent to look at during the good times :) Luckily, we exchanged gifts early this year, so I can finally post about this project!!!

I feel like I've crossed over from making projects to actually creating something with this piece. For the first time, I understand what artists feel when they are composing artwork. Each element, from the dress pattern layers to the color underneath, the images to the fibers, mean something to me. Every item added to this canvas has a meaning. And while someone might not 'get it', or even appreciate anything about it, to me, it means a lot (and hopefully to the recipient, too!!)

Babble, babble, babble, right?? Ok. On to the steps.

Step One: Prime canvas with gesso, let dry (overnight-ish). This particular canvas came pre-primed, but I'd rather play it safe.

Step Two: Get crazy with gelatos!! Faber Castell makes these amazing little color sticks called gelatos (more info about them here). They go on like a crayon, and once they're wet, they blend amazingly! I tried several different methods to blend my colors (wet paintbrush, baby wipes, fingers) and ended up liking using my hands the best. It was a lot easier to control how much got blended. Once you're happy with the coloring, let dry (doesn't take very long!)







Step Three: Next I decoupaged old dress patterns onto the entire canvas (they're in the bottom of that picture up there). No real rhyme or reason to this part, just overlapping a bit as a go. Drying time for this was a few days!

Step Four: Play!! Once your canvas background is all ready, you get to create and play! I inked up some Grungeboard letters and used some Grungepaper through the Cricut to cut out the bird house (from the Serenade cartridge). The bird was cut from the Serenade cartridge from cardstock, traced onto a piece of plain muslin, and decoupaged onto the canvas.

added some curled wire for detail

popped this off the canvas slightly

inspirational phrase

I can't wait for inspiration and a few extra days to work on my next one. I think I'm hooked!! (plus my canvas came in a two pack!)

This will definitely be my last post before I'm off on a holiday for a bit. Thanks, everyone, for a GREAT 2011! A huge thank you to Glue Dots and Becky at Friendship's Garden for taking me on as a designer this term. This blog was started because of you all, and it's turning out to be such an amazing journey!! 

I'm looking forward to all 2012 has in store. It's going to be a great year!! Merry Christmas!!

Fall Owls

This was a fun little project to make. I was able to use some scrap paper (that, when it was given to me, I though I'd never use!) to make all of the layered elements: the moon, owls, and tree branch.

I started with a piece of solid navy cardstock and cut it to the shape of my $0.50 thrift-store-find picture frame. I cut the owls and branch using the Pumpkin Carving Cricut cartridge. This cut the branch and an owl in a frame of it's own, and I pieced out the parts I wanted (they were cut at 8" and 4").

I used my walnut ink and a sponge dauber to tint the paper in varying shades of brown and I used my Daffodil Delight Stampin' Spot to color the moon (I cut that freehand).

I used a Q-tip to put tiny dots of my shimmer paint onto the navy background as stars.

Everything was adhered with my permanent Glue Dots® dispenser (I love that thing!)

What a quick and easy (and cheap!) homemade Fall decoration!!

InLinkz.com

 I wrote this blog post while participating on the Glue Dots® design team

New Beginnings

Hey guys!!
You should be finding your way here from Carolyn's blog. If this is your first stop of the Friendship's Garden Blog Hop, click here to get back to the beginning.


I'm completely thrilled to write this post, because today marks a great beginning for Friendship's Garden, a brand new challenge blog I'm thrilled to design for (along with some other fabulously talented ladies). Our Lead Garden Girl, Becky, has worked tirelessly getting this amazing project up and running, and it already seems to be a resounding success!

To start out this new venture, we are challenging you with New Beginnings. New job? New baby? New toothbrush? If you can make a card about it, we'll take it!! The only requirement for our challenges: no stamping!! I'll admit I wasn't a huge 'stamper' to begin with, but I feel myself reaching for the ink and clear blocks continuously (probably because I'm not allowed to...drat that rebellious side of me!!). I've found myself getting pretty creative in conforming to the 'stampless' rule, and that's probably (*definitely*) a good thing.
The twist for this stampless challenge was to utilize a window on a card front. Here's my result:

I used my Cricut to cut out the window and I chose paper within one paper pack (you're almost guaranteed a cohesive-yes-mismatched look going this route) for all of my cut outs. I used pop dots to raise two of the clouds.
 
A huge thank you to Altered Angel and Designs on Cloud 9 for sponsoring this blog challenge!! Make sure that you stop on by and 'like' the Altered Angel and Designs on Cloud 9 Facebook pages here:

Altered Angel Facebook

Designs on Cloud 9

and visit their websites here:

Altered Angel

Designs on Cloud 9

I'd love it if you followed by blog! Make sure to comment on this post and then hop on over to CherylAnn's page for her take on New Beginnings.

Dena

Ciska

Carolyn

Erin {you are here}

CherylAnn {is your next stop}

Becky

Happy New Beginnings, Friendship's Garden!!

Ghoultide Blog Hop

Welcome to the Ghoultide Blog Hop!! If this is your first stop on the hop, click here to get back to the beginning at Angela’s blog (don’t worry, you’ll end up back here eventually!) 

I love these little guys!! I’ve been mildly obsessed with owls for the last few years (I’d like to think that I was the beginning of the current owl trend). I’ve posted before about my daughter’s first birthday party with an owl theme and my little collection at home is growing.

I’m usually not one to buy punches. As a scrapbooker, first and foremost, a single image at a specific size gets a bit repetitive throughout an entire scrapbook, and I can’t justify spending the money on a punch when my Cricut is so much more flexible.

The exception is this:

Stampin' Up! Owl Punch

I love this thing.

When I first got it, everyone in the office knew it, because everyone got two or three little owls to hang around their area (I mean, since I love owls so much, they must, too, right??)

I’ve been looking for more ways to utilize it, and this seemed like a perfect opportunity to punch away!

These were so fun to make. It was like playing dress up with my favorite doll and almost as fun as torturing a poor little dog with baby clothes and a hair bow. 

The possibilities, and themes, are endless for these little guys! Not only Halloween, but Christmas, Easter, President’s Day (could you imagine these things on Mt. Rushmore?!)

Here's your chance to win!! Follow my blog and leave me a comment on this post of which H-owl-o-ween tag is your favorite! Three of you will each be getting two of these little lovelies just in time for your October decorating. I'll be using Random.org to choose the winners, and they'll be announced here on Monday, October 3rd, so be sure to stop back!!

Hope you enjoyed my project, and now you’re off to see what your nineteenth stop (Debbie Wilson) created (I’m sure it’s amazing!!).

Debbie’s Blog

Happy H-owl-o-ween!!