Here Are A Few Of...

...my fave techniques! Well, for followers of my blog of old, you will know just how fickle I am when it comes to having favourites. Oh yesh, they change on an almost weekly basis... one week I will be loving pink and pretty, the next week it will be green and grungy. Well, this week sees me loving all things canvassy and painty and textured. Caz came over for a playdate on Monday - in between all the yakking (obvs that was her, not me, I am very shy and retiring as you know......ahem....) and the cake eating (again, force feeding me Vanilla slices she was) oh and the Cheesy Chester Cheeto eating (yes, I actually shared them... positively unheard of I know...) Where was I? Ah yes: we made some art! In the form of an 8" x 6" canvas that I have had lurking in my stash for 219 years.



I wanted to combine my love of adding stuff and then painting over the top with my love of that paper blocking technique I am always banging on about. So, the idea was to cover the front of the canvas with the first technique and sneakily add in the second technique on the edges - it is a deep edge canvas so perfect for this.




As you can see, I am influenced by the marvel that is Ania (click her name for her amazing blog) and the paper technique from 2Gypsy Girls (again, click their name...) The base of the canvas had some die cuts and punched shapes popped onto it. I added on strips of canvas and lacy borders, layering all the pieces over one another to make them all look as if they should be there together. Next came the painting... I used Eco Paints in Birch, Stormy, Mushroom and Lake and added in some Kaiser Antique White paint in too. Using Cut & Dry to apply the paints meant that I could blend all the colours together nicely.


I aimed to get a lighter area in the centre of the canvas so the floral decoration popped more from it. Using DecoArt Texture Paste, mixed with a smidge of Stormy paint, I spread this thru a couple of Crafters Workshops stencils - the floral one is an old fave and the chicken wire is a new addition, how cool is that huh? Another new favourite. Before I got all exciteable with the decorating, I used some 7Gyspies Notting Hill papers to patch around the edges - these are GORGEOUS, Caz brought them with her and I smiled ever so sweetly and she very generously parted with some for me... the colours are perfect for my tastes at the moment, am all about the blues and greens at the moment! Once the papers were patched on, I gave them a swoosh with watered down paint (I just spritzed my painty Cut & Dry foam and smooshed it over) And then I used Ranger's Glue & Seal to give it a seal. The Stabilo All pencil shaded the raised bits - as ever I blended the lines with a babywipe.


The decoration is a collaboration of Prima flowers and paper roses, DewDrops, microbeads, metal embellies and that cute ickle Prima resin birdy. I coloured him with Distress Markers - this is a FAB technique I saw on the one and only Wendy Vecchi's blog (again, click her name to see her amazeballs art) Who would have thought that Distress Markers would colour resin and once dried it would stay put eh? I got ever so brave too. I keep seeing Ania's beautiful creations and know she used a black spray. I tried this once before and goofed up the whole piece which was fed to the bin. So. I got all my flowers together away from the canvas, spritzed Dylusions Black spray at them (yes, I was squeezing my eyes shut and cringing) and then to tone this down I gave them all a zap with Vintage Green Cosmic Shimmer... I love the metallic effect this gives when popped onto black. Knowing that if I spritzed again I could ruin it all, I quickly glued them onto the canvas.



Anyways... that is today's mahooosive post! Don't forget to hop over to Caz's gorgeous canvas... she has got a craft room you know, she calls it her Den... so I have re-named it to be the Den of Deliciousness. Ooh and thank you for all your lovely comments on yesterday's post (yep, click the words to go there) There's still yonks to enter the draw to win my card btw... just sayin ;o)) Right, I shall away, the "to do" list now has 297 things on it... I know, it started growing again! Thanks for looking.... have a fab day... TTFN!

Hels x