Off the Rails Scrapbooking: Messy

Adding Texture on a Mixed Media Canvas by Nicole Doiron

Hello to all my dear fabulous readers at Off the Rails Scrapbooking!

here today to share with you a step by step tutorial

on how to create lots of texture on a mixed media canvas

that I created for the October mood palette challenge.

Without further ado, let's get on with getting our hands messy!

First step, I added a heavy coat of acrylic gesso on my canvas

that will help seal all the different mediums that I've added on after.

A little Distress Crackle Paint is always a good way to add a cool effect

on your base. It creates cracks in your paint when dry.

I later on realized that the colour wasn't exactly what I wanted

so I covered the beige spots with white paint but the cracks still showed through

which is what is awesome about crackle paint!

I then used 2 of my favorite stencils and with thick molding paste,

I added some nice designs to my canvas.

Next up was time to add colour. This process is always very long for me as

I normally have no clue what I'm doing and what final result I will get.

The main thing is to not think too much about it and not be too hard on yourself.

There is ALWAYS a way to fix any spots on your canvas that you don't really care for.

Here, I sprayed on some Perfect Pearls Mist.

I then dabbed a lot of Distress Stain on to the stenciled design.

Here, you see the aftermath of many spritz of Heidi Swapp Colour Shine

which are some of my favorite mists. I then used my heatgun

to dry all these different products in order to go on to the next step.

I dabbed on some liquid glue here and there on my base

and then sprinkled on and glitter. Then, using my finger (I told you

it would get messy!), I mixed up the sparkly stuff with the glue

to make sure that it got really stuck to the canvas,

in preparation for the heat gun.

Even after all that, I just didn't have enough texture,

so I used some more crackle paint, this time in white.

Finally, I dabbed on some acrylic paint, metallic aquamarine and white,

all over my canvas. I always use lots of white paint all over my projects...

it blends together every colour so nicely and gives a lovely whitewash effect

which I just love.

Here are 3 close-up details of the added texture:

This is my finished project which you have seen during the mid month reveal: