Canvas art with Rosemary

Making Canvas Art

I enjoyed making my Canvas Art for the February Moodboard so I thought I would share how I did it!

The photo is of Direction Island, one of the Cocos Keeling Islands way out in the Indian Ocean. Fabulous place for a holiday if you like the beach and snorkelling!

My inspiration to use the thongs was because the beaches on the ocean side of the lagoon were littered with flotsam and jetsam including many many abandoned thongs!!

All about the islands there were pretty cool art creations using this junk!

I came home with a hankering to do something similar and am really pleased with the result!

I used a 14 x 14 inch canvas which had been triple primed so my first step was to apply texture paste through a stencil.

I used Golden Gel Medium Light Moulding Paste over a Tim Holtz Layering Mini Stencil( the brick pattern coming from the moodboard).

I usually leave my projects with moulding paste overnight to dry however one can use a heat tool if one has the patience!!

Once dry I painted strips with Jane Davenport Acrylic Paints

It was at this time that I thought maybe a coat of white gesso on the canvas before I started might have been a good idea as it took a few coats of paint to give the colour that I was happy with.

My next step was to lightly coat my chipboard and title with white Gesso.

 I also coated the outer sides of my photo mat.

 I cut some cheesecloth

and distressed the edges with my fingers

I chose blue for the outer edges of my photo mat

I played around  with where I wanted to place my photo and other features and once I was happy with the placement I took a photo, so I could reference back to it later.

 I don't know if other people work this way but I find it helpful.

I thought the white made a good contrast so I embossed my chipboard and title with Versamark Ink and Altenew Crisp Embossing Powder - Pure White.

The chipboard was Blue Fern studios Chipboard  - Seaside Shells

the title, Kaszazz Chipboard word - Timeless

 Once this was all  done it was time to lay it all down!!

 I glued the thongs down with a hot glue gun.

I  layered the base of my photo with strips of cardboard so that the photo would sit flat across the canvas between the two thongs!

I encountered the same issue with the Kaisercraft Paper Blooms- Sea Breeze but I just layered up the double sided foam mount

                           The chipboard and title I attached with Prima Art Basics 3d Matt Gel

                   I also used the gel too, with a fine paintbrush to stick down the sequins( Dress My Sequins - Sea Breeze).

Voila!!

This canvas now hangs in my home, a lovely reminder of the fab holiday we had in 2014!!!

I had  great fun making this canvas!

 I would really encourage you to give a go!

 Worst comes to worst and you don't like where it is going  you can just cover it all with a layer or

 two of gesso and start again!!

Thanks for visiting.

Rosemary.

Embossing technique with Rosemary

Hi Crafters

It's Rosemary and today I am sharing share how I highlighted the shoe stamp on my Inspiration page.

I thought the shoe stamp was very "chic!"

Gather your supplies-

-Carabelle Studios Stamps - Girly 

                                  Altenew Crisp Embossing powder Pure White Opaque

                                  Anti static pillow
                                Versamark ink (or Embossing Ink)      
                                acrylic block
                                 heat tool

Wipe the part of the page where you want your stamp to be with your antistatic pillow- this stops the embossing powder sticking where you don't want it!

Place your stamp on the acrylic block, making sure it is not upside down or sideways!

apply Versamark ink

and stamp your page.

Then generously sprinkle the embossing paste over your stamped image

It is handy to have 2 biggish sheets of paper folded in half. 

lay them on top of each other, 

Tip excess embossing powder off your page onto the top folded paper.

Then you can gently fold that and pour the embossing paste back into the jar it came in!

This is a good way to prevent wastage of your embossing powder, though I invariably lose some of it!!

 If you get the some of the  powder where you don't want it you can very delicately flick it away with a fine paintbrush - but be careful you don't swipe the image itself and muck it all up !😞

Now all that is left is to use your heat tool to set the embossing powder

I'm loving the Altenew Crisp Embossing Powder as all you need to do is hold the heat tool over the powder for a few moments, move it across the image and you see it setting as you go!

 You don't need a lot of heat on the one spot for long and you don't need to wave the heating tool above it - just hold over the image and move across it!

Of course the usual techniques to stamping apply, such as getting an even spread of the Versa mark ink over the stamp, not leaving it too long before covering with the embossing powder, and not burning the paper underneath by holding the heat gun too long in the one spot.

If you haven't tried this technique before maybe practice a few times before you go straight to your scrapbook page!!

If you look at my page you can see I  used 49 and Market Gabi's Line stitch stamp as a border.

This time I used the Altenew crisp Embossing Powder Translucent Pearl and

 it gave me a lovely way  to frame  my page.

Thanks for visiting.

Rosemary

Making your own flourish with Rosemary

Hi Crafters

Rosemary with you today.

A great way to create another layer for your page or card is to create something yourself.

I made this flourish for my Steampunk page.

Step 1 - gather your supplies

non stick mat

silicone mould of choice

Anna Griffin Embossing Paste- White Finish

In this case I used Finnabair Art ingredients Mica Powder - Rust

My trusty spatula !

Step 2

I scooped up a generous dollop of Embossing paste and added some of the Mica Powder-

A little goes a long way.

I wasn't totally sure how the colour would turn out but it I knew it would be in the brown tones which I needed for my page.

Step 3

Mix it well

It looked weird at first but it dried to a beautiful chocolatey colour which suited me perfectly

Step 4

 Swipe the paste across the silicone mould as one does for texture paste and stencils.

Be careful not to have too much over the edges off the pattern. 

 I left it overnight to dry properly.

Step 5

Gently remove from the mould

When you take it out out it is quite flexible.

Step 6

I found I needed to tidy up some of the edges with a scalpel.

                                                                and there you have it

There is quite a range of silicone moulds available , feathers, leaves, lace etc.

Here is a link  from the store I bought my supplies from which shows in much greater detail all the great things you can do with this technique.

embossing paste and silicone moulds

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and I'm looking forward to viewing this months challenge entries!

Happy Crafting

Rosemary