Happy 2015!...

Holiday season 2014 is behind us now, and it was a nice, relaxing break. I hope yours was enjoyable and had a bit of relaxation mixed with a bit of fun!

I'm starting off the new year sharing a 12x12 mixed media canvas that I made for a crafty friend of mine...she loved it, so that made me smile. :)  She's a very crafty friend, this friend of mine, and the colors of this canvas are a mix of her favorites, and those of her sweet girl. So I resisted the urge to add any text other than that in the background stencil, so she can add some later if she chooses to. There's also room over on the left for her to tuck in a photo, if she wants, at a later date.

This post is a bit photo heavy, so I'll just get to it, and add a little description between the photos...

I didn't take step-out photos of the process, but I started by applying a few torn pieces of patterned paper on the left, and some pieces from an old poetry book on the right, and covering it all with a single coat of white gesso before starting any of the stenciling with texture mediums.  

Once the textures were dry, I applied the color mediums to the background. Here is where my process might differ from some you've seen videos of. Many people wait until all the embellishments are adhered to the canvas, then color the embellishments and backgrounds at the same time. I chose not to do this canvas that way this time, because I wanted some of the embellishment colors to contrast with other embellishments behind it, and that could be hard to do if they were all glued down already. 

So I colored my background first, then gesso'd all the background embellishments, and after getting an idea where I wanted them on the canvas, colored them before attaching them to the canvas. (Times like this are when a quick photo with your phone or camera helps you remember where you placed everything before you pulled it apart again to paint.) 

There's one long piece of beautiful wide lace that runs down the side of the embellishment cluster, and it got several colors sprayed on it to blend with the area of background color that would be behind it.

Once all the embellishments were adhered, I went back over some parts of them to intensify the colors a little. And once that was all done, I "shabbied up" the entire embellishment area with a dry-brushing of white gesso to blend everything together a bit more.

In the upper left corner, miscellaneous hardware pieces, a little rose, dyed twine, and multicolored seed beads...

The resin frame is accented with a once-silver "friends" word stone, and a once-white feathery pompom flower. The shape of all the small circles of twine was "cemented" by using plain clear-drying white glue on the twine, shaping it, and letting it air dry...

In the center, a potpourri of flowers, including another pompom that started out white, colored and layered among washers (the kind you buy at any hardware store) and buttons sugared with clear glitter, seed beads, and fun...

Over on the right of center, a metal bird on a branch with hanging letters spelling "SWEET" started out as dark bronze, but with the aid of some gesso and matte sprays, turned just the right shade of aqua...another dyed pompom, some metal photo corners gesso'd and painted, and seed beads and crystal gems scattered about...all anchored with some wonderful tattered diamond chipboard pieces... 

And finally, at the bottom, another eclectic mix of dyed and sugared buttons, flowers, and hardware surrounded by the end of the dyed lace piece, and a bit more of the tattered diamond chipboard...

Supplies:

Stencils:  Prima "Flourish";  The Crafters Workshop "Art is" and "Mini Time Travel"

Stamps:  Stampin' Up! "Gorgeous Grunge"          Die:  Cottage Cutz Tea Time Doily

Lace:  TheFunkieJunkie.com            Chipboard: Blue Fern Studios "Tattered Diamond Bits"         

 Mini Roses:   Wild Orchid Crafts            Resin frame & pompom flowers:   Melissa Frances          

Metal branch/bird/letters:   Prima Vintage Trinket

Color Mediums:   Lindy's Stamp Gang - Sprays: Tibetan Poppy Teal,  Tea Pot Purple,  Sweet Violet Purple Teal,

Caribbean Blue,   Red Hot Poker Orange

Lindy's Stamp Gang - Magicals:  Pop Rock Purple, Sweet Violet Purple Teal

Art Mediums:   Golden gesso;   Liquitex heavy gesso;   Studio 490 Crackle Texture Paste;  Golden matte gel medium;  Golden modeling paste

Miscellaneous:   clear coarse glitter,  seed beads,  buttons,  washers, miscellaneous metal hardware

If you've stuck it out to the end of today's post...thank you...and thanks for coming back to visit after my long holiday break.

I hope your week is starting with a smile!