Did I say I was gonna get crafty?

Yup, I think I did say that on Sunday and I kept to my word and immersed myself in mixed media on canvas ALL DAY...like the ENTIRE DAY! I made two canvases, the first which I have had in my head ever since doing the Stamping Bella make and take at the Kitchener Scrapfest back in April. That was the kicker that sucked me in, I was soooooo happy that day!

This little gem was done on a 4x6 canvas using Stamping Bella's julie's SPRING BUTTERFLIES, a little bit of imagination and a tip from da Bella herself.

How'd I do it? Well I started with a blank canvas and applied a coat of gesso. Then I knew I wanted a green and yellow background so just applied some golden paint randomly (any type of folk art paint would work, come on, I know you have some stashed away!). To add some interest to the background I pulled out my crafters workshop stencils and added some subtle shades of colour, again, with the golden paints and a sponge. I thought I might add some texture so stenciled some flowers with a lightweight modelling paste (like liquitex, or Dreamweavers). But then I didn't like them so sponged on some colour to cover them up. The beauty of mixed media...don't like it....just cover it up...and the texture still remained. You can barely see it in the lower right corner.

Then came the butterflies, I stamped them with stazon black ink on tissue paper, cut them out and glued them on with mod podge...THAT IS THE BELLA TIP that I learned at Scrapfest. Once dry, I painted them up with Claudine Hellmuth paint and added some detail with a black pen and white paint. I've got to say, LOVE that paint...it is soooo yummy and creamy! Finally (well i thought it was final) I added some rub on's here and there, stamped the 'take flight' with a cheapie $1 bin alphabet that I bought somewhere and covered everything up with a coat of matte medium. After I thought I was done I had a final thought to add some liquitex glass beads that I bought at Blick's while in Chicago. I thought I really needed that stuff...but you know what...you could do the same thing with glossy accents and loose glass beads. I'll admit, a total waste of money there! Plus it took FOREVER to dry.

And that's it! I lovinly placed it in a 5x7 shadow box frame, hence the not-so-great pic because of the glare and hung it at my day job desk along with my other canvas stuff! I must say, the day job is becoming a happier place when I'm surrounded with things like this! Speaking of my other canvases, YES I have a few and will blog them here in the next week or so. They make me sooooo happy!

see ya all on Friday for our Ribbon Challenge over at Emily's blog.