by Karen Endress | Nov 1, 2016 | Mixed Media
While cruising the clearance aisle at Michaels one day I saw some canvas letters. I didn’t need a leftover ‘Q’ or a ‘Z’ or ‘V,’ so was about to give them a pass when I spotted an ‘I’. I decided for only $.20 it would make a nice little canvas 🙂
It’s only 8”x2 ¾”x1” and the “Scatter Joy” vellum (see complete quote attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson here) piece fit onto it perfectly. I had that vellum in my stash for a long time along with some clearance napkins from Joann Fabric. I used the top layer of the napkin for the main background of white, blue & green floral and stripe patterns, positioning it so the blue pattern appeared on either side of the canvas.
The next layer was Golden fluid acrylic in green gold spread through The Crafter’s Workshop “Art Is” stencil. I also brushed the same acrylic onto the rest of the canvas and rubbed it off in several places with a baby wipe to let the background show through. At this point I also added some gesso to tone down parts using my finger rather than a brush.
Other layers included Golden molding paste through sequin waste on the top left and bottom right as well as some Tim Holtz Botanical Remnant Rubs rub-ons (flowers & music staff) in the opposite corners. I tore positive affirmations from Christy Tomlinson’s She Art coffee filter sheets text and placed them around the canvas.
Last was the quote, which I trimmed closely around the letters and used a very light touch with some of the green acrylic around the edges to integrate it. I smudged a Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pen from this set to add a bit of shadow around the quote.
I used Liquitex Matte Medium to adhere all the elements, including to seal on the rub-ons. It has always held everything for me with no problem but for some reason it just didn’t want to work on that vellum. I had a terrible time trying to get the quote to stick! Perseverance 🙂
Scatter joy! Karen
by Karen Endress | Oct 13, 2016 | Hello--Thinking of You
As so often happens, you can follow the progression of my card making from scrap to scrap, so here’s another look at that oh so pretty Echo Park floral paper (We Are Family by Lori Whitlock) I used recently. It’s very similar to one of the papers in the My Mind’s Eye On Trend 2 collection by Jen Allyson (which I also have, so at least I’m consistent!). There’s just something I love about the shape of those little flowers!
This was a simple card, the part that took the longest was deciding what to use on top of the flags in the top left corner! As usual, Neenah Solar White 80 lb. for the cardbase, layered with the EP paper. The black & white side strips are the reverse of the floral paper. And if those aqua flag ends look just perfectly cut…well, they are!! Because I didn’t do it! These are from the Teresa Collins Studio Gold 7 Labels pack and they’ve come in very handy already 🙂
I used two more as a base for the sentiment. The hello is die cut from The Crafter’s Workshop hello die from scrap black cardstock which I layered onto one cut from black craft foam to give it more dimension. The “friend” part was stamped with The Paper Studio “Everyday Expressions” which has many useful single words.
To finish off the card I finally found the perfect match for that top corner—a heart shaped “button” epoxy chipboard sticker from a really old Heidi Grace collection called “Cartwheel.” The bling is from KaiserCraft in aquamarine. Stash!! I did add one more touch (unfortunately after I photographed) which was to fill the holes in the heart with silver Stickles.
As you can see from the photo, they’re just these two gaping holes & I had no matching fibers at my temporary craft area (a.k.a. the dining room table.) I’m hoping to do a post soon on this and the fun I’ve had there with my crafty friends this month then carry it all back up to my real craft room. My DH has been VERY understanding of the mess so far, but…
Blessings! 
