A Sign of Spring

Hello and welcome to my blog  :)   I have a mixed media canvass to share with you today, one of my samples for Chocolate Baroque's tv shows.  I have used stamps from the Lilly, Hyacinth and Breath of Spring sets; acrylic paints, black Versafine ink, liquid pearls, and Pebeo acrylics.

I started by stamping the Hyacinth several times onto the canvass using black Versafine.  I stamped two images and masked them, then stamped a third and masked it.  I then painted the whole canvass with blue acrylic, when it was dry I sponged silver paint all over to add more texture.




When the paint was dry I stamped several silhouette stamps around the flowers using black ink, and embossed the images with clear powder. 

I removed the masks and started to paint the flowers in the folk art style.  I used lilac and white acrylic and a small round brush which I double dipped in the paints.  That means that I dipped the brush into both colours, the colour that I dip into last will be the first and prominent colour of whatever I'm painting.  With these images each little petal was painted in one brush stroke, the double dipping technique gives each petal a lovely marbled effect.

Once all the petals were finished I painted the leaves, double dipping the brush into white and green.

I wanted to add a sentiment and I decided to create a distressed, Vintage style label.  I took a piece of white card and stamped the 'Breath of Spring' poem in black then embossed it with clear powder.  I tore the card around the poem to give a distressed uneven look.  I then blended DI all over the card and edged it with a darker tone.

I decided to add another layer so I stamped and embossed the butterfly from one of the silhouette images in black ink onto white card, then embossed with clear powder.  I painted the image and cut it out, then I attached it to the canvass. 

I attached the label to the canvass next with dimentional glue which adds another layer.  To complete the design and add more texture I used Liquid Pearls to accentuate the silhouette images and Stickles to add centres to the flowers.  I then rubbed silver gilding wax around the edges of the canvass.

I had a lovely time creating this canvass, using lots of my favourite techniques and of course these beautiful stamps.  This little canvass makes a lovely piece of home decor and would make a great present for anyone.  Thank you very much for popping by today, I hope you've enjoyed this post and that I'll see you again soon  :)