At the Beach Canvas

Hi everyone!  Leigh Ann here today for Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts with a tutorial for a beach theme canvas.  My family recently took a trip to Myrtle Beach, SC so I used several shells I found, and a little sand from the beach in this project.

 I started by giving my canvas a coat of gesso to prime it, and then adhered my distressed pieces of paper to the canvas with soft matte gel.

Once the gel dried I whitewashed the canvas, my die cut wood pieces, and the net with gesso.

While the gesso dried I covered the pieces from the beach shape set with pumice stone effect paste.  I would suggest priming them with gesso first, but they turned out fine without it.  It just made them soft and harder to work with while the paste was drying. 

Once the canvas was dry, I used my Life Changing Brush to apply Chipped Sapphire Oxide to the sides and the edges of the front of the canvas.  

After applying the ink, I went back over it with more white gesso to blend the oxide ink more and give it a weathered look.

I then used a stencil to apply Light and Fluffy modeling paste to three sections of the canvas.  I also used a pallet knife to apply the modeling paste to the edges of the canvas.

While the canvas dried I embossed these pieces from the Acorn Border set with an Earth tone powder and a gold metallic powder.  The two smaller pieces are from the long border piece cut in half.

I embossed the largest piece from the seahorse set with the earth tone powder as well. 

Next I assembled all of the main pieces.  I like to keep my chipboard trash and use it to give pieces dimension in my mixed media projects.  I have plain chipboard glued under the wood planks, the large shell, and the seahorse to lift them off of the canvas.

Then I added some smaller shells and embellishments as well as art stones and glass glitter.

I gave the finished canvas some whitewashing with gesso and then used antique gold and copper waxes by Prima to highlight the embellishments. 

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial.  I used the following sets from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts to create this piece:

Acorn Border Set

Sea Horse Shape Set

Beach Shape Set

Happy Fall Wreath

Hi everyone!  Can you believe it is almost Thanksgiving, and Christmas isn't far behind.  You'd better get busy on your holiday decorations, and here is one that should be quick and easy to make, and look great, too!

I am using the largest of the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Wreath Rings as my base, along with the Page Frame Flourished and the Chickenwire Large.  That should be a really good start.  Separate the largest wreath from the two smaller ones.

Adhere wreath ring to the back of 12x12 printed scrapbook paper.

Trim excess paper from outer and inner edges of ring.  Save inner circle piece to use later.

Turn ring over, back side up, and glue chickenwire to back of ring.  The color of the bare chipboard is perfect for Fall, so I didn't change it in any way.  Set aside to dry.

With a stiff bristle brush, like a stencil brush, apply Vintage Gold Metallique wax over the page frame flourished.  If you don't have this wax, you can certainly use a metallic gold acrylic paint instead.

This step is optional, but I guess I was in a super blingy mood.  Apply Cosmic Shimmer glue to a makeup sponge and dab the glue randomly over the page frame flourished.  (TIP:  If you don't have this glue, you can use Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue or any glue that dries tacky).  Then apply the gilding flakes to the glued areas.  Be sure to turn all fans off as this stuff flies around very easily.

Use a clean, stiff stencil brush to remove excess gilding flakes.  Use the brush to pick up the flake "crumbs" and move them into exposed glue spots.  I did not try to cover the entire frame with the gilding flakes.

Your piece should look something like this.

Glue the page frame to the wreath ring.  Set aside to dry.

Wrap Fall multi-colored trim around wreath ring and glue ends to the back.

Ink the words "Happy" and "Fall" from the Fall Word Set with Versamark  ink and heat emboss with gold embossing powder.  I embossed the words twice to get smooth coverage.

Grab two small tags, add adhesive and glue them to back of the same print paper.  I used the circle portion that was left from covering the wreath ring in the step above.

 

Trim excess paper from around the tags and edge with the Vintage Gold Metallique wax.  Adhere the words "Happy" and "Fall" to each tag, as shown.

I misted my small sunflowers with Tattered Angels Golden Terracotta glimmer mist to give them a more orange tint that would match my large sunflower.  Set flowers aside to dry.

Add sunflowers, word tags, leaves, and vines to finish off the wreath.

Supplies Used:
GSL Wreath Rings
GSL Page Frame Flourished
GSL Chickenwire Large
GSL Fall Word Set
GSL Small Tag Set
Cosmic Shimmer Gilding Flakes
Cosmic Shimmer Flake & Glitter Glue (or Tombo Mono Multi Liquid Glue)
Art Alchemy Vintage Gold Metallique Wax (Prima/Finnabair)
Fall multi-color trim, flowers, leaves, vines (Hobby Lobby, Michaels)
Stencil brushes
Golden Terracotta Glimmer Mist (Tattered Angels)
Versamark Ink Pad
Gold Detail embossing powder
Heat tool

I hope you enjoyed today's project and will consider making one, or two, or three, of these truly fun, fast, and easy home decor wreaths.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful time making things for the holidays.

Barbara