This is a unique challenge blog where we are inspired by and focus on the Vintage; shabby; mixed-media; art journaling; industrial, timeworn and steampunk genres and encompass the talent, flair, expertise and ideas of many artists that we are inspired by. We welcome all types of projects - cards, journaling, assemblage, layouts, albums, atcs, altered art in fact whatever you want to share (as long as it is in good taste).

Monday 13 April 2015

Destination Inspiration - April Route 2 - A Collection of Three

Hi, it's Brenda here with my DI piece for you today. The lovely Anne started us off last week with her interpretation of combining the four chosen components together for a project and of course I've used the same four - 
Product - Distress Paint
Substrate - Canvas
Technique - Grungepaper flowers (Vol 1 of Tim's CC3C Book, page 65)
Colour  -  Picket Fence


I have chosen to reverse my canvas and work on the back of it as it is more like a shadowbox and I love the depth it creates.


My canvas is 25 x 30 cms and I cut a piece of prepared canvas material (to fit in the reverse side) on which to create my background. (I buy canvas pads to do this). 
Sand over the surface of the canvas mat with a sanding block to distress the background area. 
Apply distress paints to your craft mat – dried marigold, victorian velvet & evergreen bough and spritz with water. Also spritz your piece of canvas and dip it into the paints to create a marbled effect. Heat dry. 
Take picket fence distress paint, apply it to your craft mat and again spritz with water, dip the canvas in to create some mottled patches and dry. Later you will see the lovely mottled effects that are created by starting with a base layer of the paints first.


Use light modelling paste and apply through a stencil to create a design. Leave to dry. 
Spritz with distress spays – tea dye, evergreen bough & tattered rose. Heat dry. You can see the mottled white showing through as the picket fence paint has acted as a resist. 


Place the stencil over the design again and dab picket fence distress paint over some of the texture paste pattern to bring it back to pure white again and leaving some with the colour absorbed. This gives another great mottled effect on the texture. 



Take the canvas and paint the wood that is showing with white gesso and then cover the edges with Tim’s tissue wrap. 



Layered Butterfly 
Die-cut and emboss Tim’s layered butterfly. Take your colour of choice from a set of oil pastels and colour all the embossed (raised) parts. (I even got into blending colours using a cotton bud). 


Dip it into a wash of dried marigold distress paint, blot and dry it and then spray with tea dye distress spray. When dry take the evergreen bough and spray a small amount onto your craft mat and spritze it quite heavily with water to get a more watery tone, then dip the wings into it and dry it. 


Finish by inking the edges lightly with walnut stain and then spraying with a gloss sealer to give the colours more pop and shine.


Cut two smaller butterflies from Tim's butterfly duo die and give them the same treatment, strange how the darker one looks so different in style.




Grungepaper Flowers 
I followed Tim’s instructions on P.65 of the CoC 1 to make the petals and then of course I followed my own route. 
When you have made up the flowers dip the petals in spritzed picket fence distress paint and dry. 


To get some colour on them I dipped them in both mustard seed and evergreen bough stains that had been spritzed with water and left them to dry. Next I dipped them in dried marigold distress paint – again spritzed with water on my craft mat. 
Then sand the edges and blend in walnut stain distress ink. 


Put the petal layers together with Tim brads or metal flowers with distress paints daubed over them. 


18. Dab picket fence distress paint onto a word band and gently wipe the paint off with your fingers leaving the colour to remain in the recessed letters. Dab the edges with potting soil archival ink pad.


19. Now start to assemble the canvas – dab picket fence distress paint over the tissue wrapped frame, spritz it and wipe some away from the words and adhere the background into the recess.



20. Gather some elements together to create some interest and dimension on the background collage and adhere these to the back. I added some shapes from die-cuts of the trellis frameworks die and I took a metal number 3 painted it with gesso and when dry gave it a thick coat of picket fence distress crackle paint. I don't think I made the gesso coat thick enough as the crackle began to flake away but I added some evergreen bough distress paint and then some gathered twigs distress stain, spritzed it with water and dried it off, then gave it two coats of thick clear embossing powder. This has sealed it and will now prevent the crackle paint coming off any more. I rather like the distressed fell to the finish.


21. I took a small wooden bird and a chipboard frame from my box, painted them with white gesso and blended tea dye and walnut stain distress ink over them and I also stamped some text onto them. 


The frame is going to help hold the flowers. (I wired it so the flowers can sit over it easily).


Some rafia .......


.....  the die-cut shapes .....


.... add some remnant rubs ..... 



.... and some wired paper to the flower collection.


.... and the reverse canvas has come together.



Look how neat the flowers sit over the corner raised up on the frame I added.


Well done if you've managed to read this far .....


.... I hope you have enjoyed seeing my interpretation of the four chosen components coming together.


Thanks for stopping by.

Have a great week.

hugs Brenda xxx


35 comments:

  1. Wow Brenda, that is just beautiful! Your canvas background treatment is wonderful and those butterflies are just stunning! Love the depth of colour you achieved on your grunge paper flowers and adding the frame underneath to give them some elevation was a great idea. Another wonderful Destinations Inspiration creation, love it!

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  2. Amazing Brenda!!! It's funny how there are techniques you learn and promptly forget so thank you for the reminder about the colour resist on those embossed butterflies. I love how much attention to detail you've given to each element and the way the Picket Fence touches have brought them all together. Jenny x

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  3. OMG, Brenda, this is absolutely beautiful canvas! I love your rich background and those stunning butterflies! The grunge dimensional flowers are fabulous! Can'take my eyes of this beauty! Brilliant creation! Thank you for sharing this with us!
    Branka x

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  4. Stunning Brenda, love everything about this!! The background looks fantastic, and yes, thanks for the reminder about the paint resist, the butterflies look brilliant all 3 together like that, and the trick with the frame underneath the flowers is genius too. A fantastic tutorial with great step by step photos. Your interpretation of the theme is so clever, love this!!

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  5. Not only a beautiful creation but you've shared all the steps AND the photos! I never remember all the process :-(

    I shall be bookmarking this one to revisit :-)

    Sally

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  6. Brenda, this is a vision of beauty!! I loved reading through the steps you took to create this beautiful masterpiece. I love how the third butterfly turned out, the flowers are absolutely stunning and the number 3 is a real triumph, it looks positively ancient! Absolutely gorgeous work and what a treasure to keep! Hugs, Anne xx

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  7. Wowzer that is gorgeous and all the different close ups showing all the beautiful steps you put together!

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  8. Brilliant Brenda! Thanks for your clear tutorial!
    xxx Margreet

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  9. This is gorgeous Brenda! what a wonderful mix of colors, textures and layers - I love the look using the back of the canvas - your lovely frame holding up the flowers is so creative - thanks for showing us just how you put this all together!

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  10. A stunning shadow box Brenda and I absolutely love your gorgeous flowers. The background looks wonderful and I love the colours techniques. Great idea to use the frame to support your flowers and the butterflies.........fabulous.

    I love this !!!!!

    Hugs Annie x

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  11. And here again a wow for this fabulous canvas! Thanks for the tutorial !

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  12. Out of this world gorgeous!!! Thank you for the step by step tutorial!

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  13. Lovely interpretation of the challenge, Brenda. Wonderful art as always. Helene

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  14. Stunning project. And i have enjoyed reading through the entire post and gazing at all the pictures.
    Thank you for explaining so detailed. I have enjoyed it a lot and it's so beautiful.
    Veerle

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    1. Superb tutorial and an uber stunning canvas Brenda. Thank-you for sharing each and every little tip. Nicola x

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  15. Ooh, how scrumptious! Glorious finish on the butterflies and the flowers - a really amazing canvas... this is shaping up to be another great month of DI inspiration.
    Alison xx

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  16. oh this is sooooo beautiful!! I absolutely love it!

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  17. Wow! This is so amazing, Brenda! I love each and every detail.

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  18. Brenda... Gosh I love your reversed canvas. It's so pretty, amazing and gorgeous. All the details are truly awesome. I enjoyed so much reading each step of your tutorial. And will keep your info. Might be abe to print it out on paper. I would love to make something more or less similar.
    The small frame you used.. It that a specific brand or just a dollar store find ?
    Thanks a lot for sharing your fabulous art with us and taking time to share such a detailed tutorial.
    Hugs from Monica... Spain

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  19. Brilliant and stunning frame Brenda! :)

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  20. it looks absolutely gorgeous, Brenda.

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  21. The canvas looks amazing, I love the colours and the flowers are perfect. Thanks for the step by step it's really helpful. x

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  22. Wow another amazing piece - love how you have reversed the canvas , used the frame to support the stunning flowers and created that gorgeous background xx Hilda

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  23. Wow - only just had chance to look at this in detail - stunning creation Brenda - love every bit of it. Thanks for all the technique tips too. Nikki x

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  24. Wow - this is fabulous - I love it!

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  25. Wow Brenda, I am just blown away by this beautiful project!! So much time and tlc put into every little detail! Fabulous textures, gorgeous colours and an incredible step by step tutorial!! LOVE IT!! hugs :)

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  26. Simply beautiful Brenda. Love the color combination and all the lovely details. So nice of you to share the details with us.

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  27. Wow Brenda, what an absolute beauty this is. A great step by step and the contrast of your tissue frame works so well with your background. What a great idea building up the corner with your little frame. Fabulous project.
    Julie xx

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  28. Hehehe - thank you Brenda for the "well done" for reading to the end... dear me... it was my pleasure. What a FANTASTIC step by step review and your project is totally amazing. I have done several reverse canvases and love them but the way you held those flowers up was ingenious. Your creation is MARVELOUS - just beautiful.j.

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  29. lovely miss brenda - colors are wonderful and I love that butterfly!

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  30. Oh my, Brenda - what a great piece you've made!! I absolutely LOVE your butterflies, and your flowers.....and thank you for the step outs on how you got that great background. Your colors are gorgeous, and I love how the spray of turquoise is captured also in the little butterfly! You are amazing! xxxx Lynn

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  31. so many beautiful deatils on here- all gorgeous!

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  32. Brenda, this is one fabulous canvas! Love the canvas background panel and all the steps you shared! The flower border is stunning and the butterflies as well! Wonderful tutorial and so easy to follow! Hugs!

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  33. Your canvas is stunning Brenda! The beautiful colours and textures make it look so vintage! And I LOVE LOVE LOVE the cracked metal 3! I love the way you dealt with the flaking crackle paint and covered with a layer of clear embossing powder, so clever. I gasped and scrolled back FOUR TIMES to have another look. Definitely going to try this out. Thanks for sharing.

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  34. Superb tutorial and fan-freakin-tastic reverse canvas! I just love everything about this wonderful creation! The crackle on the #3 is marvelous and genius idea to layer enamel over it so it doesn't brush off. TFS! ~Niki

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