Destination Inspiration - Terminal 3

Hello everyone.  Alison here, arriving at Terminal 3 of Destination Inspiration.  Just to remind you, here are the contents of the travel bag for this month:

Substrate - canvas

Colour - teals/turquoises

Product - acrylic paint

Technique - layering stencils

And here's the 7 x 5 inch canvas board which I produced using those contents...

Generally, the projects which the Creative Guides come up with are all really different - amazingly so, given we're all working with the same basic contents - but this time there is some surprising overlap with one of my team-mates.

I was surprised and amused when I saw Julia's beautiful project last week.  In essence it's not anything like my project, but not only did we pick the same main stencil to work with (what are the chances, with so many to choose from?)...

... but there are also those three points of visual stimulation - small circles in dark brown.  Hers are buttons and mine are screw heads, but still!

I guess somewhere we were sharing a wavelength!  But back to the matter in hand.  I used some of Seth Apter's Wood Chips for this piece - the long, elegant frame and panel, layered to create dimension.

As you can see, the basic layout was simple, but then I went through a number of versions of the stencilled background before I was happy to continue.  Thankfully, there's still plenty of canvas texture even though I painted over it all multiple times!

I ended up liking the scumbled look on the right, to which I added some Broken China DI through Tim Holtz's Nordic stencil.  I clear embossed it in places for a touch of light-reflectivity.

Over that I layered Tando's mini clock stencil...

... and added some detail stamping with one of Andy Skinner's industrial stamps as well as some splatter, and finally I had a background I was happy to go ahead with!

After that it was all lots of fun.  I layered up plenty of paint on Seth's Wood Chips, some in his own Fresco paint colours, some not.

And I added some stamping too - more of Andy's stamps, some stamped in Aquamarine Archival and some in Snowflake Fresco paint.

There's some Rose Quartz Treasure Gold in there somewhere too, just adding a little glint to those fantastic rugged edges.

The frame and panel support the photo of the boy and his dog - for some reason it's often little boys who trigger the "Lost and Found" words for me... it's why I tried so hard to get that particular stencil into the mix originally, I think.  There's clearly some sort of connection in my brain.

But in the absence of the stencil, I found a great substitute in the form of the Idea-ology Quote Chips.  I've inked them and added just a touch of the Rose Quartz around the edges.

I really love this new way of adding words to projects - they have great presence and solidity, which gives the words weight and power within whatever you are making.

I added some extra stamping to the background with the same industrial stamp, but this time in Aquamarine Archival ink to echo the stamping on the Wood Chips.

I used some of the new Idea-ology Design Tapes to add background detail.

And the rusty wire around the Photobooth photo gives a grungy dimensional finale to the framing structures.

Then it was about final touches...  I added some turquoise glass crystals at various points around the frames.

They're from a certain Swedish furniture store, and I think they're actually intended to go in vases with dried flowers or something.  They catch the light beautifully.

The trio of screw heads (Calico Craft Parts lightly altered with some ink and Treasure Gold for a slightly metallic look) allow the eye to travel around the canvas spotting extra details.

So from a slightly sticky start, I ended up really enjoying myself with this, and shopping my stash too (those glass crystals have been awaiting an appearance for at least three years!).

Thanks so much for pausing with me at Destination Inspiration.  Another of the Creative Guides will be along next Monday so come and see what they create with their travel bag contents.

I hope you're inspired to come and play along in our birthday challenge this month.  Brenda's inviting us "All Aboard!" for an anything goes theme, and we'd love you to come and join us on the journey.  Happy crafting all!

Alison x 

Words and Pictures