Springtime in Paris Mixed Media Canvas

Welcome back to my blog! Today I want to share a very special project I created, recently, for Craft Source. Craft Source is a new, members only website, where for a $35 membership fee you can join and take advantage of deeply discounted craft products, bundled buys, exclusive tutorials and product review videos, monthly challenges and much more.They offer tons of bundled products and bulk buys. So the more you shop, the more you save and the products are discounted 15-35% everyday. Sometimes even more! For a limited time, the membership fee has been reduced to $25 so if you want to take advantage of this great offer you can sign up here.

Springtime in Paris

I started off with a 12x12 canvas and primed it with a light coat of gesso. Then I adhered two large pieces of music sheet to the top right and bottom left corners. I spread my homemade texture paste all over the canvas, heavy in some areas and lighter in others.Love this stuff because it creates such great texture and small cracks

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I used a damask stencil and Faber Castell Whipped Spackle to create even more texture. Then I used  Lindy's Stamp Gang Flat Fabio sprays in T- Bird Turquoise and Ocean Breeze Blue and sprayed it all over the canvas. Because the Flat Fabios don't have any shimmer, I mixed up some Finnabair Mica Powder in Teal with a bit of water inside a spray bottle. I sprayed this mixture onto the canvas and even created drips along the flower clusters for a shadow effect.  Next, I went over the top of the damask texture with Faber Castell's Texture Gems in gold. I just dabbed it over the tops with my finger to add a gold shimmer. You can also see  some of the stamping I did with Fiannabair's Messy script stamp and the spattering of paint I created.

The theme of the canvas is Springtime in Paris, so I made sure to include tons of flowers on my project. The tree branches are cut from chipboard using Tim Holtz's Bird Branch die. I cut off the bird and glued 3 pieces together. Then I painted them a dark brown color and painted a coat of white acrylic paint on top of that. I distressed the branches with a sanding block to reveal some of the brown underneath. The tiny leaves are from an old punch and the small pink flowers are by Prima. I love the way the flower clusters turned out. You can see bits of cheesecloth and lace peeking out and the gold berries really pop!

The Eiffel Tower image is from the internet. I printed it out and framed it with a small frame from my local craft store. I dabbed the once green frame, with white acrylic paint and more of the gold Texture Gems using my fingers. The little resin birds are Prima Shabby Chic treasures also dabbed with Texture Gems, this time in platinum. I love the sheen, the Texture Gems create.

Where there are flowers, there are butterflies. I stamped some butterflies on vellum and heat embossed them with gold embossing powder. Then I just cut them out and placed them throughout my canvas.

I spelled out "Paris" with some alpha stickers dabbed with acrylic paint. Then I added Finnabair's Art Ingredients Glass Bleads in Crystal to the bottom left corner. There is some on the top corner too, but it gets covered by the flowers.

Almost everything I used to create my canvas can be found at Craft Source. They are your go to shop for just about all your crafting needs. Take advantage of the limited time membership offer of $25 and sign up today! 

Thanks for stopping by today, and I'll see you all real soon!

Shabby Chic Castle

Hey guys! I just realized I haven't posted anything in over a month. I've taken on some new responsibilities and have been sooo busy!
Today I want to share a design team project that I created for Not2Shabby. This is actually my last month designing for Jamie's shop and I'm sure going to miss it. Jamie sent me an adorable set of stamps this month, including La La Land Crafts Sassy Princess Marci. As soon as I saw her I knew I had to do something involving a castle.. While perusing the aisles at my local craft store, I came across a castle birdhouse made out of wood and thought it perfect for my project.Check it out.

Sassy Princess Marci in her castle.

I painted the wooden birdhouse with Vanilla acrylic paint and Light Pink paint by Craftsmart. Then I used a stamp that resembled stone texture and Pumice Stone Distress Ink to stamp all around the walls of the castle.

It's very subtle, but you can see a little of the stone look, the stamp created.

I colored Marci's skin and hair using my Copic Markers and used gold Stickles on her crown.Her outfit was paper pieced using scraps from an old collection by Melissa Frances.

The flowers and vines along the castle walls were die cut using Magnolia Doohickey dies and cardstock. I really love the look of the vines against the castle walls.

I made a little flag for the top of the castle using my Spellbinders Banners die set and a bamboo skewer. Sassy Princess Marci comes with 3 sentiments and I chose the "once upon a time" sentiment to stamp onto the flag.I also created a mini flower bed out of a matchbox and some more Doohickey dies. Isn't it cute?

 Here's another full view from the side.

I think this piece would look so cute in a little girl's room or make for a cute centerpiece for a Princess theme party. Too bad my little one has outgrown her princess phase.

Head on over to Not2Shabby and don't forget to use discount code "LIZRUSELL" to get 10% off your purchase. Jamie always has the cutest stamps at amazing prices.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you all real soon!