A Blank Canvas!

Our current series of mid-month posts at Stamping Sensations is showcasing various techniques. Each DT member will choose either a favourite technique or one they haven't tried before. This month it's my turn, and I've gone for the latter. I've always wanted to try a mixed media canvas but haven't done so before now because I didn't know where to start. I decided this was the time to have a go!

Step 1 was to sit with the blank canvas (7" x 5") in front of me and stare at it, hoping for inspiration to strike! This took quite some time!

Eventually I decided on a nature theme, and Step 2 was to add some texture using a stencil (by Crafty Individuals) and relief paste (Colourcraft). I took the photo before the paste had dried. By the time it did so, it had sunk into the canvas a bit, and didn't stand out quite so much, but it still looked ok. I pressed on.

I added some punched leaves.

The next step was to paint it all, with acrylic paints. I also added a couple of laser-cut butterflies (Rayher).

So far, so good! I wanted to use some stamped images, but stamping on canvas is tricky. One way to get round the problem (you see - I've been doing some research!) is to stamp on to tissue paper and decoupage it on to your canvas. I stamped some images (Crafty Individuals) and  carefully tore round them. I also printed out some text on my computer.

I used diluted pva glue to decoupage the images on to the canvas. It makes the tissue paper transparent so that only the images show up. That's the theory, anyway!

Before adding the text, I sponged over it with pigment inks to tone it down a bit.

With hindsight, this would probably have been a good point to stop adding stuff, but there was a blank corner, and I felt the base needed something to hold everything in. I decided the blank corner was missing some birds, which I found on a scrap of Crafty Individuals background paper. The base received some small punched leaves, and the sides some chipboard leaves, all coloured with pigment inks.

And here's my finished canvas! Were I to do another, I would probably do some things differently, for instance some of the initial elements ended up mostly hidden, but I'm not too dissatisfied with it as a first attempt.

We  already have lots of wonderful entries for our May Challenge, for which the theme is "Anything Goes", but there's still plenty of time to enter. (Or enter again, if you have already! You can enter up to three projects.) And of course, there's the fab prize of a £35 voucher from our lovely sponsors, Crafty Individuals. I hope I might have inspired you to have a go at a mixed media canvas. The hardest part was getting started! Once I'd got over that it was easier than I thought, and although it is a long way from perfect, the main thing, I think, is to experiment and enjoy the process. I certainly did!