Fly away with me!

This week has been a roller coaster of sickness.  Not horrible, I-need-emergency-care sick, but allergies turned to cough, turned to aches.  Blah.  Hopefully, my sick for the year has been done.  But, this sick couldn't keep me away from crafting. 

I saw a CUTE and simple picture done by Ashley Ann.  Check it out here.  Plus, her blog is FULL of cute photos, crafts, inspiration. 

Here's what I made!

There's lots of texture and color, which I really love.  Not totally perfect, but anything too perfect, is scary (to me).

Now to do it yourself!

Take a canvas, any size.  I used one that my mom already painted on.  Then, I covered it in masking tape.  Make sure all the edges are pressed down well.  If you don't, make sure you paint it really really well!

As you can see, I've taken little bits of tape and haphazardously placed them in different spots.  Again, more texture, more interest. 

Then, I painted the whole canvas in Behr's Glorious Gold.  I had this color from a trunk I painted. 

You can see the texture better in this one.

After the paint dried, I took my favorite Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Spiced Marmalade.

I took my applicator tool, with a felt pad, and dabbed that in the ink and started rubbing it all over my canvas.  I made sure to highlight the "grains" of the tape and the edges.  This is my less messy version of the glaze.  You can always take a darker yellow or orange and water that down and splatter it on your canvas.  Then rub it into the cracks and edges with a paper towel.  I've done that before and it's a breeze.  Just make sure your darker color is watered down quite a bit, and wipe it quickly before it dries.

You can really start to see the texture pop through.  Although the ink pad looks a lot darker, it really highlights the Glorious Gold.  (haha I love the name of that paint.  it is glorious!)

Next, I found scrapbooking paper that was interesting in pattern.  I really like the way the pink popped on the yellow.  Plus, it goes with the colors of my studio.   I freehanded and bird and a few leaves.  Cut them out and placed them on the canvas.  (I got carried away and forgot to take pictures of those steps... oops!)

Once, the items were arranged how I liked, I used ModPodge to glue the paper to the canvas.  Be careful because the paper will tend to bleed its colors onto your canvas.  Then, I freehanded some branches to the leaves with a pencil.  I learned that once you write on glossy paint with a pencil, you're pretty much committed.  I used Craft Smart brand paint in Espresso for the branches.

After my whole arrangement was dry, I took it into the garage and sprayed it down with clear spray paint.  This will give a sheen to the paint and the paper, which weren't glossy to begin with. 

Ta da!  Very simple.  It took me a few hours to do this one.  I'm thinking about experimenting to see what else I come up with!  If you do a canvas painting, e-mail me a picture or link me to your blog.  I would love to see it!

(I was having problems with my blogger, so forgive this weird formatting.  I'll fix it ASAP!)