And I'm going to show you how!
We made these small 4 x 4 canvas prints at this months club meeting. It's a little something you can give as a gift or use as home decor. We finished it off with a fun little 3D butterfly using our new simply pressed clay. I know it's not available for another week but I have had so much fun playing around with it I just had to share it with my ladies. Start with just a few supplies:
4 x 4 canvases (use a coupon and they are about $2 a piece. A .99¢ bottle of white acrylic paint (plenty for about 9 canvases. A foam brush, a favorite sky colored reinker (used marina mist) and a stamp. Just Believe in this case.
I mixed a quarter amount size of white acrylic paint with the Marina mist reinker, 2-3 drops. We painted our canvases with this mixture. Leaving some nice streaks of white all the way to darker blue. Lovely! Set this aside to dry. This only takes about 30 minutes or zap it with your heat tool to speed dry it which is especially easy with the new heat tool that has 2 settings, one for drying one for embossing. Then mix another quarter amount of white acrylic paint with some basic black ink refil to make a medium gray. Paint this onto you stamp and stamp on the canvas.
Two things to note: You need to fill the canvas cavity (behind the painting) with something firm so you can stamp on it and it stamps clearly. I found that 2 "C" size clear blocks fit perfectly inside and gives you a firm foundation for stamping. Secondly you might wonder why gray? This gives you a nice base color to add color to later (I will explain adding color in a minute) and you can see it good when it dries. I found that stamping just in white was very very difficult to see when it dried. The gray was great for depth of color also.
Let this dry again. While it's drying we sponged on some fun color by adding a beautiful sun to the corner. I punched a 1 3/8" circle in the center of a scrap of cardstock and sponged on some pumpkin pie and a little daffodil delight with a sponge dauber. I made a little glow by off-setting the circle and adding a daffodil delight "halo" to the sun.
Finally it's time to add some color to our stamped image. We did this several ways but mostly by using the Stampin' Up! Markers. I varied between the fine line writing edge of the marker and the brush side. I varied my colors. I know mine doesn't look like the bleeding heart or iris type of flower but that's what is nice about ART you can make it your own and mine are....um...a nice purply wildflower yet to be named. Yeah that's it and this is coming from a horticulture major/long time florist! Shame on M.E.! LOL
Here is one in progress that my friend Debbie created. I love the dark streaks through out it. So beautiful! Looks like a hazy summer day to me!
We stamped in our daffodil delight colored simply pressed clay with a small butterfly stamp inked with pumpkin pie. We let that dry for a little bit, 20-30 minutes maybe. We cut it out with our paper snips. Yep our paper snips, this clay is AMAZING! we added some nice spots and a body with a basic black marker. Did a little curving on the wings to make them look more natural and so it would pop out from our canvas. Attach the butterfly with a couple of mini glue dots or some craft adhesive.
Finish off your piece with some ribbon. We used the Two-Tone Basic Gray Ribbon. Then make a lovely "fork" bow (look it up on pinterest and while you are at it follow M.E. too!) Oh maybe most importantly don't forget to sign your ART work! I am a big proponant of that! I will not accept art from my kids if it's not signed by them first! It's important, take pride and make it yours! I think this is so with your handstamped cards. It's important to stamp the back with an angel stamp or a personalized stamp. Find an assortment here if you don't have one.