Fall Mixed Media Canvas

Wow, it went from almost summery to SNOW in less than a week! Seriously? Gotta love southern Ontario ‘autumn’. So with a chill in the air, I made this super shabby fall decor piece for The Shabby Tea Room this week.

I started with a plain white canvas-covered board. I prefer the look of a wood frame canvas but boards are not only easier to work on but it was all I had in this size! I applied strips of music, text and scrapbook papers along with washi tape and lace with gel medium. Then I went over it all with a light coating of gesso. Next I added watercolour in long thin streaks.  Some overlapped the lace but most was on the canvas itself. For the foliage, I die cut plain ivory cardstock and coloured it in with gilder’s paste using both antique gold and patina which is the mint colour you also see on the canvas.

The chevrons, which I added to help reflect the inspiration photo, were coloured with watercolour then covered in Crackle Accents. Next I went to town embellishing the canvas using Prima flowers, gold berry clusters, buttons, sequins and a big reclaimed sari silk bow. I found quite a few sequins that matched perfectly and I was happy to find I had brown buttons in the perfect sizes for the ‘dotted’ effect I was looking for. I thought they helped by bring in the dots from the inspiration photo.

I really hadn’t planned to bring in the mint colour but I accidentally grabbed the patina (mint) colour of Gilder’s Paste before the antique gold one and I realized it brought a fresh pop to the autumn colours. So I added even more with the buttons! I die cut the ‘blessings’ letters in a more whimsical font but it didn’t work well so I tried this one. It’s way old, from Quickutz back when they had the Squeeze tool! Anyone been die cutting long enough to remember those? Ugh, I can’t tell you how many incomplete cuts I got with that thing; I have weak hands. I really like this font because its like a typewriter font but with some added whimsy. Last but no least I added a bit more texture using some brown ink and a script stamp.

I hope you like the inspiration photo and join us this week! Remember, our name is shabby, you project doesn’t have to be! We accept any type of project and any style! You know you waaaaaanna! But even if you only visit, be sure to leave the girls some love! We all thrive when we get great comments.

Enjoy, Rebecca