Fly Away

The only thing I love more than a deep textured, mixed media canvas, is the die cuts I put on it. This is an 8x10 inch canvas, one of my first attempts at mastering the reflective nature and motion I desire. I gave in to the theme of the year, which was game pieces as words, but I like the way it looks. My favorite part of this piece is the Milky Way like stream down the center. I made this piece when Cheery Lynn Designs released their mini gears and cog set, which I cut out with metallic paper.

Sizzix - Tim Holtz Sewing Room 

Clock Parts and gears or here

Lumiere - Halo Blue Gold

Liquid Leaf Gold

Precious Metal Colour - Blue Azure

Really... you can add anything you have on hand. Just make it fluid, and love it when it's done.

Great Performance!

This was a fun piece to put together. At the time, the wings were new to me, and I was on a fanatic dress form spree. The week I made this one, an actor friend was having a performance at his school and I was inspired by the intrigue of it all. Jesse got a standing ovation from me! One day when he makes it big in Hollywood, I will always have this piece of him from the past. Yes, he's a guy and this is a girl thing...I did use blue...

Cheery Lynn Designs - Wings 

Sizzix - Tim Holtz Sewing Room 

Sizzix - Tim Holtz Gadget Gears

Sizzix - Ornate Hanging Sign

Lumiere - Indigo

Precious Metal Colour - Blue Azure

Stampendous! Mica Flakes - 

You can find them at Michael's and Joann's stores, or here online.

The larger gear is from Cricut.com

Tommy

This is my best friend when he was probably two years old. His grandfather worked on cars and was the Sedro Woolley fire chief for ages. I love the photo on top, because I always imagine what he was saying to his grandson at his kitchen table in Sedro Woolley, WA.

Grandpa Tommy, and his grandson Tommy.

We have a variety of Tim Holtz Alterations dies. The gear set, Word Play alphabet, mini old jalopy.

There is a large piece of acetate cut with a Spellbinders, grand size circle die. I rubber stamped gears and cogs on it to give it a very dimensional look. The idea is that it is digital media brought to life. It is very subtle. but it mats the entire circled section. The bottom of the acetatate is stamped with StayzOn ink, and the top is sprayed with black webbing spray.

Spellbinders circles and sprightly sprockets by Donna Salazar.

Tim Holtz Ornamental Sizzix die, and Stampers Anonymous. 

The center is an expensive laser cut chipboard piece. I can not recommend using them because they are incredibly fragile to paint on. 

This is the Tim Holtz Alterations picture wheel die. I scanned a black cut out and extracted it from the background into a PNG file. Then I took a series of photo's to the time, and placed it in a template to insert behind the picture wheel, which is cut out with chipboard, and coated with a rust and patina process.

I uploaded a small gift for you, if you would like to make a picture wheel yourself. Please see my free downloads page and look for the black template that is the scanned image of an actual die cut. There is also a block mask that you can clip your photo to in photoshop.

Thank you for stopping by!

The Family

This is one of my favorite photo's of my dad and his two brothers and sister. My father is the little cutie on the top right, "Freddie". This canvas was inspired by the hardship my grandmother faced while raising four children at such a young age, in the aftermath of the Great Depression. Their father was not around much and she had to fend for herself, carving out a pattern of survival skills that I have found invaluable during the last few years of my own personal hardships. Remember the stories your grandparents tell you, because they are trying to teach you something!

I chose this quote because we take our hits, then we dance on.

This is a laser chipboard cut, and the butterfly is a Spellbinders die cut, and various metal findings.

The bird and branch is a Tim Holtz Alteration die, bird branch. I cut it out with chipboard, then layered it for depth. My grandmother loved the birds.

The cogs are another Tim Holtz Alterations die, and a few metal pieces placed strategically. The fence is a laser wood cut from Michael's. The grass is a Cheery Lynn Designs die cut that I painted with texture paint.  

My grandmother had the all American home when I was growing up. Simple and maintained with love. She didn't have a fence, but she had a beautiful enclosed patio. I aspire to have one of my own.

The paint is a real rust and patina paint and solution. I then stenciled on a brick texture using fiber paste and a brick template stencil. After that cured, I applied a new layer of rust and patina.

More hardware findings by Tim Holtz Alterations. Cut out with chipboard and painted, then soaked in a tub of activator solution and enclosed and shaken on occasion until I was satisfied with the depth of color.

The quotes are stamped with Stampers Anonymous stamps, by Tim Holts. I can't read the side poem anymore! I used StazOn ink on acetate, then adhered with Crackle Accents glue.

The knob is packed by Tim Holtz, and dropped in the tub of solution with the hinges, gears, cogs, and metal accents.

I will have one more 12x12 thick canvas that I will post next.

Thank you for stopping by! 

Homestead

These are my immigrant great-great-grandparents from Sweden. They arrived in Minnesota in the 1880's. My great-great-grandmother, Ida, worked at a hotel to pay for her passage to America. I don't know when they met, but they set up a homestead in Bellingham, WA in the early 1900's. This picture really speaks to me as the American dream. I imagine they saved every penny they had to build this small home. They raised three children, and thrived here for some time.

 This is the first in my homestead series, which is a collection of thick 12x12, mixed media canvas. Something I like to call "Memory Art".

The image is printed on acetate and mounted on a lightly patterned paper. I cropped the house out by hand and mounted it on a 5x7 flat canvas that I had pre-painted with a rust and patina process.

The key, and Home, and fence are laser cut outs I found at Michael's. The grass is a die by Cheery Lynn Designs that I painted with a textured paint.

This is a Tim Holtz brand hardware knob that I bought at JoAnns. I let it soak in the rusting solution for the night to give it this aged and weathered look.

While the solution is still wet, I place bottles or jars on the canvas until it is dry, that is how I get the rings. 

Thank you for stopping by. I have another 12x12 canvas that I am really excited to share.

Steampunk Cigar Box

Next in my rust and patina series is a couple of cigar boxes. Remember how much we loved to turn them into purses? I love these boxes! I use them to store my sewing supplies and notions; easy to carry around, and they look pretty when I just leave them sitting around for months. I am a slob =)

 

I am using Modern Masters paint to create this REAL rust and patina effect. I cut out chipboard with my Sizzix machine and dies, and gave them a nice protective coat of paint before swishing them around in the activator solution. Everything is applied with a basic craft glue, nothing fancy, and the inside is scrapbook paper made by Graphic 45. 

This one is my favorite! It was a Christmas gift, but maybe I can make another one for myself :)

I have several more projects using the rust and patina process. I will make a point to start a tutorial when I get my blog all caught up.

I found a cigar box on sale for $3.59 at the Craft Warehouse in Vancouver. I bought 3 of them, and painted two for Christmas gifts.

Tim Holtz Alterations dies: Hardware Findings, Weathered Clock (hands), Gadget Gears, Spellbinders Sprightly Sprockets, 

Thank you for stopping by!

Butterfly Canvas

 "just living is not enough said the butterfly. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."

This is a 12x12 canvas, 2in thick. I stamped the poem on acetate packaging with Stayzon ink. Pearl strand and poem are applied with glass beads medium.

Chandelier is cut with plastic packaging and colored with alcohol ink and Stayzon ink, Sizzix bigz die, and pearl pens for the candles.

Chipboard cogs cut with Spellbinders Paper Artscog dies, painted and rusted with a discontinued product.

Layers of glass beads (gel) and fiber paste, mica powder and Green die ink refill (drops), misc beads and charms glue into the beads gel medium. 

12x12 thick canvas