I have to say, I was excited when I was invited to be a Guest Artist for Canvas Corp!
There's just something about natural canvas that truly inspires me and brings out the mojo.
I created the base of this 6x12" multi-media art journal entirely with Canvas Corp goodies...natural canvas, burlap, natural corrugated cardboard, white corrugated cardboard, canvas and burlap shapes...the possibilities are endless!
I began with a piece of 12x12 canvas fabricpage and cut it in half for the front and back covers of the book. I used a damask Glimmer Screen from Tattered Angels for a pattern and sprayed over it with Glimmer Mist.
To add further depth to my images, I applied some coordinating Distress Ink colors over the mask once the Glimmer mist dried.
On the left side of the cover I gathered a strip of burlap with a DMC floss running stitch and adhered with Facri-Tac from Beacon. Next to that I looped some twine and stitched down with more floss.
Next I had to make a decision which canvas shape to use...which probably took longer than the whole project because there are so many great shapes to choose from! For this I went for my Gelatos from Faber-Castell (which are awesome little glimmery crayons that blend beautifully with water!) I chose these because I wanted an easy two-tone effect with a darker edge. I just scribbled loosly where i wanted the color and used a big paint brush with water to blend. To be honest...I was slightly giddy at how much fun these were to play with on canvas!
I stamped a title with turquoise and brown acrylic paint on another piece of canvas and stiched with floss over the heart shape. On the right side of the book I stitched one of my Great-grandmother's big buttons and used a triangle/pennant shaped burlap to wrap around from the back cover to the front for a working button closure.
To give the covers stability, I used a 12x12 piece of corrugated cardboard (cut in half to 6x12). I tore some of the outer paper off and painted with a cream colored acrylic paint, then dry brushed turquoise paint over that. I used this technique to add color to several different varieties of Canvas Corp's cardboard for the inner pages (my new obsession is going to be their white cardboard - YUM!)
I'll be adding finished pages to this every so often and will share those on my blog as well.
I hope this little bit of inspiration gets your mojo going too!
Jen Starr




Love this tag!
Posted by: Janna | May 03, 2011 at 02:32 AM
Love this! Makes me want to get creative again! I think I just figured out what I am doing tomorrow!
Posted by: Laura | May 06, 2011 at 07:22 PM