Friday 27 August 2010

Here it is!

Here it is in all it's glory, my latest Tim Holtz Design Team project. Remember the pile of stuff that I showed you yesterday, the mini canvases and the Distress reinkers, well this is the idea got that got me started on this project.
Tim had sent a fabulous box of goodies for me to use and I wanted to make one of my framed pieces with Tim's products on mini canvases. That got me thinking, how cool would it be if my frame was painted with Distress colours to match the Distress colours that I wanted to use on my canvases. First of all I tried mixing Distress re-inkers in a bit of gesso so that I could simply paint it on the frame. The consistency of the paint was great and although I liked the colours I made, the white base changed the look of the Distress colours. Plan B: Paint the frame with gesso first, then with some Cut'n'dry, apply the Faded Jeans reinker over the gesso. The colour was quite intense at first but then I softened it with a baby wipe and really like the look.
I dried it with a heat gun and added some Vintage Photo and ended up with a shabby blue which I really love.

Next up, I took one of the pages from Tim's 12x12 Lost and Found paper stack which was just perfect for a quick and easy background.


I glued some book pages to my mini canvases and painted over them with a watered down gesso. This acts as a primer. Some canvases come with gesso already on them but it is not always the best quality. My favourite gesso is Claudine Hellmuths one which is made by Ranger.

Once the gesso is dry, I applied the reinker using the cut'n'dry again. So I can hear you thinking
why didn't she just sponge the colour straight from the ink pad. Believe me, I tried it and it takes a lot of sponging and a lot longer, this way, I got instant colour and I'm just loving this technique and the results it gave me.

Of course you can add as many colours as you want but I just kept it simple with two colours.

Once I was happy with all my canvases, I arranged them in my frame and started to fill it up with all sorts of goodies.


Lot's of Tim Holtz Ideaology embellishments.


I sprayed some of Tim's new Lavish Trimming (will be available soon) with some watered down Faded Jeans reinker. It was just a hint of colour, very delicate.
Then I die cut some of Tim's Sizzix dies using my copper metal tape sandwich. This bookplate made a great frame for the shrink plastic die cut bird that I coloured with alcohol ink.



Here's a few close ups of some of the other canvases.








Finally, I die cut some metal letters spelling out Yours Artfully, stuck them on top and bottom of my frame and thought I was finished. I kept staring at it thinking that the top of the frame looked really bare and so I added a couple more spinners to the top. Knowing when to stop can sometimes be difficult but at this point it felt finished.

Hope you will try this, it's a lot of fun.
Lin

46 comments:

TAM said...

WOW what a fabulous piece of artwork

Minxy said...

Oh Lin this is totally gorgeous, I mean its just awesome in every way, and in my fav colour combo of blue and brown too!
Now if you can't find any room to hang it there is plenty on my bare walls, and i could be persuaded to take it off your hands as a favor to you ROFLMAO xx I am serious, but only coz its you lol ;p

Kathy Eddy said...

Fantabuous! It turned out so awesome!

Linda M. Cain said...

Fantastic idea!!! Love the finished project, and the wait was well worth it!

Art By Wanda said...

Totally awesome project!!! Love the metal and canvas and well, really all of it!!!

Bluefairy4U said...

Oh Lin, Truly amazing just love it and my favourite colour blue love all the different elements you have put on it, clever you. Big Hugs Jo.xxxx

Hels Sheridan said...

C~ORRRRRRR - Lin, this is truly stunning... totally love love love the colours and those ickle canvases look brill... another beautiful piece of inspiration, thanks for sharing x

Daniele said...

wow, amazing piece Lin you never fail to impress.....how you keep coming up with your ideas is beyond me i think you got extra mojo at birth....lol
thanks for piccies great to see a working progress
best wishes
p.s. I've got my list and your phone number packed in my suitcase just gotta hope I can get a connection from holiday

Helen said...

This is absolutely fabulous!! Love the mini canvases, I see you've decided not to re-read the Da Vinci code then!!
I kind of hope it rains all bank holiday weekend so I can play all the time, and not feel guilty about not going out.

flutterbycrafter said...

Wow, STUNNING, this is fabulous.

Kath Stewart said...

wow lin uttertly fabulous...love the soft cool colours and all the little Timmie goodies...hugs kath xxx

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful piece of artwork. The colour is gorgeous and all the elements are so well placed. Love it.
Margriet

Siobhan Brignull said...

fantastic Lin, how long did it take you, it would take me days, but it is lush so I am tempted, dont know if Id use my blog title though LOL :)

my word veri is WINESS, quite a good description of me, LOL

Anne Jagger said...

Absolutely wonderful!

Unknown said...

WOW! I LOVE it! I just need to have a closer look ... You have my address ... just pop it in the post for closer inspection would you????

Hilda Gale said...

Absolutely stunning Lin, well worth the anticipation - I dont know how you do it all so quickly, it would take me a month at least and then if would not even come close !!!!

karlalala said...

that's just beautiful. come to California!! come stay, i'll send you pictures of my back yard (the view)... i have my own craft room, you don't have to do a class necessarily, it can be a mini vacation with some play time! i'll invite Cheryl Darrow too! it'll be a nice half way point for you both!! with play time!! wink!!

Gerrie Johnnic said...

Oh my, I have room for this on my wall GF! This is just FAB, I luv it!

Anonymous said...

This is really lovely, Lin. It's no wonder that Tim chose you to be on his design team! Just shows what good judgement he has.

Helen xox

DF - Heidi said...

utterly devine and lush i do believe i have a wall totally suited to such an awesome creation and i would so love and look after it ;0)

Sally Bowman said...

Lin, I just LOVE this! Thank you for the step-by-step guide, it's great to see how you achieved this. It's not quite as complicated as I thought when I first looked at it.

G Peplow said...

Absolutely gorgeous, love it. Thank you for sharing the stages :D xxx

Starla said...

*THUD*......

Allyson said...

If this post came with sound you'd hear the noise of my jaw dropping. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous... oh, and did I mention... gorgeous! Now unfortunately owing to too many (can you do too many) of your and Linda's classes I'm fast running out of wall space, otherwise I'd be joing the queue of people offering to hang your masterpiece. In fact I'm still wondering where I'm going to hang my Printer's Tray.

Debo said...

Love it! The colour combination is beautiful but I am slightly distressed to see The Da Vinci Code torn up!

Debbie L
x

carol said...

Another masterpiece Lin. It's really inspiring to see your work, where do you get all your ideas from????? I love the wetherworn colours. Thanks so very much for sharing your it with us.

Suzanne Bouchard said...

Love the softened blue and the overall composition of this project. Bravo!

the girls @ Destination Art said...

Hi Lin
Congratulations on becoming part of Tim Holtz's design team - way to go girlfriend!!! We gave you a rave the other day on our blog to let all our reader know too!!
You can check it out here http://destinationart.net/blog/?p=2458
Hugs
The Girls @ Destination Art
Western Australia

Sue said...

Wow this is fabulous and so inspiring, thanks for the technique I am certainly going to have a go. :~)

Anonymous said...

This is amazing Linda! Thanks for telling us how it was made too! Hope we'll get to see it at Ally Pally! Look forward to seeing you there too!
Alison x

RH said...

wow, love it.

How do you set the distress ink on the gesso?
I've tried distress ink on a gesso'd canvasses but it won't dry and keeps smearing.
thanks
Rymke

sandysewin said...

Love the step by step, thanks! It's beautiful.

Diana said...

i have spied this one before and have it saved as a favorite. i love the layer of the whole thing.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful, and the combination of brown and blue is stunning.
Eileen

Art By Wanda said...

What a treat to visit this project again!!!! (via Tim's blog) You always amaze me!!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful! What an inspiring piece!

Melissa said...

Wow, this is stunning! I love how peaceful and artsy it is!

Scrapbookdoll said...

stunning!
marie-anne

slbt17 said...

your hard work paid off - beautiful work!
Sandra

Mickie said...

Very inspiring, gotta try this!~!

Teepee said...

Thank you, Lin, for the step-by-step process you used to end up with the fantastic picece you show. I especially like "tips" and this is wonderful.

Clara said...

Can I borrow a little bit of you brain???lol
Now why can't I think of things like this??? But you inspire me to try.....:o)

Joanna McDonald said...

What a stunning piece of artwork!!
So creative - you are indeed a
great artist! Thanks for sharing.

Johanna said...

i realy have to make my one canvas, you are so inspiring.
johanna

jan metcalf said...

So many beautiful details! Appreciate your sharing what products and techniques you tried and what worked best for you! Amazing!

LOLena said...

Wow, love the shabby blue color and the metal frames, shrinky birdie, and the game spinners at the bottom of the frame. Can see why Tim chose you for his team. Thank You for sharing your talents with the web universe! Happy Holidays.