A present for our beautiful Maya

03 Tuesday Feb 2015

Posted by Sara in Canvas, Family, ScrapBook

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One last Christmas present to share and a confession – this one hasn’t actually been sent yet. Oops. It’s going in the mail this week though, I promise! #worstauntandsisterever

Anyway…….

I did another name for another gorgeous baby, my awesome niece Maya:

I found a frame big enough for this one but since you can see my fabulous crazy hair in the glare of the glass I thought I’d show it to you out of the frame too:

I like to keep these pretty simple so the letters themselves actually stand out. I do normally back them with patterned paper but the colours of these looked so good on the black fabric background that I left it as is.

I added enamel dots and hearts, plus wood and enamel buttons from Freckled Fawn to the “M”:

And to the “Y”:

The “A”‘s have cork stars layered with gems and cork arrows:

At the last second I also added little vellum phrases from Freckled Fawn to each letter as well – I love how they look, all vintage-y and translucent.

That’s it! Super simple and pretty for my pretty girl! Hope her parents like it when all their presents finally arrive! 🙂

Cheers!

Something Special for Sweet Baby James

27 Tuesday Jan 2015

Posted by Sara in Canvas

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Canvas

My best and oldest friend had a baby this past year – I posted pics of him when he was born – and for his first Christmas I knew I had to do something super special.

I’m very glad his name wasn’t Michael John, or something else just as long – not sure where I would have gotten a frame/canvas big enough!

I started with basic wooden letters and added a little something to each one:

I love these boy themed flair, the dude one made me laugh!

I also added blue stars to every letter – even boys need some shine, right?

The only problem I ran into was at the end when I went looking for a frame. I have these made for my own kiddies and they fit perfectly in a shadowbox. Do you think I could find one when I needed it? Not a chance.

I scoured the stores and finally ended up at Walmart with my fingers crossed.

Nothing.

As I turned to leave I noticed premade canvas pictures. And one was long and skinny – woohoo!

I grabbed and ran. I simply painted it over (sorry existing picture!) then added some paper and adhered my letters. Not exactly what I originally had in mind but I love how it turned out. Even better, so did James’ mom. 🙂

Cheers!

Seasonal Canvas | A Year of Mixed Media

26 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by Sara in Canvas, Classes, Mixed Media

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Canvas, Home Decor, Mixed media, Seasons

A while ago I posted that I taught my last Seasonal Canvas class – the fall one – and so now I have a full set of four. I have to say, this might be one of my favourite classes ever! The finished product of each canvas is beautiful but to have all four together is just awesome.

Don’t they look great? I did a little kitchen rearranging to fit them in on a wall that doesn’t get direct sunlight. I used Luminarte Silks for the paint on each of these and unfortunately, they’re not light stable. 😦

That being said, it was ok in this case because they fit perfectly here just above my scrapbooking island in the corner of my kitchen.

If you want closeups all the canvases are in my Flickr gallery and your can also check out the blog posts for Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall.

Cheers!

Seasonal Canvas | Fall

03 Friday Oct 2014

Posted by Sara in Canvas, Classes, Mixed Media

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Canvas, Classes, Fall, Mixed media

Last night was the final in the Seasonal Canvas series – those people who did them all now have a gorgeous collection of four 6×6 canvases to display!

I have to admit, this fall one is my favourite – I love how it turned out!

A closer look at the quote most of us used:

And look at that shine! That’s pearlized Stampendous Mica Fragments with some fall colour added – isn’t it fabulous?!?

And that’s it – all the seasons done! Now, I just have to find somewhere in my house that will fit all four of them!

Cheers!

P.S. Missed some of the canvas posts? You see them all here: Winter, Spring, Summer

Seasonal Canvas | Summer

17 Wednesday Sep 2014

Posted by Sara in Canvas, Classes, Mixed Media

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Canvas, Classes, Mixed media

We’re heading into the finals of the Seasonal Canvas Class – only Fall left to do! If you want to check out the others we’ve done, there’s Winter and Spring.

For summer I did a clothesline, with a pretty common Newfoundland phrase, “Good day on clothes!” That’s what you’d say to neighbour over the clothesline when there’s a nice day for hanging out the wash.

Of course, since Molly’s favourite thing is Feel Bunny, I had to add her to the line – she smells so good after we hang her up by the ears!

The clothes are traced through a stencil by Nathalie Kalbach and then I added details to each piece:

The sun is made by rubbing Inca Gold Old Silver into the texture made by the molding paste through a stencil:

The seagulls have a bit of dimension so it looks like they’re flying off the canvas:

For me, the best part of these canvas classes is seeing how people look at what I made and then change it to fit their style – I love seeing their completed canvases!

I’m working on a new two layout page kit for the Paperie – Back to School – and I’m hoping to have that to show you in the next day or so. We’re hoping to get you several of these page kits over the year and they’re awesome! Everything you need to complete two full LO’s and maybe a couple of cards as well. Of course, they come with full colour instructions too – they’re the perfect thing to take to a friend’s house or crop if you don’t want to drag all your gear with you!

Seasonal Canvas | Spring

12 Monday May 2014

Posted by Sara in Canvas, Classes, Mixed Media

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Class, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, mixed media canvas, Silks by Luminarte, The Crafter's Workshop

This week I’m teaching the second of my Seasonal Canvas Classes. I’ve already gotten Winter behind me (in canvas anyway, the weather here is another story!) and we’ll be making the Spring one Thursday night.

Isn’t is fun? I love the fun colours in the kite and, although I am definitely no sketch artist, I’m happy with my little girl silhouette. That being said, she does have what Molly called, “Crazy, wild hair!

And look at that texture! The stencils I used both happened to be by Balzer Designs for The Crafter’s Workshop and the dimension they add to a canvas is awesome!

We’re using our regular deep-edge 6×6 canvas – love these!

I think one of my favourite things about this class is that you can do all four classes and have a full set or just do one and still have a great decor piece for your home! There’s still a spot or two left so if you’re local and want to forget about all that ice we have here today, call The Paperie to sign up and join us.

P.S. I also know that you wouldn’t fly a kite by holding the tail but it’s my canvas and I can do what I want! Artistic licence, right? 😉

I’m a Superstar!

09 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by Sara in Canvas, Classes

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Canvas, Classes, Mixed media, The Paperie

I love making canvases. Love. It.

And, not surprisingly, my kids love to paint canvases too. The combination of both lead me to design a new kids class for The Paperie – a junior edition of my canvas classes!

This is a beginner one, we won’t be using molding paste for example, but it still has lots of texture and interest. Truth be told, I will probably add molding paste if we do another one but I left it out this time to challenge myself and because it takes a long time to dry, especially in a class setting.

See the textures of the paper collaging and canvas? I love how the base layers turned out!

I used gold and silver mist and gold paint for shimmer:

And I added a phrase with alpha stickers:

The fun part? You get a sheet of alphas so you can make any phrase! This would be awesome as a Girl Power canvas, or Boys Rule. Why not even a teacher gift – I’m sure they’d like it more than another mug! 🙂 And it would make an awesome gift for mom or dad, a real keepsake for sure!

Call The Paperie for details and to sign up. This class is for kids of all ages so don’t be left out if you’re a more “mature” one!

Seasonal Canvas | Winter

12 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by Sara in Canvas, Mixed Media

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Canvas, Classes, Mixed media

At the last Paperie Spring retreat I taught a canvas class where we made a Spring canvas. It was a hit and so for in store classes this year the owners and I decided I would teach a set of four seasonal classes. The first one was this past Saturday.

We had a great group, about 6 of us, which is a nice size for a mixed media canvas class. This time the canvas was winter so of course, I needed a snowman:

One of the problems most people had to work through was covering the layers. One person, after we had the first layers of items down said, “I love it! I’m done.” And then we added about 5 more layers on top of that! The number one thing I tell students in canvas and mixed media classes is this: Don’t get attached to it – we’re covering it up!

I love to add rub-ons to my canvases and the Tim Holtz remnant rubs worked great for this one, especially to spruce up the top of the snowman’s hat:

My favourite part of this canvas is the texture of the snowman himself:

I think he turned out just right!

To make this class even better, we had an awesome mix of people who all had great ideas and fun products. One person had fabulous shimmery stuff that we all added to our snowbank to make it sparkle. Someone else had a swirl stencil to mimic the look of swirling snow. And yet another person had a bunch of different quotes to share. I love classes that gel like that so thank you to all the canvas peeps!

Next up, a new spring canvas – want to join us? 🙂