Write It On Your Heart Canvas

Life is too short to waste time doing things that don't bring us happiness, but what really gives life meaning is the relationships we have with those we love. I think first of family, but we have friends we love like family, too.

This canvas is created using an 8" square museum canvas (1 1/4" deep) turned upside down and distressed using modeling paste, inks, and paints. Inside, I've used card stock, corrugated paper, embossed chipboard, twine, cheesecloth, and a resin heart artifact by Prima Marketing. Layers of  paint, ink, and metallic paste provide a rich surface reflecting multiple colors.  

Write it on your heart that the ones you love are life's most precious gifts. Always be thankful for the blessings of loved ones!

I Love Stars!

I really wanted a large 3-d star to set on my mantle. All of the tin stars were too small or too large or too pricey. All of the paper mache stars were too small. Hmmm. I could make my own, right?  That's the best way to get one just the size I want, for the price (practically free) I want... Soooo, I gathered up some empty cereal boxes, glue, masking tape, scissors, and made a star. Well, first I made a pattern. I used this tutorial: http://rubberstamping.about.com/od/projects/ss/Paper_Star.htm . It wasn't exactly the easiest method, but I made it work. I enlarged the pattern, so my finished star would be about 16" point-to-point. The pattern needs to be a little bit larger than the desired finished size, because it adjusts a bit when the points are pushed up/out to make it 3-d.

Anyway, using my new pattern, I cut 5 points from my cereal boxes, folding along the fold lines and gluing where indicated in the instructions, turning the printed side to the inside. I used strips of masking tape to hold them in place while the glue dried. I also used it to reinforce the joints and seams after the glue was dry. I planned to cover the star anyway, so the tape was not going to show. When the glue had dried, I covered the outside with a layer of vinyl spackling. An easy shortcut here, is to mix some regular acrylic craft paint into the spackling before it is applied. This cuts out the painting step. After the star dried, I antiqued it with a dark brown glaze and wiped off the excess. A coat of sealer and it was done. I just wrapped a strip of patriotic fabric tied a bow, but I am already planning to replace it with different ribbon and embellishments for other seasons, so I can use it year-round.

Cardboard form.

Honestly, it would be a lot easier to buy one ready-made. Since I couldn't find what I wanted, this is a great solution, but it was a little more work than I would normally do for a simple cardboard doodad.
The other upside is that is didn't cost anything, because I already had all the supplies on hand...overall, it's a winner!

Covered with spackling.

Unique Embellishments

   I was looking through my stash for something to add a little bit of sparkle and dimension to a gift tag I was working on, but nothing caught my eye, so I finally decided to make my own instead. I wanted it to be somewhat translucent, but glittery, too. The theme I was working with involved a heart, so that's where I started. I pulled out my Cricut and a transparency sheet, finally deciding on an element from the Damask Decor cartridge. By the way, this is an awesome cartridge--it has lots of designs that have separate layers, as well as tags, cards, and envelopes. I don't buy many carts, so when I do buy one, it has to have lots of options; they're just too pricey otherwise. The complete instructions are on my tutorials page.

Supplies used:
Bazzil basics paper, Glossy Accents by Ranger, lily white sugar coating by doodlebug design.