Crafty Maven Mix it Up Monday

Today I'm up with a 9x12 canvas that I created with my inspiration from Wilna and all of her lovely layouts. She is the Queen of mixed media and her pages are always gorgeous. I chose a 9x12 canvas instead of a 12x12 canvas because the size is different than I'm used to, and most importantly it was on sale at Michael's for $4...and it included TWO canvases. I took it up to the register completely expecting them to say that it was marked wrong, but it wasn't...so hello to cheap art!!  Since it was so cheap, I felt a bit more comfortable playing around knowing that if I completely messed it up, I only wasted $2.

I prepped the surface with a coat of gesso even though it stated that it came with gesso already on the canvas. I knew that the gesso wouldn't take long to dry and I could be sure that it was covered well giving me plenty of room to add water without warping the canvas. I pulled out four shades of pink gelatos to use on my background. It only takes a little bit of water on your brush to blend the gelatos out. I added too much in the beginning but since I applied gesso to the canvas it was an easy fix. I blotted up the excess water and reapplied the gelatos and used a damp brush to blend the colors. I love these colors together.  After the gelatos dried, I applied a tiny amount of gel medium through a heart stencil and then sprinkled some glitter on top of the hearts. It did make a bit of a mess, but I love the way it turned out so it was completely worth it.

I do have some of her beautiful cut files and chose a few flourishes to cut out on my silhouette. If you don't have a silhouette, I know that Prima makes some flourish bling that would also look lovely. Wilna loves Valentine's themed products and uses them quite frequently on her projects. I pulled out my Kiss Kiss chipboard from last year and found a couple of pieces to place on the canvas. I pulled out some Amy Tangerine Thickers for a pop of black with the title. I found that I didn't need much in the way of embellishments and loved how it came together in the end. I did use a hot glue gun to adhere everything including my photo to the canvas. 

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to leave me a comment. I love hearing from my readers. If you'd like to take a closer peek at the layout, I've included a link to my channel.