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Sunday, November 4, 2012

Blog Hop - Thank You Gifts

Welcome to the Designer Connection Blog Hop!
November's theme: Thank You Gifts
 
I think that Christmas is a great time to
share little Thank You gifts with
my friends and neighbors, and I am extremely
grateful to one particular neighbor
who helps drive my children to and from
Religious Ed classes.



Homemade gifts are so much more special
than something that I could
purchase or put together.  I decided to
paint one of these fun chunky canvases that
I've been "saving" for just the right
design idea.



I base coated the entire canvas with
a light green acrylic paint.
 
After the paint was completely dry,
I used a sanding block to rough up the
top and the edges of the canvas.

 
I made a pattern of my neighbor's
initial, and a few holly leaves.
By making the leaves on separate paper,
I was able to shift the leaves
around until I liked their placement.

 
I used white chaco paper to transfer
the pattern lines to the canvas.

It was a little hard to see,
but I managed ;)
You could use darker chaco paper.

 
I used dark chocolate acrylic paint
to shade around the design.

 
I shaded heavily on the left and lower
sides of each design element,
and used just a thin line of shading
for the rest of the design.

 
 Next, I base coated the leaves Holly Green
and the initial white.


It took two coats of paint to cover completely.


I used a ruler to lightly mark the
lower third of the initial,



and applied a Celery Green paint
to this area.


 I used the handle of a paint brush
to apply red holly berries.




 I shaded the holly leaves
with dark green acrylic paint.
I highlighted the holly leaves
with a very light shade of green.


I dipped the same paint brush handle
into a cranberry paint, and
dotted directly over the red paint.
Then I added a white highlight.

I used a detail brush dipped in
black paint to outline my
design ... keeping the line very thin.


 I brushed a sparkle glaze over
the initial and the leaves,
 and added some swirls with gold
metallic paint.  I also painted a thin
border with the gold metallic paint
and the dark chocolate paint.


I am not very good at tying bows,
but I used a glittery wired ribbon and
a narrower red polka dot ribbon
to wrap around the canvas
and tie into a bow on top.


This will look great on a bookshelf or
~ my personal favorite ~ smooshed into
the Christmas tree.  LOVE smooshing
large ornaments into the tree!!


Hope you found this Canvas Initial
inspiring!!  Use the DCC button at the top
of this post to hop on through the
loop and check out more Thank You gift ideas
by our talented group of artists!



~ Peace and Happy Canvas Painting ~


 


 

7 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness such a fabulous idea! I would never smoosh into the tree,I would want it to be out in the open.
    Your painting is wonderful

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  2. A lovely project and great step-by-step instructions! I feel like I could do this!

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  3. Beautiful project! you are amazing talented. Thank you for sharing!

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  4. This is so pretty! Tutorial wonderful!

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  5. I love this! Such wonderful colors and great step by step instructions!

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