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 ~