And her name is Happy!

Step by step tutorial on how to create a fun and girly canvas project

Hi everyone, Heidi here, today I’m on The Crafter’s Workshop blog with a fun canvas project. I created this canvas for the twelve year old daughter of my sister in law, as a gift to decorate her room with. The girl and her little puppy together are so adorable!

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The Crafter’s Workshop provided me with some product to create this project. The opinions I share are solely my own. This post also contains affiliate links.

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I used a fun technique, that you might want to try out, where I mixed The Crafter‘s Workshop “Clear Modeling Paste“ (TCW9008) with The Crafter’s Workshop “Heavy Body Acrylic Paint“ (to create my own coloured modeling paste). This technique I combined with The Crafter’s Workshop stencils and the fabulous Therm-O-Web “Mixed Media Sheets“ that you can use in a variety of ways. If you don’t have the “Clear Modeling Paste“ though, then you can also use the new TCW Metallic Modeling Pastes in a colour that suites your project!

I took pictures of the different steps so that if you would like to follow along you can:

Step by step tutorial on how to create a fun and girly canvas project

Step 1:

I started with a canvas 24 x 30 cm in size. I applied one coat of The Crafter’s Workshop “White Gesso“ (TCW9001) to prime to canvas.

Next I added one coat of Amsterdam Crackle Medium.

I wanted my project to be in pink, gray/silver, white and yellow/gold tones because these colours fit the room of the recipient best. When the medium was dry I put on one coat of the following acrylic paint colours (each on about a quarter of the canvas, mixing where the colours meet): DecoArt Americana “Royal Fuchsia“, “Petal Pink“, “Marigold“ and “Moon Yellow“. Then I let the Crackle Medium do it’s work.

Next I mixed some The Crafter’s Workshop “Clear Modeling Paste“ (TCW9008) with The Crafter’s Workshop “Heavy Body Acrylic Paint“ in the colour “Iridescent Silver“ (about 3/4 to 1/4) and applied that mixture over part of a The Crafter’s Workshop stencil called “Leafy Branches“ (TCW576s) with a palette knife. I choose three different places on the front of the canvas and also some places on the sides of the canvas. Then I set the canvas aside to dry. The stencilling looks so clean because I taped of the branches that I didn’t wanted to use, I just used regular tape for this on the stencil itself directly, and after washing the stencil I took the tape of carefully, when I was done. I taped of the stencil because I wanted the branches but not the border that this stencil has.

Step by step tutorial on how to create a fun and girly canvas project

Step by step tutorial on how to create a fun and girly canvas project

Step by step tutorial on how to create a fun and girly canvas project

Step 2:

Then I started to work on creating some of the layers for this canvas. I always work in layers because this makes the final project more interesting to look at. When adding these layers on the silver branches that we added to the canvas in the first Step I made sure to not cover them up completely.

My first layer is a piece of Therm-O-Web “Mixed Media Sheets“ that I worked on to create the look that I desired.

This layer will only show a little in the final project but it will ad to the overall look a lot. About these Mixed Media Sheets: you can tear this paper, you can stamp on it, paint on it, use coloured pencils on it, print on it, die cut it, whatever you like! This paper has a nice texture and the end result will be slightly translucent. I took a sheet of this gorgeous paper, placed it on my craft sheet and stamped the two smallest paw prints from a Dovecraft stamp set (number DCSTP075) with Archival Ink in the colour “Jet Black”. When the ink was dry I wet the paper by spraying with water, then I sprinkled on some Paper Artsy Infusions in the colour “Golden Sands“ and then sprayed with more water, when the colour started moving I lifted the paper, let the water run of and then dried the paper (dabbing with a paper towel and then drying with my Ranger Heat It tool). You don’t want to let these Infusions sit to long because the longer it reacts with water the browner the colour will end up to be. After the paper was completely dry I crinkled it by making a ball of it several times, unfolding and crinkling it again. For some added sparkle I mixed Ranger Perfect Pearls in the colour “Biscotti“ with water in a Mini Mister and sprayed the paper, concentrating on the edges, drying it with my Heat It tool and adding some more until I was happy. Then I tore pieces of until I ended up with a shape that I liked.

My second layer is a dotty patterned paper from my stash that fits the colours of this project nicely. I just tore this paper in a shape that I liked.

My third layer is also created with another sheet of Therm-O-Web “Mixed Media Sheets“. I coloured the paper first, the same way as I did before but now using Paper Artsy Infusions in the colour “Sunset Beach“. When the paper was dry I tore pieces of until I liked the shape and then mixed another batch of The Crafter’s Workshop “Clear Modeling Paste“ with a The Crafter’s Workshop “Heavy Body Acrylic Paint “, but this time I used the colour “Iridescent Gold“. I applied this mixture over a The Crafter’s Workshop stencil called “Graffiti Kisses“ (TCW752 large and small), using a palette knife and I only used the circle shapes featured on this stencil design. Then I set this paper aside to dry.

When all these layers are dry and ready to go I adhered them to the canvas using Therm-O-Web “Mixed Media Adhesive“ which dries clear.

Step by step tutorial on how to create a fun and girly canvas project

Step 3:

Then I started working on some of the embellishments for this project: I mixed some The Crafter’s Workshop Heavy Body Acrylic Paint in the colour “Spun Sugar“ with a little bit of the Heavy Body Acrylic Paint in the colour “Raspbery Sorbet“ on my craft sheet with a palette knife and then added some of the Clear Modeling Paste that we also used in the previous steps (this way you can create any colour of modeling paste that you like for your project, isn’t that awesome?) and applied that over one of the hearts in the large and small size stencil called “Graffiti Kisses“ that we used before. To make it easier I just cut pieces of white card stock slightly larger then the size that I needed, put the stencil on, applied the mixture of Heavy Body Acrylic Paint and Clear Modeling Paste, then I went on to the next heart and this way created three of the large hearts, then I added a little of the white paint back in the mix (to create a slightly lighter pink colour) and created three of the smaller hearts.

When the paste was dry I fussy cut all the hearts out with my Fiskars scissors and then heat embossed them. For this I pushed the hearts in my VersaMark ink pad with my finger, then applied one layer of Wow Embossing Glitter in the colour “Coconut Ice“ on the front and then a second layer on the front and one on the back with Ranger “Clear“ Embossing powder. I have used this technique on several projects last year (you can find them here and here) but I never used it on modeling paste before, but the result is fabulous.

This way I ended up with three large and three small sparkly hand made heart shaped embellishments that I will use on my project later on.

Step by step tutorial on how to create a fun and girly canvas project

Step 4:

Now that my first paper layers are adhered to the project and dry I started working on the next layers: for this I dyed a piece of white cheese cloth with ink. I choose the Gina K by Therm-O-Web ink in the colour “Passionate Pink“ for this because it matches my project nicely. I put some of the ink on my craft sheet, sprayed with water and then put the cheese cloth in there, using a pair of tweezers to move the fabric around and get it more or less evenly covered. I dried the fabric with my Heat It tool when I was happy. Then I put a little of the Paper Artsy Infusions in the colour “Sunset Beach“ (that we used before to dye the paper) on the craft sheet and sprayed with water and then dyed a few spots on the fabric with this (this way I create some darker area’s on the fabric to make the contrast with the background bigger).

Then I created the lay-out for my project, putting first the dyed cheese cloth on the project and then three paper straws with dots (do you start to see the repeated dotty/circle pattern on this project?) of which I shortened two, and then I adhered the cheese cloth and the straws with the same Mixed Media Adhesive that I used before.

My next step was to work on a resin photo frame: I found this frame in my local craft store (no name brand) and it was exactly the right size for the photo that I wanted to use. On this frame I put one layer of The Crafter’s Workshop “Gold Gesso“ (TCW9003) to prime the surface and then one layer of Iridescent Gold paint that we used before. To ad more dimension I finished the frame with some Treasure gilding wax in the colour “Treasure Pewter“.

Next I went through my stash for some matching elements: I used a Scrapiniec chipboard (number 2170) , some metal elements (from Scrap-Unlimited), a sentiment button and I also looked for some wooden characters to spell the word Happy, which of course is a word but also the name of the little puppy!

I painted the chipboard first with The Crafter’s Workshop “Silver Gesso“ (TCW9010) and then with the same Iridescent Silver paint that we used before. I also added some Pebeo “King Gold“ gilding wax to make it look less flat. I applied some of the Treasure Pewter wax to the metal embellishments and I painted the word Happy with the same pink paints that I used on the background and also added some King Gold wax to the edges.

Then I adhered all these elements as well as the hearts that I created earlier on to my project using the Mixed Media Adhesive that I used before and also with some The Crafter’s Workshop “Matte Gel Medium“ (TCW9011) when the Mixed Media Adhesive wasn’t suitable (non-porous to non-porous surfaces). I stacked the large hearts on top of each other, creating some room between them with the Matte Gel Medium and that I inserted the little hearts in between the larger hearts. It’s so much fun to create your own embellishments for a project, if you have never done that before, then you really should!

And then it’s time for the finishing touches: I splattered with some Coliro Pearl Colors by Finetec GmbH in the colours “Tibet Gold “ and “Pink“ and then adhered some pearls, beads and sequins to the project using the Mixed Media Adhesive.

Like I said before, instead of mixing the Clear Modeling Paste with the silver and gold coloured Heavy Body Acrylic Paints you can of course also use the new The Crafter’s Workshop “Metallic Modeling Pastes“ to make it easier for yourself. The end result will be a little bit more shiny and brighter coloured!

Step by step tutorial on how to create a fun and girly canvas project

Step by step tutorial on how to create a fun and girly canvas project

And that finishes today’s project, I hope you enjoyed!

Thank you Therm-O-Web for providing the Design Team with some of the fabulous products  mentioned in this post. I loved working with them!

We would love to see what you create with The Crafters Workshop Stencils and Mediums.
You can share it with us on our Facebook page, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest using hashtag #tcwstencillove.

Heidi Jakobs

The Crafter’s Workshop Design Team Member

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