Canvas art.

I love this canvas! I made it for my husband, for our anniversary back in August. I wish I had step by step photos, but, it seems I do my best when I'm not worrying about photographing each step, or working on webcam. It just... comes together! I'm going to try hard to describe the steps, but if you have questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments section, and I'll answer them the best I can!

I used a lot of products, so I’m going to try really hard to link to everything I used.
The flowers were made using grunge paper. Cut with a Tim Holtz die, and covered with book pages. I painted them with the stains (which will be listed/linked below) and added a button to the centers.



First, I covered the white canvas with book pages using PPA matte.
I adhered paper flowers and circles with intentions to paint over them, adding texture.



I used Maya Road’s sheer Luxe Stoney Island alphas.
I used Lindy’s Stamp Gang materials to paint the canvas… here’s a list of the products I used and the colors.

Color shots (I mixed the powder with rubbing alcohol):
Tiger Lily Red Orange
California Poppy Gold
Rhododendron Red Rose

Starburst Stains: Bells of Ireland

Mica Powder: Stellar Yellow Red



I used Crystal Lacquer to adhere the sheer alphas. I didn’t like that you could barely see them, (don’t ask… sheer, and I expected to SEE them, I don’t know!!) so I added some Gesso to the tops of the sheer letters and wiped the paint off them to more or less outline them. Then I started looking at it, and didn’t like it at all, so I pulled the letters up (while the adhesive was still wet!) and LOVED that, so much more!! So I basically used the alphas as a stencil.



I used USAQ’s 101 Craze and Crackle Paste.

I used reinkers to add color. You know, reinkers that are typically for ink pads!

To use the reinkers, I mixed them with a little water and used my brayer to roll it onto the canvas. When painting the canvas I worked from the lower left corner to the upper right corner. With my darkest color in the bottom, and my lightest color towards the top.



I mixed the Starburst Stain and the Chartreuse reinker and splattered it on in certain areas. The green really helped to break it up a little bit.

I typed out the words on the computer, printed them, and inked them up with some Antique Linen Distress Ink. Outlined them, and used some Crystal Lacquer to adhere them to the canvas. Then… I squeezed my WHOLE bottle of Crystal Lacquer onto my canvas… I used my brayer to roll it all around, and cover a majority of it. I really wanted this to have a glossy finish, I totally got it!! And
I love it!!

Crystal Lacquer works really great, not only as an adhesive but also as a finish. I love that the Crystal Lacquer doesn't diminish the texture at all, and actually enhances it by making it glossy!

Be sure to check out Sakura for Crystal Lacquer. They have a variety of beautiful colors, as well as an extremely FINE tip for their Crystal Lacquer.