Heart canvas

Hello there
You may not believe this. You may think I'm hallucinating. You'll probably think I've pinched somebody elses. But you're all wrong!
Last night I was invited to my friend Jackie's opening workshop in her brand spanking new studio. It's gorgeous and yet practical too. It was Jackie's very first session as a teacher and she did remarkably well considering her students were rather naughty!

I was too wrapped up in what I was doing to start with, so I forgot to take photos of the first couple of stages but here you can basically see, the first layer of book pages which we mod podged on (yes, I've now actually used the stuff). I must remember to make those pieces slighter more overlapping the edges next time, as it was a bit of a struggle to get my narrow edges to stay down.

We then used old pattern tissue paper to create some texture. I added a few sections of 3 gypsies patterned paper in one corner. I then added some Jenni Bowlin for Ranger Speckled egg paint and brushed it around. I wasn't happy that I couldn't see the patterned paper, so Jackie just rubbed some off with her fingers and hey presto! It's visible.

Then loads of things happened. Jackie gave us some bubble wrap to stamp with which is great fun. I did those flowers with a blue stazon ink pad as it's a permanent ink, which is better for any project which may get water on it at a later stage in the process.

One of my favourite bits was using a doiley which I just dabbed over the patterned edge. The little brown flecks match perfectly with the patterned paper underneath.

The sections which may appear white are actually a Martha Stewart paint called Pearl and it's GORGEOUS!! It's a very little bluey colour. These are a  multi-purpose paint too, so painting on metal here I come as that's one of the many things we've been looking at this week in BPC class.Jackie let me use that and it was perfect with the speckled egg paint to give a... well... a pearly finish, which is rather obvious considering the name of the paint but I feel it really helped the canvas come to life. I used those with some wire mesh and drainpipe cover, as either stamps or stencils.

That's the final shot of it, although I think I went round the edges of the canvas with the brown sugar dabber after this photo. The heart is done with more of the book paper and I painted the pearl paint on it and stuffed it with cotton wool. I stamped it with the spotty stamp which you should see on the canvas too; put a rub-on on (my first one ever) and inked the edges with both base colours. The heart is only glued on at the base so it stands out really well.
I ummed and ahhed about whether it needed more but there comes a time when you have to just walk away. There's always tweeks you could make; embellishments you could add, affects you could try but it was late, so time was up. That's fine. The little extra tiny flower stamping Jackie showed me to do on the canvas, did tie it all up and help it look more balanced.
I went to bed a happy girl.

Take care out there