CANVAS #6 CUTESY

Hello all.  It has been a little while since I posted a canvas.  I am attempting to do small canvases in different styles as part of a private swap I am doing with a friend.  To say I was dreading this style...it would be an understatement.  I had such a difficult time.  First of all, I had done the destash back in September and got rid of everything that could have been remotely used for cutesy or so I thought anyway.  Second, I was drawing a blank.  THANK GOODNESS for GOOD FRIENDS. My friend, Kim, pulled through and sent me this awesome ATC to build this canvas around.

You would think that having the focal point would make doing this canvas so much easier. Not for me.  I ended up doing the canvas 4 times before I got it to the way I could live with it.  Pastels for me are hard to work with, so once I darkened up my palette, it was much easier for me to get past the creative block.  I decided to go with a simple approach as well. 

 



CANVAS

I went with a simple bright tomato red color    I layered on several G45 papers from the French Country 6 x6 pad. 

 

LAYERS

Using a paper pattern that I free hand cut a paper heart from, I used it to cut the shape out of a pair of old jeans.  Using embroidery floss, I did a sloppy stitch around the border to give it more of a home-spun flair.  I added a piece of adhesive backed Recollections red lace to the middle of the heart. 

 

ATC

Kim sent me this wonderful ATC.  She certainly knows how to make things come to life.  I love all her intricate details including shading and highlighting.  The only changes I made were: I swapped out the orange button for a quilted red heart button I had in my stash and I inked over the top of her inked edges with red. 

 

EMBELLISHMENTS

I decided not to overdo it on the embellishments and went simple.  I used a jewelry finding and strung on the letters BFF with the hearts.  I cannot believe how long I have had those in my stash.  To cover the edges of the finding, I used these little gingham bows that I had received with an order I made last year. 

 

Overall I think the canvas came out pretty well.  Now to choose the next style to work on.