It's official. I have made my first Christmas craft for the year. That means it's really time to start thinking about the holidays. I can't put it off any longer. It has been so warm here that it doesn't feel like November is almost over. We finally had our first real snow yesterday and the temperatures plummeted so I guess reality struck there too!
Today we are sharing our Pinterest inspired crafts on the Practical Scrappers blog. (sidenote: Practical Scrappers was having some domain issues so be sure to click on the link I provided for the new web address and update any readers you may follow in.) I don't know about you, but I have to limit my time on Pinterest or I will find hours of my day just gone without even knowing it! While browsing the fabulous projects the other day I came across this little beauty.
Simple yet for some reason it just grabbed me. I liked the depth brought in with the different shades of paint and how the background had almost that woodgrainy feel to it. I have just recently started playing around with mixed media and painting and I thought this might be a fun painting to replicate for my Christmas decor. I wanted to keep the simplicity of it and work more on achieving some of the depth and texture onto my own canvas. This is what I came up with.
Please bear with me on the picture! I told you it was snowy yesterday and getting a great picture proved to be an impossible experience. I will try to get a new one and update without the glare and hopefully with better representation of the color soon. Anyway, I started by applying gesso to the canvas to prepare. I then used a layer of gel medium. While the gel medium was still a little wet I applied my first layer of red with a 2 inch bristle brush. This allowed me to get the paint lines I wanted to see and create some of that woodgrain feel. When that was dry I added a small amount of black paint with a dry brush to add a little darkness in some areas. I didn't like how that looked so I went over it with a slightly wet brush that I had dipped in water to spread the black out a little. I finished by spraying a little bit of red Tim Holtz distress stain on top and brushing that in to get an even deeper shade of red in there. Finally I cut the word Joy using my Joys of the Season Cricut Cartridge and applied it with gel medium.
Overall I am happy with how it turned out. The final layer of stain added a sheen to the canvas that I am not too excited about but I guess that is a lesson learned. I love the simplicity which will go well with some of the other decorations I have.
What do you think? Do you have any Pinterest inspired crafts to share or any on your list to make this year?
Lisa
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