Winter Plants Mixed Media Canvas

Hello friends! I hope you had a good weekend and got some time to craft. I have had fun documenting what we have done this weekend for my December Daily journal. If you missed the video I posted on Friday showing you how I made my journal, you can find it here. It is Monday and time for a new Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge and this week our theme is Christmas Gifts.

Since it is the first Monday of a new month, the design team is showcasing a specific company/designer, and the turn has come to Simon Says Stamp exclusive products. You don't have to use SSS products to join, but it is always fun if you do. SSS has so many great dies, stamps, inks and other products, you can find them here.

I like giving handmade items away at Christmas, but don't always have the time to make enough of them. A mixed media canvas makes for a great gift and the one I made is 5 x 7 in. Even during winter there are plants, and my idea for this canvas was to depict some winter plants, right before the first snow, or maybe in between snowy times. Here, the snow falls and then disappears again several times each winter, and plants take on a dark, almost silhouette look, with lots of texture. Instead of the more traditional winter colours, I went with warm shades of yellow, brown and gold on this canvas.

I used the SSS Cottage Stems, Delicate Thistle, Circle Loops and Songbird dies.

Circle Loops were die cut from Mixed Media Heavystock paper and glued to the background with Matte Medium. I also added some torn strips of vintage book paper. Everything was coated in gesso.

 

When the gesso was dry, I painted the background with Distress Paints (Antique Linen, Pumice Stone, Fossilized Amber, Gathered Twigs and Ground Espresso). Gold paint was dry-brushed on the background, once the first layers where dry. As you can see it stuck mainly to the circles, giving them a great golden look.

I stamped the background with the You Matter background stamp, which is a great stamp to use on something that will be a gift since it has wonderful sentiments. Check out this layout of mine for a closer look on the sentiments. The background was coated with Matte Medium.

The Cottage Stem, Delicate Thistle and Songbird were die cut from more Heavystock paper and I smeared Prima's rust pastes on top with a palette knife. These pastes gave a great dark, rusty and textured look to my plants. When the pastes were dry, I dry brushed some gold paint on top.

I really like the SSS Uplifting Thoughts set and used one of the sentiments on my canvas.

After gluing the plants down with Matte Medium, I used the rust pastes to add ground to the canvas. The paste gives a great look of textured soil.

I also dry-brushed gold paint on the soil.

I used a Black Soot Distress Marker to add shadows around the circles, bird and plants.

Black paint was splattered on the background for more texture and I added some sequins and pearls from the 28 Lilac Lane Toasted Graham embellishment bottle.

Here you can maybe see the gold paint a little better. I love the text elements, and that the word 'you' is repeated a lot.

I hope you will join us in our Christmas Gifts challenge. As every week, you have a chance to win a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in.

If you want to, follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram, they post great stuff daily. 

Do you use Instagram? If so please add #sssmchallenge so we can see your entries there too.

Thank you so much for visiting today!

Happy Christmas crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

Simon Says Stamp DELICATE THISTLE	Simon Says Stamp COTTAGE STEMS	Simon Says Stamp CIRCLE LOOPS	Simon Says Stamp SONGBIRD BRANCH	Simon Says YOU MATTER BACKGROUND
Simon Says Clear Stamps UPLIFTING THOUGHTS	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress 8.5 X 11 MIXED MEDIA HEAVYSTOCK	Prima Flowers RUST PASTE Art Extravagance	Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium MATTE	Dina Wakley Ranger WHITE GESSO
Tim Holtz Distress Paint ANTIQUE LINEN	Tim Holtz Distress Paint FOSSILIZED AMBER	Ranger Paint Dabber GOLD METALLIC	Tim Holtz Distress Paint GROUND ESPRESSO	Tim Holtz Distress Paint PUMICE STONE
Tim Holtz Distress Paint BLACK SOOT	Tim Holtz Distress Paint GATHERED TWIGS	28 Lilac Lane TOASTED GRAHAM Embellishment Bottle Kit LL210	Tim Holtz Distress Ink GROUND ESPRESSO	Ranger Archival Ink Pad JET BLACK
Tim Holtz Distress COLLAGE BRUSH SET	Tim Holtz Distress SPLATTER BRUSH	Tim Holtz DISTRESS SPRAYER Ranger	Sizzix BIG SHOT MACHINE Gray And White	Sizzix MINT Standard Cutting Pads
Sizzix PRECISION BASE PLATE	Ranger Inkssentials INK BLENDING TOOL	Ranger Inkssentials Non Stick CRAFT SHEET	Dina Wakley Ranger PALETTE KNIFE

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