Me and My Thoughts: Fall Canvas Tutorial

Hi there,

The fall weather seems to be creeping in - especially in the mornings. I can definitely feel the cooler air and crispness starting to arrive.
But that's ok because I enjoy this time of year. The changing colors of the leaves, sweater weather, pumpkin pie ... mmmm I can smell it already!

I'm glad you stopped by my blog today because I have a super easy & fun tutorial to share with you.
I love decorating for the changing seasons and always try to think of new ideas . This year I wanted to create a simple little canvas to place around my home - not sure where yet.

So I purchased an 8 x 10 canvas (you can find these at various craft stores and $ stores).

1. I set out my supplies.

I used some chipboard alpha & shapes that I had lying around (Basic Grey - very old collections)
canvas (from the craft store)
acrylic paints in various colors (sorry not sure because I'm an airhead & forgot to include the in the picture)
glitter & rhinestones (again ... forgot to include them)

2. Then I placed the shapes & letters on the canvas the way that I wanted. (I played with this for a while until I got a look that I was happy with.)

3. I then ran the chipboard letters through my Xyron 2.5" Create-a-Sticker machine.

4. Before adhering anything to the canvas I penciled a light line so that my letters would be straight when I adhered them to the canvas. (don't worry about the pencil marks showing because they will get covered up by the paint and you won't see them at all.)

5. I then adhered the letters down spelling out my title. (tip: I began adhering the letters at the end of the word that way I knew how much space I would need).

This is how my canvas looked with the title on it.

6. The next step was to start painting it. I began with a chocolate brown shade and painted a few coats. (1-3)

I used a brush to get in between the letters and fill the open spots with paint.

Here's what it looked like after a few shades of brown. The foam brush was rather streaky but that was the look I was going for. (don't believe me do ya? )

7. I then painted over the canvas again using a dark orange shade. I didn't paint it with a complete coat because I wanted the brown from beneath to show so I continued with the 'streaky' look.

8. Once the paint was dried I used a turquoise colored paint and brushed over the canvas in a few spots (not all over as I just wanted 'hints' of the turquoise to show).

9. Then I put the chipboard leaves through my Xyron 2.5" Create-a-Sticker.

Once the chipboard leaves had the adhesive on them I covered them with a browny-copper colored glitter and then another copper colored glitter that had blue in it. So pretty. (the glitter is from Stampendous)

10. I then ran the glittered chipboard leaves through my Xyron 5" Create-a-Sticker and then adhered them to the canvas. I also added a few pearl gems.