Learn to pause

Hello everyone, Alison here to share a project using one of the fabulous Tim Holtz burlap panels with you.

I knew I would love playing with these panels the minute I saw them in the new releases earlier this year... and they are very yummy!  You get great texture, great dimension and a great shabby chic look before you've even done anything...

I've used one of the smaller sized 4x6 panels as the base "canvas" for this project, which also uses some of the new 8x8 TH Collage papers... very useful new sizing if you generally work smaller scale than a 12x12 page.

I started by tearing some of the papers into strips of various sizes... some music manuscript and some handwritten text - no surprises so far, then - and played around with their positions on the panel.

I used Distress Inks to stain the torn edges - makes such a difference to the overall look...

The little boy is from Nicecrane Designs, the Child's Garden of Verses V, beautiful vintage book illustrations all ready to be coloured, cut out, or whatever else takes your fancy.

I printed him out in a couple of different sizes, so that I could see what worked best, and then used Distress Stains to watercolour him in a neutral palette using a water brush.  A bit of simple fussy cutting, and he was ready to take his place on the layout.

A couple of Idea-ology metal embellishments take their place... some moulded corners and one of my favourite clocks, all shabbied up (down?) with some gesso and gilding wax.

Having decided where everything went, it was time to remove it all!  I wanted to add some gesso to the burlap to emphasise the texture, and now I knew whereabouts it would have the most effect.

(You'll notice things have moved around just a little by the time we get stuck down... for instance, the clock worked much better above the boy - as though it might be on the wall behind him - rather than by his left knee!)

The gesso emphasises the burlap by drawing a bit of extra attention to it, like a highlight.  Once the papers were stuck, I decided to experiment with adding an extra touch of texture using some of the fabulous Liquid Platinum embossing powder by Ranger.

Love how the effect is different according to whether it landed on the burlap or the paper!

The sentiment, by Tim Holtz, is stamped in Coffee Archival with some Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain DIs also blended onto the stamp, and then embossed with the SuperFine Clear embossing powder from Ranger.

So that was the straightforward view of the piece, but if you'd like a whole "different angle" on things, check out the photographs over at Words and Pictures today!

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today, and I'll see you again soon.
Alison x

If there's something that's tempted you amongst the ingredients, you'll find it in the eclectic Paperie store by clicking on the links below.