Sweet Summer Burlap Canvas

Hello and welcome! Annette Green here today with a fun and easy project you can complete in less than two hours. It starts with a 6 x 8 inch burlap canvas and a summer theme.

When I start projects like this, I first think of my theme. In this case sunny Florida summers. Images of the beach, cruise ships, going to the movies, and blooming hibiscus came to mind. I grabbed my 8 x 8 Collage paper pack by Tim Holtz. It's become one of my favorites because it's filled with various smaller size images taken from several different 12 x 12 paper packs by Tim. Destinations being one of them. Perfect for my summer theme.

Tim's burlap canvases are terrific for mixed media projects because they aren't just frames with burlap stretched over them. They have a hard surface underneath the burlap, so painting and gluing on them is so easy. No sagging. Here I started with embossing paste mixed with re-inkers and gave the burlap a haphazard smearing of the two colors. I set it aside to dry, which didn't take long since the embossing paste was applied fairly thin.

While the canvas dried, I cut images from the Collage paper pack like this one using the Picture Wheel die. 

And some letters...

...which fit nicely in the picture wheel die's spaces.

This image from the internet was actually my inspiration for the project. This cute pin-up girl reminds me of my mother back in the day. I printed the image onto matte photo paper, then trimmed it out leaving white space, then crinkled the corners and tore it a bit, then inked the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. 

To create a tropical looking flower, I cut a small tattered flower from red Kraft core card stock, sanded the edges, then snip the petals in a little further...

I glued one of the petals directly over another one to create a five petal flower like this. Then inked the edges with Vintage Photo and curled the petals slightly. 

I added a metal foliage piece to the center after painting it with Wild Honey Distress Paint.

This "journey" Collage Key is the perfect embellishment for this project.

I have so many of these plastic clear fragments, so I put one to use here with the Florida postage image behind it and tied off the fragment with a piece of twine.

I used collage glue stick for most of the lightweight pieces like papers, and stronger liquid glue like Glossy Accents for the heavier stuff.

Here's another look at the completed canvas. I think the natural look of burlap goes so nicely with a summer theme, don't you? Thanks for dropping by today and I hope your day is sunny!