Canvas with Four Pretty Little Maids

Good Morning All

Yesterday I worked on my August Mojo Monthly project hosted by Sarah at La De Dah - link here ... talk about skidding in at the last moment! Really I've been planning what to make for some time but other things, life, etc., have just got in the way. Anyway, I finally got to it yesterday and this is the result.

Sarah's suggestion this month was that we did something with envelopes and her examples, using window style envelopes, are terrific ... but I didn't have any of those in my stationery box. So, as usual, I improvised - I made paper roses, and leaves, from the windowless, shiny, manila type that were to hand. And, because I didn't have enough of the right sized circle punches, I cut them out using my Marianne die. I then distressed the roses, before curling, with a Vintage Photo ink pad and rubbed a white ink pad over the tips and also the leaves - you can just about see this in the photo.

The canvas got two coats of white gesso - these canvases do come  already gessoed but I just like to give them a couple of more coats - before dabbing with a salmon dabber over one of Tim Holtz mini masks, Florets, for the background. The salmon was a bit brighter than I anticipated so I rubbed Vintage Photo around the edges to tone it down some. Then I added embellishments roughly based on Sarah's example, using what I had to hand in the way of ribbons and lace, but with the addition of one of my family photographs, scanned and printed down to a size that fitted. These lovely little girls are my greats - three great-aunts, Wilhelmina, Henrietta & Janet, and my grandmother, Martha (bottom right). Aren't their bonnets amazing - I think they must be wearing their 'Sunday best' for this photo.

Here's a close up of the trim detail, some peach organza ribbon, cream tape, a leaf and a flat-backed pearl. The trim under the photo has some cotton lace and a very fancy beige trim added. The title, 'Family', was computer generated using Ancestry SF font.

So, that's it - another Elizabeth work of art destined to be hung in the gallery we now have established in the downstairs cloakroom, where it will be gazed upon by all our visitors, no doubt :)

Tomorrow Sarah will post yet more inspiration and an interview with a featured artist so if your mojo has deserted you, or even if you just want to see some truly wonderful creations, take a peek at her blog - La De Dah - and join in the fun if you will.

In the meantime, happy crafting to you all,