'seashells' canvas project

Click image to enlarge

Designer: Janna Wilson
Get the most bang for your buck when you get crafty and discover that your border punches have great potential beyond their intended uses.  On this canvas project, I used my Boundary Waters Border Punch (a wave design) to create a mask to apply paint to the canvas.  I love the artsy results and this idea is perfect for showcasing those seashell collections from summer vacations at the beach.  Of course, you could apply this technique to any of your paper crafted projects too!

Difficulty rating

Instructions (Print version)

Let me show you how easy this project is to create!  First, gather up your supplies.  Punch some scrap cardstock with the Boundary Waters Border Punch to create your masks.  You’ll need several of these since they will only be good for a couple of uses each (punch 4-6 strips and they should be at least the length of the width of your canvas—about 8”). 

I used several colors of blue paint to get a nice range and depth of color to this project.  Add white to create even more shades of blue.  Begin by brushing on about a ¾” stripe of paint to the top of your canvas and let it dry thoroughly before moving on.

TIP: Speed up the drying process by carefully applying heat to the painted area with a heat embossing gun. 

Position the punched mask as shown and sponge paint along the design.  This swath of paint should be from about 1” to 1 ¾” depending on what you like.  Be sure not to overload the brush with paint, less is more in when it comes to this technique. 

You can see the colors I used here and a close up detail of the texture of the painted canvas.  Don’t worry about this being perfect looking…it’s an artsy look. 

Add your shells in any fashion you like.  You could even create a design with smaller shells.  Glue these in place with the Easy Squeeze Glue Gun. 

A simple way to add a bit of vintage appeal as well as a place for text to land on a project like this is to add some vintage paper to the painting.  It’s SO easy!  Just rub a glue stick onto the painted canvas in exactly the size/shape you wish for the paper to be applied.  Press the paper into the glue and allow to dry thoroughly (the heat gun can speed up this process).  Once the glue is dry, carefully rip the paper off to reveal a rubbed on vintage paper effect!  Now you can add handwriting or letter stickers to the paper. 

You can repeat the previous step to add a large stamped title to the bottom of the piece OR you can pre-stamp the paper (before applying) and then add it to ensure that you don’t make any mistakes that aren’t easily remedied.  I suggest the second option…you can still get the rubbed effect by gently scraping the edges of the paper with your fingernail to take away and rough up the edge.

Supplies: 

Fiskars Boundary Waters (wave) Border Punch, Easy Squeeze Glue Gun,

http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/tools/t_borderpunch-boundary-waters.aspx

http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/tools/t_easy-squeeze-glue-gun.aspx

http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/tools/t_ink-still-of-the-night.aspx

http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/tools/t_stampblockset.aspx

Heidi Grace Reagan’s Closet Alphabet Stamps

Fiskars Stamp Block Set

Fiskars High Density Pigment Ink (In the Still of the Night)
other supplies: 5 x 7 canvas, seashells, pigment stamping ink (deep turquoise blue), small alphabet stickers (Adorn It, Carolee’s Creations), vintage dictionary print, heat embossing gun, acrylic paint (various shades of blue and white), foam brush, scrap cardstock, black pen, glue stick, office date stamp