* Two months ago I was playing around with my stencils and I ended up creating a stack of textured watercolor canvases. I applied gesso with and without stencils to several sheets of watercolor paper and then just set them aside to dry. I knew I would use them later and since I had everything out and the table covered why not go ahead and just make a bunch at one time right? Well a couple of weeks later I was showing one of my friends how to use distress stains and I brought out one of my gessoed watercolor sheets to demonstrate on. Let me just tell you – the minute I put the first streak of stain on my page my eyes lit up and I knew exactly what I was going to do with each and every single one of those textured watercolor canvases that were just sitting in a stack waiting for me to play with them! The distress stains from Ranger look quite frankly “Outstanding” on top of the gesso and when you mix the colors and rub them with a towel to blend them the results get even better. The piece above is one of the first ones I constructed using my freshly stained papers and I am quite happy with it because it ended up being another one of those projects that just flowed. I didn’t have to struggle with anything while I was creating, or worry about where to put what…it all just came together and since it doesn’t always happen like that I cherish the times it does!! I look forward to sharing more “Stained Gesso” projects and if you have any questions about the process please feel free to ask!

* Here are a few close up shots:

* Sorry the picture is a tad blurry – but to achieve the amazing chevron texture, I laid a chevron template from The Crafters Workshop on top of a sheet of watercolor paper and then used an old i tunes card to swipe gesso over the top of it. I lifted the template off of the paper and then let it dry. When I applied the distress stain later, I made sure to wipe over the tops of the chevrons with a paper towel so it took a little bit of the color back off and helped the chevrons really stand out! I got a lot of use out of that one sheet of chevron paper as I cut it up and have it used parts of it on several different projects since!

* I used a circle punch to punch out the watercolor paper and then placed pop dots behind it to add dimension. I dropped a few dabs of Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze on the circle to create the dark sparkly dots! (of course I guess you can’t tell they are sparkly in the picture but trust me they are)

* I used my distress stains to color the chipboard letters as well!

{Here is a complete supply list for my project}

- Gesso & Watercolor Paper: Hobby Lobby Brand
- Distress Stains: Ranger
- Chevron Template: The Crafter’s Workshop
- Tissue Tape: Tim Holtz
- Glimmer Glaze & Glimmer Glam: Tattered Angels
- Canvas Resist Flowers: Prima Marketing
- Metal Inspire Charm: Prima Marketing
- Wooden Buttons: Prima Marketing
- Pearl Swirl: Prima Marketing
- Chit Chat Stickers: Tim Holtz
- Chipboard Letters: The Girls Paperie
- Twine: Pink Paislee
- Mini Staples: Tim Holtz
- Other: Sewing Thread

Castor and I need to go run some errands today and get out of the house for a little while. The older kids have gone to six flags which I’m a tad bit jealous of, but unfortunately I just can’t handle the mixture of heat and spinning rides too well anymore…:(

Creatively Yours,
April