February 2017 A Vintage Journey Challenge - Words that are Special!

Hi all -  the February challenge is up over at A Vintage Journey!  This month, hostess Jennie has chosen the topic "Words that are Special".  

Here is the challenge in Jennie's words:  

"We often use words for card making, scrapbooking, journaling, layering backgrounds, stamping, collage, in mixed media work, on our tags.... In fact words are often an integral part of our design processes for many of our projects. This month show us words that are important or special to you, and how you incorporate them in your vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial or steampunk art."

I guess I would call my project Mixed Media and Art Journaling (although it's a framed canvas and not a journal)

I am finding that my faith means more and more to me as I grow older - and so these words on my canvas are words special to me.

I have lots of photos to show how I created this.  

The background was made with acrylic paints - using a technique called Acrylic Galaxy Background that I learned in a class from Wanderlust 2016 given by Jennifer Lee.  I have seen the technique on several YouTube Videos so I feel it's ok to share how I made this.

I started by painting 2 canvases - a 10"x10" and and 8"x8" with black Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic.  I ended up using the 8"x8" for my project today - so the larger one will show up on another day!

You let every layer dry before moving onto the next colors.  Next I dabbed on some Manganese Blue Hue and Magenta

At this point I always ask myself - "how is this going to turn into a beautiful galaxy??"

So I  pounce on  more black paint and dab over the paint with a damp sponge.  This blends the colors and adds some bumpy textures.

Now I'm going to add the lighter swirls of color - I used Dina Wakley Magenta, White and Sky.

and again -  it looks really weird and I added too much light color - but never fear!

I dabbed more black to soften the light edges and cover some of the light colors and I ended up with this.  You add and subtract color until you like the look.

 Still not looking like a galaxy but watch the magic that happens when you add the 'stars'! 

Here are both of the canvases I made.  

First I used the round end of a paintbrush dipped in white acrylic paint and pressed onto the canvas for the larger stars - and then I mixed a little water into the white paint, dipped an old toothbrush into the watery mix and splattered smaller stars by dragging my thumb over the brush.

So now to decorate my galaxy in the Words that are Special Theme - my word is FAITH.

I die cut the Mini Globe die out of a manilla tag and sprinkled some Sand Stone and Ultramarine Brushos over it.

Spritz with water and watch the wonderful color appear!

I tried to do Sand Stone on the continents and Ultramarine on the water - not perfect - but I like how it came out!

I stamped a sentiment on a piece of tag I had in my stash - it had been colored by rubbing Distress Mermaid Lagoon ink on my craft mat, spritzing with water and dragging the tag over the watered ink.  To make the colors coordinate with the globe, I shook a little Sand Stone on it and spritzed with water.

I rubbed some Glue N Seal along the corners of the canvas and spooned on Black Micro Beads to add a little more texture to the canvas.  The beads are now all over my craft room but a good amount stuck to the canvas!

I die cut FAITH using Thinlits Alphanumeric dies out of a thin sheet of cork, inked the letters a bit with Ranger Distress Ground Espresso and adhered them to the canvas under a sentiment from Inspired Faith that I colored the same way as the larger sentiment.

 I inked and distressed the edges of the sentiment with Ground Espresso and my distress tool.  You can see the Black Micro Beads on these close ups.

 I adhered the globe to the canvas with black foam tape to pop it up of the surface a bit. 

I added several Idea-ology Small talk stickers that went along with my FAITH theme.

This shows the thickness of the canvas - I splattered some 'stars' on all the sides.

I really LOVE this Acrylic Galaxy Technique and I hope you will try it out!  

You can see my Wanderlust project using the technique here.

So please join us this month - showing us "Words that are Special" to you in your vintage, shabby, mixed-media, art journaling, industrial or steampunk project!  You'll find lots of inspiration from the Creative Guides here.

Stamps:  Faith Is - Wordsworth Rubber Soul, for we walk - from Inspired Faith - PTI
Paper:  manilla tag
Ink:  Archival Jet Black, True Black - PTI, Ranger Distress Mermaid Lagoon and Ground Espresso.
Accessories:  8"x8"x1 3/4" deep canvas, Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic paint - black and Manganese Blue Hue, Dina Wakley Heav Body Acrylic paint - Magenta, Sky, White,  Idea-ology Small Talk, Brushos - Ultramarine and Sand Stone, dies: Thinlits Mini Globe and Alphanumeric - Tim Holtz/Sizzix, paint brushes, water, water spritzer, Glue N Seal, Black Micro Beads -  Art Ingredients/Finnabair.