Woodware UK: Canvassing for Creativity

 

This week's challenge for the Woodware team strained my brain a bit, and I'm not sure why. We've all been working with the Canvas Cloth, an awesome product...perfect for painting, stamping, stenciling, and stitching on. All week I've been watching the rest of the team's posts, waiting for some inspiration to hit. I've had the cloth sitting on my island in the middle of my studio as a constant reminder while I've had ideas stewing in my head. Finally, this morning, the light bulb went on! A holiday door hanging! Perfect. And no sewing necessary, which is a good thing as my sewing machine is in dire need of being cleaned, oiled, and adjusted from lack of use.

I decided that I would use one of Woodware's wood dowels (which I covered in red ink and clear embossing powder, and then dipped the ends into Stampendous Aged Gold Embossing Enamel for more pizazz.) The length of the dowel is 6 inches (15 cm), which meant that my canvas needed to be 5 inches in width. I chose the Dreamweaver stencils that I wanted to use (Holiday Greetings, Holly Flourish, Christmas Borderss) and laid them out for measuring space of design. I added a few extra inches in length to create the banner effect that I wanted.
I wanted to have the look of cross stitch, without the work (duh!), so I pulled out my handy Dreamweaver Screen, taped it down on the canvas, and using a large stencil brush, added an antique-y looking color (Clearsnap Mixed Media ink in Vintage) over the entire panel, moving the screen as necessary. Then I placed the Holiday Greetings stencil as desired, taped it down over the top of the screen, and started adding the color to the leaves and berries (Mixed Media Schoolhouse Red and Mossy Green, with a bit of Leather Brown). You notice that the  berries are tiny, and fairly close to the leaves. This makes it tricky...unless of course you have in your possession the awesome Picasso tool from Dreamweaver. It looks a bit odd in shape, with sharp corners and rounded scallops, and inside little open lines and several sizes of circles. The purpose is to use this to mask off where you don't want ink, while you add the ink that you do want. For instance, on the berries, just place the appropriate circle size over the berry, ink your smallest stencil brush, and rouge the color into that space, and move onto the next. Easy!

Following the same process, I completed the Holly Flourish design at the top and bottom of the panel, as well as one section of the Christmas Borders. I used that large brush again to add more ink-distressing around the edges and over the canvas. Now I was ready for the finishing touches!

I added two strips of Woodware Self-adhesive White Lace, several Card Candis in Holly Berries, inked the bottom edge with Clearsnap Gold ColorBox ink, and embossed the edge with Stampendous Aged Gold Embossing Enamel...the perfect amount of bling while keeping the vintage feel. For a bit of whimsy, I added striped string bows with tiny Woodware Jingle Bells. I cut two slits at the top of the hanging to insert Tartan ribbon through, and tied this in bows around the dowel for hanging.

This hanging would really be a lovely gift or craft sale item, and is easy enough to do in multiples. Handmade is heartmade, after all!