Guest Designer - Rebecca Yahrling

Today we have a mixed media canvas created by our talented guest designer, Rebecca Yahrling (see her Flickr gallery here). Not only did Rebecca create something unique and beautiful to share with us today, but she also included a mini tutorial (with pictures!!) of how she put this together.  So without further ado -- here's what Rebecca says:

"I am thrilled and honored to once again be a guest designer at Crop Stop.

This project was totally inspired by Shari Carroll at Simon Says Stamp. As soon as I saw her monogram project, I knew I wanted to do something similar for my new craft room. I have already bought several 'R's to decorate and this canvas will be center stage. For me, this was a very intimidating project as I haven't done very much mixed media. But I want to! I didn't have any of the supplies that Shari used and just used what I already have. It really was fun to make and I'm happy with how it turned out.  Here's what I did:

 

 

I started by brushing white gesso on my canvas and set aside to dry.  I cut a 2"x7" strip of white textured paper and decoupaged it onto the top portion of the canvas. I then stamped a design on white tissue paper, using several stamp sets with black dye ink, keeping in mind my canvas size of 5x7.  I decoupaged this below the white textured paper.  The black ink bled a bit and I freaked out at this point, but continued anyway. lol (There are no mistakes in crafting, right?!)  

 

 

I traced an "R" onto the back side of the corrugated cardboard, reversed; cut out with scissors. I cut out the hole with an Exacto knife. My darling hubby was kind enough to cut a piece of Tim Holtz idea-ology ruler to 4 1/8" for me. I glued (Aleene's) the ruler and the "R" onto the canvas where the two papers met. I then added Aleene's tacky glue in three places and added a handmade mix of purple seed beads and let dry. I added plum metallic paint and white gesso to the "R"; let dry. With HS teal metallic paste, I painted the two wood leaves (I didn't have any aqua paint); let dry. 

 

 

Using a paintbrush dipped into dylusions crushed grape ink spray, I dabbed lines down the canvas as shown, also adding water to make it run and dabbing off the excess with a paper towel. I heat set to dry, then did the same with the vibrant turquoise. Once dry, I outlined the "R" with a black sharpie. I didn't like it! To tone it down, I added white gesso over the whole canvas, in sections, wiping away (gently) as I went along, until it looked like I wanted.

I did some ink splatters on the canvas and wood leaves with Tattered Angels gold glimmer mist. Once dry, I added all my pieces in a design I was happy with using tacky glue. And it was done! 

(I think it needs to be sealed, so I will have to go buy some matte sealer. Not that I need an excuse to go to the craft store! lol). 

I hope my canvas inspires you to try mixed media.

Here's a list of supplies Rebecca used:

Stamp sets:

7Gypsies 'Trousseau'

Tim Holtz 'Flights of Fancy'

MFT 'Distressed Patterns'

Inks & Ink sprays:

Dylusions vibrant turquoise and crushed grape

Tattered Angels glitter mist: gold

Delta black dye ink

 

decorative paper by 'Black Ink'

5x7 Artist canvas board

Tim Holtz idea-ology ruler piece

Folk Art metallic paint: plum

Heidi Swapp metallic texture paste: teal

Plaid decoupage

White gesso (Darice)

Aleene's tacky glue

Darice faceted rondel

Other:

tissue paper, corrugated cardboard, Fiskars scissors, gems, beads, Exacto knife, Plaid palette knife, wood bird (Studio Calico), wood leaves, metal flower, paintbrush

 Now it's your turn -- Stop by our CURRENT LINK PARTY and showoff any project that includes a product or two from one of the companies Cropstop carries in the store.