For The Love Of Ferns

From upcycling to playing with your favourite green ink pad, this week we are all about how good it is to be green. Whether you want to use a piece of recycling, re use that piece destined for the bin or simply use a green inkpad or paint, the choice is yours. We are inspiring you to be environmentally friendly or to fall in love with your green colouring mediums this week. Simon Says Stamp and Show would love to see how you are inspired this week.

I used a mix of recycled elements, paints and foliage in my canvas board and I have created step by steps should you wish to create something similar. I also have a few top tips over on the Simon Says Stamp and Show blog.

The first thing that came to mind when I thought of green was FERNS and the Mini Ferns Crafter's Workshop template came to my rescue using in conjunction with Wendy Vecchi's White Embossing Paste, adding into the mix lots of Hey Pesto Fresco Finish Paint. Martha Stewart's Crafter's Clay Garden Moulds were the perfect way to add lightweight embellishments to my piece. This canvas is so TACTILE!

Take the canvas board and add corrugated card for texture.

Apply white embossing paste through the Mini Ferns template.

Continue to add ferns to the board until you are happy with the arrangement.

Paint the board with a coat of Gesso, allow to dry and then apply a coat of Hey Pesto Fresco Finish Paint, then dry brush Old Gold Fresco Finish Paint over the canvas board to highlight all the texture.

Add book pages to the board and then paint over with Fresco Finish Paint. If I had thought of it at the time I would have added the torn book pages in the beginning, but that's how my piece developed!

At this stage I also decided to add touches of embossing paste around the edges of the corrugated card and randomly around my canvas.

Apply paper clay to the mould, remove any excess clay and press into the mould and then remove.

Once the paper clay is completely dry, paint with Hey Pesto Fresco Finish Paint.

For a touch more dimension and interest I also added tiny junkyard findings to the canvas. You can also see the fabulous raised areas and dimension highlighted by the Old Gold Fresco Finish Paint.

The paper clay ferns add wonderful dimension without any weight to the canvas. Again I highlighted the raised areas but this time with Treasure Gold Olive Bronze Metallic Wax.

As a contrast I added natural wooden letters to add FERN to my canvas.

For further interest I also added Word Bands, rubbing over with a touch of Treasure Gold wax.

I love how the text is still visible under the paint.

For more great ideas please pop over to the Simon Says Stamp and Show blog and take a look at my fellow team members they have created some inspirational projects. Remember there is also the chance to win a $50 prize from Simon Says Stamp.  I always look forward to seeing your creations each week.

Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a comment, much appreciated.  Enjoy your week. Tracy x x 

 
Products Used:

Crafter's Workshop Template - Mini Ferns
Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Word Bands
Wendy Vecchi White Embossing Paste
Hey Pesto Fresco Finish Paint
Old Gold Fresco Finish Paint
Martha Stewart Crafter's Clay Garden Moulds
Claudine Hellmuth Gesso
Prima Clock Parts Tiny Junkyard Findings
Treasure Gold Olive Bronze Metallic Wax Finish
Studio Calico Alphabet Wood Veneers