Paying It Forward #1

A week or so ago there was a challenge going around Facebook which said:

Pay it forward 2013, I will make something....handmade...for the first 5 people who comment on my post...you will receive it in 2013 before the year is over and it will be handmade To qualify, you must repost this and commit to doing the same for your first 5. Have Fun. 

My friend who posted this is a ceramist and I jumped right on that band wagon, so reported and some of my friends signed up with me. I've been wanting to so come canvas work, and when I saw Hels Sheridian's theme for Sunday Stamping this week was DREAM, I knew where I was going.

This is where I ended up:

I've been following Creative Jump Start - an amazing group of lessons brought to us by the dedicated, talented, and oh so kind Nathalie Kalback. If you haven't heard about this jump over to her website and sign up for the newsletter. Every day there is a new post with the possibilities for give-aways by the sponsors and a lot of video lessons from a lot of folks I was unfamiliar with...what a gift!

The canvas is for a good friend that I had lost touch with and incorporates a lot of what I've been looking at, but I feel like it is also totally mine. Which is a VERY fun feeling. Colors I love, I've always loved and still are drawn to. Lots of misting and water, and drying and re-misting and stencils and stains and my absolute "can't make art without it" Picket Fence Distress Stains.

Something too dark? A couple of coats of picket fences and your problem is solved. I even used it on the corner pieces...which I stained with alcohol inks but then they were too dark. No problem. Picket Fences Stain to the rescue. I had a ton of fun with the alcohol inks too....I really like how the clock came out. 

In the lower left hand corner is one of the hand made beads I made last spring from small manilla tags covered with all sorts of Distress Stains using Tim's distress marble technique. 

There's a couple of things I would do differently next time, but for a start, I'm good. Thanks Hels!! If you want to play with Sunday Stampers, pop over to Hels' blog Ink on My Fingers and join the fun.