Hello there American Crafts friends! It’s Meghann Andrew, and I’m so excited to be here with you on this bittersweet day as I share my final project as an American Crafts design team member. It has been such a pleasure to work with the best products in the industry. I hope today’s project will be no different, and will inspire you to step out of your creative box as I did!
I am by no means an artist—in fact, painting any type of illustration is not my forte, and I typically stick to filling a canvas with solid color. When I sat down to create two new art pieces for my daughter’s room, I decided to let the gorgeous patterned paper created by Vicki Boutin and the designers at American Crafts fill my canvases!
This DIY project is simple, yet it looks like a beautiful piece of mixed-media art that could be found on a gallery wall. These easy to re-create canvases are filled with texture, sparkle, and color. Next, I’ll show you how I created them in just a few easy steps!
First, gather your supplies to paint your canvas background in a color that suit your decor. I used the beautiful All the Good Things collection of acrylic paints and high-quality brushes. Inspired by the colors found in the Wildflower and Honey collection, I mixed my paints to achieve the perfect hue I was looking for on each canvas.
Second, paint your canvases. The All the Good Things collection paint covered so well that I only had to paint one coat on each canvas. I did not fully mix my two paint colors so that there was some variation in the hue on the background. Allow your paint to dry.
Next, gather your patterned paper. Be sure to select patterns that have clearly defined elements that are easy to fussy-cut. I selected the Create a Buzz paper circle designs and the Greenery paper’s leaves. The circles were easy to punch with an EK Success 1-1/8” circle punch. I fussy cut the leaves easily. I began arranging the design on my first canvas, and I liked it so much that I re-created it on my second in order to keep the process simple.
Next, use the sticky thumb express glue to adhere the paper elements to the painted canvas. I love this adhesive because it dries so quickly and can be used with any medium!
Once your paper elements are fully adhered, paint over the entire canvas with the matte acrylic gel from the All the Good Things collection. Allow the gel medium to dry fully. This ensures that your paper is sealed onto the canvas properly so we can add some sparkle later!
The Vicki Boutin iridescent glitter texture paste adds the perfect amount of chunky, sparkly texture to the canvases. Using a palette knife, gently place the medium onto the painted canvas at the base. Wipe off any excess from the paper designs with a damp paintbrush.
I wanted to finish off my canvases with a different texture, so I fussy cut the vellum butterfly designs from the Wildflower and Honey specialty vellum paper and adhered them to the center only of my canvas using the Sticky Thumb adhesive dots. Once they were applied, I used my fingers to lift up the wings, giving them a three-dimensional effect.
I hope this DIY project helps you find your inner artist. I can’t wait to see what art pieces you design with a canvas, paint, and paper! Happy creating, friends, and be sure to follow me on Instagram to keep up with my crafty pursuits!
Supplies | Wildflower and Honey collection: Greenery paper (352246), Create a Buzz paper (352248), gold holographic specialty vellum (352252); Color Kaleidoscope collection: iridescent glitter texture paste (351109), silicon palette knife (348092); All the Good Things Collection: brush set (343918), matte acrylic gel (343916), Color Pop acrylic paint set 1 (343904), Color Pop acrylic paint set 2 (343905), Color Pop acrylic paint set 3 (343906); Sticky Thumb collection: Sticky dots (340274), express glue (351655)