"Love is...

....the only thing that multiplies by wasting it." (Ricarda Huch)

A friend needed a canvas as a wedding gift - something more personal than a gift from a store. I had actually no idea what to start with, so I googled a saying first and found this wonderful one by Ricarda Huch, which I really love.

I had played with my Sizzlits dies earlier on this day and had experimented with the big baroque ornament die. The Sizzlits only cut through rather thin card and paper and metal foil (and also funky foam I found out!) and so I had this deeply etched impression on this glossy card (taken from some packaging material) and did not want to through it away, as it looked really cool.

So I cut the whole card to a panel, rounded the edges with a corner punch and gave it an intense treatment with various alcohol inks. After that the ornament was hardly visible, so I decided to take away the alcohol inks from the inner shape which turned out that way:

Love it! Then I punched some holes through the corners and adhered rivets, distressed the edges of the panel with the blade of my box cutter - voila!

I especially love the crackled/marble look, where I worked with the cotton buds quite sloppy!

Then I created the canvas background using the "chipped paint"-technique I learned with Andy Skinner's Timeworn Workshop, that is to create the impression of chipped paint from a rust metal panel. Love that effect, as it really gives you the feel of having something "old", that has already lived to see a lot of things.

I stamped the saying onto some mud coloured card and cut it to pieces, distressed the edges and blended it with "vintage photo" DI. I also spritzed some water onto it, as this makes the colour bleed out a little and softens the card, which makes it look even more old.

I collaged the saying, the "Sizzlits engraved" panel, a background paper from my stash and some rough jute ribbon to the canvas. For a finish I added some rough cord, which I attached to the holes of the panel and tied them on the back, which makes the panel look like it was tied to the canvas instead of glued...done!

Hope you like the result!

I enter Vintage Stamping Challenges ("Blues, Brown and Beige") and SSSS's awesome challenge "metal-ology" with this canvas, as the background is meant to be "faux rusted metal with chipped paint". (Hope, this counts; ....well maybe the four metal rivets will do the job...)

Hugs,

die amelie x