Canvas Fabric Book

Little Book of Love -Video 3

Video 3 supplies: Stiff bristle brush - to dry brush paint on the faux suede leaves. ** I used the ivory leaves, though there are other colors too that you can see here. ** Lumiere paint ** Southern Belle 200 thread count muslin is wonderful to stamp on since it's very fine and smooth. I used white for the samples, but the cream is pretty too. ** Habotai silk and cotton velveteen. I painted both and used them as backgrounds ** Script stamps. As you may have noticed, I used them a lot. B Line Designs have several that you can see here, with all of their images. ** La Blanche stamps - both of the heart images are from their line. ** StazOn ink pads ** Tim Holtz Ideaology embellishments. I used numbers from the Numerals [TH92684] set, a watch face from the Timepieces [TH92831] set, and the large crown and a couple of sets of wings from the Regal Adornments [TH92903] set ** Venise Lace ** Mother of Pearl buttons ** Wool felt. I used it to create a frame that surrounds the heart on the My Heart page

S U P P L I E S

These are the supplies I listed for the first two videos. Canvas Fabric ** Gesso. A 4 oz bottle will be enough for a cover and 3 signatures or you can get an 8 oz jar if you plan to make more ** 2" brush - part of a set of three sizes that you'll use all of the time ** Disposable palette ** Natural Sponge ** Golden Paint - Titan Buff & Micaceous Iron Oxide are the main colors I use, though you'll see another version of the book that used Cobalt Turquois & Quinacridone/Nickel Azo Gold ** Cheesecloth ** Silk Velvet ** Color Wash Dye ** Dye-na-Flow ** 140# Strathmore Visual Journal ** Stacey ShapeFlex 101 fusible stabilizer ** A set of Alphabet stamps I use them to stamp words, phrases, etc. They were used on the cover and pages and are very handy to have!

If you missed the first two videos, click here to see them!

These are the two images you watched me stamp in the video. Both are pretty and of course I love the image since it's a heart.

You can also stamp on ribbon and of course, on the canvas pages themselves.

This is the background for the double page spread. The purple fabric is a piece of cotton velveteen I painted ages ago. It's a very different final look than you get when you paint the silk velvet, which has a longer nap and is much shinier. You can stamp on the velveteen since the nap is so short. I'd avoid anything too detailed, but for adding the illusion of a layer, a script stamp is perfect!

Speaking of layers... there are 4 in that piece before I even added any elements. I stamped "believe in love" along the bottom of both pages, layered cheesecloth over the entire spread, and added the stamped cotton velveteen as the overall background for the spread. Without those added elements there are already things to look at on the page - places for your eye to travel over and rest on. Layers, layers, layers! Physical one, textural ones, illusory ones... they're all good and contribute to a visually pleasing page.

Here's the complete spread...

And a close up. One word of caution: If you're layering a large piece of fabric such as I did, plan to adhere it with glue all over in addition to anything else you may do to it. I glued the edges of the velveteen and not the center and it tends not to lay as flat as I would prefer. I zigzag stitched around some of the elements which helped some, but still... there is a little rumpling of the velveteen when the page is closed. And that irritates me. Just sayin'.

Of course if you're going to stitch you have to do it before anything is added to the pages that form the backside of the spread. This is the back of the 2 page spread above. I've covered the right side of the page and you can see the bobbin stitches from the zigzagging on the left

This is the right side and you'll remember it from the video. Layers and textural elements add interest. Using torn pieces of the canvas that the pages are made as layers under the Czech glass button and the number 8 from provide continuity and cohesion. All of that helps to make pretty pages which are pleasing to the eye.

This too is a page I showed in the video. I added additional elements after we filmed the segment since I felt it needed a bit more and I changed the wings from the metal ones to the painted faux suede ones.

That I like hearts is not news to many of you who have followed my work or read the newsletter. The wings are a new thing of late however. I'm enamored with them no matter if they're made from trim as these are or if they're metal ones like I used on the 2 page spread. The ivory trim means I can color them to suit my purposes. They make great wings for things other than hearts too. Check out this next photo of Andy when he was a baby...

This is as close to angelic as he's ever going to be, trust me! I drew on the leaves/wings with a Pigma pen then colored in the circles with Prismacolor pencils. Easy and effective!

My Heart. This page is by far my favorite. I love the heart, the sentiment, and the colors.

Though the pages I've shown here are mostly vertically oriented, you aren't limited to one style of layout. Arrange elements horizontally. Treat the edges of the page as a frame or border and arrange the other elements within that border. Divide a page into sections and treat each differently. Balance and symmetry are pretty, but don't lose sight of the fact that asymmetry has its charms too!

I won't assemble the book until I've finished with the pages, but here's some of what's done so far.

Making the book has been enjoyable and I hope that you have as much fun creating your version as I did mine!