It's a dogs life

Today is my day to be Roc's featured Design Team Member!

For this months piece, I decided to make a small canvas using 'Polka dot dog and Daisyhead' stamps by Roc Nicholas and Stampotique.  You can find Rocs stamps here...

                    

UnfortunateLy, the camera hasn't picked up the vibrancy of the colours on this little canvas. I used acrylic pains and markers in very bright colours on the black gesso'd background.

I got the idea for the background on this canvas from a class I did with the very talented Karen Hayselden at 'Art from the Heart' a few months ago. Thanks Kassa X

I gesso'd the canvas with black gesso and left it to dry. To create the gorgeous multi-coloured background, I used acrylic paints and pieces of card to create the multi-coloured 'prints' I used to apply to my canvas using the techniques taught to me by Karen.  

To enhance the colours, I used some of Tim Holtz Distress Crayons and rubbed them over a few of the colours.

To give the background more depth, I used a couple of different coloured acrylic marker pens to flick the ink onto the canvas making splatter marks.  You can also achieve this effect by adding some water to paint and flicking it with a paintbrush.  It's great fun, and very messy. I also used white paint to  make circles to make the colours POP off the canvas......

                                             

I used a couple of my favourite stamps for this make. 'Polka dot dog' is so incredibly cute. I just love him, he's adorable! I also used the flower from Roc's 'Daisyhead' stamp. This stamp is fabulous and so versatile, I use it such a lot.

Because the background is so bright and busy, I decided to stamp my dogs onto book paper to act as a contrast and make the dogs stand out more. I decided to lightly colour one of the dogs, but to be honest, I prefer the plain one as it's brighter.

                                       

I stamped out the flower from 'Daisyhead' a few times onto one of the pieces of card I used earlier when making the background 'paint print'. If you know me, you won't be surprised to see that I chose a card which was mainly turquoise - it's getting a bit obsessive..! Lol 

I stamped out four flowers and layered them up and shaped the petals, as I wanted to create more dimension. I then glued it to the top corner.....

                                       

I really enjoyed making this little canvas as I got to use my favourite colours and some of my favourite stamps. I hope you like this. 

Thanks for popping over to my blog. I'd love you to leave a message to say hi...

Happy Crafting Xoxoxo