A multi-media canvas...

Well hello there,
So glad to be back on the blog AND most of all, to have had the opportunity to actually start and finish this project!!! I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do because I absolutely HAD to make a wall hanging to remember God's Word for this journey He put us on.

So here's the story: We drove to Virginia Beach for our vacation in June. Our granddaughter was graduating from high school, our youngest grandson had just celebrated his 9th Birthday and we had not seen them since October. But most of all IT WAS TIME TO WALK THE BEACH!!!! And we WALKED the beach...almost every day!!! 

Two weeks later, when we got home, my husband realized there was something wrong with his foot. It was swollen and red all the way up to his knee...Soooo, to the doctor...two days later, to the hospital...all because of the ONE time he took his shoes off at the beach and a tiny stone embedded into his foot and, being a diabetic, he didn't feel a thing!!! He was in the hospital SIX DAYS...Now he is home with an intravenous antibiotic and a wound that I dress 2x per day.

What a shocker...couldn't believe it!!! I felt AWFUL because I am the one who encouraged him to take his shoes off so that he could run around with me and the grandkids and play in the sand...it was fun!!! YES!!! Was it worth his health???? NO!!! But we didn't know...and God allows things into our lives when we least expect it.

Our life was changed...Not only was my husband in the hospital, I lost my job at the same time. The ministry I worked for had to cut back because of finances..it's the economy we live in. All of a sudden, everything was different.  Hubby's health, our finances, everything seemed to have exploded and it was all whirling around us. But we knew GOD was in control. He was not going to let us drown, nor were we going to be swept away by the overwhelming swirl of our circumstances!!! 

God is going to see us through...we KNOW that!!! We hung on to Him and allowed Him to love us, comfort us, teach us, wrap us in His warm arms and give us PEACE!!!  He is faithful to bring His promises to fruition. He is faithful to give us everything we need for that moment. He is faithful to be our Father, our Savior, our provider, our EVERYTHING!!! 

So here's my canvas for my wall...it will hang right next to my scrapbooking desk, so that I
can look at it and read it whenever I forget that the journey we are on is given to us by HIS hand and is designed especially for us.

I saw an l.o. pretty much like this by Jennifer Snyder on her blog :http://scrap-escape.blogspot.com/ I was so taken with the layout that I knew I wanted to make one like it. It fit everything that was my story. Please click on the link above to see all her wonderful work.

For my canvas I took a used picture that had been in storage and covered it with gesso to hide the previous work. I used LuminArte' watercolor paints to cover the whole canvas in different shades of blue. I liked the way the watercolors left many brush marks and had the look of fluidity (water) for the background. I wanted it to look like the sea.

Then I used two different stencils and coated them with white texture paste. Because I was working with watercolors, the paste picked up some blue and didn't stay pure white. That was a nice surprise because it muted and looked like it all went together. I didn't think about paste getting colored by the watercolors, but I will sure remember that from now on.

The doll is a pattern that was on Gabrielle Pollacco's blog several years ago. It was before Julie Nutting came out with her doll stamps and Gabrielle featured her doll on a layout. So she included the pattern on her blog. The pattern worked very easily and I was able to shrink it down so that the doll fit on my 8x8 canvas.

The white seafoam is bandage material that I pulled and shaped and applied Glossy Accents topped with white and blue seed beads. I also used brown mesh to look like sand. That was really hard to pull out...it was not very pliable...but it worked. All of the shells are my own that I collect from every place we visit that has water and shells. The colored, large shiny beads are from my stash and so is the green resin shell on the side.

The hanging beads are from my stash but the blue crystal is from Germany that I received when my friend died from tuberculosis. It was hers and her Mom gave it to me because we were such close friends. We were both only about 7 years old. I will always treasure that and I am happy to have found a place to show it off.

So that's about it...I know this is a long post, but thank you for allowing me to share this part of my story...sometimes we just need to share.

I am entering this into these challenges:
http://wordartwednesday.blogspot.com/ Anything goes...with scripture
http://www.colorthrowdown.blogspot.com.au/ colors of calypso coral (the coral bead); crumb cake (a few shells, girl's dress); smoky slate (gray shell & several beads); soft sky (shades of blue on background, beads in the seafoam)
http://berry71bleu.blogspot.com/ Use at least three patterns (several patterns in the dress, many patterns on the shells)
http://scrap-the-girls.blogspot.com/I LOVE the name of this challenge: paint and texture paste (got this one...paint on the background and texture paste through several stencils)
http://pileitonchallenge.blogspot.com/ summer fun
http://scraparoundtheworld.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/july-2014-challenge-15-light-airy-mood.html I was deeply inspired by the beautiful blue color and the pink...I love mood boards AND this challenge site.

Many blessings,

elena