Sunday, July 20, 2014

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.ENTRIES CLOSE 23.55 EST THURSDAY 31ST JULY 2014

Many blessings,

elena

21 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing and I love your canvas, it is an expression of your faith and I do believe God does not let us down, thanks so much for joining in with Scrap the Girls this month too..

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  2. What a beautiful beachy scene....love all the elements you used!!!! Thanks for joining us at the Color Throwdown Challenge!!!!

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  3. This is such a lovely wall hanging and so inspiring! Thanks so much for playing along with us at Color Throwdown!

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  4. Beautiful canvas! I love the blue colour.
    Please remember that to be in with a chance to win you must please include the mood board to this post.
    Thank you for joining at Scrap Around The World challenge!

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  5. Love the story behind this beautiful canvas!Thanks for playing along at Berry71Bleu!

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  6. Oh this is beautiful thank you so much for entering our STG challenge xx

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  7. Lovely blue canvas. Please add our mood board to your post, just as Karita said :)
    Thank you so much for playing along with us at SATW <3

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  8. Beautiful canvas! I love the shells and charms. Thanks for joining the Berry71Bleu Challenge! :)

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  9. Beautiful canvas! I love the figure, you have created and the way you have used see shells. Please include our mood board to have chance for winning a prize at SATW :) Thank you for playing along with us at SATW this month :)

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  10. Oh - and I am happy you played also with us at Berry71Bleu :)

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  11. Very lovely work! thanks for playing along.

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  12. Love how you incorporated the sea elements with this project. Such pretty canvas. Thank you for sharing with us at berry71bleu.

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  13. Dear sweet Elena, my heart goes out to you and your husband and I hope that all will be well soon. God will watch over you. Your wall hanging is wonderful and should be keep up forever. Thank you so much for visiting my blog and for leaving such a lovely comment. God bless you!

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  14. Your canvas is beautiful and I thank you for sharing the story behind it. We are often tested in life and it's how we choose to handle these difficult times that matters. You have done so with such grace. I hope things sort themselves out for you and I know they will as I know the feeling of having many tests all at one time. I wish a speedy recovery for your husband and that although one door closed for you with your job there is another one that will soon open for you! Be well! All the best from SATW! :)

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  15. Such a wonderful canvas and a beautiful story! Love the textures and details! Thank you for playing along with us at Berry71Bleu!

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  16. The canvas is wonderful, all the details and history of the piece. I just love that. I love that it was inspired by what is happening in your life, and that you made it to remember to hold on to the Lord's promises! He has really been walking with me through some of these these same things. He keeps ALL His Promises. Oh yes He does.

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  17. Beautiful canvas and beautiful story! Thanks so much for playing along with us at Berry71Bleu! ;-)

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  18. This canvas is gorgeous! And great story behind it!! So glad you joined us at Berry71Bleu.

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  19. Lovely inspirational canvas for your wall. Thank you for sharing your story that goes along with your canvas. I will had both of you to my prayers...

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  20. Hi ELena, so sorry I missed your question until now. You need to right click the image & select Copy image then go to your post & paste it in to get the mood board into your post in future. I see you managed though - well done!

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  21. WOW...this is stunning. Lots of great texture, from your paste in the background to the wonderful shells. Lots of creativity here.

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Thank you for taking the time to leave me your thoughts.