You're A Keeper Canvas with Deb Riddell

Hello, Deb here again to share another project for our June challenge, Anything Masculine.  With summer soon to be upon us I decided to make a fishing themed reverse canvas, using Southern Ridge Trading Company’s Fish 1 and Cattail Bushes chipboard pieces.

I’ve a few step by step photos to show you how I made it, read on for the how to!

I started out with a 6” x 8” stretched artist’s canvas and covered it front and back with a coat of gesso and then painted the inner recess on the back of the canvas with a couple of shades of blue acrylic paint and added some ‘rings’ on the surface of the water with a Dylusions white paint pen.

I then covered the edges of the reverse canvas with scrapbooking paper that had a fish motif (from an ancient Provo Craft ‘Fish All Day’ Scrap Pad that I had in my stash) and stamped some marsh grass here and there using Potting Soil Archival ink and a stamp from Artistic Outpost’s Keeper stamp set.

The Fish 1 chipboard piece was coloured with Distress Crayons (I used Peeled Paint, Twisted Citron, Picked Raspberry, Squeezed Lemonade and Picket Fence) and then I embossed the belly of the trout with some Emerald Creek Craft Supplies Iridescent Shimmer embossing powder.

The Cattail Bushes chipboard pieces were also both coloured with Distress Crayons; Peeled Paint, Twisted Citron, Vintage Photo and Walnut Ink.

I then stamped more images from the Artistic Outpost Keeper stamp set, using either Vintage Photo Distress ink or Potting Soil Archival ink onto cardstock, and clear embossed the stamped images.  The stamp of the young fellow holding his prize catch was water coloured with Distress markers as was the fish from the same stamp set.

The fishing lure, ruler and sentiment were stamped onto cardstock coloured with Old Paper Distress paint and then the sentiment was die cut with a Sizzix Ornate Labels #3 die.  All of the stamped images were edged with Vintage Photo Distress ink after being fussy cut or die cut.

And then it was time to assemble the reverse canvas.  The cattail bushes were glued in place with E6000 glue and the fish was glued over top of the cattails with a couple of pieces of black fun foam underneath to give some dimension. You can see that I also stamped a few dragonflies here and there on the painted background, using a stamp from an old Crafty Secrets Wildflowers stamp set I had in my stash and Potting Soil Archival ink.

I love the sparkle from the Iridescent Shimmer embossing powder, it really looks like the belly of a trout as it flashes in the sun!

To add a bit more interest to the stamped photograph of the young man holding his prize catch, I mounted the stamped fish on some tiny pieces of black fun foam and adhered it overtop of the fish in the photo.

Both the stamped photograph and the die cut sentiment were mounted onto some thin chipboard packaging to give them stability before adhering them to the frame of the reverse canvas.

The fishing lure and ruler were given a bit more presence on the edges of the reverse canvas by elevating them slightly with pieces of black fun foam.

And that completes my reverse canvas, I had a lot of fun making this and hope that you have enjoyed this quick little tutorial.

Although I’ve made this for our Anything Masculine challenge, I think any fisher person would enjoy receiving it as a gift and you could substitute a real photograph of your fisherman or fisherwoman in place of the stamped photo that I used.

Southern Ridge Trading Company Chipboard Used:

- Fish 1

- Cattail Bushes

Other Supplies Used:

- 6" x 8" Artist's Canvas

- Gesso 

- Acrylic Paint

- Paint Brush

- Ranger Ink/ Dylusions: Dylusions White Paint Pen

- Ranger Ink: Clear Embossing Pen & Glue 'n Seal

- Ranger Ink/ Tim Holtz: Distress Crayons, Distress Ink, Distress Markers, Distress Paint & Distress Collage Medium

- Provo Craft: Fish All Day Scrap Pad

- Emerald Creek Craft Supplies: Iridescent Shimmer Embossing Powder

- Heat gun

- Water brush

- Artistic Outpost: Keeper stamp set

- Crafty Secrets: Wildflowers stamp set

- Sizzix: Ornate Label #3 die & Big Shot

- Scissors

- White Cardstock

- Chipboard packaging

- Black fun foam

- E6000 glue

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope that you have been inspired to join in our Anything Masculine challenge.  You have a chance to win 4 designs from the online store - chipboard.ca - a $20.00 (before tax) retail value OF YOUR OWN CHOOSING!  Have fun, I can’t wait to see what you create!

Deb xo