Baby name canvases, by Amanda H.

Hi Colour Blast fans!

Hope you are having a great start to the year.

Some of my family and friends are having a blessed start - with the births (or upcoming births) of some baby girls. I wanted to make them something for the babies, something soft and pretty - I decided on canvases with the baby names.

Here are some step by step photos and instructions - it is really easy to do, I did 2 in the one night! Perhaps it is a good weekend project for you?

Firstly, I used White Heavy Gesso on the back of the canvases before I started. I like to use a roller for a smooth finish.

Next I rummaged through my old chipboard stash, in particular the old sets of chipboard letters. Once my packs don't have enough letters left to make a word, I tend to throw the leftover letters into a box and use on projects like this.

You can see here, that I have glued the chipboard randomly onto the background canvas. I added a few words and even some wood veneer for some different shapes and interest.

Next, comes the White Heavy Gesso again. I painted a couple of coats over all of the canvas.

For the final paint coat I tend to stiple or dab with my paintbrush - which helps get the Gesso into all the cracks and edges, but also ensures there are no brush strokes.

Now it's time to add some colour. My friends had told me/shown me the colours of the new nurseries, so I knew which colours I needed to use.

For Olivia's canvas, it needed to be yellow. First I sprayed a little layer of Colour Shimmer Spray in Sunshine.

To highlight and added interest, I painted some of the chipboard shapes and the edges of the canvas, with Colour Shimmer Dust, in Sunflower.

For Isla's canvas, it needed to be soft pink, with some mint highlights. I used Colour Shimmer Dust in Lollipop for the first layer of colour.

The Colour Shimmer Dust in Lollipop tends to be one of our brighter pinks, so I simply used a baby wipe to wipe back some of the colour on the canvas, until it was soft and subtle.

Every thing looks better with gold, so I had to use some Colour Paste in Bling! I used a paintbrush to lightly paint some of the bling paste onto a few chipboard shapes.

For the mint, I was able to use Colour Spray in Rainforest, which was painted lightly on some chipboard and the edges, as well as a few splatters.

I placed some washi tape across the middle of the canvases (to house the name later) and I stuck down some sticker word sentiments. Before finishing, I needed to give the canvases a good coat all over of Mod Podge. I let them dry over night, before finishing with the name and some pretty embellishments.

Here are the canvases and some close ups:

You can see just how thick the coverage of the gesso is in these closeups!

BONUS share! Last week I got my pot of Black Heavy Gesso, so I quickly made this canvas using the exact same technique!

I added colour to this canvas using Colour Shimmer Sprays in Just Blue, Deep Water and Bling. I also added some texture with Colour Paste in Snow White. So quick and easy and effective!

I look forward to seeing what you create this month; please do share your projects over at our sharing Facebook Page: Colour Blast Creative Corner.

Thanks for looking, 

Amanda