Take a Tim Holtz District Market canvas and ....

change it up!  I love these new canvases but I decided to use the one I purchased as a base to scrapbook on.  These Burlap Panels are so nice to work on, they are a solid board with the printed burlap wrapped around to the back.  Here's a photo of my finished project as promised:

I used 7Gypsies printed papers, ruler, metal charm and pin.  The red paper is from the Tim Holtz Kraft-Core collection.  I embossed it with his Collage & Notebook Texture Fade and sanded it lightly, then colored rock Candy crackle paint and scraped it across so it filled in the recessed areas. I have been coloring the Rock Candy crackle paint, which is clear, by dabbing Distress Stain (I usually use 2 or 3 different colors)on my non-stick craft mat and mixing the little puddles with a plastic card (a used up plastic coffee card) into the crackle paint which I have put also on my mat.  I don't mix them in very much, I like the paint to be uneven and have some clear spots.   I also added a bit of snowcap paint on the edges.  I had some left over rock candy paint, so I scraped it across some of the lower right corner of the canvas.  If I did another canvas, I think I would like to cover the whole thing with the tinted rock candy, it gives a subtle dimension and richness to the canvas.

I used one of Urban's vintage pocket watches but Tim Holtz makes one almost the same.  I covered the inside back with 7Gypsies paper, placed a metal Graphic45 flower, (in the center are some watch parts) then with melted Utee, I poured in enough to cover the bottom.  I had stamped on some brown tissue with a Tim Holtz stamp (Going Somewhere collection) and cut out tiny words, placed them on the hardened Utee, and then poured more hot Utee up to the brim of the watch.  The dress form is from Wendy Vecchi's Dress Form Art Parts (available at Urban) covered in 7Gypsies paper, stained on the edges, and painted with Rock Candy.  Once the Rock Candy is dried, I swiped Distress stain on top and then baked it into the cracks with my heat gun (a tip from Tim's twelve tags of Christmas).  The small piece of 7Gypsies gathered paper was made by sewing strips down the length of the paper using somewhat large stitches.  I wet the paper, patted it with paper towel, and carefully gathered up each row.  I usually clip the ends of the threads, but this time I left them and wound them around the envelope closures.  I added in different rub-ons, a Jenni Bowlin flower (love these!) a Prima tile (I broke it in half, colored the inside and (you can't see it very well) put a 7Gypsies pin through the center and the ruler is from 7Gypsies.  I guess I should explain that this photo is of my daughter, who lives in New York.  She is a fashion designer (she just got an amazing new job designing for Steve Madden), hence the Dressmaker form and bits & pieces of New York embellishments.  I thought the gathered paper looked like fabric too.  She's been on quite the journey with lots of hard work to get her where she is today and we are very proud of her!  The letters are Tim Holtz's Random Alpha parts and some of the stickers are from Tim Holtz too.  Whew, that's a lot of explaining!  I know my canvas is a bit more involved, but you really don't have to do a lot to make it more personal.  It would make a great gift too.  Hope this has inspired you!
Have a great Tuesday!