A big thanks to Whip-Up for including the following project in their Carnival of Green Crafts. Check out the carnival-it’s full of fun ways to craft with what you already have! And welcome Whip-Up readers! I hope you enjoy the site!
Summer brings with it impromptu collections. Maybe you’ve been picking up pebbles at the river, shells and beach glass at the shore or interesting bits of driftwood. Wondering what to do with all those little bits and pieces? I like to arrange them on canvas to create vacation memento art. Anything that you can hot glue will work, but my favorite medium is colorful beach glass.
*You’ll need is your collection of glass or shells, a canvas board (less than $3.00 at most craft shops), white acrylic paint and a hot glue gun.
*Prep a canvas board with white paint. If you don’t have a canvas board available, I’ve found that a sheet of heavy weight watercolor paper works well too, as long as you mount it on a piece of cardboard. I’ll be using the paper and board for this example.
*While you’re waiting for your canvas to dry, decide what shape or word you’d like to use. Single initials are great as are romantic initials.
*You can also do a single word. Beach, relax, Hawaii, dream…anything you’d like to remind you of your vacation.
*If you’re using a word or letters you can LIGHTLY freehand your word onto your surface with a pencil. Erase the pencil marks as you lay down your glass. You can also print out the word or letter in large, bold font on your computer, cut out the letters and tape the remaining paper stencil onto your canvas. This works well for words. Simply fill in the stencil with your medium, then remove.
*For shapes, cut out the shape you want and use it as a guide. Today I’m choosing a simple heart.
*Arrange your shape or letters (or a combo of both!) on your board until you get the composition you’re after.
*From there it’s time to start gluing! Beach glass adheres very well with hot glue. Just make sure your glass is CLEAN before you start, and remember that less is more. The glass doesn’t weight that much so use a little glue as possible. You don’t want glue coming out from under your pieces.
*Add a dab of glue to your glass then stick it to your surface, tracing your shape all the way around.
*When you’ve finished your shape, remove the guide and check in between the glass pieces to ensure that there aren’t any glue strings. If there are gently pull them off. Now you’re ready to slip a sheet of cardboard behind it and place it into a frame with just enough dept to accommodate the glass.
*If you’ve used a sturdy canvas board, you can simply lean it against a wall or shelf-no need to frame!
A simple and beautiful way to remember your vacation.
Additional Ideas:
*Sign your piece with the name of your vacation destination and the date when you took it.
*These make great thank-you gifts after staying at a friend’s vacation home. Collect on the sly, assemble at home then mail to your hosts.
*If there is a special cabin or shore home that you’d like to remember, consider recreating the house number with shells, glass or pebbles from that location. Or how about the hotel room on a honeymoon?
More Ways To Say It With Nature:
*The next time you’re on a shore vacation, how about taking a shot like this for the people back home? Better yet, have it printed out as a post card and mail it from your vacation location.
*Sand writing photographs also make fabulous art. A photograph like this would look great on your walls, plus it will remind you of what a great time you had, and hopefully get you inspired to make more memories!
Try it in color, or use Photoshop to go black and white.
*Heading into nature but not near the shore? Try staging a photo using sticks. It’s a great way to occupy kids and is perfect for camp sites.
*Looking for a unique gift? Butterfly Alphabet, Inc sells gorgeous word art where each letter comes from a butterflies wing! They’re gorgeous name posters would make a unique gift at $3.50 a letter.
*Java Jane Designs has these gorgeous name (or place!) art prints in her shop.
Commemorate a trip, event or place with letters represented with architecture, nature, beach images and more! They would also make a fantastic housewarming gift.
Excited about this project? Post your creations in the One Pretty Thing Flickr Group.
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