Allow yourself

Sometimes it is better to let yourself go of something. Don't carry it with you, it only makes life harder and your burden heavier. Rather write it down and burn it, plant a tree and water it. It all depends on what it is. When our Cumba dog passed on, we planted a tree and somehow it feels like he is still around.

When a friendship with a friend ended, I wrote her a letter and filed it with some photographs. There is still something there that I cannot completely let go of. But we all know we need to let go of something, maybe that is why I made this canvas. Feel free to make your own.

You can even hide a letter at the back! Start gathering your stuff...

What you need:

1 canvas 15x15cm

old paper, music or dictionary

gel medium

white & pink paint, walnut ink

glue squares, post office tags

lace, bird cut out from grunge board

hat pin, old picture, words printed on card stock

cotton thread, twig, swirl stamp, lace stamp

brown stamp pad, paint brush

Decide what your layout will look like, play around with your elements.

Place your paper on the canvas and plan the position of the paper.

Give the grunge board a good layer of gel medium

and put your paper on top, rub away the bubbles with your fingers, 

wait for it until it is dry before you start tearing off the edges and sanding it.

Give the canvas a good coating of gel medium and place your

paper on the canvas, rub over the paper with you

 hand or fingers until all the bubbles are gone.

Remember to cover the sides as well.

Stain the tags with walnut ink and stamp a

lace/music pattern with brown ink onto them.

Stain the canvas with walnut ink, I sprayed and painted the paper.

When it was dry I painted over the canvas with

some diluted pink and white paint. Do the same

to the bird image and stamp a swirl onto it.

Stitch around the tag to give it more detail.

Place the objects and adhere them to the canvas

with glue squares and thread. Chalk the edges to give dimension to

the objects. Place the hat pin as a crown on the bird's head.

It is hard to let go, I know....