for a friend...

i was commissioned for a Christmas gift - my questions yielded the following:  'for my mom'; 'celtic symbol'; 'celtic colors'. 

which led me to google, to look up symbols and colors.  I found lots of greens and gold - so that's what I went with.  the background is completely collaged with 2,932,491 different papers, then used dryer sheets were soul glued on top.  the entire thing was inked and sealed, and then i used some rub-ons and paint, and sealed again.  then came the fun part of the symbol.  i found one that stood for motherhood - so ... PERFECT!!!!! 

i printed it out a couple of times, not sure how i was going to transfer the image onto the canvas.  i thought of using a template or just cutting out the pieces and putting them back together like a jigsaw puzzle.  i attempted the symbol as a template on a test canvas, and BOY HOWDY am i glad i didn't do that on the collaged canvas, because it was a HOT mess.  so i cut out all the pieces, inked them with distress inks, painted them with rock candy distress crackle, and edged them with tarnished brass crackle paint.  (i am nothing if not a tim junkie)

when they were all dry (yes, i touched them constantly) i soul glued them down, went over a few areas with some gold perfect pearl powder...painted the edges and sealed the entire thing.  DONE.

i hope the recipient loves it as much as i loved making it... and i didn't even get stressed out!!!! maybe i'm ... reforming.  ;-)  bwhahahahaha i crack myself up.