BEADZ: Antiqued Vintage Background for Mixed Media

Hi, today I'm going to be sharing how I created the background for this detailed mixed media canvas. As much texture as you see now it's hard to believe it started out as a wooden panel and plain cardstock - but it did!

First, I painted my board with Art Anthology Gesso and set it off to the side.

I began diecutting these panels using A Gilded Life's Vintage Brocade die.

I inked over the raised areas with Blue Lagoon ink.

Since my final design was going to have red poppies on it - I wanted to tie that color into the background. I sprayed Art Anthology Colorations over my gessoed surface using Heart. This way, the small openings in my embossed card stock would have red peeking through. It's not a blaring red background, but it really helped to tie it all together.

I began gluing the embossed paper to the substrate, making sure to arrange them off-set to each other.

I misted over the embossed area with Grass and Waimea Bay Colorations. I left a small border of red on the left side, and added Big Dip 'O Ruby and Red Velvet Sorbet paints to add more depth.

I came back in and sanded some of the high areas to add to the distressed look and put a die cut over the red border. Finally, I used a glue stick over some raised areas and added gold leaf. This produced a background that looked like it took centuries to gain this much patina and depth! Just the look I was going for!