Spring’s Canvas

Hi! This is Jeannie with Nonna’s Scraps! It is so exciting to look out of the window and see spring painting a vibrant canvas of color around me. It’s new and fresh---just like the inside of my house will be when this big redo is done!

Unfortunately, most of my craft supplies are and will be packed for a while longer. And in spring, I always need little gifts for friends and graduations. So, I gathered my Cricut a few supplies and I, too, painted spring’s canvas.

These are the supplies that I used:

• Cricut cartridges: Paper Lace, Martha Stewart All Occasion Cakes.
• 4-piece mini-canvas and easel set (Michael’s) Canvas measuring 2 5/8”
• Distress Ink
• Fantastix, Inking tool with foam pad
• Stickles
• Imaginisce petal Roller/Outil or skewer
• Invisible tape
• paper: 3-4” squares for background, darker solid to coordinate with background, black for butterfly and 2 squares of light for butterfly.
• Ribbon for a bow.

How to paint your own spring canvas:

Measure the canvas. From the background paper, cut a square 2 5/8". This can be cut with a basic Cricut shape or manually.

You will cut:

From Paper Lace: Cut “flower 1” lace (page 21 of handbook) at 2 1/2”.

From All Occasion Cake: Cut one (1) “Butterfly” (page 44: cake tab) from the black paper. Use relative size 1.8. Cut two (2) shift/”Butterfly” from the light paper. Use relative size 1.8.

Cut a piece of 26 guage painted wire 5-6” long. Over paint with black sharpie if necessary. Fold in half. Roll the two cut edges in opposite directions. I used my Imaginisce Petal Roller for this (cool tool!)

Ink the edges of the canvas and the background square with foam pad. Let dry. Glue background square to canvas.

Assemble the butterfly:

Glue the black cut to the front of one light colored cut.

Turn right side down. Tape folded end of the wire in the center of the butterfly with rolled ends off of the edge. Glue wrong side of second light colored cut to the wrong side of the first. Ink the edges of the butterfly. Apply Stickles as desired. Let dry.

Ink the edges of the lace cut. Use the Fantastix and apply ink to small areas of the cuts.

Center and glue to back ground/canvas.

Fold the butterfly at the sides of the body towards the front of the butterfly.

Glue to canvas/background. Add bow to top of canvas.

Won’t you join me in painting a spring gem today? I hope so! Until next time…keep sorting the scraps and generating the gems! Nonna