Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial

Hello everyone! I have a cute and textured Sizzix tutorial to share with you today, featuring an owl mom and her two babies.

Layers of ink - Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial by Anna-Karin with Sizzix dies by Lori Whitlock and Tim Holtz.
I love owls and started a small owl collection when I was a teenager, making a whole bunch of them myself in polymer clay. So I knew I wanted Lori Whitlock's Owl #5 die when I saw it and I was happy to also find an owlet, in the Fox & Owl Sentiment set. For this canvas, I went for natural colours, but lots of textures and used various interesting materials, so that the viewer would want to reach out and touch the canvas. 

Layers of ink - Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial by Anna-Karin with Sizzix dies by Lori Whitlock and Tim Holtz.
Start by die cutting the owl from white mat board, and repeat cut various parts of its body from different surfaces. The head and the top pair of wings were die cut from a piece of mat board to which I had glued Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements fabric. The body was die cut from one of the Textile Surfaces and the second pair of wings from burlap from Textured Surfaces. The larger eyes were die cut from white Paper Leather and the smaller eyes from mat board. The beak was die cut from cork. Mix and match surfaces you have at hand and it is a great way to use up scraps. 

Layers of ink - Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial by Anna-Karin with Sizzix dies by Lori Whitlock and Tim Holtz.
Adhere the Textile Surface to the body and glue lace trim on top with a glue stick.

Layers of ink - Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial by Anna-Karin with Sizzix dies by Lori Whitlock and Tim Holtz.
Ink all the pieces and paint the eyes with black paint. 

Layers of ink - Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial by Anna-Karin with Sizzix dies by Lori Whitlock and Tim Holtz.
I dyed a piece of cheesecloth with Antique Linen and Ground Espresso Distress Spray Stains (forgot to take a photo of that step) and used a little bit at the top of the owls head. Piece the owl together. For the eyes, I also used Tim Holtz Sprocket Gears. The irises was given a highlight with a white pen and were then coated with Glossy Accents. I also gave her Game Spinner eyebrows. 

Layers of ink - Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial by Anna-Karin with Sizzix dies by Lori Whitlock and Tim Holtz.
Die cut the owlet from the Fox & Owl Sentiments set from white Paper Leather, Textile Surfaces (you might need to use scissors to snap some off some of the threads after die cutting) and brown Paper Leather. Die cut the heart from the same set. 

Layers of ink - Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial by Anna-Karin with Sizzix dies by Lori Whitlock and Tim Holtz.
You need these pieces for the owlet, in this order. The irises were painted black, but it might be easier to die cut them from black paper. The first white owl is mainly there to give stability to the owl, you don't actually see it. 

Layers of ink - Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial by Anna-Karin with Sizzix dies by Lori Whitlock and Tim Holtz.
Layer the owlets, starting with the white piece and then the Textile Surface. Tease out small pieces of dyed cheese cloth and place under the eyes and on the tummy. Add highlights to the eyes, as before, and coat with Glossy Accents.

Layers of ink - Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial by Anna-Karin with Sizzix dies by Lori Whitlock and Tim Holtz.
Coat a 6 x 8 in canvas board with gesso using a palette knife. 

Layers of ink - Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial by Anna-Karin with Sizzix dies by Lori Whitlock and Tim Holtz.
When the gesso is dry, add texture with the Latticework stencil and white Texture Paste. You need to wait until the paste is dry before you can continue with the next application, until the whole canvas is covered. 

Layers of ink - Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial by Anna-Karin with Sizzix dies by Lori Whitlock and Tim Holtz.
When the paste is dry, paint the canvas with slightly watered-down Distress Paint. I also added Ground Espresso, you don't see that one on the photo.

Layers of ink - Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial by Anna-Karin with Sizzix dies by Lori Whitlock and Tim Holtz.
When the paint is dry, add texture by randomly stamping the background with the Tim Holtz Newsprint stamp

Layers of ink - Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial by Anna-Karin with Sizzix dies by Lori Whitlock and Tim Holtz.
Next, die cut two branches with the Garden Greens die, from grungeboard

Layers of ink - Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial by Anna-Karin with Sizzix dies by Lori Whitlock and Tim Holtz.
Paint them with Antique Linen. 

Layers of ink - Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial by Anna-Karin with Sizzix dies by Lori Whitlock and Tim Holtz.
Sand to remove some of the paint and then ink with Ground Espresso. This gives the branches and leaves a cool texture. 

Layers of ink - Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial by Anna-Karin with Sizzix dies by Lori Whitlock and Tim Holtz.
Die cut doilies and lace strips with the Hello Doily set from French Industrial, or another, patterned paper. Lori's die sets always contain a great mix of wonderful shapes.

Layers of ink - Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial by Anna-Karin with Sizzix dies by Lori Whitlock and Tim Holtz.
Die cut flowers using the Mix & Match Flowers, from patterned paper and old book paper. It is a good idea to use the Sizzix Precision Base Plate together with these dies.

Layers of ink - Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial by Anna-Karin with Sizzix dies by Lori Whitlock and Tim Holtz.
Give the flowers some shape and then layer them together with a brad in the center,

Layers of ink - Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial by Anna-Karin with Sizzix dies by Lori Whitlock and Tim Holtz.
The white highlight and Glossy Accents makes a big difference to the eyes. You could also use something like buttons.

Layers of ink - Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial by Anna-Karin with Sizzix dies by Lori Whitlock and Tim Holtz.
I layered everything on the canvas and also added a real branch. The owlets were placed under the mom's protecting wings.

Layers of ink - Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial by Anna-Karin with Sizzix dies by Lori Whitlock and Tim Holtz.
I picked a Small Talk sentiment that fit well with the canvas and theme.

Layers of ink - Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial by Anna-Karin with Sizzix dies by Lori Whitlock and Tim Holtz.
Joy was die cut with one of the dies from the Hello Doily set. I like the textured stencilled paste background.

Layers of ink - Owl and Owlets Canvas Tutorial by Anna-Karin with Sizzix dies by Lori Whitlock and Tim Holtz.
I don't have many Tim Holtz Alpha Dices left, since I've used most of the ones in the pack. There were four left and I was very happy to be able to spell the word 'owl' with them.

I hope you liked this tutorial and thank you so much for stopping by today!!

Happy crafting!!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:





18 comments:

  1. Gorgeous , those owls are so adorable . Tracy x

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is absolutely amazing, Barbara! I love all the texture and those owls are the cutest.

    Cathie ♥

    ReplyDelete
  3. ADORABLE. INCREDIBLE. YUMMY. A TOTAL DELIGHT. Thank you for the huge smile Anna-Karin. Love your creativity! Xj.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Joi, for those kind words!!

      Delete
  4. So cute and sweet and a tutorial as well.....Awesome

    ReplyDelete
  5. This owl family is so lovely! I love that you used so many different materials but all in natural colours! Fabulous canvas!

    ReplyDelete
  6. But how adorable this panel?! Great, cute and original!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Such a lot of fun time got into this! Stunning textures and great to see so many shades of brown! A piece that is one to enjoy a long time! Hope you have a sunny day!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your owls are delightful! You have put such personality into them, I want to reach out and touch. They are adorable! One thing, though. I can't enlarge your photos on my phone and wish I could so I could see even more detail. Is it just my phone? I don't own a computer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Marci! Thank you so much!! I checked it out quickly. On my phone I can enlarge the photos in the web version, but not in the mobile version. See if it works if you click 'see web version' at the bottom of the post. I hope that works. Thank you for letting me know! / Anna-Karin

      Delete
  9. Oh thank you! It worked. Now I need to go back and look at all your old posts on the web version. That will take quite awhile :-))

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am glad it worked Marci! There might be another way, but I haven't figured it out yet (the keyboard of my computer stopped working).

      Delete
  10. Hi Ana-Karin,
    I have not much time sadly to visit you very often.. But seeing this on FB or IG (I can't remember), couldn't resist to read your tutorial and look at your canvas in details.. This is super cute!!!!!! Totally adorable :)
    Thanks for the tute, great as usual.
    Happy week-end to you and family, hugs Coco X

    ReplyDelete
  11. How cute, I love this project!

    ReplyDelete
  12. love owls...this is one of the best I have seen. great step by atep too. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  13. love owls...this is one of the best I have seen. great step by atep too. :-)

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for leaving a comment! Happy Crafting!