Love is Incredible

I got some new goodies to play with recently!! My husband and I had our six year marriage anniversary on the 25th of this month. I decided to use my new goodies to create something for us to remember this anniversary. 
                                                

I started with a 4 by 6 canvas that I covered with some old advertisements, book paper and a doily. I used collage pauge this time instead of my normal Finnabair gel medium and although it stuck things down I didn't like working with it as well as the gel medium. I then watered down some of Finnabairs Heavy Gesso to give it some tooth without covering everything in white (my vision changed as I was working and it all ended up getting covered anyway as you'll see)



My husband and I went into our yard and picked up some sticks that were mostly straight and helped me get the bark off of them. At this point he didn't know it was for him so it was really nice for him to find out later he helped create this piece. I used some pieces from Finnabair, Tim Holtz and Michaels. I absolutely adore all of the little metal pieces! 
Now this is where things changed. I was going for a black and blue when I first envisioned this but as I looked at it more closely I thought that the color of the wood and the metal pieces would look so much better left as they are with a rusted background. The only thing I wish I had done differently is the jute!! I really hate it LOL!! But I stuck that sucker down good and it was going to do more harm to pull it off so I left it. I stenciled on some texture with Finns dots and stripes stencil. While I was deciding where to put everything I thought some of the art stones and mini art stones would add some nice texture too and if you know me you know I love art stones!! I use them almost always. I was a bit nervous about the rust paste as it was my first time using it on a background rather than an individual piece. But I love love love how it turned out!! The texture is incredible, I love touching it and holding it at all angles just to see the gorgeous texture. If you haven't tried the rust paste I highly suggest you do.
I looked around in my treasure chest for some wording that would go with how I was feeling and I think I found the perfect ones. 
After I colored them up with the rust paste I went over everything with Finnabairs acrylic paint Ancient Coin and Brass Hardware to add some highlights. I thought there was still something missing so I used my favorite color of micro beads, Bronze, to add the finishing touch.
        
           
Here is the finished piece with some close ups of some of my favorite parts.