Farewell, Nilda

This layout was for a Bingo challenge at Scrapbook Central to be inspired by something from Donna Downey's blog.  I was immediately drawn to this canvas heart, especially since I knew I had some year-old sticky-back canvas that I have never used!

Here's what I came up with:

Products used: Bazzill Cardstock, Scenic Route patterned paper, American Crafts Thickers, Claudine Hellmuth sticky back canvas, Making Memories paint, Hero Arts stamps, Clearsnap ink, Pagemaps sketch.

The photos are from my friend and colleague's retirement party.

The canvas accent was initially going to be a diecut flower, but I couldn't get my Big Shot to cut all the way through the canvas (if anyone has any tips, please let me know!) so I cut out the heart by hand instead, stamped it with black dye ink, and dried it with a heat gun. Next I covered it with some watered-down paint, and zapped it with the heat gun.  Last step was just to fray the edges and add some more ink. Here's a close up:  

Thanks for looking!