Creative Moments

A few months back now, Claire agreed to be guest blogger on a craft blog, this is a copy of the post that she submitted:

Wow!

I am privileged today, to be the guest blogger here today, we are going to have so much fun!

Firstly, a little about me. I am Claire Smillie and I have a serious addiction to crafting! I work for Creative Moments, Yeovil (www.your-creativemoments.co.uk) and you can usually catch me prepping for a workshop, demoing at craft shows or making a mess in the corner! I LOVE playing with all the newest products out there and you’ll often hear a lot of “oooh’s” and “ahh’s” as we open the delivery’s to reveal some stunning products, which just keep getting better and better!

Not only have I got one treat in store for you, with hands on project today, but I also have a behind the scenes look at what really happens for us at a Craft Show!

Shall we start by getting our hands dirty? Go on then!!!

Take a look at these pictures, aren’t they just gorgeous?!? And best of all they are sooo easy to make, it’s unbelievable – you’ll be whipping them out in no time at all! They are a great way to start to take your crafting up a gear and moving off the scrapbook page to a beautiful display of art – they can make fabulous presents!

The creations are made upon a canvas, which can be available very cheaply from us here at Creative Moments. I have used a canvas which is 20cm x 20cm – although it is a little smaller, it still maintains the classic square shape of a scrapbook page. Canvases are available in all shapes and sizes, but this is my favourite to work with – not too small as not to fit anything on, but not too large where it seems you are forever trying to fill the gaps!

Before adding any colour to our canvases, I love to add a texture to the surface which adds interest to the creation. I do this by using ‘Gesso’ from the Claudine Hellmuth collection. Gesso is artist quality primer for surfaces such as wood, canvas, chipboard, paper and fabric. It dries exactly how you put it on – so if it is all lumpy and bumpy, so will the end result, if it is thin with scribbles, then so will the end result. Have a play with the Gesso as there are so many different ways you can put it on for different effects – my favourite is to load it on in a random fashion creating unusual and interesting effects. Experiment with putting gesso onto your canvas in different ways too, for example you could use a splodger (which is like a credit card) to slap it on (!) or use a brush for thin coatings –ALWAYS wash whatever you use immediately as once gesso is stuck it will be a permanent addition to the object! Make sure you keep it away from your clothes too – as it is impossible to remove! (And my favourite pair of jeans told me just that!)

Once you have an interesting background, you must leave it to dry naturally (probably overnight is best) as it will bubble up and ruin if a heat gun is used. Whilst it is drying, it gives you a great chance to think about your colour scheme.

If you are not quite sure, what to colours to use consider the following points:

• Who are you making your canvas for?
• What you want to put on your canvas?
• Which embellishments are you thinking of using?
• Why you are making the canvas?

You shall, then be able to begin by choosing your background colours – ideally you want more than 1 colour to give a nice painterly mix – I usually use two or three so that you can get some lovely blends and textures.

My FAVORITE acrylic paint, has to be the Claudine Hellmuth range. My reasons? Well, the colours are absolutely gorgeous , it can be used on so many different surfaces such as paper, chipboard and FABRIC (yes, I did say Fabric!); it has a semi-gloss and can be mixed with multi-medium to change its outlook and the colours can be mixed again and again without becoming muddy to create even more fabulous colours! (Check out Claudines website for her colour mixing guide). It is really gorgeous and has a lovely creamy consistency – it looks yummy enough to eat!

Start by painting your lightest colour onto your canvas with a paintbrush – I use a fairly large paintbrush for this job. It doesn’t matter if parts look inconsistent or are not completely covered- that just adds to the painterly look. I then start adding my next colour before the first has dried to get some awesome blending effects, just paint how you feel – there’s no right or wrong in this part. A little here, a little there – adjusting as you go. Before adding your third colour – which I usually just use as a slight accent for edges and to highlight certain areas of the canvas – let the first two layers dry, so that the third colour does not quite blend in as much.

Continue layering the colours until you think, yup – I like that!!! The greatest tip, I can give is when you get to this point STOP!!! As I guarantee you will go one step too far and will find it almost to alter it back again!

Once you are happy with your painted effect, I love to spray a Glimmer Mist over the canvas to get a beautiful glisten. Look at the difference you can see here.

Let the Glimmer Mist dry and then to make the most out of your texture, run an Adirondack Ink Pad over the entire canvas. This should pick out the raised area of the design and create an interesting texture. Any areas, which look too dominant, can merely be rubbed in to the canvas with your finger.

Now the fun part and the part you are all able to do with confidence – EMBELLISH!

That’s right, pull out your scraping stash and embellish until your heart’s content – remember often the simplest designs look the best! Like this one, which I absolutely love and was so easy to do. I used the die-cut Silhouettes from K&Co’s new Handmade collection and adhered these onto the canvas. The best medium I have found to use as an adhesive is again down to Claudine Hellmuth! Her Multi-Medium will stick onto many surfaces including canvas successfully. I have used it here by painting the canvas entirely in it, placed my flat embellishments in place and painted over them again using the multi-medium to sandwich them in place.

I have then created 3D centres for my flowers using the same die-cuts and put a brad in the middle of each to secure.

Creating Canvases can be very addictive! Try adding photos, text, fabric and more. I have even used Donna Downey’s iron-ons! The options are really endless! Experiment with the painted background too – why not try creating your own polka dot/flower backgrounds?

This has been fun! And I hope you’ve enjoyed my quick tutorial on creating canvases – you can see more examples of canvases and other projects at Creative Moments blog at www.your-creativemoments.co.uk/blog

Now, go find your stash and get creating, I’d love to see what you create. And after you’ve finished, why not settle down for tomorrows post with a cup of tea and enjoy my insiders look at ‘What really happens at a craft show for us’.