Claudine Hellmuth Strikes Again!

As some of you may know, I had the fantastic opportunity to attend Ranger U. While there, we got to play with lots of Ranger products, and on one of the days, Claudine Hellmuth taught us a thing or two.

A while ago for one of my birthdays, I received canvases from my mom. Finally, I have done something with them!

I began by priming them with Claudine Hellmuth's Multi Medium Matte and Gesso. My goal: to add some texture to the canvas. I applied using Artist Brushes.

This needed some time to dry, so I stashed the two canvasses on a shelf I have in my house. I'm sad to say that there they stayed for a month or two!
The other night, I was feeling inspired and decided to break out some Ranger U. goodies. I've always loved painting and Claudine Hellmuth's Studio Paints are amazing! I've heard them described as creamy, which is absolutely true. I knew I wanted to use these.

Then I came across some Paint Dabbers and thought those might be fun to use too. I used the Terra Cotta, Juniper, Bottle, and Pool Dabbers on the canvasses. The colors are gorgeous, but the effect wasn't exactly what I was looking for in this case so I reached for the Studio Paints.

I chose:

Classic Teal
Dab of Yellow
Landscape Green
Yellow Pastel
Sky Blue

I took the largest Artist Brush in the pack and swabbed some of each color randomly on each canvas (this could also be done with Craft Sticks if you don't want to be bothered with cleaning your brush in between paints). Next I blended the colors with a paint brush.
It took a few applications before I got the color combinations I wanted. Then I used Charcoal Black paint and brushed it lightly over the canvasses with a mostly dry brush to pick up the texture. I let them dry for a few minutes on the Craft Sheet. Then I looked around me for what to play with next and saw the Paint Dabbers!
I don't have a dots stamp, but I love the look of the dots in Claudine Hellmuth's Dwelling stamp set. I wanted to use black paint to contrast the bright yellows and greens, so I chose the Pitch Black Paint Dabber. I primed the dabber by dabbing my finger first (there's a little button you can push down to get the paint flowing if you haven't used it in a while).
I wanted the edges of the canvas to be black so I started using the Pitch Black Dabber there too. It wasn't quite the coverage I wanted so I switched to Charcoal Black Studio Paint and a good old paint brush. The coverage was a little bit thicker and I'm more used to controlling a paint brush. I do love dabbers though for cards and stamping on paper.

I love the Bloom Stamps that Claudine designed. I have the clear Bloom set as well as the foam Bloom set and picked stamps from both.
I used a leaf from the clear Bloom set and painted it with Charcoal Black paint to create flowers.
I stamped the circles to add some extra interest. I was going for the look of the circles in the Spills & Splatters stamp set by Tim Holtz. Simple, but interesting.
I used the grass-like clear stamp with Jet Black Archival Ink for the other canvas so they would coordinate but be different.

I painted over the leaf petals on one canvas with a super thick layer of Rock Candy Crackle Paint. The more you put on, the bigger the cracks.
I applied some Ranger Rock Candy Crackle to the centers of the flowers on the other canvas.

Next I freed my Perfect Pearls Pigment Powders and sprinkled some of the Mandarin pigment powder over the centers of the flowers.

I randomly brushed some blue and green Perfect Pearl Pigment Powders over some spots on the canvas.

I drew in branches with a permanent black marker and highlighted some of the branches with Modern Red studio paint.
Then I went to bed and let them dry overnight. Crackle Paint takes some time, especially if you lay it on thick.
When I woke up, I loved the look of the crackle on the petals, but wasn't too crazy about the look of the crackle paint with the pigment powder in the centers of the other. SO...I used a pick and tapped at the crackle paint centers. Because it's crackle paint, some pieces came off in cool shattered chunks. I liked this look better - a little more imperfect. : )

I cleaned up with a Craft Scrubbie (my hands and finger nails went from painted to clean easily and painlessly!!) and cleaned my stamps with a Rub It Scrub It pad. Tip: work on a Craft Sheet and use a Craft Scraper to easily remove the paint.

When I came into work today, I hung them on my wall to decorate. Voila!

Never limit yourself to the same old techniques - combine products and create your own. Play!

The WINNER of the blog candy from the House Mouse Stamp of the Month blog is...AMY!!!

Please email Fran@SimonSaysStamp.com with your address within a week to claim your prize!

Blog Candy Alert: Leave a comment here about what you did this weekend for a chance to win a 6 x 6 Bo Bunny Sample Pack of Paper!!

-Sarah
Sarah@SimonSaysStamp.com

Pin It
SUBSCRIBE TO: This Blog | Our Newsletter
WE'RE SOCIAL: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn | Pinterest | Google+
TAKE THE CHALLENGE: Simon Says Stamp Challenge! | Vintage Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge