Adventures in Gelli Printing (1)

Hi Friends

Tried out my 6" round gel plate for the first time the other day, and got my 8" x 10" plate out while I was at it! Want to see what I got up to? This post is a bit photo heavy, so you might want to grab a cuppa!

Here are the cards first:

2 x greetings cards and an ATC

Materials:

• A few gel prints made with acrylic paints, leaves and a brayer.
• Bird silhouette die by The Works.
• Leafy circle die "Circle of Leaves" by Simon Says Stamp (recently given to me by a very kind friend).
• Leafy sprig on the ATC - part of a leaf die by Pink & Main called "Leafy Dies 1" (recently given to me by the same very kind friend - don't you just love happy mail?!)

Here are two masculine cards made with the blue circle gelli print:

Apologies for the ATC turning up again in this photo!

Here are the gel prints I made beforehand. 

• Today's cards come from the 6" blue circle and the 8"x10" orange/pink print. I'll show you the cards made with the top golden circle in another post. 

The orange/pink leafy die on the ATC comes from middle print shown below:

Here's an envelope I made with the bottom gel print shown in the above picture. It's so pretty IRL:

It's VERY easy to get carried away making lots of prints and then you find yourself wondering what to do with them all - so I thought I'd share a few ideas here. 

Please come back next Wednesday for another post on my gelli printing adventures!

Sunday Snippets!

Hi Playmates!

Today I have a CAS butterfly card to share with you. 

After all the stormy weather this week there are precious few butterflies fluttering around now! However, I stamped some onto a gel print snippet, then cut them out and glued them to the card front. I also heat embossed the sentiment with gold EP. 

5" square card

Attempting to show the shine of the heat embossing!

The sentiment and butterflies are from separate Visible Image stamp sets.

Di has published RESULTS from the previous challenge, so please put your wellingtons on and puddle-jump over to the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND to admire the top picks and discover who won the prize.

Snippets Challenge: 15-28 October

Hi Playmates!

It's Sunday morning and time for a new challenge over at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND with yours truly in charge for the next fortnight.

Here's my homework:

ATC measuring 2.5" x 3."5"

The wonderfully arty trees are by Chocolate Baroque and were kindly sent to me by a lovely blog friend (mwah!).

To make the ATC, I took a white snippet that was slightly smaller than 2.5" x 3.5" and added a bit of stencilling to the background, along with some grounding for the trees image. The trees were coloured, cut out and glued on. I chose a Tim Holtz Small Talk sticker which I coloured with the same green ink, chopped up and glued to the ATC. I doodled a border around each word to make them stand out a bit more.

Finally I mounted the white snippet onto a grey piece of card measuring the correct ATC size!

As stated at the beginning of this post, I shall be running amok in the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND for the next fortnight - so skip on over to find out what lovely prize is on offer, and get all the details on how to enter. Good luck!

Autumn Leaves for Allsorts!

Hi Friends!

I have an autumnal card for you today, just right for adding to the ALLSORTS CHALLENGE (#748) this week!

A6 sized card

The above card started out like this:

Home made texture paste added!

. . .  because I was messing about with some texture/modelling paste I made with talc, PVA glue and white acrylic paint (although you could add ANY colour of acrylic paint to the talc and glue)! Anyway, I scraped the homemade paste* through a pretty stencil and left it to dry.

Next, I added a variety of Distress Oxide inks, which was NOT very successful colour-wise. So I got a baby wipe out in a vain attempt to mop up some of the mess, but a happy accident occurred and I liked what the baby wipe did to the overall colour.  Then I sprayed some water onto the card front so that the Oxides reacted with it! Once dry I stamped some splatters over the top. See below:

Distress Oxides, baby wipe &
water + some ink splatters!

Wondered what to do with the card front after that - but as luck would have it, I'd used some autumnal colours on a recent gel print, so I die-cut some leaves from it, plus a branch for the leaves to hang from and glued them on. I also added the word "moments" using first, second and third generation stamping.

Die cuts and words added.

However, the leaves looked a bit lost on the card front . . . so, to remedy that, I decided to add a brown shadow using the same Walnut Stain Distress Oxide ink I'd used for the words. The shadows really help the leaves to pop. Success!

Finished result (with the shadow added).

Unless you're a card maker, you would never know how much work went into this would you?!

Please take a look at my lovely blogpal VAL'S leafy card for another idea on using these dies.

*There are a number of YT videos on making your own paste, but I most liked Chrissie Stokes's version. However, I didn't measure anything, I just put a dollop of glue and some acrylic paint into a pot and added talc until I was happy with the consistency!!! I kept the remaining paste in a small jar that would otherwise have gone out into my recycling bin! Making your own paste is WAY cheaper than buying it already done for you and is LOADS of fun. Plus it smells nice and so will your craft room afterwards!

Snippets Playground Challenge 1st - 14th October

Hi Playmates

It's Sunday morning and time for a new challenge over at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND with Miss Di in charge for the next fortnight.

Here's my homework: 

MATERIALS:

1. Die cut birthday sentiment: from a set of PP Craft dies (white snippet)
2. Die cut flower: Kindly sent to me by a lovely blog friend (thanks!)
3. Gelli print snippet made with acrylic paints; brayer; bubblewrap; Aall & Create reverse text stamp
4. Purple mount trimmed snippet

Now it's your turn to use up some of your own snippets so you can come and play in the Snippets Playground. Remember to leave a comment if you wish to be in the prize draw. You have until 14th October to get your homework in on time!

Happy crafting.

Snippets Playground Challenge: 17th - 30th September

Hi Playmates!

I'm hosting the new challenge over at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND for the next fortnight, so why not reduce your mountain of snippets and make something so that you can play along?

Here are some snippety cards made with my favourite flower stamp set (Aall & Create set #986 called 'The Good' by Tracy Evans). I decided to use up some white strips left over from cutting my own card bases.

The card sizes vary a little, but all measure approx 3" x 6".
Main image mounted onto a snippet of SU Pool Party card stock (centre card),
with the cards either side using up packaging for the mats!

DL and A6 sized cards.
Snippets used: black and white pieces of card and an inked up piece using an embossing folder,
plus some green patterned SU papers - all trimmed to fit.

The focal points of the above 5 cards started out life like this:

9 white snippet strips - uninspiring or what?!

Here are the 9 strips all stamped up.
The top 4 strips will be used to fussy cut flowers
for later use (like those seen to the right of them).
The bottom 5 strips are the ones I used to make the 5 cards shown in this post.

    

Congrats if you made it to the end of this longer post! 

I wish you a very happy day.

Sarn on Sunday!

Hi Playmates!

I have published RESULTS from the previous challenge, so please hop over to the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND to admire the top picks and discover which lucky playmate won the prize.

Meanwhile, here's a card full of collage for you to feast your eyes on!

Card measures 3¼" x 4¾"

The entire card is made from snippets of left over card and paper from other projects, all glued into place on the card front, including a leafy die-cut that was waiting to be used up.

The paddling pool has been a very popular hang out in the Snippets Playground during the UK heatwave this week, plus I've been adding extra ice to the Treehouse cocktails. It's all good!

Wishing you a very happy day. 

Flowery Thanks OLC

Hello lovely readers!

Today I have a One Layer Card (OLC) for you.

Card measures 5" x 5"

The pretty flower and surrounding foliage is from the multi-step stamp set 'Beautiful Day' by Altenew. 

The sentiment is from an Art Deco set by Woodware.

Snippets Playground Challenge: 3rd - 16th September

Hi Playmates

It's Sunday morning and time for a new challenge over at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND where Miss Di is in charge for the next fortnight - shiny whistle at the ready in her attempt to keep us all under control!!!

My homework is a very positive ATC:

ATC measuring 2½" x 3 ½" made entirely from snippets.

The white snippet was stamped, coloured and mounted onto a piece of packaging.

The fox is part of Aall & Create’s 'Up Up & Away' stamp (set #467) and I watercoloured him using Distress Oxide inks. I think the sentiment was part of a magazine cover gift. I distressed the white edges with a Tim Holtz tool.

That's all from me today folks! Keep on using up those pretty snippets of yours, then come and play in the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND.

Flowery Thanks

Hi there!

Thanks for dropping by today. I have a one layer card to share, simply stencilled down the left hand side, then stamped with the flower and sentiment. I used Kitsch Flamingo Distress Oxide to paint the flower with, as well as for inking through the stencil.

Wishing you a very happy day - hope you find the time to do something you enjoy.

Too Kind OLC

Hi Friends

I have a one layer card (OLC) for you today. 

My lovely blog friend Vicky often masks off her card fronts before inking and stamping, so I took a leaf out of her book and had a go at it myself! I was very pleased with the results (thanks Vicky!).

A6 size card

1. As mentioned above, I used low tack masking tape all along the card front edges.
2. I stamped a very large Carabelle stamp into the unmasked area in light brown ink.
3. Using a make-up brush, I brushed light brown ink from the left hand corner upwards and outwards.
4. Used a 3-step Stampin' Up! set of flowers called 'Too Kind', I stamped the green stems first, then the 2-step flower heads.

New Snippets Playground Challenge 20th Aug to 2nd Sept

Hi Playmates

There's a new challenge to join in with over at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND with yours truly in charge for the next fortnight. Why not use up some snippets and come over to play?

I've been playing with some jelly. Oops, no, I mean I've been playing with my gelli PLATE! (Not sure that sounds much better really!!!).

In any case, I made a gelli print which I stamped all over, intending to make it into a pocket! Unfortunately, I was a bit too enthusiastic with my scissors, which meant I couldn't fold the pocket up properly. So, I salvaged what I could of the print and (so far) I've made a few ATCs with it:

The 2¼" x 3¼" gelli print snippet has been stamped, then 
a leafy stencil was used with DOX inks for a focal point.
The Tim Holtz sticker was brushed with ink, then glued on.
All mounted onto a snippet of Alpen box packaging!

I stamped circles and a few splatters over the
Alpen box packaging "kraft" card, then added a
small snippet of the salvaged gelli print to the left and
some punched flowers to the right.
Flat back gems were glued to the flower centres.

A tiny snippet of the same salvaged gelli print is at the
bottom left of this ATC. The whole ATC front (from packaging) was covered
with a coloured book page snippet which had been gessoed first.
Writing and leaf sprig added freehand.

Just a couple of bits of the salvaged gelli print snippets.

That's all from me today folks! Keep on using up those pretty snippets of yours, then come and play in the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND.

Di has a snippets card to share with you HERE along with the latest Pupdate on Dudley's antics.

Bunny's outing

Hi Gang!

I was lucky enough to be gifted this lovely bunny die by a wonderful friend of mine (thank you, you know who you are!).  The little bunny die hopped through my letterbox and onto my craft desk and I've been playing with him ever since.

I've two cards to share with you:

The first is a birthday card - with bunny sitting on top of the straight edged lettering (an idea from my crafty and kindhearted friend . . . although I misinterpreted her suggestion!).  

The bunny and brown matting layer are both from
Alpen Bar packaging. Stamped word background by Gummiapan.
Tip: before you lob your packets into the recycling bin, check
to see if there is a fab "kraft card" colour on the other side!

The second card has bunny sitting on a stamped tree branch sending you some bunny hugs and happy thoughts. 

Those of you who know me well, know that I love a bit of positivity, and I often send out happy and positive thoughts into the universe. As I'm not religious, it's my equivalent of a prayer I suppose!

Leaves are an old SU stamp & were watercoloured.
Bunny was cut from packaging (Alpen Bars box).
He's stuck to the card with foam pads, with ears & feet glued.
Sentiment is from Altenew "Beautiful Day" set.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

Happy crafting.

A new stamp set! Yippee!

Hi Friends

I already have so many lovely flower stamps, but I fell in love with this Aall & Create set by the talented Tracy Evans ('The Good' #986) and just had to have it!

It arrived yesterday and I IMMEDIATELY set to work! Made 4 cards in quick succession  and I'm sure I'll make many more with this lovely set.

5" square card base.

Orange dye ink was brushed through a small bubbles stencil first, then the flowers were stamped over the top with Versafine Onyx black. The flower petals and circles were painted with yellow and orange dye inks. I also stamped one of the small quotes from the set. Finishing touches were the Julie Hickey Glossies and a hand drawn wiggly line border.

Here's another version with purple bubbles stencilled on and flower petals painted pink and another stamp to ground the image.

5" square card. Sentiment to be added at later date!

ENJOY YOUR DAY!

MORE Christmas in July at the Snippets Playground!

Hi Playmates

It's Sunday morning and time for a new challenge over at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND with yours truly in charge for the next fortnight. Please remember there is a CHRISTMAS THEME for this particular Playground challenge.

Just to prove that bunnies aren't only for Easter - I have a card using the popular "bunny" die which was kindly gifted to me by a good friend (thanks, you know who you are). 

5½ square base card

The snippets I used. It didn't matter that
the kraft card (which is actually packaging)
wasn't quite big enough for the die as I only
wanted the insert bits!

The details:

1. First, I added the grungy Christmas stamp direct to the base card, a little over to the right hand side. (The stamp is from Aall & Create set #371 'Deep Focus'. Nothing to do with Christmas really!)
2. Next I die cut all the snippets and watercoloured the bunny with Distress Oxide inks.
3. I glued the presents pile together on the card front (snipping off the top bow first along with the innards of the top box) then drew the top present stripes in then added colour by watercolouring them with Distress Inks. 
4. The bunny was then seated on top of the pile! He has some foam pads under the main body and head, but his ears and feet have been glued down.
5. Added grounding beneath the presents.
6. Finally, I stamped the sentiment in Versafine Onyx Black. The sentiment is from Colorado Crafts Big & Bold Warmest Wishes set.

Happy Birthday Dudley!

Hi there Playmates

I've a hand-drawn card for you today in honour of Playground Pup Dudley - whose birthday is today!

The little dog was drawn on a white snippet, then mounted onto other snippets of card and designer paper. The sentiment is a stamp by Uniko.

5½" x 5½" card base

Unfortunately, I can't say the little dog was my own design . . . I copied him from a card photo I found on Pinterest by Susan Raihala. The dog's name is Newton and he's a discontinued stamp by Hero Arts.

The card picture I copied from

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE DUDLEY DOG!

Anyone for some cake?

Hi Gang

I decided to play along with the current ALLSORTS CHALLENGE 737 where Brenda has added a mood board for inspiration. I picked the colour pink and the cake stand from the mood board and made the card shown below:

An A6 sized card

Details:

• Cake stand = wooden stamp by Stampendous called Tiers of Treats
• Pink ink = Distress Oxide Kitsch Flamingo (heat embossed with clear EP)
• Sentiment = a very old photopolymer stamps, possibly by Woodware!
• Daisy die = Leane Creatief.
• Daisy gem = by Julie Hickey
• Main image mounted onto fake "kraft card" that is really packaging!

Week 736 at Allsorts - Embossing

I hadn't played with my embossing folders for quite some time, so when I saw that the optional theme at Allsorts this week was EMBOSSING . . . I thought I'd get my folders out and dust them off!

The one I most fancied playing with was a cute Sizzix bird folder. Take a look at the picture below to see what I made.

The card measures 4" x 4¾"

The materials I used to emboss a white snippet of card.

I had a go at inking the debossed side of the folder in green ink, then running it through my Big Shot with a snippet of white card inside. 

LOVED the result so I mounted it onto a larger white snippet then fixed that to some fake "Kraft card" (which is really recycled packaging) with foam pads. Trimmed an A6 card down to measure ¼" larger all round, which of course means the card is an odd size, so I'll have to custom-make an envelope to fit!

New Snippets Playground Challenge: 25th June to 8th July

Hi Playmates

I simply adore this  cute little bunny from the Aall & Create stamp set "Up, Up & Away" (#467). You could easily miss him as the stamp set's artwork obscures his face!

He's quite tiny, so I was able to stamp him onto a couple of very small white snippets in order to colour then cut him out with scissors. Full disclosure . . . I used a black pen with a very fine nib to give him a smile as well as adding the inside ear bit that I've coloured pink!

ATC - made entirely with snippets of card and designer paper.
Added a sticker sentiment.

And now for a second piece of homework using the same bunny stamp with additional pen work as detailed above!

A6 card using the circle snippets shown in the following photo.
Finished off with an Aall & Create sentiment (can't remember which set!)

The snippets pile that the card & ATC came from.
No, your eyes do not deceive you . . . you may have already
seen this photo - because I made a few projects from the pile!

There's a new challenge to join in with over at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND with yours truly in charge for the next fortnight. Why not use up some snippets and come over to play?

Anyone fancy some neurographic art?

Neuro what whaaaat????

I'd never heard of neurographic art until I stumbled across a drawing on Pinterest that intrigued me!

I promise that you don't need ANY artistic skills to create the drawing below. 

Don't believe me? I knew you wouldn't, so I'm going to break it down so you can see just how easy it is to do!

1. I drew 3 (rough) circles on the page with a black fineliner pen and shaded each using a pencil and a paper stub (but you could use your fingers to smear the pencil lead instead of the paper stub). If you want perfect circles, you could use a circle die or stencil to create them.
2. Next I SCRIBBLED all over the place with a black fineliner pen!
3. Then it was just a case of rounding off the corners at every intersection and filling them in. Oh, and I added a few little dots along the lines, but that's just the doodler in me being fancy - it's not necessary!

After the first go (above) I decided to GO BIG! See below for a journal page I created in my larger Dylusions art journal:

I had already created the page background with Distress Oxide inks and was wondering what to do with it. Same process as before: drew spheres, coloured them in, scribbled over everything, then rounded the intersections off (and added a few dots along some of the lines).

I prefer the first monochrome one, but I'm happy enough with this coloured version. I'll definitely be doing some more and with different colour schemes.

Want to physically SEE how it's done? Well HERE is a 4 min You Tube video showing the process. It's EASY, it's RELAXING and I urge you to have a go - bet you surprise yourself with the results. I know I did!

Sunday Snippets!

Hi Playmates

I've been tearing (around) again! 

The likely cause is that I have been learning about junk journaling over the last few months and have been ripping and tearing up all sorts of things to make ephemera. It's very satisfying!

What's more, I found I could apply some of my newly acquired junk journal knowledge to card making. Tearing up those last snippets of patterned paper is a GREAT way to add some interest and definition. As I've left the torn edges white on a white card blank, they're not so noticeable in the photo, but you can see them easily in real life! I could have inked the edges, but I preferred to keep them plain in this instance.

Torn patterned paper at the edge of the card front
and at the bottom of the topper.

Di has published her RESULTS from the previous challenge, so please hop over to the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND to admire the top picks and discover who won the prize.

New Snippets Playground Challenge - 28th May to 10th June

Hi Playmates

I wanted to make a birthday card for a young-at-heart but newly-minted octogenarian! She loves her flowers, so it had to be a pretty flower on the card front!

• To create the background I brushed Kitsch Flamingo Distress Ink through a stencil, then stamped and grounded the flower.
• The flower was coloured using a waterbrush with Distress Inks. 
• The numbers and hash sign were die-cut from snippets.
• The stamp is DAISY by Ana Bondu for Carabelle Stamps.
• The stencil is by Studio Light one of their BJ numbers, but I can't remember which one!

There's a new challenge to join in with over at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND with yours truly in charge for the next fortnight. Why not use up some of your snippets on a project, then come over to play?

I would also like to enter this card into the current ALLSORTS Challenge #730 where they want to see you use a stencil (or choose the anything goes option!).

Sending Hugs

Hi Friends 

Here’s a very CAS card made from snippets.

All the coloured snippets on the card were made by running a brayer over a few white snippets using Seedless Preserves and a little Walnut Stain DOX inks which gave a nice mottled look. Next I simply stamped a sentiment onto a white snippet and die cut it with a stitched rectangle die. This was mounted onto a larger stitched rectangle that was die cut from the brayered snippet. I punched out three flowers to embellish the sentiment and decided not add anything more. 

I’d like to enter this into the current Allsorts challenge (Week 729) where they are celebrating their 14th birthday. Congrats to Brenda and her DT for doing a great job week in week out. 

Sunday Snippets!

Hi Playmates

It's Sunday morning and time for a new challenge over at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND with yours truly in charge for the next fortnight.

Here's my homework:

A shaped card made for someone special. I cut and stamped all the panels to make a grungy background, then added a large silhouette flower stamp by Bee Crafty. I die-cut the circles, leaves and sentiment from SNIPPETS and added them to the card via a little hinge made from die-cut circles. This shaped card stands up easily but folds flat for posting.

Details on how to make this card shape are in my TUTORIAL page at the top of this blog HERE.

I'm running amok in the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND for the next fortnight - so grab your satchel and skip on over to find out what lovely prize is on offer, as well as all the details on how to enter. 

Sarn on Sunday!

Hi Playmates

There's a new challenge ready and waiting for you over at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND with Miss Di in charge for the next fortnight.

Here's my homework:

Dinky little gift cards measuring approx 2.5" square - made from long thin white snippets.

Some of the snippets used to decorate with.

After all the eggcitement(!) of Easter and the game of Tag . . . I think I'll have a little quiet time up in the Treehouse. There are still a few Hot Cross Buns left over . . . I'll toast them to make them seem fresher, then add lashings of butter! YUMMY! 

Easter in the Snippets Playground.

Hi Playmates

HAPPY EASTER TO YOU ALL.

It's Sunday morning and we're halfway through the current challenge at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND. Last week's game of Tag was great fun, but I'm worn out now, chasing round after you all! Hope you have your best Easter bonnet on for the Parade later!

My latest homework is a friendship card, made for someone special who I thought needed a hug - so I sent her a paper one, as I couldn't give her one in person:

Card measures 4½" x 4½"

The snippets used to create the above card.

Card details:

• Lawn Fawn GIANT "Friend" die - cut four times (once from patterned paper and thrice more from white card snippets). All four sentiments were glued together to create a dimensional stack, then added to the card front. I was careful to retain the "fall out" from the patterned paper die cut so that it could be stuck back in place. 
• Ancient (but adored) flower punch for the 3 flowers.
• Craftwork Cards "Card Candi" for the flower centres.

Di has published the RESULTS from her previous challenge, so please hop over to the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND to admire the top picks and discover who won the prize.

PS: Did you see that I'm having a little Easter giveaway HERE? Please feel free to enter.

Sarn on Sunday!

Hi Gang!

I recently swapped some Happy Mail with a lovely blog buddy (thank you so much, you know who you are!).

The following ATC is the first thing I made, using just half of a pretty sunflower that was in the Happy Mail.

All I had to do was stamp a grungy background onto a snippet of white card for the ATC base, then add the sunflower (coloured with Promarkers). The Small Talk sticker finished it off. I also inked around the ATC edges with a black ink pad.

First sunflower ATC measuring 2.5" x 3.5"

I was so pleased with the first sunflower ATC that I made another, with a very similar background and the other half of the original flower - although they were made on different days! 

2nd Sunflower ATC measuring 2.5" x 3.5"

If you're curious to know what I received in the swap, here it is in all its glory! That little lot will keep me occupied for quite a while! 

All the wonderful items received from my blog buddy .

Over at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND there's a new challenge to enter, with yours truly in charge for the next fortnight. Why not use up some of your snippets then come and play? You can even join in with the game of Tag that's going on!