Ingenious Inkling

ABC's of Gel Printing

I've had more fun this week with the ABC's Gel Printing Challenge on Instagram (do you follow me there?).

 

 

I started with M is for Mini Plate Art.  I had fun using my Hexagon Mini Plate with some Studio Light stencils.  I loved the variation of depth of color in the two prints.

 

 

This is another fun Studio Light Stencil.

 

 

For the N is for Nature Challenge I tried printing from some grasses I picked from our park.  It seemed like it should have worked better than it did.

 

 

I sort of wondered what I could make with the painted grass ... but that thought passed (LOL).

O is for Oval was next.  I used an Oval Die to cut an oval opening into a piece of printer paper and then used it as a mask on my Gel Press.

 

 

It's another fun Studio Light Stencil.

I skipped P is for Pastel because I couldn't find my Pan Pastels (I know I have them ... at least I think I have them).

And finally Q is for Q-Tip.  I kept feeling like my prints looked like something you'd see in a Petri Dish, but I had fun creating nonetheless.

 

 

The thing I love about these challenges is that they are just a quick piece of art that I can easily make at the end of a long work day ... because a day always feels better when I get to make some art.

Christmas Tic Tac Toe

We're still playing Tree Skirt Tic Tac Toe at Jingle Belles.

 

 

I decided to go horizontal across the top row with Santa, Bling & Stamping.  I chose a vintage set from my stash - Outpost Artistic Outpost Snowy Woods.  I stamped it onto a piece of purple hand-marbled paper from my stash ... I thought the marbling reminded me of blowing snow. 

 

 

I stamped a snowflake from the same set across the stop & finished with two Eyelet Outlet Silver Pearl Bling Swirls across the top that continued with the swirly feel.

We hope you will come play along.  The link-up will be live until 6pm EST on Wednesday.

Thursday Link Love

Another week of discoveries from the land of blogs:

• Apple Cream Cheese Danishes
• a way to try to visit businesses when they are least busy
• this Sugar Cookie Apple Cobbler looks like a quick and easy way to use Autumn Apples
• how cool is this Granny Square Cardigan
• I often order Tom Kha Soup, but have never tried making it.
• DIY tiny Book Stack Necklace
• Shrines from Found Objects
• do you ever want a Small Batch Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe?
• West Side Story was the first movies I remember watching at home (on a rented video disc player)
• how do you like your green beans?
• what a pretty Concrete Pottery Glaze
• love these pretty Pumpkins (one shown)
• a lovely color combination for a Christmas card

Have a tremendous Thursday!

Baking-Up a 100th Birthday Celebration

A friend asked me to make a 100th Birthday Card using these fun baking-themed 3-D stickers.  I used the Sketch from Paper Craft Crew Challenges for my Layout.

The background paper is actually from Pebbles Cozy & Bright Christmas Collection, but I thought the colors worked with the stickers.

 

Instead of wrapping the panel with string, I used Alexandra Renke Washi Tapes.  I swapped the sentiment oval in the sketch for a tag that was the right size to hold my 100 stickers from Amy Tangerine.  I finished with a scattering of epoxy hearts rather than bling and a Happy Birthday Sentiment tucked in at the bottom.

 

 

Gel Press Layered Leaves

Today's ABC's of Gel Printing theme is L is for Layers.  Layers are one of the most amazing techniques to me with the Gel Press.  It makes you think differently about building your design.  I decided to use the colors from the The Card Concept for my layers (my raspberry turned out a bit darker, but I think you can see the hues).

 

 

I started with the lightest shade (the golden yellow) and built to the darker hue.  I decided to just ink part of my 5" x 7" Gel Press (it's stained yellow from ink) and use a polka dot foam stamp I found at the used art product store.  I also got a bit of left-over green from the plate.

 

Next I moved to the green with a big Donna Downey Foam Stamp from Prima.

 

 

I layered on the rosy burgundy by inking the sides of my plate and using a torn piece of paper to pick up the paint before pulling the print.

 

 

Last layer was to add the purple with a Julie Balzer Stencil from The Crafter's Workshop (I picked up the paint from the plate and then stamped on the paper with the painted stencil.  I did a full pull on the plate (which you'll see on the card), and then did a clean-up pull with my layered piece.

I won't lie ... I loved how it turned out.

 

 

Next I used Concord and 9th thankful Leaves Turnabout dies to cut some maple leaves from my print.  I used the rest of the bits to punch and die cut some smaller leaves.

 

 

Finally, I used the sketch from the TGIF Challenges to create my card - Mixed Media is my card style. 

That Purple print I mentioned is the background for the leaves.

 

Isn't it fun how these colors pop.

 

Fall is my favorite season and I'm starting to smell it in the air.

 

I is for Image Transfer

At the last Art Camp Lauren and I had, we tried (relatively unsuccessfully) to do image transfer.   This week one of the ABC's of Art Printing was I is for Image Transfer, so I revisited the technique.

I tried about 20 different fashion magazine images, but these two were the only ones that produced a visible transfer.

 

 

While I liked them both, I was hoping for a higher success ratio.  I posted the images in one of the Facebook Gel Printing Pages and several of the members graciously provided tips for achieving more success, so I went back and tried a second time.

 

 

Their recommendation that I use a darker more opaque paint for creating the transfer on the plate finally yielded success.

 

 

However, I'm still struggling to find the best paint to pull the prints, so I will try again.  In searching through my paints, I clearly need more opaque colors with higher contrast.

 

 

Regardless, I still love the effect (no idea what I'll ultimately do with them, it just fun to see it work).

 

 

Here are a few more I tried.  The right one I just picked-up directly from the plate with no second color.

Learning how to make new art makes me happy.  

Hope your Saturday is happy too.

Tree Skirt Tic Tac Toe

At Jingle Belles we're playing Tree Skirt Tic-Tac-Toe, which is kind of like "Beach Blanket Bingo"... but Christmassy... and with a lot more embellishments!

 

 

We'd love for you to join us; all you have to do is pick a row (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) and create a lovely new holiday card featuring all three elements in that row. There are *lots* of possibilities, so let's get started!

My tic tac toe went straight down the center with Trees, Die cuts and Bling.

I started by die cutting the Memory Box Marvelous Pine twice from two shades of green cardstock and attaching them together slightly offset to provide a shadow.  Next I attached my tree to an Alcohol Ink Gel Press Print from my stash, which has both horizontal and vertical stripes for the Memory Box Stripes Challenge.

 

Next I used Eyelet Outlet Green Jewel Bling Strips to Decorate my tree with Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Bling for the "star".

I finished with a sentiment from Memory Box Typewriter Holiday.

 

Thursday Link Love

Another week of skipping through blogland:

• Fluffernutter Cookies
• Comedy Wildlife Photography (one shown)
• have you tried Southern Tomato Pie?
• I love this kitchen floor & backsplash
• Lobster Roll Dip
• Do you ever dream of a lake home?
• I love a good BLT Sandwich
• how lovely are these Thai Salad Wonton Cups
• I love the moment in time feeling of Polaroid Pictures ... maybe it's time to get a new one
• Noodle Kugel looks like a good make-ahead work lunch
• I have always been a fan of the Cutlet
• Illustrated Periodic Table picturing how we interact with the various elements
• Brown Butter Apple Blondies with Cinnamon Maple Glaze

Have a tremendous Thursday!

Ink Cube Background

The September Monthly Mix Challenge at Gina K. Designs is to create a background using Ink Cubes ... only one problem ... I love Gina K.'s inks so much, I own the collection in the full size pads. 

 

 

After hunting through all of my extras, I found that I had a few neutral colored cubes, so that made my color combination challenge pretty easy to make.  I did a half-sheet of white cardstock not entirely sure where I was headed.  

 

 

I added a white ink splatter hoping it would unify the design a bit more, but I didn't quite get the look I was hoping for (but did manage to get white ink all over my floor and studio table, so an emergency cleaning session had to interrupt my design work).

I decided to go with a slimline design featuring the images from Botanical Blocks Mini, since I liked the idea of repeating the block design theme with my focal stamps.  

 

I finished with and offset positioning of the sentiment in the set and a few scattering of smoky grey gems to finish the design.

Autumn Array On My Mind

The September Taylored Expressions #TEMaker Challenge are lovely autumn hues of the Napa Valley Color Combination.

 

I thought they would be pretty for the new Taylored Expressions Autumn Array Stamp, Stencils & Dies.

 

Though it's a bit hard to see in the picture, the Taylored Expressions Leafy Vine Embossing Folder for the Embossing & the something that begins with E parts of the Challenge (as well as a torn Edge).  I finished with Merlot Bling in the center of the tiny Raspberry Sorbet blooms.

I used the layout from Atlantic Hearts Sketch and a sentiment from Taylored Expressions Beautiful Soul.

 

 

I'm also joining the Nature's Bounty Challenge at The Male Room, because men enjoy flowers too.