The first Challenge at the Seven Hills Craft Challenge is to make a card inspired by the Olympics.
I chose Sha'Carri Richardson's patriotic nails as my inspiration.
Like the five fingers on each hand, I cut five strips of Doodlebug Land That I Love papers for my card front.
Next I cut thin strips from another piece of paper to cover where the various papers met.
I finished with an image celebrating her Silver Medal (and the fact that I think about her as a Firecracker).
I'm still making my way through the Gelliarts #marchprintingchallenge on Instagram (you can follow me at @SmilynStef).
Day 17 was Shamrock. I used these paper shamrock masks printing several layers while moving them around the plate.
Day 18 is black & white (I need a more opaque black paint) using Julie Balzer's Rows of Lines Stencil from The Crafter's Workshop.
For Day 19 - Recycle - I recycled a paper overlay from a Hallmark greeting card and used it as a mask.
For day 20 Geometry, I used the Large Betsy's Block stencil by Dylusions with Platinum and Red paints.
Day 21 is curves. I cut a large circle from a piece of typing paper and used it as a mask for applying PanPastel with a sponge. I used three new colors I added to my stash (which in hindsight were the colors of our Junior High team, the Hornets).
Day 22 was Contrast. I had intended to use black to pull these vibrant hues, but didn't get the results I was hoping for, so instead I just embraced the contrast between the neon yellow and vibrant pink. The one on the left is on printer paper and on the right I used deli paper.
Day 23 was Alcohol Ink. I had intended for the second print to be shades of blues, but because I didn't clean my stencil and the new ink activated the dried ink on the stencil, I ended-up with the cool happy accident mixing of colors.
Day 24 was monochromatic. I fell in love with all of the shades of blue.
I hope you're enjoying my gelliprinting experiments as much as I am.
I picked-up a collection of wooden embellishments at my local Create/Exchange this weekend, so I wanted to create something with them.
I decided to leave them un-inked and pair them with one of my Dylusions Shimmer Painted backgrounds (you can see paint colors here). I added a strip of a gelliarts print in purples & teals to ground the elements.
The color inspiration was from the TGIF Challenges.
I attached the panel and strip to a kraft card base and finished with a sentiment from Sunny Studio A Good Egg and some Pinkfresh studio gems.
I had another wonderful week of #gelprintJanuary2024 in the studio.
The week started with Day #21 Stencil. I pulled out a never before used Klimt The Kiss Stencil (okay technically it's a Mask) by Elizabeth St. Hilaire from Joggles. I tried more liquid paints in blue and gold, which produced a really cool effect on the second pull.
Day 22 is Pattern - a repeated decorative design - I chose this repeating flower foam stamp and printed with it vertically and horizontally. I was trying for a patina effect with gold and green paints, but it didn't quite work like I hoped (that's one of the fun things about creating art every day - the learning).
Day 23 is Space. I thought if I sprayed some Dina Wakely White Media Gloss Spray with dark navy paint, I might get an outer Space look. Not sure that what I quite ended-up with, but I loved it nonetheless.
Day 24 was Rainbow, so I pulled out my Rainbow of Dylusions paints to print the rainbow ... one of my favorite things to print.
Day 25 was Mini, so I pulled out my never-before-used Butterfly Wing Mini Plate. I had fun using a Carabelle Studio Jamboree Texture Plate with Blue & Purple paint.
Day 26 was Geometric. I tried using a never-before-used ClearSnap Art Screen Trio stencils. I didn't get the effect I was hoping for, but again, the learning is the joy of it all.
Day 27 is Grunge, another favorite. Since yesterday's attempt seemed a bit grungy, I kept that trio of colors, but used a combination of other stencils from my stash to get a grunge effect.
It's been fun to create art every day. I might need to figure out something to do for February.
At Jingle Belles, we're still making holiday cards inspired by our 2023 Blog Banner.
I decided to start by spraying watercolor paper with Dylusions Bubblegum Pink Shimmer Spray. Next I die cut three Memory Box Marvelous Pines, which I then splattered with White Dina Wakely Media Gloss Spray.
I stamped the tan card base with the We Wish You a Merry Christmas stamp from Tim Holtz Tiny Text Christmas Sentiments multiple times in light grey ink. I attached the three sprayed trees using foam tape on the center one for dimension.
I added a few Pinkfresh Studio sentiment stickers and spelled Peace with Pinkfresh Studio silver Spring Vibes Puffy alphabet stickers.
I finished with a white pearl flourish like the banner.
I'm also joining Jenn's #getcrackingonchristmas.
I've still been plugging along with the Index Card A Day Challenge on Instagram (@SmilynStef).
For Day 8 I had fun with some semi-transparent butterfly images from my stash and a collaged background of torn gelliprints.
For day 9, Fuchsia is one of my favorite colors (and flowers), so I gelli-printed my Index Card in a variety of fuchsia family inks and then found a panel I ink-smooshed with Dylusions Shimmer Paints and die cut it with the Stamp Market Modern Motif Die. I found the definition of Fuchsia in one of my many dictionaries and then finished with a piece of flair from my stash.
For day 10, I turned a wooden arrow sticker into a Signpost by adding some woodgrain paper. I tore some green paper for the ground and found a scrap of cloud paper for my sky before finishing with another butterfly. I finished with a sticker sentiment that felt like it worked with the whole vignette.
For Day 11, I wasn't feeling the prompt. That's one of the joys of ICAD is that the prompts are just suggestions, so you can always go off-prompt or use the weekly theme. I torn a couple of rainbow gelliprints into strips and created a collaged background (with some thin washi tapes added for a bit more visual interest) for another transparent butterfly to land and a sticker sentiment.
I thought Simon Hurley's Lunar Paste has a moonlight glow, so I covered my index card and after it dried, I embossed the card with Sizzix Retro Cirque Embossing folder, which to me has sort of a moon & planet feel to it.
For Day 13th, I went with a good luck superstition. I covered my index card with patterned green washi tape and then punched some four-leaf clovers from green cardstock. I finished with a single work sentiment sticker. While I was making this one, I had flashbacks to playing center field on our junior high softball field and all of the clover that I would stare at during our practices at Griggs Park. Not many junior high girls could hit the ball to center field, so if I found a four leaf clover, I considered the practice a win.
For day 14, I was thrilled that I was actually able to locate the wooden typewriters in my stash. I paired it with some file folder designer paper from Pinkfresh Studio and a sticker sentiment that summed-up how I was feeling that day.
Another fun week of making tiny art every day.
The newest Global Design Project is a challenge to CASE the Designer.
I used Ardyth's LIMES method to plan my design.
I included the main circle focal image, other elements off the edges of the circle, thread under the sentiment, a scattering of gems and a celestial theme. I excluded the moon, rectangle sentiment & splattered background.
My spin was to change the color palette, use another circle for the sentiment, change from white to gold thread, swap the clouds for stars, and used my own Dylusions Shimmer Paint smooshed background from my stash.
The sentiment is from Concord & 9th Greatest Hits.
I'm also linking-up at the Anything Goes Challenge at Use Your Stuff.
The newest Caffeinated Christmas Challenge is to incorporate the rainbow.
I knew it was the perfect opportunity to feature my rainbow gelli print I made using Dylusions Shimmer paints during the GelliArts #marchprintingchallenge.
I also took my inspiration from the Rainbow images at the Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge.
I used a rainbow of Catherine Pooler inks with my MISTI to stamp the snowflake coffee cup from Unity Stamp Company Comfort to Go. I added some Pinkfresh Studio Clear Iridescent drops to the centers of the snowflakes.
I finished with a grab bag stamp I got from Unity Stamp Company Dear Santa.
There's something about making art every day ... even if it's just one thing ... that brings such joy. So I'm always a bit sad when the #marchprintingchallenge with GelliArts comes to an end.
Here's how I finished my prints.
Day 19 was Lines. I used paints and the Radiate Universal Background Stamp from Magnuson Custom Stamps (brother company of Unity Stamp Company) that my friend Chris Dayton imagined (and subsequently he made) at one of our stamping getaways. Because of its size, you can position the center wherever you want on whatever card size you're making.
Day 20 was Hearts. I used the Essentials by Elle Essentials Hearts die cuts to create a stencil and also as a mask for printing.
Day 21 was Rainbow. I love printing the rainbow with Dylusions Shimmer Paints.
Day 22 was Pastels ... I think this might be my favorite print of the challenge. I used two colors of PanPastels and the Crazy Quilts Calm & Frenzy Stencil by Andrew Borloz from Stencil Girl. I sponged one color through the stencil, rotated the stencil and applied the second color before pulling the print.
Day 23 is Recycle. I'm lucky that when my marketing team at work gets new paper sample books, they bring me the retired books of gorgeous papers to incorporate into my art. I recycled a gorgeous piece of black cardstock with metallic paints.
Day 24 is Fabric. I used a scrap of muslin fabric with browns & bronzes and form circle stamps.
Day 25 is Stars, which is printed with The Crafters Workshop Punchinella Trio 2 Stencil.
Day 26 is Fruit. My fruit selection was rather limited, so I ended-up trying to print with some berries. The results were so so, but it was fun seeing if it would work.
Here are the results from the first and second print.
Day 27 was one of my favorites - Plastic Wrap. Every time I use it, I ask myself why I don't use it more. I love the effect. This time rather than leaving the wrap on the plate to dry, I tried more pouncing with the bunched wrap to remove the paint. I love how the two colors of the paint combined.
Day 28 was lace. I used a piece of lace that I picked-up at The Create/Exchange just for this purpose. Sometimes the outline of the lace is clear (like on the bottom left). Other times the design is less defined, but still a cool result.
Day 29 was Frottage - a word I had to look up - the technique or process of taking a rubbing from an uneven surface to form the basis of a work of art. I used a metallic crayon (because somehow I don't down any regular crayons) and a combination of stencils from A Colorful Life Design, Vicki Boutin, and The Crafters Workshop. I like this as a piece of art all on its own.
Here are the results. I'd like to try it again with a darker crayon to see if I get more resist.
Day 30 was Botanicals. I used a Botanicals stencil/mask from The Crafters Workshop with Distress Oxide Inks.
And the final theme was torn paper. I used torn paper as a mask and moved it around printing multiple layers. It's a technique I want to play with more because I loved the results.
I hope you had fun joining me on my Gelli Printing journey ... now to go use these papers to make some fun cards.
I'm continuing to have fun and challenge myself with the #marchprintingchallenge at GelliArts.
Day 7's theme was Transparent. I realized I had never tried gel printing on a Transparency, so I pulled out Dina Wakley Media Transparencies and gave it a try. I did several pulls mixing green and turquoise. When I got a look I liked, I pulled up the rest of the paint with a sheet of paper. I love the tiny bubble effect the transparency produced on the plate.
Day 8 was CardBoard. I went to our Condominium Trash Room and picked up a piece of torn cardbard that had fallen on the floor as it flew down the trash shoot. I peeled back one layer and used it like a stamp on my plate, first going vertically with Dina Wakley's Neon Pink Acrylic and then horizontally with Dylusions Vibrant Turquoise paint.
Day 9 was Book Pages. I chose page 473 of Automobile Ignition Starting Lighting and printed with layers of four translucent golden paints, so you can still see the cool schematic. I love using pages from books like these for masculine cards. I used my leftover piece of cardboard to provide some texture on the layers.
Day 10 is Tissue Paper. I’ve saved this cool shoe-printed Tissue Paper for a long time for some sort of artsy fun ... and this was perfect. The printing is on the back of the paper.
