Ingenious Inkling

Flutterby

One of my favorite things about creating in person with another artist is getting their feedback on designs and channeling their style as you watch them create.

This card started with a little piece of cut-off gel press print that the Damsel of Distressed had made with the Shower of Flutters stencil from STAMPlorations.  I added it to one of my gel press prints and die cut it with a hexagon die.

 

 

I combined it with two more of my Gel Press prints and a ruler that had been trimmed from a piece of designer paper that Becca had used on another card.   I brought in some Distress Crayons that Becca uses frequently in her designs, but I seldom grab, for a grungy finish to the design.  Final steps were creating a little poem with sticker sentiments that described my intention when creating the card & a few gems.  It was a really fun process.

I'm also linking-up at Little Red Wagon where the challenge theme is Flutterby (to use butterflies on your design).

 

 

I'm also joining the Stencil Challenge & Anything Goes Challenge at STAMPlorations.

Placid Gel Press

Another Gel Print card made during my Art Camp with the Damsel of Distressed.

This print was made using the Placid Stencil from ARTplorations together with another die from Becca's collection that I thought coordinated well.

 

 

I had a lot of fun creating little poems with the Tim Holtz sentiment stickers.

I'm linking-up at the Never Ending Challenge at STAMPlorations.

Gel Printing Travel Adventures

One of the items on my Grand Forks travel agenda was to give the Damsel of Distressed (go give Becca a Like) her first Gel Printing experience.  We had so much fun creating, we never wanted to stop ... and needless to say, she was a super-quick learner (and bought us matching shirts from Unglued for our creative day).

 

We started with 5"x7" plates and basic acrylic paint and stencil techniques ... as you can see, Becca rocked it.

 

 

Here's Becca putting the stars onto that magical Unicorn print.

 

 

I had some fun playing with new Elizabeth St. Hilaire Stencils & Masks from Joggles inspired by Gustave Klimt.   The bottom two prints use the one called Rectangle Motif.  The top right is ARTplorations All Swirls. 

 

 

I also had fun creating with one called Cubes on the top right and bottom left.

 

 

 

And more Rectangle Motif on the top left.  The bottom left is All Swirls from ARTplorations.

 

 

Then on day two of our creative adventures, we spent a little time learning alcohol ink printing with the Gel Press.

 

 

And next up was playing with die cuts and stickers to turn prints into cards.  This one features the ARTplorations All Swirls Stencil together with words from the CUTplorations You Word Die Set and the CUTplorations Awesome Word Die.   I think that die cuts can completely transform some Gel Press Prints that felt more like "rejects" when you pulled them.

 

 

I'm linking-up at the October Anything Goes Stencil Challenge at STAMPlorations.

 

 

Here's another card made from these prints.  Becca had stamped and painted a group of houses and had this cutie left over after finishing her cards, so I added it to my design.  I had fun using Ranger Sentiment Stickers to create a little poem.

 

 

I'm linking this one up at the Anything Goes Stencil Challenge at Happy Little Stampers.

 

 

And one more stamping directly onto the Gel Press Print with an image from Sassy & Saucy from Inky Antics by Andrea Ockey Parr.  

 

 

Autumn So Thankful

Autumn is my favorite time of year ... the cool mornings and beautiful colorful landscapes. 

Today I made a card inspired by the Autumn Leaf Cookies at If You Give a Crafter a Cookie.

 

 

I've been on a quest to use more of my inky & printed backgrounds, so I started by stamping the Magenta Zentangle Leaf on an Autumn colored Alcohol Ink Brayer Roll-off paper from my stash.  I detail cut the leaf for more contrast.

 

I used a Lawn Fawn Outside-In Stitched Rectangle Stackables die cut on a Gel Press Print from my stash and mounted it on a kraft card base before attaching my leaf ... I left some edges without adhesive so I could curl them slightly.

I finished with a Simon Says Stamp Holiday Words on a Line die cut sentiment from the same Alcohol Ink paper.

I'm also joining the Country View Challenge to use Autumnal Colors.

It's Cupcake Time

I decided it was time to use some of those beautiful background papers I've been making for some masculine birthday cards.

I started with this week's Sketch Saturday and a piece of Alcohol Ink paper for my background.

 

 

I combined a journaling card, an SRM Happy Birthday Sticker and a Love from Lizi peel-off and this card was done in no time.

 

 

Next I combined another strip of that same Alcohol Inked background with a Gel Press print using the Sketch from The Paper Players.

 

 

I rotated the sketch, so I could make my balloon papers work and added a little party hat sticker on top of the Pin the Tail on the Donkey Game (I hated that game; any time I got spun in circles, I got sick ... add a blindfold and you're pretty likely to get to get thrown-up on).

I finished with an SRM Make a Wish sticker across the balloon panel and some Love from Lizi Peel-offs to frame the balloons.

 

More of the ABC's of Gel Printing

I've been having lots of fun working my way through the Alphabet with GelliArts.

T is for Texture.  I used the texture from a snowflake embossing folder to pick-up the manganese Blue paint from my plate and then picked-up the print on the left.

 

Next I embossed with the ink-covered folder and got the textured print on the right.  So much fun ... must paint/ink embossing folders again.

U is for Unity.  This one was tough for me, but then I realized that I could use a pattern (in this case Bubble Wrap) to create Unity among different colored stripes ... also must remember to save my bubble wrap somewhere in this studio mess for printing.

 

 

V is for Vertical.  I found this Arrow Stencil in my stash (sorry I searched but couldn't find the source ... I sure wish Stencil Makers put their name on the stencil) and used it to create Vertical Designs.  After learning I needed Opaque paints with contrast to do Gel Press Image Transfer, I went on a buying spree (and then inadvertently bought Open paints rather than the regular ones I usually use ... we'll see what I can do with that longer drying time).  I do love those colors.

 

 

And W is for Watercolor.  I decided to use my neglected Brutus Monroe Aqua Pigments in two Neon shades.

 

 

This is basically a modified Ink Smooshing Technique.  I played around with amount of ink (middle print had a lot of just the orangey pink) and how I applied it to the plate.

Next up is X is for X-designs.  I found an X-shaped foam stamp in my stash, so I used it to make a few prints.

 

 

I really love the grungy clean-up print.

Y is for Yarn.  I didn't have any regular yarn, but I had several skeins of this thin yarn I had picked-up after I saw people use it in a cool way on cards (and then of course I have yet to use it).

 

 

I strung it across my plate and did several layers and several layers on a clean-up print too ... I am still loving those greens.

Hope you've enjoying joining me for my ABC's of Gel Printing this month.

Gel Press Retro Birthdays

This mornings ABC's of Gel Printing theme was Stamps & Stencils.  I had fun using both including this wonderful Donna Downey Foam Stamp for my prints.  This is one of my favorite color combinations.

 

 

I decided to go ahead and use that center print for a birthday card using the Retro Rubber Stamp Challenge Sketch.

 

 

I stamped Hero Arts wood mounted Birthday Blackboard from 2013 and then die cut a circle from it for the focal point getting as many of the words I could inside the circle.

 

 

The Catherine Pooler Inks are perfect for getting solid coverage for single stamping of a big wood mounted image.  The sentiment is from one of my oldest and most-used Hero Arts acrylic sets in my collection - Essential Messages from 2010.

 

I'm also linking-up at the Simon Says Stamp Stencil Challenge.

And since I had my leftover gel print bits from yesterday, I decided to do a male version of the card.  I didn't have enough print for the Retro layout, so I used the sketch from Sunday Stamps.

 

 

I turned the rectangle into a square to better frame my circle die cut ... again Catherine Pooler inks for coverage, although I had to use Archival for the sentiment because she doesn't have a good rust color in her palette.

 

 

This one uses another vintage wood mounted Hero Arts Happy Birthday from 2007 - still a classic font & size.

Recycled Printing

Today's theme at the ABC's of Printing Challenge is R is for Recycled.  

I wadded-up some recycled packing paper and used it to create a pattern on my print.  Here is the first print using Yellow Oxide Paint and my plate inked with Red Oxide doing the same effect.

 

Here it is with both layers.

 

Then I did a few more prints to clean-up my plate.  The first one had too much yellow paint ... the second one was pure perfection (at least to me).

 

 

I used the clean-up print for my card base and the other two prints for my Hexagons (inking the yellow one on the edges for a bit more contracts) with this week's Freshly Made Sketches layout.

 

 

I also added a few vintage Studio Calico Hexagon stickers (which are still available at Frantic Stamper ... I may need to order some more) that just happened to be out on my studio table.  The branch is Simon Says Stamp Outline Clustered Leaves.

 

 

I finished with a Sticker sentiment.

I'm also linking-up at the Red, Orange, Yellow Color Challenge at Just Us Girls.

 

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.

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.