Ingenious Inkling

Space Age Atlas Mood Board

I've been enviously watching Lauren create amazing designs in her Space Age Atlas.  I (half) jokingly asked if she would be inviting any guest designers for the Atlas since I knew I would be at her house this week.  She graciously invited me to add a page to her art-filled Atlas,  

I was so immersed in my process, I forgot to take pictures as I worked, but here's my finished page.  I was channeling the inner 9th grade me remembering when I used to pour over fashion magazines purchased with my hard-earned parking-lot-cleaning money to try to figure out if there was any way I could make my meager clothing budget look stylish.

I started on a page that she had tried a technique and abandoned, so it already had some lovely pinkish paint in the middle, which coordinated perfectly with my pink text elements.

Orange is my favorite corner so the orange coat was the first piece I chose for my design.   Next I added a row of purshes and some gorgeous boots along the left side.  They were all cut from the fashion magazines we had intended to use for Gel Press Transfers (so it felt good to get an alternative artsy use out of our investment).

Next I added the Incredible Women and other text I cut from the same fashion magazines before adding strips from some of my Gel Press Prints.

I added some puffy stickders that I had brought with me for us to use creatively, as well as some of the Mood Stickers I picked as my prize at The Color Factory.  I also added that gorgeous sandal that I would totally wear.

 

I also added some of Lauren's Gel Press Prints (the numbers) and a piece of foiled transparency to celebrate our immersion into foiling.  I finished with lots of little heart stickers scattered around the page (I love how you can see some of Lauren's painting along the left side).

 

I used the Gel Pens we brought to create to outline a few of the hearts and added some soy sauce, chop sticks and tomago to commemorate our outing to China Town.

I didn't really overthink my design (hence the lack of in-progress photos), but I really loved the end result ... which is also predominantly pink, Lauren's favorite colors.  What a fun Mood Board to commemorate yet another fantastic artistic outing.

Art Camp 2018 - Gel Press Round 3

This is our third year of Lauren & I playing with Gel Press Printing at our New Jersey Art Camp (aka playing with art supplies at her house).  For my birthday, Lauren bought me a set of the R&F Opaque Oil-based Pigment Sticks that Sally MacDonald assured would produce successfull Fashion Magazine Transfers ... but alas we failed. 

We could see the lovely print on our Gel Press surface ... but we couldn't get it to pick-up on the paper.  Here are the only two reasonable prints I achieved from the technique.  At least we were doing it together ... and failing together ... so we didn't get nearly as frustrated if we had been failing alone.

Of course we didn't let that stop us ... Lauren moved on to other play with the oil sticks, and I moved on to playing with paints.

I had several large new stencils from Carabelle Studio I wanted to try ... but I mostly became obsessed with Carabelle Studio Art Mask Large - Collection of Circles (Accumulation de Ronds).

 

When I Gel Print, I tend to do a variation on a theme ... and clearly I buy my paints from the same family too ... I need to add some reds and greens to my color palette.

Next I moved on to Darkroom Door Large Polka Dot Stencil with the same paints (mostly on white cardstock but a few texty pages).

 

 

I really felt like I needed more primary colors, so I borrowed some red paint from Lauren (note to self, buy red paint).

I had fun printing on some vintage papers, water color paper and even some index cards using some zig zags and dots.

Seriously, I'm not sure there is a more therapeutic creative process than printing layers upon layers ... and doing it with your crafty besty (who will oooh and ahhhh with you as you pull magical prints) is the best.

Gelli Press Wreaths

I wanted to join the #gellifallfever Challenge from Gelli Press on Instagram ... and this is my print.  It combines lots of layers of paint with some stencils and scratches and metallic bronze paint for overall shimmer.

When I make a print, I usually don't give any thought to what I'll ultimately make with the finished product.  I just like to play with paint and see what I end-up with.

The more I looked at this print, the more I thought about making a wreath.  The first wreath I found in my stash was the Tim Holtz Layered Holiday Wreath ... but who says I can't stretch my stash and turn it into some fall wreath fun.  I don't even think you can tell they are Holly Leaves with these printed papers.

 

I cut my print in half, ran it through the die cut machine, ran it through the coordinating embossing folder, and these are my two end projects.

 

I used Cornflower Blue Ink and paper to pull out the blues in my print.  I'm joining the Autumn or Spring Challenge at The Crafter's Cafe Challenge Blog ...

and L is for Leaves at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers (because how fun & snarky is that Sassy Pants Best Friends sentiment from My Favorite Things .

 

I combined the same blue paper with purple from my stash (and a scrap of the Gelli Press Print) together with wooden birthday sticker.  I'm linking-up at Seize the Birthday where the Topping is Die cuts or Punches.

 

Gel Press Die Cuts

If you click through to the posts, you may have noticed my blog got a little upgrade over the weekend.  When we designed it over 10 years ago, we kept the dimensions narrow.  Lately I've noticed that the displayed pictures on my blog were a lot smaller than others (you could always see full size, but that took an extra click), so with some help it's now wider for larger picture display.  We tested it on lots of browsers, but let me know if you're having issues.

Tonight I'm playing with Gel Press Prints from my stash & die cuts.  I started with a card inspired by the current book at The Library Challenge.

Here's the book cover ... can you see all of my inspiration?  The background is embossed with Alexandra Renke's Dotted With Stars Embossing Folder.  The Whispers Party Hat Die is from Die-Versions ... and the Happy Birthday is from Elizabeth Kraft.

 

I incorporated the flowy feel of the pool water & sky with my blue & white Gel Press design.  The red background came from the Red Font and I used a bold black font for my die cut sentiment.

 

I'm also linking up at the Birthday Word Prompt at the Inkspirational Challenge and also at the Birthday Challenge at Dies R Us Challenge.

Next I used one of my favorite die cuts for two different cards.

The Die-Versions You Rock is paired with the Die-Versions Whisper Drum Set die, both cut from the same Gel Press print done with light colors on a navy cardstock (one of my favorite paint/paper combinations) for a birthday card for one of my favorite drummers.

I was able to get one more You Rock from my Gel Press print, so I made a card to have at the office ... because it's always important to let people know when they rock!

CAS Masculine Birthday

Since yesterday I used the CZ Design Birthday Palooza dies without the stamps ... I thought I would use them with the coordinating CZ Design Birthday Palooza Stamps today.

I started by stamping on a a piece of hand marbled paper that reminded me of birthday candle flames.

I backed it in dark grey to help the colors pop.

For the second card I used a Gel Press Print for my big word.

Love that row of candles.

Always feels good to get my male birthday card stash re-stocked ... seems like production can never keep up with demand.

Spring ATCs with Technique Junkies

Today on the Technique Junkies Blog I'm creating Spring ATCs ... and then turning those ATCs into cards. 

Remember, if you go shopping, use my discount code TJ10Stephanie for 10% off your purchase.

Spring to me is always about Baseball.

Gel Press Birthday Wishes

When I saw the theme at Make My Monday was messy backgrounds, I knew one of my Gel Press prints would probably fit the bill.

I used one of my discarded prints (I had dry embossed it and it didn't really show-up) and used the Impression Obsession All-In-One Frame Ovals.  I was able to separate the ovals and make two cards.

For the first one, I used a scrap of dark red Gel Press print on my studio table.

There were touches of gold paint in the ovals, so I used a shimmery gold cardstock for my Impression Obsession Happy Birthday Word Die sentiment & the card base ... perfect for the Birthday Wishes Challenge at Impression Obsession (I won last month & have already done my shopping).

For my second card, I used another gold die cut sentiment, but layered my ovals on a brighter red Gel Press print.

Love that die cuts can turn throw-aways into fun messy art.

I Love You More

Having grown-up in a house filled with an intense love of the Beatles, I am always drawn to their music and lyrics ... so when I saw this new In My Life Stamp (C14709) at Impression Obsession, I had to have it.

It was perfect for the current Impression Obsession Challenge ... I Adore You.  I used the remainder of my Gel Press Print from yesterday's card, together with a scrap of navy cardstock embossed with hearts.  I thought it made a nice masculine valentine card.

Gel Press Thank You

This morning, I was going through all of the Gel Press Prints that I made during the Advanced Gel Press class I took with Sally Lynn McDonald at Creativation ... I had the extra treat of taking the class with Iliana Myska, so we could share paints & stencils and create together.

I decided to incorporate one of my prints into my Sketch for You to Try from Reverse Confetti ... because one of the other highlights of my trip was getting to meet & talk with Jen del Muro.

I stamped the Reverse Confetti Elemental Stripes Circles on my Gel Press Print for my border (I love how the bubble wrap circles in my Print echo that design element).

I used another piece of the same print to back my Thanks Square Confetti Cuts.  Since there was blue paint residue in my print, I used some blue cardstock for the other sketch design elements.

I'm also joining Tic-Tac-Tuesday at the Try Stampin' (or Not) on Tuesday Blog ... I went horizontal across the top with Black, Die Cut & Pink.

Butter my Butt

Come visit me at my first post the Technique Junkies Blog where I'm featuring the new stamp set - Butter my Butt Set of 8 (and please click-over and leave me a little love).