Ingenious Inkling

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.

Foil-a-Palooza

For our first artsy adventure at our annual Art Camp, Lauren and I tried a variety of foiling.  I won a Gina K. Designs prize package at Junkiefest and another Therm-o-Web prize package after Junkiefest, so we were well-stocked with products to try.

 

We started by applying Decofoil Transfer Gel with stancils so they could dry overnight ... we just kept going until the jar was empty.  We made two fo each stencil, so we'd both have one to foil.

 

 

For some we applied the past precisely ... for others we went for more of a grunge effect.  When we were finished, we laid them out on the painter's cloth to dry overnight.

 

We we worked, we washed the gel medium off of our stencils (we thought they were kind of pretty all hanging-out together in the kitchen sink).

 

 

While those were drying, we moved on to foiling some of the many toner sheets I had in my winnings with a Royal Sovereign Laminator.

 

These are Gina K. Designs' Ornamental Holiday in Twinkling Pink and Dazzling Orange.

 

After Foiling we used the Xyron to attach the reverse of the Foil to White cardstock (2nd Picture) ... we couldn't decide which one we liked more, but loved the double design possibilities.

Luaren was getting a little itchy from using only new products, so she added some vintage book pages and stitching on top of one of our foiled transparencies.  We also played with inks and Color Burst painting.

 

This morning, all of our Transfer Gel was dry, so much more foiling commenced.  Foiling is sort of magical every time you peel back the foil ... it reminds me of the feeling I got the first time I did heat embossing.

 

 

The AlteNew Kaleidoscope was one of the more precisely gelled stencils ...a nd it was absolutely gorgeous with Gina K. Designs Sparkling Silver Fancy Foils ... the iridescent beauty of this foil is hard to capture ... it's stunning.

What we really loved was the grunge-foil effect we got when we left lots of texture in the Gel.

 

I used a View Master from The Crafter's Workshop, a Frank Lloyd Wright Ennis Stencil we picked-up at one of his art exhibits a few years ago, a man hole cover stencil from The Ink Pad and Carabelle Studios Stars in the Round.

 

By the time we were finished, we had a large pile of gorgeous foiled designs ... can't wait to create things with these pieces.  Seriously, if you haven't foiled ... you're going to want to give it a try.

More WCMD Stencil Fun

I am having such a relaxing birthday morning ... rain outside, but it is light enough to have the windows open and let in the cool autumn air ... Premier League Soccer on the television ... and lots of ink in my studio ... nothing better.

I'm still joining the Winnie & Walter World Card Making Day Challenges.  For my next card, I made a Clean & Simple Card Design.  I used my MISTI to do more ink blending with the Morse Code Stencil from A Colorful Life ... I used Dusty Concord, Broken China & Seedless Preserves Distress Inks and my Make-Up Brush on Water Color Paper.

 

I used the same three colors of Distress Ink with my MISTI to ink the sentiment from Winnie & Walter The Big, The Bold and You.

For my next card, I used the Winnie & Walter Coordinating Die Cut Coloring Challenge with Kelly, since it was a technique I had never seen before.   It was a very fun & easy technique and produced a great background for my card.

As I mentioned, my Winnie & Walter Stash is limited to sentiment sets, so I had to pull out a Stamp set with Coordinating die from Reverse Confetti Hey Sugar for my card (because it's my birthday, I have cake-on-the-brain).

 

I used Wilted Violet Distress Ink for Stamping and Shaded Lilac Distress Ink for the stenciling.  I added a Hugs Sentiment from Winnie & Walter's The Big, the Bold and Comfort.  I'm also joining the Stock Your Stash Challenge at Reverse Confetti with my Friendship Card (because true friends are the ones who take you for some cake).

 

Remember ... it's my Birthday & I'm giving away goodies.

Winnie & Walter Word Card Making Day

I wanted to join in the Winnie & Walter World Card Making Day Challenges (you can see my CRAFTIE photo here) ... only one slight problem ... I only have 3 stamp sets from Winnie & Walter & 2 of them are sentiment sets (they do make amazing sentiment sets).  So clearly, I need to win this challenge, so I can add to my stash.

I started with inspiration from today's Featured Stamper at SplitcoastStampers ... the talented Jennifer Jackson.  I took my inspiration from her lovely stenciled design.

Unfortunately, most of my stencils have been mailed to New Jersey for the Gel Press Extravaganza that Lauren & I have planned for this week, so no pumpkins or leaves ... but I did have this lovely Classic Harlequin Stencil from Technique Junkies by A Colorful Life.  Remember, there's a World Card Making Day sale going on at Technique Junkies.

I pulled out my MISTI because it's not only a helpful tool for stamping ... I also use it for Stenciling.  I positioned my water color paper and held it in place with my long magnet.  Next, I placed  my stencil in the corner of my MISTI, so it stays in place in place and then I only have to add a single piece of tape at the top (rather than taping down multiple sides).

Iliana is having a great WCMD Sale Too.

I used my make-up brushes (life changing) to Ink Blend three colors of Distress Ink for the Winnie & Walter Ink Blending Challenge with Lea.

I started with the lightest shade and moved to the darkest, going back with some Mustard Seed at the end.  That is one of the make-up (aka Stencil) brushes from this Set of 6.

Another great thing about using this MISTI Technique for Stenciling, is it's easy to lift up your Stencil and see how things look, and then put it right back in place to add more ink ... look at that gorgeous blending of color.

 

For my finished card, I used inspiration from Jennifer to mat my card with gold (I normally would have reached for a darker brown) and added a wrap of twine, as well as some glittery autumn leaves.  Rather than stamp my sentiment on a strip of paper (I felt like it covered-up too much of that gorgeous ink-blending) I used Acorn Versafine Clair ink to stamp the Sentiment from Winnie & Walter The Big, The Bold, and Comfort on top of my blended Distress Ink.  I also used Jennifer's inspiration for a combination of a bigger & smaller word for my sentiment.

I'm also linking-up at the Trees & Leaves Challenge at The Paper Players.

AND remember ... Stop by and leave a comment on my Birthday Giveaway for a chance to win a Medium Size Flat Rate Box stuffed full of stamps & coordinating dies.

World Card Making Day - Joy Clair

Joy Clair is offering a chance at a Grand Prize for participating in four of their World Card Making Day Challenges, so I had to give it a try (the first was my Studio Post Here).

I started with the Rainbow Colors Challenge.  I stamped my new Joy Clair Coffee To Go Background in Monarch Versafine Clair ink on white cardstock and clear embossed.

Next I painted with a rainbow of watercolors.  Sentiment is from Joy Clair Coffee Talk using this week's Freshly Made Sketch on a kraft card base.

 

Next Challenge was Make & Mail - to make a card and coordinating envelope to put in the mail.

I incorporated the Simon Says Stamp Tag It! Challenge and stamped on a kraft tag using Joy Clair Coffee Talk Stamps and Versafine Clair Inks.

I stamped my Envelope with the Joy Clair Coffee To Go Background Stamp.

My third challenge was to use the Ink Smooshing Technique ... I used two colors of Pink Distress Ink and instead of water, I used my Technique Junkies Iridescent Shimmering Bliss Spray for a gorgeous all-over shimmer.

I used Joy Clair Creeping it Real Stamps for a Pink Halloween with the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers ... because Later Witches.

I'm also linking-up at Simon Says Stamp for World Card Making Day.

I have had a fantastically creative World Card Making Day ... I did some shopping (with my Impression Obsession Winnings and their 20% off sale) and lots of creating ... so fun!

Always Be A Mermaid

The August Essentials Challenge at Ellen Hutson is to create using Alcohol Inks ... a perfect way to spend the last day of my mini-vacation ... getting messy with ink.

I decided to try to create using foil and alcohol ink, but didn't have much luck ... so I created my own technique.  I wasn't having much luck just rubbing the foil into the paper, so after inking a piece of Yupo paper with alcohol inks and letting it dry, I covered the inked paper with a piece of Gold Shattered Glass Deco Foil and ran it through my laminator ... and I loved the effect.

I did learn a few things in the process ... when you heat emboss Yupo paper it warps ... but I was able to salvage my Essentials by Ellen Inner Mermaid and sea shells from that piece of warped paper, so I attached them with foam tape to my foiled card base.

Here are my four attempts.  The left one used Pinata Alcohol Ink on Alcohol Ink Paper (the others are on Yupo), which stuck to the foil much more (I'm sure I'll figure out some way to die cut that into something.

I tried using my Deco Foil Adhesive Pen on another piece of Yupo paper (not in the picture) but all it did was remove the ink from the paper and no foil stuck ... however, when I ran the second piece from the left through the laminator re-using the same piece of foil, it foiled all of the places where the foil had touched the pen (all of those squiggly lines) ... so that's a technique I'll play more with in the future.

The third one is my card base and the far right is the one I used for my Mermaid & Shells.

I stamped the mermaid tail and shells using Gina K. Designs Amalgam ink and embossed with Judikins Iridescent Sparkle Embossing Powder.

I'm sure I'll be playing with Alcohol inks again before August ends ... so much fun.

Be Brave

Life (and by that I mean work) has gotten in the way of me joining the Dare to Get Dirty Challenges at SplitCoastStampers this week.  I love a new-to-me technique that also uses art products in my studio that have never been used (in this case a set of Oil Pastels).   This Challenge is from the talented Lydia Fiedler. 

Being a Dirty Girls at SplitCoast has been one of the highlights of my stamping journey.

I seldom buy stamp sets that include faces or require coloring, but when I saw this new Brave & Good set from Inky Antics (illustrated by Andreaw Ockey Parr), I had to have it

 

I colored my princess with a combination of my Spectrum Noir and Stampin' Up Markers.

I'm also linking my mailable card at the Cards in Envy: Something New Challenge.

Distressed Glue Backgrounds

Come visit me at the Technique Junkies Blog where I'm sharing cards made using this month's Technique Challenge - Distressed Glue Backgrounds.

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

Very, Very Old Friends

One of my favorite techniques is stamping on designer paper, so today I'm sharing cards on the Technique Junkies Blog sharing lots the different looks I achieved with the wonderful photo-realistic Technique Junkies Old Friends stamp.

Click on over to see all of the cards & leave me a little love.

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

 

 

Variations on a Stone Wall

Hop on over to the Technique Junkies Blog where I'm creating more cards with one of my favorite stamps ... the Stone Wall.

 

I'm also linking-up a card for the current Technique Junkies Challenge - Clipped Corners Technique.

Remember if you use my code at check-out you get 10% off (did you know the store has Nuvo Glitter Markers & Color Burst Powders).