Artist Trading Coin and more!

Hello! I'm sharing some more adventures with my Gel Plate today! An Artist Trading Card has been around for ages - the definition might be: a small piece of art (2.5" x 3.5") that can we swopped (traded) with others. An Artist Trading Coin is the same idea but is 2.5" wide and is the very latest thing!

I started by covering my gel pate with Caribbean Sea and printing on two ATCs. Then I added Snowflake (the picture shows the blue and then the blue with a white overprint).

Then add a layer of Granny Smith and a layer of Snowflake.

Follow that with a little Banana and Bougainvillea through a Splotches stencil. Finally add Slate through the Flames stencil.

I then sanded one ATC to reveal the colour beneath; die cut the other one into a circle 

and edge both with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink. The coating on the ATC means you can achieve a really interesting finish when you sand it!

(Sorry about the odd colour of this photo!) Stamp the bottom of the circle with the line stamp (from Zinski 01) and line up the stamp so you can position.

Then I added a figure and a saying and my ATC/ATCoin combo is complete!

Of course I couldn't limit myself to just an ATC so I made a tag alongside the ATC using the same techniques.

Thank you, as always for popping by!

Gabrielle x

Flowers are smiles

My latest addition is to my Gel Plate - there is an unlimited amount of fun to be had printing your own backgrounds and making a whole range of things! This month I have made two different backgrounds for my large Journal using the same equipment.
Before I start, a couple of things to note: I made this on a really hot day so I wasn't able to photograph everything as the paint was drying so quickly! The second is that my plate had some pits on the surface after I'd washed it. These have since disappeared - so ignore the 'bubble' effect on the first few photos! You won't have this one your plate and I haven't experienced this since.

My first step was to brayer a layer of Caribbean Sea paint to the surface - you don't need a lot of paint as you can repeat any of the steps to cover your paper.

Lay your page on the paint and rub the back of the paper to transfer the paint to the paper. Then peel your paper off the plate.

This is my first print.

I then made a second print using Teresa Green.

Then I added a white (Snowflake) layer. I tend to add a layer of colour and then a layer of white. I like the layers of colours - think lots of layers of wallpaper in an old house!

You don't have to add paint to the whole of the surface of your plate, here I added Bougainvillea to a small areas on the plate. You can, of course, put paint on the plate and only put part of your paper on the plate; rotate the paper so you don't always use the same part of the plate on the same part of the paper and print as many layers as you like.

So, that's my base. Now to add some stencilling! On the plate, lay your stencil and brayer paint through.

This is what that stencil looks like.

This is Tracks in Banana

And this is Gothic in Slate

This is the finished page, trimmed and with Vintage Photo Distress Ink around the edges.

To finish the page off I used lots of Zinski Art stamps

Thank you for popping by - my second page using these paints and stencils will be here next week!

Gabrielle x

We can't all be kings!

Hello! I found a fabulous quotation and wanted to make a quick journal page to use it! I sprayed Fresh Lime and Cut Grass ink sprays. I then used a stencil and sprayed water and let it dry.

I added a number stamp and a dots stamp in Shabby Shutters to complete the background.

I stamped out three circles, a border and a crown and used Shabby Shutters to colour them. I left the crown uncoloured to stand out in the final piece.

I added the pieces to the page along with a Paper Doll. I typed the quotation We can't all be kings...someone has to clap when I walk by on my trusty typewriter and cut them out. The circled then become bullet points.

I hope you find a quotation that inspires you to make art.

Gabrielle x

Final Postcard ideas

Hello! It's the last day to enter the Postcard challenge on our challenge blog and in case you need some final, speedy inspiration I have three quick ideas you can use. Each postcard took less than 30 minutes so you'll have an entry in no time! There is some typing on each postcard - I have an old typewriter that I used but you could use a sentiment stamp or alphabet stamps for your sentiment.

Let's take each one in turn!

For this postcard, add paint to the postcard for the background (I used Bubblegum Pink and Vibrant Turquoise) and then added White Linen, Lemon Zest and Black Marble paint through some stencils. It really doesn't matter if it looks messy - you'll cover it up!

Then stamp your images - I coloured in a few areas so the white was a counterbalance to the crazy background! When it was assembled I drew some lines from the shape to the scalloped edge so that they look like they are hanging.

The second postcard features a flamingo from Dylusions. The heart is from the Creative Dyary Stamp Set 2.

I used Distress Inks (Broken China, Shabby Shutters, Gathered Twigs) for the background and leaf stamps - the centre of the leaf stamp was inked with Dylusions Fresh Lime ink.

A tip for difficult to cut out images... cut across an area that you can easily glue back together - I regularly cut off the heads from stamped images!

For the third, and final idea I sprayed a stencil with Vibrant Turquoise and then covered the card with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink to give it a vintage colour palette. I then stamped lots of images on the background from an old Tim Holtz set. Then I stamped lots of Darcy for PaperArtsy images on card and coloured them in.

I hope you join in with this month's challenge!

Gabrielle

Spooky

With the start of September and more Autumnal weather, my thoughts have turned towards Halloween and using the Halloween themed stash I have. I try not to limit Halloween or Christmas goodies to just those holidays because it seems a waste to leave them sitting on the shelf for a year but inevitably we do. So, time for me to dust them off and ink them up!
I started by spraying a page in my Small Creative Flip Journal with Pure Sunshine ink. I love this colour!

I then added a border for the bat  and spider to hang from. The spider's body was coloured with Squeezed Orange ink decanted into a water brush. By stamping the bat on the page you retain all of the little details that would be really difficult to cut out. I also stamped him (and the chap from the stamps set) on card to colour and cut out.

I then added some Speckles using Black Soot Distress Ink.

I stamped out some accessories and die cut them. I should have coloured them before cutting them out (which is what I usually do) as the broomstick in particular felt very delicate! Always learning!

The sentiment was stamped with alphabet stamps (I LOVE these!) and some additional word stamps by Emma Godfrey. The washi tape is from the Aristocrat set. Some white circles (made with an old lid) and gold painty lines finished the page off.

Hope you feel like dusting off your seasonal stamps too!

Gabrielle x

Follow Your Heart

I have rediscovered my Dylusions Inks and my very favourite is Fresh Lime. This whole project was designed around this ink! The finished project looks like this:

I sprayed a tag with Fresh Lime and Dirty Martini. Dry the tag throughly.

Then, using a large Stencil with White Linen spray the tag. I didn't mind the extra ink in the bottom corner as it all adds to the whole aesthetic of the tag.

I cut out a large heart. I painted it in London Bus paint and adding some coloured pencil to the edges.

Using a Texture Fade I added some Gathered Twigs Distress Ink to the top part of the fade and then embossed the shape instantly giving it texture and a second colour.

For the final touches I added some shadowing to the largest numbers; Gathered Twigs to the edges of the tag; a paper doll; a pinecone die, a quote chip and a little torn dictionary page.

Thank you, as always, for popping by.

Gabrielle x

Rainbow Sprinkle

I have been incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to play with Elenazinski's new stamps from PaperArtsy. I loved this little chap and as soon as I saw him I knew that this is what I wanted to make with him.
I started with a tag and lightly misted it with water. I then laid the stencil on top and sprinkled with a rainbow of Infusions (A Bit Jaded, Lemoncello, Golden Sands, Orange County, Are You Cerise, Sunset Beach)

I then misted it again so the colours ran. I took the stencil off and misted it again! I then added Gathered Twigs Distress Ink to the edges and... misted it again! The colours are fabulous - why did I cover them up?!

I stamped and coloured the chap in rainbow colours and cut him out. I glued him to the tag and added a sentiment and some scribbled lines.

Thank you, as always for joining me - I hope you love this new stamp release as much as I do!

Gabrielle x

Can you resist this?!

I love creating resist backgrounds using paint. It can be more versatile than using wax or embossing powder because you can incorporate it more into the background. Let me show you.

Using a tag as my base I put white paint through a stencil.

Lightly mist the tag with water and spray ink over the top of the paint. Love those puddles of ink!

When dry it looks like this!

Add some Distress ink to the edges (I used brown and black)

Next I wanted a 'pop' of colour so I cut out a heart shape from kraft card and and added some red paint. I didn't want a uniform finish. A little more black distress ink at the edges finished it off.

Finally I built up the final images on the tag and added it to a journal page. I used a Paper Doll, and a Quote Chip as well as a little torn book page.

I hope you like my resist technique and try it some time!

Gabrielle x