Been playing.....

....with my new Gelli Plate! It's rare these days that I have time just to play and experiment, but I've been itching to get my hands on one of these and couldn't resist any longer, so I had to make some time!

My first attempts at prints were rubbish! Put too much paint on and it just got muddy. I get cross if I can't do things straightaway, and have to keep telling myself that, like most things, it just needs some practice. I wanted to make some backgrounds for cards, and eventually I got one I was happy with, and had to make the card forthwith!

For an earlier print (rejected!) I had used some skeleton leaves as masks, but they didn't show up very well. However, the leaves looked quite good covered with the paint. I decided to try stamping on one, and embossing it. I used an Inkylicious stamp, the same one I used to make the background print, and I think it worked quite well.

 I sprayed over the background with a Crafty Notions spray ink (a gold shimmer, but unfortunately it doesn't really show in the photos) and then overstamped it with a  a Stampin' Up text stamp. The sentiment is also by Inkylicious. The centre picture, which quite fortuitously matched the Inkylicious flower stamp, is from a Crafty Individuals Miniatures book (Flowers and Butterflies), and I framed it with a Nestie die.

The paints I used on the Gelli Plate were old ones (10 years +!) and I think half the problem was that they had become too thick. I couldn't seem to get a smooth thin covering with them. Living up here in the wilds of Dumfriesshire is wonderful, but craft shops are thin on the ground, to say the least. I wanted new paints, but couldn't wait for mail order, so on Friday I made my first solo expedition down into Carlisle since we moved up here, and visited the recently opened Hobbycraft! It's so long since I was anywhere with decent supplies that I was like a kid in a sweet shop! I found the paints I wanted (plus a few other bits and pieces - well, it made sense to get them while I was there and not have to make another journey, didn't it?!) but will now have to make some more time to try them out.

Watch this space!

Ps. Note to Sally, you HAVE to get a Gelli Plate!!

Craftwork Cards meets Tim Holtz! Or What a Difference a Spray Makes

I've been enjoying using the items in my Craftwork Cards Chocolate Goody Bag, but today I felt the need for something a little less sweet. I wondered what it would be like to take the same things and grunge them up a bit, a la Tim Holtz. Here's the sweetie card first of all. White embossed scalloped frame, Yummy Scrummy background paper, white pearlescent Spring Flowers with chocolate and marshmallow Card Candy centres, overstamped with a Crafty Individuals text stamp.. An In-circle Message (matted on Nestabilities frames) and a Flutter Message complete the look.



Then I took another embossed scalloped frame and sprayed it with a mixture of walnut ink and various Crafty Notions creative colour sprays. I did the same with the flowers and the butterfly. The flower centres this time are dark blue metallic Card Candy. I drew some markings on the butterfly with a sepia coloured Zig sketching pen. The base card was sponged around the edges with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink & then sprayed with Adirondack spray in Denim. Behind the frame is a piece of the kitchen paper I used to protect my work surface when spraying the flowers! I always save those bits - they make great backgrounds. I matted the frame on to a piece of dark blue pearlescent paper. It's the most gorgeous colour, and came in a Craftwork Cards Paperblox quite some time ago. Half the block was the dark blue, the other half was pearlescent black. Unfortunately they seem no longer to sell it. I think I'll start a campaign to get it reinstated!



So the question now is which do I like best? Well, the first one is sweet, pretty and clean looking. But if I'm honest, I think I prefer the grunge!