Gelli Plate real estate

A week or two ago, I decided it was time to get my gelli plate out and have a play with it, using some dylusions paints and mandala stencils.  I'd watched a Seth Apter live on facebook (Crafting with All Brands group) and learned not to rush in to pull prints off, but to let the paint dry a little. The result was 22 sheets of gelli prints, my favourite 4 in the photo above 😂

I often have an evening making backgrounds and then leave them for ages before using them. 

This time I am pressing some in to use straight away as a nice bold background for one of the wonderful doodle art house stamps. Just like last week I have stamped the Villa Rose onto book pages and cut it out, but this time I've coloured some parts of the stamps with ecoline brush pens. I stamped the leafy border onto the base card using Versafine Clair Summertime. Thanks for looking!

Rudolf Days for November

 It is the last Rudolf day before Christlmas and I am here with quite a few cards. I have a good selection to add to my stock ready for the local craft fair where I have booked a table. Now I am no longer at work I have been having a ball making cards, candles and mdf items for my stall. 

My first six cards all used Hobby Art stamps and zig pens on watercolour card.

 For my last two cards I used a Uniko set that I won in their September/October challenge.

 They are both stamped over a round gelli plate background made with brayering and stamping Distress inks in Tea Dye and Bundled Sage.

So the grand Christmas card total is currently at 60, and if they all sell, I'll be making another thirty plus family ones in the next couple of weeks, lol. Keep your fingers crossed for me! Do pop over to Maureen's blog for some Christmas Inspiration and thanks for looking!

November Mid-month inspiration for Stamping Sensations

Good Morning! Here is my mid month inspiration for Stamping Sensations where the theme is 'Traditional Christmas Colours', meaning red, green and gold. My first card was made with my 4" round gelli plate and distress inks in bundled sage and tea dye. I stamped the berries (studio light) and embossed in gold, colouring with zig real brush pens. I added a bit of splatter stamping (inkylicious) around the edges of the white panel and added a sentiment (woodware) in Memento Rhubarb Stalk, finishing off with a little bow.

My second card was made with a woodware wreath stamp and tartan papers from Craftwork Cards. The base kraft card blank was stamped with a uniko leaf in brown versafine.
You still have plenty of time to enter the challenge, so do pop over to the challenge blog for more inspiration. Don't forget to check your entry against the challenge rules and take a look at the fabulous inspiration!
Thanks for looking!

A Christmas Card and some Christmas gifts

The Challenge at Penny Black and more this month is Christmas, and with plenty of time on my hands, I am making quite a lot of Christmas things! I got my 4" round gelli plate out and had a little play to make a few backgrounds with distress inks in tea dye and bundled sage. I also used a Bee Crafty Inkables texture disk. I stamped and embossed the Holly (Hobby Art) in gold then coloured with zig real brush pens. The sentiment is a woodware stamp. My card is my entry to the challenge.
I have taken the plunge and booked a table at a local craft fair. If you are interested and near Nottingham, I will be at Woodthorpe Park Plant shop on 1st December (more details here) As well as lots of cards, I have been decorating candles (Crafty Individuals stamps) and mdf baubles (Hobby Art and Inkylicious stamps).

Thanks for looking!

Pastel Colours for Allsorts

This week's challenge at Allsorts is to use pastel colours. I used my gelli plate and oxide inks to make the paper using a Honey Doo stamp called repot rose. It is one of those gorgeously simple fine-lined stamps that make a beautiful card.  I then stamped the image onto watercolour paper and coloured with my Arteza brush pens, adding a little glitter glue in the centre of each flower.
As I got home from work on Friday my next door neighbour was waiting for me and asked if I could make her a 90th birthday card for her mother-in-law. I invited her in to take a look in my box to see if any were the sort of thing she was looking for. This is the card she chose, so I added a 'Happy 90th Birthday' sentiment to the front and another sentiment inside. She was delighted with it. I'm looking forward to using my gelli plate a lot more in five weeks time! I've written 21 reports now, so only 8 more to go, then I will enjoy reacquainting myself with my craft table.
Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments.

January Rudolf Day (there isn't one)

I thought I would just pop on to mention to anyone that doesn't know that there will be no Rudolf day Challenge this month because Maureen is having knee replacement surgery.The Rudolf Challenge will be back on the 25th of February 2019.

I'm still here posting a couple of cards as I'd already made them and got them ready. The first is a woodware stamp on a gelli plate background, with an inkylicious splatter stamp round the edge. I made a similar one last year.

My second card is a uniko stamp, watercoloured and then bordered with an inkylicious splatter stamp. The tartan papers are from Craftwork Cards.
Here is wishing Maureen a speedy recovery and a big thank you to the ladies on the DT for everything they do.
Thanks for looking!

What day is it?!

 I've been a bit quiet for a few days. I took Dad to the hospital for his Hip replacement on Thursday. I was up at 4.30 and on the road by 5.30 to get him there for 7am. I saw a barn owl and a pair of roosting buzzards right next to the road, so there was an up side to being on the go at that time! Dad's operation has been successful and he is on the mend, although a little dizzy and nauseous still. If he is okay tomorrow then he will be coming home with his zimmer!  Ever since Thursday I have struggled with knowing what day it is. Yesterday felt like Saturday, and it has thrown me completely!

Anyway, thought I would share a picture of another card made with gelli plate papers. It is the same techniques and same stamp set as the last one I made - Inkylicious Hydrangea stamps, distress inks, distress markers etc. Scroll down to the last post if you want more details.
Before I go the last lot of snow brought  a few more visitors to our garden bird feeders. First was a black cap,

who was in perfect focus until he turned round, lol!
After that we had more Siskins on the feeder at the bottom of the garden, hence the blurriness on this one!

Such pretty birds! As I drove home from the hospital this afternoon the light was so beautiful. A real peach bellini glow and some eggplant clouds. I feel a scene coming on!
Happy  Easter for tomorrow and don't forget to put the clocks forwards tonight!
Thanks for looking!

Floral and gelli papers

I managed to have a good play yesterday, staying in the warm! Here is a card that has been in my head since I made the papers on my gelli plate, and I am rather pleased with how it has turned out. I was thinking of Brenda's follower celebration, knowing how much she loves getting inky or painty, distress markers, floral, a butterfly, ribbons and the odd pearl! The stamps used are all from Inkylicious and the inks are all Distress inks. The paints used on the gelli plate papers are all Do Craft Artiste Pearl (Wisteria and Ice blue). Here is a close up of the papers. There is another post on my gelli plate papers here and here.

 You can see the shine of the paint but also the ink dusting and stamping that I added in the white spaces. Here is a close up of the butterfly.

I first inked it with shaded lilac DI and then used Versamark and kaleidoscope EP to get the shimmer. Finally here is a close up of the main image.

 I coloured the stamp with a mixture of distress markers, huffed on the stamp and stamped on to watercolour paper. I then used a water brush to drag the colour onto the image. I finished it off with some ink dusting and the script stamp in tumbled glass DI, and a spray of glimmer mist in iridescent gold.
As well as Brenda's follower celebration, I am also entering this into Heck of a challenge, where the theme is butterflies and pearls, Visible Image Challenge where the theme is Spring and By the Cute and Girly (Favourite things: mine are inkylicious stamps, distress inks and my gelli plate!)

More Great Outdoors for Stamping Sensations

As it was my turn to choose the theme for this month at Stamping Sensations, I also get to show you another card in the mid month post. I used some of the paper I made using my Gelli plate and the Crafty Individuals large Elegant Swirl. You can see my original and messy post here!
I then cut an arch using my Go Kreate dies, and leaving the die in place stamped with various grass stamps from Inkylicious and ink-dusted a few hills and sky in the background. I finished off with ribbon, bows and Prima flowers, along with some faux stitching using a walnut stain distress marker. The sentiment (Inkylicious) is stamped onto a spellbinders fancy tag die cut.
Pop on over to the Challenge blog where you will be able to see my answers to the questions our DT are discussing at the moment. I hope you find time to enter the challenge this month, as there is a gorgeous prize on offer from Crafty Individuals. Jean and Malcolm are such lovely people and over the years they have been a real inspiration to me. I can't tell you how excited I was when they agreed to sponsor us!
Thanks for looking, and I hope you have a great week!

A bit of Spring

I hope you have had a lovely Mother's Day. I certainly have. I have spent most of the day Crafting with a regular supply of cups of tea and other nice things!

I have finished my DT pieces for a couple of months and had a bit of paper left over from one of my Gelli plate designs. It made a lovely CAS card, but needed a little extra, so I stamped the Indigo Blu hares (Craft stamper freebie) and dusted a background of rolling green hills behind them. I used Crafty individuals large elegant swirl to make the background, and a small text stamp from Inkylicious.  I realised this fit perfectly for this week's theme of Spring at Allsorts Challenge, so am entering it there. I have also had a lovely play with my new pearlised acrylic paint colours (Sapphire, Amethyst, Emerald Green and Blush)  and my Gelli plate. Here are some of the papers from this weeks play.

The first of these was made with a couple of stamps from the Chocolate Baroque set 'Peacock Glory'.
The second and third I made using the Hydrangea set by Inkylicious and Art Impressions serpentine background. I am rather looking forward to using these! Only three shares from my gelli plate, but another 26 papers! The photos really don't do them justice either. Thanks for looking and enjoy the rest of Mother's Day.

Using my Gelli plate papers

I made a couple of cards using my Gelli plate papers (original post is here). I didn't want to lose some of the lovely detail on the papers, so made the focal point small compared to the rest of the card. The papers were made with my gelli plate and Chocolate Baroque sunny sunflowers. I added a bit of dried Marigold DI as well. The Hero Arts butterfly was coloured with promarkers before adding stickles and then stuck to the card with pinfair glue gel, leaving the wings proud of the card. This one winged it's way to Paula who won my blog candy. I then made another very similar.

The 'With love' (chocolate baroque) at the top and some of the small text (inkylicious) was stamped in versamark and brushed over with blonde moments pearl pigments in gold. Shame you can't see the shimmer in the photo. This went to a friend for her Birthday. 

 I am itching to play with the rest now...then make some more papers too!

Another play day!

On Sunday I managed to have another play session with my gelli plate. I went for yellows, oranges, reds and Chocolate Baroque stamps (oh, and the CI elegant swirl made another brief appearance!). I also tried using cuttlebug embossing folders as texture plates, which were probably more pleasing than the stencils I tried On Saturday. See what you think to these. Some of the whiter ones may need dusting with some inks I think, or a bit of stamping. I am beginning to see loads of potential - not sure I will ever buy papers again!

The stamps are the Sunny sunflowers from Chocolate Baroque. Well, that is another 20 pages of backing papers, so I'd better make some cards with them!
Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments on my backgrounds. I wasn't sure if people would like them or not. some are a bit grungy.

My Gelli plate has arrived!

About a week ago, my good friend Lynne told me I needed a Gelli plate. I had heard mention of them but I wasn't sure what they were, so I took a look at the website, and within half an hour I'd ordered one (from here in the UK). To cut a long story short it arrived on Friday and I have spent several hours playing today! Lets see what you think - you can click on the picture and zoom in for a closer look.

 using Crafty individuals elegant swirl

Okay, so I went a bit over the top, and this is only 7 of the twenty two pages I did (most I double sided too!). These are the better ones - the first few were a bit dull, but I'm having so much fun!!! If you want to find out about the gelli plate check out their website.

I have made a couple of cards with one of the pages already. I used some pearlised paint so there was a bit of reflection from the lights this evening.

 All paints are cheap ones (Wilkos own brand and pearlised from docrafts). I used a stamp from Stamp to your Arts Content, which was stamped onto the gelli plate and then stamped in Adirondack stream over the paper once it was dry. All dies are spellbinders Decorative labels 1. Thanks for looking and taking the time to leave a comment.