This page started as a big mess...but it turned out pretty good.

I love how this turned out,especially since I thought I was just going to rip this page out of my journal.  I don't even remember what my first attempt was, but it wasn't good!  So I gessoed the page to start over but then that looked terrible.  So I left it for a while contemplating whether I should give up on it or not.  Then I started playing with my Gelli plate and started thinking, what am I going to do with these beautiful prints. So I started by collaging some torn pieces to the background.

I also used modeling paste through a stencil and when it dried I rubbed over it with Inka Gold.  Then I used one of my Gelli prints and die cut it with the Sizzex Branch w/leaves.

 I used Tim Holts distress paints to color the berries on the branches.

 

I lightly touched the dauber of each color to the berry until I got the look I wanted. I punched two of the leaf branch die and cut and glued them to make the long stem.

 Then I used these two Martha Stewart edge punches to make the flower trim above the lace and for the leafy stems for the orange flowers.

I used Tim Holtz distress markers to color them.













I made the flowers using TH Tattered Flowers die and TH Tattered Flower Garland dies.  I secured them with a brad.  The butterfly was in my stash.  I made it a while ago.  My sentiment was hand lettered on a card I punched from the tag punch below.  I LOVE this punch and use it ALL the time.

I wrote the word Bliss using my Pitt pens and then I colored the tag by dragging it through Distress ink sprayed with water that I applied to my craft mat.  When it dried, I flicked it with water, stamped it with brown ink and a circle stamp.  I crumpled it up to distress it a little more then went over it with TH Distress Tea Dye and a blending tool so that the wrinkles would show a little better.  I went around the edge with TH Distress Walnut Stain.  I added a ribbon that I rubbed with TH Tea Dye.

The little girl with the bird is a picture I found on the Internet that I colorized using watercolor pencils and a water brush.  I edged the page with TH Tumbled Glass.

All in all, the page was saved and I like it!

Another Try With The Gelli Plate. I Like It!

Last week when I did my Gelli Prints I was frustrated with it. It was more that I wasn't organized with items that I would use while printing and I wasn't sure how to add more layers to a print without totally messing it up.

Once I became a little more daring and just "tried" things, without worrying about the results, that is when the magic happened.

I  love the dandelion stencil in these prints.

 Notice the tan background is one of the prints I did last week.  I used my brick wall stencil on it.  It looks great.

   

This is the same print as in the picture above it but I wanted a closer shot so that you could see the detail. I used the method where you let the paint dry from a previous print.  Then cover the plate with another layer of paint (off white).  I used pieces of torn paper across the plate for the white space. You can see the video of the technique HERE. I love how it turned out.

.

 The colors are a little muddied on these but they are still very pretty.  The bottom line is that I DO like my Gelli Plate and have had fun playing with it.  I see more experimenting in my future.

THE Gelli Plate!

I pulled out my Gelli Plate today and played around with it.  The videos that I watched sure made it look easy.  I found that it required some organization skills that I didn't seem to manage. I didn't know which stencils I was going to use and I found myself digging for the right stencil while the paint was drying.  I think that I need to be more prepared with my tools before I start and be a little more daring in trying new prints.  I worried too much about putting on another layer for fear of ruining the layer that I already had.  Anyway, these are my results, which I think are very pretty:

The prints that look like roses are from a stamp I made with "Marshmallow Foam Shapes"  found at Micheal's craft stores.  You heat them up with a heat tool, press them into something with a pattern on it and Bingo, instant stamp.  There is a tutorial of how to do this HERE.

I used this paper clip (also found at Michael's) to get the impression, which looks like a rose to me.