Gelli Print Happy Birthday :D

This was an experiment card using acrylic paints on my Gelli plate trying to pull all the layers off together, I also made my own masks by cutting dies from printer paper :D Does anyone else see alphabetti spaghetti when they look at this? lol :D SO this was the FIRST time I'd used Acrylics on my Gelli plate, and only the 3rd time I'd ever used a Gelli plate too :D

I started off trying to create a vignette effect using Lush Pink Artiste acrylic paint, I brayered on a thin layer and tried to wipe the paint from the centre section (also FYI in my head I know this is going to be an A6 card, so I know roughly how far out to roll the paint :D) I then let this layer of paint dry on the plate (Next time I try this method, I think I'll leave more of this layer, as you can't really see the pink very much!).. next layer I used Pumpkin Artiste acrylic paint, I applied a thicker layer this time (I actually put on too much lol, so I rolled some off on some scrap paper :D) and then I used some printer paper masks (made from die cutting the Sizzix Intricate Tribal Florals dies by Craft Asylum) I had this idea when I was falling asleep the night before, I've seen Barbara Gray do a similar effect using a proper stencil where she leaves the stencil on while the outside paint dries, and then she blots off the still wet paint underneath when she removes the stencil... however, I though with this idea, 1. I won't get a stencil dirty with acrylics, 2. I can use any dies I own to do this technique, and 3. I can miss a step out as printer paper is quite porous so will soak up the paint from the plate leaving the positive impressions of my flowers :D :D :D When I had all the leaves and flowers positioned on the wet paint I also used some punchanella and some scrap paper to add some texture to the background portion :D

So once the orange layer was dry and I had removed the printer paper masks, I then added a layer of Buttercup Artiste acrylic paint, and this time I did use a proper stencil too (it's a Dylusions one from a few years ago, I think its called bubbles and its the larger version) I placed the stencil over the wet yellow paint, then blotted some out with some scrap paper, this pattern isn't super evident, but it gives some more subtle texture :D Finally to pull the layered print from the plate, I used Blanc Artiste acrylic paint (I really like the Artiste acrylics because they have a matt finish, and I'm not very keen on the super shiney effect from most acrylics, so these suit me perfectly :D) the idea of this layer is to re-wet the layers beneath it and enable you to pull your multi-layered print from your plate (it also cleans the plate quite well too :D)... The final touch was then the sentiment cut from white card and covered with Spectrum Noir clear glitter pen, the happy die is from Heidi Swapp and the 'birthday' was cut using the upper and lower case alphabet dies from Apple Blossom :D :D :D Hope you like the card, I will deffinetly be trying this kind of thing again its so satisfying to pull off your final image in one go and it makes for an easy card too, just add a sentiment :D :D

To see the process behind this card, please watch my YouTube video below, or over on my channel, CRaFTi PoTeNTiAl :D

 A couple more photos below :D

Just to Say... :D

To make this shaker card, I used my Gelli Plate with Distress Inks and combined this technique with the Autumn Leaves embossing folder and die set from issue 14 of Die-Cutting Essentials where I used the maple leaf die to create a custom stencil as well as my shaker aperture :D

For the background I used, Twisted Citron, Lucky Clover, Pine Needles and Peeled Paint Distress Inks along with my Gelli plate and some punchanella (you can see my process in the video below :D) this was my first time using a Gelli plate so I was just experimenting really, I did end up making another background along the way as well, but this hasn't become a finished card yet lol :D I also added some Antique Gold Artiste acrylic paint, I added this where I wanted my aperture to be cut (so that when I cut the leaf out there would be a little gold edge around it) and also randomly through some punchanella :D I used the off cut from my A6 panel (once I'd die cut it with the Avery Elle Dotted Dies big rectangle) as my sentiment strip, and I used a banner from the Dotted Dies set to give me the same dotty effect either side, the brown card I've used is Dark Roast Coffee Foundations card from Creative Expressions :D

For the backer of my shaker, I decided to emboss the maple leaf die into some brown card so that the detail would show through (to emboss on the Cuttlebug, I use this sandwich... A plate, B plate, 4 pieces of copy paper folded in half, Spellbinders Junior tan mat, card, die facing down, then another B plate) I really like doing this, and you can see in the video how I draw around the piece of card on the back of the front panel so that I can line it up once I've filled my shaker :D For the shaker elements I used some round gold discs (which I got from Morrisons and they were called table confetti) along with some gold and silver micro beads and some sequin centers :D The finishing touches were then the die cut sentiment (which is actually a really nice font :D) and some gold cup sequins, I used the dots from the punchanella to line these up :D :D Hope you like the card, I'm not sure whether I'm that keen on it, but as it was the first time I'd played with my Gelli plate I thought I would still share it anyway :D :D

To see the process behind this card, please watch my YouTube video below, or over on my channel, CRaFTi PoTeNTiAl :D 

A couple more photos showing some of the background detail :D 

Bright Autumn Leaves :D

This card is very similar to the previous card I posted today, however it doesn't use the Gelli plate, but I still used the Autumn Leaves die and embossing folder set from issue 14 of Die-cutting Essentials :D I thought I would show a different version of the 'same' card for anyone who doesn't have a Gelli plate but liked my card :D And I did it by creating my own custom stamp out of funky foam, but actually it would have worked nicely cutting the leaves out of papers and just layering them, but I liked the flat finish to this card :D

I used Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers and Blueprint Sketch for one card, and Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry and Candied Apple for the other :D These were extremely simple to create, and both of these together took me less than half an hour, so a pretty quick card for me too :D So I started with my lightest colour and stamped a few leaves with my custom stamp, I then moved to the next colour and did the same and so on... and each time I stamped I tried to balance that colour across the card! I felt that the stitching detail was a little too prominent, so to fix this, I used a paintbrush and some water and just carefully pulled the colour out (I also added a little extra colour in some places too by squishing my ink pad onto my glass mat and picking it up with the brush)... Once everything was dry I used some dry wall tape to add a texture, for the blue version I used Peacock Feathers and for the pink version I used Wilted Violet, and I just swiped the pad across the dry wall tape, then flipped it over and printed it onto the card :D The final finishing touches were then a few black splashes and the sentiment stamped in black :D you could also add some sequins or a little bit of shimmer too, but I was emulating the previous card, so I left it plain and simple :D Hope you like the alternative card :D 

To see the process behind these two card, please watch my YouTube video below, or over on my channel CRaFTi PoTeNTiAl :D

Lots more photos below showing some of the finer details, and different angles :D 

Autumn Leaves Gelli Print :D

For this card I used the Autumn Leaves die and embossing folder set from issue 14 of Die-Cutting Essentials. I used the maple leaf to make a stencil, then I used this multiple times on my Gelli plate :D There will also be a video of a similar card to this but without using the Gelli plate, which I will post later today :D But I just had to experiment, as I only just treated myself to a Gelli plate, and this was the second time I played around with acrylics on it!! (look out for another video using acrylic paints on the Gelli plate, and also one using Distress Inks and another using Watercolours, my first three attempts at using it :D)

I used 5 different acrylic paints for this card, all from the Artiste range from Docrafts, I really like their acrylics because they dry matt!! I'm not that keen on the really shiney look of acrylics, so these suit me perfectly :D I used Metallic Silver, Blanc, Blackberry, Rouge and Lush Pink, a really great colour combination I think :D I'm no expert at using the Gelli, as this was only the 4th time I'd played with it (my first 3 attempts will be up in the next week :D) but this is how I used it....

I used the maple leaf die, along with a piece of heat resistant acetate (I used this kind as it is quite thin, and I can never get a die to cut through thick acetate) and created my own stencil (I also added some patterned tape around the edges, just to make it easier to see, and also so I didn't brayer over the edge :D).. I then placed this down on my Gelli plate and brayered some paint over it (I used a piece of doflex as my pallet for coating the brayer in paint) I then let this dry on the plate! once dry you can then slightly overlap your leaves and use a different colour, letting the layer dry each time...  etc etc... you can see this process in the video below (Top Tip: an easy test to see if the paint has dried on the plate, just place over a piece of printer paper and see if anything transfers, if it doesn't, then its dry :D) another top tip is to also mount your Gelli on an acrylic block (I got the 6.5inch square block from Papermania as it fits the 6x6 inch Gelli perfectly!) this means that you can flip the plate over to see how its looking!! it makes it so easy when making a layered print too!! :D

Next step, once all the leaves were dry, was to add some metallic paint, I chose silver, and I lightly added this over the leaves and slightly out to each side (mine did turn a little bit metallic red/pink, as my brayer was still a little bit dirty, but I think it worked well), I then used some dry wall tape and pressed this into the wet paint a couple of times to add some texture.... then again wait for this layer of paint to dry too!!! Finally its time to pull our print :D to do this I decided to use white acrylic, as I didn't want you to be able to see it on the white card (but you could try a different colour) I brayered on a reasonalbe layer of white paint, and then placed on my card, I applied pressure to the back of my card, all over to make sure there was good contact (the idea is that this layer of wet paint will reactivate the layers beneath and enable you to pull your layered print from the plate) I then peeled off my card, and viola a complete background in one step!! And actually this process didn't take as long as I thought either! The whole card took me about 45 mins :D

Final touches were then some splashes of black ink and the addition of a sentiment, I used an Avery Elle set with this gorgeous brush lettered happy birthday (I used my MISTI just because I didn't want to mess up the stamping) and I also added clear powder over the top to make it stand out more :D Hope you like the card :D

To see the process behind this card, please watch my YouTube video below, or over on my channel CRaFTi PoTeNTiAl :D

A few more close up photos below :D Don't forget to look out for the other version of this card without using a Gelli Plate, it'll be up later today :D 

Hummingbird Dreamcatcher :D

My inspiration for these cards, was the feathers from the tail of a hummingbird stamp, hence the title of this blog post and video... The gorgeous stamp and embossing folder set came free with issue 153 of Simply Cards and Papercraft, and so in my usual fashion I had to use it in an abstract way, hence my brain going 'those tail feathers would work brilliantly for the feathers of a dream catcher' lol :D To create my dream catchers I also used a basic circle die from Creative Dies, the Creative Dies Nested Hearts die set, the Sizzix Intricate Native Florals dies by Craft Asylum, and also the 'feathers' which are actually leaves were from the Apple Blossom Circular Foliage die set :D Oh, and for a slight change, I used the large rectangle from the Avery Elle Dotted Dies set as my background panel :D

I used some Cornflower blue Foundations card from Creative Expressions and also some white card to cut out all the elements, and to get the orange colour I used Pumpkin and Mandarin coloured Promarkers :D I used a superfine black Pitt pen for all my detail adding, and I used Versafine Onyx black pigment ink for my stamping :D You can see step by step in the video the order in which I assembled the card, and how I used 3D foam to raise up the top of the dream catcher, and a double layer of foam to raise up the sentiment (I thought this font went absolutely perfectly with this card :D) For the subtle background, I ink blended some Peacock Feathers Distress Ink, until a little while ago I always used to use Broken China for a lightly blended sky effect, but I'm liking the Peacock Feathers look at the moment :D The final finishing touch was then the addition of some sparkle in the form of a clear sparkle pen, you can see this really well in the photos below :D :D :D Hope you like the cards as much as I do!!

To see the process behind these card, please watch my YouTube video below, or over on my channel CRaFTi PoTeNTiAl :D

I REALLY love the way these two cards came out!!! Hence the tonne of photos below :D 

Thank you Roses :D

I made this card using a mixture of stamp and die sets I got in the bargain section on the Craftstash website a little while ago :D A mixture of Avery Elle, Paper Smooches, Apple Blossom and Ultimate Crafts brands :D

I started by using some Pastel Green Creative Expressions Foundation card to cut out the Apple Blossom Circular foliage die, along with multiples of the swirly parts of the Ultimate Crafts Jadene Careless and Free die set :D I then used the two scribbly circle stamps from the Avery Elle We R Family stamp set (which I think look like roses :D) and I stamped both sizes multiple times in black ink and heat embossed with clear detail Cosmic Shimmer embossing powder :D I then used the large and medium solid circle stamps from the Paper Smooches Gently Seasoned 2 stamp set to 'colour' in the 'roses' I used a mix of Bubble Bum and Ultra Pink Hero Arts inks (and Lemon Yellow and Butter Bar for the yellow version) :D The sentiment 'Thank you' came in a mini Forever Friends stamp set which came free with the August issue of Creativity Magazine (and the sentiment for the yellow baby card was from the Avery Elle We R Family stamp set :D) The white central panel which I used for the sentiment is from the Ultimate Crafts Nakeisha Blooming Flowers nesting die set... To help with the arrangement of the flowers and foliage around the circle, I laid all the elements roughly where I wanted them, then took a photo with my phone, I didn't stick to it exactly, but it made the process much easier, and it was also good, because you could tell which ones would look better stuck flat or raised up with foam :D The final finishing touches were a scattering of different sized gems to coordinate with the colour scheme and also some clear Spectrum Noir Glitter pen all over the roses :D Hope you like the cards!! I really enjoyed making them :D :D :D And my best friend Danielle was thrilled with the yellow version, which was congratulating her on the birth of her gorgeous daughter Primrose :D

To see the process behind the thank you card, please watch my YouTube video below, or over on my channel CRaFTi PoTeNTiAl :D

Some more photos of both cards below :D

Mixed Media Bee Happy :D

This background was originally going to be for a different card (which I will upload at a later date) however in the end it didn't really work, so I painted over it and added extra stuff to create this card and I actually quite like the way its turned out :D The branch die I've used is called Sparrow on a Branch from Couture Creations, the bee hive and hexagons are from the Xcut Bee Keeping die set, the Happy die is by Heidi Swapp and the Bee was made using the Apple Blossom upper and lower case alphabet dies :D and I hand drew my signature bees :D

Once I'd added the extra hexagons to the background I painted over the whole lot with white acrylic, I think I did about 3 coats in the end just to give myself a blank canvas! I then used Antique Linen, Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge and Walnut Stain Distress Stains to add colour to the background and bee hive (I also used the Walnut Stain to colour the words 'Bee Happy' too :D) The colour was still a little bit muted, so I also added some yellow acrylic paint and also some antique gold paint to bring out some of the background texture :D For further detail I added some sketch brown lines around a few hexagons and the main focal elements :D I quite like how its turned out! and its great that I was able to re-use my discarded background, as it took me quite a while to stick down all the branches to begin with lol :D Hope you like the card too :D

To see the process behind this card, please watch my YouTube video below, or over on my channel CRaFTi PoTeNTiAl :D

A couple more close up photos :D

I'm entering this card into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge :D
http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/simon-says-lets-go-wild/