Messy Cards Class

For my local blog followers, I have a really fun class coming up at A Walk Down Memory Lane on February 17th.  Basically, I decided to build a class around messy mediums!  Gelli Plate mono printing, misting, gelatos, gesso...messy, messy fun! Here's the official class description:

Inks, Gelatos, and Mists...Oh My!

 Join Samantha to build some inky, messy, one of a kind backgrounds for your cards or scrapbook layouts. We'll work with mists, gelatos, stains, paints, sprays and you will even make a gelli plate background. What's a gelli plate you ask? A cool new product that you can totally make your own custom background with just a brayer and some acrylic paints. Supplies needed:

Basic Tool kit including paper trimmer, pencil, pen, your favorite adhesive, gloves if you don't want to get your hands dirty.

Cost: $20 - includes a coupon for 10% off a gelli plate  

February 17, at 6:30 pm  

Call AWDML at (712)476-3443 to reserve your spot! 

Gelli Printed Valentine Decor

I don't do a lot of mixed media paper crafting, but Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate really intrigued me.  There seemed to be so many possibilities!  I got an idea in my brain for a gelli printed Valentine decor frame using the gelli plate and Pebbles Yours Truly.  Today, I want to share my finished product and the process I took to get there.  So here's my first foray into mono printing.

Here's a close up of the mono printed area.

I started by gathering any supplies I thought I would need. I ended up only using. the stencil on the right (Heidi Swapp Confetti). Another tool that I didn't use this time are the BrushStix you can see on the bottom right.  You can use them to draw your own design in the paint on the Gelli plate instead of using a stencil.  They are soft tipped, so they won't hurt your Gelli plate. 

I learned quickly that almost any acrylic paint works well except for Tim Holtz Distress paint.  The same qualities that make it react with water, make it bead up instead of rolling out nicely on the plate. As you can see in the photo below, it would probably make a cool background, but it was not the traditional mono printing technique I was looking for. 

So I switched to regular Ranger Adirondack paint.  You put a little paint on the on the Gelli plate and use a brayer or foam brush to spread it out. 

I placed the stencil on top of the paint covered plate, put a piece of paper on top of the stencil and pressed down over the whole paper to transfer the paint to the paper.  I turned the paper 180 degrees and pressed again (there was more than enough paint to do this twice without adding more paint to the plate). 

 After I did this layer, I wiped everything off with a baby wipe (water or gel hand sanitizer works too according to the people at Gelli Arts), and repeated the process with 2 more colors of paint.  The finished product is what you see below.

 I'm super happy with the finished product, and even tried out some different techniques and made some cards with the mono printing process (which I'll save to show you another time).  It was a very messy process, but lots of fun.  The final product really feels like my style even though I used a technique that's outside of what I'd usually consider my style.
Have you ever done any mono printing? I'd love to hear about it (or even see a picture!). 

Yours Truly Layout

Pebbles Inc's new Valentine's Day collection Yours Truly has been so fun to work with!  I've made the traditional Valentine's Day cards and lunchbox notes (which you'll be able to see tomorrow on the Pebbles Blog and next week on A Walk Down Memory Lane's Blog), but this collection is also great for making non-Valentine themed projects.  Here's a Yours Truly Layout that is all about love, but not abut Valentine's Day. 

First off, I have to mention that those are my awesome grandparents there with me and my husband in the photo.  We live in a different state than they do, so it's always nice to sneak out to dinner with them when we visit and be able to visit without having to share them with anybody. 

 I really love the color scheme for Yours Truly.  Red and aqua or teal is one of my very favorite color combos.  It looks so stunning paired with another neutral. In this case, I used black. 
I also can't get enough of these Journal Thickers.  They have big, chunky glitter that is just so fun! I used the red ones on this layout, but they also come in silver. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Race Car Layouts

Every year the school my kids attend hold a remote control car race.  This year my kids took part in it for the first time.  I'm not usually not one to grab super themed papers, but layouts about a remote control car race need race papers and stickers.  I have 2 race car layouts from the event.

Both layouts use a mix of race themed papers and stickers from Moxxie Racing,  Reminisce Racing, Reminisce Speed Champions, and Scrappin' Sports Racing. 

These collections were really easy, and a lot of fun to work with.

Knit Sheep and Gift Box

 I have a present I put together for Christmas that I haven't shared on here yet. It was a little knit project for a friend and, since I don't much care for wrapping things, I fancied up a little gift box for it instead. 

I like to pick up little pre-made gift boxes when I find them for a good price, Then when I need gift wrapping I add some washi tape to the box and make a custom tag.  A gold paint pen worked really well for writing the recipient's name on this tag.  

 

Inside the box was cute little sheep Christmas ornament that I knitted.  

 His little Santa hat makes him especially festive. Of course, he and his hat are made from 100% wool yarn and roving. 

You can find the pattern for the sheep here, and the little holiday hat here.
Thanks for stopping by.

Make a Wish

The other day I was walking through A Walk Down Memory Lane, and some wood chevrons from Studio Calico caught my eye.  I decided I needed to use them to create this Make a Wish birthday card.

I paired the chevrons with some orange, teal, and gray paper from Lily Bee. 

 I also picked up some matching label and chit chat stickers. Layering them up with some Pop Up Glue Dots® adds some dimension to the card.

Thanks for stopping by!