Gelli play

What to do with all those gelli prints? Because you know that it's addictive and you end up with piles of the things...

And what design to use for new business cards? I've stamped them before, printed an artwork on one side, embossed them. What now?

How about joining the two?

So here they are, ten new business cards using gelli prints and a mini-vid of how they were put together. 

Once they were cut up I stamped 'ART' on to the front. The back already had all my details as I wasn't sure if the decorated card would go through the printer. And here's a close-up of the finished cards.

Now I'm off the Carolyn Dube's July Gelli Print Party to see how everyone else has been using their prints just lately. 

The little things

This is a subject I keep returning to. It's so important to be thankful and find joy in simple pleasures.

This page was something that put itself together. This is the journal that I stick pictures into at random, use for leftover paint from other things and suchlike. The brown paper on the left and the magazine pic were already on the page. I had a Carolyn Dube moment - the tree is the backing paper from a transfer I used on another page. It was lying around on my desk so I grabbed it and stuck it down, not really having any idea where the page was going. I carved a leaf stamp and used it to add foliage to the bare branches.

Then out came the washi tape (finally tracked some down although there were only four packs to choose from...). A little more colour was needed so the middle section was painted with acrylic in a very slapdash fashion. A little stamping down the right-hand edge and it felt ready for some journalling.

But what was the page saying to me? It had come together in a way that wasn't my usual style so I had to step back and think about it. I looked at the lovely smile and it came to me - joy.

So what are the little things that bring you joy?

Use Your Words - trio of tags

 I mentioned about a week ago that I was taking Carolyn Dube's workshop - Use Your Words. It is still open for sign up and the videos are available for ever afterwards. And it won't even cost you anything!
More details can be found here.

These tags are from the final lesson in the series of six and I thought it would be fun to do the whole work-in-progress thing. So here it is.

I recently made a batch of tags from some glossy paper that I'd patterned using varying techniques. These three were all done with dye ink and a brayer.

I added a little stamping...

 ...and some stencilled letters as this is all about using your words. I wasn't happy with the terracotta on the blue, so in true Carolyn Dube style, I worked on it a bit more and...

... painted over it with some turquoise acrylic. Liked that much better. Added some patterned paper that I printed from a Photoshop project.

A bit more stamping and a little outlining and correction pen dots.

A bit of oil pastel around the edges and in the gaps, and the all-important words - live, dream, create.

So check out the workshop. Carolyn is a great teacher, very laid back, happy to try something, not like it, and go over it with something else. You'll learn that a blob out of place is not the end of the world but an opportunity to experiment and try something different. 

U is for unique

Well, we are into the last week of the A to Z of Me challenge. U is for unique.

I finally got around to buying some modelling paste yesterday, so the stars here are done by pushing the paste through a stencil. I have been learning a lot more about stencils recently. I signed up for Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's stencil 101 course and Carolyn Dube's Use Your Words workshop. (Both are fun, still open for sign up, and *free*!) I'll be posting more about Use Your Words when the A to Z of Me is finished. If you want a sneak peek before then, visit my flickr photostream.

You are unique, you are fearfully and wonderfully made, and there is no-one like you who will do the things you do in the way you do them. This is especially important for artists to remember. Your style is your own. Embrace it!