Growing In Unity - Day Five

Here it is...the last day. *sniff* I saved the big bang for the last day. Several months ago Sandra asked me to do a gelli plate tutorial. I didn't have time then, but then thought it would be a great tutorial for this week, so here you go!

I've had my plates for a few years. I have an 8x10 and the 12x14, which is great for making scrapbook paper. My favorite paper to print on is deli paper. I find mine at Costco like place that caters to the food industry (see what I did there?), but is open to the public. I love the texture it gives and the translucency. The colors never look dull and flat, like I feel cardstock can make them. I love using heavy bodied paint, but you can use all sorts of paint, even distress inks and alcohol inks. Today I am focusing on just one technique, even though there are dozens of things you can do with your plate. I'll be using my 8x10 and deli paper; pulling heavy bodied paint and using stencils.

I have this fun flower stencil (technically it's a mask) that make cute prints.

Apply blops (that's the technical term) of paint onto the gelli. I like to start with my light colors and add the dark later. I've just not had great luck with light over dark.

Gently roll paint onto gelli with a brayer. You don't want to over mix or you lose the color differential, aka mud.

You can see the orange as well as the pink and we're ready for our first pull! Exciting, I know!

Lay whatever paper you're using on top of paint and smooth out, capturing all the paint area.

This is the paint I had after my first pull, so I grabbed another piece of deli paper and repeated the above steps.

Next I laid down my stencil (mask) and applied the darker colors over top, using the "adding paint to gelli and brayering" step from earlier. I took my ghost print and did a soft pull, kinda forgetting that I'm really using a mask, not a stencil, but whatever. I like that you never really know what you're going to get when you play with your paint. I removed the stencil and pulled with my first pull, then still had more paint on my gelli, so I grabbed another piece of deli paper and pulled again!

So for my one process, I got three pieces of cool, one of a kind, patterned paper to use later on projects.

My problem is, I can never stop at just one design so I made these too, using a box stencil. I like how different they look even thought I added paint just once and the different ghost prints look totally different.

I used Circle Scalloped for this card. *note how the circle is placed on a stem and leave set to look like a flower*. I decided that it would be fun to use the paint I used on the print for the circle so I added it to my stamp with my brayer. Just clean your stamp well afterwards.

I did a little paper piecing with one of my box ghost prints.

These clouds are from Sunny Happy Skies. I stamped them on the deli paper, then cut out. I made a sky using a couple of blue distress inks, added my ballon, a sentiment from Sending Up Something Beautiful, and some of the Ariel sequin mix.

If you can, get your hands on a gelli plate; they are so fun to make cool backgrounds and patterned paper with!

I hope you've enjoyed my week here with you, I certainly have, even if I'm simply talking to the wall and a few thousand Russian hacker bots. Be sure to comment to be in the running for everyone's favorite deeply etched red rubber; except the Russian hacker bots, no stamps for you!

Growing In Unity - Day Four

Hey there Unies! Sadly, we're on the downhill slope of my GIU week, but the good news is we have today and tomorrow together. That is, unless you tire of me. If so, just go ahead and leave a comment for your chance at a prize pack of deeply etched red rubber stamps, otherwise, buckle in for a tutorial on making a galaxy background.

I love the night sky. I got to photograph the Milky Way last summer and have plans to do so again in August and have other plans to do so next August in....AFRICA! So, that said, I really love the galaxy backgrounds for cards and other projects. Today, I decided to make a background with a foreground scene.

I stamped, colored, and cut out my scene; laying it out on my base to see where I wanted to add points of light. The sky isn't just inky black, unless you live in Oregon like I do and have clouds for months out of the year. The stars, moon, and galaxies brighten sections of the night sky, so think of adding light point where you'll have these objects. Love At Home Seemed like an excellent scene to use for this purpose.

I added these light points using distress oxides. I like the heavier color application I get with the oxides. I made sure that I had a nice yellow light where the moon and stars will go.

I added blue next, because the sky doesn't go from points of light to inky black, there's a bit of navy first. Again, I like the rich colors of the oxides for this, but distress ink would work too, or even watercolor paint.

Next I added the black, applying it heaviest on the outer edges. I then went back and added some more of the blue.

Yep, that's gonna line up really well.

I then added some water into the palm of my hand and clapped it over the sky. It gives lovely distress oxide splatters.

For me, it really comes to life when you add the white paint splatter stars. I use this heavy bodied white paint and add a bit of water to it and flick it with a fan brush.

Add images, sentiment, mount on black cardstock and boom. I just used the top line of the sentiment in Twinkles And Wings.

If you made it all the way through, congratulations! You may now leave a comment to be in the running for some deeply etched red rubber of your very own.

Growing In Unity - Day Three

Here we are, half way to the end... Well, not quite, I suppose halfway through this post would be halfway to the end, so this is the beginning of the halfway to the end. Anyway.... good to see you. Today we are going to endure my thoughts on clean and simple (CAS). Unlike my opening lines to today's post, clean and simple projects are simply that, clean and simple, not a lot of fuss or muss. Now that may sound simple, but I find CAS cards to be really hard! It's hard to find that balance between a simple design and simply not quite finished. I can't say that I've truly discovered the secret formula for CAS. That may be because it's a closely guarded government secret or it's simply not that simple.

I think I've confused even myself, but stick with me and I'll show you some examples of what I think works for CAS cards. I'm not the expert. To see a CAS Master, visit the Unity Show and Tell and look up Tenia Nelson. She make amazing CAS cards and makes it look simple. Here is what works for me.

Heather Hoffman did a great Quick Tip video on how to use a stencil to create a fast, CAS card and it's a fave technique of mine to use. I did a down and dirty version for you. I think the key is making sure your image is grounded and not floating out in the never never. That empty space there grounds my bird.

Firstly, lay a stencil down over your card base; add painter's tape to keep the stencil from shifting, whilst adding distress inks.

Use one or more colors to fill in a strip, banner style. Stamp, color, fussy cut your image, add a sentiment (I made mine a banner, but you could stamp right onto the page. I used I'm Obsessed With Birdies for this one.

Next up is ink smooshing. I love ink smoshed cards. I press the plastic wrapping from my embellishment packages into distress ink, spritz with water, press on my base. Dry between colors so you don't get mud. All it needed was one small image, a single butterfly cut out from the group in Your Smile and a sentiment from Scattered Pieces. Really, I think smooshing a background and simply added a larger sentiment would work just as nicely too.

Next up is something I discovered via a challenge. The challenge was to make a card using a technique opposite of what you normally use. I love paint. Paint here. Paint there. Throw down some inks and pastes and...you get the idea, so for me, the opposite is no paint, no color and I love how it turned out! Just some bright paper, the uncolored image (No One Sweeter here), and a few sequins, and you're good to go.

Now here's a really simple card that doesn't really look all that simple. It's just a sentiment, with some adornments, popped up on cool foil paper, with a sprinkling of sequins. Blossoming Thoughts & Wishes makes this type of card super easy.

As you can see, you don't need to put a lot of time and work into making a card that is pretty and packs a punch. It's a good bang for your crafting buck.

As always, be sure to comment to be in the running to sniff deeply etched red rubber, of your very own.

Growing In Unity - Day Two

Welcome back to day two of my GIU week. I see you all survived day one and thought to come back, I thank you.

Today we are talking kraft. I love kraft. I mean absolutely adore kraft. I love the natural looks and earthy tones and kraft is the perfect base for all that and so much more. I think I've done more bright, cheery, and cute, than ever before, since joining Unity Show and Tell (see GIU day one for my plug for S&T, EIEIO), but earthy is my heritage. There's so much you can do with kraft as your base and it's really easy to whip out those quick cards when your kid asks for a card, "I'll be there in 5 minutes", occasions. I mean, not that my kid has ever done that...yeah, right. So following are some of my thoughts and ideas, for what they're worth, on using kraft as the base for something awesome.

First and foremost, this is one of those super quick, but packs a punch cards. All I did is stamp with black ink, add black splatters, mat on black and boom, it looks great and I spent zero minutes coloring. I kept my embellishments in the same earthy tones, just to show you that you don't *need* a lot of color to make a statement. Things Will Work Out for both the image and sentiment.

Next up is also black on kraft, but I used a smaller kraft piece, matted on black, then on more kraft. Just another kind of look, using no color; I even kept my embellishments to the bare minimum because simply having the black image on the kraft paper is wow enough. Love That Face is used here.

Though sometimes a bit of color is nice and really pops when paired with kraft. I used my Gansai Tambi paints, which are on the more opaque side. I also added some colored sequins, but subtle color.  I used April 2017 KOTM Be My Bird on this card.

Lastly I used colored pencils. This is the first time I've used this stamp on kraft paper and I LOVE the way that white just pops! Some white paint spatters are all that's needed to complete the card. Both the image and sentiment are from the May 2017 KOTM Free Your Dreams.

I hope you can see just how versatile kraft can be; and I didn't even get to fussy cutting a colorful image and adding to kraft paper. 

A reminder, be sure to comment for the chance of being one of the lucky two who will win 25 random pieces of deeply etched red rubber to sniff, I mean stamp with.

Growing In Unity - Day One

Welcome one and all. I am super excited to be your GIU Gal for the week. I hope to bring you a mix of tutorials and ideas to spur your creativity, or maybe just be good for those long insomniac nights, to get you to sleep.

I've been sniffing the deeply etched red rubber for 2.5 years now and enjoy spending my time on the Unity Show and Tell group. If you haven't checked that out, be sure to. We're sorta like a secret clubhouse where we share our projects, oooo and awww over other's projects, ask for advice, enable, and generally let the sarcasm hang out. I've made some really great friends over there and would love to see you there too.

Today I bring you a tutorial on making a shaker embellishment of sorts. I say, "of sorts", because it's built into the base of my card, but it's not the main feature. I love the little house in May 2018's sentiment kit, With You I Am Home and thought a shaker sun would be a fun, cheerful addition to a little homestead scene.

I began by first making my sun, using the smallest scallop circle from Circle Scalloped. I used three colors of distress ink, misting with my water mister, then stamping.

I cut the center out with a circle die.

Next I added double sided adhesive to the backside and attached a piece of transparency.

I added foam tape all around the circle; you don't want any gaps or the shakey bits will get loose and make a mess, unless you're sending it to someone you don't like and want them to have a mess, then go right ahead and leave that gap (also works to send to Whitney when she talks down about her crafting abilities). Also add the foam tape to the rest of the page, so it's nice and even, without a pronounced slope. Foam tape is important because you need to leave space for the shakey bits to shake, not just sit there, squished like lady bits in a mammogram machine.

Fill with shakey bits of your choosing. I chose seed beads, glitter and sequins. Pull off all of the tape backing and afix the back piece, thus trapping all of the shakey bits, unless you left that gap.

For this project, I decided that I should add a sky, after I had already assembled the shaker bit, because grand ideas, after the fact, is how I roll. I simple made masks of my sun and house, added some distress ink to Dot Face (Dot Fade), spritzed with water, and stamped on to the background.

Paint, add embellishments and there you go. I used the clouds from Sending Up Something Beautiful.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial on how to add a shaker pop to your project. Remember to comment for a chance to win a random grab bag of 25 deeply etched red rubber stamps to sniff, I mean add to your collection, I'll be choosing two of you, or rather Random.org will be.