Mixed Up Manic Memorial Monday

Hi creatives! Hope you are having a fun-filled extra long weekend! I had a marathon Gel Press printing session on Friday night where I used lots of my favorite stencils and some rubbing plates that I bought a while back but never used.  I shared some of my prints on Instagram and you can check it out HERE. While you are there, how about following me?  I am planning on using it more and more so stay tuned for some sneak peaks of future projects, and up-to-the-moment snapshots of my art-in-progress. Well, maybe a few dog pics thrown in once in a while too!

I pulled out my 6"x6" Gel Press and a stack of cheap white card stock, 8 1/2" x 11, from Office Depot. I used lots of different paints, including heavy body, fluids, cheap and expensive.

These are prints using Stencil Girl Stencils designed by Gwen Lafleur.

I used rubbing plates for these prints. 

I think the first three would look better using the round Gel Press. 

The next few prints I used Art Anthology mediums.

The elephants are Natalie Kalbach's foam/rubber stamp set.

Used Gemstones and Retro Stencil from Art Anthology

I love the bright orange, Art Anthology Juicy Colorations Spray, against the purple Art Anthology Velvet medium.  The spray resists the medium.  So cool!

**Do you notice anything interesting about the last two elephants?  If you do, you might want to know how I did that. I'll be doing a blog post on this technique for my next Gel Press blog post. (see the ** at bottom of this post for the answer)

Here is a sneak peek of my project for Art Anthology's blog on June 3 that will include a tutorial. 

And here is a sneak peek of my project for the Gel Press blog on June 8th.  I used Natalie Kalbach's bird foam/rubber stamp set for this project.

** Did you notice that the elephants are facing in different directions?  I used Natalie's stamp for them, so how did I get one of them facing the opposite direction?  I will show you how I did it in my tutorial on the Gel Press blog on June 8th. 

Please comment below about your favorite creative ways to use gel prints.  I have so many and I need some inspiration!!  

Thank you for visiting! 

Kathy

Treasure Box For Dad With Gel Press™ and a Giveaway.

Welcome to our "Just For Him" blog hop with Gel Press™!  

Please take time to hop through all the great blogs of our designers for inspiration.  Come back to the Gel Press blog and leave a comment as to which blog gave you the most inspiration!  We will draw a random winner from the comments to win a prize from Gel Press™!!!

Treasure Box For Dad Tutorial

While cleaning up my studio, I found an old recipe box that I thought would be fun to use on the Gel Press Plate™. With Father's Day coming up, I thought I might make it more masculine and give it to my husband, filled with treasures.

List of Supplies

This box really needs a do-over!

8" x 10" Gel Press Plate™

Brayer

DecoArt Americana Decor Chalky Finish Paint in Rouge
DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics in Naphthol Red Light and Vermilion

Old Recipe Box

Black Spray Paint
Embossing Folder With Masculine Pattern

Copy Paper or Cardstock

Instructions

 I removed the top of the box, gave it a light sanding then spray painted it with flat black paint.

Brayer 4-5 dime sized drops of paint onto the 8" x 10" Gel Press Plate™ and press the embossing folder into the paint to create the pattern.  Wipe off the folder asap. 

Press the box into the plate and remove.  Continue until all of the sides are covered with paint.

I reloaded my paint onto the Press™ a few times till all the sides were done.

DecoArt Americana Decor Chalky Finish Paint has a chalky, matte finish which I love, but the pattern was very subtle. To make it stand out a bit more, I brayered a few drops of DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics in Naphthol Red Light and Vermilion.  These colors are a bit more bright.

Then used the folder to stamp the pattern onto the box. I repeated "inking" the folder on the Gel Press™ and stamping the folder randomly on all sides of the box.  

Just that small color variation really brought out the pattern and created a tone-on-tone effect that is really cool against the black background.

To increase the durability of the box, paint one or more coats of Satin Varnish (I used Liquitex) and let dry.  Put the top back on the box and add embellishments.  I kept it simple.

To clean the Press in between, I used cardstock and ended up with some nice prints.

I made a tag and a Father's Day card to match the box.

Now to finds some treasures for the inside! Maybe I will add some photos of the kids when they were little and sweet and some of his favorite candy. Are you making anything for Father's Day? Why not use the Gel Press™with the kids and make some framed prints to give Dad? They will love it and you will be amazed at the results!  

Don't forget to visit the other blog on the hop!

Gel Press
Ann

Bix
Cindi
Cyndi

Elena

                                       Kathy   <----------You are here

Keri

Lea

Sandee

Teresa 

*****BONUS*****

Want a bonus chance to win a prize from Gel Press™?  Between now and Father's Day (June 19, 2016) create your own "Just For Him" project and post it on our Facebook page: Gel Press Junkies! Everyone that plays along will be entered in a drawing as well.  Yes, we would love you to use a Gel Press™ in your entry- but you don't have to! Just make a fabulous project featuring Fathers Day and post it!  Maybe you will win a Gel Press™! 

To Qualify for the drawing: 

1) You may enter a maximum of 3 times with individual projects.

2) You must by 18 years old.

3) You must live in the USA.

4) Mentioning other products or other companies in your post disqualifies your project.

Thanks for visiting today!  

Kathy

****FOR MORE INSPIRATION****

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Share your creations on our Facebook page: Gel Press Junkies.

Mixed Up Manic Monday

Hi creative friends! I got all caught up with Inspiration
Wednesday so I thought I would share my take on the last few weeks.  I'll start with my favorite, the most recent.

There is so much I love about this page: the color combo of cobalt teal and quinacridone nickel azo gold, mixing in the white with my finger, the peeks of book text and black numbers from the layers, and the addition of pencil around the circles and the raised text.

April 27

I also love when something doesn't work but I find a way to make it even better!  In this case, I didn't have the rub-on sticky words but had the foil.  So I tried to use sticky embossing powder and a word stamp but I couldn't read the word.  I found that the foil stuck to the painted surface because it was still a bit sticky so I used the end of my paintbrush and scribbled some words and lines through the gold foil and it stayed put!

April 27

April 13  

This is the week when Donna used the Poppy napkins.  Obviously, I didn't have any flowery napkins, but I did have lots of gel plated deli paper. I picked a black and white geometric pattern and used Seth Apter stencils for the words and outlined them with black pencil.  Love the lines at the bottom. 

March 30

I used another gel print on this page.  I actually had some of that bleeding tissue and had not used it yet, so that was fun!  My favorite thing is the animal on the dictionary page I used.  It's called a Gnu-a large African antelope. :)

March 30

When I saw the blue dripping, I thought about water and how much I love the ocean.  I had some of those sticky rub-ons in ocean shapes but no words so I went with that and hand wrote the quote.

  

March 16

I call this one the "Hot Mess" page and with any luck, Donna will have us redo one like last year.  I do like the quote, "Time flies. It's up to you to be the navigator." 

March 02

Thanks for visiting my blog today.  I love comments so don't be shy!

Kathy