Altering An Old Dictionary

Happy holidays everyone! I have a project that took two videos to make! I love making art journals and have made lots of them.  What makes this one different is that I use the old book paper for the inside of the journal.  In the first video, I make book cloth using lots of stencils and a few different sizes of Gel Press® Plates to create a colorful cover.  In the second video, see how the book cloth is attached to an old dictionary book and how I prepare the book to become an art journal.

Video 1:

Video 2:

Front Cover

Back Cover

Inside Cover

Front Cover

Here are some other creative uses for book cloth:

• Die-cut into flowers and layer to use as 3-D embellishments
• Cover a lampshade
• Sew into a brush or pencil holder
• Cover a box 
• Make a cloth journal
• See more ideas on Pinterest HERE (I especially love the "quiet book" idea for children)

I would love to hear your ideas for using book cloth. Please leave a comment below.

Thanks for visiting today!

Kathy 

Video Frenzy With Gel Press® and StencilGirl

Today is Video Frenzy Day with Gel Press® and StencilGirl and Gel Press® designers have been working hard to inspire you with their projects.  Look for the link at the end of my blog today to see the rest of the videos.  Here is my project.

Thanksgiving Card Made from Masterboard

Using a Masterboard to make backgrounds is a great way to start seasonal projects. I used the 12" x 14" Large Format Gel Press® Plate and StencilGirl stencils and printed on large mixed media paper to make my Masterboard.  What is a Masterboard, you ask?

Masterboard- a large mixed media background of various patterns and colors that can be cut into smaller projects.

I love StencilGirl stencils and have dozens of them.  Many leading artists design their unique stencils so there is something for everyone!  They even have a monthly club that I was a member of for over a year. I received 3 exclusive stencils every month, along with access to a private Facebook group and monthly video on how the artist who designed the stencils used them.  Find out more about the club here.

See how I made my fall themed Masterboard in my video.  

Masterboard Technique Steps

1. Place the stencils/masks onto the Gel Press® Plate. 
2. Drop fluid acrylic paints on top of the stencils.  I used 2 or 3 colors that would not make mud.
3. Remove the stencils.
4. Brayer one or two colors of heavy body acrylic paint onto palette paper.  Make sure that the brayer is covered with a thin layer of paint. 
5. Brayer over the fluid acrylic paint on the plate.  The heavy body paint will fill in the areas where there's no fluid acrylic paint. 
6. Pull the print.  

Tips:

• Overlap large patterned stencils/masks over smaller patterned ones (or vise versa) for interesting results.  
• Placed stencils in a tub of water to make cleanup easy.
• Add a touch of metallic or luminous colors for dramatic results.
• Use similar colored fluid acrylic paints and heavy body acrylic paints to avoid muddy colors.
• Use contrasting colors for the different layers. Just don't brayer over the same spot in Step 5 or you could get mud and ruin the stencil pattern.

Thanksgiving Card Using StencilGirl and Gel Press@

Place Cards Using Masterboard

Gel Press® Printed Avery Labels

Masterboard Projects

Ready for the Holidays!

Now go check out the rest of the videos on the Gel Press® YouTube Channel or on the Gel Press Facebook Page today.

I hope you are inspired to make something crafty with Gel Press® and StencilGirl stencils.  And when you do, don't forget to share it on Gel Press Junkies Facebook page! For more inspiration follow Gel Press® on Pinterest and Instagram.

Have a great Holiday Season!

Kathy

Art Journaling Therapy With Gel Press®

For our blog hop today we are focusing on health and wellbeing. Make sure to check out all of the talented designers to see how they interpret our theme this month. You will find the links at the end of my post.

Health and Wellness Art Journal Page

Art journaling is my way of figuring things out in more ways than one.  It's a place where I play with a new product or technique. But it's also a way of purging or recording thoughts, quotes, ideas and feelings in a visual and creative way. There is something very therapeutic about writing my thoughts and feelings onto a blank page then covering them up with paint, stamps and stencils. Here is an art journal page that I made to remind myself to keep mind, body and spirit in balance for my own health and wellbeing.  For this page, I used the large format, 12" x 14" Gel Press Plate.

Balance Art Journal Page

See my process creating this page in the snapguide below.

Check out How to Create an Art Journal Page With Gel Press® by Kathy Adams on Snapguide.

Balance Art Journal Page

Spiral Bound Gel Press® Journal

An easy way to make a quick journal is to use Gel Press® prints and bind them using a Bind-It-All spiral binding machine. If you don't have one, office supply stores like Office Depot have inexpensive spiral binding services. Check out my video showing how I made the covers using Gel Press® Plates.



Sometimes just making backgrounds in my art journal is therapy! I loved making these pages using some of my favorite StencilGirl Stencils. Each one started out as a gel print.

The idea behind an art journal is not to make a masterpiece but to play, work out ideas or use a new product. Here are a few more pages in this art journal doing just that.

Art Journal Page Using Face Stamp

An Exercise in Letting Go of Perfection

Junque Journals

My favorite journals are the ones I learned to make while taking Julie Balzer's "Make Your Own Junque Journal Class".  They have a hand-sewn binding so there is no gap between pages like on a spiral bound journal.  I made five junque journals, most using gel prints and patterned paper.  The covers are created using canvas panels, Gel Press® prints, stencils and stamps.

Here are some of my favorite Junque Journal pages.

Collage Art Journal Page 

Collage Art Journal Page

Thank you for visiting my (long) blog post today! Here are the links to the other designers blogs:

Ann

 Cindi

Cynthia

Elena

                               Kathy <------you are here

Keri

Kitti

Jen

Sandee

Teresa

Gel Press

Art Journaling Related Links:
StencilGirl Stencils
Julie Balzer's Make Your Own Junque Journal Class
Inspiration Wednesday
How To Make An Inspiration Journal
Wilna Furstenberg's Art Journaling Videos

Fun With Bleeding Art Tissue

Over on the Gel Press® blog today check out my Bleeding Art Tissue Tutorial.  I made a beautiful butterfly canvas by printing on this special tissue paper.  I had so many prints left over that I thought I would share some more projects.

The fun thing about bleeding art tissue is that the color bleeds when liquid is applied.  You can purchased it here.  A search on Pinterest reveals lots of projects, many geared toward children.

The idea was to print on the tissue then add water and let it bleed onto the printed areas.  It was such fun that I couldn't stop printing.

Along with the butterfly canvas, I also made a mixed media scrapbook page.  First, I glued the printed tissue onto 11 1/2" x 11 1/2" watercolor paper using matte medium.

I sprayed the paper with water.......

....then placed another piece of watercolor paper over it to mop up the colored water.  The paper keeps the colors from running together and making mud.

 I'll use the extra watercolor paper for another project. Let everything dry before adding any other media or embellishments.

I mounted the paper to a 12" x 12" piece of white cardstock, layered some fibers, paper and tape, and did some sewing around the edges. 

The phrase is cut out using my Silhouette Cameo.

My last project is a set of six 4" x 4" canvases using the Stamper's Anonymous Crazy Dogs stamp set, gluing a different color of printed tissue on each canvas background.  The canvases are deep enough to set on a self.  I love how these turned out!

Lots of fussy cutting! Apparently, they are coming out with die-cuts for this set. 

Thank you for visiting my blog today! I'd love to hear from you so please leave me a comment below. Don't forget to check out my project on the Gel Press® blog too! For more inspiration, check out my art on Pinterest and follow me on Instagram.