Slowly getting the hang of how to use this gelli plate. I am not very good at layering, so am a bit out of my comfort zone. Out of the 50 prints I have taken so far, I like maybe six. Anyway, I did a few leafy prints that I was quite happy with, so will share them with you now. [Please note that the below photos were taken after I made these 2 cards. This is using a 3×5 inch plate].
squeeze small amount of acrylic paint onto gelli 
spread paint with brayer 
lay stencil over 
brayer over gelli to remove excess paint within stencil holes. Clean brayer on scrap paper 
now add contrasting paint colour over stencil on gelli. Spread over with brayer 
lift off stencil. Lay card over gelli to take a print of design
Took me a few goes to get my head around it, but the idea is that the first colour/colours that you lay down on the gelli plate, will be the colour that stays underneath the plastic area of your stencil. The second colour of paint that you lay OVER the stencil, will be the colour that goes into the holes of the stencil pattern.
So choose your stencil pattern wisely, depending on the result you’re trying to achieve, as some stencils have a lot of plastic area with small holes, and visa versa. Those stencils with very delicate patterns, may be hard to brayer the paint over to get into the holes, so you might have to sponge it on instead. I’m sure you’ll be seeing more cards in the near future with backgrounds designed on my gelli plate.
Time to sit and drink a brew, and linger over thoughts of you.
This Distress Stain spray background has a fine gold shimmer (Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearl) mist over it, radiating from that one spot at the bottom of the card peeping out from behind the rock. Not sure whether to credit it to a rising or setting sun, or the glow from his bonfire. I actually rubbed some gold chalk over the spot to emphasise it more.
stamps: Trail Break by Crackerbox & Suzy Stamps; Dreams by PSX
Talking of teabags – you can’t get any more Australian than this brand of ‘Koala Tea’ I came across. Australian Certified Organic tea, how cool !! Tastes pretty good too, Koalality tea indeed!
I stamped the silhouette of horse & cowboy onto a background created with Distress Stain sprays (Broken China, Rusty Hinge, and I think Hickory Smoke?) I chose the lighter end as I liked that the blue represented the sky, with still enough of the other colours to indicate a smoky fire from his tea being brewed, and picking up the orange brown of the teabag and label. I cut the right half of the background off to use for a future project.
I stamped the koala out, coloured him in using Distress re-inkers, then cut him out to position on card.
stamps: Tree Koala 4447E by Stamp-it; Trail Break by Crackerbox & Suzy Stamps
And another, just for fun!
stamp: Snugglepot & Cuddlepie – Having Fun 17322 by Paper Rose
Just because… they are so darn cute!
I have been trying to rearrange and tidy my craft room for the last few weeks, but it seems I don’t have enough cupboard space (or maybe just too much crap!). A slow and frustrating process, so I took some time out today to play. Just because… I spotted amidst the chaos, a small clearing on my tabletop:)
stamp: Snugglepot & Cuddlepie – Hanging On 17313 by Paper Rose
I added Vintage Photo Distress Stickles to his cap and Sunshine Yellow Flowersoft to her skirt and cap, with Yellow Liquid Pearls for dots.
I found this fabulous stamp on marketplace being sold by a local lady who was no longer crafting. It’s called ‘Wren on Banksia’ 382L by Annaleey Crafts in South Australia. I tried to find them, but like so many companies, they seem to have disappeared.
These inky backgrounds were left over from some of my Christmas cards. I had put them aside as I felt they were a bit dark. Perfect for these cards though! They were done with variations of Distress Stain Sprays: Weathered Wood, Bundled Sage, Dried Marigold, Victorian Velvet and Spun Sugar.
The wrens and banksia were coloured in using watercolour pencils. I then added some lines of thin glue to ridges of the banksia before applying Ultrafine Flowersoft ‘Sand’ to create texture. Glossy Accents were used to highlight seedpods and birds eye and beak.
The Australian bush background and wording with above card are both by Stamp-it. Rather than stamp the bush background as a whole, I stamped the left and right sides of the image onto the opposing sides of the card (hope that makes sense). I first masked off the bird though so as not to have unwanted lines going across it when stamping the background on top. To do this just stamp the bird onto some scrap paper, cut it out, then sit it over stamped bird image to protect/mask it.
The Ancient Proverb wording with bluer card below is by Penny Black.
Finally back in my little house again after being away for the last month, but not for long, so taking the opportunity to have a play with this silhouette grass tree by Ultimate Crafts to make a few simple cards.
Bright pink would not be the obvious colour choice for a grass tree, but I like to do things differently sometimes. I sprayed the background paper with yellow, orange and pink Dylusion ink sprays first, before running the bottom half (which would be the tree trunk) through a Fiskars hand held corrugater. I then Magic Mounted the black card over the ink sprayed one, before assembling the remaining card layers.
This ‘Kookaburra on a Branch’ die (by Paper Rose) is my latest acquisition, though personally I feel his beak is not long enough. I have matched it with their “Gumleaves #2” die. The purple/blue background is from my reject box, a shaving cream experiment gone wrong. I never throw anything away, even if it’s ugly, as it could be just what I’m looking for one day.
2 x Gumleaves cut out 
Seedless Preserves sponged over any white leaves. Liquid Pearls added to gumnuts. 
Kookaburra & branch coloured in. Blue Liquid Pearl splotches highlight wing. 
White circle sponged with gold, then spritzed with Perfect Pearl spray. 
I chopped the leaves up a bit to position around
I couldn’t put my koala die away until I had at least attempted a Christmas card with it!
(Note: I have finally worked out how to post my cards at a larger size once again, hooray!)
Firstly cut out whole koala die in dark brown card, then cut out koala only in lighter grey card. I sponged around the koala body with Coffee Archival ink then Magic Mounted him over darker counterpart.
I stamped Santa Hat onto white card, coloured it in, then cut it out. Attach to top of koala’s head.
Run a pigment ink pad around edge of circle, then emboss with gold embossing powder.
Fold backing card of dark moss green. Attach white square card onto front.
Cut a circle of white card slightly larger than koala circle. Sponge this with Shabby Shutters Distress ink. Glue into middle of card front.
Stamp Santa & kangaroos in black ink across top third of circle, masking off where needed in order to elongate design. I used a T-grid to help me line them up.
Stamp Christmas wording in black ink at bottom right. 
Glue koala circle over green one – and your card is finished!
die: Koala in Tree by Paper Rose
stamps: Kangaroo Sleigh, Christmas Hat and wording – all by Stamp-it
To colour or not to colour ? Hmm, that is the question…
die: Koala in Tree by Paper Rose
stamp: Gumnut Flower 4851E by Stamp-it
