Let leonie loose...Carabelle and the wonderful Gelpress

Carabelle....how much do I love these stamps.  The designs, the quality.  The variety.  They're ace.  This weeks LLL show was made up of good worker stamps, you know, the sort that will be a good background for all your other stamps, dies, stencils...all your stash.  Use them with clay, angelina fibres, texture paste or lashings of paint.  Whatever...they will work.

I had my first proper play with the Gelpress.

Addicted.

Honestly, I'm having withdrawal symptoms...I had to do "other stuff" today, and quite frankly didn't want to.  Well, I say this, I wanted to combine it with the other stuff to be honest! Block printing on top of these backgrounds....that is definitely going to happen!






The joy of all the pieces is how easy they are.  I had to have a play to find my feet first of all, but when I got the hang of it, there was no stopping me.  The stamps are amazing, as you lift the paint off the Gelpress, and then take a print.  Layering, and adding more detail, colour and texture adds such depth to each piece.



It did help having a block of card stock at hand.  The Clarity card is perfect, it prints beautifully, and has been cut to the perfect size, so you can easily print in precisely the same place - making the ability to layer your images really simple.  I also used the paints from Barbara, these were the Viva Decor acrylic, and of course the Gel Press.













I used the stencil below, from Indigo Blu, quite a lot, as it's perfect for pulling out specific words, or using it for the full verse. 











Many of the layers were also using the bird stencil from Carabelle, which again is such a handy tool.  I also reached for my Mamma Makes stamps - always handy for journaling and art pieces.



Homework for myself.....who fancies a GelPress workshop next year?  :)

Easy backgrounds - Indigo Blu

What else did I get up to for my last show....wellllll....Lets get out the gilding flakes!

I "inked" my stamp up using the flitter glue, which I immediately cleaned off my stamp.  The glue stays sticky, so there's no panic about getting the flakes on in a rush.  I actually dusted a little pink mica over the stamped image first - not much, just enough to give the variation between the mica, and the flakes.  So, after dusting the mica, take the flakes and rub them into the glue, removing the excess with the texture sponge.

I used distress ink to add more colour, and texture, to my paper, overlaying the images so they blend together.

On the same decorative paper, I stamped my sentiment, which I simply cut out

I then inked round the edge of my paper, and the wording, and glued my sentiment in place.  I also mat and layered my paper in place.  

I added some of the thick slap it on over the sentiment - this will dry clear, so will look like a textured glaze

Indigo Blu - Gilding flakes and stunning stamps

Arrgh, my photo's are playing up - sorry, you'll have to view this at an angle!

Okay, so finally I've caught up, and can share a few goodies from this weeks Let Leonie Loose show.  I was using stamps, papers, stencils and gilding flakes, all from Indigo Blu.  First I took one of my papers, and stamped using staz on, and the circle stamp

I filled in the gaps with the edges of the butterfly stamp, which is really cool as it's just texture

Using the Flutter Glue I sponged through the mini mask

And then rubbed my gilding flakes onto my paper, removing the excess with the sponge

Here's another dodgy photo....tilt!  I mixed the mica powder with the thick slap it on, so make a lovely paste.  I used another of my tiny stencils, and slapped some of my paste onto my paper

Using my staz-on, I stamped onto acetate

The acetate is fab to go over your backgroud - play around with where it looks best.  I glued it in place using the thick slap it on, which gave it a little bit of texture as well

Using a scrap of the paper, I stamped one of the sentiment stamps, and tore the paper to just give me the main word.  I used the black ink pad to edge the paper

To finish, I wrapped string round the card, and stapled the string and sentiment in place, and mat and layered my card