Paper Arts Bulletin

Just playing around with mixing colors and shapes on the Gelli plate.  Inspired by Jane Davies and Joan Gillman Smith (but nowhere near that good.)  A word to the wise. You've probably seen a lot of videos and pictorials on how to use the Gelli plate. I know I have. I've also been making prints for months and been mostly dissatisfied with the results.  A lot of the videos and tutorials I've seen show people putting several dollops of paint onto the Gelli plate. I was doing the same thing until just a few weeks ago. I've realized that I have been using waaaaaayyyy too much paint.   Of course, your mileage may vary, but if you want crisper images from your Gelli prints, try using far less paint than you have been.  For the 8 x 10 plate, I would suggest just a few drops* of fluid acrylics or one small dollop of soft-bodied tube acrylics, such as Liquitex student-grade paints. Add a little glazing medium or open medium to keep the paint wet. ...

Inspired by this post (and give-away) from the Gelli Arts blog, I decided to make a few prints using my Gelli plate and ordinary household items.  I'm a big believer in using what you have in paper arts, so that post is right up my alley.  For my prints, I used plastic wrap, wax paper, bubble wrap, a paper towel tube, and rubber bands wrapped around an acrylic stamping block to create texture.   By the way, if you want to enter the give-away on the Gelli Arts blog, hurry.  The deadline to enter is Tuesday, May 26, 2015 at 12:00 noon EDT.    Pictures of the supplies I used and the resulting prints are below. I used plastic wrap, wax paper, an empty paper towel roll, Golden fluid acrylic paints, and bubble wrap to make my first set of prints from household items. Supplies I used for the first series of prints.   First-pull prints overprinted on the same sheet of paper. I did not try to line up the print registration each ...

. . . sort of.  Interweave's Create Mixed Media Retreats, week-long retreats at several locations throughout the United States, are, sadly, no more.  The events apparently fell victim to belt-tightening at F+W.   Create/Cloth Paper Scissors will have a one-day Art Journaling Live retreat on June 18, 2015, in conjunction with the Creating Keepsakes Great American Scrapbook Convention in Arlington, Texas.   Mixed media stars Dina Wakley, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, Nathalie Kalbach, and Mary Beth Shaw will be the instructors.  Details are here.    FYI:  Cloth Paper Scissors held a similar event in October 2013, with Dina Wakley, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, Pam Carriker, and Traci Bautista as the instructors.       

Just a quick post today on an easy stamping technique and a giveaway (not mine).  Tina Fussell of A Subtle Revelry uses rubber bands, acrylic stamp blocks, and ink pads to create simple stamped designs on paper and fabric.  See her gorgeous results here.   H/T to the Gelli Arts Facebook page .   Speaking of which, Gelli Arts is giving away a Brother ScanNCut.  Hurry!  Contest ends Tuesday, April 28, 2015 at 12:00 noon EDT.  (They say EST, but since no one is on EST right now, grrrrrr!*, I think they mean EDT. *Indiana resident who hates daylight saving time and would love to be on EST right now.  Will post my experiments with plastic bag printing soon!      

A quick list of links to inspire your creativity for the weekend.   All are related to printmaking.  Enjoy! Elise of Grow Creative has a tutorial on p rinting with Styrofoam packaging and craft paints.    Jane Davies has a giveaway of Golden Open Acrylics on her blog .  Hurry, though.  She plans to post the winner Monday, April 13th.   You can still watch the videos and participate in the forum and gallery of Traci Bautista's free Strathmore online workshop.   While Traci is no longer posting new content, the  videos will be available until December 31, 2015.   Jenny Robinson's Printmaking Blog bills itself as "Everything you need to know about printmaking, and more . . ."  Sounds just about right.  Stop by Printeresting for a compendium of printmaking topics. Read all about "The Do's and Don'ts of Gelli Plate Printing" at the Keetons's Office & Art Supply blog. Carla Sonheim offers a self-p...

Just some simple cards I made in spring colors—a powder blue card base, Mustard Seed Distress ink background, and Rouge Colorbox Fluid Chalk ink for the spirals.  These cards are quick, easy, and cheerful.   The "Thank You" stamp is from Inkadinkado, and the "Get Well Soon" sentiment is by Stampabilities.  The Galaxy Spiral stamp is from Judikins.  The stamp could easily be used as fireworks on an Independence Day card and could be a good image for cards with retro or mod themes.    

Had to do the usual Saturday errands.  I'd eaten breakfast at about 5:30 a.m.—not my norm, by any means—so by the time I got home, I was ready for something quick. I'm not normally a fan of frozen pizza, but with a few additions, they can be pretty good.  At Aldi, I bought a Reggio sausage pizza, some spring salad mix, cremini mushrooms, and grape tomatoes. While the oven was preheating, I cleaned and prepped a few mushrooms and tomatoes. Once the pizza was baking, I sauteed the mushrooms and tomatoes and made a quick dressing for the salad.  Pictures—not the best due to the lighting in my kitchen—are below.  The pizza, mushrooms, and grape tomatoes from Aldi I sauteed the mushrooms and tomatoes at the same time. Normally, I would saute the mushrooms first, then add the tomatoes when the mushrooms were almost done.  Hunger dictated a shortcut, however.    Spring Mix salad greens Also from Aldi:  olive oil, white wine vine...