Valentine Curio Box featuring Gelli Prints and a Tutorial

When I saw Christy's awesome mixed-media curio box I was inspired to pull mine out and finally make something. Valentine's Day seemed like a perfect topic as love is celebrated year round so it can stay out and not look too theme-y.

This project was a great way to use some of my favorite Gelli prints that I shared in my last posts here and here.

Here's a close up of some of the cells:

The edges were a perfect way to highlight some of my favorites:

And here's the back, I just loved this print and wanted to make sure it had the chance to shine:

One of the fun things Christy did was make a foil heart. I loved her tutorial but I've always made mine a little differently so I thought I'd share my process. Basically, the difference is that I cover my foil with masking tape and then gesso it instead of trying to Mod Podge paper to the foil. To be honest, I haven't had any luck doing that - I'm all thumbs. Masking tape makes it easy :-)

Ta-Da! 

Your very own light-weight, practically-free, custom, mixed-media embellishment.

Or if you want to watch the video, here's a link: http://vine.co/v/bJUF06giIh2

(OMG! Vine is a hoot, no? Look me up there so we can hang out.)

Available on Etsy

Linked up at Tatertots and Jello

Gelli Print Mono-Printing Part 2

This is the second part of the post showing all that Gelli Plate fun I was having last week. You can see the first part of the post HERE

For this one I wrote into the paint with a  Q-tip.

For the ghost print I added white paint and printed over teal

You'll see this paper prominently in an upcoming Valentine's Day project

This is another print made with layered stencils

Don't forget to roll out your excess paint and dab off your stencils into your art journal

And here's a few of my favorite prints from this Gelli Plate session:

For these ones I used a large focal-image stencil creating both a positive and negative print:

Did you recognize the sunburst behind him?

Hope this gave you a glimpse into a few of the ways you can use your Gelli Plate. 

Warmly,

~~~Nicole

Hearts Art Journal Page

(click to see this full-sized)

After all that printing I had a lot of perforated edges from the paper pad I took apart. So of course I had to paint and stamp them :-)

Instant rainbow-hued texture.

Then I added some gesso to soften the edges.

Next I cut some hearts out of magazine pages, blocked them out with pale cream paint and painted the gesso teal. It was pretty random looking so the play part began and voila!

A little outline, journaling, paint splatters, letter stickers (thanks for the idea Donna Downey) and suddenly it made sense.

So my husband came over to the table and asked me in such a hopeful voice what motivating quote was I adding to my page.  I replied,

"In the end, people will judge you anyway"

LOL. 'Nihilist' is trouncing 'Perky' of late. *shrug*

Here's some close ups:

This is my entry for the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge,

What are you known for?

I think I'm known for my brightly colored mixed-media work using lots of red, yellow, bright pink and orange. I also try to creatively recycle unusual paper waste in my projects (here the perforations) and I always add a lot of stamping to my backgrounds - this one used Stampers Anonymous Cling Rubber Stamps 2012 CLASSICS #6 Tim Holtz. In addition to this I usually add strips of printed quotes, some with a bit of an edge and a lot of stenciling.

Hope you enjoyed this :-)

Warmly,

~~~Nicole