Monday, July 10, 2017

Eleven Cards with Gelatos Backgrounds

This is my second blog post for today. If you haven't seen the first one (Blogger sometimes does weird things), you can view it here.

Over at StampNation, we just finished up a masterclass with Faber-Castell in which we learned about Gelatos and techniques for using them as well as mediums such as Whipped Spackle and gel medium. I think I could use what I learned to play with my Gelatos for a long time without getting bored!

I sat down one day and made a bunch of backgrounds just to get a feel for Gelatos and try out some of the techniques that were taught. Many of the backgrounds turned out well enough to make into cards, and following are the first eleven I finished.

Card 1: For this card as well as the second, I colored on cardstock and blended the pigment with my finger. This first card features some inlaid die cutting just for fun.


Card 2: The second of the finger-blended cards blended more easily because I primed the cardstock with gesso. In hindsight, I wish I had used a smaller piece of vellum for the sentiment layer.


Card 3: was finger-blended on cardstock without gesso. I then put a stencil over it and wiped out sections with a baby wipe.


Card 4: is the same technique as above with a different stencil. I was more aggressive with the baby wipe this time.


Card 5: is finger-blended color blobs that turned out looking a bit like an Impressionistic painting.


Card 6: The next three cards were made with white cover plates (A2 sized dies) over a blended background. I think they're pretty groovy.


Card 7:

Card 8:

Card 9: I think this might be my favorite from this batch of cards. I simply pushed Gelato pigment through a stencil using my fingers.


Card 10: I used the same stencil as above, but this time used a baby wipe again to remove the pigment. I think it's so cool how one stencil can create such differing results.


Card 11: This card almost didn't make the cut because I felt the black feathers were too overwhelming. I covered them with Wink of Stella (hard to see in the photo) and put them on a blended background that had been splattered with white and black pearlescent watercolors. It was better, but I still wasn't sure I liked it. I finally made peace with it once the tribal borders were added.


Not a bad show of work for a few days, eh? I still have nine more card backgrounds that I want to turn into cards, hopefully this week. I also hope to Mod Podge a bunch of really cool paper stencils I got from Faber-Castell... and play with my new Whipped Spackle... and paint with Gelato-tinted gel medium... and -- well, you get the idea. I better go get busy!

As ever, thanks for stopping by. I really do appreciate my subscribers! I'm toying with the idea of having a bit of Blog Candy when I reach my 500th post, which will be soon. (This one is #490, I think.) Is anyone interested?

Make my day and leave me a comment telling me which of the eleven cards I posted today is your favorite!

Big smiles,
Joyce Spear a.k.a. StamperJoyce
          

You Old Goat

When she saw the card in my last post, a friend of mine put a request in for a similar one with an "old goat" reference. My stamp set just happened to have a goat and a sentiment with the words "old goat" in them, so I was good to go. I had to splice the sentiment on the card front, but it turned out great:


Because this card is for my friend's husband, I chose more masculine colors than in the original card. The inside is the same idea, a cow holding a banner that says "Have a Moo-tiful Birthday."


Because this card will be hand-delivered, I could play a bit with the envelope, too:


I'm sure my friend's husband will get a kick out of the card. :)

* * * * * * * * * * * *
Coming up next: I've been playing with Gelatos pigment sticks and having a blast. I have 11 cards done so far and nine that are partially assembled... and I'm hoping to get into my Whipped Spackle and gel medium this week and create some more Gelatos backgrounds. Such fun!

Moo-tiful Smiles,
Joyce Spear a.k.a. StamperJoyce