Thank you for joining us for our last day of this years tag series! Huge THANKS goes out to the talented, generous ladies who shared their creativity with us during our 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist 2013! Thank you Jennifer, Julie, Ronda, Kittie, Kelly, Julia, Paula, Sharon, Teri, Jill, and Heather for the fabulous tags you shared with all of us this year!!!
THANK YOU also to all those of you who have shared your tags with us on our challenge post. You still have time to join in the fun by continuing to add your projects until Monday, December 16th! Each of your twists is an inspiration and we thank you for sharing your versions of our 12 tags series! We would also like to thank all those of you who have left comments for each of the designers! Your enthusiasm spurs us on and brings us joy - thank you for taking the time to do so. If you haven't yet had the chance there is still time before we host our drawings for the gift certificates we are giving away :)
It has been a VERY long time since I have had the opportunity to create and it was with a sense of trepidation that I began the process for creating the tag I am sharing with you today. Being out of touch with what the current trends are I googled 2013 Christmas Trends and found a beautiful pastel Christmas inspiration using soft pinks, pools and gold. Being that I am fascinated by the techniques and process involved in stamping I decided to use a couple of "new to me" products - the Gelli Arts Printing Plates and Tim Holtz Frosted Film.
In August my dear friend Lisa came for a "play date." I am so blessed to have such a dear friend who is also an amazing teacher! It was at that time that she shared the "ins and outs" of the Gelli Art printing process. You can also see the fabulous tutorial using Gelli Plates that Julie created showcasing this fun mono-printing process here.
To begin label the protective sheets of the Gelli Arts plates using a Sharpie. This will help ensure the correct storage of the Gelli plates so that you can reuse them many times. Once labelled remove the protective sheets and place the Gelli plate on a piece of acetate or plastic. This keeps the bottom side of the plate clean and protected while allowing you to easily move your plate from place to place as you work. Store the original sheets in the packaging for storing your Gelli plate after you have completed your project. I use hand sanitizer to help remove all little tidbits of paint from the printing plate before rinsing with clean water, allowing the plates to dry and then replacing the protective sheets and putting the plate back into the original packaging for storage.
Die cut a pine branch out of cardstock and cover both sides with gesso - allow to dry. This creates a much sturdier piece that will work wonderfully for printing on your Gelli plate. Just think of all the many stencils and print making supplies you already have in your "stash" when you use your dies to create these fun tools!
Squeeze small amounts of Studio Paint on to a non-stick craft sheet - I used three different reds - Dash of Red, Modern Red, and Painterly Pink. Use an ink blending tool to sponge the different colors on to the branch.
"Bokeh" is another huge trend this year. Create a bokeh effect on your printing plate by randomly dotting Adirondack Metallic Pearl and Gold Acrylic Paint Dabbers on the Gelli Plate. Allow to fully dry.
Randomly "stamp" the painted pine branch on the Gelli plate. I was able to get two branches stamped before reapplying paint to the branch. Allow to fully dry before proceeding.
If you work quickly you can easily use Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers and Studio Semi-Gloss Acrylic Paint to create your mono prints. If you work more slowly all you need to do is add some Extra Time to your paints before proceeding. Julie's Bristol cardstock is ideal for creating monoprints. Be certain to have all supplies at the ready when you create your final print for pulling.
To create the ombre effect with the paint work light to dark from the top left corner down to the bottom right. Remove the caps from the dabbers and drizzle a small amount of Juniper in the top right corner, Pool diagonally through the center and Studio Sky Blue in the lower right corner of the 8x10 Gelli Plate. You need very little paint - less is definitely more when it comes to monoprinting. Use a brayer to spread the paint evenly and lightly over the plate surface.
Immediately place your 8 1/2"x11" sheet of Bristol to the surface and rub your hands or brayer evenly over the entire surface. Lift a corner to ensure that you are pulling all layers of paint. Pull your first print.
Pull a second "ghost print" by immediately placing a second sheet of Bristol to the surface. Once again rub your hands over or brayer the entire surface. For this print I rub several times to ensure pulling as much of the final paint as possible. You will notice that the upper right hand side is not well defined. One of two things happened here - perhaps my remaining paint had dried too much or perhaps I didn't rub the surface evenly enough. The fabulous thing about monoprints is that each is unique and showcases a unique beauty. This piece ended up having a more snowy effect and is stunning in person. I could have easily chosen it for my final tag, but I wanted a little more striking color scheme so I went with my first pull for the final tag.
To create the ornament portion of my tag I wanted to experiment with a technique that I saw showcased on the Gelli Arts YouTube channel where they used packing tape. Tim Holtz has always inspired me and when I saw the tag he did for December using his Frosted Film this idea hit. Would the Frosted Film work as a suitable replacement for packing tape? It has a fabulous crystal like surface and would easily cover the Gelli plate! Yes, it was a monkey-clapping experience when the idea struck and was successfully completed!!
I once again used the non-stick craft sheet to "ink" my brayer with a multitude of paint colors to create my ombre colored ornament. For this portion of the project I once again used Studio Dash of Red, Modern Red, Painterly Pink and Adirondack Pearl.
Create a mask by diecutting two strips of Reynolds Freezer Paper using the Vintage Lace die. I place the shiny side of the Freezer Paper against the Gelli Plate and gently rub it into place. Brayer directly over the Freezer Paper masks and immediately pull the lace strips away from the surface showcasing the bold "lace" strips.
Once again think of the incredible number of masks/stencils you can create by cutting Freezer Paper with your dies!!!
As you can see I diecut the shape of my ornament as a reference before beginning so that I would get exact placement of paint colors and strip location.
Allow to fully dry before proceeding.
"Ink" the stamp using Adirondack Gold Metallic Paint Dabber and stamp over the ombre colors. Allow to fully dry before proceeding. It is essential that all paint is completely dry before you being the next step!
To cut the Frosted Film I like to work with the steel-edged Tim Holtz Design Ruler and the Fiskars FingerTip Craft Knife. To hold the Film in place I use the Basic Grey Magnetic Precision Mat - the magnets make this a much easier process!
Remove the backing from the Frosted Film and smooth the Film (sticky surface to Gelli painted surface) over the painted surface. Rub evenly over the entire surface several times. Slowly pull back the film and admire your beautiful film. If little bits of paint still remain on your Gelli plate simply allow the film to go back into place and rub again gently with your fingertip until the paint sticks to the film.
Lay the film flat on your work surface sticky side up. On the sticky back side brush Perfect Pearls to the open areas. I brush Perfect Pearls over the entire back surface to ensure that no stickiness remains.
Turn over and apply a piece of Be Creative Tape to the front side of the Frosted Film. Remove the tape backing, apply and burnish Sahara MicroFine glitter to create the beautiful glittered stripe shown above.
To determine the best use of my monoprint I created a guide by simply diecutting a piece of copy paper and moving it around on my monoprint until I found the precise piece of the print I wanted to showcase. Diecut the tag from your monoprint.
Diecut the ornament shape from the tag and apply the Frosted Film print to the back side using Be Creative tape to hold it in place.
Apply gesso to the pine branch used for printing, dab with Pearl Adirondack Metallic Paint and apply a little of the Sahara glitter to the branch. Complete the tag with a Sahara glittered reinforcement and ornament cap and a silk ribbon.
Now it's your turn! Create a trendy colored tag, use a Gelli Plate, stamp using paint, add a Bokeh effect to a tag - the choice is yours - just come and join in the fun! I can tell you that it felt amazing to finally create a project once again! I am so excited to see what you create using this tag as your inspiration :)
Once again thank you for joining us for the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist!!
And that completes our 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist! I hope you have enjoyed this series as much as we have - Christmas is such an inspiring time of year! This is your last opportunity to win a chance at a gift certirficate to our store so be certain to leave your comment below to be eligible for the random drawing of the $25 gift certificate to our store www.ellenhutson.com - be certain to do so before noon on December 13th to be eligible (one comment per person please.) Remember to leave comments on all 12 tags for a chance at each day's blog candy! Your words are appreciated so much! Winners will be announced soon - it could be you! Wishing you much happiness and many joyful moments this holiday season - Merry Christmas!
