#The100DayProject: Days 81-90

 Woo hoo!  10 days to go...I'm feeling accomplished.  The gel plate has been used daily over the past 10 days.  At some point these cards may have some more work done on them, but for now, here they are...

Day 81 (Day 3 of the Birgit Koopsen Gel Printing Challenge - Handmade Stencil:  tyvek envelope, Sharpie, X-acto knife, acrylic paint, gel plate

Day 82 (Day 4 of BKGPC - Pill strips):  Pill strip, acrylic paint, gel plate

Day 83 (Day 5 of BKGPC - something from nature): trailing geranium leaves, acrylic paint, gel plate

Day 84 (Day 6 of BKGPC - cotton swabs):  cotton swabs, hot glue, wine cork, acrylic paint, gel plate

Day 85/100 (Day 7 BKGPC - random found object): acrylic paint, gel plate, aluminum can tabs, matte gel, cardboard

Day 86/100 (Day 8 BKGPC - sewing thread): eyelash yarn, acrylic paint, gel plate

Day 87/100 (Day 9 BKGPC - bottle cap): bottle cap, acrylic paint, gel plate

Day 88/100 (Day 10 BKGPC - lace):  stencil, alcohol inks, acrylic paint, gel plate, Copic markers, Pitt pen, Signo Uniball gel pen, snarky stickers, paper scraps, book text

Day 89/100: acrylic paint, paper napkin, speedy carve, carving tools, dye ink, Posca marker, paper scraps, pencil, needle & thread, book page

Day 90/100: I've been watching a collage artist over the past couple of months who uses beautiful handmade papers.  I caved, didn't scope my stash, and bought some.  As soon as they arrived (i.e. today) I busted them out to use on this card. Acrylic paint, gel plate, packing tape, rice paper, mark-making paper, handmade papers.

Only 10 days to go...I think I'm going to make it through the whole 100 days this year - woo hoo!

#The100DayProject: Day 41-50

Half-way there!  I usually feel artistically wiped out by this point but there have been so many fun challenges and things going on that the time has flown by.  Here's what happened over the last 10 days...

Day 41 (Days 5 & 25 of MPC: feathers, sparkle)  The feather die/stamp set has been in my stash a long time.  Also used gel pen, acrylic paint, gel plate, metallic paint

Day 42 (Day 26 of MPC: fruit)  The bowl and strawberries were cut from gel printed index cards in the stash.  Also used a green paper scrap and Pitt pen.

Day 43 (Day 28 MPC: favorite movie)  Acrylic paint, gel plate, cardboard piece, hand cut mask

Day 44: (Day 29 of MPS: Animal)  Acrylic paint, reindeer die (mask), grass border die, birch tree dies, paper scraps and pre-gel printed index card

Day 45 (Day 30 of MPC: botanicals)  Tattered Leaves dies (old!) and gel print papers, Pitt pen

Day 46 ( Day 31 of MPC: signs of spring) Posca pens, acrylic paint, gel plate, matte medium

Day 47: Dina Wakley stamp (old!), embossing powder, Versamark ink,
paper scraps (old!)

Day 48: Sigma Micron pen, gel pens (white & metallic), Distress Stains

Day 49: pre-gel printed index card, washi tape, Stampin Up rubber stamp (old!), tissue paper, thread, paper scrap, matte medium

Day 50: paper scraps, sheet music, Carabelle Studios stamp, gel print, gel pen, acrylic paint, gel plate, Distress inks

That's it for now.  See you in 10 days!

Altered Tea Bag Box

 When I'm on a creative roll and The Muse is itching to play all day my work space can get a little chaotic.  Challenges like ICAD or The 100 Day Project really get that going and I noticed that my completed cards (for The 100 Day Project) were starting to get scattered around my desk and lost in clutter.

When I first participated in ICAD a few years ago I altered a tea bag box to store the cards in.  The box is the perfect size for 3" x 5" index cards.  (You can see that box HERE.)  The other day as I was glancing around the studio I spotted my collection of ICAD boxes on the shelf.  Lightning Bolt!  Time to create a box for the latest project.  Not only is it fun to look at it perched on my desk awaiting more creations but it inevitably leads me to wandering through my cards to see my progress so far; that's a good motivator.

In the spirit of  my 100 Day theme (using under-used supplies or items that have been in my stash for ages) I went through my gel print and washi tape stashes to find these oldies but goodies.  I opted to decorate the inside and outside because I think it just looks nicer - especially in the beginning stages where it's not very full yet.

I love monoprinting on book pages and I love this green.  It makes me think of wandering in one of our beautiful Pacific Northwest forests with dappled sunlight peeking through the branches.

Looking forward to filling this baby up.  Have a great day!

A Week (give or take a couple of days) In The Life Of Julie

 That's a very dramatic-sounding title.  It had been quite a week or so though.  The hubs had the contagion aka Covid and was in quarantine in the back of the house for a week.  (He's doing fine now.)  The plus side of that is that I had a bit more time in the studio...glass half full so to speak.

Here's what I was up to...

Inspired by Drew Steinbrecher, I created my own stencils to use on the gel plate.  Several pulls later I cut and stamped some of the prints to make a page in my art journal using the Creative Jumpstarts lesson from Nancy Curry.

I wish I remembered where I got this idea.  I love using book pages in my art.  Somewhere I saw an artist making a bunch of marks in a book and leaving the pages in there.  Brilliant!  Neat and tidy storage, marked up and ready to go, and easy to find.  I started marking up the pages in an old book I've been ripping pages out of.

This little book holds a quote that I found on my Well Said Pinterest board.  I love it and it is perfect for the Creative Jumpstart theme of  "Connections".  Really happy with the way this turned out.  Bits of inspiration from both Dee Dee Catron's and Tina Walker's lessons in CJS.

Next up is another little book I made after watching Tania Ahmed's CJS lesson.  It stared with a masterboard (or a few in my case).  I also went through my gel print stash and picked out prints that had been in there for a while.  I hadn't used them before because they were 1) too pretty or 2) too ugly or 3) too busy or 4) too boring or 5)...you get the idea.  These suckers just needed to find a home elsewhere.  I'm planning on using this mini journal to just play around in during quickie art sessions.

Before I made the masterboards above I thought I was going to an all-green bunch of pages.  I had a delightful gel printing session that left my work space awash in a sea of lovely greens...

A couple of days ago I arted up one of the pages in this little mini book.

There's more; I made some ATCs and some cards, but I think we've saturated the blog feed enough for today.

Cheers!

Using My Gel Print Scraps

 I'm sure I've confessed here before that I'm a wee bit of a hoarder when it comes to paper scraps.  It's ridiculous really, but, in my defense, I really do dig into the stash and use them...EXCEPT for my gel prints.  They're just so pretty!  Reality is setting in though and I'm resigning myself to using up the little gems.  Today I've been working on Christmas cards...

This doesn't even scratch the surface of my stash but it's a start.

Ho ho ho!

Justifying Art Supplies - Gel Print Napkins

 My husband doesn't give me too much grief about my ridiculous stash of art supplies most of the time.  But when he bravely steps foot into my creative space he is usually aghast at all of the stuff I have.  I tend to feel compelled to justify it.  This project puts my gel plate and acrylic paints firmly in the yes-I-DO-need-all-this-stuff camp.

I had some fabric paint in my stash, but not much, so I used a fabric medium that made regular acrylic paint work on fabric to be washed.  I'm so happy with the way these turned out.  Too bad about the whole pandemic thing...no dinner parties any time soon...

Happy Creating!

Fall Trees ATC

I have a good stash of gel prints and the 'fall trees' theme for this ATC swap was the perfect opportunity to use some up.  The tree border dies are from Lawn Fawn.  I LOVE these tree dies but hardly ever use them.  Anyone out there a hoarder of cool things that you don't get around to using?  (gulp...don't spill the beans to the hubs.  LOL)

Anyway, several years ago I made an accordion ATC and decided to do the same here.  Imagine frolicking in crunchy multi-colored leaves on a crisp fall afternoon.  I did!

Thanks for swinging by today.  Happy Autumn!