30 Days of lists : The End

The last week of the lists.

How did I know what I was doing this time last year? 12 months ago I was still doing the calendar challenge and of course I have this blog to capture projects. I also have this delightful Kelly Rae Roberts date book gifted by a dear friend.

I used different pens to note down what i was reading/watching/creating/inspired by that year

and I'm still using it to write down what I'm reading/writing/creating each month.

I love to have this record.

Quotes that get me through the day/week/month

This was the base page for list 30 :  

Embossed tape lines from Creative Jumpstart by Nathalie Kalbach - go here and you can still get to the jumpstarts until June 2013 : Mouse over CJS 2013 in the top right, slide down to highlight The JumpStarters 2013 and they will all magically appear :-) This is the first technique - scroll down to the second video.
And here's the last list

Journal of 30 Days of Lists March 2013 completed

Good Friday

Hot glue fun

I feel like I've been watching and reading rather than doing as much as I'd like lately....can recommend this

and this

Watched this DVD from the library

Click here for a preview

I was attracted to it because I love text and texture. It was very worthwhile. I've also watched a few more of the letter love lessons but not tried the techniques until this one : Lesson 15 - lettering with a hot glue gun

Hot glue word written on card

A little colour added makes the lettering stand out.
It's very dimensional

One of her ideas was to write the letters on a non-stick surface to use later, and it reminded me of Traci Bautista's technique of making hot-glue stencils so I had a bit more fun on a baking sheet

And then I tested them with some sprays. Here are the circles sprayed with the glue stencil lying alongside

Layers of love and hearts

A fun technique that gives a lovely soft effect, and it makes me so happy that I'm using the hot glue gun again. It's been sitting in my cupboard unloved for many years.

Printing Playday

Had a fabulous couple of hours printing with friends the other day.

My new Gelli plate ready to print

Over the previous week I'd watched a couple of very good dvds from the library about collage, pattern and printing by Anne Bagby.

Click here for a preview

Click here for a preview

She is an expert on getting fabulous prints from tiles so I had high hopes for my printing on glass experiments. Alas, very disappointing.

Left print from Gelli Plate - Right print from Glass

I will try the glass printing just one more time - perhaps a day just devoted to glass printing might help me focus on what went wrong. But for now my answers to the question : Why would you use a Gelli plate instead of a glass plate?
1. The Gelli plate is a fun and easy option for the new user - we had hardly any prints that weren't successful

2. More flexibility of mark-making options - the stencils and masks work brilliantly with the gelli plate - last time the stencils didn't work at all on the glass when left in place

Left print pulled with stencil in place
Right print second pull with stencil removed

3. You can get very detailed images from the Gelli plate

Deli paper (dry waxed paper) is a wonderful surface to print to. It was hard to source in New Zealand under that name, but this lunchwrap brand seems to do the job nicely - a great cheap option.

The foam plates I'd made worked brilliantly.

And this is the print I got from the plate to clean it after making the marks on the gelli plate - works well as a stamp

The background to the plate below is combination of foam plate (triangles), bubble wrap, a seed head stamp, and the swirls are a piece of card from an embossing machine. The bird is a mask

And this is the resulting print

The magic of revealing a masked plate ::

But it could be better. I love how these turned out from Rhonda on sheet music and a book page.

The mask of the lady now covered in lovely paint will be a great new collage element somewhere

And some prints started off as a 'failure' - the below paint was too light on the deli paper. Pulled again onto dark card, Katherine created this gorgeous ethereal piece

It is so worth getting friends together for a playday, because you learn so much more from each other than doing it alone. What if....

Both friends want a Gelli plate of their own now - totally sold on how fabulous they are.
I think this is only part 1 of a series of posts on gelli printing - had fun with the first layer, but lots more needs to happen here....stay tuned

Still listing

Not great art, but these pages capture my responses to the prompts of 30 days of lists.

List 16 : this month's soundtrack

List 17 : my bio would include tales of

List 18 : so far this year, I ...

List 19 : in the next year, I will ...

List 20 : i do not regret

List 21 : today's weather reminds me of

List 22 : roadtrip playlist

Only 1 more week of lists

Foam fun

I've been preparing for a printing playday tomorrow - we're going to play with gelli and glass plate printing. Saw a fab idea on the Gelli Arts blog : Making foam texture plates for Gelli printing
Found a pack of foam shapes for $3

I've had fun creating some graphic plates

This top one will be nice to edge a corner

Can't wait to try them out tomorrow