Gel Print Wall Art

I watched a couple of videos this week about creating wall art with gel prints. Naturally, I want to try it. In the first example, you make a lot of layered gel prints in different colours, cut them into 1” strips of varied lengths and apply them to a canvas or board. I could not find a photo to show you, but it would look much like the jelly roll quilt below. The finished piece in the video had multiple colours, not the narrow colour selection like this quilt. Either would work, I think, depending on your personal preference.

The second wall art example was done in a grid formation using multiple 2”-3” squares with a white border around each. Again, this could be created with multiple colours or a monochromatic colour scheme. You can decide what size to make your creation depending on the size of frame you want to use or where you want to display it.

With this wall art goal in mind, I pulled out my supplies to make some gel prints. Well, I was unhappy with the results I was getting and stopped to re-group and re-evaluate the colour scheme I want to go with. The prints that I did pull became potential artist trading card backgrounds. I believe I have enough of those to last me quite a while now.

I will make another attempt at it to see if I can get better outcomes this weekend. Cross your fingers for me!

ATC Trading

I have nine new ATCs posted for trading on the Facebook group I belong to. I tried some new techniques with some of them this time. The middle one in the bottom row has already been claimed.

Here is the first batch that I received in March from different artists.

I realize that I seem to be choosing cards created using different techniques than I typically use, either because I don’t like doing it or don’t feel that I’m very good at it. For example, colouring line images is something that I don’t have the patience for and when I try, the results are not great. So I generally don’t do it. Trying to do something like the one below would put me in the looney bin, for sure.

Collage is another technique that I struggle with. Perhaps it is the perfectionist in me telling me that what I do is ‘not good enough’. But you will notice that I did put on the big girl pants and created collaged backgrounds for three of my new ATCs for trade. It is something that I will continue to work on.

But who knows, maybe some day I will even try colouring images again. And maybe I will get better at it and come to enjoy doing it. Never say never!

I Don't Know

There is a mysterious, unknown entity that lives in practically every home. It’s called ‘I Don’t Know’. I have never actually seen this elusive creature but I’m certain it is somewhere in my house. And it gets blamed for all manner of offenses or I’m directed to it for my answers.

‘Who broke my favourite mug?’ ‘I don’t know.’

‘Where are my slippers?’ ‘I don’t know.’

‘Do I need to pick up toilet paper this week?’ ‘I don’t know.’

‘Where is the small orange plate?’ ‘I don’t know.’

‘Who ate all my yoghurt?’ ‘I don’t know.’

If anyone ever finds this bothersome entity, please give him/her a kick in the butt for me. And tell them to stop breaking my stuff, stop eating my food, start answering my questions when asked and to stop hiding things from me. Thank you.

Hooked on Paper Pads

Over the years, I have accumulated quite a few patterned scrapbook paper pads. Alright, full disclosure here, ‘quite a few’ is a bit of an understatement. They come in various sizes, 6” X 6”, 6” X 8”, 8” X 8” and 12” X 12”. The bulk of what I have are the 12” X 12” size.

I keep telling myself not to purchase any new ones. I have so many, for every holiday or season of the year that I do not ‘need’ more. What I have will keep me crafting for years to come. However, I seem to get pulled in by the buy one/get one free and the post-holiday clearance sales.

Every once in a while, the dollar store has name brand, good quality paper pads for sale and the prices are phenomenal. Last week, I found some fabulous 6” X 8” Christmas themed ones for $3 each. They had five of them. I got them all. Originally, in a scrapbook store they would have cost $13 to $15 each, give or take. What a great deal, how could I resist?

My plan is to make Christmas greeting cards to send to friends & family and the smaller paper pads are perfectly scaled for that. I did start making some last year but the postal strike right around the holiday season interfered with sending them. I will try again this year.

About 7-8 years ago the dollar store had a lot of Martha Stewart paper pads and stickers for Valentine’s Day. I purchased a substantial amount, I won’t deny it. I’ve used some of what I picked up but I’ll be honest, I have a lot left. I was into making pocket letters at the time and used it for those mostly.

I know as much as I keep telling myself NOT to buy more, I will likely buy more down the line. I’m hooked on paper pads and I don’t think there is a ‘cure’ for it.

New Swap Group

I recently joined a new ATC (Artist Trading Card) swap group on Facebook. I dropped out of the ones I used to belong to early this year. I even archived groups that I personally set up for swapping. There were a number of reasons for this.

First, although the groups had lots of members, it was the same few that were participating in the swaps every time. Don’t get me wrong, I love the art I received from them and they inspired me to expand my horizons. But I wanted to ‘meet’ new artists and swap with them.

Secondly, there was a lot of negativity in some of the groups that I found annoying, and unnecessary. We’re all adults here, let’s play nice. The art I/you create might not be something you/I like and that’s okay. But please don’t trash people for it. Constructive criticism is good and helpful but downright nastiness is demeaning and disheartening, especially for beginners. We all started somewhere and everyone needs to keep that in mind when critiquing the work of others.

Sometimes, I look back at the cards I made 10 years ago and cringe (see below). They were so simplistic and crude compared to what I create now. My art has evolved over the years as I expanded my knowledge, experimented with new materials and techniques, and practiced my craft. I also watched LOTS of YouTube tutorials and learned from other artists that I had the privilege of interacting with.

I’m really enjoying this new group so far and look forward to trading ATCs with many different artists. The six cards pictured at the top of this post are the first ones that I made to trade and they were spoken for quickly. And there is nothing better after those difficult days than receiving a constant stream of happy mail! It’s time to make some more this weekend to post next week. Let the fun continue.