Hi everyone! It’s Shari here, back with my Art Journal Feature for April… no foolin!!

I had so much fun playing with the Gel Press yesterday and had another idea. As I was playing I noticed that I could add and remove paint from the Gel Press using my brayer. So the wheels were turning thinking that I could add color in small areas and layer them up creating a distress painted background for my art journal.

I love how my background turned out. I also used the Mini Brocade stencil from The Crafter’s Workshop with Wendy Vecchi’s Violet Archival ink. I didn’t want to clutter up my page and hide the background too much, so I wend with a Typography look using the Tim Holtz Alphas Transparency Tiles, Lace die cut and title. To finish things up, I added Hydrangeas which were die cut from painted paper.

Using black for my title with Alpha tiles and lace border really pop against the background. My last finishing touch was to add Black Enamel Accents to the centers of the flowers. Viloa!

I have filmed the entire process which you can view in the video below, or watch on our YouTube channel HERE.

Blog Candy Alert!! Follow our blog via email and comment on this post for a chance to win a special blog candy!

Thanks for reading today, I hope you have a great weekend!

Hi everyone! Welcome back to the blog! I’m showing you some papers that I made while playing with my Gel Press and some paints. I must admit, mono printing may seem intimidating, so I’ve broken it down to a couple simple techniques.

The first thing when starting out is to stay in color families with your paint. I think this is the best way to achieve success. I have tried creating print on a variety of papers. They all work but I prefer high quality printer paper as it allows me to press in and around my stencils. These first prints use yellows, oranges, reds and even a hint of pink. I’ve used my brayer to blend paints, and create interesting marks.

My next set uses blues, green and turquoise. You can create just a multi colored background with brayer marks, or go further and use an Impressable and stencils for layering.

Also, use the paint on the press to get multiple “pulls”. You can also get positive and negative prints from using stencils.

As a quick note; be sure to use your Gel Press on a glass, craft mat or other slick surface. The Gel is made of infused mineral oil and can stain wood or absorbent surfaces. I’ve filmed my playtime which will show you how easy it is to do printing with your Gel Press. You can watch it below or on our YouTube channel HERE.

Blog Candy Alert!! Follow our blog via email and comment on this post for a chance to win a special blog candy!

I hope I’ve given you some inspiration to try something new for your projects. Enjoy!

Hi friends! Happy Thursday! Thanks for stopping by! As National Craft Month winds down, we’d love to see what projects you’re working on! We will reward three randomly drawn people who share with a special bundle of crafty goodies! Share what you’re working on below for a chance to win! We will draw the winners early next week!