Earth Day 2016 - There's no place like home

"Sooner or later, we will have to recognise that the Earth has rights, too, to live without pollution. What mankind must know is that human beings cannot live without Mother Earth, but the planet can live without humans." 
Evo Morales
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Thank you for joining our first Gel Press Blog Hop!  We will have a challenge every month!  This gives you the opportunity to play along AND win a Gel Press for yourself!  This month you can win an 8" Round Gel Press Plate!!  

This is my project

Like Dorothy says..."There's no place like home and well, planet Earth IS our home. I know that for the most part we all try and do our best, we recycle, don't litter etc. but, try to add something new as often as you can...plant native plants to your area, take care of the honey bees, compost, recycle junk mail into new paper...there are so many things really if we just look for them!

You might notice that I used "Kansas City" as Dorothys' home although L. Frank Baum never specifically mentioned where Dorothy lived in Kansas. 

Artistic license  :)  ::jazz hands::

lol

Enter by going to all of the blogs.   Leave a comment on the Gel Press Blog telling us your favorite project!  You can comment between now and April 7!  Winner to be announced on Gel Press Junkies on FB and Gel Press product page April 8th!  You will have your 8" Round Gel Press to make a project to play along with our Earth Day designs April 22! Enjoy the projects and good luck!

Gel Press Blog 

Ann

Cindi

Cyndi

Elena

Kathy

Keri

Kristi

Lea

Sandee ( you are here )

Teresa

How many different Gel Plates have you ever used for one project? I managed to use 3 for mine! 

Now, I could do a step out but frankly that would be a whole bunch of pictures to show you so I made a short slideshow for you to enjoy!

Now an interesting bit of trivia ( at least it was for me )

Dorothy's last name is Gale....lol...gotta love the pun, I mean they couldn't name her tornado so Gale is definitely apropos!

Full Definition of gale. 1 a : a str

ong current of air: (1) : a wind from 32 to 63 miles 

per hour (about 51 to 102 kilometers per hour)

Thanks for looking, and if you’d like more inspiration, you can visit Gel Press on Pinterest or like our Facebook page  Gel Press and our fan group Gel Press Junkies.

Art journal flip

I have finally completed my mixed media journal, it has taken me 2½ years to fill up the book, because I also have watercolor journals too. I have a flip slideshow if you want to see all the pages.
my flip video

Now, what have I learned?

One of the worst pages ( I hate it anyway )is the most viewed on Youtube with 823 views is this one....I guess people like to watch angst, lol Maybe I am making them laugh..lol...

And that page is going to be one of the least understood pages because it belongs in a group where I did my first "tunnel" through 8 pages, so you can watch it here if you want to see a short tunnel flip. This suppose to be short flip shows why I didn't talk through the whole book flip, it would take me 10 hours once I get to talking...sheesh.

I have learned that not all mediums should be put in a journal no matter how much wax I applied to it the puffy paint still sticks. You can see where his eyebrows and beard are messed up from the page next to it.

That inks and paint can drip into the binding and ruin other pages that you love. :( I did this Rorschach style page...that I rather liked but the binding separated. After it dried I did add some tape to hold it toger and that worked pretty well.

This is the double spread that it messed up...

I learned to get somewhat creative with fixing the other pages where the binding got ruined because I tore out some pages and learned quickly not to do that, that is was way better to cover than to tear out. But I used paper towels that had "pretty" paint or ink as binding fixes and packing tape transfers worked great.

Now, I need to buy another journal and begin again :)

Peace

I love Face Book, or at least 90% of it anyway. What I love the most is when people band together in a nice way. I'd rather tune out the haters and the Negative Nancies out there, and try to surround myself with the positive people who would rather build you up than tear you down.

Anyway, that's the focus on my page today.

Focusing on the reinforcement and tuning out the Noise.

This is how my Gel Press print looked after the pull. 

I knew this one would be a keeper :)

Now...

I wasn't raised to be confrontational, rather was brought up with this phrase..."Kill them with kindness"...that's what my mother taught me. I'm not good at standing up for myself and hate to associate with people who just seem to like to argue and express anger. 

The more I looked at the figures on this page the more I thought about the "hippy generation" with their peace and love for one another. That we should really try to treat others as we would like to be treated....with love and respect.

When I found this quote it really fit the page...the 2 girls on the right who are facing the same way with their hands folded towards themselves seem to be saying "blah, blah blah...it's all about me and what I feel. Let me shout to the world that I am angry and you should all follow me on the bandwagon." While the girl on the left, facing the other way is holding up a peace sign...saying..."We should all get along, no one has the right to hurt anyones feelings."

But since I can't make everyone love each other or respect other people's feelings I just have to ignore them, take the higher road and pray for them to be nicer, to try and understand that we are all different, we are all unique and if you can't say something nice, just don't say it at all."

Entering my art journal page in:

Carolyn Dubes' - Find your supplies at the Hardware store
( I am looking forward to painting on sandpaper, lol )
and
The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #22 - photo inspiration
( found my inspiration in the colors )


supplies used:
8x10" Gel Press Plate
DecoArt paints
 Dyan Reaveley stencil
honeycomb stencil
Micron and Signo pens
music stamp 

Trending - coloring books

I see them everywhere, but why not make your own?

It's a lot more fun :)

I did and here is my video on how I made it:

Gel Press- Make your own coloring book

I did learn a couple of things when I made this book.

First off, little letters have a tendency to not stick so well after 5 or so pulls from your Gel plate. It's probably better to have extra sets and clean your plate every so often so they have a better surface to stick to. But I'm stubborn...I persevered!

Next, the crayons tags...I thought I was going to fussy cut each tag at first, this is the tag that is in the front of the book...also with an intro to coloring outside the lines. 

Although I like the crayon tips cut out I figured it would be too much wear and tear on them so for the rest of the Color Outside the Line pages I squared off the top cut.

confessions of paper addiction...

Is it bad that when a friend gives you a birthday present that you are secretly ogling the tissue paper it was wrapped in...

Is it bad that you actually ask your friends to use metallic Christmas wrapping paper and then give you all the scraps...plus wrap my present in it also...

Is it bad that after your great grand nephew's 2nd birthday party you offered to help clean up so you could grab all the brightly colored tissue paper and then try to secretly fold it up so you can sneak out with it?

Ah, the lengths I go to...and what has become of me...::waggling eyebrows::

I'm up over on the Arnold Grummer blog today with a card made from the birthday tissue paper, and you might be surprised at the 2 different types of paper I was able to make out of it too!

Packing tape + Gel Press plate = love

My first post with Gel Press!

I did an art journal page with one of my favorite technique...packing tape!

I hope you pop over and leave me some love, here is a sneak peek of my project. 

I also made a video in case you haven't heard of how to use packing tape along with your gel plate. It's really very easy and a lot of fun, plus it cleans your plate at the same time...win, win!!

Turn those clocks forward an hour!

quotes + gel printing = artists art journal

Playing some more today with my 3x5" Gel Press plate and having a blast. Today I experimented with packing tape and watercolor, just fun, fun, FUN to do.

I've decided to make an art journal with nothing but quote from artists whether they are writers, singers, painters, etc. I love the wisdom from inspiring people and I love quotes, so it was something that called to me to make.

I've never stamped on my Gel Press plate before so this was new to me but love the effect so I know I'll be doing it again! Discovered a great way to remove any traces of the stamp from your gel plates too, but I'll be discussing that Monday on my forst post with Gel Press!! I'm so excited to be on their team and looking forward to making LOTS of prints. :)

entering this in Simon Says A Bit O' Green challenge
and in
Carolyn Dube's challenge to find your art supplies at the Hardware store

There "bee" things I didn't know?

I just discovered that my Speedball brayer has interchangeable rollers!

::thud::...knock me over with a feather!

I've had this brayer for over 10 years and I never knew this? I seriously wonder about how many other things that are out there that I don't know about? lol Probably TONS! However, I did go and order the set of rollers to play with and can't wait for them to arrive.

In the meantime, I did go buy a baby brayer from Speedball, it's only 2" wide and it's almost as cute as the 3x5" gel plates by Gel Press. I couldn't wait to get back home and play with both of them! I needed to make my brother a birthday card so it was the perfect opportunity to create and have fun!

I used some stencils along with DecoArt paint to create the background, and cut out the bee from my Cricut. Such a fast and easy card, but I LOVE how it turned out. 

entering my card in

Simon Says Make Your Own Background Challenge

Live like it's spring!

My friend Jamie gave me all sorts of molds for my birthday, it's wonderful to have a friend who supports your new endeavors! The little flowers and the canvas are part of her gift to me so Jamie, this project was inspired by you! I'm up on the Creative Paperclay blog today and I would love for you to see my mixed media canvas I created using paperclay.

ColourArte Products and colors:

Twinkling H20's

Ginger Peach

Mandarin Citrine

Deep Coral

Primary Elements Art Pigments

Spanish Moss

Bolivian Blue

Flower Press Sale..oh my!

Spring is around the corner which means all those pretty flowers we love will be bursting forth from our gardens pretty soon. I love preserving flowers and using them in my crafts, I made a card over on the Arnold Grummer blog today where you can see how I used the tip of a fern. We are currently having a sale on our flower presses and I will make a recommendation to you. 

Get the large Microfleur press and I have 2 reasons why I am recommending this one. 

1. The microwave process is so fast you get instant gratification! 

2. The large one lets you press bigger leaves and flowers. ...can we say bonus?

And I get absolutely nothing for endorsing this sale, just the joy of passing along a bargain :)

Switching it up

Excuse the pun but there it is...I love altering switch plates. 

They are little pieces of art in themselves ♥

Carolyn created an awesome frame from a switchplate cover...but then Carolyn is awesome in her own right.

This is my newest one that I made which is in my art room, I am entering it in

A Colorful Journey - Turning hardware into art

I used an old paint brush on this piece, the bristles were splayed and it had a glob on glue on the tip of the handle so it was ready for art! I printed out a sentiment on the computer and glued it onto the brush handle and then added a sprig of flowers alongside it.

Here are some more of my "little canvases" I have hanging up

in the hallway... (made out of gel prints)

in the bathroom...( paint and collage)

and this one is some type of cover because they rewired the place and made an entire new outlet.

(mostly paint)

So you can see, I really like making them :)