Framed Flowers

These bold bright flowers were printed using alcohol inks and the TCW stencil ‘framed flowers’ on the gel plate. I created several prints from one application of alcohol ink and each print became lighter and less distinct than the last. I have a video on my youtube channel showing the same process using a different stencil and ink colours. (Speaking of YouTube, I’m a guest on Craft Roulette this week! Just click here on Friday round 7:30 EST

Today I am posting two rather different results but the application of alcohol ink was done only once, with isopropyl alcohol added to dilute the remaining ink on subsequent prints. I have posted another print from the same session, you can see it here.

Today’s prints do look very different and that is not only because this muted one pulled less ink from the plate. The first print at the top of the post was pulled with white acrylic paint which shows the colours at their brightest. This second print was pulled with gold paint which leaves a subtle shimmer on the panel and dulls the colours of the inks. I love playing with the variables and the fact that I get very different results from one application of ink.

Whether I used a 5″x7″ or a 6″x6″ gel plate I can usually save a strip of printed pattern for my envelope. Today’s post features affiliate links to the following companies. If you buy through these links I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. The Foiled Fox & Scrap’n’Stamp.

See you on Friday in the Craft Roulette chat!

Collage Skates

Posted: December 13, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Dies, gel press, let's skate, Penny Black | Tags: gel press, gel printing, Penny Black creative dies, Taylored Expressions | 1 Comment

This was one of last year’s Christmas cards made during my collage Christmas card class. All the strips of colour are from gel prints. If you look closely you can see some grungy texture and pattern. None of the prints were amazing by themselves but when combined I quite liked the mix and pattern.

I used the Penny Black die set ‘let’s skate’ to cut two skates from the collage panel then popped them up on an embossed panel and added a Taylored Expressions sentiment from her ‘simple strips’ Christmas stamp.

I made many collage cards last year because I have so many gel prints to collage and many dies that worked for cutting. There were trees, bells, stars, poinsettia, stockings, baubles and more trees! I hope this is another idea you’ll try with your gel prints or any patterned papers or tapes. Washi tapes work well because the adhesive is already there!

Tree Canopy

Posted: November 7, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, gel press, The Crafters Workshop, tree canopy | Tags: Alcohol Ink, gel press, gel printing, The Crafter's Workshop | 8 Comments

Some might say this print didn’t work and I admit, that was my first thought when I looked at it. On later inspection I decided I really liked its imperfection and incomplete nature. The technique is alcohol ink through a stencil on a gel plate. Once the alcohol ink dries I pull the print with acrylic paint. (I have several videos on my youtube channel showing the technique)

When applying alcohol ink through a stencil onto a gel plate I have had the most success when using stencils full of fine lines not large solid spaces. The tree canopy stencil from The Crafter’s Workshop has some very fine lines but quite a lot of solid tree trunks also. The alcohol ink pools under the expanse of stencil plastic and takes quite a while to dry. If you move the stencil before the ink dries it starts moving again. I don’t believe I waited long enough for the ink to dry so I have some distinctly tree-ish bits in my print and some very abstract blobby bits. Despite the indistinct image I love the atmosphere of the print which I pulled with white acrylic paint. The stencil is 6″x6″ and so is the gel plate I used so I chose the best part of the print to make my 4.25″x5.5″ card. The sentiment is from Taylored Expressions ‘In & Out birthday’ set.

So let me know, is this too abstract for you or do you see a bit of whimsical forest atmosphere in there?

Today’s post features affiliate links to the following companies. If you buy through these links I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. The Foiled Fox & Scrap’n’Stamp

The leaves are turning – video

Posted: October 16, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Echidna Studios, gel press, Mooneys Trees, Stampin Up, timber embossing folder, Tutorial | Tags: Echidna Studios, gel press, gel printing, Tutorial, video | 7 Comments

As the leaves start to turn around me I brought a few green ones to the gel plate and printed them in the colours of autumn. I filmed as I printed so you can see a few different techniques. There is a brief appearance of backyard wildlife that must have come in on the freshly picked leaves. Let me know if you know what it was.

As you will see in the video I used a 5″x7″ gel plate and a mix of liquitex, decoart and sennelier acrylic paints to pull prints on printer paper.

Recently I have been turning 5×7 inch prints into card fronts with a strip left for a matching envelope. For today’s cards I attached the whole print to cardstock then used WaffleFlower rectangle dies to cut panels from each print, added twine to both panels then attached them to cream card bases. There are no strips left for the envelopes but twice as many cards. I have left them without sentiments but if needed I can tie a little sentiment tag onto the twine.

The print below is also featured in the video. I thought it would be fun to print leaves onto the Mooneys Trees cut out. I used the digital cutting file to cut from cream cardstock then picked up the leaf print from the gel plate. My new timber embossing folder from SU was the perfect background.

The close up below is the two step print, pulling first the background with the leaves still on the plate, then the leaf texture after they have been removed.

I think this final card might be my favourite. I didn’t plan it this way but it looks like that little leaf is falling away from the bigger one.

Today’s post features affiliate links to the following companies. If you buy through these links I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. The Foiled Fox & Scrap’n’Stamp

Mooneys Trees

Posted: October 6, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: baby blue leaf embossing folder, Echidna Studios, Mooneys Trees, Paper Rose, Taylored Expressions, weathered | Tags: Echidna Studios, gel press, gel printing, Paper Rose, Taylored Expressions | 6 Comments

If you live in the same city as me you might have walked past these trees, sat under them or perhaps photographed them. My daughter worked from her own photo to create some digital stamps in different forms. Check out the sketch style, outline, silhouette and simplified version in the Echidna Studios etsy store. The set is named Mooneys Trees because they are growing in Mooneys Bay park.

I used the simplified version to cut several pieces to gel print on. As you can see the trees fit on a 5.5″x4.25″ card base so I was able to print patterns on them on a 5×7 gel plate. If you are on IG you can watch a very short video of me printing the one above.

All the trees featured in this blog post were made by printing three layers of paint on top of each other, letting the paint dry in between layers. I varied the paint colours and texture on each layer. On the card above you might be able to pick out bubble wrap and textured cardboard patterns.

On the card directly above and below I used hessian (burlap) to add one texture as well as cardboard packaging on another layer. I also had plastic trays featuring criss-cross patterns to press on the gel plate.

Each printed tree cutout is attached to an embossed panel of cardstock. Only one of the tree cutouts is popped up because that task had too much of a fiddliness factor! The embossed background below is called ‘weathered’ from Taylored Expressions. The embossing folder used on the card at the top of the page is ‘baby blue’ from Paper Rose Studio and the embossing folder on the second card is from Close to my Heart but I don’t know the name; it creates the look of a wooden fence.

The two sentiments are from Taylored Expressions ‘simple strips background stamp‘ which stamps 18 sentiments to be cut out with the co-ordinating die. I really enjoyed making cards featuring local trees which are changing colour right now and of course I loved gel printing the cutouts to look autumnal.

My blogpost today features affiliate links to Scrap’n’Stamp. If you buy through these links I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Gelprinted Phlox

Posted: October 5, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: gel press, Taylored Expressions | Tags: gel press, gel printing, Taylored Expressions | 2 Comments

Yes, it’s another floral print from the gel plate. For this one I used phlox from my garden. I found that the phlox came apart quite easily so what I ended up doing was grabbing the little flowers that make up a whole flower head and stamping them individually. It took a little more time to press the flowers onto the plate one by one but the resulting print was very pretty.

When you look closely you will see the flower prints are two different colours, tan and blue. I brayered dark blue paint on the plate then pressed the little phlox flowers into the paint. As I pressed a flower onto the plate it removed paint leaving an empty flower shaped space. If I immediately pressed the flower onto the plate again it left a blue print because the petals were already covered in paint and wouldn’t remove much more until I ‘stamped’ the paint off on scrap paper. I picked up the print with shimmery pale gold paint which shows through where the flowers removed more paint.

To see my technique for gel printing with flowers check out my recent youtube video.

I used the print to make an anniversary card for a lovely couple celebrating their 55th wedding anniversary. Once again the sentiment from Taylored Expression stamped in versafine clair twilight ink said it all.

My blog features affiliate links to the following companies. If you buy through these links I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

The Foiled Fox

Scrap’n’Stamp

Gel Print Floral Card Combos – Video

Posted: October 2, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: gel press, Tutorial | Tags: gel press, gel printing, Tutorial, video | 2 Comments

One of my favourite things to print on a gel plate is flowers. One of my favourite flowers to print is Queen Anne’s Lace. You might think, as I did, that Queen Anne’s Lace would be too fragile to print but it is surprisingly strong and the gel plate picks up all that delightful detail.

I don’t always print an envelope and card front in one go but it is a nice way to get a matching pair. I used a 9″x11″gel plate to easily fit both. I mention in the video that you can print the flowers over and over; the paint that clings to the flower head makes it sturdier rather than pulling it apart. The first few prints might leave some seeds on the gel plate and print but that just adds to the realism in my opinion.

Thank you to those of you who subscribed to my youtube channel last week. I am slowly building my community of subscribers again after losing my first channel. There are some of my early gel printing videos on the new channel marked with a ‘from the archives’ label and there is a gel printing playlist if you want to binge the lot.

If you don’t have a gel plate large enough to pick up a card front and envelope in one print you could always do two prints one after the other keeping your paint colours the same.

Below are a few more card and envelope combos I’ve printed using this same technique with a sticker to mask a space larger enough for the address.

You can see on this card featuring Queen Anne’s Lace and grasses that the print does not reach to the top of the card front. I guess I didn’t press down evenly when taking the print.

Of course you can make co-ordinating card and envelope prints using any pattern; it doesn’t have to be plants but when I have plants, not snow in the yard I like to choose plants. I’ve also used stencils.

I hope you give this technique a try; it makes an eye catching bit of mail to send. Make sure you use removable stickers to mask your address box; you can probably guess why I mention that!

If you are new to gel printing check out my online course Gel Print Journey to learn all the basics and try all sorts of patterns and combos.

Oops; I forgot your birthday

Posted: September 28, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Classes, gel press | Tags: Classes, gel press, gel printing, online class | 2 Comments

My family and friends know I have issues with remembering birthdays in a timely manner. I combined a vintage sewing pattern image with a partial gel print to send an apologetic belated birthday greeting.

Combining vintage pictures or photos with gel prints on a card is an idea I got from my friend Betty. She has made many clever cards using the same combo. Now that I have made one of my own I’m going to have to do it again, hopefully not due to a missed birthday!

I’ve been prepping for my next Art Journal Adventure class which features images from vintage sewing patterns so that is how I happened to have this fashionista backed and cut out. The bright orange print is one from my online Gel P r int Journey class and the contrast turned out to be a winner. Since I am talking about classes please check out my Classes page and if any of the online courses capture your interest use the code ENDOFSUMMERSALE at checkout for a 20% discount during September.

To be notified about future classes join my mailing list CLICK HERE.

Artsy Alcohol Ink on the Gel Plate

Posted: September 26, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, artsy stems, Darkroom Door, gel press, Tim Holtz | Tags: Alcohol Ink, Darkroom Door stamps, gel press, gel printing, Ranger Alcohol Ink | 4 Comments

I have a couple of cards made from alcohol prints on the gel plate which is the technique feature in my last two youtube videos. I love the colours in this one and the funky patterns made using die-cut artsy stems, which are Tim Holtz dies.

The technique used in the recent youtube videos involves stencils not die-cuts but the effect is the same when the die-cuts are cut from stencil film or similar thin non-porous material. I use films from Grafix, either matte duralar or craft plastic.

I can’t remember the exact inks I used for the panel above but my guess is a deep blue such as glacier as well as some gold mixative or alloy ink. I pulled the print with the transparent gold paint used in this video so the panel has a subtle shimmer to it in real life. I loved the pattern so much I decided to add the narrow strip of gold but no sentiment.

The second card was also made using alcohol inks on the gel plate but is a more grungy print due to the mix of green and cream paint used to pull the print and the mix of yellow, green and blue alcohol inks used to make the pattern on the gel plate.

Rather than use the whole panel I added a simple blue gel printed piece to the top of the card front and once again a gold strip of cardstock. The sentiment is from the Darkroom Door happy birthday set.

I hope you enjoy these two examples of what can be made from alcohol ink gel prints. Let me know if you try the technique.

This post features affiliate links to the Scrap’n’Stamp. If you buy through these links I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

More Alcohol Inks on the Gel Plate

Posted: September 25, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, Dies, Flutters, gel press, Lavinia, Penny Black, pods stencil, Taylored Expressions | Tags: Alcohol Ink, gel press, gel printing, Lavinia, Penny Black creative dies, Taylored Expressions | 1 Comment

Using alcohol inks and stencils on the gel plate is a bit of an addiction for me right now so I filmed another one to show you. A friend let me know that if you receive my blog posts by email the video doesn’t show up in the email. To see the video just click on the title of the blog post and it will take you to my blog. If you would like to subscribe to my youtube channel too that would be delightful.

I started this print with the Lavinia pods stencil already covered in ink and then added more ink and isopropyl alcohol when it was on the gel plate. Take a look at the video below to see the process.

I would love to hear if you try this technique. As I mentioned last week I like pulling the prints with paper or cardstock because they are surfaces that I wouldn’t normally use with alcohol inks.

The finished card does include most of the print; it is a larger size than my usual A2 cards. I decided to add the Penny Black dragonflies in the wine colour which matches the alcohol ink I added very sparingly. In retrospect you will probably agree I could have added more. The sentiment is from Taylored Expressions ‘In and Out Birthday’ stamped in Chianti versafine clair ink.