Showing posts with label Gel plate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gel plate. Show all posts

Wednesday, 9 September 2026

Hearts & Flowers with Tracy Scott stamps {by Mags Woodcock}


Hello everyone

Mags  here with you today and I'll be showing you how I created an art journal page using a Tracy Scott Lace Booklet, stamps and a stencil.




For quite a while now I've been intrigued by the Tracy Scott Lace books (TSLB04) and wanted to use one. I also love the floral stamp set (TS009). My idea was to combine the two, along with a stencil (PS386). Choosing a quartet of Tracy's Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics would hopefully also allow for some nice contrasts and combinations of colour.


My idea was to create an art journal page, combining all the supplies. As Tracy has quite a distinct style, clean cut and vibrant, with lots of pattern building and symmetry, I wanted to create something with a different style and feel. Bold but asymmetrical, and with a painterly feel.


So lets take a look at how I started



My initial idea was to use the second layer of the Lace Book as a stencil to lay down colour onto a gel plate, but also to add colour to that second layer. The gel plate was great at grabbing the laser cut card of the book, and I used several sponges to apply the Fresco Finish chalk acrylics, Bermuda (FF224), Butternut (FF02), Deep Sea (FF198) and Lily The Pink (FF218). I allowed the texture of the sponge to show in several areas, but also blending the paint in other places.


When I was happy with the coverage on the lace book page, I removed it from the gel plate and set it aside to dry. To pick up the paint from the gel plate I applied a thin layer of Snowflake (FF15) Fresco finish Chalk Acrylic. Whilst this was still wet I pulled a print using a sheet of Smoothy Card (SCA4).


Here you can see the resulting print from the gel plate.


It was now time to work on the top layer of the Lace Book. I wanted a bold contrast to the colours I was using, so Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic , Little Black dress (FF19) came into play.
I placed the top layer of the Lace book onto a sheet of Smoothy card and completely coated it in the black paint, including the gaps. This gave me another stencilled page to use later.




It was now time to create some lovely focal flowers for my page. As I said previously, I wanted a painterly look so I had an idea on how to create that in a very simple way.


I chose a sheet of Smoothy card to work on and using a large brush, applied small amounts of Frescos in a circular pattern. Combining a couple of colours on each circle gave me lots of variety. I soon discovered that a drier brush, with hardly any paint gave better results.


As with a lot of mixed media techniques, the first layers often look very messy, this was very true here. But as I stamped the flowers onto the the painted circles with Versafine Clair Nocturn ink, and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder, my idea began to take shape.


I wanted to add some more details to the flowers and also more contrast, so my trusty Signo Uniball white pen was ideal. It transformed the look of the flowers. The final stage was to fussy cut the hearts, swirls and flowers, leaving a small border around each image.


If I strayed over the black lines with my white pen, A cotton bud soon removed the excess.



Now it was time to bring everything together, but first I needed to add some details to the Lace book layers. I bit of penwork on the black painted layer.


Now I bet you think I had forgotten about the stencil I chose ? Well it was time for it to add some random details to break up the symmetry a little. Again using my white gel pen.
As you can see, I had previously used the stencil to try out another idea, and there was leftover paint still on it.


The final lot of penwork on the layered up lace pages with a  base layer of black cardstock.


Now to the exciting bit ! Adding the flowers and hearts using 3D foam pads and PVA glue.


At this point I decided the page needed a word or sentiment. Stamping Bloom from one of Tracy's other  stamp sets  (TS029) was exactly what was needed and completed the page perfectly.



So let's have a look at the finished page.



Here you can see the completed page


The grouping of the flowers to the left of the page adds asymmetry, and also notice that the page is in landscape format , not portrait , nice and unusual.


The hearts drift across the page to encourage your eye to follow.



The painted, stamped circular swirls are layered over the centre of each flower, adding dimension and a colour contrast to the surrounding petals.


The distressed, painterly look of the hearts adds visual texture and interest.


I hope you enjoyed this blog post and it has given you some ideas to inspire you.

I still have the two bonus pages from the project to play with, the gel print and the black stencilled page. Watch out in the PaperArtsy People Facebook page over the coming weeks, and I'll share what I create using those.




Thank you for popping over to the PaperArtsy blog, if you would like to see more of my work or videos using PaperArtsy products please follow me using the links below

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Happy crafting
Mags x

Saturday, 22 February 2025

Loaded Pocket Envelope {by Martha Ponsanesi} with Lynne Perrella and Squiggly Ink Stamps


Hi everyone, Martha ( @craftingmartha ) here with you today.

This year, we've changed the formula of our posts a bit.
The PaperArtsy product offering increases year by year, or rather, month by month, and we are truly spoiled for choice.

Well, I've been a big fan for years, ever since I first encountered PaperArtsy at Ally Pally ( aka Big Stamp and Scrapbooking Show in London ) in 2008. And that's when I fell in love with the Squiggly Ink line, so I decided to dedicate my first post of 2025 to some of these stamps, but the twist is they are being used in combination with Lynne Perrella stamps. 
I'm looking forward to sharing with you what I’ve created.


Lynne Perrella stamps have been around for quite some time, I have always been fascinated by them, but I was never too sure how to use them; the style was so different to mine. Well, in this post, I decided to challenge myself and try using them together in the same project.

To reach my goal, I decided to put together different elements, and that's how the idea of a loaded pocket envelope, with ATCs, Tags, and Bookmark, came to life. 



Here is my choice of stamps to blend together.... my colour palette? Rainbow of course , why set limits for yourself? :) 


First step, create the paper to build my pocket envelope.
You know that my favorite companion for creating backgrounds is the Gel Plate, along with  the paper I use to clean the roller.
Using the round mini Gel Plate gives me the right freedom to experiment with different colors.

To create my pocket envelope, I need both sides of the paper to be decorated. So, by using the Gel Plate as a 'stamp' and cleaning the roller on another sheet, alternating the two actions, I end up creating two sheets from which I can then choose.


For one side I chose Fresco Chalk Acrylic in Bermuda (FF224), Parakeet (FF225), Limelight (FF48) and Aqua Duck Egg (FF199).


For the other side I chose Fresco Chalk Acrylic in Nougat (FF39), Yellow Submarine (FF73), Firebird (FF210) and Persimmon (FF209).


Now I trim the paper to 25 x 18 cm. And I fold it easily to create this envelope, without precise measurements, just roughly by eye.



In the same "gel plate session", I also cleaned my brayer on some PaperArtsy Smoothy Card (SCA4). I will cut my ATCs, tags, and bookmark from these.
 

Here are my cut-out cardstock pieces! But before using the stamps, I just couldn't resist adding a few more touches of color with the Mattints in Jam (MT05), Dragonfly (MT07), The Pink (MT08and a couple of the latest ones, Mojito (MT13) and High Viz (MT15) (available from a PaperArtsy Stockist).

Some touches added with the brayer.

And other swiping the cardstock directly on the craft sheet, to catch the last drops.

Brushing them on directly with a clean brush also gives a great result.

Finally, it's time to start having fun with the stamps!


For my ATC I used PaperArtsy stamp set LPC005 (by Lynne Perrella) and SIDD2 ( from the Squiggly Ink line).

To merge them more smoothly, I used the masking technique to layer them.

Also for my big tag I used the masking technique, stamping the PaperArtsy stamp SM02 on a scrap paper and neatly trim all around, To place it over the stamped image and easily stamp the other one on top.



For a contrasting effect, I stamped some elements from the PaperArtsy stamp set SICC9 for the bookmark, then cut them out and applied them directly.

And I repeated the process using the PaperArtsy stamp set LPC005 on another piece of cardstock coloured with the brayer and Mattint in Jam, and Dragonfly.

I'm really happy with how my bookmark turned out.

I may have gone a bit overboard here :) on such a small surface like an ATCoin, I ended up using three stamp sets!


One thing I've noticed about the Mattints is how truly matte they are. I embossed all the stamped images with clear gloss powder, on my ATCoin I added some Mattints for a pop of colour. I noticed that the embossed stamping, which was glossy at first, became matte as the Mattints are layered over the top - you can see in the photo, I never thought of that before.


This is my last little tag, easy peasy! Stamped and embossed on a piece of cardstock coloured with Mattints and a brush.


Now that I've made all the elements, the last thing left to do is decorate the pocket envelope.
To do that I chose the PaperArtsy stamp set SISC4 .





And now we can glue it down.


Now it's ready to become a loaded pocket envelope.


And here's a nice overview of everything I’ve made, enjoying mixing stamps and colors.


Love them all together :) .



Give it a try! You can fill your pocket envelope with motivational cards or little treats, such as a tea bag.

Have fun.
Martha xxx