Gelly Gelatos

Valentine's Day is not my thing... Don't get me wrong, I'm a hopeless romantic but all this commercial circus around this particular day makes me uneasy. We didn't even celebrate Valentine's day in my country until very recently.
But this year, I was challenged by Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft to create a project related to Valentine's Day - and - most importantly - I had a Gelatos technique to test...

So, this is what I created:

First, I glued down some heart cuts (remember, I got a Silhouette Portrait - I'm keeping it busy) and then I stencilled more hearts using moulding paste.

I gessoed the whole thing.

(detail)

Then I added Gelatos...

... and blended them with my fingers.

Then I took Gel medium and dabbed it on the Gelatos with a piece of foam.

Just tapping the gel on...

 (detail - sponged area vs. non-sponged)

To make the shapes stand out more, I added some shading with Dark Sepia PITT Artist pen.

Then, I used acrylic inks for drippage (sorry, I forgot to take pictures of this phase). Finally, I added the quote and embellished the finished piece with tiny hearts.

I used the same technique for these two cards:

... and this doorhanger (though, I might have overdone the drippage part).

So now, I think, I can safely pronounce this technique tested. ;-)

(getting out of) creative crisis

For the last two or so months my head was full of creative ideas, stuff I wanted to make, projects I wanted to start but somehow the creative process wasn't bringing me any joy. Process that used to charge me with new energy is now draining me completely...
It's not over yet but - here and there - I manage to produce some presentable results. Like these to tags I made for two different challenges. I haven't won anything but I'm really proud of them.

2013 Christmas cards

I made two cards out of a "kit" my online friend Dede aka Inkwell had sent me - the challenge was to make Christmas cards using things from the kit and - most importantly - send the card to someone.

I finally got a Silhouette machine, so it is no surprise that my "official" cards featured some die-cuts...