Artfoamies Meet the Gelli Plate and Upcoming iStencils Sale

Hello again! I'm back as promised, so far so good with my New Year's resolution to post at least once a month on my blog! Yay me! 

We are closing in on a date for my next iStencils release! This will come with a discount coupon code or all my viewers and subscribers to take advantage of the entire iStencils website, well over 3,000 designs! My focus on this launch is a new series made especially for the 8" round gelli plate. Of course they can be used on any of the gelli plates or for any other application you would use any stencils for, these just happen to fit the 8" round perfectly. I've also come out with a couple mixed media masks which is pretty exciting. This may happen as early as next weekend, so stay tuned. I'll announce the timing as soon as we confirm the sale dates here on my blog as well as Facebook and Twitter. This is a good time to take advantage of a great sale that only comes around a few times a year. So stay tuned so you don't miss out. 

I streamed last Sunday and focused on playing with some new Artfoamie stamps. These stamps are even better than I imagined they would be. Really crisp images and they hold acrylic paint so well you can get multiple prints out of one 'inking'. They are great on the gelli plate too. Check out my YouTube video that I uploaded from the live Ustream broadcast. Here are some pics of my favorite gelli prints from this session:

This is a close up of some really yummy crusty bits on deli paper that I used to pick up a ghost print, then used Daddy Van's All Natural Beeswax Furniture Polish to make the deli paper translucent. This is great for collage fodder. Check out Shannon Green's recent video demo of Daddy Van's, which includes a coupon code for her viewers to get a great discount on your next purchase of Daddy Van's. 

 This is a ghost print using one of the feather artfoamies. 

 Love this patina print of the feather artfoamies. 

 This was one of my stamping off deli papers where I stamped the excess paint the artfoamies were picking up off my gelli plate. 

 My favorite print of the day -- patina print with the Julie Fei Fan Balzer Artfoamie stamp of numbers. 

A cool clean up print from the paint leftover from the patina print shown above.

This was a ghost print using one of Julie Fei Fan Balzer border artfoamies with some Pebeo Studio Acrylic DYNA Color Iridescent paint in Green/Yellow. YUM! 

 This was another ghost pulled on black bond paper. Really makes the Pebeo's pop. 

First pull on deli with multiple impressions of Julie's border stamp. I love the blend of the Pebeo Green/Yellow with their Oriental Purple. Makes a pretty pinky bronze color where they meet. 

 Stamping off on deli, love these feather stamps. 

 Look what a crisp image you can get with these stamps. This was a piece of deli I was using to stamp off the excess paint when making the print shown above this one. Nothing is a waste when you can get images like this. 

I'm planning to stream live again this Sunday around Noon Eastern, so check out my Ustream channel to be alerted when I schedule an event or go live at any time. Once you get to my channel, just click 'follow' and you will be alerted when there is any activity. Join us live and participate in the chat with lots of other artists of all levels as we laugh, learn, and share information about new products and resources. 

Happy Arting! 

Patti 

My FAVORITE Art Journal -- Dylusions!

Have you tried the Dylusions Art Journal? By far my favorite journal of all time!

I love everything about this journal. The size is perfect for either single pages or spreads, the paper is very heavy, high quality card stock and watercolor papers interspersed with alternating signatures of each, love the hard plain cover that begs to be customized, and the large envelope on the inside cover. Dyan really thought of everything when she designed this journal. The papers are perfect for the Dylusions Spray Inks. No gesso needed! In fact, I think you'll agree that you'll get better results without it. I use a dab here and there as I develop my layers, but there is no need at all to gesso the whole page before you start. 

I got my first one from The Queen's Ink when they first arrived, then quickly bought my second one. Then I bought two more. Then when Dyan was teaching at the Queen's Ink in early November, she mentioned that there were only 71 left in stock at Ranger -- I had no choice but to buy two more! (Yes, I need a 12 step program for art supplies!). Dyan mentioned that the next time the journal is produced, the price point will go up a bit to maintain the level of quality, and the paper will be one single type of paper rather than both. Personally, I thought the original $19.99 price point was a bit on the low side, especially after I held the first one in my hands and could feel the quality. YOU NEED ONE OF THESE JOURNALS -- (or 6, just sayin'!)

Once I started playing in the journal with making backgrounds and doing Dyan's ghosting technique (LOVE!), I couldn't stop! I've only completed a few pages, I'll get to finishing the rest at some point, but in the meantime, I've having a ball just making backgrounds. Here are some of the pages I've been playing with:

My favorite finished page so far. I love turquoise and orange together. You'll notice that I use washi tape down the center of each of my spreads. I do this not only because I love the look of washi tape, but I use it to try to keep the puddle of ink and water from seeping thru to the other pages of my journal. Yes, I'm one of those people that like to keep the pages cleaner if possible. 

 Again with the turquoise and orange! And I love this washi tape pattern.

 My butterfly page. 

And again with the turquoise and orange, but see what I mean? It just reallly pops. And that ghosted stencil, Aboriginal by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer of Balzer Designs, is really a favorite of mine as I'm sure you can tell by how often you have seen it and will see it in my work. 

 The large circles on this one has various colors of Viva Inka Gold on them. 

This pic isn't really great, but in person this spread looks really cool with the zipper washi tape down the middle. 

I love this paper I used to collage down the sides of the pages. It really speaks to me. And the wash tape? Yum!

 Got this really funky stencil on Etsy. Love the SouthWest theme of it. 

And a finished page in the Dylusions style I love. 

This spread has some Lindy's Stamp Gang Starbursts added.

I was playing with my Stamp Zia Spray Inks on this spread. 

 Colbalt Teal - does it get any better than Cobalt Teal by Golden Fluid Acrylics. 

I LOVE CIRCLES!!! And this page really shows how vibrant the Dylusions Inks are. My favorites! There's some black and white fabric tape on this page as well.

Another Etsy stencil with that SouthWest theme that I used to ghost the image. And really like this washi tape pattern too. 

And even more circles! This page has this really cool adhesive fabric tape I found on Etsy.

I'll post more pages when I can. I have a very busy weekend coming up at the Queen's Ink -- Donna Downey is in town! I'm in all four of her classes starting tonight! I'll be sure to post about some of the fun!

Thanks for stopping by!