UStream, New FaceBook Page, and Other Stuff...

Hello everyone! 

A couple new things going on here at the world headquarters of Inky Obsessions -- aka -- my basement! I recently sold my much loved but sadly under used PanPastels and parlayed that money to buy myself a new webcam. Ustream here we come, and there goes the neighborhood! As some of you know, I was messing with my new Ustream account and seeing if I could hook up my camera, and literally before I knew what was going on, I had 15 friends online chatting with me and helping me figure out how this stuff works. The camera test turned into a bit of an impromptu show and tell session. That helped me get used to how to hold things in focus with the camera and in frame. I ended up dragging out my lampwork jewelry and doing a little show and tell about my previous life as a lampwork artist and jewelry designer. Sadly, I didn't record that session, but I promise I'll figure out how to do that before the next Ustream. Thanks so much to you guys -- you know who you are! It was a great help to me and I really appreciate you spending your time with me. 

I also created a new Inky Obsessions FaceBook page for us. I hope you'll check it out and and 'like' it to keep up with everything going on with me that pertains to my art, YouTube videos, Ustream, and this blog. 

I've also started following Twitter on a more regular basis since some of my ladies on the Ustream encourgaged me to. I'm @plynnt411 on Twitter. Hope to see you there too! 

Most of you probably know that I've been a little obsessed with making gelli tape. I decided to try full sheets of tape on my 8x10 and 12x14 gelli plates. They turn out really cool. I made a book cover out of the 12x14 piece for one of my gelli journals. Here are some pics of what I've been playing with: 

You may recognize these from my recent YouTube video -- the failed punch attempt? LOL 

There's aluminum foil behind the blue/green sheet, and I used a couple colors of pearls behind the black/red/gold sheet. Really different looks. 

These pics are from the print I made on the 12x14 gelli plate...

I love making these -- but be warned -- knowing when to stop is the tricky part! Still learning that one. 

Starting to pull after everything is dry. 

Ready for the big reveal! 

Not being all that smart, as I've outlined many times prior, I missed taking pics of the full sheet pulled off and the application of the foil! The foil part was simple, I just used my bone folder to smooth out the foil as much as possible and was very careful about laying the print on it foil. Its only adhered by the stickiness of the tape that remains exposed, however, you need to be careful about the edges that are not sticky. I had to go back and add a bit of glue to stick those areas to the foil. It didn't seem to matter in the middle of the sheet. I used watered down Elmer's to glue the foil to the folder and to adhere the edges of the print that didn't stick to the foil. 

I used a heavy duty manila folder to cover with the tape, same as I used to make my Gelli Journals. 

Here's the full cover once adhered. 

This was the only fabric that was close to the paint colors I used for this one, so it ended up being the cover for the interior. 

 Love the bright silver flash of the foil.

These are some random recent gelli prints from my playdate with my good friend Jodi Kinney. I was trying to use colors that I normally don't gravitate towards -- except for a couple -- like this first one! LOL

This was a clean up print. I had ghost images from prior pulls on the plate and used Golden Fluid Acrylic in Indian Yellow Hue and Quin Nickel Azo Gold. 

More Quin Nickel Azo Gold on the chevron design. I'll be using this more now. 

I love this iStencil I used for the pop of black on this one. It really gives a 3D look. 

 One of my favorites!

 Love me some Pebeo shimmer! 

I love the translucent gold layer over the top of these two pulls. I got this idea from the first Gelli Arts video I ever saw. Really beautiful in person. 

I cleaned up the leftover gold on the plate with this print. I like the ghostly, scattered bits of gold you see on it. 


That's it for now folks! I'm heading back to Canada again for work this Saturday morning, returning Thursday night. Last (known) travel for a while now, so I'm hoping after this trip we can explore more on Ustream. Don't forget -- if you want to follow me on Ustream, please join my crowd so you'll get the notifications when I plan to broadcast. 

Have a great weekend and happy arting!!! 

What Have I Been Up To Lately You Ask???

Hey everyone! LOOOOOOOOOOONG TIME!!!

Geez, I've been gone so long I'll have to retrain myself on eBlogger! I've been traveling the last three weeks for my real job and I leave again mid-June for a week, then I'm done for a while! Well, until the fall, unless something else pops up. I have fun seeing everyone when I travel, but there's no place like home and no place like my studio! Happy to be grounded if even for a short while. 

BIG NEWS -- I HIT 200+ BLOG FOLLOWERS YESTERDAY!!! YAY! My goal was 200 by the end of June! Made it! And I'm approaching 600 YouTube followers on my channel too! OMG!!! Who knew there were that many crazy folk out there that would be interested in keeping up with my antics? So cool! Thanks so much everyone! I really appreciate it so much. 

In between all this craziness, I made an attempt to revamp my workspace (aka studio, if you want to go that far!). My good friend Ellen Smith Vargo had her studio set up so nicely using some IKEA pieces, that I went and got myself inspired and made a trip to IKEA and picked up a few pieces. OMG - love these! I got pieces from the Alex collection like Ellen used and they hold so much more than they appear to hold. I got two of the lower white drawer units and one of the tall drawer units. My hubby helped me put them together and lug them from the garage into the basement . I went to Michael's and got the white storage cubes sitting on top of the IKEA cabinets for 40% off, PLUS and additional 25% off my total order! Can't beat that with a stick! I still have a bit more to do. There are a couple shelf units off to the left of the pic you can't see that are almost empty. When they are I think I'll set up my refurbished sewing machine I got from www.overstock.com for $49, on top of my grandmother's old treadle machine cabinet and finally use it. Its amazing how much of my stuff was out of sight, out of mind! These storage pieces are so nice and I can see everything in each drawer! What a concept! I've use supplies I'd forgotten I had! 

Once I got back from traveling and was home long enough to use my new space, I went a wee bit crazy! Shocker, I know! I had some people who ordered some of my gelli notecards and envelopes weeks ago that I've finally gotten around to making for them and mailed them today! Here are the latest gelli notecards I made. I just love these things. Each one is completely different from the others. A few friends have these and keep asking for more. 

And the most fun thing I've done since I've been back home was to try the new Gelli Arts technique using clear shipping tape as a film transfer. So simple and fun, yet yields some really REALLY cool results. I've done a video on my interpretation of their technique, but please do be sure to watch the real thing from Gelli Arts. 

YUM!!! My favorite color combination -- orange and turquoise! The hot colors in these were made with the new fluorescent colors from Golden. OMG - If you haven't tried these yet and you love bright colors - these are a must have! You can see some of the shiny Perfect Pearls that were added to the back of the prints in the areas you have to leave blank -- please check out the videos and this will make more sense! 

 My favs on black background - they really pop!

I wanted to make a more stark set using black and white only, so I used the colored Perfect Pearls and some Lindy's Stamp Gang pigments to fill in the open bits. Completely different look and really cool!   

This set is the one from my video. Another fav - turquoise and purple popped with a bit o'orange! And I worked my favorite Pebeo color - Green/Blue, into this design for some extra shimmer and man, does it ever! LOVE! 

All together! 

NOW - what the hell am I going to do with these gorgeous bits you may ask? Well, I've asked myself that same question more than once. Since the pearl pigments are brushed on the back, I'm guessing that any medium or glue will muck that up in a minute. I had a stroke of genius (please do mark your calendars as this will probably not happen again in my lifetime!) -- I sprayed the back/sticky side of the middle set shown above with a matt finish sealer. I left them to dry last night and haven't been back to check on them, but they looked just fine as I crawled back upstairs. I think this might do the trick for using them in my art journal or in any project where I'd need to adhere them -- which pretty much is ANY project. I'll be sure to let you know how it turns out. 

One more thing I knocked out last week -- I finally had enough time to make my friend Lexi Erickson, one of my gelli journals. Lexi is a jewelry artist extraordinaire and wanted to use one as a sketch book. I made one especially for her using blank white and ivory Mi Tientes paper. It came out really nice. This will be mailed to Denver later this week. 

Lexi requested some muted greens and earth tones. I found this piece of handmade Batik from Artist Artifacts when my friends Jodi and Gail were at Art & Soul in Virginia Beach. Perfect. 

Close up of the beaded bits I added to the spine. The goddess seemed appropriate for Lexi, I added one of my handmade lampwork beads above the goddess, then just winged it as the beads talked to me for the rest. I love keys, so added one and above the key is a gorgeous handmade Raku bead I found at BeadFest Philadelphia the last time I was there. I've been hoarding them, but they color was perfect for this journal. The bobble on the top short piece has a sun icon on one side and the word 'create' on the other. 

The inside front cover. I was rifling thru my (HUGE) stack of gelli prints and found just the one to match the colors of this fabric perfectly. Imagine that! 

The blank pages for her sketching. Mi Tientes Ivory and White. I think these will serve her well, they have a nice tooth to them. 

 And the back inside cover, with a little distress added to the edges.

I also got some goodies packed up for one of my winners from my last giveaway and plan to get them boxed and shipped out tomorrow -- which reminds me -- I've never heard back from my second winner! If you are or if you know Karen A (aka Dizzy With Paper), please let her know to contact me so that I can mail her the stencils!

I was clunking around our basement preparing for the yard sale that never happened - long story! I found a box that had all my "funky" hats in it. I had to laugh, remembering wearing these during a very specific era of my life. My friends always tell me to share this story as much as possible, and I do agree for one reason - in hopes that it may find its way to the right person at the right time. So I posted another video the other evening -- no art this time -- just personal stuff on this one. I thought I should share a bit about my journey and a huge part of my life that will always influence me every day. Please feel free to share this video with anyone you think would benefit. 

So that's it for now. I'm hoping to resume a more normal schedule/life after the next couple weeks and will be able to post more regularly and make more videos. I'm trying to figure out exactly what I need to have in place to do UStream sessions. I think that would be fun. Will keep you posted on that. If you have any specifics or stream yourself, please let me know what you use for your set up. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer and would love some advice. I'm looking at flip cams now. I currently record on my laptop, but I think I need a separate camera. I want a separate camera anyway so I can get my hubs to drop that puppy from a ceiling mount to give you guys a better angle for my videos. I'm not sure I'll be able to handle watching the chats on the laptop and do my art at the same time without some sort of catastrophe!  That will be like rubbing my head and patting my belly at the same time! LOL  What the hell, I'll try anything once! So stand by for updates on that as well! 

Hope you are having a great day. Make it count!!! 

Patti 

Did someone say GIVEAWAY???

Hello to all! 

Its been so busy lately I haven't had the chance to break out my gelli plate in a couple weeks! What's up with that??? The reasons are mostly good. I was away the last weekend of April attending Art & Soul Retreat in Virginia Beach. We had a great time and learned some really fun stuff. Work has been really busy too -- yes, I have a real job! Thank God - that's the only way I can feed my art habit! Plus, I'll be traveling for work four times over the next 7 weeks. That leaves me very limited time to make a new video or create something worth posting about. Sooooo, I thought -- self -- what could I do on the road that won't take me much time but would still benefit my blog followers and my YouTube subbies??? Then I heard that voice in the back of my head say -- DO ANOTHER GIVEAWAY YOU IDIOT! Well, Oprah has always said to listen to that little voice, so guess I'd better do just that! 

Cheri from iStencils was very generous with the stencils she sent me last time when we introduced our last coupon code and some of her new 3D designs.  In fact, she sent me doubles of all the new designs. Now I am a big ole stencil-ho, but honestly...do I really need duplicates??? One could argue that either way, but I thought I'd be nice and share with my peeps!

Here's how this one will work -- you will need to join my blog AND leave me a comment on this post telling me why you simply cannot live without some new iStencils (AND, it wouldn't hurt your chances to be a subbie on my YouTube Channel, although, that's not a requirement this time). Including YouTube was a lot of work the last go round! Its much easier to work the giveaways from my blog where I actually see all my members on the back end of my account - learned that one the hard way! But remember, I'm really not all that smart! I think I have 8 duplicate iStencils, so I'm thinking more than one winner??? Let's say two winners will get 4 stencils each! AND the most unique, outrageous, and clever comments will be the winners! I won't judge this alone, I'll rope in a couple friends to put in their two cents as well. 

The Mojo25 coupon code was a huge success for iStencils. I'm so happy so many of you were able to take advantage of such a great offer. I'm sure there will be another one sometime in the near future. 

The giveaway entry fun will begin when you see this post published and shared on FaceBook. I'll be traveling starting Saturday, so I'll probably announce the winner sometime over the Memorial Day weekend. That's the last weekend of May for you all that live out of the US. 

So goodbye for now from Chicago! 

Good luck! 

Patti 

New iStencils Coupon Code & FREE Exclusive 3D Stencil w/$25 Purchase!!!

Check out my new video where I demo iStencils NEW 3D designs as well as some other new patterns. During the video I introduce the NEW coupon code and

FREE exclusive 11 x 11 3D stencil

with $25 purchase! UNBELIEVABLE! Cheri had her designers create some new 3D patterns and let me chose my favorite to offer as an EXCLUSIVE design only available to my blog followers and YouTube viewers. How cool is that??? You will love this new design! 

The offer is good starting Thursday April 25th through Monday April 29th. Spend $25 and get my exclusive 3D 11 x 11 stencil for free!!! 

Don't miss out on this incredibly generous offer!!! 

Here's the link to my video!

and..............

You're welcome! LOL 

Happy stencil shopping!!!