Some cards made with gelli plate prints

Morning Everyone,

I thought before I tootle off for the weekend I'd show you the first three cards made using some of the gelli plate prints as shown on yesterday's post. So without further preamble, here's the first.

A simple and easy male themed design this one ... making the most of the black and white chevron print (That Special Touch Chevrons). It's been sponged around the outside edges with TH distress inks, Shabby Shutters and Peacock Feathers and layered on to teal and black card. The topper was created with Spellbinders Petite Labels One and a birthday greeting from Wild Rose Studio's Everyday Greetings. My Mind's Eye Winter Wonderland enamel dots and a length of suede type paper cord (The Works) are the only embellishments.

This print was made up with a brayered layer of black, royal blue and a smidgen of teal paint, then stamped with Hero Arts Feather stamps ... I laid our the four stamps in the set on to a large block so that I could stamp as speedily as possible ... the paint goes off very quickly! The edges were sponged with Stormy Sky and Black Soot. For the topper I cheated! I know, how could I? It's actually one half of a very small shaped card - I just thought the shape was perfect for a topper :) The Chaffinch (Caroline's Blogs) and the greeting (Wild Rose Studio again) is just stamped with Jet Black Archival and the edges sponged with the same distress inks as used previously. To make the black matting layer, I traced around the edge of the topper and then trimmed about one-sixteenth of an inch around it ... not very precise but it works when you haven't got a die to do the job for you. The only embellishment is the black and white saddle stitched ribbon - hopefully still masculine enough for the intended male recipient :)

And the final one of this trio. I've used one of the smaller pieces of card, actually used to create an aperture in a larger piece. The pattern was achieved by laying the Circles mask (That Special Touch) down on the paint layer first then bubble wrap was pressed on top to remove some of the paint. It makes a great topper without too much extra work. Here it is simply layered on to a piece of teal card leftover from making the first card. In fact all the embellishments are punched from snippets of teal card. The punches for the trellis belly band and the two outer layers of the daisy flower are EK Success and the inner layer and the butterflies are Woodware. The bling is from Crystal Stickles and a glittery brad I found at the bottom of my stash. The greeting (Hero Arts Classic Messages) was stamped with Jet Black Archival.

I've just realised that these cards are all more or less in shades of blue ... I'll just call it my blue phase :) I did use other colours too which will no doubt make an appearance at some point.

And just in case you think I've not decorated the inside and back of the cards as usual, here they are.

The leftovers and snippets used on the last card means that I'm scooting over to Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground (Week 84). However, I'm not too sure Miss is even going to be around today, she's been out and about with our crafty playmates, Sam (Hettie) and Maureen (ScrappyMo) - our Canadian friend who is in the UK on vacation ... read more about it here!

Right, that's me done for now - I've a ton of things still to do and I've still to pack ... help! Where does the time go to?

I hope you all have a great weekend and happy crafting too,