Chalk it up to a new experience (Tutorial)

I created this tutorial for the SCS mix-ability challenge that I am hostessing this week.

Chalk on gel plate tutorial for Bible journaling page

1. I took my clean gel plate and placed on my craft table. (It doesn't look completely clear because it has been used to create. Don't expect it to look like it is new.)

2. I placed a STAMPlorations stencil called Floral Flutes onto the gel plate. Because the gel plate has a little stickiness, the stencil is held in place.

3. See my lovely used set of SU chalks? I also used my very expensive q-tip applicators. LOL

4. I used mostly blue and greens. I used the same q-tip to just dip into the next color. That let the colors mix a little on the plate.

5. I only added color to some of the spaces. 

6. I gently pulled the stencil up off of the plate. This is what was left on the plate. 

7. I put a thin line of white acrylic paint at just the top of the plate and then I rolled it out all over the plate using my brayer.

8. Since I have been using my gel plate more, I have been wanting to try it in my art journaling Bible. I was a little nervous to do this because if I didn't like how it turned out, I couldn't undo it. 

My art journal Bible has a blank page on the right side all the way through. 

9. I took a piece of scrap paper and covered the left side of the Bible and then I turned the gel plate over and pressed like I was 'stamping" it onto the page.  Then I slowly pulled it off and this is the end result. Isn't it fabulous? What I really like about this technique is that because of the layer of acrylic paint it is sealed and doesn't smear. 

10. I used SNSS Nature Silhouettes 2 stamps and some alphabet stamps and my own handwriting to finish the page. I also highlighted the letters with a white gel pen. I thought I was 'done' but I decided to cover the left side of the bible with white scratch paper and I splattered some gold ink and some blue and green ink.

Close up photo

11.  I made several more prints just by adding a layer of white paint. Here is a photo of the 2nd and 3rd ghost prints.

I made 10 more prints and I washed my plate with a few drops of dawn dish soap. 

The one thing about chalks is it sill stain the gel plate a little bit. This looks like it would be a problem.

But these are 4 prints that I did after I washed my plate. You can see from these photos that the way my plate looks didn't affect the results.  if I had to choose between having a spotless super clean plate and a stained plate because I had fun playing with it, there is no competition. I choose the fun.

Light shine.

This little light of mine... I'm gonna let it shine... let it shine let it shine... let it shine....

That song was going through my head as I was making these cards. Do you know what is more magical than seeing lightning bugs or fireflies? Getting to see them through the eyes of a child discovering them for the first time. The other day my grandson Noah got to see them. He was jumping up and down and kept saying there is another one, and another one as he pointed them out to me. I took the time to explain to him chemiluminescence. Which is the fancy word for chemicals mixed together that make light. We talked about that more when we broke the glass to mix the chemicals in the "light sticks".  I am so glad I was blessed with the opportunity to make that memory with him. 

My friend Kyra hosted the mixability challenge on Splitcoast. She said to make a Sparkle and shine card as summer cards. Of course fireflies and fireworks came to my mind. Since she did fireworks, I went with fireflies. 

I have a huge stash of cardstock that I monoprinted. It was so much fun the other day I couldn't stop. Now I have lots of paper to use.

 I pulled one from that stash and I drew a jar and lid with a pencil.

I sketched where I wanted my fireflies.

I took a white gel pen and drew the "lights". I did the big one where I had sketched the fireflies. I also added little dots to be the host of flies with them. 

I took some light colored pencils. I drew circles around the big "lights"

 I took a black pen and went over the pencil marks on the jar and lid.

I used the black pen to draw the wings and flight "squiggles". I then used my pencil to hand letter my sentiment. I went over the sentiment with my black ink pen and erased the pencil marks when the ink was dry. I used the white gel pen to highlight the jar and the lettering. 

My trio of light shine cards.

June Mixed media STAMPlorations

• You can link up as many projects as you want (1 project per blog post)
• Projects can be anything -- including cards -- but stencils must be used
• Non-STAMPlorations products are OK
• To qualify for the prize, you must display challenge graphic and link back to the challenge post (blogs only)
• Prizes: $15 GC for the winner (voted by the team); $5 GC to three (3) randomly picked players

The other day I did a tutorial for the STAMPlorations blog on how I used chalk and my ARTplorations stencil called Bold Florals.  You can see that tutorial HERE. I really liked how the colors looked and wanted to make a CAS card to showcase the pretty stenciled flowers. I first thought I would add some butterflies but they didn't look right. So I decided to just stamp the scripture using STAMPlorations Great is Thy Faithfulness stamp.