Gelli Madness

When I first began seeing comments, pictures and youtube videos about Gelli Plates, I was pretty sure I didn't need one. But then I watched a few more youtube vidoes and began thinking, hmmmmmm it does look fun.......  Part of my hold back was wondering what to do with all those papers when I was done, but the more I thought about it, the more I loved the idea. Just think, I could design paper with colors and designs specific to ANY project I was working on. No more looking for specific papers that don't exist or had never been made, I can make my own!!
Ok so that was the deciding factor to me getting a gelli plate, and I have to say, it is fun, I do love it, and I have already used it to make prints for a few specific projects!!

 For those of you who didn't run out and get a gelli plate to play with after seeing this awesome post on them by Kristy, I thought I would give you a quick run down on a few of the ways you can use the gelli plate to make prints. And show you how to use them in different aspects of your crafting  :)

                For this first print I used the new Tim Holtz distress paints, a brayer, a 12x12 stencil (this one is from TCW called- scallop flowers), and some white cardstock.

     First I dribbled some paint onto my Gelli plate and used my brayer to smooth it out.

 The I lay the stencil over it

 And pressed my cardstock on top

 Here is my first print- which I used to make a scrapbook page, you can check that out down at Paper Pals.

 Then I took the stencil, which was cover in paint, and pressed it into my art journal, print #2 for me :)

 The I took another piece of cardstock and pressed it onto the Gelli plate, giving me print #3. Which was used to make 2 cards, one of which you can see at Paper Pals, the other I mailed off to someone as a Thank you note.

   Here I followed the same process, but used some acrylic paint and roller stamps.

   Look at it!!!!  So awesome and squishy!!!  My kids love to poke at it, see it even serves as summer entertainment for the children, win-win I tell you :)  Seriously though I have let me kiddos make some prints with it and they had a blast.

 Here are some ATC's I made using one of my prints

 And here is the ALMOST finished page in my art journal from print #2 

      I have experimented using several of different paints on this, and have found that they all work great. I have used liquid acrylics, reg. acrylics, Tim Holtz distress  paint, Lumiere paints and even gel medium to get a cool resist on my pattern paper.
       As far as what you need to make the patterns you can use stencils- big and small, stamps- all kinds, found objects- like the lid from your distress paints ;) and even just the tip of a paint brush or your finger.
    To clean it (although after your #3 print is pulled there isn't much paint left on the plate) you can wipe it down with baby wipes, spritz with water and wipe it off with a paper towel, or give it the full day-spa treatment with a warm soapy bath in your sink. Or you can just leave it as is, as the left over paint is usually on the edges and wont mess up future prints. Being a little OCD I always clean mine up when I'm  done.
      If you have any questions about Gelli plate printing you can leave me a comment and I will try to answer it for you. I am really glad that I got one, I can see it as being one of the things I use constantly in my crafting. I hope you all have had a great start to you summer!!!

              Paper  Pals has Gelli Plates to purchase as well as several types of paint, stamps and an amazing selection of stencils.