Fresh Beginnings. . . . .

 
I decided to make a project using my new Faber Castell Gelatos. I've wanted to try these for ages so I watched all the videos I could find and then set myself the challenge of using them in a simple way first to get the hang of them. I thought I would then go on and be more adventurous but I couldn't stop once I'd started and my practice piece of card (along with some other bits and pieces!) turned into this:

All the background colour has been done using gelatos. A little Distress ink and archival ink for stamping was also used. If we have a holiday, we usually start talking about it in the New Year so this tag also represents a new start to the year, planning a holiday and using a new product.

As I was only playing, I don't have a photo of the finished background piece but here's the scrap which was left after cutting the tag. I wasn't convinced at this stage but it was fun so I carried on! The gelatos are just scribbled onto the card then misted with water and blended with a finger.

I removed quite a large amount of gelato and I still wasn't sure! The images are all  stamped in Archival. The white areas are achieved by placing a stencil on the dry gelato background and using a baby wipe to gently remove some of the colour.

Another piece of card was coloured using the same gelatos and some Tattered Florals were die cut. Some edges have been muddied with Distress ink and some gold mica spray was spritzed randomly on the finished flower. You can just see some curly rusty wire which I had to add - can't do without the stuff!

For the bottom of the tag I used some Stampers Anonymous stamps on the scrap card and cut them to fit. The edges were finished with black Archival ink. Some Tim trim has been used around the lower part of the tag and is then finished with some twine and wooden beads.

I was shocked to remember that I've had these beads hanging around since before my daughter was born so over 22 years! Talk about hoarding!

The top of the tag is finished with the same Tim trim and twine.

You may remember from an earlier image that the gelato background had a fair amount of white on it. I used Distress ink in Mustard Seed to tone this down and marry the colours together more. It's also not clear in this image but the whole tag was given two coats of clear embossing powder. I didn't want to use a glaze just in case the action of painting on moved the gelato colour around.

I took a line from the Nina Simone song 'Feeling Good'as my sentiment because that's how the start of the New Year always makes me feel. Click HERE if you'd like to listen to Nina sing this wonderful song. The sentiment has been made using Tim Chit Chat stickers onto scraps of the gelato background.

Thought I'd take a picture of the items I used to make the tag (white card too). I could have used Utee but sometimes I find it affects what's underneath and I wasn't sure how it would react with the gelatos so I stuck to the fine EP shown here. The Tattered Florals are cut from Watercolour paper (heavyweight) and I have to say that the gelatos worked beautifully on this substrate.

Isn't it amazing what you can do with four gelato sticks? I haven't got a big set and I still need to play more but they are certainly great for making backgrounds.

If you go over to the Artist Trading Post Exchange, you can have a look at all the wonderful inspiration from the rest of the team. Just click HERE.

Remember that the overall winner (chosen by the dt) will win a voucher for £10 from the Artist Trading Post - good excuse to enter! You could also be chosen as one of our Top 3 so what are you waiting for? Really excited to see what you come up with!

Please do remember to pop back to the Artist Trading Post on the 24th January when our winners for this challenge will be announced.