Grungy gelli layers

It's time for my second layers card, for the first of the two challenges I'm hosting on the Christmas Card Throwdown.

This one came from a completely indulgent play session with the gelli plates - my big 8x10 one, and the rectangle from my petites.

I got together a load of acrylic paints in Christmassy colours, Christmas stencils, my brayer and several pieces of stencil card (7x7 and 8.5x11), then went for it! I built up patterns with the big plate first, with and without stencils, and also using what was left on the plate. I pulled prints on parts of the card mostly, rather than the whole sheet. I then used the little plate to fill in details. To start with it all looked a bit disappointing (I didn't take photos, I was just playing!), but as I added more variety and built up the images, some really lovely combinations emerged.

I like some pieces more than others, of course. Some will be cards basically as they are, others will be cut up or die cut, or I may add to them with stamps and who knows what else?

I also got this piece, which was on scrap paper from cleaning the gelli plate.

This is the one I used for this card.

I like elements but wasn't sure about it overall, so perfect for cutting up to make layers!

I chose my background first, and cut the piece down to fit onto a 7x7 card blank. I then looked at what was left - the "Joy" stood out to be a topper, then the rest formed strips to lay across. There was some white on the topper when I cut it, so I coloured it with vintage photo distress ink - but that looked so dull - so I added gold gilding wax - but that looked odd with the gold layer - so I added blue gilding wax, and was happy!

Each piece was layered up onto black then gold - and yes, I did remember to gut the big piece!

I put it all together with tape pen - there are 12 layers in all, so I didn't want too much more dimension.

And the finished card again. It's not perfect - I'd highlight the "Joy" more if my white pen had been working and it hadn't been so late!

But the overall grungy, busy, mixed feel of the card I am so happy with!


To join in with the challenge, pop over to the Christmas Card Throwdown page. You have until midnight BST on Friday 19th May to enter. Enjoy playing!