A new gel plate to play with!

Hurrah, a card on time for the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - although it was close!

Branka is our host for October. This is the sketch she's chosen for us.

I got myself a new gel press plate last week, a 6x6, so had to have a play with it. I used acrylic paints, and stamps to lift the paint off.

I only got to make a card from one of these this week, I'm sure the others will get used before long.

Not a lot of photos this week.

After cutting to size, I placed a circle stencil over the edge of the card, then a leafy swirl (from Clarity) over that. I spread champagne modelling creme through the stencils.

Once dry, I sponged red then black permanent ink round the edge of the card. I put the circle stencil inner over the area I'd applied the modelling creme, and sponged ink out from it to form a shadow. I used dark red, and a little brown over the red paint for more contrast.

I die cut "Merry Christmas" from black card. I used the negative as a stencil over the card to apply more of the modelling creme.

This worked better than expected - I thought it would spread under the card to give a more diffuse background. I bet if I wanted to be readable it would spread!

I then attached the black sentiment over the creme to form a highlight.

I had moments while making this that I wondered where it was going, but I really like the finished result. The detail in the gel plate background really comes through for some gorgeous interest.



To join in, pop over and visit the 52CCT blog, for loads more inspiration from my DT colleagues. The challenge is open until Friday 11th October for you to play. You'll see that we're also looking for new members to join our lovely design team, could that be you?