Gel plate brushos

The blog and my crafting in general has been a bit neglected recently, I've been under the weather.

But for the latest challenge at the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown, I've pulled out some cards I made last minute at Christmas - when I realised I needed a few more postable cards!

The challenge is a colour one:

I love blues for Christmas so this is right up my street!

I used the petite gel press, the rectangular one, and brushos. I sprinkled the powder onto the gel press, then lightly spritzed with water. I then pressed it down onto the card, like a stamp. (I have my gel press on a mount to allow me to lift it like this.)

I repeated, changing the colours as I went - there's usually a bit of the previous mix left on the gel plate, so you get some great combinations. Not all appropriate for this challenge, but all lovely! You can also see that some are more granular, where I used less water, some are darker and more mixed, with more powder and water. The trick is to be VERY careful when lifting the plate, to avoid sliding or flicking colour onto the border.

Once dry, I over stamped these backgrounds. I tried with black ink, which did work, but heat embossing gave a more dramatic contrast. I used snowflake stamps from Sweet Dixie on the blue backgrounds. On the other colours, I also used a Christmas tree - I'll add those photos at some point.

This was one of the lighter backgrounds, so the white embossing powder gives a more subtle effect. I also used silver on one card, but that wouldn't fit this challenge!

The much darker background gives a more striking effect with the white here.

To join in with our colour challenge, go to the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. You have until midnight GMT (7pm EDT) on Friday 9th January to enter.

I would love to see what you do with beautiful blues x