Creative Christmas Bundle – 2 Days!

Advent Numbers by Connie Hanks for the Creative Christmas Bundle Just 2 more days until the release of the Creative Christmas Bundle! It will only be available for one week, November 24th – December 1, at a VERY special price. So don’t miss out! 

One of the 15 crafters and designers contributing is Beth Soler from Scrapping Wonders. Like so many of us, Beth uses her phone to take a lot of photos. However, she also USES those photos. She loves to find apps, tips, and tricks to make it easy to get those photos off the phone and actually use them. I think a lot of people are worse about using their photos from their phones, than they are just getting them off their camera!

Beth’s contribution to the Christmas Creative Bundle is a class showing us apps she uses. She has made it easy for us by using videos to walk us through how she does it! If you ever use your phone for snapping photos, you won’t want to miss her class!

Meet Beth

Beth Soler from Scrapping Wonders

I have been scrapping and crafting for ten years. I love preserving and sharing family memories, recording history for my husband and three active kids, extended family and friends. I love all things crafty as well.

I am a phone-photo NINJA, stealthily snapping photos, then swiftly and skillfully transferring, organizing and using those photos in super-fun projects to save and share.

My techniques and project tutorials will train you to be phone-photo NINJA, too. As an independent consultant for Close To My Heart, I am also your link to exciting products to make your projects shine.

 

Sign Up for Updates, so you don’t forget!

Cheers to YOUR Artful Adventures,

KS

 

Jaunt into Gelatos for Paper Crafting!

It’s time to jump on-board for a jaunt into Gelatos®! If you aren’t familiar with Gelatos®, I think you’ll love their versatility.  They are a Faber Castell® product which was developed as a result of their children’s Gel Sticks® product.  They are pigment sticks in tubes about the size of lipstick. Since I love lipstick, you know I love using these! It’s like using lipstick on art. However, clean-up is much easier than lipstick would be!  Watch the video or read below!

Although they are similar to the children’s products, the formula was developed for paper crafters. Both are easy and feel just about the same to use. You probably would never know the difference, but  two of the main differences between the two, are that Gelatos are lightfast, and they come in so many more colors.  Here’s the scoop on Gelatos:

  • Odorless
  • Acid-free
  • Archival Safe
  • Lightfast! They will not fade over time.
  • Gellatos come 28 colors, plus black and white, plus 6 metallics, which include a yummy set called “Metallic Mellon.” That brings the total to 36 options! The Gel Sticks are available in a set of primary colors and a set of a few metallics.
  • Gelatos coordinate with other products in the Faber Castell line. Not only do they coordinate with their own line, but they did a great deal of study on color trends in the papercraft industry and selected colors accordingly!
  • Water-soluble
  • Blendable
  • Work on many surfaces!

You will most often find Gelato’s sold in sets of 4, in a color family, such as blues, greens, etc. Recently I found a set of assorted colors at one of the large craft stores near me! I grabbed a set and thought you might like to see what kinds of things you can do with them!

Gelatos are a very versatile product, and there are several ways to use them. This Artful Adventure series is going to look at some of the different ways they can be used.  We will look at using them in scrapbooking, art journaling, and card-making.  You know you have found a great mixed media product when you can use it in so many ways! Plus, if you want to take them with you, it’s so easy and non-messy to transport them. It’s like throwing your lipstick in your purse!

Today, we’ll start by looking at using them dry, right out of the tube. Just take off the cap and apply! Being able to use them dry is good news when it comes to projects that would be either ruined or warped by using water-based products. You can either leave as is for the most intense look or rub for a more blended look. The smooth, creamy consistency is enjoyable to work with.

You can use them together and they still blend well in their “dry” state.  Use one tube over the top of another, and your tubes will not even become cross-contaminated with color! I love that quality! You can either blend them with your finger tip, or use a cotton swab, or blending stump. I like using my fingers, because they of their smooth, creamy consistency!

Have you tried Gelatos? What did you like best about them?  Don’t forget, you are always invited to share your projects in our Artful Adventures Facebook group!

This information is based purely on products I have purchased and used, and am freely sharing my thoughts and ideas about.

Until our next Artful Adventure together, have some of your own!

KS

 

 

Art Journaling Basics – Gesso vs. White Paint

gesso

Liquid gesso is a good choice for art journals.

As we continue our Art Journaling Adventure, we’ll step back a minute and look at gesso, before we move ahead into discussing some adhesives.  While we used gesso in turning a book into an art journal, you may be wondering why we didn’t just use white acrylic paint, instead of the gesso. So, we’ll talk about that now.

Although white acrylic paint and white gesso may look a lot alike, they are different.  Gesso is made to actually seal a surface and still provide a very slightly textured surface, also known as “tooth.” This gives paint something to grab onto. That means that you can use gesso on all kinds of surfaces and be able to paint on it. Without the gesso, many surfaces would absorb too much of what you are using, such as paints, ink mists, and adhesives. Gesso also has more of an adhesive property than acrylic paint. You can use it and then work an artful creation on many surfaces which your paint or other mediums would not normally stay on very well!

Different brands of gesso have varying degrees of a textured surface when they are dry. In our art journals, we can just use one that does not really have a lot of noticeable texture. A liquid gesso is easy to use and will work well in an art journal.

As we move forward, you’ll also find that mixing a little white gesso into a paint will change a paint color in a different way than white paint will change it.

So, don’t be afraid to grab some gesso at some point, even if you have decided to purchase your art journal instead of using our recycled book idea! I promise that as we move through different Artful Adventures, you will have a use for it.

See you on our next stop on the Art Journaling Adventure,

KS