We have a Limerick Winner and a Real Leaf Gelli Print, or three!

We have a Limerick Winner and a Real Leaf Gelli Print, or three!

Bonjoir!
Ça va bien?
After a very wet “Eel Plurt” market morning in Auray,
we came home to a log fire and to dry out!
There’s only so much “It’s just a bit of rain” you can take,
when it’s running down your nose and neck!

Decided to go in the garden, gather up a few leaves, 

and have a play with my Gelli Plate…

Special deal on 6″x6″ Gelli Plate + megamount
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This is just messy, experimental play,
something I don’t do nearly enough because I am always ticking business boxes!
Today I just decided to spend an hour with some paint and leaves,
and see what developed.
Ready?
Brayered paint over the leaves which were placed on copy paper ,

and then put them paintside down on the Gelli Plate.
They left their vein prints on the Gelli.
I let them dry and just kept adding more leaves.
I wanted to capture a leafy carpet of colours.

Eventually, when I had a load of dry leafy skeletons on the Gelli Plate, I added a layer of Cheesecake colour paint, 
and lifted all the leaf prints at once. 
Very detailed.

Then I just got carried away, laid a large clean leaf on another murky piece I had done earlier, which hadn’t gone so well,
and spread Claret (fantastic colour paint) over the Gelli Plate.
Lifted the leaf off the plate and pulled another print. 
Now this one I DO like.

But the leaf I pulled off the Claret print was soaked with paint,
so I flipped it over and laid it wetside down on the Gelli Plate.

Then I took the still pretty wet Claret painty brayer,
 and randomly rolled around on the plate, here and there, 
making hacky lines and patches. 

Time to let this dry completely. 
In the meantime, while it’s drying, 
let’s take a look at what we already have today:
Two leafy prints. 
When you look closely, you can see lots of vein detail. 
Quite interesting, and certainly very enjoyable to create. 
It was the colours and the shapes I wanted….
But let’s go back to the  3rd print now.
It’s completely dry, so let’s brayer a layer 
of Snowflake white paint over the dry Gelli Plate,
flip the Gelli and lower it onto the White Gelli Card,
dead centre.
Flip it back, rub the back of the white card,
and then peel back your leafy print.

Bingo.
If you haven’t played with a Gelli Plate yet,
you don’t know what you’re missing. 
Sure it works with ink. Very nicely too.
But oh! The joy of pulling back that card to reveal an original acrylic print. 
And I’ll never be able to duplicate these leafy prints.
I may be able to emulate and use the same colours,
and so can you,  
but they will never be identical. Impossible. 
Wow. I think that’s what they call ART.
Then I remembered the limerick competition from last week!
So we had a hearty laugh at all the offerings.
I can see why we all get on so well!
Mad as a box of frogs!
(No idea where that expression actually stems from, 
but if the shoe fits!)
There were so many corkers, and how we did chuckle, 
but there can only be one winner,
so we picked this one to receive the £20 Gift Voucher.
I’m sure you’ll agree it’s very good:

Well done Crafty Chris!!!


There was a keen crafter from Crewe,

Who wanted to learn something new.


Where can I go?


Someone must know!


Hochanda – 39 on Freeview!


So now I am going to read a book.
Can’t write a book in a week, 
but I sure can read one!


love and hugs,

51 thoughts on “We have a Limerick Winner and a Real Leaf Gelli Print, or three!

  1. Hi Barb,
    Never thought about using leaves on the Gelli Plate but I do like what you've achieved. Used to do leaf rubbings when younger and this reminds me of them. Well done to Chris – great Limerick. Enjoy your book Barb and chill out. Love Alison xx

  2. Wow, I'm off out to the garden now to find some leaves as these look great!! So glad you are having time to relax and have some creative fun. I love that limerick too, so congratulations to Chris! Continue to have fun Barbara and Dave. x

  3. I had a great time with leaves from the garden on my gelli plate last autumn and still have some of the backgrounds created which is just as well cos there just hasn't been time to have much of a play. Enjoy your book Barb. You and Dave soo deserve a good rest to do your own stuff. No matter how much you love what you do, and that is plain for all to see, we still need to take time out and do something different and that we enjoy. Good for you! Lots of love.

    PS just opened my Clarity Club envelop and love the acorn stamp. Out with those backgrounds! Thanks Barb X

  4. I love these backgrounds – just the thing to go with the latest stamp from the Clarity Club. I'm also looking forward to trying out the new stencil. Enjoy whatever you're reading! Well done Chris – how will you choose?

  5. Manifique – that is about all the Francois that I know (and cannot spell). Truly amazing – must have a go – plenty of wet leaves outside. Hope you are warm and dry now. My geli has taken a bit of a back seat because of Groovi – it is so rewarding and my perforating is improving day by day.
    Looking forward to your week of lovely blogs
    Anne (Reading)

  6. Lovely demo, thanks! What book are you reading?

    My Clarity club envelope arrived this morning and I've been saving it to open later ! I shouldn't have read Vanessa's post though! I do have a surprise stencil though 😉 better get it opened quick and will look forward to your letter !

  7. Bonjour Barbara, comment allez vous?

    That made me smile, trying to make out a wee bit rain nae worries, while it’s running off the end of your nose, water running off my hair not covered with hood, gloves soaked through, jogging bottoms between cagoule bottom and wellies soaked through and seeping into wellies, in fact just well and truly drookit– that’s my typical Wednesday afternoon garden visit!!!!

    Wow, your prints are amazing. Thank you for sharing. I did have some feelers going round my head as to what I could do arty with leaves. Didn’t hit on the gelli plate though, but no surprise there when my gelli plate is still in it’s packet unused! I think some of the leaves that I’m filling up my brown garden waste bin with every week just now are coming inside with me this week! Trouble is they will go brittle and curled up if kept and I’ve only just started my Christmas cards and getting no where fast so got get myself working on them first! Mmm wondering if rubbing some baby oil into the side I won’t be putting paint on would keep them supple, worth a try, I’m sure I’ve a bottle of baby oil in here somewhere for some other crafty idea use thing, that I’m sure will come back to me at some point!!!

    Congratulations Chris, enjoy spending your voucher.

    I must apologise for my bad manners yesterday! How rude of me to ask where the toilet is and forget my s’il vous plait!! (don’t know how to do circumflex in typing – I think that’s what the wee hat that should be above the i is called anyway). Been rummaging around in the very dusty full of cobwebs archives in the forgotten depths of my brain!!! And found gauche and adroit meaning right and left, but I’ve no idea which is which! So I’m not that smart after all eh – remembering how to ask where the toilet is but having only a fifty fifty chance of finding it!!!! My gut feeling is telling me adroit means right, guess I'll be googling that later!!! My french teacher, Miss Coull, would be jumping up and down for joy, literally (she was very demonstrative), at me actually remembering some of her hard effort to help me learn. It's probably all her actions that have helped me remember as much as I do because I see everything in pictures in my head! Actually, on second thoughts, she’ll have her head in her hands in despair that I remember so little!!! She never did understand why I didn't share her enthusiasm for her subject, nor did she, nor anyone else, understand why I struggled with anything language, even english lit! But that was long before the Asperger’s diagnosis and realisation that my brain works from a different OS!

    Hope it’s a good book, and the rain stops for tomorrow so you can enjoy more adventures exploring
    love Brenda xx

    thinking about you Dot xx

    1. Hello Brenda

      Excuse me for butting in on your post, I was going to confirm you were correct with your french left and right but you beat me to it. Your 'adroit', I think, comes from 'a droite' which I think means to or on the right.

      Glad to see you are posting again.x

    2. Thank you Roz. I just felt there was an 'a' there somewhere, that would have bugged me for ages 😉 xx

      Can I just say none of you have any idea how incredible it is for me, for literally the first time in my life, to be and feel so wanted /included by my fellow human beings. Barbara, this here blog of hers, and all you guys truly are my sole huge lifeline right now. A massive heartfelt thank you from me xx

    3. Lovely to see you contributing again Brenda, missed you. You're doing really well and I admire you for not giving up even though it's a huge effort for you. Lots of hugs.xxx

    4. Hello my lovely Brenda
      Oh my goodness you can remember more French than me! My friend and I were having a chuckle last year, her daughter had the same French teacher we had at school, many moons ago – he's just retired. She made us laugh because it was like turning the clock back 20 odd years, she was moaning about him as much as we used to! Poor man! I've got a lovely vision of you on garden visit day Brenda, very exotic. I was going to suggest rubbing Vaseline into your leaves to keep the supple but I'm sure baby oil will do too. Take care xxxxx

    5. Thanks Diane. To add to your vision of me on garden day – in the winter I keep my jammies on and pile the clothes on on top! And if it's extra cold it's snowboard trousers and foot and hand warmer gel things, hat under hoodie hood, two pairs of gloves, 2 pairs of socks!!! CFS means I can't regulate my body temperature very well so it can't handle extremes of temperature! Your suggestion of Vaseline may work better, I'll test them both out and report back. If it's not so wild weather tomorrow I might stick my hand out the back door and have a rake through the pile of leaves collected in the corner, see if I can find any not dried up yet! xx

  8. I forgot to say well done Chris!

    Also as well as my Ndc envelope I had the Christmas stencils come as well and what with some groovi plates on Saturday I'm well away😸😸

    1. I am going to do a bit of both and colour in my newest bookmark! I want to use distress markers to see what they are like on parchment. I like the look when I have seen it on the blog. XX

    1. Hi Donna, hope you've had a good day, I'm going to try to make a few cards tonight too. After the other night though not holding my breath. I've had a bit of a tidy up now so maybe it will go better.xxx

    2. I did smile at your tiding comment the other day when you said you got glitter all over you. Every time I go in the craft room I get glitter on me, whether I'm using it or not! Often gone out with glitter over my face, and ink on my hands. XX

    3. Hi Donna – you've been peeping in our study! I moved a box on the floor today and found a tub of glitter with a loose lid lying on the floor. I must confess I picked it up, screwed the lid back on and moved the box back – I will deal with it another day 🙂 enjoy your colouring this evening – let us know how you get on with the pens on parchments. Xxxx

  9. Stunning colours I will have to give this a try ,enjoy reading your book ,
    I received my club envelope yesterday beautiful stamp and stencil love the step by steps
    Well done Chris on winning xxx

    1. Hi Sheila, hi Pam hope you are both ok. I've just renewed my subscription and I've upgraded to gold membership for the first time. I'm looking forward to stencils, if the stamps are anything to go by I'm in for a treat. Xxxx

    2. HI Diane, do you manage to do the monthly step by steps? I have a confession to make, I'm a Gold member and have been in the stamp club for 2 years and both this last year and I haven't done one as yet. Feel ashamed of myself. Never seem to make the time. I love the newsletter and getting my envelope every month.xx

  10. Love your gelli plate offering today, I'd like to try this. Colours are beautiful and love how the veins in the leaves show up. Been wet here today as well but managed to get out for a walk this morning in between showers. Need the exercise. Hope your weather improves, not nice getting that soaked. Escaping into a book is great on holiday Barb, good for you, that'll make you relax. Especially with a log fire. Glad you and Dave are enjoying your break. Congratulations to Chris for winning the limerick competition, well done and well earned.xx

  11. Wonderful, love the leaf prints. Good use for all those leaves gathering on my lawn. Congratulations Chris on the Limerick, very good. Glad you having some arty time in France, eases the stresses. xx

  12. Hi Barbara
    I was looking at the leaves on the ground today when I went for a walk, so many different shapes and colours. Love the effects you got using the gelli plate, must give that a go. The colours you have used are gorgeous too. Enjoy your relaxing evening with your book.
    Congratulations Chris on winning the limerick competition, that was brilliant, I did have a chuckle.
    Take care
    Love Diane xxxxx

  13. Ooh my goodness! I can't believe I have won! Thank you so much for choosing my limerick! your leaf prints are fabulous! Such lovely detail. Hope your evening was relaxing and thank you again 😊 xxx

  14. What a fantastic way to capture the stunning colours of Autumn. Truly beautiful! What a lovely way to spend an afternoon. Congratulations Chris, enjoy spending your vouchers. Bonus vacançe, Barbara and Dave xx

  15. Well done Chris – so enjoyed everyone's limericks! These leafy prints are amazing, and I love the way you have created that last background. Might have to ask Santa for some of those amazing paints. Hope il pleut moves on tomorrow Barbara! Susan x

  16. Morning I read your blog last night and this morning had a rummage in the pile of leaves outside. Washing leaves now to have a go at this great idea. Love it.

    Hope your feeling relaxed and refreshed.

    Loved the limerick

    Crafty hugs Pen x

  17. Hello Barb, well this has certainly inspired me, and as I have a sneaky day off from the day job, instead of cleaning, I think I will have a play, and see if I can achieve anything close to your fabulous pieces. Hope you are having a fabulous break. Congrats to Crafty Chris for winning the Limerick competition. Bx

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