Life’s a Bowl of Cherries

Life’s a Bowl of Cherries

Hi there.
Thanks for popping in.
Since we have a 25% off all stencils sale going on this weekend,
let’s look at some stencils!
We have so many wonderful designs!
All original artwork by Mel, Jim and Annie.

Spoilt for choice here!

So I think I will get one of my favourites out.
It’s a word one, by Mel.

Step by Step –
Here goes….
Mount your 6×6 Gel Press Plate on our 7×7 megamount.
Spread some red acrylic paint (London Bus) over the plate with a brayer and blot with some punchinella or our dotty wave stencil

Patchy is good.

Now let the paint on the plate dry.

Impatient? Blot a bit to speed it up!

Now load another layer of red acrylic paint over the top.

While that layer is still wet, place the Cherry Stencil  
face down in the paint on the plate.
Blimey. Anybody reading this would think it was a cookery lesson!

Blot around the stencil with a sheet of copy paper.
You will see that the wet paint will lift some of the layer underneath, but not all.

Wait until the paint you can see is dry.
Then you have to act fast.

Remove the stencil and quickly lay a sheet of copy paper or card down on the plate. Rub the back of the paper or card.
If you flip the plate over, you will see this:

But when you peel off the paper, 
it will lift a print of the words for you.

And now you can see what is still left on the Gel press Plate.
Cool or what?!

Now to lift the print off the plate.
Let’s use white acrylic paint (Snowflake) to do the job.

Spread it out lightly with the same brayer.

Too much paint won’t work.
Too little paint won’t work.
I know. 
HOW MUCH THEN???
Here’s what I do.
I put a good 2p size portion on the 6×6 plate,
then I roll it out. This is too much, so I start lightly rolling it off and rolling the excess paint onto a sheet of copy paper on the side.
Keep doing this until you see the print underneath peeping through.
When you can see it, it’s time to pull the print.
See it?

Now quickly flip the Megamount over and plant the print onto a piece of our 7×7 Stencil Card. The megamount is the same size as the card; ideal for lining up.
Like so:

Flip the artwork back, rub the back well, to transfer all the paint from the plate to the card.
Peel the card off the plate.
Bingo.
And the plate is totally clean too.

So there you have it:
2 prints from one Cherry stencil.

Let’s define the letters with a red pencil.
Look at the difference above and now below.

Let’s add a little green with a pencil too.
Or not!

Trim the sides with our ruler + the Groovi Grip to stop a slip!

Mount on a piece of Dee’s Brighton Rock Designer Paper.

Sorted.

Enjoyed that arty half hour.
Love this stencil. Ought to spend a little longer on the greenwork, but I have to go cook supper, or Dave will fall off his perch!
And yes, Life is a bowl of cherries.
Some Bitter. Some Sweet.
My favourite fruit.
Maybe next Sunday at 5pm on Hochanda TV,
 I’ll take my Gelpress Plate with me….
(thinks….)
I will announce the winner of the quiz tomorrow.
Thank you so much for joining in,
and yes, we do have ONE winner!
Anyway, why not go to the website and have a look at all the lovely original stencils we have designed now. You never know – there may be one or two which tickle your fancy…
Love & hugs,
Barb
xxx

22 thoughts on “Life’s a Bowl of Cherries

  1. Good to re-visit old favourites, there is so much choice now do tend to forget the first items we bought. I was having a go at one of your early stencil NDC sheets this afternoon. Really enjoyed some quiet time for myself not been much of that lately. Plan to have a look at which stencils I might like tomorrow, a wonderful offer to good to refuse. Thank-you. xx

  2. Love using stencils and for katie her favourite form of craft she spends ours using stencils it is very heavy on the ink brushes are so full at end when she has finished could use them for a week and still have ink left keeps her busy though. Enjoy your dinner hugs Joy and Katie xx

  3. I haven't used my gelli plate much recently and this has just reminded me what fun it is. I love the way you start with just a piece of plastic and end up with a masterpiece. Thank you for the great offer Barbara. x

  4. Oh Barbara, who's going to sort out all your stencils back into folders for you?!!!!

    I love this artwork, very bright and effective. Love the colours, and I like the green as it is. Thank you for sharing. And thank you for explaining how to get the right amount of paint, that'll help me loads. Once I've found a 2p to remind me of the size… Well, I rarely use cash with being housebound as almost everything bought online.

    I'd like more gel press plate on telly please. When I had my go with the baby ones I seemed to use an awful lot of paint, so not sure if I was doing it right, or if it was that I'm using up different paint before using Fresco.

    Cherries are my favourite fruit too, fresh in summer, and make do with the frozen ones in winter, except Tesco stopped offering their frozen ones for sale online a couple of months ago. So I'm having to wait, rather impatiently, until I can buy the summer ones, usually June up here. Tried some fresh at Christmas as a treat but they weren't that nice.

    Thank for telling me it's Groovi grip I need. I don't think I'd have got very far putting "ruler stuff' in the Clarity search box!!!

    Hope you enjoy your dinner.
    Love Brenda xx

    Happy birthday Rosie. I knew Hochanda would do something special for you. And then Barbara's birthday wishes call, must have been the icing on the cake. Aye, pun intended!!! Hope you enjoy your celebrations xx

  5. I am looking forward to seeing which questions I got wrong. It was fun working them out though. I have just caught up with Rosie's programmes today, and all her tips and tricks. As Lynne said, it is good to revisit old friends,stamps and stencils, as well as techniques. I went to a demo day at the local craft shop and came away with loads of ideas on how to marry up some of the new paints, glitters etc with well loved Clarity stamps and stencils. There are always things we Canaveral our Clarity stash. However,I must have a good nose around the stencils tomorrow. xxx Maggie

  6. Hi Barb,
    Great to have the stencil sale, thank you for that. Must really get around to playing with my gelli plate/s again – seems like ages since I got them out of the cupboard! Love this stencil and the artwork you've produced. I'm with Brenda on the green too, like it as it is. Rosella's first show was great, got the others recorded to watch tomorrow. Love and hugs Alison xx

    1. Hi bloggy friends,
      Hope today has been as good as possible for you all. Well today we have finally got the kitchen finished!! Door went on today and the wait has been worth it – I love it!! Going to play tomorrow with my new Groovi plates ( the ODC) and going to have a ride up to Weardale to see if we can see the white tailed sea eagle that has been sighted again this year. Love and hugs ,Alison xxx

    2. Hi Alison, now comes the fun bit of finding new homes for all the kitchen stuff, it will be worth all the muddle and mess in the long run. Enjoy your trip out to see the sea eagle, how exciting. Sending hugs xxx

  7. Great artwork, the results when using a gelli plate, always seem like magic to me. Thank you for the stencil sale, my wish list will be a little shorter, well, just for a little while, until the next "I must have" is added to it! xx

  8. Cheery cherries! Lovely!
    I love this with the gel press because you never really know what you're gonna get but every one is a unique piece of art! Yours is wonderful today!
    Love and hugs xxx

  9. Hi Barbara
    It's lovely to have a reminder on using the geli plate, I haven't used mine for ages so must get it out and have a play. I always think it's so exciting when you pull the final print, you can only guess what it's going to look like and then you've got it. It should come with a drum roll and tada!! Hope you enjoyed your dinner and Dave time. I didn't get round to writing the answers down and entering but I'm looking forward to finding out just how much I remembered.
    Love Diane xxx

  10. Hi Barb, your step by steps are always easy to follow and very descriptive. Love the image, hope you got Dave's dinner done in time. Looking forward to next weeks shows. Bx

  11. Lovely Artwork as always Barbara.
    Hopefully I will have some crafting time this weekend and get the Gelli plate out, oh and look at the stencil sale, and watch more Rosrlla! Thank you for your inspiration.

  12. Love cherries too! Great step by step – must get my Gelli plate put and have a go ! Got the ironing out of the way this morning, visitors arriving late afternoon so maybe tomorrow?! Have a great bank holiday xx

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