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Friday, February 23, 2018

Just begin!

We've all learned to appreciate a job well done, but before that can happen you have to get a good start!  This is true whether it's a job or a hobby.  You might be amazing at something, but you won't know until you begin.  



Today's project for the Altered Pages Artsociates blog started with a monoprint on my gel plate.  I like to collect interesting patterned items to use with my prints.  The shapes in this print are from an empty adding machine tape roll and the wheel from an empty tape runner.



My print was made on a scrap of blue card stock with blues, greens and red paint.  We're all about red this month so I sponged in some red ink on the page and left some random areas untouched so that the other colors would pop out.



The addition of the permanent ink really altered the paint colors.  I added a little darker red around the edges after the paper was trimmed to size, in this case it's an A6 card panel.  I also dipped the edges into the dark ink so the blue paper wouldn't be obvious.



To keep the gear theme from the background going I chose some chipboard gears of various sizes and dipped them in the same pigment ink that I used on the edges.  



A hint of blue darkened the edges just a little.



This saying by Plato is on the Pocket Quotes 2 collage sheet.  These little pocket sayings are perfect for artist trading cards if you leave them whole or you can cut them apart.  



It really needed something to show off the chipboard since it's a very monochromatic card.  Unfortunately, I didn't have any of the fabulous silver gear embellishments from Altered Pages, so I raided my husband's hardware bin and found these lock washers.  Between the pop of silver and the dark blue card stock base, the gears show up beautifully!  



Supplies used:
Gel plate (Altered Pages has multiple sizes!)
Acrylic paint in your choice of colors
Texture tools 
StazOn ink - Valentine Red
Memento ink - Rhubarb Stalk and Nautical Blue
Chipboard gears
Pocket Quotes 2 collage sheet
Metal gears
Card making tools 
Scoring mat
Double-sided adhesive
Strong glue to hold the metal