The Art of Well Being

Art has always been necessary for my survival and well-being.  I am very serious about the survival part.  For since childhood, I needed art as a way to escape from some of the harsh realities of life.  Making things with my hands kept my mind from dwelling on what scared me.  I was a very sensitive child, I was told, I could play alone for days and hours.  My solitude was not self-imposed but more of a reality of my circumstances.  Whenever I had the opportunity to share with others in any social situation I was at ease too.  I loved being creative and sought to share that with anyone who was interested.  throughout my postgraduate studies, I turned to my love of sewing to relax. Not only did I have a nice wardrobe to go to the University and to work, but I also designed and made my wedding dress for our wedding following graduation.  Art making whether With paints or threads continued to be my salvation through life's challenges.  My love of crafting branched out into some business, writing, and teaching opportunities. Over the years my hobbies evolved into my present profession, and I am very pleased.

Today I want to share my latest project that I created with the Gel Press® reusable gel printing plate, Stencil Girl stencils, and some acrylic paints by Deco Art®. My project is one of the many shared by the Gel Press® Design Team.  Links to other pages are below.

Materials used:  

6" x 6" Reusable gel plate by Gel Press®

6" x 6" StencilGirl Products Stencil S110 Stegmiller

8" Round canvas board

Coffee Filter

Acrylic craft paints by DecoArt®

Decou-Page™ by decoArt®

Rubber stamps and Ink

Variety of embellishments (EK Success™)

Trim (my stash)

Hot glue gun and glue (AdTech™)

To make this project I made several different prints using the materials mentioned.  I applied acrylic paints to the Gel plate and pulled prints.  I covered the Gel plate with the stencil, added some paint and laid the dried print over to pull another print.

I chose to use this print as my focal point.  

I added some green paint at the bottom.

I chose to use the round canvas board as it matched the coffee filter.  I used some of the same paint used in the print to paint the round canvas while leaving the centre white.

Once all the paint had dried I adhered the coffee filter print using Decou-Page™ medium, to the canvas.

I decorated the picture with some scrapbook dimensional embellishments using a hot glue gun by

 Ad Tech™.  

To finish off the piece I attached some jute string to make a hanger.  I covered the edges with more jute string and made a bow with the same string to add to the top.

To see what the other Designers of the Gel Press Team have made click on the following links:

Ann

 Cindi

Cynthia

Elena

Kathy

Keri

Kitti

Jen

Sandee

Teresa

Gel Press

**Below are links to similar products I used in the above project.  Note, if you purchase through these links I am an Amazon affiliate and will receive compensation.  Thank you for your support.

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