Nope I haven’t started playing with my ice cream… That would just be plain wrong… Ice cream for eating! However the fabulous Faber Castell Gelatos are for playing with!
I say fabulous now… But in reality I have had these in my crafty stash for two whole years and had no idea what to do with them! So I think I may have tried something maybe once or twice and been very unimpressed and shoved them back in a box.
Last night that changed! It was spurred on by me spotting them at Crab apple Crafts which I visited with my friend Mara. I explained I had some and didn’t know what to do with them. So last night when Ancestry.co.uk kept freezing, I decided to go hunt on UTube for some advice! And wow I found quite a bit. The Donna Downey series of short videos showed them being used in a whole host of different ways, and then another person also showed them. My first issue however was that they all seemed to have the colour family pack, whereas I had bought a mix and match set … The 50’s diner pack on the right …
As a result of just choosing one pack of colours I was drawn to, I had limited the blending capabilities for using them, but I figured I could do something with the orange, yellow and grey/brown colour even if I couldn’t use the aqua.
Well many hours passed of me watching UTube videos on various techniques with various products… And then of course I couldn’t sleep. So after trying for over an hour, I gave up, got myself a big drink of milk, and headed into the craft room to give the Gelatos a go!
I had already got a 15x15cm piece of Acrylic paper cut on the desk, so I decided to start with this. I drew a heart shape in pencil and blended the yellow and orange together for the heart, first using the finger to do some rough blending, and then adding water. I then outlined it with the grey with a reasonable amount of water. Next I took one of the new stencils I had bought and pushed some of the gelato watered down through that. This created the grey stems up the side. Then I tried stamping with Gelatos… Hearts from Language of Love all down one side in Orange. Then using the grey I stamped a partial stamp image of the Kaisercraft number background I bought yesterday. Then I tried another technique… Using another mask bought yesterday, I rubbed some of the colour away using a baby wipe to create two circles on the left of the heart, and the stain on the right hand side. I was very impressed with this technique, and the result it gave so easily.
I then took some little alpha stamps and created the wording with Stayzon on paper which I modpdged to the canvas. Then doodled a little bit to both frame it and outline the heart and words.
I then mounted it on some gold card, and placed it on the hubby’s bedside cabinet for him to wake up to!
Not bad for a 3am make! And so quick to do too! Really couldn’t believe how easy it was to create this, especially given I had no plan at the start and had always struggled to use them before! I suspect they will be used again in the near future and may even have to invest in some other colours to see what else I can create!
Now despite the fact I have been in bed since 4am I still haven’t slept. My body is telling me to sleep but my head is buzzing with arting ideas. Damn you UTube! And why the hell have I only just realised what a fab resource it actually is! But for now I really should sleep!
Happy crafting!
Catherine
Using Strawberry slush, Crisp Canteloupe and Bermuda Bay inks I stamped using the embossing folders the backgrounds in a technique I will be teaching at the next art journalling session. Creates such a cool effect. These were then added to the constructed box. 
