Gelli Arts� Printed Popsicle Mobile

Hi there! Its Marsha back again with another fun summer craft idea for kids!

Wouldn't it be fun to have these popsicles as decorations for a tropical party? You can add them to a bunting, send them as invites or you can create a colorful mobile like I did.

Here's how I created them-

Step1:
Create a couple of fruity craft foam stamps.

Use adhesive backed craft foam or add double-sided adhesive to the back of plain craft foam. Adhere two pieces of foam on top of each other.

Draw shapes on the craft foam using an embossing tool or skewer. Then use scissors to cut the shapes out.

Adhere the shapes to a thicker craft foam and cut around the shapes.

Step 2:

Choose a couple of ice cream colored acrylic paints to work with and start painting!

Apply paint to the plate of your choice. I used the 5" x 7" Gelli� Plate. This meant that I could print twice on each sheet of my drawing paper, but you can of course cut the paper in half too.

Make marks with the DIY foam stamps and stamp the excess paint on the stamps off onto a spare sheet of paper or onto another print. 

Watch my video to get a better idea of how I did it!

Clean the foam stamps with a baby wipe or damp paper towel in between prints.

You'll need two prints of each design. The design doesn't have to be exactly the same, but you need a similar one for each side of the popsicle.

Step 3:
Cut each pair of prints out. Add more color and detail to the prints with colored pencils.

Step 4:
Apply a thin line of (temporary) glue on the edge of the back of one print and place the other one on top. Cut the prints into a popsicle shape.

Fold the prints open and adhere a nylon cord inside. Tape the thread down first, then fold the end up and secure that with a second piece of tape.

Adhere a craft stick onto the same popsicle side. Then apply glue to the other popsicle side and paste the two sides together.

Step 5:
Tie the popsicles to a metal hoop. Cover the metal hoop with washi tape.

Find the mobile a good place to hang, get a real popsicle and watch the paper popsicles dangle in the breeze!

Materials:

Gelli Arts�:

Gelli� Plate 5" x 7�

4" Pop-In Soft Rubber Brayer

Other:

Paper (160 g/m2 drawing paper)

Acrylic paint 

(Deco Art Americana, Dragon Fruit, Tangelo Orange, 

Yellow Light, Sea Aqua, Indian Turquoise, Wisteria)

Craft foam

Double-sided adhesive

Embossing tool or skewer

Craft sticks

Scissors

Craft knife

Glue stick (Pritt)

(Washi) tape

Metal hoop (10�)

Nylon cord

Coloured pencils

Optional: a couple of beads

PS: Please�share your prints with us on our Facebook page, or on Instagram using the hashtag #gelliprint #gelliarts and #gelliplate. Tag us with @gelliarts on Instagram and Twitter too! We love to see what you're creating!!

Remember, we now have Gelli� partners all over the world, so it's easier than ever to find a Gelli� retailer near you!

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Gelli Arts� Vegetable Prints

Hello and welcome to the Gelli Arts� blog, today we are lucky to have Birgit Koopsen sharing a new project idea with us!

You probably all have seen or made prints using natural material like twigs, leaves and even flowers. But have you ever thought of Gelli� Printing with vegetables? It is so much fun and also a great thing to do with your kid!

Start by cutting all the vegetables so they are ready to use. Of course you can cut off only the parts you need for printing and use the rest for dinner. As soon as you start cutting your room will smell as if you�re making soup, yummy! So just plan to eat soup on the day you do vegetable Gelli� Printing. Two birds with one stone, right?! 

Watch the video here and then find some more ideas in the pictures below:

As you saw in the video I started with making simple patterns using cabbage. I�ve cut the cabbage both at the top and at the bottom, which gave me 2 very different �tools.� One big �flower� with lots of details and one smaller that looks like iregular nesting circles. I wrapped some packaging tape around the cabbage leaves so they wouldn�t fall apart.

By repeating the shapes you can create simple but interesting, organic patterns and I really like them.

Also in the video I used paprika. If you cut it at the top, close to the stem, it will give you a nice big flower pattern.

Celery also creates beautiful flowers when using the end part. The sticks create a fun half moon shape, which is fun to create smaller patterns with. You can also bind two sticks together with some packaging tape to create yet another pattern.

By combining vegetables like onion and celery, or adding herbs like thyme, you can create a complete �painting� of flower bulbs with flowers. These are my favorite prints and they are so easy and quick to make. If you are using regular acrylic paint instead of open acrylics then you can add a few drops of slow-dri blending medium so you have a bit more time to create a nice composition.

Aren�t they just beautiful? I like them so much that I think they are worth framing, what do you think?

Now, I hear you thinking� will the vegetables affect my Gelli� Plate, will they make the plate smell bad?

No, they don�t. Not even the onion! I cleaned my Gelli� Plate after printing with a baby wipe and it doesn�t smell at all.

So you are good to go and I hope this post inspires you to look differently at vegetables when grocery shopping.

Have fun creating unique, organic prints and I hope to see you again next month for more Gelli� Printing fun!

Happy printing!

Birgit

Products Used:

8" x 10" Gelli� Printing Plate

PS: Please�share your prints with us on our Facebook page, or on Instagram using the hashtag #gelliprint #gelliarts and #gelliplate. Tag us with @gelliarts on Instagram and Twitter too! We love to see what you're creating!!

Remember, we now have Gelli partners all over the world, so it's easier than ever to find a Gelli retailer near you!

   

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