Gelly pen Card (& a link to the "Mystery Project")

Here is a simple card I made using the gelly pens I reviewed yesterday (here is a LINK to the review). I used one of the frame designs on the Lyrical Letters cartridge.



This screen shot shows the location of this image. It was such an nice surprise to find all the extras on this cartridge when I first bought it. Here is a LINK to a post from last April showing some of the cuts available on this cartridge. You can click on the label for Lyrical Letters in the side column to see other uses of this cartridge.



I did several trials with the gelly pens - at three, four and five inches. I chose the red pen to get the effect of stitched "red work" - a type of embroidery often seen in quilts. I used Bristol vellum art paper - here is a LINK to an older post where I explained in detail about this paper. I like using this paper for embossing and I thought it would accept the gelly ink very well. All three images were perfectly drawn with no skipping at all.



I had been using my machine to cut and for the first drawing I forgot to change the pressure setting back to medium (the recommended settings for the gelly pens are speed 2 and pressure 3). In the photo above you can see the difference - the design on the left has thicker lines (but still far thinner than the Cricut Markers). As you can see, the lines are very smooth, straight and even.

I trimmed the paper around the four inch image to 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches. Then I cut a red mat at 3 1/2 x 5 inches and used my Martha Stewart Arch Lattice border punch on the lower edge.



I centered the paper in the punch, paying attention to the edges of the paper to see where the lattice would cut. After you punch the center, slide the paper to the right or left using the printed image on the punch to align the design perfectly.



On my first try, the third punch to finish the border was a bit off - it is important to hold the edge level and it is harder to do this after several punches have been made. I could probably get away with using this but it would bother me ... so I will trim this piece down to use on another project.



I was a little more careful the second time and ended up with a nice even border (on the right in the photo above).



This card is simple but the intricate drawing and the punched border make it interesting.


If you haven't already gone to see the Mystery Challenge projects on the Custom Crops site, please take a few minutes to check them out - here is a LINK to the page that explains the challenge and the seven projects are linked in a list at the bottom of the page



I used all of my "ingredients" to make this cropping apron - Here is a LINK to the page where you can read more about my project. Please be sure to leave a review on the Custom Crops site - this is the first time they have tried a challenge like this and they are really interested in hearing what people think. For the next challenge a lucky customer will get to "play along" with the design team!