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Welcome! I’m Carolyn Dube – This colorful journey is all about the freedom of play!

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Some of the links on this blog are affiliate links and I receive a small percentage. It doesn't cost you anything extra and helps keep all the free tutorials and videos coming! It's a win-win! The website is copyright Carolyn Dube, and that is kinda common sense since this is my site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

A Baby Wipe, A Stencil, and the OOPS

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Adding a layer to my art journal with a dancing stencil and I made a huge OOPS but a baby wipe fixed it all!

Sometimes a few minutes is all you have to play and that’s all I need to make an OOPS, an Outstanding Opportunity Presenting Suddenly.  Being an adult can take up most of the day, but I have to have a bit of play for my sanity.  Just a few minutes of play with the art supplies keeps me happy during the busy holiday season.

The art journal page I’m working on was started in this video, and all I  had time for was one layer with a stencil mask and not surprisingly, I managed to have an OOPS.  So grateful for having ample baby wipes on hand!

Watch A Baby Wipe, A Stencil, and the OOPS in my art journal on YouTube.

So now I have all this white space and I have the big decision of leaving it white or adding color.  This could be a big decision, but really, next time I work on this page, I just need to pick one and do it. After all, an OOPS is the worst thing that could happen.

Adding a layer to my art journal with a dancing stencil and I made a huge OOPS but a baby wipe fixed it all!

Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and you are helping me keep this blog and my videos ad free! Thank you- I don’t like ads any more than you do!

Now you’ve seen my play, let’s see yours!  Share what you’re creating with us all in the Facebook group and be inspired by what others are creating! And be sure to leave a comment here to get entered in the monthly $50 gift certificate giveaway!

 

Specific ways to rediscover play by Carolyn Dube

Want to see more Let’s Play videos? You can find all the weekly posts here.

What is Let’s Play? It’s all about rediscovering the ability to play and each month I share a specific strategy that helped me recapture the freedom and fun of play. You can see more of the Let’s Play series here. Be sure to get entered in the $50 Dick Blick giveaway by leaving a comment below.

Sharing your play:   I, and a whole bunch of others, would love to see what you’re creating!  We’re sharing it in the Facebook group called A Colorful Place to Play. Why Facebook?  I’ve listened to your feedback about how and where you’d like to share your play instead of the link parties.

Monthly giveaways:  Leave comment on any (and all for more chances) of the weekly Let’s Play blog posts to be entered and one winner each month will be chosen by random.org.  Want more chances to win a $50 gift certificate to DickBlick.com?  Pin any of the images from the page or share about it on Facebook- then come back and leave a comment telling me what you did and you can have more chances to win! Giveaway closes the Sunday, December 28th at 11 pm EST and the winner will announced on the blog.

Congrats to Jodi, last month’s winner!

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Using Gel Prints to Make a Holiday Card

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Using gel prints to make a holiday card tutorial by Carolyn Dube

What can you do with a stack of papers made while gel printing?  One thing is make a fun and fast holiday card. In the video, you’ll see how it was inspired by a sweater and that there was not a thought of measuring.  After all, I’m not a precise type of card maker.

Watch Using gel prints to make a holiday card on YouTube.

Getting started gel printing step-by-stepIf you’re brand new to gel printing or just curious how it works, I created a video walking you step-by-step through the process plus there is a downloadable guide.

Start with a printed papers.  Making a print is fast on gel plate so I had plenty to choose from.  The patterns on these papers were made by using StencilGirl stencils on a Gel Press Plate.

Using gel prints to make a holiday card tutorial by Carolyn Dube

With a precision that would make Swiss watchmakers cringe, cut little strips of the paper.  They’d cringe because there is zero accuracy with this. Make them any size you want and each one being different is a plus here.

Then glue the strips onto a triangle cut from cardstock.  I used gel medium, but naturally, any glue will work.

Using gel prints to make a holiday card tutorial by Carolyn Dube

Just a quick snip of the scissors and it looks like the papers were made just for this tree.

Using gel prints to make a holiday card tutorial by Carolyn Dube

Next the tree needs a trunk, so it isn’t just floating out there.  This takes very little paper to create, so large sheets of paper from a gel printing session can make a zillion of these trees.

The hardest thing for me about making this card, was finding a way to take a photo of a white card on a white background. O.O.P.S! But every OOPS is an Outstanding Opportunity Presenting Suddenly.  I had a spare gel print around to use as a photo background…and that has me thinking that a nice border around the white card could be a good thing…the next card is going to have that border!

Using gel prints to make a holiday card tutorial by Carolyn Dube

Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and you are helping me keep this blog and my videos ad free! Thank you- I don’t like ads any more than you do!


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I Noticed a Bit of a Rainbow Trend in 2016

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The Best 9 on Instagram

Looking back through my Instagram posts of 2016 I noticed a couple of trends. One is the rainbow. The other, I don’t like to clean. Neither one of those is a shocker!

What will 2017 bring? My prediction is more colorful play chasing rainbows! A pretty safe bet with my history.  If you’re on Instagram, hit that follow button and join for for the adventure…maybe we’ll even see some unicorns!

How’d I get that nice grid of my top posts?  A quick and easy website does it for you.  You can do it for your Instagram account by going here.

Here are some of my favorites from the year that were on Instagram:

The only time cleaning makes me happy…when it is a clean up print on a Gel Press plate! Was thinking art journal page at first but maybe I will frame this one…

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Cleaning avoidance happening here lol! And mind blown by this little spotter brush- it is so dang small and detailed!

A video posted by Carolyn Dube (@carolyn_dube) on

The fact that I fall in love with little scraps and pieces might be part of the reasons I am art supply hoarder lol

A video posted by Carolyn Dube (@carolyn_dube) on

My dogs thought I was nuts to go out in the snow yesterday just to take pictures …they wanted to stay where it was warm lol. Maybe it will be warm enough to get some more color on this bike!

A photo posted by Carolyn Dube (@carolyn_dube) on

Dried up glue sticks are such fun to play with in an art journal!

A photo posted by Carolyn Dube (@carolyn_dube) on

While flipping through one of my altered books ran across this page…and the memories came racing back. Love that art connects to emotions!

A photo posted by Carolyn Dube (@carolyn_dube) on

The dance of life inspired this stencil and mask set that comes with 6 masks which are all stacked here.
Was this careful planning? Nope! I picked them all up at once and I fell in love with them stacked!

A photo posted by Carolyn Dube (@carolyn_dube) on

There was rain today and then sun so instead of waiting for Mother Nature to make a rainbow, I played with one

A photo posted by Carolyn Dube (@carolyn_dube) on

Ever play the paintbrush game? The person who uses the most brushes wins. It seems I love this game…and the prize? Cleaning the brushes lol!

A photo posted by Carolyn Dube (@carolyn_dube) on

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