Gel Press Techniques with Stencils.

Hello there, Christine here with a card showing one of the backgrounds I made using the Art Deco stencil and a gel press.  The background I made for the card felt almost like the Northern Lights, so I added some images from the Oh Deer stamp set to create a finished scene.

Here is a video showing the entire process and lots of ideas how to use stencils with a gel press- I just had a lot of fun, didn’t think too much and created a lot of backgrounds.

 

I used a 5×7 gel press with a number of distress oxide inks including: faded jeans, broken china, speckled egg, bundled sage, shaded lilac and rustic wilderness.  I splotched the color directly onto the gel press, used a roller over it to spread out the color, placed the Art Deco stencil on top and then pressed some 110lb Neenah solar white cardstock on top.  

Did you know that you can do embossing with stencils as well?  Once I made one print after removing the stencil, I put the stencil itself (that had color from the gel press on it) onto another piece of cardstock and ran that through my die cutting machine. Just make sure to rinse everything (roller, gel press and stencil) off with some warm water in between each background!

I chose one background for the card that I had created with faded jeans, broken china, speckled egg distress oxide inks and some Couture Creations Glitter Paste. To finish the card, I colored some images Oh Deer stamp set that I had die cut with my Brother CutNScan2 with some simple copic coloring.  The star of the show is definitely the glittery background made with the Art Deco stencil.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

 

Rainbows for Turner Syndrome

Hello there, Christine here wishing you a very Happy Valentine’s Day!  I’m here with a card that I made for the Turner Syndrome Awareness Blog Hop (Miss Ink Stamps is a sponsor!).  I wanted to make a sunshine and rainbow card using a happy little critter, so I took my favorite Miss Ink stamp set Punny Farm Goats and made the sunshine with the Floral Stained Glass stencil and simply added lots of butterflies!

To make the card, I ink blended scattered straw distress oxide ink over the stencil and then immediately added glitter paste over it (Frosty Sparkle, Couture Creations).  I die cut papers that matched the color palette from the hop (except for the blue) and clouds using a die set from Trinity Stamps (Slimline Rainbow Builder die set). I spent quite a bit of time making everything fit nicely on the A2 card.  I added some B000 copic outline to the clouds.

I added color changing butterflies, Dazzle Butterflies, and made a slanted photo above, so that you can see the color shift. I also added some pink Watercolor Butterflies to highlight the sentiment that I used from the Hippo Hooray stamp set.  Finally, I added my beloved happy little goat from the Punny Farm Goats stamp set and colored him simply with W0 and W3.

Thank you so much for stopping by!!

You’re the Hippest

Hello there! I have a mini card for you today using the Miss Ink Floral Wave Offset stencil, Waves stencil and the Hippo Hooray stamp set. I have several techniques that I did for this card, I hope that you will give them a try!

First I took a piece of 110lb Neenah solar white cardstock and taped the Floral Wave Offset stencil to it, ran it through my die cut machine so that it made an impression on the paper. I then ink blended very lightly over the impressed part with distress oxide in scattered straw and tattered rose. I then die cut it down to a smaller size.

Next I used the Waves stencil to heat emboss 2 colors of embossing powder (WOW embossing powders in Oceanic and Bee Kind) onto 2 different pieces of heavy acetate (Lawn Fawn Acetate). This acetate does not warp under the heat of a heat gun! I then fussy cut the parts of the wave that I wanted to use and placed them over vellum and blue cardstock (I looked in my stash to try to create the color I wanted).

Finally, I die cut a sentiment and image from the Hippo Hooray stamp set. I colored the hippo simply with C3 and C0 copic markers and sandwiched him between the 2 pieces of acetate.

Thank you so much for stopping by, I hope that you will try out the 2 techniques I did today!

Firetruck Duck card

Welcome!  I have another slimline card for you today featuring the Firetruck Duck stamp set and a lot of splishy, splashy watery embellishments including the Wave stencil!  I hope that you get the sense that I had a lot of fun making this card!

To make the card, I made a slimline card base with the dimensions of 8.5 inches by 3.5 inches and then die cut a slimline scalloped panel that had windows in it (all dies from Trinity Stamps) out of blue cardstock in my stash.  I knew that I wanted to make a shaker card so I die cut the same panel out of white foam and cut only with the scalloped panel die out of acetate.  To make the shaker, the gluing order was blue panel, acetate, foam, fill with shaker raindrops sequins (Trinity Stamps) before adhering it to a 8 inch by 3 inch white cardstock piece (can be die cut or cut by hand); I used Gina K connect glue because it allows movement of the items before it dries.  Once I had this sandwich complete, I adhered it with strong double sided tape to the slimline card base.

To create the acetate waves on the front of the card, I used Versamark ink with the Wave stencil on Lawn Fawn acetate (the only one that I found stands up to heat well without warping) prior to adding Wow embossing powder in “Under The Sea” color.  I then used a heat gun as I normally would; the acetate did not warp!

I then fussy cut individual waves and adhered them as you can se below.  The advantage of making individual waves is that you can first place them, cut anything you don’t want and then adhere them to your project without committing first like you would if you were to directly heat emboss the cardstock panel.  I think the acetate also enhances the shimmer of the embossing powder!

I die cut all the Firetruck Duck stamp images with my Brother Scan-n-cut2 and then simply copic colored them with R46, RV29 (firetruck, hydrant, hat), Y21, YR21 & YR68 (ducks) B000 (water) and C3, C5 (hose, tires).  I added sequins from Trinity Stamps and white gel pen marks to highlight certain areas.

Thank you for stopping by!

 

Flower Garden Card

Hello there- happy first day of summer!  I hope that your flowers are blooming where ever you are.  Today I’m sharing a card in which I envisioned Alice arriving in the Flower Garden.  In the book, she is much smaller than the flowers and then grows quite taller.  I love the Leafy Green stencil and decided to pair it with the Alice and Springtime Banners stamp sets.

I used the new distress oxide ink color speckled egg with the Leafy Green stencil by intensely blending the color with a Trinity Stamps Blending buddy through the stencil onto 110 lb cardstock.  I left the stencil on, wiped off the excess ink and then put glitter paste on with a palette knife.  Be sure to clean your stencil right away after using any glitter paste!  I knew that I didn’t have to be perfect, as I had planned to use the banners, flowers & green stems from the Springtime Banners that would cover up any errors. I then let the panel dry for most of the day.

I die cut all the images with my Brother Scan n Cut2, copic colored them with various shades of blue & green: G43, G46, G85, B63, B91, B97 & B99.  I copic colored Alice with YR21, Y21, B63 and E00.  The hardest part was placing all the flowers and stems- I have a tip for you that I found from Jennifer McGuire- use Cling plastic wrap once you have achieved the placement you like.  This will pick up all the images at once, so that you can flip over all the loose images, apply glue and get it glued down.  I have had shaky hands at the moment and this helps me tremendously so that I don’t mess anything up!

As a final touch, I decided to add yellow sequins that ties together Alice’s hair with the entire color palette of blues and greens.  I hope I have inspired you to pull out your stencils!  Thank you for stopping by!

Sympathy Magnolia Card

Today I have a sympathy card to share with you.  Sympathy cards are so difficult to make, so I have a simple one that really allows the sentiment to pop. I’ve used the Magnolia Sympathy stamp set which has the perfect sentiments to use on your card.

The most labor intensive part of the card is stamping all the images from the Magnolia Sympathy stamp set perfectly with Versamark ink so that the heat embossing displays the entire image.  I’ve stamped the floral images with Versamark ink onto Bazzill heavy weight vellum; the only vellum that I have found to be able to stand up to heat embossing without warping.  I used Brutus Monroe Gilded embossing powder, which has gold sparkle within the gold embossing powder.  I stamped a few more images, which I then fussy cut. Here is a closeup of the shine:

I did a little bit of copic coloring at the center of the flowers with G24.  A couple of sequins added a bit more color to a card that I thought should have a lot of white space so that the sentiment (stamped in Hero Arts Black ink) would pop (banner is cut in vellum using Trinity Stamps Banner die).  A sympathy card is all about the sentiment and sending condolences.   I hope that you enjoyed this simple card; it is an easy one to make when your heart is heavy with sadness.

Collaboration: Trinity Stamps & Miss Ink Stamps

Today I’m up on the Trinity YouTube channel with a video featuring a card made with products from Trinity Stamps and Miss Ink Stamps!  You can find the video here. I used the Trinity Stamps Mermaid Wishes stamp set and the Waves stencil from Miss Ink Stamps.

Briefly, I stamped the mermaid with Memento ink in tuxedo black on Neenah solar white cardstock and then fussy cut it and then copic colored it as shown in the video.  I used versamark ink to ink up the stencil on Lawn Fawn acetate sheets and then used several wow embossing powders and a heat gun to heat emboss the waves on the stencil.  I cannot say enough good things about the Lawn Fawn acetate- it holds up to heat from a heat gun and does not warp!  I then fussy cut the acetate sheets.  Not having white embossing powder (I only have the puffy kind), I had to improvise and use Hero Arts white unicorn ink and pearl white embossing powder to heat emboss my sentiment on navy cardstock.  A few clouds from the Trinity Stamps Puffy Cloud embellishment mix and a frame cut from antique gold cardstock finished the card. The waves move back and forth when you pull the tab- you will be able to see it best on the YouTube video!

Please stop by Instagram today; Trinity Stamps and Miss Ink Stamps are having an Instagram hop filled with fun projects and prizes.

Thank you for stopping by!

Supplies: affiliate links used at no extra cost to you- thank you for your support!

Mermaid Wishes, Trinity Stamps Clear Stamps

WOW Embossing Powder, Regular – Oceanic

WOW Embossing Powder, Regular – Under the Sea

Memento Ink Pad, Tuxedo Black

Embossing Gun (Wagner), Hero Arts

Bubble Wiper Card

I have long wanted to make a wiper card, especially after seeing all the amazing inspiration from fellow team member Ali Farmer, her lovely video is here. I love all interactive cards and I feel the more kinds I make, the better I’ll become and hopefully I’ll design some of my own types hopefully.  I didn’t own a “wiper” die when I made this, I simply looked at several videos and made my own.

1. Cut one panel of cardstock to the dimensions of 7.5 (length) inches by 4.25 (height) inches.  Along the 7.5 length, score at 5.5 inches and again at 6.5 inches.  Make a mountain fold with the folds on this panel.  I blended a custom color of distress oxide ink that I had made (a few drops of mowed lawn added to a lot of broken china) with a cloud stencil from My Favorite Things and the Blendability brushes from Trinity Stamps.
2. I cut a second panel of cardstock to the dimensions of 7.5 (length) inches by 3 inches (height).  I blended the entire panel with Distress Oxide ink “Mowed Lawn” with the use of the Trinity Blendability brushes.  I then die cut the entire panel multiple times with a grass die that I had (I used Lawn Fawn, but please use any company’s) and then scored the panel along the length at 1 inch and then 2 inches.
3. I prepared the wiper mechanism by cutting a 1 inch by 1/2 inch rectangle and then scored and folded the rectangle as shown below
4. I cut a 3 inch by 1/2 inch piece of acetate which I stapled to a one side with the corner folded down.  The other scored side was adhered to the back of the grass.  I checked that the wiper mechanism worked before continuing on with the card.
5. Finally I stamped images and a sentiment from the Bubbles stamp set and copic colored them before adhering them to the card.

Thank you so much for stopping by, I hope you will try to make a wiper card!

 

Photobombing Goat Card

I was inspired by a card from Leanne West in which it looked like the card had multiple polaroid/instax photos on it.  It’s no secret that I love the Punny Farm Goat stamp set, so I set to work try to make a card in which one goat would “photobomb” each photo on the card. The card also uses the Springtime Banners and the Alice Background stamp sets.

1) This slim line card has the dimensions of a 8.5 inch by 3.5 inch card base.  I cut out a 8 inch by 3 inch panel of kraft cardstock and a 1 inch by 8.5 inch panel of the yellow paper from the Lawn Fawn paper collection “Perfectly Plaid: Spring”.

2) I didn’t have a die that cut instax/polaroid photos so I improvised by selecting 2 rectangle dies that I had.  I used a 3.5 inch by 2.5 inch rectangle die for the outside cut and placed a 2.5 inch by 2 inch smaller rectangle to cut the inside.  Use what you whatever you have!

3) I stamped all the images with Gina K black amalgam ink from the different stamp sets for the left  and right “photos” without masking, but had to do quite a bit of masking for the center “photo”.  First I stamped the goat, fussy cut a mask of the goat (mask was made with Avery Removable Adhesive Sheets), and placed the mask on prior to stamping the flower image.  I then masked the flower and then stamped some more leaves.  All images were masked (from all three”photos”) prior to ink blending a background made up of a combination of Mowed Lawn and Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide Ink with a Trinity Blendability brush.

4) All images were copic colored: goat- (W3, E000 and the colorless blender), flower- (Y21 & Y11), leaves and grass (G46, G43), all birds (Y21, Y11, YR68, YR24) and the straw (E23).  I speckled diluted gold paint with a brush, used a Sakura white gel pen to made a few highlights and added a few yellow sequins.

5) Sentiment was stamped with Catherine Pooler Black ink and each panel was adhered using double sided foam adhesive since I tied yellow Lawn Fawn twine around 2 of the panels.

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope that I inspired you to make your own goat photobombing card!