I love creating monotype prints with leaves on my gel plate! The leaves in all shapes and sizes are calling me during these Autumn months. These are vine maple leaves that are turning at this time of year. I was able to capture some lovely color on a recent trip and immediately printed with some of the leaves..
I used some Distress Oxide inks and acrylic paints to make some leaf prints right after I collected these maple leaves. We traveled to central Oregon recently, which is a fall tradition for us, and it is fun to print botanical immediately after I gather them! It was a little cool, so I didn’t set up my gel plate outside like I do sometimes, but it was still very pleasant. I decided to quickly make a card with one of the prints.
Often when I make cards from gel prints, it is hard for me to cover up the print with a lot of stuff. With this, the leaves (the right-hand leaf) are really the focal point and a simple die-cut sentiment really keeps the card simple and elegant. I added a little ribbon across the top to visually balance out the sentiment, repeated the black with a mat around the print and adhered it all to a navy card base. I added a smattering of epoxy dots I had in my stash and called it done!
I attended a virtual card-making retreat recently and learned how to make this card. All of the classes were online and it gave me the opportunity to attend something that I would not have been able to do in person, so it was very nice.
The instructor for this card (and some others I haven’t made yet) was Gina Krupsky (aka Gina K) and we used Gina K Designs stamps, masking paper, inks and dies to create the card. Masking areas with their Masking Magic kept each ink color discrete, each quadrant clean and made the entire card come together seamlessly.
The stamps and dies we used have not been released yet, so I do not have the names of the sets.
Doodlebug Design Inc. – Party Time 6″ X 6″ paper pad
Ranger Distress Ink – Wild Honey (for edging)
Copic markers
Foam adhesive
A group of my online cardmaking friends had a challenge this weekend to make coffee cards. This was the stamp set I thought of and one of my favorite stamps. Newton the cat is just so cute in this stamp! Those who know me well, know that I enjoy a couple of cups of coffee in the morning. I’ve never been a morning person, but I can cope with caffeine!
For this card, I colored my image with Copic markers to pick up on the Inky Paws challenge color palette (yellow, orange, green and white) in the current Inky Paws challenge and then found some cute patterned papers in my stash to match. I cut “inchies” from the papers and arranged them and popped them up to create a simple design, which is what I’m drawn to. I inked the edges of every element with Wild Honey Distress Ink to bring it all together.
Below you can see the dimension I created with foam adhesive.
I’m jumping ahead to Spring for a short visit! We’ve had rain, hail and sunshine this first week of February here in the Willamette Valley (and the Groundhog did not see his shadow). So here is a cheerful birdhouse made completely with Lawn Fawn dies. I decided to die cut all of these pieces in lots of happy colors and do some mixing and matching. This card had absolutely no stamping either. That doesn’t happen very often.
Supplies:
Dies – Lawn Fawn Magic Iris Birdhouse Add-On, Stitched Scalloped Rectangle Frames and Outside In Stitched Bubbles (for the “hi.”)
Cardstock in a variety of colors, plus Kraft for the card base
I plan to make more of these with some other color combinations and also to make a version with the Magic Iris die in the birdhouse opening for a little interactive fun. Thanks for stopping by.
In my constant endeavor to find something positive in this highly unusual (okay, CRAZY!) year, at least we have a day dedicated to making cards! Right? So I spent today making a few gel plate prints and then I made three cards with some of them. Here’s what I did.
Above you can see the prints I made, using leaves from plants growing in my yard. Nothing exotic, to be sure! The difference in this gel printing experiment is that I used mini Distress Ink cubes direct to the gel plate to create kind of a geometric pattern. I didn’t brayer the ink out, but left it for a more distinct pattern.
I then placed the leaves on top of the inked plate and then pressed the paper over. Then I removed the paper and the leaves and replaced the paper, lining the paper onto the plate as it was before. This partially defined the leaves with remaining ink.
Here are the cards I made from the prints seen above.
I used sentiment dies respectively, from Sizzix, Elizabeth Craft Designs, and My Favorite Things. I layered the prints with cardstock and added some sequins. The center card also has ribbon and a border made with an EK Success “Fleur de Lis” border punch. I definitely shopped my stash with these cards!
Thanks for stopping by and Happy World Cardmaking Day!
Yesterday was National Coffee Day, but I wasn’t quick enough to post the card I made to celebrate coffee. It was fun to make a little scene with multiple stamp sets, and of course, to include lots of critters. I pulled mice from three different sets (and there are more!).
Here’s what I used:
– Lawn Fawn stamp sets: Dandy Day, Thanks A Latte, Crazy Antics and Really High Five
– Lawn Fawn die sets: Outside In Stitched Mug, Large Stitched Rectangle Stackables, Simple Wavy Banners, Dandy Day, Crazy Antics and Really High Five
– Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection stamp set – Fragments
– Distress Inks: Antique Linen, Scattered Straw and Tattered Rose
– Copic Markers
– Lawn Fawn Patterned Paper
– Cardstock
I colored each mouse with Copic markers and used Distress Inks to color the mug and sentiment background. I lightly inked the Tim Holtz stamp and spritzed it with water to stamp a light pattern onto the mug (see below).
I had lots of fun with this and I appreciate your stopping by to take a look.
Recently I took advantage of the nice weather (pre-wildfire smoke) and wandered around in my yard to get some leaves to use for gel printing. Leaves are probably my favorite texture to add to paint of ink to create botanical prints. So I used Distress Oxide inks and brayered them onto my hexagon gel plate, then added leaves that I’d collected. Some time later, I added stamped or die-cut sentiments and a few insects and sequins and made some lovely, simple cards.
Here is a closer look at a few of them.
I associate leaves with Fall cards, so I imagine I’ll be doing some more of this! Thanks for visiting today.
Template – Gina K. Designs – Mini Wreath Builder Template
Inks – Altenew
Twine
Cardstock
There is something therapeutic about using the wreath builder template and stamps to create a wreath. There is a lot of repetition and the wreath slowly grows as you stamp. I stamped each of the stamps in a different color of Alenew ink until it built up the final wreath.
This is my third card using the Cape Cod stamp set created by Jenn Shurkus. For more information on this versatile stamp set, see the photo and explanation below.
For this card, I created a little scene on the beach. The chairs, umbrella, footprints and sentiment are all from the Cape Code stamp set. I made the sand by adhering a tea bag to white card stock with gel medium to create a little texture and a pretty accurate sand color. I stamped the footprints ever so lightly on the sand since they should only indicate an impression. But they’re so light they are hard to detect in the photo! I had a scrap of the wave patterned paper left from a previous card that I though made a good ocean backdrop.
Supplies
Stamps – Cape Cod clear stamp set – Jenn Shurkus, Lawn Fawn – Wild for You (sentiment)
Dies – Lawn Fawn – Simple Puffy Cloud Frames and Outside In Stitched Scalloped Square Stackables; Simon Says Stamp – Stitched Rectangles
Tea bag
Dina Wakley Gel Medium
Copic markers
Patterned paper – Photoplay – Beach Huts
About the Cape Cod stamp set
Jenn Shurkus, who is a creative card maker and instructor, lives on Cape Cod and is raising money for the Cape Cod Resilience Fund. This fund will help small businesses on Cape Cod who are experiencing financial difficulties due to Covid-19. This fund will be around for the long run, and continue to help small businesses out in the future. YOU can help by purchasing one of Jenn’s exclusive Cape Cod stamp sets. For each set sold between June 15th- July 1st, $10 will be donated to the CCRF. Another way you can help? Share this with your creative friends and help spread the word! More details can be found on Jenn’s website. She also has more samples of lovely cards she has made using this stamp set.
Love Live Local is an organization that has supported small businesses and artists on Cape Cod for a number of years now. They are the ones organizing the Cape Cod Resilience Fund. The Cape Cod Resilience Fund will provide direct grants to small business owners on Cape Cod to offer some relief from the economic damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. You can read more about them and the fund here: https://lovelivelocal.com/resilience/.
Lawn Fawn: Dandy Lion, Wavy Sayings, Simple Wavy Banners, Super Star, Outside In Stitched Scalloped Square Stackables, and Pivot Pop-Up
Patterned papers: Lawn Fawn
Sequins
Cardstock
Looks like a surprise inside!
I had never made a card with this clever pivot pop-up mechanism that I cut out with the Lawn Fawn die so-named. Not only do the mice provide a major cuteness factor, the way the inside of the card pops-out is a really fun surprise! I colored all of the critters and dandelions with Copic markers.
The inside of this card, fully deployed!
It pops out with such dimension, but it folds very flat so it is easy to pop in an envelope and mail! And so I did. I made this for a card exchange and sent it off to an online friend in Ontario, Canada.
Wishing you a happy day, full of smiles and surprises! Thanks for visiting.
penguinpapers 