Dotty Gelli Print ATC Book

Hello everyone! Time for another fun Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog, this week we are all about dots. I love using dots and circles in my art and often reach for dotty stamps or stencils. They work for almost every topic and are great both as main elements and to add just a bit of texture.

 

I recently got a gelli plate and I love it, so much fun and you can create fabulous backgrounds. I made a whole bunch of prints and first planned to make three ATCs but I liked my papers so much, I made an ATC mini-book instead.

For the summer challenge a few weeks ago, I collected quotes about summer and sunshine, but then decided to make a burlap panel instead. This happy little book was the perfect home for those quotes. The Birds by Tim Holtz stamped on the cover is one of my all-time favourite stamps.

This was only the second time I used my gelli plate and I was so absorbed by the process that I forgot to take step-by-step photos. After this project, I did another one and I'll be sharing a gelli plate tutorial next week. I used three Distress Paints to make these papers (Barn Door, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed), together with stencils, stamps and embossing folders.

I poured out a few drops of Distress Paint on the plate and spread with a brayer. If you find that your Distress Paint beads up on the plate, wash the plate with water and soap and do one or two test runs, after that the Distress Paints worked real well. It is a thin paint, which is why it might at first bead up.

When the paint was spread into a thin layer on the plate, I pressed circle and dot stencils, dot stamps, the lid of the paint dabber bottles and paper that had been embossed (Dot Matrix, Bubble, and Retro Circles folders), into it. I used more than one stencil, stamp or embossed paper for each print and placed a piece of Neenah cardstock (14 x 14 cm) on top, smoothing it with my hands. Pull the paper off and you have a really cool print. Without adding more paint, place a second piece of paper on top to get the ghost print - see the paler prints. I used strips of left over paper to pull off the last paint, especially the paint that remained along the edges, which gave cool borders to the strips.

You can easily add layers of patterns and colour, but I decided to keep my prints pretty simple this time, since I was planning to add stamping on top. I picked out some of my favourite prints, in all the three colours and die cut with Tim Holtz ATC & Corners die. For the covers, I used mat board. I have a lot of left-over papers for another project.

I looked through my stamps and picked out summery stamps, some specifically to fit with the quotes. I used quite a few silhouette stamps since the bold images look great on the backgrounds. The stamping was done with Archival Inks (Saffron, Monarch Orange, Venetian Orange, Sienna, Vermillion). I also stamped the cards here and there with the dot stamp from Tim's Psychedelic Grunge set, using tone-on-tone colours. I planned where all the quotes would go, since some needed a double page.

I wanted to add another layer of dots and used a Studio Calico stencil with different sized dots and applied Wendy Vecchi's embossing paste with a palette knife, adding dots here and there.

The quotes were printed and cut into strips. I loved the way the umbrella man fits together with this great quote about an invincible summer. The stamps on the second page come from Hero Arts My Favorite and My Notebook set.

This quote was long and needed two pages. The stamps on these two pages are from Darkroom Door. I like the way the yellow paint almost looks like sunshine on the second page.

A pretty Hero Arts silhouette stamp, perfect for this little book. The Archival Inks look wonderful on the prints and because the Distress Paints are matte, the inks pick that up too and look like they are part of a the print. The quote on the second page was almost too long, but I really wanted to use it, especially together with the Hero Arts sun stamp.

Another double pager, using the great Hero Arts It's a Parade stamp across both pages. I should have punched the holes first, because one ended up on the little girl's head. Both these prints are ghost prints. I didn't clean the plate between prints, giving some great random effects. The circles on the second page were made with the lids of the paint bottles.

I used my ATG gun to adhere the pages together, back to back, planning the order so that there would be different colours on each page. The stamps on these pages are from Darkroom Door.

This bird stamp by Tim is another favourite of mine and I liked it together with the pretty quote about a summer's night. On the second page, I used another silhouette stamp by Hero Arts together with a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson which I really like.

This Musical Walk stamp has so much joy and I've used it quite a few times. On the second page, I used a sweet bird by Impression Obsessions, which was waiting to be inked up for the first time and paired it up with another great quote about summer (and winter).

For the covers, I simply attached the prints to the ATC cards die cut from mat board. The holes were punched with my Crop-a-dile, first making a template to make sure they were all in the same place. This flower stamp is from Tim Holtz.

I am looking forward to seeing all your projects using dots this week. As always, one lucky participant wins a $50 gift voucher to Simon Says Stamp. Also, remember that our challenge changed name about a month ago, from Simon Says Stamp & Show to Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog, but everything else remains the same.

Thank you for the visit!

Happy crafting!!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:
Surfaces: Neenah Smooth Solar White, Neenah Smooth Cream Cardstock, Sizzix Little Sizzles white mat board
Dies: Sizzix: ATC & Corners
Embossing folders: Dot Matrix & Gridlock, Bubble & Honeycomb, Rays & Retro Circles
Stamps: Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz: Psychedelic Grunge, The Birds, Mini Muse, Nature's Moments, Urban Tapestry; Darkroom Door: Wildflowers Vol. 1, Wildflowers Vol. 2, Hero Arts: It's a Parade G5467, Musical Walk F5468, Children at Table F5738, Spring Dream K5540, My Notebook AC027, My Favorite AC030, Time AC029, Basic Lowercase Letters; Impression Obsession: Bird
Paint: Distress Paint: Mustard Seed, Barn Door, Spiced Marmalade
Ink: Ranger Archival Ink: Jet Black, Saffron, Monarch Orange, Venetian Orange, Sienna, Vermillion
Stencils: The Crafter's Workshop: Mini Swiss Dots, Mini Circle Regiment; Studio Calico: Circles
Medium: Stampers Anonymous Wendy Vecchi White Embossing Paste
Tools: Gelli Arts: Gel Printing Plate 6 x 6; Ranger Medium Inky Roller; Sizzix: Big Shot: We R Memory Keepers Crop-A-Dile