Gelli Print Spring Mini-Book

Hi and welcome to my blog! This week at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog we are focusing on big stamps. I love large background stamps because they are so versatile.

 

This week I made a mini book with some spring photos. I used Darkroom Door background stamps together with my gelli plate to make textured backgrounds. I ended up making so many that I decided to make a mini book, and I still have lots of leftovers. I tend to make a lot of backgrounds every time I use my gelli plate because it is so much fun.

 

Let's look at some of the backgrounds first. I brayered Distress Paint on my small gelli plate. Here I used Picked Raspberry and Salty Ocean. Press the stamp into the paint and remove. Place a paper on top and get the first print (to the right on the photo). Place a second piece of paper on top of the plate and pull the ghost print. I used Neenah Smooth Solar White cardstock for the prints.

Here I used Picked Raspberry and Dusty Concord together with the Harlequin stamp. Remember to clean your stamp immediately after using it with paint, so that the paint doesn't dry on the stamp. For more gelli printing inspiration check out these posts of mine: Gel Printing with Dies and Embossing Folders, Jump Art Journal Page, and Dotty Gelli Print ATC Book.

For these prints I used Salty Ocean and Mowed Lawn together with the Peeled Paint background stamp. After you pressed the stamp on the gelli plate, stamp it directly on a piece of paper. This is a great way of stamping with paint, since stamps can be a bit tricky to evenly 'ink' with paint. Both papers at the bottom were stamped in this way.

A fun version of this technique is to also use stencils. Here I used the great Leaves stencil by Simon Says Stamp. Brayer paint on the gelli plate, place the stencil on top and then the stamp. That way, the stamped texture only appears in the open areas on the stencil. Remove the stamp and the stencil and pull two prints. The ghost print here were one of my favourites.

On these prints, I did the same thing, using Wendy Vecchi's Never Enough Hearts stencil and the Harlequin background stamp. The ghost print is to the left. As you can see, the stencil isn't as wide as the gelli plate, leaving two borders, an effect that I really liked.

These prints were done in the same way, with a Hero Arts stencil and Broken China and Mowed Lawn paints.

One more example, this time using yellow and blue together with a circle stencil. The grid stamp looks great used like this and I liked the combination of circles and grids.

One last example, with Tim Holtz Star stencil and again the grid stamp. I left these prints for another project.

 

I used mat board for the covers and covered it with printed papers. The papers were stamped with various background stamps. Here you can see the new great French Script Texture stamp. The Vintaj bird was die cut from cardstock that had been covered with foil tape. The die cuts and embosses the bird at the same time. I coloured it with Patina ink and burnished to reveal some of the metal.

The title was stamped with the Darkroom Door Scratched Alphabet and Hero Arts Basic Lowercase Letters, using Archival Fern Green. It translates to 'spring feelings'.

 

I am not going to share every single page, because then this post will be too long. I embellished the book with stamping, die cuts and washi tape, keeping the pages pretty flat. I taped two printed papers together back to back to form each page in the book.

 

 This bird is so cute. Archival Ink gets a great matte look on the Distress Paint prints.

 

I used sentiment stamps as part of my journaling, but also added more handwritten journaling after I took these photos. Love this tree die by Simon Says Stamp. I used leftover gelli prints for the die cuts.

The gelli prints make great backgrounds for mini books. Here I used the Chicken Wire stamp to add more texture. The 'happy' die is another favourite of mine. The sentiment comes from New York Vol. 2.

The first flowers came out really early this year and I had fun taking photos of them. The die cut branch is the die version of the Leaves stencil used earlier. I die cut it from a few different papers and used here and there in the book.

This is the opposite page to the one above, also using the Harlequin printed paper.

Few things are more interesting than exploring a garden. I love the new Darkroom Door Gum Trees set, it also has great sentiments.

 

A favourite sentiment of mine and a pancake picnic outdoors.

 

This sentiment and the birds come from the Love Birds set. All the little stars and hearts I used in the album were die cut with Simon Says Stamp Holiday Shapes and Mini Hearts set. 

The yellow and blue prints didn't totally fit into the book, but I wanted to use these anyway. The Heart Parade is such a great die. I stamped a few words inside the hearts and added a few solid hearts.

The opposite page to the previous one, with the darker print, and a fun large Simon Says Stamp sentiment.

There were a lot of Snowdrops, waiting to be captured on camera.

I really like the way the Fern Green stamped tree looks on this background, as if it is part of the print.

I love this quote and it was perfect for this album. The bird stamped with green also looks really nice on the green background.

Finally, this is the back of the mini-book, using one last print, more stamping and some washi tape.

I hope you will join us in our 'big stamp' challenge this week. As every week, one participant, randomly drawn, wins a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp.

Thank you for looking at this long post!

Happy Crafting!

Anna-Karin

 

Supplies:
Surfaces: Neenah Smooth Solar White Cardstock; Ranger Foil Tape; Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Collage Mini 8 x 8 paper stash; Core'dinations Tim Holtz Color-Core cardstock
Stamps: Simon Says Stamp: Shoot for the Stars, Beautiful Words; Darkroom Door: Chicken Wire, Grid Background, Peeled Paint, Harlequin Background, Floral Texture, French Script Texture, Gum Trees, Trees, Love Birds, Bold Blossoms, Wildflowers Vol. 1, Wildflowers Vol. 2, Full Bloom Vol. 2, Scratched Alphabet, Photography, Enjoy the Ride, New York Vol. 1, New York Vol. 2, Home Sweet Home, Wilderness Vol. 1; Hero Arts: Basic Lowercase Letters; Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous: Simple Sayings
Dies: Simon Says Stamp: All Seasons Tree, Mini Hearts Set, Life, Family, Love, Large Holiday Shapes, Holiday Shapes, Happy, Heart Parade, Clustered Leaves, Sizzix/Vintaj: Exotic Bird; Impression Obsession: Bird Set; Memory Box: Delicate Branch Frame
Ink: Ranger Archival Ink: Fern Green, Leaf Green, Vermillion, Jet Black; Ranger/Vintaj Patina Ink: Weathered Copper
Paint: Distress Paint: Broken China, Salty Ocean, Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint, Picked Raspberry, Dusty Concord, Mustard Seed
Stencils: Simon Says Stamp: Leaves; Tim Holtz: Stars; Hero Arts: Irregular Checkerboard; The Crafter's Workshop: Mini Circle Regiment: Wendy Vecchi: Never Enough Hearts
Embellishments: Kelly Purkey Washi Tape; Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Elements Tissue Tape, Merriment Tissue Tape, Symphony TissueTape
Tool: Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate 6 x 6; Sizzix Big Shot; We R Memory Keepers Crop-a-dile; Ranger Large Inky Roller