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Monday, April 21, 2014

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.

http://www.simonsaysstamp.com/servlet/StoreFront

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 StarsBeautiful 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, LoveLarge Holiday ShapesHoliday ShapesHappy, 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, VermillionJet 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


21 comments:

  1. Amazing mini album! Love the layered gelli prints, the stamping and the precious photos. Fabulous!

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  2. How it is marvellous !!! I love it !! Bravo !

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  3. Hi Anna-Karin! I love all your work and this mini is great! a lot of new ideas to work with my gelli printing! I wanted to ask you about the paper you have used for making the prints on the gelli...have you used white cardstock on the gelli and then directly this cardstock to make the pages of the mini? Thank you so much for sharing your ideas!
    Silvia

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  4. Ohh wow, Anna-Karin. This mini album is amazing! All those different pages with lovely sentiments, stamps and pictures! I was thinking to use my Gelli Plate again a few days back, and seeing this beauty, I definitely will soon. Hugs, Sandra

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  5. This is just fabulous. I love the pages you created with the gelli plate and then look forward to see how you put your photos and stamped accents all together in a brilliant mini book!

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  6. Wow! Just fabulous - I love all the detail you put into your mini book and the pics are gorgeous! I love using my Gelli plate to make backgrounds as well. It is perfect when combined with stamps & stencils.

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  7. The is totally fantastic! Love the colors and patterns you created. Each page is simply amazing. Love your beautiful design, Anna-Karin.

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  8. Wow Anna-Karin! What a fantastic mini album full of so many details! Love all your gelli printed papers and your attention to detail! Love it!

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  9. Gorgeous mini book, Anna-Karin! I love the step by step and what precious pics!! Love 'em!

    *mwah*
    Steph
    Simon Says Stamp!

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  10. Wow Anna Karin - I love all the wonderful prints you made on your gelli plate and what a delightful book you created with them as backgrounds for your photos!

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  11. o, thos prints are so awesome, pragtig.... ek kan sien jy het geniet om dit te maak!

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  12. You have a wonderful gift with color. Each page is gorgeous! Very pretty!

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  13. Gorgeous Mini album! Love your "gelli-tutorial"! Gelli plate will be one of my next purchases! After seeing the wonders you have created definitely buy it! BArbarayaya

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  14. This is such a gorgeous mini album Anna-Karin, full of amazing details and I love all the Gelli Plate backgrounds that you've created. It's just a work of art and the photos are just so precious...thank you for sharing! :)

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  15. Amazing book! Thanks for sharing all the details. Found you from SSS Monday Challenge.

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  16. What an enchanting springtime album... so many ideas and techniques, and such lovely photos too!!
    Alison x

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  17. Hi Anna Karin, what a gorgeous project, so much work went into this, thank you for sharing all of it with us.

    I have popped over to say thank you. You and two other DT members of Simon Says Monday challenge voted for my tag to be in the Designer Spotlight.
    I am absolutely honoured and happy beyond belief! Thank you very, very much! Karen x

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  18. I feel so very inspired after seeing this project! It had beautiful stamping techniques and uplifting quotes and those photos were TOO adorable! What a special treasure this will be for years!

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  19. WOW! Once again... you have outdone yourself! What a wonderful tutorial too!

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  20. Thanks for sharing! Funny, today it did a bunch of Gelli prints and have to do something with them. I did make to prints I want to use on cards! Your inspiration is awesome!

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Thank you so much for leaving a comment! Happy Crafting!