Masculine Birthday Card

My dad's birthday was at the beginning of August, so of course I needed a masculine birthday card. One of my favorite birthday stamp sets right now is Altenew Birthday Greetings, so I grabbed it to see what I could come up with.

I like that even in a simple birthday greeting stamp set, Altenew offers some options for layering up stamps to create some depth. In this set there is a balloon stamp and a stamp to create the effect of light shining off the balloon. I decided to use those stamps to create the background for my card.

To keep a masculine feel to the card I wanted to keep the colors a bit more masculine so I used blue, orange, and yellow. I used 2 shades of each color, one lighter and one darker. I stamped the balloon first in the lighter color, and then the shadow on the balloon in the darker shade of the same color.

I finished up with a simple birthday greeting. A straight font also helps lend a masculine feel to the card. When is the last time you had to make a birthday card for a guy in your life?

Stamping on Yupo

I've talked about creating a marbled background with Yupo paper, die cutting Yupo paper, creating an alcohol drop ink background on Yupo, now today I want to talk about stamping on Yupo.

I started my card by creating a marbled Yupo background with Copic markers. Then I used and Echo Parke die to die cut the edge. Finally, I stamped a simple greeting on the card.

 Since Yupo is a plastic paper, you can't use just any ink on the card. I have tried a few different kinds and found that Ranger Archival Ink works the very best. Give your stamped greeting or image a full 20 minutes to dry, and you'll be good to go! I did try Stazon Ink, and that worked as well. However, if you want to color an image in with Copic markers after stamping on Yupo do not use Stazon. Stazon and Copics don't play well together, and you can ruin your Copic marker.

As you can see, there are lots of fun ways to use Yupo! Have you tried any of these techniques yet?

Marbled Die Cut

Last week I shared a tutorial on how to make a marbled background with Yupo paper and Copic markers. Today I wanted to show that you can also die cut the marbled paper and make pretty marbled die cuts from Yupo paper as well.

 
I created the simple marbling with 3 Copic Markers on Yupo paper. Then I ran it through my Evolution Advanced Diecut machine. I find it's best to use a metal shim plate with the Yupo paper. Since it's a plastic paper you get a cleaner cut if you use a metal shim to cut against.

I used my die cut as the centerpiece for my card, since the marbling is just so pretty. I added a stamped sentiment from Altenew's Halftone Happy set. I added a little extra interest by scoring a frame around the die cut and layering it up on a pop of colored card stock. Since Yupo is a slick paper, I used some Micro Glue Dots® to attach my diecut to the card. Some Pop Up Glue Dots® between paper layers help add some dimension to the card.

Have you tried out this technique yet? I'd love to hear how you used you Copics with Yupo Paper.

This is a personal blog. All editorial content and projects are intellectual property of Taylor Stamped. I do receive financial compensation and material product from  Glue Dots® to develop my craft posts, but all ideas and opinions are my own.

Yupo Marbled Background

I was playing around with my Yupo paper the other day and found a cool way to combine it with Copic markers to create a Yupo Marbled Background.

As you can see, the effect is quite a bit different than what you get by just dripping alcohol ink onto Yupo paper.

Creating the marbled background on Yupo paper is really simple. Here's my supply list for the project:

• Yupo paper (I'm using the white paper here, but the translucent Yupo would work, too)
• Copic Markers (or any other alcohol based marker)
• Alcohol Blending Solution
• A Splat Mat (Not necessary, but this gets a little messy. I'm using the white Sticky Thumb Splat Mat)

Start by coloring your entire piece of Yupo paper with your Copic Markers. Here's where you can really get creative. Play around with all kinds of color combos. I chose 3 different colors, but 2-5 different colors will work. When we add the alcohol blending solution later, the colors will lighten up, so don't be afraid to chose darker colors for this technique.

I started with my blue color, added spots of green, and then filled in all of the remaining white space with the aqua marker. Try to leave little to no white space showing.

Now for the fun part: Take your alcohol blending solution and gently squeeze drops of it (directly from the bottle) onto your paper. In the photo above, you can see that I've started to drop the alcohol blending solution onto the left side of the Yupo paper, but not onto the right side yet.

Here's a close up of the blending solution in action. It will start to travel and push the colors around. The more blending solution you add, the more your ink will travel and mix. Play around with the amount you add to get the result that you like best. The hardest part comes when you're all done dripping on the alcohol blending solution: You have to wait for it to dry. There's no rushing this, just give it a bit of time so all of the blending solution can evaporate, leaving you a pretty Yupo marbled background.

When it's dry you can use it as a background on a card, or you can die cut it and make it the focal point of project. Today I'm sharing how I used it as a background, but will share a die cut piece later next week.

I used Altenew's Halftone Happy stamp set and Stamp School's Men in My Life stamp set to turn this into a Father's Day card. I really love that this technique can be used for just about any kind of card for any occasion!

So what do you think of this technique? Have you tried Yupo paper yet? I think this Yupo marbled background may just be my new favorite way to use Yupo paper!

A Colorful Birthday Card

My father-in-law and my youngest share a birthday. I love that they get to share a special day. Both of their birthdays are coming up in less than a week, so I need a card for my father-in-law. I decided to go with a colorful birthday card for him.

I used the same Poppy Stamps Stitched Borders die that I used on the birthday card from last week. I used 2 of the dies from the set (there are 3 total in the set) to cut out a section from the center of the card. Then, I layered 1/4" strips of colored card stock in the empty space.

I wanted to share a picture of how I layered up my card stock strips. I marked straight lines to help me get my card stock lined up straight. I put my adhesive on my white card stock and then just layered the colored card stock over the top of it. 

When I was all done layering my colored card stock, I placed my die cut white card stock on top. I used a happy birthday stamp from Altenew's Birthday Greetings for my sentiment that I colored in with matching markers.

A few simple enamel dots put the finishing touches on my colorful birthday card.

Birthday Card

We have lots of birthdays coming up in the month of May, so I've been working on some birthday cards. Today I have a fun, masculine birthday card to share with you.

I needed a birthday card for my nephew, so I wanted to keep the colors masculine. I also knew I wanted to use my stitched borders die. I began by die cutting the same stitched border multiple times, but in different, coordinating colors.

Since the layered die cutting adds a lot of interest to the card, I wanted to keep the stamping simple so the card wouldn't look super busy. I chose the Altenew Halftone Happy stamp set for my stamped images. I love the look of blue and orange together, so I chose those as my focal colors for my stamps.

 I finished up with a simple enamel heart from Bella Blvd.

This birthday card has already been signed and dropped in the mail. I'll be sharing a few more birthday cards in the upcoming weeks just in case you've got a few birthdays coming up, too!