Thanks So Much Card

I recently needed a thank you card. I decided to use a stamp and die set that I've had forever, but just haven't had the chance to use yet.

I used the Hero Arts Thanks Die and Clear Acrylic Stamp Set. The "thanks" die, "so much, you are awesome" stamps, and star stamps are all part of the set. I used a simple oval die to cut a hole in the white card stock to create a bold backdrop for the thanks die cut.

I used Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Cracked Pistachio, Blueprint Sketch, and Squeezed Lemonade to stamp my sentiments and stars.

This thanks so much card definitely falls into the clean and simple category. I'm so glad I finally got to use this great stamp and die set.

Isaiah 53 Bible Journaling

I have always loved the message of Good Friday. I love the time it gives for reflection and the message of Christ crucified that I may live. I love that our sorrow is short lived and we look forward to an Easter of rejoicing. Today I wanted to do a bit of Isaiah 53 Bible journaling.

I wrote Isaiah 53:5 in the shape of a cross. I then went over my writing with an eraser to distress the words a bit. I shaded over the words with a brown pencil to give the cross a more solid feel.

 

While purple isn't usually my favorite color, it is the color of lent. It was definitely the right feel for this page. I used 3 different colors of purple Distress ink and sponged it on the background. I just used a bit of scratch paper to mask off the cross.

I hope you have time to reflect this Good Friday. Have a blessed Easter!

I Am Redeemed

It's been a while since I've shared some Bible Journaling here. SRM just announced their latest Bible Jouranling stamps, and they are so fantastic. I got my sets and couldn't wait to get journaling. Today I have an I Am Redeemed Bible journaling to share.

I used SRM's new I Am stamp set for this page. I am is available in this set in 2 different fonts. It makes for so many possibilities. When I was reading this section of scripture it made me think of Luther's explanation to the 2nd article of the Apostle's Creed, so after I stamped, "I am redeemed" I wrote the explanation for my response to the verse.

I used a Reminisce white gel pen (also newly available from SRM) to highlight my stamped words and arrow. I uses 3 different shades of Distress Ink (Shaded Lilac, Squeezed Lemonade, and Broken China) to add color to the background of my page.

I love all the possiblities for the new stamp sets from SRM! You will be seeing them a lot from me in the near future. Have a blessed day! I am redeemed!

Emboss Resist Bible Journaling Background

I've been thinking about trying and emboss resist Bible journaling background for a while. Emboss resist has always been one of my favorite techniques, but I wasn't sure if it would work out okay. I recently had a Bible study on Psalm 90:12 (Teach us to number our days), and it seemed like just the right time to try out heat embossing in my Bible.

I wanted to create a number background to go with my verse. I don't have a big number background stamp, so I created my own from the numbers in the SRM Today, Tomorrow, To Do stamp set. I stamped the numbers with Versamark ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder. It was a little tough to get into the center of the Bible, but otherwise It wasn't that much harder than heat embossing on a card. To get the extra embossing powder off of the page (before heat embossing) I just held the page straight up and encouraged the embossing powder to fall into the center crack of my Bible. From there, I just funneled the powder back into the embossing powder container.

After I heat embossed my numbers, I finished my background by sponging on some Distress Ink.

I try to push myself a bit when it come to picking color combos for Bible journaling. This one's a little different for me, but I absolutely love the way these 4 colors blend together. In case you can't see them well, they are: Picked Raspberry, Abandoned Coral, Spiced Marmalade, and Mermaid Lagoon.

I finished up my page by using some Marvy pens to add the verse to the margin. I also added a few heart stickers.

I'm going to call this emboss resist Bible journaling background a success. Now that I know I can do it (and that it's pretty easy!) I will definitely be using it more in my Bible journaling. Have you done any stamping or heat embossing in your Bible?

I created this post while working on the SRM Design Team.

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?

Yupo Alcohol Ink Card

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  A Walk Down Memory Lane to develop my craft posts, but all ideas and opinions are my own. Some links are affiliate links.
After seeing the card Lisa over at A Walk Down Memory Lane made with Yupo Alcohol Ink paper, I knew I had to try the stuff out...right away! Here's my first attempt at a Yupo Alcohol ink card.

 This paper is so cool! Yupo translucent alcohol ink paper is actually a plastic paper. Because it's not a traditional paper it reacts differently with alcohol ink. Creating fun backgrounds with Yupo paper and alcohol ink is so simple.  

There are a few different ways you can use these 2 things together. For this background I simply dripped the alcohol ink right from the bottle onto the paper. Give it a minute or so to spread out and travel, then choose another color and drip some more. Keep dripping until your paper has as much coverage and color as you want. 

For a little extra texture, I put some alcohol ink blending solution on a paint brush and flicked it at the paper when I was all done. This added a few "water spots" to the paper. 

I used my We R Memory Keepers Evolution Advanced and the dies that come with the Evolution to create a little spot on the card for my greeting. 

Yupo paper and alcohol ink makes a really simple and stunning background for a Mother's Day card, or any card! Have you tried out this cool paper yet?

Getting Started Bible Journaling

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 A Walk Down Memory Lane to develop my craft posts, but all ideas and opinions are my own. Some links are affiliate links.

As you probably know, Bible journaling is really popular. The moment I saw it, I fell in love with the idea of it...but here's the thing, I'm no artist. I'm a paper crafter, but I don't art journal, I can't draw, and I don't even have very good handwriting. I decided, though, that it doesn't matter. I want to journal in my Bible. There are some amazing Bible journaling artist out there, and my pages aren't going to look like theirs (not now, and maybe not ever), but that's okay. Today's post is just a bit of encouragement and a few things I've found helpful for getting started Bible journaling.

First of all, if you're already a  paper crafter, I'd encourage you to use what you have in your stash. Have lots of inks? Use those. Love Gelatos? Use those. Like to stamp? Then by all means, stamp in your Bible! Then start building on your stash as you find your groove and learn what you like to use. A few things I do suggest having are:
1. A journaling Bible or if you're want to start with something a little less permanent, a pretty journal, or a Bible Study Book (I love the ones from She Reads Truth, and they're great for journaling in).
2. Some good pens. I love the Illustrated Faith Pen (that I bought specifically for Bible Journaling), and I use a handful of colored American Crafts Precision Pens (that I already own for layout journaling).
3. Something to place behind the page you're working on to keep the ink/paint/whatever from bleeding into the rest of your Bible. I started by just using a thin piece of cardboard, but as soon as I could get my hands on an Illustrated Faith Bible Mat, I got that (you can see it peeking out from behind my pages in some of the photos below). It really helps to protect your Bible.

That's all I bought to begin. Everything else I have been using for the past 6 months or so has come from my craft stash. Now, I'll show you how I created the page above.

Since I'm not great with drawing, I love to add color and drama to my pages with inks and watercoloring. I thought I'd combine the two by doing some watercoloring with my Distress Inks. I just pressed my inks in Cracked Pistachio, Squeezed Lemonade, and Picked Raspberry directly onto my Sticky Thumb Splat Mat. Then I used a Water Brush to pick up the inks and paint then directly onto my Bible page.

Next, I used a Penny Black stencil to add some dots to my journaling space. I placed some washi tape on the stencil to block off the area of the stencil that I wanted to use. I sponged some Picked Raspberry ink directly onto the paper through the stencil. 

 I finished up by adding my journaling, some washi tape, and a few stickers.

My finished page isn't perfect, but it's my thoughts on this part of Genesis written down in a way that makes my creative heart happy.

 Have you tried out Bible journailing? What are some of your favorite techniques to use?

Gel Printing Resist

A while back I decided to get my hands messy with the world of mono printing with a Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate.  A while back I showed you this project using the gel printing plate with paint and a stencil (a pretty traditional way to use it).  Today, I have a technique that's a bit different. Today I have a step by step tutorial showing you how to doe a gel printing resist with a Gelli Arts plate, gel medium, a stencil, and Tim Hotlz Distress Stains.  Here's what a finished gel printing resist paper looks like:

and here's what it looks like made into a card:

To try out this technique you'll need:
Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate
Faber Castell Gel Medium
A stencil (I used ones from Studio Calico)
Distress Stains (I used Barn Door, Peacock Feathers, and Squeezed Lemonade)

You may also want:
Mini Mister
Brayer
Non Stick Craft Mat

Start by covering your gel printing plate in gel medium. Don't be afraid to be generous and put quite a bit on there. The more gel medium you put on, the more contrast you'll get with your resist.

Next, put your stencil on your gel plate.  Some stencils will cover the gel plate completely, some won't. In this example my gel plate is 6 x 6, while my stencil is only about 4 1/2 x 6.  This is no big deal, since I will be trimming down my final piece of paper anyways. 

Take a piece of paper (I cut mine to 6 x 6, the same size as the gel plate), place the side you want the gel medium to go on directly down onto the stencil covered gel plate.  Push down firmly with your hands, or run a brayer over it to transfer the gel medium from the plate onto your paper.
I used a dictionary/newsprint style patterned paper, but you can try out any plain card stock or patterned paper that you would like, as long as they are light enough in color to let some stain show through later. 
You'll need to let the gel medium dry completely before moving on to the next step.  I usually clean my stencil and gel plate while waiting. You can use baby wipes and/or hand sanitizer wipes to clean your gel plate. Let your gel plate dry, and then just store it back in the container it came in.

When your paper is printed and dry, it's not going to look like much, since the gel medium is basically clear. Now is where we add some color.  Take a few colors of distress stains, and cover your paper with them. You can put them on in a striped pattern,

or you can place it in splotches all over the place. Get creative, and try some different things out to see what you like best. The best thing about using the distress stains is that you can apply the stain directly from the bottle right onto the paper. Just swipe it right on using the foam applicator tip.

There's just one more step left before you can use your creation.  Grab a mini mister and spray your paper with water.  This will make your stains mix and blend.  It will also make the resist areas pop more on your paper.
Now you can trim down your paper and make a card or 2.

The card above shows a card I made using the paper I gel printed with the triangle mask.

I decided to play up the stripes of color, so I divided them even further with washi tape.

This second card uses a circle mask, and is a bit softer over all.

I love the big areas of white (resisted) space I got with the circle mask.

I have another card using this technique and a tutorial video over on A Walk Down Memory Lane's blog today. Just click here to head over to it. And remember, you can find links to most of my videos by clicking on the video tab on the top of the blog just under my Taylor Stamped banner.

Thanks for stopping by!

Gelli Printed Valentine Decor

I don't do a lot of mixed media paper crafting, but Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate really intrigued me.  There seemed to be so many possibilities!  I got an idea in my brain for a gelli printed Valentine decor frame using the gelli plate and Pebbles Yours Truly.  Today, I want to share my finished product and the process I took to get there.  So here's my first foray into mono printing.

Here's a close up of the mono printed area.

I started by gathering any supplies I thought I would need. I ended up only using. the stencil on the right (Heidi Swapp Confetti). Another tool that I didn't use this time are the BrushStix you can see on the bottom right.  You can use them to draw your own design in the paint on the Gelli plate instead of using a stencil.  They are soft tipped, so they won't hurt your Gelli plate. 

I learned quickly that almost any acrylic paint works well except for Tim Holtz Distress paint.  The same qualities that make it react with water, make it bead up instead of rolling out nicely on the plate. As you can see in the photo below, it would probably make a cool background, but it was not the traditional mono printing technique I was looking for. 

So I switched to regular Ranger Adirondack paint.  You put a little paint on the on the Gelli plate and use a brayer or foam brush to spread it out. 

I placed the stencil on top of the paint covered plate, put a piece of paper on top of the stencil and pressed down over the whole paper to transfer the paint to the paper.  I turned the paper 180 degrees and pressed again (there was more than enough paint to do this twice without adding more paint to the plate). 

 After I did this layer, I wiped everything off with a baby wipe (water or gel hand sanitizer works too according to the people at Gelli Arts), and repeated the process with 2 more colors of paint.  The finished product is what you see below.

 I'm super happy with the finished product, and even tried out some different techniques and made some cards with the mono printing process (which I'll save to show you another time).  It was a very messy process, but lots of fun.  The final product really feels like my style even though I used a technique that's outside of what I'd usually consider my style.
Have you ever done any mono printing? I'd love to hear about it (or even see a picture!). 

Plaid Alcohol Ink Background

A little while back I heard about a technique that used alcohol inks to create a plaid background. It sounded so cool to me, and I had to try it out for myself. You know what? The technique is super fun and really, really easy. Check out the card I mad using this technique:

 ...and the possibilities are endless, since you can chose just about any color combo you want! Want to see more about how I created this card? I'm blogging over at A Walk Down Memory Lane today, and I have a video tutorial over there showing how to make a plaid background with alcohol inks. Click here to head on over to AWDML's blog  tocheck out the video and to check out more about the card below. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

St. Patty's Day Cards

This Irish girl LOVES St. Patty's Day. I always send cards to my grandparents to celebrate.  These are the cards I made this year:

I kept the outsides and the insides simple this year. I was a bit sick when I made them, so I wasn't really big on the idea of taking hours to create them. I kept the insides simple too. Instead of stamping I used stickers from Reminisce Shamrock Collection.

To add a little pizazz to the cards, I decided to add a little shimmer. For the Salante card (similar to saying "Cheers") I ran the background paper through my Big Shot with a honeycomb embossing folder.

 Then I rubbed a little Versamark ink over it and dusted it with copper and green Perfect Pearls.

 For my second card I added shimmer by cutting a background from American Craft Pow! Glitter Paper with my Silhouette.

 I love how easy it is to cut Pow! paper with my Silhouette. Even the intricate details of this background!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great St. Patty's Day!