August Christmas cards: Gel print kit

I didn't think I was going to be able to make any Christmas cards this month. We are doing some work on our house, so my craft room is filled with boxes of random stuff, and I can barely get in the room. But as luck would have it, I entered a drawing on Instagram and won a Christmas card gel printing kit from Gelli Arts. Almost everything I needed was included in the kit -- even a gel plate, brayer, and some paint. I just needed my scissors/trimmer and adhesive. I sat down to create at the coffee table, and here are my finished cards:

The kit was designed to make two cards and ornaments (the white card bases in the top row). I love the idea of including an ornament right on the card! I added a few extra card bases and twine so I could make five cards total. And of course I had to add a few sequins on the tree ornaments. :) I'm still debating if I should add some sparkle to the star ornaments. Maybe I'll take them off the cards and add some spatter. What do you think?

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Using up some scraps

After I made my January Christmas cards, I had a bunch of skinny strips leftover from the alcohol ink panels. I don't usually save those tiny strips, but these were too pretty to just toss. Instead I used a double-sided adhesive sheet, lined up the strips, and created a couple of striped panels. I finally turned those panels into two birthday cards:

One of the striped panels was almost the size of an A2 card so I used it as a background (card on the left). I cut the Birthday Message Cover Plate die (Hero Arts) out of holographic card stock, adhered it over the background and attached it to a white card base.

I used foam tape to add a sentiment strip near the bottom of the card front. Then I finished off the card with several blue rhinestones clustered around the sentiment strip.

For the second striped panel, which was smaller than the first, I die cut two large butterflies using the Detailed Butterflies, Mini dies (Sizzix - Tim Holtz). I cut the outlines for those butterflies out of black card stock and glued the layers together. I also cut out some tiny butterflies using the Intricate Mini Butterflies die (Memory Box). I arranged the butterflies around the stamped sentiment on a light purple card base and adhered them using liquid glue (and foam tape behind the wings of the large butterflies). I added a strip of the alcohol ink panel and a twine bow toward the bottom of the card front and finished with a cascade of droplets.

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Blue birthdays

I am always in need of more birthday cards. I try to keep a good-sized stash on hand so I can choose a card that fits the recipient. So when I sat down to turn some backgrounds into cards, I knew birthday cards were the way to go.

For the cards I'm sharing today, both of the backgrounds were foiled using stencils from The Crafter's Workshop along with Transfer Gel Duo and Deco Foil from Therm O Web. 

To coordinate with the green numbers on this background, I die cut three balloons using two different shades of green card stock. I taped a piece of white crochet thread to the back of each balloon and then attached the balloons to the panel. I wrapped each piece of string to the back of the panel and secured them before adhering the panel to a white card base. I used a white paint pen to add details to the balloons and finished the card with a sentiment strip and blue rhinestones. I had the perfect sentiment for inside the card: "Age is just a number (in your case a really high one)." 

The foil on this panel is pearlescent, so I chose light blue foil card stock for the accents. I used the A2 Thin Frame Cover Plate die (Taylored Expressions) to cut out the frame and the Big Birthday die (Honey Bee Stamps) for the sentiment. I cut the shadow die for the sentiment out of vellum to help it stand out a little more. The panel is adhered to a white card base, and I decided to skip the embellishments because there's already a lot of shine happening on this card.

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Gel print strip backgrounds

When I was looking through my collection of gel prints I found four background pieces made with gel prints cut into strips and adhered to double-sided adhesive sheets. (They're similar to the crazy quilt scrap papers I shared in the past.) I decided they would make a good card set, and here are the results:

I think my favorite thing about these cards is that I used navy card stock instead of black for the mats and die cuts. I know it looks black in the photos, but in person the dark blue looks so good with the colors in the gel prints. I need to remember to use navy as a neutral more often. 

The backgrounds were in two arrangements -- horizontal stripes and diagonal stripes -- so I used two different layouts for my cards. For the cards with horizontal stripes, I used a tall branch die cut and short two-word phrases for the sentiments. The strips were useful in making sure I adhered the sentiments straight. I die cut each piece twice and glued them together to give them a little more "oomph." (All the dies I used for these cards are from the retired Well Written die set from Stampin' Up!)  

I struggled with the layout for the cards with diagonal stripes. I played around with the pieces for awhile and finally settled on this arrangement. I placed a curly-style branch in the lower left and upper right corners and added the sentiments at an angle near the middle of the panels. I finished all of the cards with three sequins grouped around the sentiments.

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Sending hugs

When I was looking through my gel prints recently, I found the pieces for a card that I'd prepped years ago but never actually put together. I figured it was about time to assemble that card.

First I used Dr. Ph. Martin's Bleed Proof White to add white splatter to the card base. I tore the top and bottom edges of the gel print (the letters were already cut out) and adhered it to the card base. I'd backed the letters with black cardstock for shadows, so I decided to try the eclipse technique, which I've never done before. I glued the letters back into the gel print, fitting the black shadows into the openings. (Looking at it now, I'm wondering if I should have used foam tape for the letters to help them stand out a little more.) I used foam tape to add the flag with "sending" at the top of the gel print and finished the card with gold sequins.

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