lauralooloo: How to Make a Handmade Card Set Using the Gel Press

I am absolutely in LOVE with the Gel Press. It took me a while to figure out what I could use it for - but once I started playing with it and getting comfortable with it, I started turning to it all the time for fun colorful backgrounds on my handmade cards. Today's card is actually a SET of cards, all using the same technique on the Gel Press - but because of the nature of the tool, each card will be one of a kind!

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This is a set of encouragement cards using a great big sentiment stamp that says You Are Enough. Is there anyone who DOESN'T need to hear that!? Good words - and a great stamp that really stands alone, along with a great background! So let's get to it, and I'll show you just how to use your Gel Press to make this background.

1. Apply strips of Turbo Teal, Electric Lime, and Cool Pool Re-Inkers across Gel Press. (It's hard to see in this photo, but all of this is happening ON the Gel Press, which is on top of my grid paper.

2. Begin to brayer the ink, allowing colors to blend together. Then splatter Gel Press with Sparkle Silk. (Have you tried Silks from Spellbinders? They come in a bottle that looks like nail polish, but they are much more watery, and you can splatter them onto projects, or paint with the brush inside. Sparkle Silk is my favorite - it just adds a sparkly splatter across cards, crafts, and of course GEL PRESS PROJECTS!)

3. Press a 4.25x5.5 piece of Whip Cream cardstock to Gel Press and pull a print. The areas of Silk sort of resist the ink and it creates really cool texture!

I created four of these card fronts, and I love that each looks a little different. After pulling one print, I could use the remaining ink on the brayer, roll it again across the Gel Press and add more Sparkle Silk, for a second print.

4. To create the sentiment apply more Re-Inkers to the Gel Press, just like before, but instead of pulling a print, use the Gel Press like an ink pad. Stamp the You Are Enough stamp onto the press, tap it around a little, and then stamp onto Whip Cream cardstock. I absolutely LOVE the way these sentiments turned out! EEK! (I want to do this a thousand more times in other colors now!)

To complete the cards, I added twine and adhered everything together on a white card base, and then added some dimensional Journey Glaze onto the letters.

Supplies used on this project:

Gel Press (sold at Simon Says Stamp)

Sparkle Silk

Re-Inkers (Cool Pool, Electric Lime, Turbo Teal)

(these inks are a hybrid ink. You can use any variety of ink, but they may give a different look depending on whether it's dye ink, pigment, or hybrid.)