Art Cards With Hand Printed Papers

By | October 21, 2016

My sister-in-law just showed me a new way to make art cards with hand printed papers! Sherry and I are both regular contributors to stamp art magazines, and we try to collaborate and work together on submissions when we can. The hardest part is that we live so far from each other that we rarely have one-on-one time together to experiment, or “play” as we call it, but since I was in her neck of the woods a couple of weeks ago, she was very keen to show me how to use her new favorite tool – the Gelli Plate for monoprinting:

Me and Sherry with my first Gelli Plate prints!

The plate is just what it sounds like; a clear jelly-like solid surface on which we squeezed a few blobs of acrylic paint, rolled smooth with a brayer, and then impressed some designs in it with pieces of cardstock that had been run through an embossing folder. (We also used an old cardboard toilet paper roll to make some circles; anything goes!) But whatever you press into the surface, it will pull off some paint and leave a pattern. Then we put a half sheet of white cardstock on top of the paint-layered Gelli Plate and smoothed it down with a clean brayer. When we pulled it off, the designed mono-printed sheets that you see in the photo above were the result.

love-you-gelli-card

Hand printed papers like this can then be cut up to make an interesting accent for a card front like I did here, just as you would with any Designer Series Paper. And hand decorated papers can be made in many different ways, it doesn’t require a Gelli Plate, although that is certainly a fun option. You could stamp images and/or sponge ink onto cardstock to make a background paper. You can add colorful punched out images or little bits of leftover torn paper, glued down here and there. How about an old piece of lace or paper doily, laid down on the paper and sprayed through with some colored ink? Use your imagination and have fun with it!

Here is the color palette that I used for my Love You Leaf card. Click on any swatch to see what other products Stampin’ Up! offers in these colors:

 And here are the Stampin’ Up! supplies that I used to make the card. Click on any picture to see a larger image, for more information or to order online (The current Hostess Code is D2KSZNSF – get a reusable handstamped “thank you” card from me when you use the code and allow demonstrator contact!)

Supply List

 Has this given you some ideas to try for making your own hand printed paper for cards or other art projects?

6 thoughts on “Art Cards With Hand Printed Papers

    1. ValoryDegree Post author

      Thanks! Is there ever an end to new things we can do with our paper? I think not!

      Reply
  1. Florence

    Gorgeous card. Fab gp background. What a shame you both live far away from each other. I bet you have great fun when you do meet up.
    Take care, Flo x

    Reply
    1. ValoryDegree Post author

      Thanks! Yes, we do make the most of our time together.

      Reply

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