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January 2021 KOTM

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Miracles Happen Every Day

Hey everyone!  It’s Jules of Paper Gems by Jules and today I’m sharing a card I made with the intent to go beyond my basic Copic coloring.  We all have supplies that we purchase with the intent to remake something that inspired us… but then, well, life happens.  This week, I paced myself and made a little time to add a little something each day to make this card.

Day one:  Decided to just play with the new Speckled Egg Distress Ink.  I smushed the ink pad on my glass mat and first pressed my white card stock into it, but then just used my watercolor brush to add more color in certain spots.  Next, I pulled out “A Faithful Letter” background stamp and inked up parts of it and pressed the blotted card stock on there.  This allowed the script to be in spots and give it a more distressed look.

Day two:  Let’s add layers.  At this point, I wanted to give it a little more of a grunge look.  Using a bubble stencil, I added Rusty Hinge Distress Oxide on two of the corners.  I liked it, but wanted more dimension.  Using the same stencil over the same spots, I added Gina K Iridescent Glitter Glitz over the oxide ink and let it dry overnight.

Day 3:  Back to basics with Copic coloring.  I just wanted to color on this day so I stamped out the beautiful girl from the February 2021 Kit of the Month: A Beautiful Mindset.  I wanted to color her dress with a similar color to Speckled Egg.  I was hoping to get more of a grungy orange for the umbrella, but it got a little dark, but hey… it’s art. It’s all good.  Once I was done coloring, I fussy cut her out.

Day 4:  Time to finish up.  Now that the Glitter Glitz is dry, I brought in some Rusty Hinge Distress Ink and smushed it onto parts of the background.  Once that was dry, I stamped a sentiment that happened to be in this same KOM, but hit home (and I’ll explain in a bit).  I trimmed a brown piece of card stock and layered it under the mixed media background using foam tape.  I adhered the background and then added this pretty lady, again, using foam tape.  Last, I adhered it all to the card base and it’s done.

As I stamped this sentiment, I heard back from my best friend who’s father is struggling with Covid in the hospital.  I grew up with there family and her family always welcomed me like one of their own.  So her heartache became mine and I just broke down.  I was heartbroken that I couldn’t hug her and hold her hand while she navigates through this.  We can’t visit her father to help him through this.  All we can do is pray.  All we can do is listen.  And this story is just one of so many… so this sentiment… it was a welcomed reminder to

"Never stop believing in HOPE because MIRACLES happen every day."

Let’s hope for many miracles around this world.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you too can find inspiration and peace in crafting.

Jules

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Through the Trees

Hi everyone!  I hope you’re all looking forward to a wonderful weekend.  This is Julissa of Paper Gems by Jules and today I’m sharing a slimline card using the latest Kit of the Month for January 2021:  Made to Be Happy.  This kit has a wide variety of stamps and sentiments that will mix and match with many of your other Unity stamps.  But today, I’d like to share a simple card with a lot of meaning.

When I first saw these trees, it reminded me of some of our mountain bike rides in the colder weather.  As we ride, we can see through the trees and see the horizon, the hawks flying through the trees and sometimes deer.  It’s as if you get to see behind the curtain of bushes and greenery during sprint and summer.

To make this card, I used a slimline stitched die and cut the top layer.  Using my Misti Stamping Tool and VersaFine Clair ink in Nocturn, I stamped the trees on the left.  Because I have the original Misti, I opted to clean the stamp and reposition it to the right side rather than moving just my paper.  This time, I stamped the trees more off the edge clearing a path through the trees.

Once the VersaFine Clair ink is completely dried I added Speckled Egg Oxide Ink on just the top half of the card to give the look of sky.  I made sure to go a little lighter in the middle so that it fades naturally.  Next, I splattered Picket Fence Distress Paint and water mixed with Perfect Pearls to give the illusion of snow.  Once dried, I added a sentiment from a Tim Holtz Small Talk stickers.

Another idea for this tree stamp would be to add leaves in different colors for fall or add sponged green paint for a summer/spring look!  I’d love to see how you used your Kit of the Month, so please make sure to share your art at our Unity {Show & Tell} Facebook page.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you found some inspiration.  Until next time…

Have a crafty day!

Jules

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Background Stamps on a Gel Press

Happy Friday! I hope you’ve all had a great week and are excited for a nice weekend.  This is Jules of Paper Gems by Jules and I’m super excited to share something I just happened to try.  This year, I’ve committed to make use of supplies that haven’t been getting much love. For this blog, I’m sharing my rediscovery of a gel press!

What is a gel press?  It’s kind of weird, but it’s a solid gel like material that is non-porous.  So you can apply ink to it and it will not absorb it.  You can use it to apply unique images on your card stock, junk journal or mix media project.  It’s pretty cool!  Here’s a list of the Unity stamps I used:

There are three different techniques I used in the video below.

  1.  Stamping on the gel press and print the reverse.
  2.  Stamping with the stamp after getting ink from the gel press.
  3.  Impressing ink onto card stock directly from gel press.

Check out the YouTube video showing you how I used those great stamps and a gel press to make these three cards and several background stamps.

Thank you so much for stopping by and I’d love to see how you use some of those supplies that have been waiting to be loved!

Until next time… Happy Crafting!

Jules