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Tim Holtz Stencil

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Be There for Her

Happy Friday!  I hope you all had a wonderful day with family, friends and loved ones yesterday and are still celebrated togetherness.  For many of us the holidays are wonderful and a great time to be around family.  But there are times that being around loved ones can test a spirit.  And I really thought the sentiments from “As I See It” paired with the ladies of “There for Her” were a great way to boost anyone that might be struggling this holiday season.

Maybe this was a little bit of therapy for me, but I wanted to see each of these ladies standing individually.  And despite watching all seasons of Grey’s Anatomy and ER, I just couldn’t bring myself to perform stamp surgery, but that is always an option. I opted to just mask the other girls when inking up the one.  I die cut 4 pieces of Bristol Smooth paper in 3 different sizes.  Next, I stamped each girl and found a sentiment to match.

This is dedicated to the person that knows the color of her hair or the tattoos he wears might get judged at a family gathering… but they are always them!  Shine bright, darling.

This is dedicated to those that really hoped someone would step up for them, but instead, they had to stand up for themselves.  And that’s okay!  You got this!

This is dedicated to those who were doubted for so long and have found their own happiness!  It was always lying within and now you can show them!

And this last little piece is dedicated to those that know how to walk away when they need to.  There’s nothing wrong with putting you first.

Keep in mind that even those that are smiling can be struggling, so be kind to each other.  Let’s be better to each other this holiday season and celebrate in UNITY.

Until next time… Happy Crafting.

 

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Creative Planning

Happy Friday,  friends!  This is Jules of Paper Gems by Jules trying something new!  The other day I was struggling creatively.  I opted to clean my craft room… and that took a while. ????????‍♀️ But when I was done… I wanted to use something I bought that I haven’t yet.  And there it was… a planner.  Lord knows I love how creative people get with planners, but I’d have to plan 2032 in order to have it done in time.  But then I thought, what if you just made your planner into a journal of sorts.  Stamp and color what you’re feeling or what you’re thinking… so here it is.

This is the first page and I chose “Grace of Letting Go.”  This happened to be the stamp I used on a card that Angela & Whitney noticed one day and reposted.  It was a glorious feeling.  But at the time, the card was made for a friend going through a rough patch in life.  The other day, I was with a friend going through a rather big change in her life and there were so many mixed feelings.  This sentiment… well, it fit perfectly.

I stamped the girl on. the right side and figured I’d keep the design on the whole right side.  Because I used a light grey ink, coloring it gave it the no-line coloring look.  Next, I created a mask and stenciled leaves all around her in reds, oranges and yellows.  I found some wood washi tape and placed under her to hide the end of the stamp.  But this was only. up to 2/3rds of the page and I wanted it to be the whole right side.

So I die cut some leaves and colored them with the same inks.  To cover the edge. of them, I added a rope bow right over it.  Last, I stamped the sentiment on the upper corner.  This was my first time, but I absolutely love this fall themed planner page.  I’d love to know if you use planners and what your secret is to keep it up!

Until next time…  Happy Crafting!

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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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Have Faith ATC

Happy Friday!  It’s Jules of Paper Gems by Jules on the blog today.  I hope you’ve all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  There is so much to be thankful for, even through this challenging times.  I’m especially thankful for the AMAZING site wide sale that Unity is having right now.  Make sure you stay tuned!

This week I wanted to share an ATC (Artist Trading Card) I made for my crafty girls card swap using Unity’s “Maria Girl” and “Trust It Will Be Okay.”  The last month or so has been lacking inspiration.  I’ve been struggling with getting myself motivated and I think it’s just a sign of the times. By scaling down from a regular A2 size to a 3.5″ x 2.5″ ATC, I didn’t feel to fill in all the space.  Here’s a little step-by-step break down of how I created this little spark of creativity.

Step 1.

I stamped the Maria Girl off the edge of the card.  Using the Misti Stamping Tool allows me to repeat the stamped image in the same spot on each card.  Once you’re done with all the cards,  I stamped the image again, but mainly for the body portion of the stamp as that will be the part that gets popped up.

Step 2.

I colored in the Maria Girl on the add-on, but not her wings.  Next, I fussy cut her out and left the wings off.  Using a black Memento marker, I colored the edge to cover the white core of the image.

Dress:  B97, B95, B93, B42 / Skin: E21, E51, E51 / Hair: E29, E39, E15

Step 3.

Using a mask of Maria Girl, I color the background using Dried Marigold Distress Ink and used the Tim Holtz Blossom Layering stencil and added Ripe Persimmon Distress Ink over it.

Step 4.

Putting the card back in the Misti, I lined up the sentiment from the Trust It Will Be Okay Sentiment Kit.  Once stamped, I splattered Coper Perfect Pearls on the background, avoiding the sentiment area.

Step 5.

Next, I colored the wings using W4, W2 & W0 Copic markers.  To make sure that you don’t see uncolored layer, I used the darkest of the hair and dress to color the edge of the base image.

Step 6.

Using my favorite foam adhesive squares (Scrapbook Adhesive Thin Foam Squares), I adhered the fussy cut Maria onto the ATC.

Step 7.

To add a little something, I rounded the top corners using my envelope punch.  And the ATC is complete.

These ATCs are a great way to spark a little creativity and to keep out little pieces of inspiration around you or to share with a friend.

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today and I hope you found some creative spark too.  Sometimes we just need a day to clean the canvas and have faith that your creativity will come again.

Until next time…

Happy Crafting!