Stacy's Paper Crafts

Masculine Valentine's Day Inspiration

Valentine's Day is next week and I wanted to share a masculine Valentine's Day project with you all! Several years ago I created some Gelli printed papers using a heart stencil that I LOVED! The blueish teal print was my favorite of the bunch. The thought of cutting it up and actually using it was too much for me! If you're a paper lover you understand the agony of having only one sheet left of your favorite pattered paper. Gelli printed papers make this dilemma especially challenging because each print is unique. I've never been able to recreate a Gelli print with any precision, so I did the next best thing... I scanned the print!

 

I played around with it in Photoshop, (using my preschool level knowledge of PS LOL) altering the color and scale of the print, so fun! I love the original, but this print in green is really nice too!  I kept the scale the same, and printed the pattern in both blue and green, and created pillow boxes filled with candy for my two guys.  I used curling ribbon to wrap the box, and then added little tags, and die cut stars with mini brads.

 

This simple packaging says "Happy Valentine's Day, I got you some chocolate."  That really should be a sentiment for a card LOL, I'm going to have to go whip up a few! I know that It's sometimes challenging to create handmade masculine cards for the guys in our lives, I always try to share ideas to make this task easier. I hope this non-traditional color palette inspires you to create some non-lovey-dovey Valentine's Day cards for someone in your life!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Fall Shades of Blue

I tend to reach for shades of orange and brown for my Fall projects but shades of blue and teal seem to be on trend this Fall season and I am here for it! I loved the pumpkin stenciled background that I created for this card so I decided to use it again to create some backgrounds using trendy shades of blue. This little exercise made me realize I don't have any medium or medium/dark true blue shades. Most of my blues appear to be more purple so I ended up choosing the shades of ink closest to what I envisioned.

I used Neenah Solar White cardstock for all these panels. I chose Stampin' Up's Night of Navy, Pacific Point, and Distress Chipped Sapphire & Speckled Egg on this first set. I never noticed how purple Chipped Sapphire leans before now.

I used Stampin' Up's Pretty Peacock, Distress Peacock Feathers, and Stampin' Up's Soft Succulent on these panels. Surprisingly Soft Succulent has really become a favorite ink! If you have Papertrey Ink's Oceantides ink pad it's a near perfect match. I think it's a teeny weeny tiny bit deeper in tone but It's hardly noticeable. Anyway I love how easy it is to transform a sheet of white paper with a few basic supplies. I can't wait to put these DIY patterned papers to use!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:

Paper: Neenah Solar White Smooth Cardstock

Inks: Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink, Peacock Feathers Distress Ink, Speckled Egg Distress Ink, SU's:Night of Navy, Pacific Point, Cajun Craze, & Soft Succulent Inks

Other: Blending Brush, Domed Foam Blending Tool, & Stencil

 

 

Hand Printed Fabric Face Mask

When the corona-virus began to spread here in the US, my governor and the county executive where I live in put some mandates in place to try to slow and prevent the spread of this virus. One of which requires the use of face masks in public spaces. I'm sure you know how difficult it initially was to find masks and mask making supplies. Luckily for me, I'm crafter with a stash! I had several yards of unbleached muslin and decided to try my hand at printmaking to create some patterns for a less boring mask. 

 

 

After washing and ironing my muslin I got to work. I used a circle stencil along with some turquoise Jacquard Neopaque Acrylic paint to create the first layer. These are some of my favorite opaque acrylic paints, they work well on a variety of surfaces and substrates including fabric. I found it easiest to use a makeup sponge to apply the paint through my stencil.

 

 

I then used some white paint and a floral stamp from the Fanciful Flowers stamp set by Red Rubber Designs, to create a second layer. I alternated using a brayer and a makeup sponge to apply the paint to the stamp. I'm still undecided about which application I liked best, but using the makeup sponge definitely allowed me to get a more solid application of paint. I think with more practice I'll be able to better gauge how much paint to use to avoid "gloppy" prints. I'm going to keep experimenting though, I think the type of stamp image used might give different results.

 

 

If you've ever created your own patterned paper or created a master board, those same design concepts work really well for print making no matter your substrate. I was happy with two layers, but you could add as many as you like to create a design you're happy with. 

 

Once the paint dried completely, I ironed, washed, and ironed the fabric once more. I found a face mask pattern, cut my fabric, and sewed up these cute masks. I'm not an experienced sewer so it took me awhile to get the settings on my machine just right. Some of my stitches are a little crooked and I want to tweak the design a little but I'm pretty happy with how my DIY mask turned out. 

Thanks for stopping by today, let me know if you have any questions or suggestions! 

 

*Supplies:

Red Rubber Designs Stamps: Fanciful Flowers 

Unbleached Muslin fabric

Jacquard Neopaque Acrylic Paint, white & turquoise

Mini Gel Press Printing Plates

Makeup Sponges

2 in. Speedball Soft Rubber Brayer

 

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