Sphynx Cat on Gel Print Variations

It's Tuesday, which means that it's my day to share a project created for Topflight Stamps! This week, my TFS teammates and I are exploring the Gel Press. This was a great exercise for me as I'm not totally comfortable gel printing yet. I decided that I wanted to use my underused Distress Oxide inks with the Gel Press, so I watched a fabulous video by Lindsay Weirich, aka The Frugal Crafter. I learned a ton and once I got started, I kept going!

BTW, if you'd like to get 12% off your order at Topflight Stamps use THIS LINK!

Here are two photos of some (not all) of the prints I pulled using the Gel Press, Distress Oxide ink pads, the Twirling Tendrils and Totally Dotty stencils by AALL and Create, a few other stencils, sequin waste, and embossing folders. I pulled all the prints on white cardstock, except one where I used journal ledger paper. The ledger paper one is the middle of the bottom photo.

I decided that I wanted to use the Sphynx Cat Unmounted Rubber Stamp by Katzelkraft as the focal point of a set of three cards. 

Here are the cards:

On this "Hello" Eclipse card, the cat was stamped with VersaMark ink then heat embossed with regular detail black embossing powder. The "Meow" speech bubble stamp from the Purrfect Day Clear Stamp Set by Heffy Doodle was stamped with Onyx Black VersaFine Ink. I might go back and outline the word so it shows a little better. Or I might not. :D

The cat was stamped with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with sparkly black embossing powder. Sadly, the sparkle shows up as white flecks. Bummer. I used white flecked black cardstock as a matting layer and it photographed a bit oddly. The sentiment is from Paper Artsy's fun and fabulous Zinski #47 (Cats) Rubber Cling Mounted Stamp Set.

This eclipse card uses Stampendous!' fantastic Verdigris embossing powder which is green, gold, and sparkly. The embossing powder was also used to edge the image panel and to emboss the die-cut sentiment. Again, it's difficult to get a good photograph of the goodness of that green/gold combo. 

Topflight Stamps Products Used:

Gel Press

Sphynx Cat Unmounted Rubber Stamp by Katzelkraft

Twirling Tendrils Stencil by AALL and Create

Totally Dotty Stencil  by AALL and Create

Zinski #47 (Cats) Rubber Cling Mounted Stamp Set by Paper Artsy

Purrfect Day Clear Stamp Set by Heffy Doodle

Onyx Black VersaFine™ Ink by Tsukineko®

Other Products Used:

White cardstock by Hammermill

Ledger Paper rescued from my parents' house

8x10 Gel Printing Plate by Gel Press®

Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch, Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers, Cracked Pistachio, Twisted Citron, Carved Pumpkin, and Picked Raspberry Distress® Oxide Ink Pads by Tim Holtz®/Ranger Industries

Daisy Do Embossing Folder by Craft Concepts

Small Flowers Embossing Folder by Nellie's Choice

TC006 Arrows Dinky Stencil by That's Crafty

Industrial Mini Layering Stencil by Tim Holtz®/Stamper's Anonymous

VersaMark™ Ink by Tsukineko®

Black Detail Embossing Powder by Stampendous!®

Twilight Sparkly Embossing Powder by Stampendous!®

Verdigris Opaque Embossing Powder by Stampendous!®

Hello Die from the Shadow Script 2 Thinlits™ Die Set by Tim Holtz®/Sizzix

Purrfect from the Cat Paw Print Precision Die Set by Frantic Stamper

Sequin Waste

Instructions: These are not going to be as explicit as usual because I didn't really keep very good track of what I was doing. I essentially just played around until I got a pile of prints that I liked then made 5" x 7" cards from them. 

1. Combinations of Salty Ocean, Twisted Citron, and Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide ink pads were smooshed directly onto the 8x10 Gel Plate, then blended using a brayer. 
2. A stencil was placed onto the inked Gel Plate, then Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers, and/or Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxide were brayered over the stencil. 
3. The stencil was removed, a piece of cardstock (or the ledger paper) was placed onto the Gel Press, the back of the cardstock was smoothed, then the paper was gently pulled off the plate to form a print.
4. Step #3 was repeated with a different stencil, the sequin waste, OR...
5. The positive outlined side of an embossing folder was inked with Blueprint Sketch or Mermaid Lagoon Distress Oxide print.
6. The embossing folder was pressed into the inked Gel Press and lifted.
7. The same piece of cardstock (or ledger paper) was placed onto the Gel Press, the back of the paper was smoothed, and a second layer of print was pulled.
8. The print was heat set.
9. The Carved Pumpkin, Picked Raspberry, or one of the other colors of Distress Oxide that had been used was sponged over a stencil or sequin waste directly onto the print, then heat set. 
10. This process was repeated until I had a pile of prints that I liked. All the prints were heat set to ensure the inks' stability since I knew I'd be using embossing powders with stamping and didn't want a huge honkin' mess.
11. I chose three prints that I wanted to use and trimmed them to 4 5/8" x 6 5/8".
12. The Sphynx cat was stamped with VersaMark ink and heat set with three different embossing powders.
13. Additional sentiments were stamped directly onto the image panels using Onyx Black VersaFine inks.
14. Word dies were used to cut the image panels, then the words were placed back into the apertures to create the Eclipse look. The word "Purrfect" was smooshed into a VersaMark pad, then heat set with the Verdigris embossing powder, which was also used to edge the last card.
15. All three cards were matted onto cardstock cut to 4.75" x 6.75", then adhered to 5" x 7" cards.

I have quite a few prints left from what I created, so expect to see more projects using them in the future. Additionally, I had such fun pulling prints using the Gel Press with Distress Oxide prints that I know that I'll be revisiting this technique! 

Thanks for visiting today!