Technique of the Week: Faux Dry Embossing

This post is in conjunction with Art 'n Soul's newsletter article Technique of the Week, Faux Dry Embossing.

You can get the beautiful look of dry embossing using die cuts.  Any die will work, but the important tip to remember is to cut your die out of the same paper that you mount your die cut onto.

To begin, I cut Poppy die #1125, Woodland Oval out of Stardream Opal paper.

The die cut was mounted onto another piece of Stardream Opal, and the sentiment was stamped with Onyx Black Versafine and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  The Magenta sentiment "With Sympathy" 07.928.I fits perfectly into this oval opening.

The Woodland Oval has the look of an embossed image, since it is the same color paper as the base card.  I hope you try this technique.  The simplicity of the tone on tone look is beautiful and elegant.

Magenta stamp used

With Sympathy 07.928.I

Other Materials used:

Poppy die Woodland Oval die 1125

Stardream Opal paper

Black Onyx Versafine ink

JudiKins Detail Clear embossing powder

KaiserCraft Champagne pearl embellishments

Technique of the Week: Stencil Stamping

This post is in conjunction with Art 'n Soul's Newsletter article Technique of the Week, Stencil Stamping.

This is a great technique, and can be done with any stencil or template you may have.  I used some great Magenta templates TM53 Background Trio Templates and MC01 Blossoms Mask.

Magenta TM53 Background Trio Templates and MC01 Blossoms Mask

1.  First, apply color to white cardstock with any color of Distress Ink you like.  You can apply the inkpad direct to the paper, or use a blending tool to apply color.  For my project, I used the mini round blending tools and applied 2-3 colors of Distress ink to each card.

 You can see a tutorial on applying Distress Ink with the blending tool on my blog here.  

2.  Select a template or stencil and spritz it liberally with water.  I use water mixed with Perfect Pearls powder to add a beautiful sheen (a mixture of 2 oz water with 1/4 tsp of Perfect Pearls powder)  Perfect Pearls is a mica powder that has a binder that is activated with water.



3.  Once you spritz your stencil or template, lay it wet side down onto your cardstock that you have pre-prepared by applying Distress ink.  Have a paper towel handy.  Once you have placed the template onto the cardstock, press it down well with the paper towel.



4.  Lift up the stencil and you will immediately see the stencil image on your card.  Once it looks the way you want, dry it with a heat tool.

  Distress Ink is specially formulated to react with water, and that's why this technique is so perfect for this medium.  If you use the water mixed with Perfect Pearls, you also get a beautiful sheen in the areas that your stencil touched.


Working from light to dark, I used the following Distress inks:  green:  Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, and Mowed Lawn; blue: Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers, and Faded Jeans; pink: Worn Lipstick, Spiced Marmalade, and Picked Raspberry.  

After preparing my panels, I made 3 birthday cards with them.  First I die cut the panels with a Memory Box die, Stitched Rectangle Layers 30009.  Using the next smaller rectangle, I also cut a piece of fun foam for the back of each panel. 

After cutting each panel, I have the added bonus of these frames I can use on another project!

For the matting layer, I took colored card stock in Lime Green So Silk, Beauty Pink So Silk, and Silver Stardream.  Fun fact is that if you stamp with dye based ink on these metallic and coated papers, your ink does not dry well, so that you can actually emboss with your dye ink.  Using Hero Arts background stamp S5507 Envelope pattern, I stamped onto the colored card stock using green: Mowed Lawn Distress; silver: Peacock Feathers Distress; and pink: Versamark.  This gave some texture to the matting layers.  

Using score tape, I matted the fun foam onto the panel, and then onto the matting layer.  This popped the panel up off the matting layer just a bit.  

For the sentiment, I used my favorite birthday stamp from Magenta, 07.907.L Multilingual Happy Birthday, and selectively inked just the first two sentiments with Black Onyx Versafine.  This was stamped onto a 1 1/2" strip of Vellum and affixed to the card by folding it around to the back and taping it down.  All was mounted onto a white base card.  Hero Arts mixed accents were sprinkled liberally onto each card.

Materials Used:

Magenta Templates

TM53 Background Trio Templates

MC01 Blossom Mask

Magenta Stamp

Multilingual Happy Birthday 07.907.L

Other Materials

Hero Arts Stamp S5507 Envelope Pattern

Memory Box Die 30009 Stitched Rectangles

Distress Ink:  Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn, Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers, Faded Jeans, Worn Lipstick, Spiced Marmalade, and Picked Raspberry.

Black Onyx Versafine Ink

Versamark Ink

Perfect Pearls Pearl

Mini blending tool

Scor tape

So Silk Beauty Pink Paper

So Silk Lime Green Paper

Stardream Silver Paper

17# Vellum

Hero Arts Mixed Accents:  Blush, Foliage, and Pool

Happiness is the Path

Since the new Pan Pastels have come out in metallics and pearlescent colors, I have fallen in love with them all over again.  The new Magenta Flowers & Buds stamp is perfect for a fun Pan Pastel application because it has a lot of solid area.

For this card the sentiment "Happiness is the Path" (LOVE this sentiment) was stamped in Olympia Green Versafine and embossed with clear embossing powder.  The Flower & Buds stamp was stamped several times in Versamark ink, and using a sponge tool, I applied Pan Pastels to the Versamarked images in light gold, dark gold, and copper colors.  Excess pastel was wiped off with a Swiffer cloth.  It was hard to capture the beautiful shiny look of these metallic pastels in a photograph, so in the first picture, the flowers look like they have a sepia tone.

A picture taken at an angle gives an idea how they really look in real life.

 To finish the card, the panel was matted with Stardream gold paper, and flicked with Artquest mica watercolor.

Magenta stamps used:

Flowers & Buds 0707.L

Happiness is the Path  07.912.H 

Other Materials Used: 

Pan Pastel Metallics:  Light Gold; Dark Gold; Copper

Versamark Ink

Versafine Olympia Green Ink

Stardream Gold paper

Artquest Palette Pastels

Technique of the Week: Stamp Kissing

In keeping with the approaching Valentine's Day holiday, I decided to pull out the old "stamp kissing" technique.  This post is in conjunction with the Art 'n Soul weekly Technique of the Week newsletter article.  The steps for this technique are very easy, and the results are stunning.  I experimented with this a lot, and found some things that made it work better for me.

1. First, find a solid rubber stamp to use as your main image.  In this case, I chose a heart from JudiKins.

2. Next, select a second stamp with some pattern to it.  I wanted to use something floral in this case, but you can use any patterned stamp you like.  In my experiments, I found that if the patterned stamp has some solid surface, it will work better, because it will lift more ink.  After playing with several different ones, I chose Magenta May Flowers Bold Silhouette 5979.L

3.  Ink up your solid stamp.  I experimented with pigment ink and dye ink, and settled on Memento Love Letter dye ink.  I found it made a darker, more solid image.  As with most dye based inks, the stamping looked splotchy at first, but as the ink absorbed into the paper, the color smoothed out.  I wanted a color that would be very red, rather than pink-ish, and I find that dye inks are often more vibrant.

3.  Press your patterned stamp onto your inked solid stamp.  This is called "kissing" your stamps.

4. When you pull the patterned stamp off, you will see the pattern in your solid stamp, where the ink was lifted off.

5. Turn your solid stamp over and stamp it onto card stock.

I experimented with  number of patterned stamps - all Magenta, and all beautiful!

I cut out my favorite heart and made this card with it.

I hope you try or re-try this technique.  Playing with this was so much fun, and the results are fabulous!  Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Magenta Stamps Used

0579.L May Flowers - Bold Silhouette

Thanks for touching my heart 07.731.I

Other Materials Used:

JudiKins Stamp:  Fab Heart 2746F

Memory Box Die 99074 Surely Stitched Circle

Memento Love Letter ink

Versamark ink

JudiKins White Diamond embossing powder

Stardream Jupiter paper

Hero Arts Blush Mixed Accents 

Embossed Pico Embellisher Inlay

I have another way to use the Pico Embellishers for you.  It's no secret that I love new ways to apply color, and I have had a lot of fun with Irresistible Pico Embellishers, using them to inlay color in various ways, including into an embossed image.  In real life, these colors have a beautiful, dimensional shine to them.  My previous post using the Pico Embellishers can be found here.

Irresistible Pico Embellishers by Imagine Crafts are a water-based pigment in a fine line applicator, that when dry, act as a dimensional resist.  The applicator bottles come with a wire that fits into the tiny metal dispensing tube, and keeps the tube from clogging.  

When using this product, it's a good idea to keep a piece of scrap paper on hand.  Shake the bottles well to be sure that the pigment is well mixed.  When you first start to dispense the product, do it onto the scrap paper, so that you can get out any air bubbles that result from shaking the product.  When the product starts through the tube, it should go smoothly.  If you stop and then start again, always start on the scrap paper first.

First, I stamped the heart and the sentiment with Versamark, and embossed them with White Diamond embossing powder.  Working with one color at a time, I began inlaying the Picos into the flowers on the heart, making sure to test them on a scrap piece of paper first.

Coloring with Picos is a lot of fun, and I love the effect that they give.  Here are a couple of close-ups of the card - I was trying to get a shot that shows how shiny and dimensional this product looks.

This is the heart stamp that I designed for Magenta, and this Love stamp was designed by my friend, and owner of Art 'n Soul, Susie Tracy.

Magenta Stamps used (available at Art 'n Soul):

Doodled Heart  44.014.N

Love  07.812.F

Other Materials Used:

Irresistible Pico Embellishers:

Electric Blue; Electric Pink; Electric Yellow; Electric Purple; Metallic Gold and Wedding Dress

Versamark Ink

White Diamond embossing powder by Judikins

So Silk Beauty Pink paper

Magenta Challenge - February 2015

February 2015 - Magenta Challenge :

Valentine's Day

Create a Card, a Layout or even an altered object, if you feel like it,

follow the theme and use at least one Magenta product :

papers, stamps, embellishment, Peel Off's, chipboard and more...

You have until February 29th to enter!

Here's my card:

I used this stamp from Magenta

Heart Burst  42.237.H

And stamped it 4 times (top to bottom and side to side, lining up the bottom points in the heart), using Versamark Ink.   I then embossed the hearts with White Diamond embossing powder from Judikins.

For the sentiment, I used this Magenta stamp

Multilingual I Love You  07.927.H

I selectively inked only the first two lines, and stamped with Versamark, then embossed with White Diamond embossing powder.

You could select any or all of the languages in this great sentiment stamp

There is a funny story about this card design.  I was working on my February Challenge card, and emailing with Helene at Magenta about something else.  Since I was pleased with how my card was working out, I sent Helene a photo of the card, and she immediately sent me back a photo of a blog post she was working on, in which she had used the stamp in the exact same way!  And I thought I was so clever!  She said "Great minds think alike!" (to which I felt very complimented).  Helene used red ink on white paper, and she also had some other cards in her post using this same stamp.  You can view her post here; do yourself a favor, and click over to see her post.  Helene's style is the essence of  the elegance that is Magenta!

Now it's your turn!  Have some fun and enter the challenge!

You could win this Magenta Prize :

One entry per person only!!!

Please go here and use In linkz to submit your page