Super Saturday at Magenta: Distress Blending and Prismacolors

 Hi everyone, I am also posting this over on the Magenta blog, and you can see that post here.

I love the technique of stamping and embossing a background stamp, and then blending Distress ink over the embossing. Sometimes though, I feel that the image needs a little bit more to make it stand out.

I stamped the Magenta stamp Floral Background onto a panel of white cardstock using Versamark ink. I then embossed the image with White Diamond embossing powder. I blended three colors of Distress ink over the panel. To make the floral, leaf and berry images stand out more, I decided to color them with Prismacolor pencils.

I took this photo after I embossed the background and blended the Distress, and I was just starting to color in the flowers. It was fun and relaxing, and I like how all of the images were enhanced.

Here's a more up close shot of the process. The White Diamond embossing is really pretty in real life, and very sparkly, but that doesn't show up well in the photos.

To finish the card, I cut the panel down to 3.5" x 4.75" and adhered it to a piece of So Silk cardstock that was die cut using a new to me Greetery die called Postal Frames.

I stamped the Magenta sentiment onto another piece of So Silk cardstock and embossed it in white. The sentiment was die cut using a Poppy Stamps die called Colwell Label Set. I adhered the sentiment to the panel using foam tape, so that it was popped up a little. The entire panel was adhered to a white base card.

Magenta Products used:

14.660.R Floral Background

07.969.F Have a Beautiful day!

Other Products used:

Distress inks: Wilted Violet,

Twisted Citron, Blueprint Sketch

Prismacolor Pencils: PC105 Cobalt Turquoise,

PC992 Light Aqua, PC1008 Parma Violet,

PC912 Apple Green, PC908 Dark Green

JudiKins Diamond White embossing powder

Brutus Monroe Alabaster White embossing powder

The Greetery Postal Grames Die GD-M-038

Poppy Stamps Colwell Label die set 2325

Neenah Solar White 80# & 110# cardstock

So Silk Glamour Green cardstock

 

Magenta Card Exchange: Canada

My second card exchange partner finally got her card today, and it took only a week and a half to get to Canada, the same as to the Netherlands. My card to my Netherlands exchange partner is posted here.

The only rule was to use Magenta stamps or products. My Canadian exchange partner is Christine Alexander, who is another Magenta Design Team member. She is amazing! Be sure to check out her blog here.

I started out by masking a 1" strip across the bottom 1/3 of the card for a sentiment. Then I stamped the beautiful Magenta Floral Background in Hero Arts Unicorn White ink.

I colored the petals and leaves with Prismacolor pencils, and then put the panel back into the stamp platform and stamped with Versamark ink. I embossed it with silver embossing powder.

At the end I stamped the Magenta hello stamp that was designed by Sally Penley, into the space left by the masking. I added a few gems.

The card I received from Christine was amazing! It was like a little book where she had stamped several panels. You can see the card she sent me on her blog here.

Magenta Products used:

14.660.R Floral Background

07.976.G hello!

Other Products used:

Prismacolor Pencils: PC992 Lt Aqua,

PC905 Aquamarine, PC105 Cobalt Turquoise,

PC912 Apple Green, PC1005 Limepeel

Versamark Ink

Hero Arts Unicorn White ink

JudiKins Detail silver embossing powder

Versafine Clair Warm Breeze ink

Strathmore Blue Tone Mixed Media cardstock

So Silk Glamour Green cardstock

Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock

Technique of the Week: Painting with Oxide Inks

This article is in conjunction with the Art 'n Soul newsletter article "Technique of the Week". To continue our postings using the very popular Distress Oxide inks, I decided to try and see how these inks would work if I painted with them. By the way, we have all of the Oxide colors in stock at Art 'n Soul as of the date of this email. We absolutely love these inks and how they work. Not that we would give up regular Distress inks... they are different.

To begin I cut a panel of watercolor cardstock with the second largest die of the Memory Box Postage Rectangle Layers 30052. 

I selected the Magenta background stamp  14.660.R, and stamped it with Versamark ink and embossed it with JudiKins Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder. 

I chose Broken China and Wilted Violet Oxide inks to start and pressed them onto an acrylic block and added water. 

I painted the centers with the Broken China first, then added Wilted Violet. 

Once all the flowers were painted, I added some Peeled Paint Oxide to the block and painted the leaves.

I watered down the Broken China color a lot and painted it all around the images. 

I colored the berries or buds in with a glitter pen.

One of the things I noticed about painting with Oxides is the same thing I have seen when blending with them. Oxides are a hybrid of dye and pigment, and while the dye soaks into your paper, the pigment sits on top. This makes them more opaque than regular Distress ink. The colors are beautiful, but getting shading is not easy.

After painting the images and letting it dry, I selected a Magenta sentiment 07.954.G Think about you often. I chose a panel of So Silk Fair Blue cut to 4" x 5.25" and stamped the sentiment at the bottom of the panel with Versamark ink. I embossed it with JudiKins White Diamond embossing powder. 

Since I wanted to stamp my background stamp on this panel, I decided to mask my sentiment. I stamped the sentiment onto some JudiKins Eclipse masking paper. By the way, this masking paper is the best out there, and it is now available again. We just got a few rolls in stock at the shop.

I fussy cut the sentiment out of the masking paper and applied it to the panel. I then stamped the background stamp with Versamark ink over the entire panel. 

I embossed it with clear embossing powder and then removed the mask over my sentiment.

For mounting the watercolored panel, I decided to pop it up, so I used the Hero Arts Infinity Nesting Rectangle Dies DI198. This set has so many sizes of rectangles that you should be able to find the right size for most anything. There are 16 dies with 0.125" between each one, and the largest is 4.25" x 5.5". I found the perfect size to use to cut a piece of fun foam for the back of my watercolored panel.

I don't like the white sides of the fun foam to show, so I colored the sides with a dark blue Copic marker (B26). The fun foam creates a solid backing for the panel. I adhered the pieces to the background panel (using scor tape), and adhered it all to a white base card. I sprinkled a few sequins.

I really love the Distress Oxide inks for so many things; but at the end of the day, I would say that I think that regular Distress inks are better for watercoloring. Since the dye inks soak into the paper, they are more transparent, and shade more easily. It's nice to know thought, that if you just have one or the other, you can watercolor with all of them.

Magenta Products Used:

(If you are local, please look for products at Art 'n Soul. If you are not local and wish to find Magenta products, you can click on the link in the stamp or product name below each image, or you can visit the Magenta online store here).

14.660.R Floral Background

07.954.G Think about you often

Other Products Used:

Memory Box 30052 Postage Rectangle Layers

Hero Arts DI198 Infinity Nesting Rectangle Dies

Distress Oxide inks: 

Broken China, Wilted Violet, Peeled Paint

JudiKins White Diamond embossing powder

JudiKins Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder

JudiKins Clear Detail embossing powder

Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock

So Silk Fair Blue cardstock

Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock

Fun Foam

Copic marker B26

Eclipse masking paper

Scor tape

All you need is Love

This post is in featured on the Magenta blog today. I love this Magenta Floral Background stamp designed by Nathalie Métivier. It's beautiful, and it's sized perfectly to cover a card 5.5" x 4.25"

I stamped the Floral Background onto a 5.5"  4.25" piece of 80# Neenah solar white cardstock with Versamark ink, and embossed with JudiKins Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder. Using a blending tool, I applied Distress ink in Wilted Violet, Twisted Citron, and Blueprint Sketch, until the colors were well blended.

I matted the panel with So Silk black cardstock, and used another piece of the black cardstock to add the sentiment. 

I stamped the "All you need is love" sentiment with Versamark ink and embossed it with JudiKins White Diamond embossing powder. I cut a fishtail at the end to make it look like a banner, and popped it up with foam tape. I added a few sequins and it was done!

If you want to see this background technique step by step on another card, please link to my original post here.

Magenta Products Used:

(If you are local, please look for products at Art 'n Soul. If you are not local and wish to find Magenta products, you can click on the link in the stamp or product name below each image, or you can visit the Magenta online store here).

14.660.R Floral Background

07.970.G All you need is love

Other Products Used:

Distress Inks: Wilted Violet, Twisted Citron, Blueprint Sketch

Versamark ink

JudiKins Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder

JudiKins White Diamond Embossing powder

Neenah Solar White cardstock 80# and 110#

So Silk Black cardstock

Foam tape