Magenta Super Saturday: Alcohol Lift Ink

Hi Everyone! I'm over at Magenta today. I'm going to be honest with you all. Due to a family emergency, I went and pulled a panel out that I had previously made. You know how you can walk away from something you have done, and later it looks better to you? This panel is like that. I was disappointed that it came out so light, but lately I have been looking at it in a different way. It seems ethereal and pretty to me now. I hope you like it too.

To create the panel on this card, I used Alcohol Lift ink to lift color off of a sheet of Yupo that I had covered with green and orange alcohol ink. I then stamped the images onto a panel of Neenah Solar White cardstock.

Since I did this, I have seen a post on Loll Thompson's blog, where she did this technique with great success. She said she learned this from Christine Alexander, one of our Magenta DT members. To see Loll's post, please go here. It will definitely be worth your while; her cards are lovely, and the technique is genius. Thank you Christine! You can see Christine's blog here.

To finish my card, I added some enamel dots and matted it with some Stardream Flame cardstock. I hope you enjoy, and when things are back on track for us, I'm definitely going to try Christine's technique with this ink.

Magenta Products Used:

0758.L Gingko Branch

07.984.E With Sympathy

Other Products Used:

Ranger alcohol inks in green and orange

Alcohol Lift ink

Orange enamel dots

Neenah Solar White cardstock 80# & 110#

Stardream Flame cardstock

Lawn Fawn die LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables

Magenta Super Saturday - Distress Oxide Blends

Hi everyone, I'm over at the Magenta Blog today, and you can see that post here. I have six cards for you!

I've been having a lot of fun doing Distress Oxide blends. The combinations are endless, and once you start it's hard to stop!

I was inspired by Kristina Werner to play with Oxide blending. She has been doing different Oxide blends every Friday for over a month now, and her videos are mesmerizing. You can see the first one here, and they are all worth looking at. Although I have not used her specific color combinations, I really do like how they all turned out, and won't hesitate to use her examples for future blends.

Instead of blending the entire card, I did masked blending, where I mask off a strip to make a place to blend the inks.  The strip you use can be horizontal or vertical, and can be of any width you prefer.

With all the backgrounds I did, I made six cards, and still have 4 backgrounds to use for future cards. The blending is easy and fun, and then you can just choose a beautiful stamp and a sentiment and you're done!

Can you tell that the Wilted Violet; Peacock Feathers, Twisted Citron combination is my favorite?

All of the color combinations are listed in the details below.

I want to show you something my hubby made for me to use to help with masked blending, and I think it would not be too hard for you to make also. I sometimes have trouble making my masked off areas straight and parallel, and making them the width I want. Measuring carefully is not one of my best talents. 

To make your own template like this one, take a piece of cardstock (I used 80# so it would go through the printer) and measure out a rectangle 4.25" x 5.5" in the center. This is the size of the cards I make, but you could make yours whatever size you prefer. Then put a tick mark every 1/4" along all 4 sides. My hubby did mine in photoshop, but you could easily just do it by hand with a ruler or a T-square.

You'll want to cut out the center rectangle, using a craft knife or use a paper cutter if you have the type of cutter that can make these partial cuts. The reason I wanted this template is so it would be easier to position my panel so that it would not move while I'm masking it. It's not as easy as it looks to get masks straight and parallel. Keep reading to see how this works.

I placed my 4.25" x 5" card panel into the center opening. This prevents the panel from moving while I mask it. You can see that with measurements on all 4 sides, you can mask it off in either the vertical or horizontal direction.

For masking, I used Post-it Removable Labeling Tape 695, and tore off pieces that would span the center panel horizontally. I chose 3/4" from the top of the panel for the first mask.

I chose 2.25" for the second mask, so that makes the center opening 1.5" wide. On another later panel, I chose a 2" opening. You can make the opening any size for the card you are planning.

Since I don't want to ink up my template, and I prefer to do ink blending on a craft mat, I just removed my masked off card panel. The masks stayed in place very well.

I placed the panel on my craft mat and chose 3 colors of Distress Oxide to blend. One of the tips from Kristina Werner is to blend these inks with a back and forth motion, rather than using little circular motions like you do with regular Distress. I found this to be a good tip. You will also have to alternate the colors several times to get a good blend, and to insure that one color does not overpower another.

My favorite part is removing the mask. You can use regular Distress ink to do blends like this also. I do find however, that the Oxide Distress inks blend much easier and more smoothly. This is because the Oxides are a hybrid of dye and pigment inks. The regular Distress inks are dye only, and that ink sinks right into the cardstock. The pigment portion of the Oxides stay on top for awhile, so the blending is easier. 

I turned each mask upside down and used them each twice. These were so fun and easy to make! I hope you'll try them.

I found the card below to be a more somber combination, and decided not to make it a birthday card. It looks like Fall to me, or maybe sunset. (Aged Mahogany, Abandoned Coral, Scattered Straw).

This one is going straight out to a good friend.

Card #1 Magenta Products Used:

02.319.L Floral Snowflake

07.975.I Large Happy Birthday

Card #1 Other Products Used:

Distress Oxide inks: Wilted Violet,

Peacock Feathers, Twisted Citron

Versamark ink

Versafine Onyx Black ink

JudiKins clear Detail embossing powder

Post-it Removable Labeling Tape 695

So Silk Glamour Green cardstock

Neenah Solar White 80# & 110# cardstock

Lawn Fawn LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables

Card #2 Magenta Products Used:

48.018.N Large Daisy

07.907.L Multilingual Happy Birthday

Card #2 Other Products Used:

Distress Oxide inks: Rusty Hinge, Wild Honey, 

Cracked Pistachio

Versamark ink

JudiKins Clear Detail embossing powder

JudiKins Detail Gold embossing powder

Stardream Copper metallic cardstock

Neenah Solar White 80# & 110# cardstock

Lawn Fawn LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables

Card #3 Magenta Products used:

I.0243 Dandelion Pollen

23.114.C Dots

07.907.L Multilingual Happy Birthday

Card #3 Other Products used:

Distress Oxide inks: Wilted Violet,

Peacock Feathers, Twisted Citron

Versamark ink

JudiKins Clear Detail embossing powder

JudiKins Detail Gold embossing powder

So Silk Fashion Purple cardstock

Neenah Solar White 80# & 110# cardstock

Lawn Fawn LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables

Card #4 Magenta Products used:

84.021.N Linen Flower Duo

07.430.I Happy birthday

Card #4 Other Products used:

Distress Oxide inks: Wilted Violet,

Peacock Feathers, Twisted Citron

Versamark ink

JudiKins Clear Detail embossing powder

JudiKins Detail Gold embossing powder

So Silk Glamour Green cardstock

Neenah Solar White 80# & 110# cardstock

Lawn Fawn LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables

Card #5 Magenta Products used:

48.020.M Large Rosa Canina

07.975.I Large Happy Birthday

Card #5 Other Products used:

Distress Oxide inks: Rusty Hinge, Wild Honey, 

Cracked Pistachio

Versamark ink

JudiKins Detail Gold embossing powder

Stardream Copper metallic cardstock

Neenah Solar White 80# & 110# cardstock

Lawn Fawn LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables

Card #6 Magenta Products used:

P.0757 Blackbird

07.971.F Sending hugs

Card #6 Other Products used:

Distress Oxide inks: Aged Mahogany,

Abandoned Coral, Scattered Straw

Versafine Onyx Black ink

Stardream Flame cardstock

Neenah Solar White 80# & 110# cardstock

Lawn Fawn LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables

Magenta Super Saturday with Dianne - Hello! Painting with Nuance

Time for my Super Saturday post on the Magenta Blog again. You can see my post on their blog here.

I really love stamps with a lot of solid surface because there are so many techniques you can do with them. There is a brand new one from Magenta that is perfect for painting with Nuance. This is a technique that I taught at a workshop in Holland at the Art Specialty event there last year. (So much fun)! Click Here to see the post I did for that card. Below is my new card featuring this technique.

First I arranged the stamps onto my MISTI. Any stamping tool, or even an acrylic block would work for this. I'm using a panel of Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock that I die cut with the Die-namics MFT-463 Blueprints 13 stitched rectangle die, which cuts a panel that is 5.25" x 4"

This new stamp set, called "Songbirds in Reeds" is one of a new type of stamp that Magenta is making, where there are two stamps in the set, and you can use one or both, and you can repeat one or both as well. I love the versatility of these stamps. Another one is the beautiful 0757.P "Blackbird Silhouette" that you can find here.

I picked up the stamps on the door of my MISTI, and prepared to paint them with Nuance.

I selected some Nuance colors in blues and greens (and one orange), and tapped the powders into a palette. If you have never used Nuance, it's so versatile and fun. It's powdered color that comes in little jars, and it's best to put a pushpin into the top of each jar. When you use it, take out the pin and tap some powder out. The powder is highly pigmented and can be very intense, so a little goes a long way. I made several cards, and did not use all of the powder in my palette, but I will keep it and use it on another project.

I wet my brush and put in on a paper towel to take out a lot of the water You want to use a damp brush for this technique. I picked up Nuance powder and brushed it onto the stamp. If your brush gets too dry and doesn't pick up the powder very well, touch a tip of the brush into some water and keep going. Be sure to wash off your brush between each color.

Sorry for the less than stellar cell phone pictures, but I'm trying to show what it looks like when you are painting on the stamps. Before I was finished, I painted on a little orange as well. The colors will be very intense once stamped. After painting the stamps, I spritzed with water. You don't need a lot. The color should start to slightly bead up on the stamps.

You can see the cool watercolor-like look you get with this technique. At the end I got some more Nuance color on my brush and tapped out some splatters. I stamped the beautiful Sally Penley "hello!" stamp using Versafine Clair Paradise ink. I hope you try this, it's super fun!

Magenta Products used:

0759.Q Songbirds in Reeds / Oiseaux des roseaux

07.976.G hello!

Nuance colors:

MNU001 - Turquoise

MNU011 - Cerulean Blue/Bleu

MNU013 - Royal Blue/Bleu Royal

MNU004 - Jade

MNU009 - Grass Green/Vert

MNU006 - Orange

Other Products used:

Die-namics MFT-463 Blueprints 13 die set

Versamark ink

Versafine Clair Paradise ink

Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock

Malmero Pearl Blue cardstock

Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock

Magenta Super Saturday with Dianne - Thinking of You

As soon as I saw this great floral background stamp from Ellie Knol, I knew what I would do with it. It's the perfect size for the panels I usually use (about 3.75" x 5").

First I went through my stash of panels on which I had previously made some light colored backgrounds. Some time ago, I played around with floating alcohol ink onto water and putting different cardstock into it. Some of the backgrounds were bright, but some were very subtle and light.  You can see the post from this process here. The light backgrounds were the ones I was looking for to do these cards. The ones I chose were done on Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock, and I cut the panels with a Lawn Fawn LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables die to make them 3.75" x 5".

For the card above, I stamped the background onto the panel with Versamark ink and embossed it with JudiKins Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder. It's very hard to get a photo of just how sparkly this card is, but here's a shot of it at an angle.

I added some color to the panel by painting with a little Worn Lipstick Distress ink. I stamped the sentiment onto some vellum with Versamark ink and embossed with WOW Metalline Red embossing powder, which is the closest color I could find to the pinks I was using.

I die cut a rectangle frame using the Memory Box 30082 Stitched Rectangle Trimmings die, which cuts thin frames, and mounted it onto the vellum. I got the idea for this from Jennifer McGuire. You can see her post here, where she uses vellum for her sentiments and mounts a thin frame around it. I love the look of this.

This card was so easy and fun to make, that I made a second one in blues. Since I thought it could possibly be a guy card, I embossed the background with clear embossing powder, rather than the sparkle.

On the blue card, I sponged and painted with Nuance, which gave me a more vibrant color than the Distress Ink on the pink card. The sentiment was stamped with Versafine Deep Lagoon ink and embossed with clear embossing powder.

This sentiment is one of Sally Penley's calligraphy stamps. Every single one of these stamps is so amazingly beautiful. I love the large selection of sentiments, and the array of sizes available. You can see the full collection at the Magenta online store here (be sure to look at both pages), or you can click on the individual links in the item lists below.

Both Cards:

Magenta Products used:

48.021.Q Large Floral Background

07.982.E Thinking of You Small

Card #2: Blue Thinking of You

Magenta Products used:

MNU007 Raspberry

MNU020 Aquamarine

Card #1: Pink Thinking of You

Other Products used:

Lawn Fawn LF76f8 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables

Memory Box 30082 Stitched Rectangle Trimmings

Versamark ink

JudiKins Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder

Worn Lipstick Distress Ink

WOW Metalline Red embossing powder

So Silk Beauty Pink cardstock

Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock

Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock

Card #2 Blue Thinking of You

Other Products used:

Lawn Fawn LF76f8 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables

Memory Box 30082 Stitched Rectangle Trimmings

Versamark ink

Versafine Deep Lagoon ink

JudiKins Clear Detail embossing powder

So Silk Fair Blue cardstock

Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock

Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock

Magenta Super Saturday with Dianne - Peace on Earth

Hi everyone! This post is on the Magenta blog today. Have I said how much I love this new Magenta collection? The floral images pair so well with the beautiful calligraphy stamps by Sally Penley. I think so many lovely cards can be made with these stamps in combination.

For this card, I used the Poinsettia Border, beautifully drawn by Nathalie, in combination with Sally Penley's gorgeous Peace on Earth sentiment. I stamped both in Versamark ink onto white bristol cardstock, and embossed with JudiKins Detail Gold embossing powder. The panel was cut out with the Lawn Fawn LF76f8 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables. The largest die of this set cuts a panel to 3.75" x 5" and adds the pretty stitched border.

I colored the flowers using Kuretake Zig Clean Color markers and a damp brush to move the color around. This card colored up SO FAST! The brushes on these markers are impossibly tiny, and so very easy to use. I think you could easily make quite a few of these very quickly.

I added score lines just above and below the sentiment to set it off. You could also easily use other coloring mediums, such as pencils, watercolor, painting with inks, or other markers such as Tombow or even Copic. Although I would probably emboss after using any alcohol based markers rather than before.

When I first made this card design, I made another version using colored pencils. I think the end result is almost indistinguishable from the card above.

Aside from the slight difference in colors, I think the biggest difference is that I didn't score above and below the sentiment on this one. The other difference is that this one took about 4 hours, while the one using Clean Color markers took about 20 minutes at the most.

The card on the left is while I was coloring with pencils. The one on the right is stamped and ready for the Clean Color markers. I stamped and embossed the colored pencil card after I finished coloring it (which I wasn't quite at the time of this photo)

Here is what it looked like when I was getting ready to stamp and emboss after coloring with pencils. (Sorry about my less than stellar photography. My hubby does the final card shots, and he is much better at that than I am).

I really like both cards, actually; and I very much enjoyed coloring this with my pencils. Honestly though, if I was going to make several of them, I would definitely emboss first and use the markers. I haven't decided about the scoring. What do you think?

Magenta Products used:

02.317.O Poinsettia Border

07.992.I Peace on Earth

Other Products used:

Both Cards:

Versamark ink

JudiKins Detail Gold embossing powder

Lawn Farn LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables die

Koh-I-Noor White Bristol cardstock

Stardream Jupiter cardstock

Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock

Card #1:

Kuretake Zig Clean Color markers: 029 Geranium Red;

022 Carmine Red; 047 May Green; 041 Light Green; 

053 Yellow Green

Card #2

Prismacolor Pencils: PC924 Crimson Red; PC926 Carmine Red;

PC928 Blush Pink; PC909 Grass Green, PC912 Apple Green

PC1004 Yellow Chartreuse