Still Smooshing!

Just a quick post, I wanted to show some more cards I did with the "Smooshing" technique. This is a great way to make a quick and beautiful background! After Smooshing, I stamped some of my new Magenta stamps over the backgrounds, and sprinkled on some enamel dots.

Magenta Stamps Used:

44.016.M Zen Star Flower

07.912.H Happiness is the path

Other Materials Used:

Distress Ink: Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed

Various enamel dots

Tim Holtz watercolor paper

So Silk Pink Beauty paper

acetate

Perfect Pearls Pearl powder

Memory Box Stitched Rectangle Layers 30009

Magenta Stamps Used:

44.015.F Zen Square Flower 

07.939.G Kindness is

Other Materials Used:

Distress Ink: Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed

Various enamel dots

Tim Holtz watercolor paper

Stardream Flame paper

acetate

Perfect Pearls Pearl powder

Memory Box Stitched Rectangle Layers 30009

Magenta Stamps Used:

44.017.L Zen Flower Burst

07.805.I Georgia O'Keefe Quote

Other Materials Used:

Distress Ink: Picked Raspberry, Peacock Feathers

Various enamel dots

Tim Holtz watercolor paper

So Silk Purple paper

acetate

Perfect Pearls Pearl powder

Memory Box Stitched Rectangle Layers 30009

Technique of the Week: Smooshing

In conjunction with the Art 'n Soul Technique of the Week newsletter article, I have a step by step tutorial for "smooshing."

Smooshing is a technique made popular by Laura Bassen, that uses ink and water to make a background. It's somewhat similar to the acrylic block stamping technique that I showed on my blog here, but it's a little less tidy.

I like both techniques.  All you need for smooshing is:

1) A good dye ink in a couple of colors (I prefer Distress because it reacts so well with water, and there are so many colors).
2) A piece of acetate. You can use a piece of packaging you have saved, or a piece cut off a sheet that you have left over.
3) A spritzer bottle with water. Those of you who know me, know that I will have Perfect Pearls powder in my spritzer bottle as well (1/4 tsp Perfect Pearls powder to 2 oz water).
4) Watercolor paper. I prefer 140# cold pressed; but I often use the Tim Holtz pre-cut paper, because I like that it's already a handy size, and also that it's white. If I'm going to cover the whole piece, then the color doesn't matter.

Apply ink in at least 2 colors, from the pad direct to the acetate.

Spray the acetate liberally with pearly water.

Place the acetate, ink side down, onto the watercolor paper.

This is where the "smooshing" takes place. Rub your fingers over the back of the acetate to let the color soak into the paper. 

Move the acetate around to put color in different places on the paper.

You can be finished at this point, and let it dry, or you can dry the paper, clean off the acetate and apply another color. 

Sprintz and smoosh again. (I never thought I'd be writing a sentence like that). The colors won't get "muddy" because you dried the first application of color.

Once you're happy with your background, stamp something you like on it, and make into a card. I chose to die cut my page using the Memory Box Stitched Rectangle Layers (largest die of the set)

I then stamped the panel with the Magenta Zen Butterfly (44.019.K) - One of my new stamp designs with Magenta! I also added one of my favorite zen sentiments "Happiness is the Path" (07.912.H).  I mounted the panel onto a piece of glossy black paper, and then onto a piece of craft foam that I cut slightly smaller than the panel. The panel was applied to a white base card, and the craft foam popped the panel up off the base card slightly.  A few enamel dots were sprinkled onto the piece at the end.

I hope you try this technique. It's a fun, fast way to make a beautiful background.

Magenta Stamps Used:

Zen Butterfly 44.019.K

Happiness is the Path 07.912.H

Distress Inks: Peacock Feathers; Mustard Seed; Picked Raspberry

Memory Box Stitched Rectangles Dies 30009

Acetate

Perfect Pearls Powder

My Mind's Eye "Chalk Studios 2" Enamel Dots

Tim Holtz Watercolor cardstock

Black glossy cardstock

white craft foam

Magenta Summer 2015 Collection

Exciting news, the new Magenta Summer 2015 Collection is here!  I'm very pleased to have five of my designs in this newest collection. Please check out pages 4 and 5 for my Zentangle inspired stamps.  There is also a Template TM70 on page 9 inspired by my designs. There is a lot to love in this new collection, including some beautiful designs by Natalie, Helene, and some especially wonderful new designs from Ellie Knoll, another of our design team members. I also am happy to see lots of new stencils in this collection.  There is definitely something for everyone here!

If you are having any trouble viewing the catalog, please go the Magenta blog here

Technique of the Week: Use Your Dies to Dry Emboss

In conjunction with Art 'n Soul's newsletter article, "Technique of the Week" here is a short tutorial on how to dry emboss with your dies. This is just another way to get more out of your dies, and it's just as easy as using them for cutting; it's just a slightly different sandwich.  here's the card I made to illustrate this technique.

Here's the sandwich (tab 1 open on the Big shot, then die, paper, tan mat, cutting plates)

Your die should be placed on your base plate with the cutting edges up. If you have a Big Shot or Big Kick, open one tab the same as when you are embossing with an embossing folder. If you have a Cuttlebug, place your die on your A plate. The reason I like to put the die down on the base plate first is so that it won't get bent. This protects it a little better.

Next place your paper on your die. If you want to perfectly position your die on the paper, then do so first, (with the cutting edge against your paper) and lay it die side down on the base plate. If you want to be sure it won't move, you can use a little piece of painter's tape or washi tape.

Next you will need a tan or black rubber mat, and that goes on top of your paper. This is what prevents the die from cutting the paper. Don't worry, your mat will not be cut.

If you feel you need an additional shim at this time, you can put one or two pieces of scrap cardstock on top of the mat. I used one piece in this demonstration, and I'm not really sure I needed it.

Next, place your two cutting plates on top of your tan mat or paper shims. In the Cuttlebug, these are the two B plates.

Run it through with this sandwich, and the die will emboss, but not cut your paper.

In this project, in order to finish the card, I took a 2.25" square piece of watercolor paper and used the acrylic block stamping technique to add a pattern of Distress Ink (in Peacock Feathers, Mustard Seed, and Picked Raspberry). I previously did a tutorial on the acrylic block stamping technique here.

I then stamped a Magenta sentiment 07.700.G Life is Art live yours in COLOR onto the inked background using Versafine Onyx Black ink.

The embossing was done on So Silk Beauty Pink cardstock, and the die used was Memory Box 98333 Honeyblossom Sprig.

The stamped square was added to the embossed panel with foam tape to pop it up a little.  The entire panel was added to a white card base, and I sprinkled on a few enamel dots.

Magenta Stamp used:

Life is art 07.700.G

Other products used:

Memory Box die Honeyblossom Sprig 98333

Tan embossing mat

So Silk Beauty Pink card stock

Tim Holtz gridded acrylic blocks

Distress Ink:  Peacock Feathers, Mustard Seed, Picked Raspberry

Onyx Black Versafine Ink

Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock

foam tape

Enamel dots from: My Minds Eye Market Street, and Unforgettable Firsts

Big Shot machine

Zen Happy Birthday

I had a couple of birthday cards to make, and best of all, I had some time.  Ever since our Zentangle Club meeting at Art 'n Soul (third Friday of each month, from 4:00-6:00), I have been craving time to just sit and tangle.

I love the Dreamweaver stencils with the chunky sentiments, like Happy Birthday, Thank You and Merry Christmas.  I pulled out the Happy Birthday one (LJ 920) and lined it out onto two pieces of watercolor card stock that I had previously colored with alcohol ink during an alcohol ink play day.  These particular pieces were colored by dropping alcohol ink carefully onto water (about 5" of water in a plastic tub), and pulling the watercolor card stock carefully through the water.  I made a lot of pieces and saved them for times like these.

After outlining the Happy Birthday stencil, I covered each letter with different tangles.  These were so fun to do, and they really didn't take that long.  (I'm actually unaware of how long they may have taken, I was having too much fun).  The frames around them were previously created when I die cut stencil stamped pieces for the Inspiration Station project here.  I created such a nice stack of backgrounds, and when I diecut them, I had all of these frames left over.  I was sure they would come in handy for another project.  The Zentangled pieces and the frames were adhered onto an A2 size white card base, and some enamel dots were added.  I hope the recipients love them!

Inspiration Station Happy Birthday

As part of Inspiration Station at Art 'n Soul, I made lots of backgrounds using a fabulous set of stencils from Magenta, TM27.  These backgrounds were made with a technique called stencil stamping, and I have a tutorial on how to do that here.  Very simply, you put down layers of Distress Ink onto watercolor card stock, spray your stencil with water mixed with Perfect Pearls powder, and lay the wet stencil onto your inked panel.  You never get the same results twice, and with the Perfect Pearls powder, you get a beautifully shimmery look.

Once this background was dry, I stamped the Magenta Multilingual Happy Birthday with Versamark Ink, and embossed it with Ranger Black Sparkle embossing powder.  The panel was mounted onto a mat of So Silk Beauty Pink, and then onto an A2 sized white base card.

This card is so shiny and sparkly in real life, but I had trouble capturing it in the photo.  I made it for a good friend who has a birthday very soon!

I'm entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Make Your Own Background.

Magenta Products Used:

TM27 Trio Templates Floral Background Trio

07.907.L Multilingual Happy Birthday

Other Supplies Used:

Distress Ink:  Peeled Paint, Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, Seedless Preserves

Versamark Ink

Ranger Black Sparkle embossing powder

Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock

So Silk Beauty Pink card stock

Memory Box Stitched Rectangles Die 30009

Technique of the Week: Create Stamps With Your Dies

I made this card out of stamps I created using a die and Fun Foam!  No, this will never replace my beloved rubber stamps, but it was a fun project to do, and I love how it turned out.

For this technique, you will need to obtain some Fun Foam (also known as craft foam). This product is a flexible porous material that comes in thin sheets, and is sold at large supermart type craft stores, very inexpensively. I like to get the large sheets of white and cut them down to use in my projects.

To make a craft foam stamp from a die, find a die with either a nice detailed pattern, or one that will cut and emboss a pattern. For this project, I chose Memory Box Bloomington Border 99008.

With your selected die, make a die cut out of the craft foam. I have not had any trouble cutting out of this product, and in this case, I used a metal shim to ensure that it would cut and emboss in one pass. I stuck the die cut down to an acrylic block with temporary, removable adhesive.

You can use ink for your stamping at this point, but I thought I would pull out my Silks acrylic glazes this time. I wanted to use two colors - one for the blossoms and one for the stems and leaves. I chose Plumeria, and Pretty Peridot respectively.

I painted the glazes onto the foam die cut, and stamped several times onto a neenah solar white card stock base card. 

I love how this turned out! The stamped images are not super crisp, mostly because I used the glazes. I think the images would have been more crisp if I had used ink, but I like the almost water color look that these have.

 For the initial card, I stamped several times with the die cut, and then added a sentiment from Magenta, 07.869.D "Thinking of You". I got a piece of So Silk Beauty Pink cardstock, and embossed the die onto it.  Did you know that you can emboss your dies also? Oh yes you can, and I will show you how in the next Technique of the Week!  I popped up the panel with the stamping, and adhered it over the embossed piece. I sprinkled some pearls and gems from Hero Arts Mixed Accents "Blush".

I decided to use these foam "stamps" as embellishments, so I did take the time to paint the edges

Since I still had my foam "stamp", I thought it would make a lovely embellishment on another card, so I adhered it to a piece of white cardstock, and matted that with So Silk Beauty Pink. This was adhered to a pink shimmer base card.  I diecut a birthday sentiment with a Memory Box die "Birthday Script" 98582, out of more of the Beauty Pink card stock  and mounted it on the card sideways.  I needed a "Happy" sentiment, so I got the Magenta Multilingual Happy Birthday stamp and taped off everything around the word "Happy", inked it with Versafine Onyx Black ink, removed the tape, and stamped it above the Birthday sentiment. 

I created a third card by cutting the Bloomington Border again out of a new piece of fun foam and cutting off just one blossom.  I used Snap Dragon Silks Acrylic Glaze for this single blossom and stamped it around on a white base card.  

I added the Magenta sentiment "Imagine" 07.901.F, stamped in Versafine Onyx Black ink.  I dipped my brush into the Snapdragon glaze, then then into water, and used that to flick dots onto the card.  I adhered the fun foam "stamp" onto the card as an embellishment, and sprinkled on some pearls.  Since I didn't have pearls to match, I colored some white ones with Copic BV08.

Three cards, and it was so easy and really fun to do. I hope you will try this technique!

Magenta stamps used:

Thinking of You 07.869.D

Multilingual Happy Birthday 07.907.L

Imagine 07.901.F

Other Products Used:

Memory Box die Bloomington Border 99008

Memory Box die Birthday Script 98582

White Fun Foam

So Silk Acrylic glazes:  Plumeria, Pretty Peridot, Snap Dragon

Big Shot die cutting machine with metal shim

So Silk Beauty Pink card stock

Hero Arts Blush Mixed Accents

White Pearls

Copic BV08