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Friday, May 27, 2016

Technique of the Week: More fun with Vellum

Last week on the Art 'n Soul blog, Pam showed a great way to color a beautiful stamped image on vellum. You can view that post here.


This week I’m showing you another fun way to color vellum. With this technique you can make an easy, fast card that has beautiful pops of color. I got this from Jennifer McGuire, and changed it up just a little.




You will need dye based ink, vellum, stamps, Versamark, and white embossing powder. I think White Diamond embossing powder would work very well for this also, but I needed to make some sympathy cards, and I didn’t want them to be too sparkly. I used Distress inks for this because at 60 colors, they have a huge range of colors to choose from, and they worked very well. For stamps I used Magenta Dogwood Branch 0643.P and With Sympathy 07.928.I. 



I took a piece of 48# vellum and cut it to 4” x 6”. I scored it at 5” and made a flap to fasten it around the top of the mat card after I finished coloring and stamping.



I used the Distress cubes to add the color, since you can color smaller areas with them. Using the Wilted Violet color first, I rubbed the pad directly onto the vellum.




I then rubbed the color with a clean cloth until it was no longer shiny and wet. I did this in different sections with each of the three colors.



Making sure the panel was dry, using my new mini MISTI, I stamped the Dogwood Branch, and the sentiment onto the now colored vellum with Versamark ink. I embossed the stamping with JudiKins White Opaque embossing powder.


To enhance the Dogwood Branch image, I colored the inside of the dogwood petals with a white Prismacolor pencil. I went over the top of the coloring with a Wink of Stella clear glitter marker for just a touch of shimmer.


I made two more cards in this same way, using the same stamps, but different colors. They were amazingly fast and easy to do. 




To finish the cards, I attached the panels to a piece of cardstock cut to 5.25” x 4”.  For the green/blue and the blue/purple ones, I used white as the backing, but for the orange/pink/blue one, I found that a piece of orange Stardream looked the best. I folded the scored flap over the top of the mat and attached it with scor tape. I put a little vellum tape along the sides and bottom of the colored panel. The entire matted pieces were attached to a base cards, which were cut and scored to an A2 size. 





This technique was a lot of fun to do; I hope you'll give it a try!

Magenta Products Used:

Dogwood Branch 0643.P

With Sympathy 07.928.I

Other Products Used:
Distress Inks: 
Card 1: Wilted Violet, Mermaid Lagoon, Picked Raspberry
Card 2: Spiced Marmalade, Abandoned Coral, Peacock Feathers
Card 3: Wilted Violet, Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers
Versamark Ink
Judikins White Opaque embossing powder
White Prismacolor pencil
Clear Wink of Stella
So Silk White, Passion Purple, Glamour Green cardstock
Stardream Flame cardstock


   


Friday, May 6, 2016

Technique of the Week: Perfect Shine


In conjunction with the Art 'n Soul email newsletter, here is another technique from Jennifer McGuire, who has given us a lot of fun ways to use Perfect Pearls Powder. 


For this technique, first find a stamp that has some open area in it. I used Magenta 14.641.M Flower Trio. I used my powder tool on the panel to be sure no embossing powder would stick where I did not want it. 


I then stamped the image repeatedly with Versamark onto my panel. 



A swiffer cloth will easily wipe the excess powder away. This works best with a dark color of cardstock. I embossed the stamping with clear embossing powder.    


Next I used a Versamark marker to color in all of the centers of the flowers    


I dusted the centers with Perfect Copper Perfect Pearls powder, and brushed away the excess powder with a Swiffer cloth.




I then colored in the flower petals with the Versamark marker, and dusted with Pearl Perfect Pearls powder, once again brushing away the excess with a Swiffer. This gave the flowers such a beautiful metallic sheen

    






To finish the card, I die cut a piece of vellum with the Penny Black die PB51-209 "Edger". I stamped a Magenta sentiment 07.940.G, "Life is Beautiful" on the vellum and embossed with White Diamond embossing powder. I attached the vellum to the panel with score tape positioned behind the stamping. I added a few sequins and adhered the panel to a base card.

This card is so beautiful and shiny in real life, and this technique was not hard to do. I hope you give it a try!

Magenta Products Used:

Flower Trio 14.641.M
Life is Beautiful 07.940.G

Other Products Used:
Penny Black Die 51-209 Edger
Versamark Ink
Versamark Marker
Perfect Pearls Perfect Copper powder
Perfect Pearls Pearl powder
JudiKins White Diamond embossing powder
JudiKins Clear Detail embossing powder
Vellum
Various Sequins



Sunday, May 1, 2016

Happy Birthday Flourish

This is my post on the Magenta blog today, May 2nd!
Besides making backgrounds, I love to paint with Nuance the same way you would with any watercolor. Tap colors into a palette and add water (I like to add water mixed with Perfect Pearls powder for extra shimmer).


First I stamped the beautiful Flower Flourish stamp and Happy Birthday stamp from Magenta. I used Black Onyx Versafine and embossed it with clear embossing powder. Using a small watercolor brush, I painted the flower petals one by one with clear water. I dipped my brush into Nuance mixed with pearly water and touched it to the wet petal. I kept doing this until I was happy with the colors. I tried to make the colors nearest to the center of the flowers the darkest. On the leaves, I used the lightest color of green (Grass Green) first, and then just touched each one with a little Jade. At the end I flicked some of the wet Nuance that was on my brush all over the card.

This is a really fun way to add color to a card. I hope you give it a try!

Magenta Products used:

14.647.P Flower Flourish

07.305.G Happy Birthday

MNU002 Bright Yellow

MNU006 Orange

MNU008 Golden Yellow

MNU009 Grass Green

Other Products Used:
Versafine Onyx Black ink
Judikins Detail Clear embossing powder
Perfect Pearls powder
Tim Holtz Watercolor cardstock
Stardream Flame cardstock
Various sequins

Friday, April 29, 2016

Technique of the Week: White Pencil Shading

I got this technique from Jennifer McGuire and thought I would try it out this week. It was super fun and easy to do. It makes your image look almost like it was hand drawn.


This technique looks best done on a piece of dark cardstock. You will need white pigment ink and a white Prismacolor pencil, and a stamp that is an outline type of stamp. I chose one of the new Magenta stamps 14.650.P Iceland Poppy.

Stamp your image using white pigment ink. I used Hero Arts White Unicorn ink.


Let your stamped image dry, or heatset it to dry it.


Start coloring with a white Prismacolor pencil on all of the stamped lines to soften them, and shade into the image. Be sure to leave some of the background color of the cardstock so that it shows through.

If any of your stamped lines get too covered up, draw them in a little darker with the white pencil.


To finish the card, I stamped a sentiment (Magenta 07.928.I With Sympathy) in Versamark ink and embossed it with JudiKins White Opaque embossing powder. I added some white dots to the center of the flowers using Imagine Crafts' Pico Embellisher in Wedding Dress. A few sequins were added, and I matted the panel with black So Silk.

This card was really fun and easy to do, and I hope you will give it a try.

Magenta Products Used
14.650.P Iceland Poppy
07.928.I With Sympathy
Other Products Used
Prismacolor White Color Pencil
Hero Arts Unicorn White Pigment ink
Versamark ink
Imagine Crafts Wedding Dress Pico Embellisher
JudiKins White Opaque embossing powder

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Simple Nuance Backgrounds

I taught three Nuance classes April 15 & 16, and my students were amazing! We had a wonderful time, and everyone finished five cards. The fifth card was a bonus, so that people could use one of the extra Nuance panels they made during the class. These are my samples for the possible fifth card, so that students could choose which die cut to use.



The panel above was made by tapping Nuance onto glossy cardstock and spraying the powder with pearly water - one color at a time was used and then heat set to dry. Since I wanted to put the Poppy Tree Triptych over it, I cut the panel down and had room for my favorite Thank You sentiment from Magenta, (07.882.I Multilingual Thank You) which was stamped with Versamark ink and embossed with White Diamond embossing powder. The Poppy die cut was cut from Neenah Solar White 80# cardstock and glued to the Nuanced glossy panel with Ranger multi medium matte adhesive.



The Celebrate panel was made by tapping some Nuance onto my craft mat, spritzing it with pearly water, and pressing a piece of watercolor cardstock into the puddles of color, one by one, and then drying each color. The Memory Box Stitched Celebrate Circle Frame was glued to the panel with Ranger Multi Medium matte adhesive.



The Happy Birthday panel was made by sprinkling Nuance onto watercolor cardstock and then spritzing with pearly water. I started with reds, and since there were some areas of the card that did not have the red, I thought I would try to tap in some complementary green. I also added some yellow as a little buffer. It worked, and I did not get mud! The Memory Box Stitched Happy Birthday rectangle was glued to the panel with Ranger Multi Medium matte adhesive.



This Thank You panel was made a lot like the "Celebrate" card above, where I tapped Nuance onto my craft mat and pressed watercolor paper into it. I love these blotches of color, and a plain white die cut goes perfectly over it. I was being brave, and put some yellow next to purple. I didn't get mud, but it was a near thing! It helps a lot to dry each color before moving on to the next. The Memory Box Scalloped Circle Thank You Frame was glued to the panel using Ranger Multi Medium matte adhesive.

Magenta Products Used

Card #1
07.882.I Multilingual Thank You
All Cards
MNUC Nuance Complete Collection

Other Products Used

Card #1 Tree Thank You
Poppy Die 1413 Tree Triptych
White Diamond Embossing Powder
So Silk Beauty Pink cardstock
Kromecoat glossy cardstock
Ranger Multi Medium matte adhesive
Various sequins

Card #2 Celebrate
Memory Box Die 99320 Stitched Celebrate Circle Frame
So Silk Purple cardstock
Tim Holtz Watercolor cardstock
Ranger Multi Medium matte adhesive
Variou sequins

Card #3 Happy Birthday
Memory Box Die 99379 Stitched Happy Birthday Rectangle
Stardream Fairway cardstock
Tim Holtz Watercolor cardstock
Ranger Multi Medium matte adhesive
Various sequins

Card #4 Thank You
Memory Box Die 99414 Scalloped Thank You Circle Frame
Shocking Green So Silk cardstock
Tim Holtz Watercolor cardstock
Ranger Multi Medium matte adhesive
Various sequins

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Wonderful World With Nuance

This is my post on the Magenta Blog today, April 18!
Sometimes I like to just paint with Nuance. To do that, I tap some colors into a watercolor palette and add a little water mixed with Perfect Pearls powder. I can use these just like any watercolors, and the colors are so beautiful! I find this to be such a fun, Zen coloring experience.


I stamped the "Bubbles" stamp from the new Magenta Summer 2016 collection onto watercolor paper, and embossed it with clear embossing powder. Using a watercolor brush, I painted clear water into each circular space, one by one, and added touches of Nuance here and there. The Nuance expands to fill the space covered by water.

Since my plan was to use the new "Wonderful World" sentiment, one of the bubbles at the bottom became the Earth, by first using some blue and then some green Nuance. I added a sprinkling of sequins at the end.

Magenta Products Used:

48.016.M Bubbles

07.955.G What a Wonderful World

MNU001 Turquoise

MNU002 Bright Yellow

MNU003 Purple

MNU004 Jade

MNU006 Orange

MNU007 Raspberry

MNU008 Golden Yellow

MNU009 Grass Green

MNU011 Cerulean Blue

Other Products Used:
Black Onyx Versafine stamp pad
Judikins Detail Clear embossing powder
Perfect Pearls powder
Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock
So Silk Fair Blue cardstock
Various sequins