Magenta 2019 Fall/Winter Collection: Home for the Holidays

I'm kind of a sucker for birds and birdhouses, and so when Nathalie designed a birdhouse in the pines, I knew I had to have it.

I have a story about how this card was made. I had in my mind to try stencil stamping with this one, and there are some amazing Mandala stencils with this new collection. You can see other posts where I have done stencil stamping here, here and here. If you want to see others, you can search for stencil stamping on my blog; there are a lot of posts.

I have been doing this technique for some time, and lately I have seen others also doing this, and they may call it something different. It's a technique where you ink up a panel liberally with dye ink (I always use Distress ink because it's so highly reactive with water). You then take a stencil (preferably one that has about the same plastic or metal to open areas) and spray the stencil well with water (I use water that has Perfect Pearl powder added to it for a little extra shine).  You then place the wet stencil onto your inked cardstock, and cover it with a paper towel and press down. When you take off the paper towel and stencil, you have an image of your stencil in the ink.

To start, I used a piece of Neenah Solar White 80# cardstock, and brushed on Distress ink in Broken China and Shabby Shutters. The ink needs to be added pretty heavily, so I brushed on a lot. When I used to demo this technique at Art 'n Soul, I would use the mini inkpads and rub the ink on direct to paper. The more ink you put on your paper, the better the image will show up.

I wanted to experiment, so I decided to use a piece of Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock as well, just to see which one worked better.

The Neenah cardstock is on the right, and the watercolor cardstock is on the left. The thing about watercolor cardstock is that it isn't absorbent. It's supposed to be that way so that your watercolor will move around on the paper. It was hard to get a lot of color down, and then when I put the wet stencil on it, the color...well, moved around, as it's supposed to. This is a fun look, and the watercolor panel is the one I used for the card above with the birds and birdhouse.

The Neenah panel on the right turned out so pretty that I couldn't stamp over it. I just loved how perfectly the stencil image showed up on it.

So I made this card with the Neenah panel. I added a sentiment and some gems, and called it done.

The birdhouse image in the first card was stamped with Versamark ink. An important tip is to BE SURE your panel is dry before you try to put embossing powder on it. Since this was non-absorbent watercolor paper, the ink on it did not sink into the paper. It took some time for it to dry, using a heat tool. I kept testing whether it was dry by putting embossing powder on it (before I stamped the image). When the powder would stick, I brushed it off and kept drying it until no powder stuck to the card. Only then did I use a powder tool and then stamped the images with Versamark ink.

I love the Happy Holidays from our house to yours sentiment with the birds and birdhouse image. I used JudiKins Diamond White embossing powder for the stamping. Both cards were matted with Malmero Pearl Dark Blue cardstock.

Magenta Products used:

03.122.N Home for the Holidays

07.1015.H Happy Holidays

07.1022.I Wishing You a Merry Christmas

MC84 Mandala 5 Small

Other Products used:

Distress ink: Broken China, Shabby Shutters

Versamark ink

Perfect pearls powder

JudiKins White Diamond embossing powder

Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock

Neenah Solar White 80# & 110# cardstock

Malmero Pearl Dark Blue cardstock

Lawn Fawn LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle die set

Falling For Magenta

Magenta really does have some beautiful Fall leaf stamps out this year. This one is called Fall Leaf Twig.

This card was super simple. I sprinkled some Nuance onto a piece of watercolor cardstock, and spritzed. Once dry, I cut a panel 1 3/4" wide and 5" tall. I also cut a piece of white cardstock to 3 3/4" x 5" using the Lawn Fawn Small Stitched Rectangles (LF768).

I placed the Nuance panel 1/4" to the right of the left edge on the white panel and using the MISTI stamping tool, I stamped this beautiful leaf twig with Versamark. I removed the Nuance panel and stamped it again, and used gold embossing powder on each piece separately, to avoid any gaps.

I stamped the sentiment with two colors of Versaclair ink for an ombre effect. To finish the card, I matted it with a piece of red cardstock I had in my stash, and mounted it onto a base card.

Magenta Products used:

0798.M Fall Leaf Twig

07.1014.F Enjoy the beauty

MNU006 Orange Nuance

MNU008 Golden Yellow Nuance

MNU010 Scarlet Nuance

Other products used:

Versamark ink

Versafine Clair Summertime & Tulip Red

Tim Holtz watercolor cradstock

Ranger Gold embossing powder

Lawn Fawn LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables

Neenah Solar White cardstock 110#

Christmas Tag from the Magenta 2019 Fall/Winter Collection

We had so much going on this year that I didn't get a chance to make Christmas cards and tags all year long like I did last year. Let's just say that the Holidays are coming like a freight train, and I have lots to do to catch up. Next year, I am definitely going to try to do them all during the year; that's a much better plan! I'm busy now making cards and tags, and I will be posting them all, so stay tuned.

This is a tag that I made from Neenah 110# cardstock and a couple of the new Magenta stamps. I cut the cardstock to 3.75" x 3.75",  and used the GinaK Designs wreath builder template to help position the stamping. 

I stamped the Berry Branch 8 times, and colored the berries with a red glitter pen. They are bright and shiny in real life. For the sentiment, I used the Hero Arts Infinity Circles dies and cut the top panel out of Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock; the red circle was cut from The Paper Cut Hopsack Red cardstock, and I also cut a piece of black craft foam to the same size circle as the top circle piece, to pop the sentiment up.

I stamped the Joyeux Noël sentiment from Magenta (which is also part of the new collection) onto the top panel, and it's the perfect size. At the end, I used a corner punch to round the corners, punched a hole in the top and threaded in some thin green ribbon.

Since I only used one stamp for this process (not counting the sentiment) I honestly believe I could have done this without the template. You could stamp the Berry Branch from Magenta at the top, bottom, and right and left; then stamp it again in between each one of those. I don't think it would be hard, especially since the place where the stamped images intersect in the middle are covered by the sentiment. In fact, I have used another stamp in a similar way, more than once.

It's been a while since I did these, but I still love them. You can see that post here. And these stamps are still available from Magenta.

You can see and purchase the new Magenta Fall/Winter collection at the Magenta online shop. The rubber stamps are here, and the stencils/masks are here. The stamps used in this post are linked below.

Magenta Products used:

02.323.F Berry Branch

07.1029.D Joyeux Noël

0661.H Leaf

07.730.H I am in love with this day!

07.665.I Congratulations

Other Products used:

For the tag:

Versafine Clair ink:  Green Oasis, Glamorous

Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock

The Paper Cut Hopsack Red cardstock

Black craft foam

Hero Arts Infinity Nesting Circles DI 199

GinaK Designs Wreath Builder template

Red Uniball Signo Sparkling Pen

Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper

For the Leaf cards:

Purple card:

Memento inks: Grape Jelly, Lulu Lavender

So Silk Purple cardstock

Neenah Solar White 110# & 80# cardstock

Hero Hues pearls

Silver card:

Memento ink: Gray Flannel

Versafine ink

JudiKins Detail Silver embossing powder

Neenah Solar White 110# & 80# cardstock

So Silk Black cardstock

Hero Hues pearls

Magenta Delicate Leaves - Fall/Winter 2019 Collection

Hello everyone, here is another post using stamps from the new Magenta Fall and Winter 2019 Collection. This is one of their largest releases yet! There's something for everyone. You can look at all of the new stamps here; and the stencils/masks here.

I love the Delicate Leaves stamp because I think it can be used for almost any type of card, as well as an interesting background. I have two cards for you today, using this stamp.

These leaves look to me like they are trailing down along the side of a fence, so it adds background interest. Yes! The orange is all one stamp, isn't that cool?

I stamped it with some several orange Distress inks, then pulled out some of the color with a damp brush. 

I finished the card by using a stamp from Magenta's last collection: a beautiful calligraphy sentiment by Sally Penley. I added a few orange pearls and left it at that.

I went a completely different direction with my second card.

Look how you can make this stamp perfect for Christmas! The sentiment is from this new collection as well, and it also comes stacked vertically, so it's very useful, and I will be using that vertical stamp in a post very soon.

I used a Wink of Stella clear glitter marker on all of the leaves, but that is impossible to capture in a photo. It gives the card a pretty shimmer. The berries are some red pearls from my stash.

Magenta Products used:

0784.Q Delicate Leaves

07.984.E With Sympathy

07.1022.I Wishing you a Merry Christmas

Other Products used:

Distress inks: Wild Honey, 

Rusty Hinge, Carved Pumpkin

Versafine Onyx Black ink

So Silk Black cardstock

Orange pearls

Versafine Clair Green Oasis ink

Stardream Jupiter cardstock

Red pearls

Neenah Solar White 80# & 110# cardstock

Lawn Fawn die LF768

Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables

Magenta Super Saturday: New Collection Fall Leaves

Hi everyone, I'm over at the Magenta blog today with this post, and I'm so excited to tell you that the new Fall/Winter 2019 Collection is up in the store. You can look at the new stamps here, and the new stencils and masks here. This is my first post with the new stamps, and I will be posting more often between now and December. There is so much to show you!

There are a number of really beautiful leaf stamps in the new collection, and I thought I would start with these beauties. I did two cards, and both are stamped with Versamark ink and embossed with gold embossing powder. I thought I would try coloring with two different mediums. In the one above, I colored the leaves with Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers. 

This stamp really stamps like a dream. I honestly believe that anything you do with it will turn out well. I made a little chart of some Zig colors that I pulled out at random. I didn't use all of these, but it was useful to see the different choices.

When I was making the swatches, I remembered that these markers really work better on Bristol than regular watercolor cardstock, but I had no trouble moving the color around on the stamped images. It was a lot of fun!

I took an oblique angle picture of each of these cards to show how pretty the gold is in real life. It's very hard to photograph.

For the second card, I stamped it the same, but since I needed a Fall Birthday card, I changed the sentiment to Happy Birthday. Both of these sentiments I used are brand new, by the way. the Birthday stamp is one that I requested, because I am constantly needing a small Birthday stamp, and this one was done in my favorite font. I think it's elegant and just the right size.

I used Distress inks to color this card, and I honestly think that it's not that different from the first. What do you think?

I used quite a few colors of Distress, and swatched them as well. I then just squished the pads onto some acrylic blocks and picked up the colors with a brush. I thought the Peeled Paint was a little dark for what I wanted, and added Mowed Lawn instead; only using Peeled Paint sparingly, and lightening it with some Mustard Seed.

Here's the oblique angle on this one

These panels were cut to 5" x 3.75" from Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock using a Lawn Fawn die LF768, Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables. The largest die from this set is a perfect size for me, and I use it very often. I flicked Peerless Transparent liquid watercolor onto each card.

To finish the cards, I matted them with Stardream Copper cardstock, and mounted them onto a 110# Neenah Solar White base card. I added some enamel dots at the end.

I love, love this leaf stamp, and I guarantee that you will see more cards from me using it. Please be sure to check out the new Magenta collection. There are some beautiful stamps for Fall and Winter, including new Christmas images! To purchase the stamps I used in this post, you can click on the names of the stamps below and the links will take you to the Magenta store.

There will be a lot more posts on the Magenta Blog with the new products also. You can go to the blog here. The Design Team is just starting to get these fabulous stamps and stencils in their hands now. If you like the posts, please show the DT some love by commenting. We love that!

Magenta Products used:

0799.L Fall Ash Leaves

07.1040.E Happy Fall

07.1028.D Happy Birthday

Other Products used:

Zig Clean Color Markers: 053 Yellow Green; 041 Lt Green;

047 May Green; 050 Yellow; 052 Bight Yellow;

070 Orange; 260 Deep Red

Distress Ink: Mowed Lawn; Peeled Paint;

Twisted Citron; Mustard Seed; Carved Pumpkin;

Wild Honey; Rusty Hinge; Fired Brick; Aged Mahogany

Versamark Ink

Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock

Stardream Copper cardstock

Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock

Lawn Fawn die LF768 Small Stitched Recangle Stackables

Peerless Transparent watercolors: Gold & Copper

Ranger Gold embossing powder

Various enamel dots

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: Watercoloring with Distress Ink

Hi everyone! I'm over at the Magenta blog today, and you can see that post here.

I absolutely love to watercolor stamped images, and I will admit to you right now that I have LOTS of watercolors, and still mostly reach for my Distress Inks when I watercolor an image. The why is complicated, but mostly I think because I have not had enough time in my life for a while to play with the watercolors, and I KNOW what to expect from the Distress Inks. I'm very familiar with the colors I will get with these inks.

I have every intention of playing with and swatching my watercolors, but for now, this works well for me.

This stamp from the latest Magenta collection is Crescent Bloom, and it might be my favorite. I have stamped out lots of samples of layouts on plain paper using this stamp to inspire me what I use it. All I have to decide is what to use to color it.

For this card, I stamped the image with Versamark ink on watercolor paper, and embossed it with gold embossing powder. I find that if I'm going to watercolor, the embossing holds the ink in where I want it. I embossed the sentiment at the same time.

I chose some of my favorite Distress Ink colors to use for the blossoms and leaves

First, I put the inks onto acrylic blocks, and spritzed them. I painted wet on wet, so I worked on one petal at a time, and wet each one and then picked up ink and colored and blended. I find this kind of painting very relaxing.

Once I finished painting, I adhered the card to a red piece of cardstock to mat it, and then to a base card. Finally, I added some clear iridescent gems.

Magenta Products used:

(As always, if you are interested in purchasing 

any of these images from Magenta, you can click on the

numbers below each image, and you will be linked 

to the Magenta online store).

09.256.P Bloom Crescent

07.305.G Happy Birthday

Other Products used:

Distress Inks: Festive Berries, Seedless Preserves, 

Mowed Lawn, Mustard Seed

Versamark Ink

JudiKins Detail Gold embossing powder

Tim Hotz Watercolor cardstock

Malmero Pearle Red cardstock

Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock

Lawn Fawn LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables

Magenta Super Saturday: Brushed Distress Flowers

Hi all! I'm over at the Magenta blog today, and you can see that post here.

I needed to make a card for a good friend who loves to garden, and is having a Summer birthday. I've been having so much fun with these makeup brushes that blend like a dream, so I pulled them out, along with some Distress Ink. 

I taped a panel of Neenah Solar White 80# cardstock to the back of Magenta stencil TM267 Field of Flowers, using painter's tape so it wouldn't shift.

I started with a smaller brush, and applied Festive Berries Distress Ink to the centers of the flowers. I then used Spun Sugar Distress to color the rest of the petals. I flicked some water drops onto the panel and set it aside to dry.

I taped another panel of the same cardstock to the back of the stencil and using Spun Sugar Distress and a light touch, I created a second panel. I added Imagine Sheer Shimmer Sparkle Spritz to both panels. This sparkle is so pretty in real life, but nearly impossibly to photograph.

I cut the lighter panel down to 1.75" wide and 5" long, and added the sentiment in Versafine Onyx Black ink. I matted the narrow panel with black to make it stand out. Matching the patterns, I adhered the panels together and mounted the whole thing onto another black mat, and then onto a base card. 

By the way, I love this Magenta sentiment, because it works for lots of occasions. I particularly like it for a birthday card. This was an easy and fast card to make, using minimal supplies, so a perfect summer project!

I continue to be amazed at how nicely these makeup brushes blend, especially through a stencil. I got mine at Amazon, but you can also find them at a reasonable price here (they are currently on sale). I have also seen them at Daiso, the Japanese discount store (sorry if you do not have a Daiso in your area, it looks like they only sell large lots online). Taylored Expressions also has a really cute set of them that have colored handles, and these are definitely on my want list! I like the rainbow colored handles, and I like that they are all the perfect size for blending. Taylored Expressions are sold out of these brushes, but expect to have more in stock in late August. If you want to be notified, you can do so here.

Magenta Products used

TM267 Field of Flowers Stencil

07.969.F have a Beautiful day!

Other Products used:

Distress Inks: Festive Berries, Spun Sugar

Imagine Sheer Shimmer Sparkle Spritz

Versafine Onyx Black ink

Neenah Solar White 80# & 110# cardstock

So Silk Black Style Cardstock

Blending Brushes

Magenta Super Saturday - Brushed Stencil Distress Ink

Hi everyone! I'm over at Magenta today, and you can see that post here.

I needed birthday cards for our 9 year old twin grandsons, and I wanted them to have bright happy colors. I used makeup brushes to blend Distress ink through a stencil, and if you really load them with ink, you can get bright jewel tone colors with very little effort. 

I used the Magenta stencil TM266 Floral Wheels. I love this stencil because it can be used for lots of things. I have found that the best way to load color onto the brushes is to use a circular motion when picking up ink off the pad. I then use a circular motion to blend the ink onto the paper. To get the intense colors, I pressed hard with the brushes.

I taped the white panel to the back of the stencil with painter's tape so it wouldn't move. I added color through the front of the stencil in rainbow order. I actually got all of the rainbow colors ranging over the two cards.

I've marked my brushes with Washi tape for now. I plan to use one brush for each color family. they really clean off easily by brushing them onto paper towel. I've also experimented with not pressing as hard and getting a softer, more muted result, and I will show that in an upcoming post.

I stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment onto a white circle die cut in a coordinating color of Distress Ink and popped it up onto the background. Both cards were matted in coordinating colors.

I hope you try making backgrounds with these brushes and a stencil. It's easy and the results are great!

Magenta Products Used:

TM266 Floral Wheels

07.305.G Happy Birthday

Other Products Used:

Distress Inks: Festive Berries,

Ripe Persimmon, Mustard Seed,

Mowed Lawn, Peacock Feathers,

Chipped Sapphire, Wilted Violet

Hero Arts DI199 Infinity Nesting Circles

Makeup Blending Brushes

Stardream Jupiter Cardstock

Blue Malmero Pearl Cardstock

Neenah Solar White 80# & 110# Cardstock