Technique of the Week Sneak Peak

This week's newsletter is out, and it contains the new technique of the week! Be sure to read our newsletter for details, and for lots of information about what is going on at Art 'n Soul. We have some great new classes coming up!

If you do not already subscribe to our newsletter, contact us, or come in and sign up. You can also see our archive of newsletters by clicking the link to the right. Here's a couple of cards that we made using the technique this week.

by Dianne Johnson

By Dianne Johnson

You can also get details and lots of pictures on Dianne's blog here. To see the originals of these cards, come in and see us at Art 'n Soul. We'd love to see you!

Masking with Nuance

This week’s technique features another fun way to use the beautiful Magenta Nuance powders.  I masked off the stamped image and then added Nuance, leaving the stamped image white.  Here’s a list of the materials I used for this card (and everything but the bleach is available at Art ‘n Soul!):

Magenta Bohemian Flower (85.008.O)

Magenta Merci (07.623.G)

Versamark Ink

Judikins Gold Detail embossing powder

Stamping Mask Paper

Nuance colors Turquoise, Raspberry, Cerulean Blue (and Grass Green for the leaves)

Perfect Pearls
Water brush with bleach
Wink of Stella
Scrap of ribbon

First, I stamped the Magenta Bohemian Flower twice on a piece of 4 ¼” x 5 ½” watercolor paper with Versamark and then embossed with Judikins Gold Detail embossing powder.  I taped this to my work surface to keep the paper from buckling when I added the Nuance and water.  

To create the mask I stamped the Bohemian flower twice on the white side of a piece of Stamping Mask Paper.  I cut out the flowers and then removed the blue protective sheet.  I then placed the flower mask on each of the stamped images and pressed firmly to make sure the paper adhered to the watercolor paper.  (I apologize about the quality of the next few pictures here!  They looked okay on my phone but not so great when I put them on the blog.)

I sprinkled Nuance over the project and then sprayed with water mixed with Perfect Pearls.  I used a small watercolor brush to move the color around to the edges of the embossed image. 

I blotted off extra water with a paper towel where it pooled and added more colors and water until I was satisfied with the look.    

When the image was dry, I lightly painted the stems using a water brush filled with bleach to lift the color.  When that was dry I put a small bit of Grass Green Nuance on my craft sheet, spritzed with lightly with water and used a small watercolor brush to paint the stems.

On a small scrap of watercolor paper I stamped Magenta’s Merci stamp with Versamark and embossed with Judikins Gold Embossing powder.  I used the same Nuance colors as on the base card but after spraying with water mixed with Perfect Pearls, I blotted with a paper towel almost immediately to keep the background light.  I trimmed it and rounded the corners.

After removing the tape from the base, I trimmed it and added a piece of ribbon for the sentiment.  I layered it on a piece of So Silk Beauty Pink and then mounted to an A2 card.  I attached the sentiment.  For an added bit of sparkle I highlighted parts of the flowers with clear Wink of Stella.  

I hope you will try this card.  Yes, there are several steps but it was fun to do.  It would work especially well for stamps that have matching die sets because you wouldn’t have to hand cut the stamp mask.

There’s still time to enter our Nuance contest.  We’ll be taking entries until February 25^th and the prize is a $10 gift certificate to your favorite store, Art ‘n Soul!

Technique of the Week Sneak Peak

The weekly Newsletter is going out today, and the technique of the week is a fun and easy card using Nuance from Magenta, and a great die from Poppy Stamps. If you have not already subscribed to our Newsletter, you can call or email us, or come in and sign up.

For details on how this cards was made, please read the newsletter, and/or click over to the Backporch blog here. All of the products used on this card are listed in the post. Hint: the embellishment on the front was made with fun foam. 

We are now stocking fun foam at the shop, in smaller convenient 4.25" x 5.5" pieces! It's very inexpensive, and ask us for other ways to use it to make your cards really pop!

By showing you how easy this card is to make, we are hoping to inspire you to use your Nuance and enter our contest! You have until February 25th to bring us a card or cards you have made using Nuance, and any other products you wish (hopefully some that we carry in the store).

Hope to see you soon!

Another Way to use Nuance!

We LOVE Nuance powdered dye at Art 'n Soul!!  With Valentine's Day approaching, I was inspired to use the Nuance colors of Scarlet, Red, Mauve, Raspberry and Hot Pink, along with a Heart Die I purchased at a Recycled Rubber Sale.

There are several ways to apply Nuance.  In this sample, I dampened the watercolor paper, then sprinkled the colors of Nuance listed above.  I sprayed the Nuance with water containing some pearl colored Perfect Pearls. 

Oops!  I learned the hard way to be careful when spraying the panel.
I "decorated" two stamps with the over spray!  Whenever I see these stamps,
I'll remember this Valentine project! But, aren't they lovely? Ha!

When I first started the project, I actually worked on a full sheet of 8.5' x 11" watercolor paper so I could make multiple cards.  Here you see a half sheet, on which I stamped Magenta Flourish 40.188 K in random fashion with Versamark ink, and embossed the designs with Judikins Opaque White embossing powder.

I die cut several hearts, making extras for another project. You can use any heart die, or hand cut them with scissors.

by Marj Marion

To finish the card, I put small amounts of the same colors of Nuance in a  little palette and used a small paint brush to flick some splatters of coordinating colors on my card.  I stamped Magenta 07.731 I using Archival Ink Deep Purple. Lastly, I adhered my Nuance die cut hearts on the card.  I hope you will enjoy trying some Nuance die cuts on your next card!!  If you haven't purchased Nuance yet, be sure to put it at the top of your list.......it is So much fun to play with!

You still have plenty of time to submit something for the Art 'n Soul Nuance contest! All you need to do is a card or other artwork using Magenta's fabulous Nuance. We would also love it if the other things you use are something we carry, if possible. You have until February 25th, and you can win a $10 gift certificate to Art 'n Soul. Please bring us your creations!

Crazy About Dylusions

The news that new colors of Dylusions paint are coming out soon has us scouring the Ranger site for Dyan Reaveley videos, and pulling our paints out to play. Click here to link to Dyan's video introducing her 6 new colors: After Midnight, Calypso Teal, Cherry Pie, Dirty Martini, Tangerine Dream, and Pomegranate Seed. They are so luscious! She shows the colors in her video and they are VERY different from her first ones. We are taking pre-orders for these new paints right now, and we can't wait to get them.

Ryan Reaveley is primarily a journaler, but you don't have to love journaling to love these paints. Many of us use the paints for our cards. They blend like a dream, and adding stencils and coordinating colors make fabulous background for our cards.

Here's a photo from one of Dyan Reveley's sample boards at CHA. This shows some of her blended colors, as well as some of her new stencils.

To view another video of Dyan talking about the care of her paints, as well as how to blend them, click here. This is a longer video, but very informative and enjoyable. Dyan also talks about color theory to help make you more successful when choosing colors to use in your project.

To view a great blog post from our own Marj, where she used the Dylusions paints to make gorgeous card backgrounds painting with baby wipes, go here.

I was inspired by Marj's post to do a card with the Dylusions paints and baby wipes, and a stencil. In this week's newsletter, I made this card for the Technique of the Week article.

So easy and fast to do! Honest! My only regret is not taking Marj's advice to paint a full 8.5x11 piece of cardstock so that I would have the card base for 4 cards instead of one. Please click here for my Backporch blog post on making this card, along with the full list of materials used. There is also a bonus tip on what to do with your baby wipes full of paint.