Magenta's 2016 Summer Collection has launched!

Magenta's newest collection for Summer has finally launched, and it is amazing! From the gorgeous flowers, to the new templates, to the fabulous quotes, you are going to love it! Oh, and check out Dianne's little sunflower bird stamps on page 9.

Art 'n Soul has a shipment of these stamps coming late this week! You can reserve yours on a paid pink sheet order. All of Magenta's stamps are available in wood or cling.

Earth Arts at Art 'n Soul!

We are so pleased and excited to welcome an Earth Arts trunk show at Art 'n Soul on Saturday, April 9th. There will be beautiful Earth Arts coloring books and stamps available for purchase, and Gwen Evans will here from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. to offer beautiful make and takes and answer any questions you may have.

We have some of the coloring books at Art 'n Soul already for you to look at, and they are gorgeous! The images are enlarged for easier coloring, and they are printed on very nice 80# paper, one sided. (sales of Earth Arts coloring books are final).

We also have an Earth Arts catalog for you to view the stamps and make your list (or you can pre-order the stamps on a pink sheet order, and Gwen will be sure to have those with her on the 9th).

Gwen left us some fabulous sample cards she has made so you can see ways to use the beautiful Earth Arts stamps. Marj and Pam have also gotten into the spirit and made some amazing cards to inspire you. Pam's card will appear in a future technique post, but below are some of the cards from Gwen and Marj.

Marj's sign for our front door
Earth Arts Roadrunner

Earth Arts Tree of Life card by Marj Marion

Earth Arts Elephant card by Marj Marion

Serengeti Sunset card was made using Distress crayons and the beautiful Earth Arts Elephant. The corners were stamped with the Magenta Mini Corner 14.196.B.

Earth Arts Octopus card by Gwen Evans

This card by Gwen is just stunning in real life. The background was done with Distress ink

Earth Arts Sea Turtle card by Gwen Evans

I'm not gonna lie, this card by Gwen is beautiful in real life, and my photo does not do it justice. In real life, it has rounded corners, and is lined with gold.

Earth Arts Bee card by Marj Marion

This amazing Bee card by Marj is watercolored on Yupo paper, and the Bee is stamped with black Archival ink. I love how it was cut unevenly, which just adds to the gorgeous watery look of the background.

Earth Arts Wolf Standing card by Gwen Evans

I don't have the details on how this amazing card was made, but you can ask Gwen herself at Art 'n Soul on Saturday, April 9th. Gwen will be at Art 'n Soul from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. doing make and takes and answering your questions.

Earth Arts Elephant by Marj Marion

Marj made this lovely card using the Spellbinders Modern Stationery die, and Distress ink.

Earth Arts Seahorse card by Gwen Evans

Beautiful card by Gwen using the Seahorse stamp and background is Distress inks

Earth Arts Crab card by Gwen Evans

Earth Arts Lovebirds card by Marj Marion

We hope these cards will inspire you! Please come to our trunk show event on Saturday April 9th. The trunk show will be at Art 'n Soul all day, and for a few days afterward, but the make and takes with Gwen will only be from 11:00 a.m. through 3:00 p.m. on Saturday.

Rubbed Nuance

This week we have another fun way to use Magenta’s Nuance color powders.  Please don’t let the title deceive you; I just couldn’t think of a good title!  In this technique you sprinkle the powders onto dry watercolor powder and then rub it into the paper before spraying it with water.  This gives you a bit of control with the application of colors.

For this technique I used a piece of watercolor paper cut to 4” x 5¼”; Nuance colors of Jade, Grass Green, Bright Yellow, Cerulean Blue, Turquoise, and Raspberry; a spray bottle filled with water mixed with Perfect Pearls, Versafine Black Onyx and Olympia Green ink pads, Judikins clear detail embossing powder; and Magenta stamps, Fern (37.277.P) and one of the sentiments from the new Magenta Summer 2016 release "Think about you often" (07.954.G)

I stamped the fern repeatedly along the long side of the card using Versafine Olympia Green ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder.  Next I stamped Magenta’s new sentiment “Think about you often, care about you always” in the upper right corner of the card using Versafine Black Onyx ink and embossed it with clear detail embossing powder. 

I placed the stamped image on a work surface and decided which colors I wanted on my image.  I gently tapped a small amount of the colors onto the image – the greens and a bit of yellow along the bottom of the card and the blues and Raspberry along the skyline.  Next I started rubbing the color into the paper using my finger.  First I blended the greens along the bottom of the card and then worked up into the blues of the sky.  I tapped off the excess powder. 

Next I began to gently spray the image with water until I liked the way the colors had blended.

 I used a small watercolor brush to break any undissolved bits of color and where I needed to, I blotted up the extra water with a paper towel.

I blotted up a bit of the color around the sentiment so it would stand out from the background. 

I set the image aside to let it dry.  You can also dry the image using a heat gun.  When it was dry, I attached the image to a piece of black card stock and then placed the image onto an A2 card.  I die cut a few butterflies from a scrap of watercolor paper that had been colored with Nuance in reds and purples.  I used Memory Box Butterfly Delights (98130) which unfortunately has been discontinued; However there are other dies that cut small butterflies like Butterfly Wing Medley (99209) that would work well. I attached the small butterflies randomly on the ferns.

I hope you will give this technique a try.  I had a lot of fun with it and I hope that you will too!

Shaving Cream and Nuance

Yes, you read that right!  Using shaving cream, combined with various coloring mediums, to create colorful paper has been around for a long time.  I recently saw a video post on a friend’s Facebook page that reminded me of this fun technique (that I had never tried.)  My first thought was that this would be fun to do with my grandchildren and my second thought was “I wonder if this will work with Nuance.” 

So, the next time the grandkids were at the house we tried our hand at making background papers.  You will need a can of shaving cream (I used Barbasol; it needs to be cream, not any kind of jell foam), watercolor paper, Nuance, a cookie sheet or large cake pan, a craft mat or other surface to dry your paper, and a squeegee or other tool to remove the shaving cream from the paper. 

I squirted the shaving cream on the cookie sheet in a rectangular shape a little larger than the pieces of paper you will be using.  I used some 8½’x11” paper as well as some A2 size papers.  I also tried both cardstock and watercolor paper and the watercolor paper worked much better for this technique.

Sprinkle Nuance liberally over the shaving cream, using as many colors as you like.  You will want to be sure that the colors will blend well together and avoid using colors that will turn brown when mixed together (like red and green.)  Let the colors sit for about 3-5 minutes – you will see them start to dissolve into the cream. 

Using a knife or the handle of a paint brush or other tool, swirl it back and forth through the shaving cream to blend the colors.

Lay the piece of watercolor paper onto the shaving cream and push it down gently so that the shaving cream touches the paper. 

Lift the paper out of the shaving cream and set it on the craft mat.  Let sit for 3-5 minutes to let the colors blend into the paper. 

Use the squeegee to remove the shaving cream.  You can put the shaving cream back on the cookie sheet and use it again.  When you reuse the shaving cream you can also blend in other colors - the possibilities are endless! 

For this card I used Nuance colors Turquoise, Jade, Violet and Royal Blue.  After it was dry, I cut it down to A-2 card size, and mounted on a white A2 card.  I die cut Memory Box Floating Butterfly Frame (#99138) out of blue vellum and attached it to the front of the card and then added a few sequins.

These last few pictures are a few different papers from our experiment.  You can vary the intensity of the color by the amount of time you leave the shaving cream on the paper and the amount of color you use.  You can also try spreading the cream directly onto the paper with a spatula and swirling in in different directions.  Other color mediums such as food coloring and acrylic paints can be used for this technique.  I think Distress re-inkers would work well. 

This project was a lot of fun and the grandkids loved it.  I hope you will give it a try. 

Technique of the Week Sneak Peek!

There are a lot of techniques out there using plastic wrap and paint. This technique is used to great effect by my friend and fellow Magenta Design Team member, Carole Dion. I tried this technique with Nuance, and with my pearly water spray (1/4 tsp of Perfect Pearls powder mixed with 2 oz water). I absolutely loved the result! The plastic wrap caused the mica in the pearly water to make patterns on the Nuance colored cards. The beautiful results are VERY hard to photograph.

To finish the card I stamped this gorgeous flower and sentiment with Versamark and embossed with Judikins White Diamond. You're getting a sneak peek at this beautiful flower stamp that is in the soon to be launched Magenta Spring 2016 collection.

This technique is part of our Technique of the Week series in our weekly emailed Newsletter. If you do not receive our newsletter, please sign up by coming by, calling, or emailing us. Keep up to date with what's going on at Art 'n Soul!

You can also view the whole technique, and lots more pictures at my Backporch blog herehttp://backporchatolympia.blogspot.com/2016/03/technique-of-week-nuanced-saran-and.html.

Also in our newsletter is information about what's coming in to the shop very soon! Our Ranger order is supposed to arrive next Wednesday! We have MISTI tools coming in (they have been shipped) and more!

OF NOTE: Today from 4:00-6:00 the Journal Club is meeting. It's free and everyone is welcome. Bring what you are working on, or just come to see what it's all about.

Technique of the Week: Texture With Templates by Marj Marion

by Marj Marion

It’s fun to use various pastes to create texture with your templates!

Here’s how I made this card:

First I created a green gate fold A-2 card and set it aside.

Next, I sponged Distress inks on a white panel, using Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Rusty Hinge, Bundled Sage and Peeled Paint.

After drying the inks, I taped down Magenta TM 27a template on the inked panel, and sponged more of the same inks through the template.

Next, I randomly stamped Magenta 07.916 O through just some of the open leaves of the template using Black Versafine Ink, and dried the ink with a heat tool.

I then cleaned the template, taped it down, and randomly applied Dreamweaver Regular Embossing Paste through some of the template openings. I dried the paste before proceeding.

I cut the decorated panel into two rectangles, layered them onto rust panels, and adhered them to the folded flaps of the card.

Lastly, I wrapped the card with a rust colored ribbon. The recipient will slip the ribbon closure off the card to open.

Try a variety of embossing pastes with your templates to create great texture!

Materials Used:

Magenta TM27 Template Floral Background Trio

Magenta Stamp 07.916.O Script

Distress Ink: 

Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, Wild Honey, 

Spiced Marmalade, Rusty Hinge, Bundled Sage & Peeled Paint

Dreamweaver Stencil Paste

Onyx Black Versafine Ink

White, Green and Rust cardstock & Rust ribbon

Announcing the Winners of Our Nuance Contest

Yes, that's right, after we received the entries to our Nuance contest, we decided that we needed two categories and so we have two winners.  We received lots of beautiful cards and a beautiful painting from our creative and talented customers.  Thank you to everyone who participated.  All of us at Art 'n Soul really enjoyed seeing everyone's creations as well as the variety of products that were combined with Nuance. 

As you scroll through the pictures of all of our entries, we hope that you will feel inspired to try Nuance and to combine it with your stamps, stencils, and dies or other items from your crafting supplies.  We'll announce the winner at the end of this post... 




Painting by Ava Hansen

by Cathy Sitzes

by Cathy Sitzes

by Jeanie Garrity

by Marty Robinson

by Marty Robinson

by Marty Robinson

by Sharon Wolvin

by Sharon Wolvin

by Sharon Wolvin

by Sharon Wolvin

by Sharon Wolvin

by Sharon Wolvin

by Toni Hauge

by Toni Hauge

And the winners of a $10 gift certificate are...Sharon Wolvin for the beautiful card below and Ava Hansen for her beautiful painting.  We have all of these on display in the store.  I hope you will stop by to see them in person and to learn more about the products that were used. We want to stress that we absolutely loved, loved, loved all of the entries, and had a hard time choosing the winners. We're so proud of everyone who submitted cards and projects. You are amazing!

Do you want to learn more about using Nuance?  We love to demo this product so just stop in the store to learn more.  Dianne is also teaching classes in beginning Nuance techniques on April 16th.  You can also see our store calendar here for more information about upcoming events at the store.  Thank you again to everyone who participated in our contest.