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!