Dry Embossed Highlights

This month the Group of Seven Cardmakers are doing a technique called Dry Embossed Highlights over Ink Blending.  This works best with the newer 3D embossing folders.  First I tried one using the technique in this video.

I placed a border mask over my focal panel and blended three shades of blue Oxide inks inside the mask.  When dry, I dry embossed it with a snowflakes embossing folder.  I patted with a white pigment ink (but my pad was quite dry so didn't have the best results.  I also tried adding a bit more white with an ink blending tool but ended up getting a bit of the blue ink transferring to the snowflakes outside of the masked area.  I added a white die cut sentiment and three die cut snowflakes, and went around the edge of the focal panel with a blue metallic marker.

I'm also adding this card to The Sisterhood of Crafters "snowflakes" challenge.  And to Can You Handle the Pressure? "Snow".

For the second one, I used the same technique with a few shades of red Oxide ink.  But instead of using white to highlight, I used gold.

 

 

This poinsettia embossing folder worked better for the technique than my snowflake one did  - I think because it has higher larger raised areas.

 

Head over to the Group of Seven blog to see more examples by the rest of the Design Team, and feel free to try out the technique and link up your card. 

 

                      

 

Supplies for card 1:
Ink - various blue Distress Oxide inks, Adirondack Snow Cap
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - SSS snowflake embossing folder, blue metallic pen, Stamplorations sentiment die, Cherry Lynn tiny snowflakes die

Supplies for card 2:
Ink - various red Distress Oxide inks, Delicata Golden Glitz
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Sizzix poinsettia embossing folder, gold metallic pen

Vellum Three Ways

The Group of Seven Cardmakers are focusing on vellum with embossing (dry, wet, or heat) this month.  I've chosen to only use dry and heat.

My first card is just a simple embossed frame on my piece of vellum, with the texture of the embossing remaining quite subtle.

I love this embossed snowflake frame - I have so many stamps that will fit in it.  I used quite a heavy weight vellum as it takes the embossing folder better.  I stamped the bird and sentiment on the front of the embossed piece, and then coloured it on the back with alcohol markers.  I added the whole panel to a double sided adhesive sheet in order to adhere it to the card base.

This next card is my favourite of the three.  Again it uses an embossing folder but by colouring it on the back with Distress inks, I was able to make the embossing show up more.

Again I used a heavy weight vellum.  But this time I used a 3D embossing folder and I had some cracking around the edges.  So trimmed the panel down to get rid of the cracked sections.  I sponged on the back of it with two shades of blue Distress inks - the raised parts of the vellum on the front remain uncoloured so really stand out.  To get more of the translucent feel of the vellum, I die cut the pierced frame die four times, glued three of them together and put the vellum panel on top of them, and then topped it with the fourth die cut - this made the vellum stand up more from the card base.  I added a tiny sentiment, stamped and die cut with a tiny tag die.

My third card uses heat embossing on the vellum.

I ran the vellum through a corner embossing folder and then rubbed lightly over the raised parts with Versamark.  I added sparkly white embossing powder, got my heat tool warmed up and then moved it quickly back and forth over the vellum.  I stamped the sentiment and used the same embossing powder on it.  I cut a frame for it with two rectangular dies out of white glitter cs.  When I first put it against a white card base, the embossing just disappeared against the white so I end up backing the vellum panel with a bit of grey/beige cs to provide some contrast with the white heat embossing.  Then when I put it against the white card base, there was too much contrast.  So I ended up going with a card base made from cs that's colour is called "chalk".

Head on over to the Group of Seven Cardmakers blog to see more examples from the other members and links to some instructional videos covering these techniques.  And feel free to try them yourselves and link up your card to Group of Seven for more inspiration for everyone.

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Nellie Snellen bird, SSS sentiment
Ink - SSS Intense Black
Paper - vellum, off white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Ultimate Crafts snowflake frame embossing folder, alcohol markers, double sided adhesive sheet

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Rubber Soul let it snow
Ink - Distress Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire
Paper - vellum, white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - SSS 3D snowflake embossing folder, tiny tag die, MFT pierced rectangle frame die

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - Hero Arts sentiment
Ink - Versamark
Paper - vellum, grey/beige cs, chalk cs, SU white glitter cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Cuttlebug snowflake swirl corner embossing folder, Judikins white diamond embossing powder, Spellbinders rectangle dies

 

Embossing Folder on a Valentine and a Christmas Card

Can You Handle the Pressure challenge wants to see hearts used with an embossing folder and the Once Upon a Time challenge wants something based on the book "My Heart".  To go with the book, my card has big hearts and little hearts, some that are open, some that are closed (filled in).

I used the hearts border embossing folder across the middle of my focal panel and stamped and heat embossed the sentiment at the bottom. I die cut the cluster of hearts out of silver glitter cs and glued the outline on top and randomly added some of the inside hearts back into their spots, and added two of the inside hearts at random places at the top of the focal panel. Popped the panel up on fun foam for more dimension.

My second card is for Jingle Belles "use an embossing folder".

I sprinkled blue Brushos on coated cs and spritzed with water. When dry, I ran it through a snowflakes embossing folder and then sanded the colour off the tops of the snowflakes. It gave me a great variegated effect.

I die cut the image and sentiment twice - once out of dark silver glitter cs and once out of white cs - and glued them together for more dimension. Added them to the background and bordered it with more of the glitter cs.

Challenges:

Can You Handle the Pressure? "Hearts"

Once Upon a Time "My Heart" 

Jingle Belles "Embossing Folders"
 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Impression Obsession sentiment
Ink - ColorBox Silver
Paper - white cs, silver glitter cs
Size - A2
Accessories - silver embossing powder, SU hearts embossing folder, SSS cluster of hearts die, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Paper - white cs, dark silver glitter cs, coated cs
Size - A2
Accessories - blue Brushos, TH merry die, unknown reindeer / tree die, Sizzix snowflakes embossing folder

Metallic Snippets Stars and Embossed Sympathy

Christmas Craft Creations is asking for "Snippets" - a card that uses up some scraps.  I have a very hard time tossing out any bits of gold or silver shimmer or glitter cs so I have a whole little box of tiny pieces.  What better to use them for than stars?

I die cut a whole bunch of stars in various sizes and out of various shades of gold cs. I took a narrow strip of cream cs (another snippet left over from something else), stamped and heat embossed the sentiment "Oh starry night", and glued on the various die cut stars. I added the panel to a mini slimline card base.

My second card is a sympathy card.  The Can You Handle the Pressure challenge is asking for dry embossing just on the borders.

I coloured the flower with Tombow markers.  I trimmed the panel and carefully placed the embossing folder on the left edge and bottom edge first so that it didn't hit the flower or sentiment and ran it through, and then placed it on the upper right corner and ran it through.  I really like the result I got.  I popped the panel up on fun foam and added a stick-on pearl to the centre of the flower.

Christmas Craft Creations

Can You Handle the Pressure?

 

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - ColorBox Gold
Paper - cream cs, corrugated card, gold, bronze, and copper cs
Size - 6x3.25"
Accessories - gold embossing powder, various star dies

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - SU Love and Sympathy flower, unknown sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Tombow markers, Craft Concepts embossing folder, fun foam, stick on pearl
 

A Partridge and Some Polar Bears

Festive Friday is asking us to celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas.  We had to include at least three items from their list (see at the bottom of this post).  I have the partridge and the pear, there is gold in my background paper, and it's a Christmas card.

The image is watercoloured, trimmed with a stitched die, and popped up on fun foam on some dp.

Next up is a card for the Tic Tac Toe Challenge.  I chose the diagonal line that says Snow / Arctic Animal / Slimline.

The snowy background was created with a snowflake embossing folder and vellum.  I took a piece of navy blue cs and die cut "winter wishes" along the bottom.  I taped the vellum above that and folded it over the top edge and secured the top of it on the wrong side.  I die cut the polar bears and layered that over the bottom edge of the vellum (thus hiding the tape behind the vellum).  It's all added to a mini slimline card base.

Festive Friday

NBUS (Never Before Used Stuff) challenge - I've never used that stamp before.

 

Tic Tac Toe Challenge

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Inky Doodles
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, K&Co dp, cream cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, Lil Inker stitched rectangle die, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Paper - white and navy cs, vellum
Size - 6.25x3.25"
Accessories - snowflake embossing folder, polar bear die, TH winter wishes die

A Sanded Foil Slimline

When the slimline cards first became popular, I didn't think I'd jump on that particular bandwagon but more and more I'm enjoying making them. 

For this one, I dry embossed a piece of gold foil cs with a 3D embossing folder and then sanded off some of the raised parts.  I bordered it with dark red and then cut a matching sentiment.

It was really hard to photograph.  The gold is not quite that yellow so here are a couple of other photos using different light (the true colour is somewhere in between!).

It's a really easy technique, a great way to use foil cs and to get more use out of our embossing folders.

I'm linking up with these challenges:

Just Us Girls "Mini Slimline Cards"

Krafty Chicks "Christmas Week Challenge"

Supplies:
Paper - gold foil cs, red and cream cs
Size - 6.25x3.25"
Accessories - TH 3D embossing folder, Penny Black sentiment die

Tic Tac Toe Poinsettia

I really enjoy Tic Tac Toe challenges so am happy to be posting a card for The Paper Players.  I chose the row that reads "foil / embossing / embellishments".

I ran a piece of red foil cs through my Cuttlebug using the TH 3D poinsettia embossing folder.  I then sanded off some of the raised area to bring out the design.  I cut a thin diagonal strip out of the panel, put the two sections on fun foam, stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in the recessed section between the two sections of the panel, and added lots of tiny gemstone embellishments to the centres of the poinsettias.

The Paper Players "Tic Tac Toe"

Supplies:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - white cs, red foil cs
Size - A2
Accessories - TH 3D poinsettia embossing folder, small clear gemstones, clear embossing powder, fun foam

Foil and Snowflakes

Recently a few of us played with foil over Zoom.  One of the techniques we tried was dry embossing foil cs and then sanding off some of the raised layer to reveal the core colour of the foil cs.  See this video by Jennifer Maguire.

I enjoyed the technique so much that I used it to create a card for a couple of October challenges that call for snowflakes.  Here's my card:

I embossed a piece of blue foil cs with a snowflake swirl embossing folder and then sanded off the raised area.  It revealed a silver colour under the blue so I added it to a silver shimmer card base and die cut a couple of snowflakes and a Tim Holtz sentiment circle out of the same silver shimmer cs.

For these challenges:

Christmas Cards All Year Round "Something that Starts with S or T"

Christmas 24 Challenge "Simply Snowflakes" 

Supplies:
Paper - blue matte foil and silver shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Cuttlebug embossing folder, TH snow circle die, Impression Obsession snowflake dies

One Christmas Card and One Birthday Card

I'm sorry to have been so missing in action.  I was crazy busy getting ready for my fundraiser where I sell cards and shortbread to make money to donate to the therapeutic riding where I volunteer - I made many many batches of shortbread (and even so, sold out!).  And most of the Christmas cards made by myself (and those donated by Loll, Christine, and Trina - so grateful for their generosity) also sold.  I needed a week off after that!

But now I want to get a post done for a couple of challenges that are ending soon.

First up a Christmas card for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown's Technique Challenge "Watercolour":

 

I stamped the image in brown archival ink and watercoloured it. I did a blue wash around it and added glitter to the snow on the berries and branch. I used shimmery copper cs for the base and die cut sentiment. The panel is popped up on fun foam for dimension. 

On to the birthday card, for Seize the Birthday "A Touch of Red":

 

I inked up the raised parts of an embossing folder with Versamark and used it to emboss watercolour paper.  I then added a clear sparkly embossing powder.  Using red watercolour paints, I watercoloured the flowers and buds.  I then bordered with red cs and popped it up on the card base.  I added two little flower embellishments on each side of the sentiment.

Be back soon with more Christmas cards!

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Stampendous bird
Ink - Archival Potting Soil
Paper - watercolour paper, copper shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, glitter, small noel die, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Memory Box sentiment
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark
Paper - watercolour paper, red and cream cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Darice embossing folder, sparkly embossing powder, watercolour paints, small flower embellishments, fun foam

Quick and CAS Iris

A thank you card for a couple of challenges.  Very quick to make and very CAS.

The Paper Players set a tic-tac-toe challenge.

I chose a diagonal line - die cut, embossing, and floral.

And the AAA Challenge asked for:

I die cut the iris out of watercolour paper and painted it with my Gansai paints, then went back in with coloured pencils to add a bit more detail. I cut two more of the iris and glued them together for more substance to the iris.

I glued it to an embossed panel and added a heat embossed sentiment on a scrap of purple cs.

It was such a quick card to make and I really like the results so am tempted to make a few more to have on hand.

Supplies:

Stamps - Rubber Soul sentiment

Ink - ColorBox white

Paper - white and purple cs, watercolour paper

Size - A2

Accessories - Memory Box iris die, Gansai watercolour paints, coloured pencils, white embossing powder, Craft Concepts embossing folder

Embossed Ornament Background

For the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown challenge:

I used an embossing folder of Christmas ornaments and created this card:

The die cut ornament is cut from a scrap created by laying a snowflake mask over cs and spraying with a blue spray.  I added foam tape to raise it above the embossed ornaments background.  A nice quick card!

Supplies:

Stamps - Rubber Soul sentiment

Ink - Memento Danube blue

Paper - white cs, mixed media cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Cuttlebug embossing folder, Spellbinders ornament die, Memory Box snowflake mask, blue spray, blue cord, fun foam

Snowflake Patterns

I live in Vancouver, Canada, where our winters are mild and often completely free of snow, but my sisters live near Toronto - they just had a huge snowfall and it's -30 Celsius today.  So this card was made with them in mind!

And for these two challenges:

Christmas Cards All Year Round where the current challenge is "Let It Snow".

12 Months of Christmas - "Anything but a Rectangle".   I love square cards so it's a great challenge for me.

I used three different snowflake embossing folders. The different patterns are subtle but they are there!

I cut narrow strips of white cs and embossed them. Then cut the bottom edges to make banners. Spaced them out evenly on the card base, and added a silver die cut sentiment.

It's also perfect for two SCS challenges:

CAS518 = Pattern Mash Up - use three different patterns

SCSCCJAN19 = It All Starts Up North - snow, ice, north pole

Supplies:

Paper - silver glitter and white cs

Size - 5.25" square

Accessories - Darice, Cuttlebug, and Sizzix snowflake embossing folders, Penny Black "winter wishes" die

Cork with Wooden Snowflake

A new challenge from CAS Mix Up (and did I ever find this a challenge - took me ages to come up with an idea!):

I found some cork tags in a dollar store and decided to use one of those.  My first idea was a birthday card with a stamped sentiment and a small die cut on the tag, but then I remembered my old SU wooden snowflakes and I liked the idea of the combination of wood and cork.

My criteria for choosing a sentiment to stamp was that it fit the width of the tag and was a fairly thick / heavy font so that it would show up on the cork.  I found the perfect one, put it and the tag in my MISTI and stamped it a couple of times with StazOn ink until it was dark enough.

I used an embossing folder I've had for awhile but never used.  It's quite a neat one.  It both debosses and embosses at the same time - I really like the effect.  I embossed it on cream cs and layered over a kraft card base.

CAS Mix Up is open until February 24th for you to link up a card.  Please be sure that it is clean and simple, and that it includes felt, cork, or canvas, stamping, and one other thing of your choice - I have wood and dry embossing.   For inspiration, check out the cards by the rest of the Design Team and our February Guest Designer, Marianne (Marianne's Cards 'n stuff).

Supplies:

Stamps - PTI sentiment

Ink - StazOn black

Paper - cream and kraft cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Forever in Time Paper Crafts cork tag, SU wooden snowflake, Ultimate Crafts Snowflake Frame embossing folder