Well, March is nearly over! Does that sound a bit dramatic considering that it's only March 9th today? As far as workable days left for me, March is, actually, nearly over.
On Sunday (March 11th) my husband and I are taking our vacation and so two weeks will be subtracted from my March in the way of workshops and card parties. Believe me, I wouldn't give up the two weeks of lounging on the white sand and soaking up the rays, but another part of my brain is going: "but Sale-a-bration is going to be over!" I'll have one last card party during Sale-a-bration on March 31st since I have a Card Camp booked for that day and that's it for March.
Of course anyone wanting to take advantage of Sale-a-bration can still order directly from my Demonstrator's website by simply "clicking" on the shopping cart in the right column of this blog. The same extras apply to online orders: buy $60 of supplies and you automatically qualify for a free gift of any one item from the Sale-a-bration booklet. Actually you would get an additional free gift for each $60 you spend in your order PLUS, if your order adds up to $200 you get an additional $35 hostess bonus to spend. Good stuff! Free is always a terrific price, isn't it?
For those of you attending the March 31st Card Camp, I've already begun preparing the cards we'll make. Maybe I'll even get some inspiration from those great beach colours, too. Okay...maybe now I'm gloating. ;)
Keep busy during my absence. Surprise me with your creations when I get back.
A place to explore the possibilities, use our imaginations, share our techniques. Create with me...
Friday, 9 March 2012
Friday, 2 March 2012
Embossing: Do It YOUR Way!
I think embossing folders can really add style to a card. The trouble is, you can't always find an embossing folder that has exactly what you might have in mind. I had been wishing for a butterfly embossing folder for quite some time. I love butterflies on cards. You may have noticed that as you've looked through some of my projects.
Lately there have been a number of stampers adding their own "embossing" to cards and I thought, why shouldn't I try that? So I did! The trick is to make an "embossing folder" out of punched out shapes.
I own quite a number of butterfly dies as well as a butterfly punch, so there were a lot of butterflies at my disposal. I knew that if I was going to make my own "embossing folder" I would have to make butterflies out of an extremely hard cardboard. Anything slightly soft would wind up giving an extremely soft impression when rolled through the Big Shot. I found an extremely stiff, very compressed piece of cardboard that is perhaps half again as thick as a piece of Stampin' Up cardstock. I knew the Bigz dies could manage the material without problems but one of my favourite butterfly dies, the Beautiful Wings folder, would probably split apart attempting it.
Well, I cut a couple of butterflies using the Beautiful Butterflies die and another using the Butterfly Punch. But I wanted some of the sizes and shapes from the Beautiful Wings folder as well and managed that by cutting two sets from cardstock and then gluing the matching cardstock pieces together. That brought them up to approximately the density of the other butterfly shapes.
I had a spare cutting pad and used the Dotto to keep the butterfly shapes in place on that.
Having put together my "embossing folder", I decided to try it out on a piece of Very Vanilla. My sandwich was as follows: Multipurpose platform on Tab 1, my "embossing folder" with the butterflies facing upwards, the Very Vanilla cardstock, a standard Texturz silicone rubber mat, a standard cutting pad. Then I rolled it through the Big Shot and checked the results.
I loved it! The butterfly shapes were very visible. The best embossing was done with the super-dense cardboard shapes but the double-cardstock embossing wasn't bad, either, just a little softer. Overall, I was very happy with the results.
I used a butterfly stamp from the Butterfly Prints to add Marina Mist to the one butterfly shape cut with the Butterfly Punch. I added a butterfly made with the Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die and embossed with the Flower Garden embossing folder. Then I added the sentiment from the Butterfly Prints set, stamped in Marina Mist ink.
A bit of shading around the edge of the Labels Collection shape with Marina Mist ink and a sponge, a bit of "bling" in the way of those wonderful Pearls, and the card is complete. The embossed butterflies make a perfect addition to the stamped and 3-D butterflies.
So now you, too, can make an "embossing folder" from any shape you can imagine. Isn't that fun?
Lately there have been a number of stampers adding their own "embossing" to cards and I thought, why shouldn't I try that? So I did! The trick is to make an "embossing folder" out of punched out shapes.
I own quite a number of butterfly dies as well as a butterfly punch, so there were a lot of butterflies at my disposal. I knew that if I was going to make my own "embossing folder" I would have to make butterflies out of an extremely hard cardboard. Anything slightly soft would wind up giving an extremely soft impression when rolled through the Big Shot. I found an extremely stiff, very compressed piece of cardboard that is perhaps half again as thick as a piece of Stampin' Up cardstock. I knew the Bigz dies could manage the material without problems but one of my favourite butterfly dies, the Beautiful Wings folder, would probably split apart attempting it.
Well, I cut a couple of butterflies using the Beautiful Butterflies die and another using the Butterfly Punch. But I wanted some of the sizes and shapes from the Beautiful Wings folder as well and managed that by cutting two sets from cardstock and then gluing the matching cardstock pieces together. That brought them up to approximately the density of the other butterfly shapes.
I had a spare cutting pad and used the Dotto to keep the butterfly shapes in place on that.
I loved it! The butterfly shapes were very visible. The best embossing was done with the super-dense cardboard shapes but the double-cardstock embossing wasn't bad, either, just a little softer. Overall, I was very happy with the results.
I used a butterfly stamp from the Butterfly Prints to add Marina Mist to the one butterfly shape cut with the Butterfly Punch. I added a butterfly made with the Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die and embossed with the Flower Garden embossing folder. Then I added the sentiment from the Butterfly Prints set, stamped in Marina Mist ink.
A bit of shading around the edge of the Labels Collection shape with Marina Mist ink and a sponge, a bit of "bling" in the way of those wonderful Pearls, and the card is complete. The embossed butterflies make a perfect addition to the stamped and 3-D butterflies.
So now you, too, can make an "embossing folder" from any shape you can imagine. Isn't that fun?
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