Double Embossing

I saw an article in Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine issue 170 about Double Embossing.  It looks easy and beautiful, but wasn’t so easy to make it look great.

Here was an attempt with the way the magazine showed.

First you emboss with an embossing folder, then rub a Versamark across the top lightly, add some embossing powder on top, then heat.

Next I tried using an embossing pen on the embossed area before adding the embossing powder and heating.  Did this a section at a time.

Okay, I gave the initial attempt another try, as try number 2 took WAY too long.

I still wasn’t thrilled with all the excess powder, but my husband loved the look of it.

Now, I saw Jennifer McGuire Ink to a post on covering a whole sheet with a double layer of embossing powder.  In that you run an embossing ink over a sheet of card, cover with embossing powder and heat, then do it again over the top.  After that, you use your embossing ink to stamp on top of it and emboss using a different color of embossing powder.  The second image is supposed to sink down into the first embossed piece.

This didn’t show the detail of the stamped image, but that could have been the cheap stamp that I used.  I do like the look of it.  And, it didn’t take too much red embossing powder to make the “background” as you would think.

So, a couple of fun ways to use embossing on embossing to get a different look.  Try one and see what you think.

Thanks for spending some time with me today.

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Galaxy Backgrounds

I see lots of beautiful “Galaxy Backgrounds” for cards, but not too many instructions on what you need, or how to do them.  So, I’m going to show you a few different ways, depending upon the supplies you have available.

If I go out and look up into the sky, at night, I don’t see a whole lot.  I can see some stars and the moon, but I live in the city, so there’s too much ambient light to see my little section of the gorgeous universe God created for us.  Now, when I go up north, I can definitely see more, but still not as much as when I have hiked way out into the wilderness.  Whatever you see, is probably pretty, no matter where you are, but it will look different from what the rest of us are seeing.  But, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to add some of that beauty, or my idea of it, to my cards.

For my first Galaxy Background, I started off with some black card stock, Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide Ink, Salty Ocean Distress Oxide Ink, and some #72 Frost White All-Purpose Ink from Tsukineko (have no clue when or where I got this, but it worked wonderfully).

I liked the look of this one.  To add the “stars”, I dipped the paint brush into the bottle of ink and then held it between my thumb and center finger, while tapping the top of it with my pointer finger.

For my second Galaxy Background, I used black card stock, Stickles Glam Pink glitter glue, Nuvo Blue Lagoon Glitter Drops, and the #72 Frost White All-Purpose Ink from Tsukineko.  This certainly isn’t my favorite, but works.

Then I decided to try one with water color paper.  I used Tim Holtz’ Distress Watercolor Cardstock.  I also used the Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide Ink, the Salty Ocean Distress Oxide Ink, Black Soot Distress Oxide Ink, and some Perfect Pearls Mist in Perfect Pearl.  For this one, I smooshed my ink blue and pink oxide inks down on either side of my craft sheet and sprayed with water, then put my water color paper down on top to pick up the ink.  I dried it between layers and put a bit of the pink and blue down before covering the whole thing with the black one.  I did go back and put a touch of the blue and pink on top of the black, in the same area where they were on the bottom.  Then, spritzed on some Perfect Pearl.

This one looks better in person than it does on the screen.  It is more of a soft, or slightly grayed black.  It almost looks slightly chalky, which is a property of the Distress Oxide Inks.

Using water color paper again, I decided to use my Crayola water colors.  I have had this same set of water color paints in my stash for probably 15 years.  I use it occasionally, but don’t generally use a lot at a time.  After this time, all the black is gone.

I wet the water color paper (same kind as before) with my jar of water (to clean and wet my brush in) all over before starting.  Then, I added some water to the blue and put blue in a large section of my card.  After that, I added the pink.  I then started adding the black.  To start, I went around the pink and blue areas, so they could dry more, then went back and dabbed it over the top of those sections, too.  After the whole thing was dry, I used some of the white and sprinkled that on, but decided it wasn’t bright enough, so added a bit of the #72 Frost White All-Purpose Ink from Tsukineko.  That added a bit of sparkle, as well.

Had I had a bit more of the black water color paint, I might have added a bit more over the whole thing, though I do like the look of this with more of the color showing.

Recently, I saw someone use something called Yupo paper.  I had no idea what it was, so looked it up.  It is a smooth synthetic “paper” that works well with watercolor, alcohol inks, etc.  I was pretty impressed and had a coupon, so got one package of Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink Yupo white cardstock.  So, cut one of these 5×7 sheets in half and did two different things with it.  All the alcohol inks and the blending solution are Tim Holtz Adirondack.

First, I used the alcohol ink cotton swab and added drops of Wild Plum and Sailboat Blue, with some of the Silver Mixative.  I dabbed that around the sheet, added a few drops of the blending solution and just kept dabbing until the whole piece was covered.  Then I set that aside to dry.

On the second sheet, I dropped drops of the alcohol inks and mixative onto the sheet, then added a few drops of the blending solution on top of that.  I used Wild Plum, Sailboat Blue, Stream, Indigo, Purple Twilight and Silver.  Then set that aside to dry.

The one on the left was the drops onto the Yupo paper.  The one on the right used the blending tool and was dabbed.  After they were “dry”, I used the Black Soot Distress ink and a dauber to cover the tops with black.

As you can see, I used a much heavier hand with the black ink on the dabbed one.  I just liked the colors on the other and waned the colors to show more.  I also added some of the #72 Frost White All-Purpose Ink from Tsukineko on the top.

Now, even after I let these dry for a while (I stopped and had lunch), I even used my heat tool on the one I used in a project, they were still sticky.  I set the darker one aside to just sit until tomorrow and see if it is completely dry by then.  Apparently, you are not supposed to use heat on this paper at all, as it is a plastic and warps with heat.  Everything I’ve seen says to just let it dry for quite a while, then cover lightly with a fixative spray (Krylon Kamar Varnish, then Krylon – UV Resistant Clear).  Info also said to touch as little of the paper as possible, as the oil from your fingers changes the way the paper reacts with inks.  Cleaning with alcohol also changes the way the paper reacts.

(Just to let you know, 7 days later, the Yupo paper ones are still not “dry”.  They definitely need to be “fixed” with a fixative spray, which I don’t have.  Not thrilled.  They look great, but are not useable, if they never dry.)

Okay, last, but not least, I used some plain white card stock and some Distress ink in Picked Raspberry and Mermaid Lagoon (I don’t have the regular Salty Ocean), along with Black Soot and the same white ink.

Any inks you have would work for this.  If you don’t have pink and blue, use purple, or whatever else you think looks good.

Here are all of the backgrounds I made together.

The two black card ones are on the left, the two water colors in the center, the top right is the distress inks on white card and the two bottom right are the alcohol ink ones.

I made cards with two of these to give you an idea.

Now, if you’ve been wondering, you have some ideas on what to use to make Galaxy Backgrounds.

Thanks for spending some time with me today.

Detailed Dies

If you have any detailed dies, here’s one way to use them: with glitter.

Supplies:

• Detailed die
• Double Sided tape
• Silk Microfine Glitter – Microfine glitter is a must for this, even ultrafine is a bit too large to work well.  It will work, just not as nicely.
• Card stock
• Cuttlebug – with plates (any die cutting machine will do, using the cut settings/plates)
• Craft pick (paperclip will do)

First, adhere your double-sided tape to the card stock.  I cut a 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 piece of white card stock, as that will fit in my Cuttlebug.  Then adhere the double sided tape to the card stock.  If you have a sheet of double sided adhesive, you can cut that slightly smaller than your piece of card stock.

This would have been easier, had I cut along each strip of the taped card stock, but I didn’t.  I put the dies on top of the tape, so the would cut through the release paper of the tape, the adhesive itself and into the card stock.  I ran it through my Cuttlebug using the A, B and C plates.  This didn’t cut all the way through the card stock, but did cut into it.  I often use an extra piece of card stock as a shim, but didn’t use it, as I didn’t want to cut completely through.

The dies do like to slip on the release paper and tape doesn’t work very well on it either, so just put your stack together and hold it firmly until it goes through your machine.

Now came the fun and sparkly part.  I used a craft pick to pull up pieces of the release paper.  The end of an unfolded paperclip, or anything else sharp that you can get to pick up an individual piece of the release sheet will work.  Once the piece, or pieces you want up are up, use your first color of microfine glitter and apply to the sticky areas.  I just dipped my finger in the glitter, then rubbed it on the area until it was covered.  Make sure the stickiness is pretty well gone.  Before moving to the next color of glitter, use a piece of Swiffer Sweeper cloth or something else to pick up any leftover glitter on your piece.  Continue until finished.

At this point, I used some scissors to go around the edges and cut my pieces out.  It should be partially cut around the edges, or at least thinner there, so the cutting may just be running sharp scissors around the edges.

And now, you have pieces to work create with.

I cut the butterfly across 2 pieces of the adhesive, so have a slight line, where the adhesive pieces weren’t perfectly matched.  This would have been a good time to use a sheet of adhesive to make sure it was large enough for my die.

Then, I just added some paper and sentiment stamps to create 3 cards.

This is one fun way to play with some of the intricate dies you might have.

Thank you for spending some of your valuable time with me today!

Foilin’ – Part 2

So, you can always add foil to a project through something you probably have around your house, aluminum foil.  Now, you are better off using the heavy duty foil, if you have it, but I didn’t, so I just used the regular kind.

I stamped on it with StazOn ink, which worked fine.  I also used Versamark ink and then heat embossed it, which worked quite well.  I then colored my images using alcohol markers.  I used the Spectrum Noir, as that is what I have, but any would work.

It is a very slick surface, so you need to be careful not to let your stamp move around.  Also, if you use StazOn ink, make sure you clean your stamp right away.  I used a baby wipe, which got it very clean.

For the piece I did in an embossing folder, I folded it in thirds, to give it some weight.  I should have adhered the layers together before running it through the Cuttlebug in the folder, but it still worked.  I used a little liquid adhesive between the layers (I just did the last “flap”), lightly pressed it down, and it was great.

You can also use dies with aluminum foil and cut out shapes.  For that, I would definitely use the heavy duty foil, or make sure you have thoroughly adhered a few layers together before trying it.  However, I just used some scissors to cut out my cute little dogs.

Here is what I came up with.  The sentiment is a strip of kraft card that I stamped on and used liquid adhesive to adhere on top of my embossed panel.  I didn’t want to use too much pressure on it, which is why I used liquid adhesive.  I adhered the little dogs with the liquid adhesive, as well.

Foil can give a fun look to your cards and there are so many different things you can do with it.  Try it, you’ll probably be quite please with what you come up with.  Do remember, it is a very slick surface, so you’ll need to use a heat tool to help dry your ink, or wait a while.  Also, think about trying to wrap something in foil, it rips easily, so don’t be surprised if you get cuts in it, even just from the embossing.  It’s fairly inexpensive, so something you can play with a bit until you figure it out.

Thanks for spending some of your valuable time with me today.  Have a most wonderful rest of your week.

Foilin’ – Part 1

I have pulled out my foiling supplies again, recently.  So, thought I would go through some how tos with you.

There are different brands of foil (the type you put on art, as well as the type you cook with and use for oh so many things.  Here I’m talking about the colorful ones you put on art projects.).  The first type I got was many years ago and was sold in a set from Tonertex.  I still have some of that.  They also sell the right type of glue for it in pens, though I haven’t had a lot of luck with those lasting very long – not that I use them up, they seem to dry out, or just quit working.  Anyway, Therm-o-Web has come out with Deco Foil in many different colors, some patterns, and recently released sequin looking ones.  The Deco Foil is easy to find, pretty inexpensive and you get quite a bit of it, which is nice.  For these projects, I used Deco Foil, though you can see the Tonertex foil in one of the pictures, too.

For my first project, I used some “Foil-Mates” or “Foilables” sheets that I got from Gina K Designs.  They have a few different styles.  As she worked with Therm-o-Web on a line, there are not several more styles to choose from.  What it is, is a nice smooth paper with toner images on it.  You can cut it to size, put a piece, or several pieces, if you want different colors on your project, over it.  Put this inside a folded over piece of parchment paper, on top of a piece of card stock, which helps you move it around and run it through a laminating machine on the heat setting.  It does need to be quite warm, so let your machine warm up for a while, first.  Some machines have different heat and depth settings, so just figure out what works best for you.  Usually high heat and good pressure works best.  My laminator came from an office supply store, which had them on sale near the beginning of a school year.  I think I spent about $12 for it and it really works well.  Here are the pictures of the foiling done with heat.

The foils.  The tube going crosswise has lots of different patterns and is the Tonertex foil.

The “Foilables” from Gina K. Designs.  These are some of the old ones, not the newly release “Foil-Mates” from Therm-o-Web.

This is the “stack” for heat foiling.  The image done with toner (you can print your own if you have a TONER printer, or get something printed in toner at a copy place).  A piece of foil cut a little larger than my toner paper sheet, put in a folded piece of parchment paper and laid on top of a piece of card stock.  Make sure the foil is covering the whole toner image.  If it moves, you can run it through again, with the foil covering what was missed.  In fact, most people recommend running this through your laminator at least twice.  Also, make sure the dull side is what is on top of your image and the fun foil image/pattern/color is what is facing you.

I ran mine through twice, just because I wanted to make sure it looked right the first time.  Do make sure you run the “fold” of your parchment paper through first.  That way it doesn’t shift/slip.

You can see the foiled piece and the back of the foil, where the image is missing.  You can actually use that piece and just glue it down on card to get the reverse image, if you want.

Here is the finished project.  I ran the sentiment, which was also one of those “Foilables” through with gold foil, as that went with the fun shaded green foil (“Emerald Watercolor” Deco Foil) that I used on the background.

Obviously, this looks much better in person and is difficult to get a picture showing all the fun shadings in the foil.  The “house” I heat embossed with gold embossing powder.

So, that was using heat and toner images.  Now we’re going to take a look at how you can use these same foil sheets and use adhesives.

To do this, I took a piece of card stock, lightly drew a line where I wanted to put my double sided adhesive and then laid down the adhesive.  Now, you want to use a pretty strong adhesive for this.  I used some Scor-Tape, as it is strong, and I don’t have to uncover the adhesive for all of it at once, if I don’t want to.  I also used some double sided adhesive that I cut into shapes.  The hippo was cut with my Silhouette.  The bird and wing were cut with dies in my Cuttlebug.

I used scissors to cut the Scor-Tape, as I wanted sharp ends, rather than ripped ends.

For this, I put the pink foil on top of the adhesive rectangle that I made.  I pressed the foil down with my finger, then put it inside a folded piece of card stock to run through the Cuttlebug, so it would have lots of pressure.

This is where I peeled off the foil and it left my pink foiled rectangle.

These are the pieces I did with the double-sided adhesive sheets.

It was easier to get the white side off than the yellow (which was supposed to be the first off), so did it that way.  You can see the adhesive, then I just pressed the foil onto it with my finger.  Didn’t run this one through the Cuttlebug.

Then I peeled off the other side of the release paper and stuck it to a piece of light card stock.  I did the same with the bird body, then adhered the wing to the body and used a different color foil on the wing.  I actually adhered the wing to the bird body, removed the release paper and pressed the other foil right on top, using my finger.

There was a small spot on the hippo that the silver foil didn’t adhere to, so took the same piece of foil, put a section that hadn’t had the foil already used over the spot and pressed some more, until it was covered.  I just cut these pieces out with my trusty scissors and they were ready to use on a project.  I could have stuck them to the project as I was making them, but wanted to show how to do it, step by step and I wasn’t sure how my project was going to go together, yet.

Now, the last way that I am going to show using the foil sheets is with glue.  Basically, you can use any glue that is tacky after it dries.  Here is a Deco Foil pen by Therm-o-Web, a Tonertex pen, and a bottle of The Rubber Cafe Scraphappy Sheer Glue.  I used the Scraphappy Sheer glue for this one, as I was stamping with it.  You can draw with the Tonertex pen, or the Deco Foil pen, fill in spaces on a stencil, etc.  I could have used the Deco Foil pen on my stamp, as it has a wider tip, but wanted to use the glue.

To use the glue, you put a small puddle of it on a scrap of paper, or something you can throw away and use a sponge to apply it.  The idea is that less is more with this.  I’m not sure if I did way less, or just didn’t cover the whole stamp adequately.  Anyway, it didn’t work as well as I have seen it work, in the past.  Granted, I’ve only stamped with mine a few times.  It does work better with rubber stamps and I used a photopolymer stamp.  Anyway, you want to make sure you clean your stamp right away with Tub O’ Towels (used for cleaning cars).  It is the cleaner that can mess up the clear stamps, but works wonderfully on rubber ones.  So, back to the instructions. . .make a small puddle of glue (tiny), dab a sponge in it (I used a makeup sponge), and tap that onto the stamp surface.  Then “roll” your stamp across the paper.  (I’m not so good at rolling, but if you press it down, it sticks to the paper and rips the paper.)  Then, wait for it to dry completely and go back and press foil onto it.

I used pink foil on the bottom, then used the blue on the top of my sentiment.  As you can see, there were areas where the foil didn’t stick really well, which makes me think I may not have used quite enough of the glue.

Here is the finished project with the Scor-Tape and the glue.

I did the pink rectangle with the Scor-Tape first, then the outer, blue rectangle with a thinner tape.  When I ran it through the Cuttlebug with the pressure, it pressed some of the blue into the pink.  I actually thought it gave it a fun distressed look, which is what inspired my dual toned sentiment.  Had I done the outside rectangle first, then the inner one with a piece of foil smaller than the outer rectangle, they wouldn’t have gotten pressed together, like that.  There was enough pressure using the Cuttlebug that the adhesive seemed to kind of go through the foil a bit, which made it a little sticky.  I mounted the sentiment piece on some pink card stock and mounted that in the middle of my rectangle piece.  That was mounted on another piece of pink card and put on the white card base.

Here is the last project that I did with the hippo and bird pieces.

The images in this are the sentiment.  Think of words little kids would use and those are female sheep.  Did you get it?  (hippo birdie 2 ewe)  I’m really hoping my mother gets it, as this will be her birthday card.  She loves hippos and I have had this idea running through my head for a while.

If any of this didn’t make sense, please leave me a comment and I’ll try to better explain.  It really is fun to work with these foils and they come in so many different colors and patterns, that you can get fun looks.

Thanks for spending some of your valuable time with me today.   Now, go enjoy your weekend!

Popcorn!

Okay, this is actually about getting ideas across when you may, or may not, have the image you want.  I’m using popcorn as an example.

When you see wide red and white stripes, what do you think of?  Especially, if there is a scalloped edge.  Most people immediately think of popcorn boxes, even though most of us have never had one.

So, besides wide red and white stripes, what else makes you think of popcorn?  How about yellow splatters on a white background?  Does that remind you of the mouth watering buttery popcorn you can get?

Just 3 rounded white shapes overlapping generally reminds me of popcorn, too.

So, now that I am craving some wonderful popcorn, I want you to take the time to think of other ways you can get an idea across.

Speaking of popcorn, go check out my challenge in the WeCraftCards.com Little Known Holidays crop.  Take a guess what National Holiday is celebrated on January 19?

Thanks for spending some time with me today!

Fun With Friends

A friend came over today and we had some fun making cards.  Here’s a look at what I worked on today.

This first one is for a friend at church that hasn’t been there the past two Sundays.  I miss her.

The missing face is acetate.

This next one is the tiniest little card, but was fun to make.  It would have helped, had I had a larger jar stamp.  The main part of the jar folds behind for a card.

This last one is one I did for the My Favorite Things sketch challenge.  I missed the deadline, but had fun making it.

Thanks for spending some time with me today.  I hope at least one of these made you smile.  Be prepared, there is a crop starting tomorrow on We Craft Cards, so I’ll be posting what I make for the challenges, at some point.  Go check it out.