25 July 2021

AECP 2 - Impressive Heat Embossing

Hello Crafty Peeps, and thank you for stopping by. 

It has been a strange couple of weeks, but I'm pleased to say that I'm back on track and feeling creative again. I had a fight with a scalpel about 3 weeks ago and damaged my left index finger. In itself that wasn't a problem, as I am right-handed, but trying to do anything with a bandaged finger is inconvenient at best. Thankfully, I have healed quickly and well and am no longer waving around a big white digit! I  had exactly the same accident and injured the same finger 20 years ago, just before Christmas, and my big white finger was a great source of amusement when conducting our work's choir at our carol concert!

Today I'm posting my submission for the AECP class 'Impressive Heat Embossing', in which Svetlana Marchenko introduces us to some of the many ways we can use heat embossing to take our cards to the next level. This card is my interpretation of lesson 4 - Layered Heat Embossing - and I've used the 'Vintage Roses' layering stamp set for this.

As always, there will be a full list of the supplies used at the bottom of this post.


To begin, I heat embossed the 'Shine Like a Diamond' background stamp in gold onto a 6" (15cm) square piece of Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80lb cardstock - I find that the 80lb warps less than the heavier 110lb when embossing a full background.  I trimmed to the edges of the stamped background and layered the panel with a piece of textured gold cardstock from my stash, before adding to a 6" square card blank. 

Next, I wanted to use heat embossing to create an embellishment for the centre of the card, and decided that a number 40 would work well. I cut the numbers from some 300 gsm white card (stash) and pressed my Wow Embossing Ink pad over both numbers, coating them well. I then heat embossed with a layer of ordinary clear embossing powder. Once this had cooled, I inked the numbers again and this time coated them with a layer of Wow 'Clear Gloss Ultra High' embossing powder, which melted to a thicker layer of clear. While this was still hot I sprinkled another layer of embossing powder, to build up the thickness of the numbers. Again, while this was still hot, I liberally sprinkled with gold embossing powder, which melted as the top layer of a nicely thick pair of numbers.

Tip

I advise working on a silicone mat, or something similar (I often use an oven liner sheet - see below) whilst working in this way, as the embossing powder around the object will also melt and will stick to paper, making it more difficult to remove the finished object. Once the first layer has melted, make sure that either your heat gun is on its lowest setting, or that you move the heat slightly away so that the embossing stays liquid but does not burn. If you need to clean up the edges of the finished object, either gently rub around it with your finger (once cooled, of course) or remove to a clean space of your silicone/heat mat and gently heat again and the edges should melt cleanly,

For the flowers, I stamped three of the smaller and two of the larger flowers, using the 'Martian Terrain' set of inks, which I love. For the last layer, I used an embossing ink and then heat embossed with gold, to give a little sparkle. I think it's a lovely way to add something different to an image. I don't have the matching dies for this set, although they are available, so it was fussy cutting time.

I stamped the leaves from the set using the 'Nature's Wonders' ink set, another firm favourite. The sentiment is from the 'Sentiment Strips 2' stamp set - this set is great for useful 'everyday' greetings. 

The arrangement is fairly simple, with a couple of the flowers popped up on foam squares for a little dimension. And there are sequins, of course, from Lucy's.


So there's the final card - I hope you like it. 

Until next time, keep crafting.




Supplies:

Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links and if you follow them and make a purchase I might receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you. This helps to support my blog. 

4 comments:

  1. I always think heat embossing is alchemy and you've used it to good effect here. I love the background embossed diamonds!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you - yes, there is a certain magic to it, isn't there?

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  2. Look at that!! So gorgeous!! Love it!
    Thank you for submitting your wonderful work to the AECP assignment gallery.

    ReplyDelete

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