Thursday, May 26, 2011

DT Special Assignment Day!

It is Thursday again and that means so more fabulous inspiration from a Design Team member.  Julie is up today and is sharing some fabulous embossing goodness with us!
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This week I have 2 simple embossing techniques to share:

1. Embossing with an embossing folder

Choose an embossing folder and a piece of cardstock, tag or even a flower or chipboard embellishment. Place the cardstock inside of the folder and run it through your Sizzix or Cuttlebug. (Embossing chipboard pieces should only be used on machines designed specifically for heavy duty embossing, unless the chipboard is very thin - Cuttlebug and Revolution. It is recommended that you lightly spray the chipboard with water to make it more pliable before embossing.)


I've also embossed foil (the heavy duty kind you wrap/cook food with), as well as aluminum (I've cut pieces from disposable foil cookie sheets for example).

Embossing foil works best if you fold your foil piece in 3 before running it through your machine. For 2 reasons: If you don't and your foil is thin, it will make holes in it. And the second one is that, once it's embossed, your piece won't hold well and it will be hard to alter it with any ink because the bumps will flatten as you work with your embossed piece afterwards.

By folding in 3, you avoid all these problems and it does work very well!!

Did you know that you can emboss plastic too? And Tortillas!!!!!!!!! Yes you can!! It works great! Credit for this idea goes to «Francofun». You run the tortillas uncooked or still soft (the way you buy them) through your machine and then you cut into little squares and you bake them a bit to brown them and you have fantastic crackers, fun to serve at any party!!

Also, remember Mim's Smooch tutorial? You can alter metal (your embossed foil pieces) with Smooch or any alcohol based ink and also acrylic inks and paints!! Just give them a few minutes to dry



2. Embossing with inks and embossing powder and heat gun

Stamp your image with pigment ink and sprinkle with embossing powder. After shaking off excess powder use the heat gun to "melt" the embossing powder. 
 



Finishing touches:  I pressed ink onto my Ranger craft map and spritzed with water. I then "dragged" my tags through the ink, dried them with the heat gun and then repeated with another colour. 
 




I then inked the edges with distress inks using a sponge applicator. I also used the applicator to go over deeper portions of the tag where there was no colour for ma resist technique. I then added embellishments..inchies, twinchies, buttons...and added twine and ribbon to finish it off. I'll probably continue to play and add to these over the next few days or when I decide to use them on a layout.

The middle tag was the one done with the embossing folder and the ones on either side were done with embossing powder. You can also do the stamping and embossing powders after dragging the tag or cardstock through the ink and drying it.


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