Clearly iStamp: Embossing Tutorial

May 19, 2009

Embossing Tutorial - Emerging Color

Happy Tuesday friends! Its Katie here again with an embossing tutorial for you. I absolutely love this technique and try to get back to it on a regular basis. There is just something about embossing and the results that you can achieve with it that is just magical.

You really don't need a lot of supplies for this technique and once you have the big ones, you'll use them for life :)

You will need: Heat Gun, Versamark, Clear Embossing Powder, Ink of choice, Stamps of Choice

So lets get started. I started with a plain white piece of cardstock, in this case a standard A2 (5 1/2" x 4 1/4"). I always keep it the full size, do my thing, and then trim when putting my card together.

Begin by random stamping your background. I decided to use 2 complimentary colors for my background and will add the 3rd in later. I picked the larger stamp first.

Then I picked my smaller stamp and added it in between the other images.

For my 3rd image I chose the larger flower. Stamp using the Versamark. Look closely... you can see the images ever so faintly.

Then add your clear embossing powder. I just dump over the entire card and tap off the excess. Mind you I do all this over a piece of plain paper so I can then just pour it back into the jar. I must admit, I really dislike those embossing/glitter trays.

Here's a view of my stamped image with the powder on them.

Now its time for the fun part. Get that heat gun out and melt away.

And even more fun is on its way. Now its time to get your choice of ink and a piece of sponge out.
Just dab your sponge on the ink pad and work in circular motions. I don't know why, but I always start my ink right over the embossed images and then work the rest.

See how the embossed image starts to "pop" and emerge.

You can go as light or dark as you want. The reason I like using the sponge is that I have more control over the amount of ink that goes on the cardstock, plus I just like the look and the fact that you can still see all the colors of the other images too.

Here is a finished card using this piece of designer paper.

Cardstock and ink: Close to my Heart, Stamps: Bold Bouquet and Charliene April Showers, Other: Nestabilities Label 4, Ribbon, Word Window Punch, Ribbon Punch, plus materials at the beginning.

Here is a close-up. Another component of this technique is the texture that the embossing creates. It just feels neat when you run your fingers over the embossed images.

Here is one more example that I created using colored cardstock. I started with a bright yellow piece, used the versamark, clear embossing powder, and the heat gun to create this.

Then more fun... with more ink. With this example I used 3 different coordinating inks and sponged them onto the card.

Here's my 1st color and I focused on the sunflowers.

Here's my 2nd color and I focused on the dots.

And my 3rd color and I focused on the left over areas.

And finally, here is my card example using this piece of designer paper. I kept it simple by just adorning with ribbon.

Cardstock: Papertrey ink, Close to my Heart, Stamps: Sunflower Songs, Ink: Close to my Heart, Other: Brown Stitched Ribbon, PTI ribbon, Ticket Punch, and list of supplies from beginning.

If this is new to you, make sure you give it a whirl, if its an old favorite, make sure to revisit it, either way, I hope you enjoyed today's tutorial and I hope you have a fantastic Tuesday.

This is Katie signing off for Clearly iStamp.

Posted at 02:00 AM in Techniques | Permalink