Techie Tuesday ~ How To Emboss with Dies

It’s Techie Tuesday again….I love this time of the week, I really do. I did promise in the Holly Background Post that I would share with you How To create these stunning backgrounds yourself and this is it! 😀

 

First up, I’ll admit I did some Prep Work the night before by spritzing my Cards with a mix of Perfect Pearls and Water. I wanted a more ‘shimmery’ look for this Post. Mission accomplished. Without further ado, let’s craft!!

Perfect Pearls Spritzed over for a shimmery effect.

**Warning; this is a very photo heavy Post, so please bear with me if it’s taking longer to load than usual. There’s way too much background noise around the neighbourhood to do a video this time.**

• Trim your Cardstock to a little larger than the size you require for your Card. All shall be revealed very shortly. You’ll want to trim an extra piece of Card (I’ve used White Cardstock) and attach with Glossy Accents or Super Tape so you have a thicker base.
  

  
• Select the Dies you wish to use for your Background. This time I’ve chosen the two smaller Stars from the Stars Die Set by Kaszazz. Crank your Stack through your preferred Die Cutting & Embossing Machine. For my Ezy Press it’s the Pink Base Plate with the Blue Cutting Plate. * I know these Dies love to cut through, which is what I’m attempting to avoid; to aid in preventing this I’ve used a scrap of SB Paper over the top.
  

  
• Don’t panic if your Dies are cutting through your Card Stack; we’ll fix that up very shortly and no one will be able to tell this has happened. Trust me…I asked The Man if he could see anything amiss with all 3 Cards I’ve created with this Technique, and he didn’t believe me that something was…until I showed him some photos. 😉 Move your Dies to another position on  your Card and Repeat the Previous Step until you’re happy with the coverage and positions.
• Now to reattach your Jigsaw pieces (the pieces that cut through). I’ve used Glossy Accents as I’m attaching Card to Card. I also wanted to ensure my pieces were going to remain where they should be. Be generous, side spillage is fine as we’re trimming edges down before too long. 😉 Attach your ‘Backing Base’ Card and smooth out for an even cover.
  

  

  
• Once you’re confident your glue has dried, flip your design so the back is facing you and trim your edges to fit your chosen size Card. This is the easiest way to trim the edges without ‘gathering’ any bits of Card along the way. It’s taken a few attempts for me to work out this step. Worth every attempt. Trim off any stragglers with your scissors for a neater appearance.
• Now the fun part….DECORATE!!! I’ve added some Silver Edged Ribbon to the first Card as I wanted a more simple look. For the Card I made for this Post, I wanted to have a little more fun. I’ve Ink Blended the edges with Aquamarine Archival Ink (helps to hide any little straggly bits that escaped the scissors!) as well as Ink Blended the edges of my SB Paper Stars prior to using Magic Mount Foam to place them over the matching Stars. Because of the extra dimension I decided to use Super Tape to attach the Backing to the Card Base. The choice is always yours where this is concerned.
  

  

  

  

I’ve had a blast making these Cards. For my second one I’ve done some Heat Embossing on Vellum for my sentiment; the Shooting Star in Silver and Clear Embossing Powder over my Aquamarine Archival sentiment. Just for something a little fancy. I was considering adding a rhinestone brad, mine all have aged brass for the edge which just wouldn’t work this time, so I Heat Embossed that as well in the Silver. It wasn’t until I was moving everything around that I decided that’s a bit OTT, thankfully!!! But it can be done in case you were wondering.

I’m already planning some Cards using the New Leaf Die Kaszazz released with the New Catalogue over the weekend. I think that Die, and either of the New Flourish Dies (Small & Large) would look amazing as a Background done in this Technique. I’ll have to order them and find out with some trial and error….now do I tell The Man I’m in urgent need of supplies or do I wait till my supplies are actually diminished? Oooh, I’ll behave and wait, it’ll be worth it. 😀

Hope this has been easy to follow, and that you enjoy using this Technique for your Card Backgrounds and Scrap Layouts.

Till Next Time!! xxx