Paper Seedlings: DOUBLE EMBOSSING

I am always on the lookout for new <to me> techniques that I can share with all of you.

A technique, called Double Embossing, results in a very charming look. Especially when you do it with Designer Series Paper. That adds just a little bit more of a WOW factor.

Never having tried this technique before, and not at all sure of how it was going to turn out for me, I dug into my stash of snippets of retired Designer Series Paper. I wanted to do the embossing in white, so I was looking for a paper with strong color and a subtle background since my embossing was going to be very busy.

I was so pleased with my results, I decided to go ahead and create a card with it.

Just a couple days ago, I had finished a pile of cute flowers. From a really old set, I stamped the doodle-y flower onto various scraps of DSP I had in my stash. Then, on car rides, I worked on fussy cutting the flowers. When I'd finished cutting them out, they were cute enough. But they beckoned me to do some additional coloring on them. The result was minimal coloring to match the DSP, but I think it adds so much.

Grabbing a handful of these flowers, I held various ones up to my background. This one that I ended up choosing complemented the background beautifully, in that the flower too boasted polka dots. And since my embossing was a cute flower and leaf combo, my fussy cut flower was just right. Add to the combination the sunny look of white and yellow . . .

To do this easy technique:

I didn't do it, but I strongly recommend rubbing the DSP first with your Embossing Buddy. I spent an inordinate amount of time with a teeny brush getting rid of stray embossing powder. I think this could be, for the most part, alleviated with the use of the Embossing Buddy. Even with diligent, time consuming work with the brush, I wasn't completely successful. So, learn from my bad experience!

Anyway, after you rub the DSP with the Embossing Buddy, open your VersaMark ink pad, and, with a clean brayer, run it across the surface of the ink several times, always going in the same direction, rather than back and forth, which causes the ink to cover the brayer unevenly. So, always either go forward, forward, forward. Or backward, backward, backward. One direction.

Once the brayer is well inked with VersaMark, brayer across the portion of the inside of an embossing folder on which the images are RAISED. Usually, this is the side that does not contain the words printed on the outside of the folder. Re-ink the brayer a few times and roll it over the embossing folder, so you have good coverage. Use a light touch to keep from inking beyond the raised images.

Carefully lay your DSP across the inked embossing folder, close the folder, and run it through the Big Shot like you would for any other embossing project. The raised side of the embossing folder will transfer the sticky VersaMark ink to the surface of the DSP.

As soon as it is embossed, sprinkle the inked/embossed DSP with embossing powder. I chose white because I wanted it to show up really well. Experiment with clear or metallics too for a different sort of look. Use the heat tool to melt the embossing powder. Don't overheat, but make sure that all the embossed areas are shiny and set.

There! You've done DOUBLE EMBOSSING!

Below is the Designer Series Paper I started with for my Double Embossing.

You can also do this same technique using plain cardstock. I hadn't tried that; I went right for the fancy stuff -- using Designer Series Paper. The look, of course, would be quite different. But, it is certainly worth exploring!

Have fun using your new creation as a cute and frivolous background for a cheery card. Be careful that whatever you add to the rest of the card doesn't clash with your busy background. Keep it fairly simple.