Group of Seven - Embossing Paste Product Focus

Hi everyone.  Another month has rushed by and this month over at the Group of Seven we are looking at embossing paste and what you can do with it.  This is not something that I have used very much before but it does add an extra something to your stencilling, adding texture and with lots of different finished looks using pastes with shimmer in them, or adding glitter or embossing powder or things like fibres or micro beads, and waiting until it's dry to heat emboss the powder, or whilst wet to give a more puffed up look to it.  You can also add colour to white paste using any water based medium for endlessly different looks, mixing it in or adding it after it is dry.  For my card I chose a shimmery relief paste with a titanium coloured finish to it, and I used a Crafter's Companion heart stencil which came as part of a set of three different designs and called Love Hearts and being used for the first time.  I also incorporated a few die cuts from a Spellbinders set called Bold Blooms the rest of which I have yet to use, and ditto another Spellbinders set called Balloons and Birthday Wishes.

I cut a piece of card to fit a 6" square base card and then added the paste through the taped down stencil masking off the rest of the card.  I used a small palette knife to spread it, and it worked quite well, though I do think that I found it easier the few times I have tried this before by using an old plastic store card at a slight angle to pull the paste across. When dry I decided to add the extra hearts placed on the ends of some flower stems and balloon strings.  I cut off the branches on the flower stems to give one long stem, and they were a bit shorter, and I also used the balloon strings from the other set but as they were rather thin and seemed a bit flimsy I glued two back to back on three of them..not the easiest thing, but they look OK I think.  I also used the stencil and pencil marked around one of the larger hearts cutting two with my small decoupage scissors which I doubled up for more dimension.  I then found various little die cut hearts which I keep in a pot and used some in three different sizes and I coloured them with a couple of pink alcohol pens.  I used a lighter pink then decided to darken them a bit so added another colour over the top of each.  I then added a heart to each of the stems, and I decided at this point to add some Glossy Accents to all of them for a bit of pretty shine.  I also used some of the Glossy Accents as a glue over the right hand heart and stuck the heart stems down to it before adding the double layer pink heart over the top and used it behind each of the hearts to stick them down to the card..it is good for something like this as it sticks extremely firmly.  I didn't like the look of the stems beneath the heart so I cut them off so that they emerge from under the heart, and I also added the sentiment heat embossing with WOW Metallic Silver Embossing Powder, and added the five tiny hearts around it.  The titanium colour of the paste does look more silver in reality than it does in the photo which has given it a more beige tone for some reason, so the silver embossed sentiment does look a better match than it appears here.

I hope that if you haven't tried this you will be encouraged to give these pastes a go as they do give the card a bit of a 'wow' factor, and I think mine could have been smoother but not too bad considering I haven't done this technique much before.  I have seen some pastes used over an open embossing folder and left to dry, and I did give this a try with a normal folder using one that I got years ago and which if ruined would not be the end of the world.  This paste didn't release from the folder very well, but I may not have spread it quite thick enough I think, but I have another paste which has a thicker consistency which is a modelling paste made by DecoArt and this did work better and released well..again would have looked better if it had been applied a bit thicker, and I will perhaps give it a proper go during the month and put the card up on the GO7 post.

If you do give this a try do come and add your card to the Linky which you will find at the bottom of the post so we can all enjoy them, and you will also find some wonderful cards made with this technique there from the other ladies, and explanations of how they made them over on their own blogs.  

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Stencil Fun Challenge - Anything Goes/Splatters.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

N.B.U.S. Challenge - No. 72 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.
Darnell's I.D.E.A.S. - Week 4 - A = Anything Goes.
Simply Clean & Simple Challenge - March'25 Anything Goes/Shades of Green.

Birthday Squirrel

Hi everybody.  This is a masculine card featuring the same squirrel stamp used on my last card here, and this was supposed to be on the card but I decided this darker shade of blue didn't look right so it was left sitting on my table.  I also used the set of Torn Edge Squares..I'm a bit obsessed with these at the moment..lol, and also a Lavinia stencil called Laurel.  I'm still keeping it simple at the moment.

I began by die cutting the piece of card with the squirrel on using a smaller Torn Edge Die and then added the sentiment using the same Versafine Majestic Blue Ink..both the squirrel image and the sentiment have been heat embossed using WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I then die cut a larger one from the set, about 5" square and then dry embossed the leaves onto it.  I accidentally did it wrong and got the raised leaves on the reverse of the die cut but decided that I would leave it like this and I ink blended using several green Distress Inks to highlight the stencilling, namely Twisted Citron, Lucky Clover and Pine Needles.  I gradually darkened the look until I was happy as I wanted to make sure that the leaf shapes showed up sufficiently which I think they now do, but without making it too dark wanting to keep the fresh spring colours.  I put the 6" square card together and raised up the central mat with some craft foam for added dimension. 

Just before I finish I have noticed that over the last few weeks my follower numbers have dropped, only by a few and maybe they have just decided to leave, but then within the last day they dropped by two more which does seem a bit odd.  I wondered if others have notice that suddenly the number of followers has changed.  Maybe this is down to blogger so I had a look at a few of the ones I follow to compare and all seemed OK, so it is a bit of a conundrum.    

Anyway thank you for visiting me today and I'll see you again soon.

We Love Stamping Challenge - March'25 Hello Spring/Anything Goes.
Stamping Sensations Challenge - March '25 Hello Spring/Anything Goes.
Allsorts Challenge - No. 819 Feminine/Anything Goes.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Have Fun With Stencils.
Stencil Fun Challenge - Anything Goes/Splatters.
Try it on Tuesday Challenge - Spring Fling.
Darnell's I.D.EA.S. - Week 3 Embossing.

Spring Flowers

Hi all.  I was lucky enough to be a randomly picked winner of a couple of Aall & Create stamps and this card today features one of them. The title of the stamp is The Best You Ever Had, not sure why this title, but to me they look like crocuses so hence my title of Spring Flowers..I did though use a bit of artistic licence as I don't think that crocuses are every coral pink, but was one of the colours on the package which I thought looked quite pretty.  I decided to keep it simple as my hand is still not back to full strength, but is a lot better than it was, and I just added the double mat using a recent purchase of these Oval Torn Edge Dies from Creative Craft Products which were in a recent sale and I do love the look of these so they inevitably slipped into my basket..lol, and this is their first outing.

I did find that stamping this very detailed stamp came out a bit dark with black ink so I tried again with Versafine Smokey Gray which was better.  I then coloured using my alcohol pens, but perhaps should have chosen lighter colours or maybe watercolour or coloured pencils, though my hand is still not keen on using pencils, but which may have made the finished effect a bit lighter and brighter.  I did also add a bit of blue grey to shade a few of bits of the dotty grid in the background, but I don't think it shows up very well.  I also used a black fine micron pen to add in the stamens and then used a white gel pen for the stamens themselves which worked OK.  I just finished it with a birthday sentiment  and added it to a 6" square card. 

Thank you for joining me here today and I'll see you again soon. 

I am entering the following challenges:

We Love Stamping Challenge - March '25 Hello Spring/Anything Goes.

Stamping Sensations Challenge - March '25 Hello Spring/Anything Goes.

Allsorts Challenge - No.  818 CAS/Anything Goes.

NBUS Challenge - No. 72 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.

Try it on Tuesday Challenge - For A Lady.

Triple B Challenge - March '25 Using Birds, Butterflies or Blooms (one, two or all three).

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge - Anything Floral Goes/Optional Mood Board No. 26.

Darnell's I.D.E.A.S.  - Week 2 - Dies.

AAA Cards Challenge - No. 285 Anything Goes.