Group of Cardmakers - Embossing with Dies

Hi all.  I am back today with the Group of Cardmakers, and the theme this time is Embossing with Dies.  I used a set of dies from Crealies called Squares with Small Square, and also a set of Square Frame It dies by Clarity Crafts which cut into the card, and also a snowflake die from Craft Emotions, but I will be embossing with these last two and not cutting them. 

I started by die cutting a topper using one of the Crealies dies, about 4" square, a new set being used for the first time, and backed this with a piece of red card just slightly larger.  I then moved on to embossing the snowflake and added the Versamark ink onto the raised parts of the die before running it through my machine and then embossed it with WOW Rich Gold Embossing Powder.  There are several videos on the Group of Cardmakers post which will explain how to do this, but personally I lay the die face down onto the card with the embossing mat beneath it and the plate on top, as well as any extra shims you might need.  I do it this way as you can then see where you are placing the die for more accuracy, but it is of course personal choice.  Another tip is to use an anti-static bag on the card, but if you do find there are stray bits of powder get a piece of card and drag it across to remove them leaving only the powder within the grooves of the pattern...I picked this up from Jennifer McGuire.  Unfortunately the embossing did crease the card around the snowflake in several places, probably down to my having the sandwich a bit too thick making too much pressure, so I cut it down quite close to the snowflake to remove this and then edged it with the gold Sharpie pen.

I then decided to emboss a pattern onto another piece of white card to fit around the snowflake using the Clarity Crafts set.  After embossing it I made the decision to use the side of the die which had the diamond pattern raised up and I went over the whole pattern with some Gold Perfect Pearls and then used the gold pen to very carefully bring out the pattern of the little diamonds.  I then highlighted the edges of it with the same pen.  I was going to add this straight onto the topper but then thought that maybe it would have more impact added onto red card, so I cut this a little smaller than the topper and embossed a larger frame onto it using the same Clarity set, and opted to use the raised embossed side rather than the debossed, and adhered it before adding the other layer, and finally the snowflake which I raised up on a piece of adhesive backed foam for a little more dimension.  I finished it off with a gold embossed sentiment.

I hope you managed to stick with that rather drawn out explanation...lol.  This card features several different ways of using this technique and it was fun to make.  A lot of you will see from the photo what I've done, but I hope that it's helpful to those newer crafters who may appreciate something more but I quite understand if you don't have the time or need to do so..sometimes that saying 'life is too short' does apply...lol.

I hope you will go visit the GoC post and see all the beautiful cards make by Loll, Christine and Susan, and there is a Linky at the bottom for you to share your interpretations of the technique and we would just love to see them.  Thank you for visiting me here today and I hope you'll come back again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge - No. 830 Something beginning with 'B'/Anything Goes.

Simply Clean & Simple Challenge - Aug. '25 Anything CAS Goes/Cute Animals.

Peace on Earth Challenge - No. 94 Anything Christmas Goes.

Rudolph Days Challenge - Aug. '25 Anything Christmas Goes.

Cut It Up Challenge - Anything Goes.

NBUS Challenge - No. 77 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.

I am also joining in with Darnell's I.D.E.A.S.  This is Week 4: 'A' = Anything Goes.