Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Cut out pressure embossing tutorial

heat embossed thicker stamping on cut out pressure emboss

Don't you love when a frustrating mistake turns into a fun thing to try out?

I was embossing a piece of cardstock and it got several tears in it (and I had
done some fancy heat embossing on it and everything!):



To save it, I ended up cutting the more obvious torn bits out,
and it was fun,
so I thought I'd share this schtuff...



1... a pictorial for how to do 'cut out pressure embossing'
2... general tips for better embossing

-1-

do 'Cut Out pressure Embossing':


  • Pressure embossing machine: Cuttlebug, Big Shot, Wizard
  • Embossing folder (this one is S.U.'s Elegant Lines embossing folder
  • Cardstock (8olb or more is nice)
  • Exacto blade or hobby knife
  • Patterned or coloured paper
  • Scissors & Adhesive (I used double-sided tape)



Step 1) Pressure emboss a piece of cardstock & cut out select areas with a hobby knife. (If you are more comfortable with scissors you could stab them into the center of the area & cut in towards the outline instead, but the hobby blade fits little spots nicely).



Step 2) Snip bits of paper to add to the back of your embossed piece of cardstock where the cut outs are.



I used sprayed paper left over from colouring a doily using DIY shimmer spray

doily sprayed with DIY glimmer mists mel stampz&.



Step 3) Lay it all out behind cut outs before adhering to be sure you like it



Step 4) Adhere bits to the back of cut out embossing...



Step 5) Trim, if necessary.



Step 6) Finally, mount your embossed piece onto a card the same size (this one is a standard A2: 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" card with a top fold):


.................................(clickable blogger pics)

Little Tip: Use a thin enough paper underneath. The spritzed paper
is a delight colour-wise & it has a really nice sparkle to it
from the shimmer mist...

sparkle of diy spritz

...but next time I'd use thinner paper (the 140lb watercolour paper made bumps under the embossed piece that look less than perfect in person. Thankfully, through the magic of photography you can't really see that here! sneaksneak)


There's another version of
cut out pressure embossing here

(and a men's suiting pattern freebie)

-2-

for better pressure embossing:



If you'd like a deeper embossing impression, you can...

1) You can shim your embossing stack: add a piece of cardstock (or 2 or 3) to your plate stack/sandwich.
2) Use thicker cardstock - I've had great results with Strathmore 100lb Bristol Vellum paper
3) Or spritz your cardstock with water or alcohol & emboss it while damp.

If your embossing is tearing, you can...

1) Emboss two pieces of cardstock at once to prevent rips. Sometimes one will still tear but you'll have a good piece to use.
2) Spritz the cardstock with water & alcohol to make it less brittle.

Hope you're having a day
that fits like it was 'cut-out' for you!



27 comments:

Anne-Marie said...

I LOVE this! Great result and can't wait to try....er....will actually have to wait 'cos can't slope off to crafty room 'til Thursday....grrrr...but thanks for the great tutorial and tips...always love your shtuff!

Chris said...

um...I have one word for you: BRILLIANT!

Your ideas are so over the top original and fabulous. Take your time posting, it's always worth it! :) Hope you are feeling well these days. Thanks for inspiring me!

CG said...

So beautiful! What a great idea. Thank you for the tips and tricks.

Unknown said...

wow - what a fantastic effect - both the cutting out and the doily paper... like a match made in heaven is this technique for you. Its great how you come up with these things when you were meant to be doing something else - happy accident!

Love it.

Paula (UK) x x x

Linda Wescott said...

Fantastic looking piece of cardstock - a great technique, thanks for sharing. I do love happy accidents Lol. Hugs lin

Louise Brown said...

Love your card.....beautiful idea of cutting out pieces when a mistake happens. Thanks for the tip... The paper you colored turned out very nice. You've got lots of good ideas!!! TFS

Gail L said...

I love it when card making goes wrong!

Createology said...

Brilliant save. This looks fantastic and like it was meant to be. Happy creating...

Anonymous said...

Ha what a great save! I love the way this turned out :O)

gayle-rn said...

Mel,Just subscribed to your site.I think the tutorial on this embossing is absolutly terrific. Sure can't wait to try it.Thanx

sunghee said...

Genius! Genius!!! Love the colors showing through the cut out pieces. So pretty!

SaraBug said...

What a great idea. I can't wait to try it.

Carla said...

LOL, what I generally ignore when the paper tears, you turn into a fabulous resolve! I will be repeating this as I just love my folders and hate if my paper tears. When using the Thickers, won't my alpha be in reverse? What a great idea, I will have to work through how to make them right way on the project, though. So happy you are feeling better and sharing again! You're e-mails are the first to get opened..xo

Dawn said...

gotta love paper crafting...no mistakes, just turns out a little differently than planned!

beautiful as always kiddo!!

hugs!!

LorraineB said...

Mel..you are amazing (and talented)! I save your tutorials on my computer.

Clare said...

I always say you never make mistakes its just creativity going another direction.

Anonymous said...

Fantastic card as always, love it!

karen adams said...

clever idea! never would of known you didnt do it on purpose!HUGS!

karen adams

Lesley said...

Thanks for sharing your Happy Mistake with us. I must try this.

Lydia Fiedler said...

i SCREAMED when I saw this and scared my husband! Amazing!!!

leslie (crookedstamper) said...

OMG, I have this same happy accident with several of my embossing folders ALL THE TIME! You think it's my sandwich? ;/

I am going to need to do this SAVE. Brilliant!

Anthonette said...

What a brilliant tip! Your card is stunning. I never thought of cutting out a dry embossed part. It looks amazing!

Anonymous said...

Wow, talk about making lemonade from lemons. I love this card!
Carrie C

anna said...

oh, that's clever! i've got that folder, and i don't use it very often because of the crinkling-and-tearing thing. thanks for the idea!

Auntie Em said...

What a pretty card and a great way to repair the damage done by the embossing folder. I have that one and I don't think I have ever had a good result with it yet. Between your tips and the great ideas, I am going to give it another go. I always used Stickles or glue and glitter to repair the damage it does. Your doily and the pretty left over background are both beautiful. Don't you just love a two-fer? :D
Thank-you for sharing! :)

Anonymous said...

WOWZER!! I am a bit late to this party, but I am just beginning my paper crafting journey and am so wonderfully thrilled to have found your blog!! :D

I will be casing this project very soon, it is EXACTLY the kind of thing I was looking for. Reminds me of so much of hemstitching and heirloom when I sew. :) Happy to subscribe and will be back nearly daily. You are a *crafting genius*!!

Macarena said...

Thank you Mel for the inspiration. Love your blog and was scrolling whole day and couldn't stop! One of the techniques seduced me and have made my own version. Here comes the link where I mentioned about you :-)
http://macarena-creativa.blogspot.com/2015/03/floral-hello.html

Have a great weekend,
Macarena