Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Rolling with the Punches


Embossing powder and me: we have a love-hate relationship. They are so fun and colorful and add dimension and depth to almost any project. Yet, there's something sinister....No matter how I try, I rarely achieve a perfectly embossed image. I even switched from my off-brand embossing ink to VersaMark. Improved, yes; flawless, far-from. My problems frequently include too little embossing powder, or the stamped image isn't crisp, or there's rogue dust fixed in the wrong place...on and on and on. Today's card show one such "trial" with white embossing powder.

First I stamped on the colored blocks (1") and embossed with white powder, I matted them on white squares (1-1/8"). After adhering the matted color blocks on the card I stamped a sentiment with VersaMark and embossed with white powder. After heating I noticed there really wasn't enough powder for the crisp image I wanted. When you're adding more powder, time is a factor. So I got my powder ready, heated up my sentiment again and poured more powder on before the sentiment had time to cool. Alas, I was too fast! Can you believe that?! The card base was still so hot that the powder I poured on melted right to the paper. Grrrr! So I decided to just go with it. I did VersaMark direct to paper technique and sprinkled white embossing powder haphazardly to make the rogue powder look intentional. Not a bad turn out, just not what I had envisioned. Oh well. My saga with embossing powders continues....

Supplies:
Cardstock base: The Paper Company - blue
Paper: The Paper Company - various colors
Stamps: Inkadinkado - Circle and dots, American Crafts - Thanks
Ink: VersaMark - clear embossing ink
Accessories: American Crafts embossing powder- white

Thanks for looking! Feel free to leave questions or comments!
Jessica