Inspired Stamps: Embossing Techniques using the Cuttlebug...with photos!

Hello and welcome here!  This month is a busy month over at Inspired Stamps, the DT are sharing some Tutorials and there is a New Release to enjoy.  I'm sharing a Tutorial today, there is a New Release tomorrow, and Chere is sharing a Tutorial on Thursday!  So grab a cup of coffee and enjoy today's Tutorial.

I decided to share some photos of:

How to emboss a design using a Spellbinders die, 

How to partially emboss frames using an embossing folder,

How to emboss a Spellbinders shape using an embossing folder.

These are not by any means new techniques but I've had a few emails lately asking how I emboss, so I thought I would do a short Tutorial for all of you to enjoy.  I like sharing photo tutorials instead of doing a video tutorial because you can save an image or 2 along the way to help you remember certain steps, so feel free to 'Save' along the way.  There may be other ways out there on the same embossing techniques, the following methods are what work for me. These Techniques will work in other machines, I just happen to have a Cuttlebug...I unfortunately don't know the 'sandwiches' or Plates you would need for other matchines. Great, so let's get started!!

How To Emboss A Design Using Spellbinders Dies

Card Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

This is an example of using your Spellbinders die to emboss your card rather than using it to cut out the shape.  I have made a couple of different card versions of the embossed snowflake over the years, they make for quick, yet beautiful Christmas cards.  I have used Inspired Stamps Blessed Little Christmas sentiment to finish off the front.

First you are going to want to line up your die where you want to emboss your snowflake.  I embossed it in the lower left-hand corner.  (I used a small piece of Post-It Note to hold my 2 dies together.

Carefully turn over your paper and die to emboss in the Cuttlebug.

To emboss the snowflake you use the same 'sandwich' you would use when embossing after you die-cut your shape.  NOTE:  You don't want to over-shim your Cuttlebug, if it is too tight you will end up cutting through your cardstock instead of embossing.  (A shim is 1 or 2 pieces of cardstock to keep your Cuttlebug cutting or embossing correctly.  If you find that delicate dies are not cutting properly or all the way through, try adding a shim between the A Plate and C/B Plate.)

Here's a photo of the 'sandwich' to use:

(This is NOT how you will emboss your cardstock but just a photo illustration of the 'sandwich')

Stacking from the bottom up: (see photo)

A Plate

Shim (if needed)

B Plate

Spellbinders die

Cardstock you want embossed

Embossing Mat

B Plate

This is what you should have once you've embossed:

Inside:

Recipe:  Inspired Stamps SS-Blessed Little Christmas, Bazzill CS-blue, CTMH White Daisy CS, CTMH Ink-Moonstruck, Black & Buttercup, Spellbinders-Snowflake Pendant, Rhinestones.

Of course this technique will work with other dies that use the same 'sandwich' as Spellbinders...Memory Box, Cheery Lynn, Marianne Designs etc.

How To Partial Emboss - 

Making Frames Using An Embossing Folder

Card Sizes:  4.25" x 5.5"

There are embossing folders out there that have an embossed frame but we all have our favourite folders that we wished we could use.  Partial embossing is one way that you can use all your folders as frames.  I used Inspired Stamps Isaiah 41:10 for the front of my card.

Before I show you how partial embossing is done I need to show you a couple of different ways to achieve this.

Tim Holtz sells Embossing Diffusers, they come 3 in a pack.

You can also make your own using chipboard...I used chipboard that came with my Elmer's Glue sticks. If you make your own you will need a few shims because the homemade ones will probably be thinner than a B Plate.

The first thing you do is put the piece of cardstock you want to emboss in the embossing folder...don't forget to center it.  Then you are going to center the Diffuser on top of the folder.

Centered:

NOT centered:

Now you are going to put it through the Cuttlebug.  

Here's the 'sandwich':

(This is NOT how you will emboss your cardstock but just a photo illustration of the 'sandwich')

Stacking from the bottom up:

A Plate

Shim (if needed)

B Plate

Embossing Folder with cardstock inside

Embossing Diffuser

The Embossing Diffuser takes the place of the 2nd B Plate.

This is what you will have once you've embossed your cardstock.

I added a border using a fine black felt tip pen and pierced holes around it.

Inside:

Recipe:  Inspired Stamps SS-Isaiah 41:10, CTMH White Daisy CS, CTMH Black Ink, Bazzill CS-pink & light green, Craft Concepts Budding Vine EF, Tim Holtz Embossing Diffusers, Marianne Designs Flourish-LR0116, Martha Stewart Scroll Lace Border Punch, White Grosgrain Ribbon, Black Felt Pen, (Inside: Inspired Stamps SS-Spring Sketches, CTMH Inks-Black & Baby Pink).

Is there a way to add a border using a Spellbinders die?  Yes, again this is how I did it, there may be different methods out there.

Before you use the Diffuser, you are going to emboss your frame using the same method that we used in the very first example - How to emboss a design using a Spellbinders die.  Center your die, carefully turn your cardstock and die over and emboss. 

After you've embossed the oval remove the die and place your cardstock into your folder making sure it's centered.  Place the Diffuser on top making sure that the embossed oval is centered in Diffuser oval. Emboss in your Cuttlebug.

After you've removed your double embossed cardstock from the folder the intial oval embossing will be flattened slightly.  Place the oval die back onto the lines and use your fingers to re-imboss the oval.

Here's what your cardstock piece will look like after all the steps are completed:

Recipe:  Inspired Stamps SS-Isaiah 41:10, CTMH White Daisy CS, CTMH Black Ink, Bazzill CS-pink & light green, Craft Concepts Budding Vine EF, Tim Holtz Embossing Diffusers, Marianne Designs Flourish-LR0116, Martha Stewart Scroll Lace Border Punch, White Grosgrain Ribbon, Spellbinders Petite Ovals Lg.

NOTE:  Basic shapes work better as Diffusers.  Making and using Diffusers with detailed shapes like a scalloped oval or a lacy circle won't translate very well to your cardstock...although the finer your embossing folder pattern the more detailed the shape may be.

How To Emboss Spellbinders Using Embossing Folders

Card Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

Have you ever wanted to emboss your Spellbinder dies and still keep a nice smooth edge?  I'll show you how you too can master this technique.  I used Inspired Stamps Tags 'Merry Christmas' sentiment for my card. 

The trick to embossing (or debossing - when the pattern goes INTO the cardstock instead of  'popping' out, and is easier to achieve a crisp look for this technique) is to use your folder AND the embossing mat.  You may wonder why not just use the folder like normal?  You'll ruin your folder if you try to emboss a Spellbinder in it.  

First you'll want to die-cut the shape you plan to use...leave the cardstock IN the die.

Next you're going to emboss your design in the Cuttlebug.

Here's the 'sandwich':

(This is NOT how you will emboss your cardstock but just a photo illustration of the 'sandwich')

Stacking from the bottom up:

A Plate

Shim (if needed)

Embossing Folder - Opened*

Spellbinders Die with cardstock already die-cut

Embossing Mat

C Plate

*It is very important to remember to leave your folder open or you will ruin it.

This is what you should have when you're done embossing

Here you can see that the Spellbinder 'protects' the fancy edges from being embossed by the folder.

Why don't you emboss the pattern like you normally would do?  I find that the smaller the pattern, the less detail the embossing mat can achieve - the mat is thicker and cannot 'push' into each hole.  Normally the embossing folder is closed and will 'push' the cardstock into each hole and achieve a very crisp emboss.

Here's the final piece without the die.

Inside:

Recipe:  Inspired Stamps SS-Tags, PP-BoBunny Elf Magic Mischief, CTMH CS-White Daisy, Kraft CS, CTMH Black Ink, Spellbinders-Floral Ovals & Create-a-Flake 5, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots EF, Paper Studio Snowflake Felt Brads, (Inside:  Inspired Stamps SS-Blessed Little Christmas, CTMH Black Ink).

This week I posted which Inspired Stamps stamp sets I used under each card, I decided it was easier that way since this is such a long post...I have the links there as well!

Inspired Stamps STORE.

Inspired Stamps BLOG.

Please join us tomorrow for some New Releases, and on Thursday for Chere's Tutorial, her link is in my sidebar.

Deneen

Cuttlebug Mania Nature Challenge

This is my second post for today, if you're looking for the Top Tip Tuesday Challenge please scroll down.

Hello and welcome here! Cuttlebug Mania is now changing to 2 weeks for each challenge, that gives you lots of time to join in with us!!  This week it's a Nature challenge, anything to do with nature like flowers or animals etc. works....just don't forget to use your Cuttlebug or other manual machine!

Challenge - Nature

 For a chance at winning an awesome prize, link your creation over at Cuttlebug Mania.

Don't forget to let us know how you used your Cuttlebug!

Card Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

I was going for a nature silhouette scene here, lol.  Hopefully it doesn't look to spooky.  I ink a large acrylic block with blue, light yellow, dark yellow and red inks, I then spritzed the ink lightly with water and immediately stamped my CS, the result looks like a watercoloured background.  I let it dry and then added my die-cut scene.

Inside:

Recipe:  CTMH CS-White Daisy, Bazzill CS-black, CTMH Ink-Black, Garden Green, Breeze, Buttercup, Sunflower & Smoothie, Memory Box-Grand Oak Tree & Resting Birds, Our Daily Bread-Fence Die, CTMH SS-Say It In Style & Live Inspired, JustRite SS-Grand Sentiments.

Cuttlebug Items Used:

Memory Box Grand Oak Tree Die

Memory Box Resting Birds Die

Our Daily Bread Fence Die

Don't forget you now have 2 weeks for each Challenge!  For more Nature inspiration be sure to check out the rest of the DT's creations, their links are in my sidebar.

Enjoy,

Deneen

Inspired Stamps Alphabet Stamps

 Hello and welcome here!  This week at Inspired Stamps we're showcasing alphabet stamps, and Antoinette has several great ones to choose from.

Card Sizes: 4.25" x 5.5"

 I used the newly released Solid Alphabet Upper Case for the front of my card.  I'm always needing Birthday cards for my stash, so I also used the same technique and stamps for a masculine card, just scroll down to see it.  I inked my letters with my lightest ink first, and then gently rolled the stamp from the bottom up, into my darker ink...the result is a 2-toned sentiment!

Inside:

For the inside I used the Label Maker Alphabet, it's perfect for when you need a smaller sized sentiment.

Recipe:  Inspired Stamps SS-Solid Alphabet Upper Case & Label Maker, PP-Basic Grey Kissing Booth Butterfly Kisses, CS-Bazzill light purple & dark purple, Glitter CS-American Crafts Mulberry, Spellbinders-Resplendent Rectangles,  Decorative Dress Forms & Jewel Flowers and Flourishes, Marianne Designs Frame LR0116, CTMH Ink-Black, Foam Squares, Paper Studio Gemstones, Corner Rounder.

Here's the masculine version of the 2-toned sentiment.  Same stamp set, and I inked the stamp in green, and rolled from the bottom using Moonstruck.

Inside:

For the inside I used the Label Maker Alphabet, and the outlines that come with it too!

Recipe:  Inspired Stamps SS-Solid Alphabet Upper Case & Lable Maker Alphabet, PP-BoBunny Mama Razzi2 Shutterbug & CartaBella Well Traveled Postage, CTMH Ink-Garden Green & Moonstruck, CS-Bazzill dark brown, Foam Squares, Dollarama Stars, Spellbinders-Labels 28.

Inspired Stamps Used:
Solid Alphabet Upper Case
Label Maker Alphabet

Inspired Stamps Blog  Link
Inspired Stamps  Store Link

Be sure to check out which Alphabet stamps the rest of the DT used, their links are in my sidebar!
Enjoy,
Deneen


Don't forget Google Reader is disappearing June 1st, you can follow me using Bloglovin

Birthday Cards

Welcome here! These cards are a little over-exposed, but you can still see the details. I had them ready to post quite a while ago, but never got around to filling in the details. So I told myself to sit down and do it already, lol

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Card Sizes: 4.25" x 5.5"

This is a super simple card to make, just 2 pieces of B&T Paper, some lace, a tag and some flowers.

Recipe: CTMH PP-Sweetheart, CTMH CS-White Daisy, CTMH Ink-Black, Blush, Vineyard Berry, Olive & New England Ivy, CTMH SS-Happy Birthday & Happy Forever.

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This card was difficult to photograph because I made my own homemade shimmer mist (in a spritzer add some rubbing alcohol, a drop of CTMH Create-A-Shade Paint & a few drops of CTMH Re-Inker). I stamped the doily image (new CTMH SS-Simple Memories) with Versamark and clear embossed it. I then sprayed the cardstock with my homemade shimmer mist and wiped the image off...just in case any ink stayed on it. I really is shimmery, but it's difficult to photograph.

Recipe: CTMH CS-Lagoon, Black & White Daisy, CTMH Ink-Black & Breeze, CTMH SS-Simple Memories, Happy Birthday & Curly Sentiments, Versamark, Clear Embossing Powder, Ribbon, Martha Stewart Eyelet Lace Border Punch, Pearls, Mist-Rubbing Alcohol, Create-A-Shade Paint & Ocean Reinker.

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Enjoy!

Deneen

What Is Smooch?

(Grab your coffee, this is another llloooooooonnnng post, but well worth the read!!)
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Welcome to another edition of Deneen's Behind The Scene. (Lol, I just made that up, sounds good though). Last time we looked at Spellbinders Impressabilities - How to get a great impression, and ways to use them. You can find Part 1 HERE, and Part 2 HERE. This time I am going to take a look at Smooch.
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Like me, you may have wondered what Smooch is. Well, I hope to clear that up for you today!! Sharon, from The Scrapbook Cottage, sent me home with some bottles of Smooch to play with. As I looked on the Net for ideas, I found that there really wasn't much out there. I thought, "If I can't find much about Smooch, then others aren't either...how many bottles of Smooch are stashed away in the back of people's drawers being unused?" I must admit, I was feeling a little ho-hum about them too. "It's just another way to embellish projects," I thought. Well, let me tell you, once I got playing with them, the ideas kept coming of where I could use it. So let's dig in and I hope I can inspire you to dust off your bottles of Smooch!! (and no, I am not being paid to advertise Smooch, lol, I just hate buying products that end up not being used because I was disappointed with it when I tried it at home)
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Here were the colours I worked with, even the names are yummy sounding. Luscious Lime, Grape Soda, Kiwi, Nautical Navy, Pool, Moonlight and Taffy.

Smooch is made by Clearsnap, and comes in these cute bottles. Although it looks like nail polish, it isn't. It's a pearlescent ink, but works like acrylic paint. The tip is very stiff...you can get into the smallest corners...but you can also use it like a brush. (I don't have a picture of it, but I'll add it to the bottom of the post later.)

One of the ways to use smooch is to highlight embossing. Here, I used the same colours (Taffy, Grape Soda, Luscious Lime, Pool, Moonlight) of Smooch on 2 different colours of cardstock...and the looks are very different.

By tilting the paper slightly, you can see how pearlescent Smooch is.

Wouldn't it look great for snowflakes? I grabbed my snowflake embossing folder and tried it.

I started to find that each Smooch colour has it's own pearlescent qualities. Although Nautical Navy doesn't 'shine' as well here, as you read further on, you'll see where it does.

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Oooooo, then I grabbed my Christmas tree folder to highlight some elements.

In real life you don't have to tilt the pieces up that much, but I'm not a photographer, so it's very difficult to capture the shine of Smooch.

I love that you can use both light and dark cardstock. Here, I learned that if you take short strokes, you'll get a smoother, less blotchy looking image. Here I used long strokes, thinking I could paint it, that's why he looks blotchy.

I couldn't capture the 'shine' as well, but the snowman is very pearlescent.

(Sorry about my fingers in the shot, but if I cropped it any closer, it got a little blurry and didn't look as nice:)

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Like I said earlier, you can treat Smooch like acrylic paint. Another way to use Smooch is by colouring/painting your stamp, I then spritzed it lightly with water and stamped it. I spritzed it lightly with water again, and stamped and even one more time. It gives it a watercoloured effect.

Here I 'painted' my stamp, huffed on it (huffed=breathing on it like when you warm your cold hands up), then stamped it, huffed on it again, and stamped it once more.

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Oops, I just noticed I took the picture upside down. The top 2 are huffed, the bottom 2 are spritzed with water. You can click on the photo to see it closer.

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Again, I discovered that different stamps worked 'nicer' with the watercolouring technique. Look at how great it worked with this stamp.

The stamped images do have some pearlescent-ness to them, but it's a different look than when you add it directly to the image. The Smooch appears to dry on your stamp, but comes off the stamp very easy when I cleaned it on my Scrubber.

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Another way to use Smooch is to colour your flowers! Here I tried out different colours to see how they looked. It was very quick and easy to colour, and dries almost immediately, so I could hold the coloured petals while finishing the uncoloured ones.

This is where I found the Nautical Navy amazing!! Can you image flowers coloured with Nautical Navy for wedding invitations etc.? Very nice.

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Another way to use Smooch is to colour your images with it. Here I embossed the image with Silver Pearl, and then coloured in the image (I left the middle image plain so you can see what the image looks like before colouring.) It amazing on dark cardstock!! I could even colour the embossing...see the stems of the hanging flower...and it doesn't come off.

Here I used different coloured cardstock, again, you get a different effect.

I couldn't quite capture the shine...Grape Soda, and Taffy don't seem to shine as much in this technique.

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Here I coloured in images that I stamped with ink. Some of the Smooch colours are more opaque than others (opaque=not transparent, a solid colour) For instance, Kiwi I coloured over the inked lines, and could still see the line. Moonlight was a little more opaque, it didn't allow the inked lines to show through as much.

I almost forgot to mention, I made the tiny dots on the purple flower with the tip of the Nautical Navy applicator.

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Another way to use Smooch is as a highlight. The top flower I coloured with Copics, and then highlighted the dark purple areas with Grape Soda. The bottom flower I coloured with Smooch, and highlighted the left flower with Nautical Navy, and didn't highlight the right flower to show you the difference.

It's difficult to capture the pearlescent-ness on film.

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Excuse the images, lol, these were just practice colourings I pulled out of my stash. But they work great for highlighting with Smooch. The polkadots on the umbrella were red, I coloured them with Smooch. Again, you can see how different Smooch colours vary in how opaque they are. I added Smooch to her collar, and boots, and made a puddle from Nautical Navy.

See it shine!!

Again this is just a practice image, but I added raindrops with Smooch, and a puddle! Same image, but a totally different look!!! How exciting is this Smooch now!?! I found way more possibilities for Smooch than I initially thought there would be.

All together now.......Wow, no way!! Isn't that the neatest thing you've seen? At least today, lol!

Well, I'm at the end of what I have to show you, but at the beginning of many more possibilities with Smooch. I hope I've opened that drawer for you, and all you have to do is grab that dusty Smooch bottle, open it, and go play!!

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This is what I love about blogging, being able to share what I have learned with all of you!! I've done the work so that you can go play:)

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I'll try and get those pictures of the applicator loaded today.

Enjoy, and be sure to post and show me and others how you have used Smooch!!! And let me know if there is a product/technique that you have always wondered about. I may feature it in an upcoming episode!!

Deneen

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Ack, I almost forgot, some of the other ways to use Smooch (which I don't have photos of):

*Colouring on metal embellishments (again, some colours colour nicer than others)

*Colour on brads...coloured and metal. Add Nautical Navy to a big red brad...you have a ladybug:)

It takes longer to dry on metal...I left them at The Scrapbook Cottage overnight...I have yet to go check on them.

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Cheers!

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Edited to add photos:

Here is the Smooch brush.