This month’s challenge is Embossing and I have to say that it is by far one of my most favorite things to do in cardmaking, it is just magical the way that embossing powder melts to give you a shiny, raised sentiment, pattern or element to color. This set of cards uses Embossing all of those ways and also adds another which most people do not obviously go to but I will also show you some examples of detail embossing.

For these cards, I used two older Hero Arts woodblock background stamps that are so flexible I have used them both over and over, combined with white die-cut backgrounds and the Togetherness Flower Bouquet stamp set and sentiments from one of the first My Monthly Hero Kits that I thought went well with this combo. These projects really show how much fun it is to collect things you like and mix them up with your other favorites. The formula for all these cards was One large floral + stamped and embossed background +Wide layered sentiment strip. I like to make multiples of cards and my process starts with making all of the parts to mix and match, so first I stamped two charcoal grey and two pink backgrounds and 3 bouquets and die cut a couple of panels of the white background die. I also pulled out different sentiments and made matching cardstock strips as well.

For the two cards above I watercolored the Flowers with some Hero Hues Inks and a waterbrush. The top one with the gold embossing I kept the bouquet whole but for the bottom one I cut off the bottom flowers off of it and another for another card shown below. On the other pink card with the bouquet embossed in white on the background I also used selective embossing, where I used an embossing pen and colored over parts of the petals and used white satin pearl embossing powder to them. You can use detail embossing to add gold accents or highlights or give a more continuous look to differently colored items such as the two cards below.

So let’s count the embossing ways…  1- Embossing a flower or other for containing your water-coloring, 2- Embossing a background with clear embossing powder for a subtle pattern, 3-Embossing a dark color background with white ink and clear embossing powder and 4- detail embossing using an embossing pen to add selective details to small areas of your cards. with background.

I hope you like these cards and that they gave you some inspiration for other ways to add embossing to your cards. Make sure you join in the challenge. You have until 5pm EST on the 10th of August to enter the challenge via the link tool below!