Heat Embossing with the Explore

Oh so excited today - this is my first blog post for Sheila at She's a Sassy Lady!   O.K. Here goes!

Did you see the new Mix and Match embossing plates from Anna Griffin on HSN?  I'm afraid I caved and bought the set AND took the autoship option.  My shipment came in last week and I love how easy it is to customize cards for specific occasions.

It was my DD's birthday last week and I used the Happy Birthday plate to emboss the front of her card.  So pretty, but it needed embellishing to make it really special and I don't have any Anna Griffin type flowers.  Time to turn on the Explore!

I found several flowers in Design Space that have a shadow layer and a fairly intricate top layer.  (e.g. Bits and Pieces, Gypsy Wanderings, Sophie) After placing the flower on the mat, I ungrouped the layers and changed the top one to 'write' and left the shadow layer on 'cut.' The last step is to select and attach.

Using the Amy Chomas adapter, I inserted my VersaMark embossing pen, loaded the mat with vellum and pressed 'go."

Then comes the hardest part of the whole process - getting the vellum flower off the mat without touching the wet embossing ink!  I had fun trying out several different embossing powders and choosing the best alcohol marker to color the back of the flower.

Love this silver one but decided to go with a silvery white opaque powder to compliment the white-on-white look I was going for.  This technique is so easy and I want to try text, a beautiful butterfly, and maybe a poinsettia with a gold edge.   So many ideas!

Here is the finished card.  She was very impressed!  (Sorry!)

Thanks for visiting with me today!  : ) Christine

Sympathy Card

The new barn is almost completed!  DH is sorting and labeling 40+ years of 'stuff' and storing it in the cabinets we rescued from our kitchen remodel.  I was inspired to reorganize my craft supplies starting with my paper collection.  As my little sanctuary became messier and messier, I really doubted the wisdom of trying to reorganize and downsize.  However, now that it's done, I am SO happy with my room.  Yeah!

I was totally, totally, amazed at how much purple paper I have accumulated!  But I loved sorting it out and admiring all the shades and hues.  So, when I sat down to make a sympathy card for this week's BBTB2 challenge, I was very happy to dip into my purple stash.

 Most of the sympathy cards that I make, are mailed, so I try to keep them as flat as possible.  I like to add a mat, and embossing for texture and interest  I love these little flowers from the Sophie cart and the Explore cut them perfectly.  That's a quarter sitting besides the top layer of the flower.  Amazing!

The leaves are from Stretch Your Imagination, and the mat comes from Artbooking.  I chose the sentiment from the Phrases cart, but went back later into my DS file and replaced it with the "With Sympathy" sentiment from the Jasmine font cart when I saw it used on the cards by Maureen and Sharon.  So pretty.

For the inside, I used my new stamps from Robin, My PinkStamper.

I have to have a selection of Sympathy Cards in my stash since they are so hard for me to make.  If you are like me, I suggest you pop over to BBTB and scraplift a few of the DT cards.  It's on my ToDo list!   Thanks for visiting with me today.  : ) Christine