Wednesday, July 2

Making Your Own Embossing Templates

While I was looking around The Paper Manor Scrapbooking Store in town, I saw these beautiful embossing templates by Lasting Impressions


They are so pretty, I couldn't resist buying - so I bought the Present and the Wedding Cake templates.  They are no different than the brass stencils I already have.  And I use them for embossing with my Big Shot.  And then suddenly.... TING!  I looked up because it felt like a light bulb suddenly appeared above my head.  What if I made my own embossing templates using my Cricut Machine?  I can cut the same image three times, glue them together, and maybe... just maybe it will be thick enough for embossing.  When I got home, I browsed through my Cricut cartridges, and took out Zooballoo, Mini Monograms and Beyond Birthdays.  It was time to play!  I chose the image and set the size I wanted.  I cut the image three times using plain scrap cardstock.  After that, I fed two of the images into my Xyron sticker machine, so the adhesive is spread out evenly.  Then, I adhered all three images together, making sure that they are aligned on top of each other perfectly.  I took out my Big Shot Machine, and I tell you all that I was praying so hard for the embossing to work.  I followed the usual embossing steps using brass stencils, sandwiched all the items accordingly and fed it to my Big Shot.  I thought my eyes were closed when I was taking each layer off.  And there it was... my very own embossed image, using my home made embossing template. 


When you buy these brass templates, each usually costs from around $3 to as high as $7 or even more.  If you have a Cricut machine, you can make your own templates, and whatever image you need at the moment, it's there, depending on the cartridge you have.  You can even make words, alphabets...   I think there is no boundary on this one.  What's also cool about this is that when they break, you just make another one.  You can cut an image to whatever size you want.  And all you need aside from your Cricut machine is cardstock and adhesive (preferrably Xyron for even distribution).  You don't need a Big Shot or any manual die cut/embossing machine to dry emboss.  You can use an embossing or stylus tip pen which is very cheap.  I have a feeling this is going to be my next video tutorial.

Here's one of the cards I made with the embossed images I created. 


I was amazed that even the intricate lines came out in the embossing.  I just cut the edges with scallop-edged scissors, and added black dots for the eyes.  I love this Koala birthday card!  Please check out the rest of the cards using my handmade embossing templates by clicking here.
By the way, my 2nd video tutorial has been out.  It's about cutting and embossing with Nestabilities dies using the Big Shot Machine.  Click here to watch the video.

I am very pleased to inform you that Scrap N' Art has just released their July/August issue yesterday.  You need to be a registered subscriber to download the EZine.  Click here for free registration.  Their 2nd issue comes with a humongous digital kit, along with other freebies.  You can see two of my pages there - another reason to be really really happy!  Also, you might want to give their Page and Project Calls a shot.  They are looking for LOs and projects for their next issue.  Check out more details by clicking here.
Finally, I just uploaded my creations for the month of June.  This month's been my most productive so far.  It's the most I've ever made in one month.  You can see them all here.  In the LO below, I decided to use a black polka-dot cardstock to match the red polka dot background of the digital page. 



I adhered matching leftover flower embellishments over the digital flowers, and I sewed around the frame to make it stand out more.  For the flourish, I stamped more flourishes on the left and applied glitter glue that's similar color to the digital flourish.  For the mini journaling, I just cut the same shape from a chipboard coaster, and applied the same colors as the digital version.  I adhered round alpha die-cuts on "back to" using Glue Dots and I chose blue to go with the color scheme.  And for the main title, I just applied clear gloss medium for it to pop out.  And then I just added leftover ribbon, button and flower outside the digital page for finishing touches.  It makes the digital layout blend in with the 12x12 cardstock.

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