Tutorial - embossing and NEW sketches to play!!!!!

HOORAY!! there is a new sketch blog up and running - i know...i have a hard enought ime keeping up with the ones i already love, but a friend of mine who's work i ADORE is one of the girls doing it **waving to Amy - go girl!** So here is the first sketch:And my card - a father's day card for my dad - yes i just made it - somehow i thought father's day was next weekend EEEEEK!!!!! oh well he is late for everything anyway so it's all good. I turned the sketch on it's side and changed where i put my little embellishment to fit my image.

I have had a great many requests for tutorials on the ranger and other products i sell in the store so i have finally given in and today will be the first installment. i will focus on one product family each week and post tutorials using it in a variety of ways since the products can be SO versatile. This week we will look at embossing techniques with different types of embossing powders. Today is the basics using clear embossing powders. The card above has two techniques with the clear detail embossing powder.

First your basic tools:

(OK minus all the junk in the background) - you need Versamark, colored embossing or pigment inks - Rangers distress inks work well and their new adirondack pigment inks and the brilliance dew drop pigment inks all work very well. Clear embossing powder - i use Ranger powders because i find them to be superior to stampendous. SU powders are also good but i have only used clear and rainbow ice. I have not tried others..... a heat gun, i have had the one above for years and years. i'd like to replace it with the one from ranger BUT it has not been in stock for months on end.....I also highly recommend getting the little tray above as it is just much more convenient and helps save the excess powder sort of like when you glitter something and shake off the excess. Also an embossing buddy - mine is from SU, i think they have some at Michaels - this eliminates static cling and oils, etc that may make some powder stick where you don't want it.

for the first image, Dancing with Pezzy, I want embossed black outlines so after swiping the embossing buddy across the cardstock I will ink up using rangers pitch black pigment ink and stmp onto my paper. pour clear embossing powder over the image - you don't need to rush so that you make yourself nervous as the ink will stay wet for several minutes. gently shake off the excess, lightly tap the back if necessary but not too hard or you could kock off the powder you want too.

In the picture above i tried to show you the unmelted powder - you can see the graininess before you heat it. i ALWAYS heat under an ott light so i can see the change in the powder take place as it melts. if you overheat the powder will melt into the paper and disappear or you could burn your paper. For most powders you will SEE the difference under a good light as the grains melt into each other and become shiny.

Here is the image completed. notice how shiny black the lines are and they have a raised surface from the paper.

Next we will do our background piece using Drop Scallops. Embossing powder acts as a resist. I swipe the cardstock with the embossing buddy. Ink up the background stamp with the versamark. Versamark is a colorless, versatile sticky ink. Stamp onto your cardstock and then cover in clear embossing powder. Heat until melted and shiny:

Next i want to color my background to make my design pop out. I ADORE the ranger foam ink blending tool. I wanted to do something in yellows and greens to match Pezzy so i picked out a couple inks to start with:

I ink up one short side of the foam with one color. The trick to getting a gorgeous, soft covering of color is to keep the tool in motion - i work over a non-stick craft sheet and touch the foam lightly to the sheet and start moving it in a circular motion and then move onto the paper. this also makes the edges automatically darker (works FAB for cricut cut detailing too).
i ended up adding two other colors to get just the look i wanted. once the piece is covered in ink i lightly wipe it with a paper towel to "shine up" the embossed image and get any ink off of it.

Below are two images stamped with colored pigment ink and then clear embossed to show the difference. The top two are embossed and the bottom two are not.

I will cover other powders and techniques throughout the week including the fantastic distress embossing powders so stay tuned!!! Have fun!