THREE CHEERS FOR THE "EMBOSSING BUDDY"

THIS ARTICLE IS A TIP!!!  Using the Embossing Buddy

As I was finishing my last bunch of Christmas cards this morning (yes, really) I tried to sort of take a short cut that I thought was working.  I stamped, using Scenic Season, right on to my Hunter Green card stock, using White Craft Ink followed by Heat & Stick powder, without using my Embossing Buddy.  I gently heated the Heat & Stick powder with the Heat Tool.  So far so good.  Then I sprinkled my Dazzling Diamonds glitter over the trees.  Beautiful sparkles and glittering but it didn't just shake off. I had to really brush it off rather vigorously with a large paint brush.  OK.  Lesson not learned because I then went back and stamped Merry Christmas, from Stampin' Up!'s retired All Year Cheer III stamp set, again with  White Craft ink, followed by White Embossing Powder.  It too remained almost everywhere, especially inside the letters of the greeting.  I had to brush out what I didn't want with a teeny tiny paint brush and that didn't get rid of all of the unwanted the powder.  After heat setting the embossing powder with my Heat Tool I had little (ugly) splatterings in way too many places that I didn't want it.  I've been stamping for well over 15 years and should certainly know better.  I was just trying to 'get away with it'. 

You might say the sparkles below look good around the trees but you can also tell it doesn't belong there!  Click on the picture to enlarge it and have a good look.  Check out the words while you're at it.

At about card #5 (out of 20) I thoroughly used my Embossing Buddy on the entire piece of Hunter Green cardstock.  My, my, what a clean crisp difference.  Lesson learned.  Henceforth, I will always use my Embossing Buddy when using any kind of embossing powder.

The photo below is WITH the Embossing Buddy being used.

TIP #2: Scoring an entire sheet of card stock prior to cutting.  Next thing to do for my cards was to cut the card itself from an 8-1/2" x 11" piece of card stock.  Rather than cut the card stock into 2 pieces, 8-1/2" x 5-1/2", I first scored the card stock, lengthwise, at 4-1/4".  Then, when I cut it into two pieces for cards I didn't have to score two pieces.  I was able to score only once. 

Why do I score my card stock for a card?  It makes the fold much neater and crisper.  Simple as that.

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Final thought for today:  Where I sit in my stampin' studio is directly across from 3 narrow windows. 

We had a lovely snow fall overnight that remained on the trees for us to see when we got up this morning.  Later came intermittent snow, sun and clouds.

It is just so pleasant to look out these windows while stamping, thinking and daydreaming.  To think that this room was once a bedroom (over the garage) with a solid wall.  The windows are such an improvement.  :)

I hope you have a wonderful day.  I'll see you again tomorrow.

Comments

[Linda DeJongh]

Oh, SO gorgeous of a view! You have such a pretty place out there!