Welcome to another Make It Monday!
It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve managed to get a Make It Monday post up on a Monday! Ah, lazy summer days!
Today I’m taking inspiration from “one of the greats” – Jennifer McGuire. She’s got a fabulous YouTube channel and website that you have to check out!
One of her older videos popped up in the “suggestions for you” sidebar one day and it led down a bit of a YouTube rabbit hole. A fun rabbit hole to be sure, but one I probably shouldn’t have explored on that particular day!
It was this video that inspired the cards I made for today’s post.
See them come together in my own video below.
What do you think? Want to give it a try?
It’s pretty easy if you remember these tips:
1 – Using two different shades of the same colour gives best results (IMHO).
2 – Experiment a LOT! I’ve made all of my backgrounds with the lighter shade in the background (the recessed areas in the embossing) with the darker shade acting as highlighting to pick out and emphasize the pattern of the folder. But that is clearly not the only way to do things. Try it reversed and see what you think.
3 – Go lightly! Don’t press down with your stamp pad at either stage of the process. Rather, rub lightly, in a circular motion, until you reach your desired coverage. You’ll see from the close up shots below that there is a fair bit of white card stock showing through where the ink didn’t reach. I’m okay with this look. In fact, I like it! I think it adds to the overall texture of the finished card.
4 – I’ve chosen to die cut my inked and embossed papers after the fact but, and I cannot stress this enough, if you want them at a specific size you are better off cutting your card stock to that size first. I have found it very difficult to cut embossed paper with my trimmer. It gets jammed and torn which generally leads to yelling, throwing of supplies, and other not so ‘adult’ behaviours! Learn from my mistakes and either cut your card stock to the size you need first, or die cut it like I did after inking and embossing.
And finally, my cards.
The oranges of the inks I chose directed my decision to choose gold embossing powder for the sentiment. Black would look very striking too, or you could keep it monochromatic with a deep orange.
Don’t be afraid to do the unexpected! That globe die was definitely not what I originally thought I’d use on this card, but I absolutely love it! And that strip of blue star patterned paper, that was just laying at the side of my trimmer, was the perfect finishing touch. Sometimes, you have to let your supplies and your surroundings guide your creative process!
One last word on this process and then I’ll let you go. I know I’ve used it to make cards, and Jennifer McGuire used it in her videos to make cards, but I think this would look amazing on a scrapbook layout. Perhaps as a tiled detail on a very geometric page. Or as one of the layers behind a photo on a more ‘artsy’ page. If I try it I’ll share it and you promise to do the same!
Have a great week everyone!