Ink It! Stamp It! Design Team Blog Hop: Technique - Embossing Mats

Welcome to the Ink It! Stamp It! Design Team Blog Hop - we hop every month so be sure to pop back and visit us again!  Today our theme is Techniques.

I love learning new techniques - so this is one of my favourite blog hops!  If you also like techniques - you'll want to use the list at the end of this post to click on the name after mine to continue around the hop.  You are currently at my page - Stephanie Fischer, The Crafty Thinker.  

The gorgeous Blended Seasons stamp set & coordinating Stitched Seasons dies
will only be available 1-31 August 2018 or while stocks last

For this project I've used some limited-time products: Blended Season stamp set and the coordinating Stitched Season Framelit dies.  These are currently available to Demonstrators and will be available to our customers from 1 - 31 August while supplies last. 

Anyone who knows me also knows that I love versatility - I like to make sure I get full value from my purchases!  Stampin' up! recently introduced into their range a Big Shot accessory that can add versatility to the dies in our collection.  I'm talking about the Big Shot Embossing Mats.

This technique is much easier to do than to photograph!  I've increased the contrast in the top photograph in an attempt to show the embossing on the card.

Having cut a piece of Shimmery White cardstock to size, I used a little washi tape to position one of the dies on the back of the card and ran it through the Big Shot with the Embossing Mats using the embossing technique shown here.

With the help of the Embossing Mats, this card front is embossed with one of the Stitched Seasons dies

My colour test patch

I then used Soft Sea Foam ink to stamp the floral image which I coloured with Stampin' Blends alcohol markers.  The colours I used were: Granny Apple Green Light and Dark, Poppy Parade Light and Dark, Cherry Cobbler Dark, Calypso Coral Dark and Daffodil Delight Dark.  

TIP:  Before I start colouring with alcohol markers, I like to test them on an off-cut of the cardstock that I'm using.

The base card is Poppy Parade with a layer of Granny Apple Green.  Using the coordinating dies, I cut the flourishes from Poppy Parade cardstock and cut the bow twice: once in Granny Apple Green and once in Garden Green and did a little paper piecing.

TIP:  Adding some Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet to the back of the cardstock before cutting intricate pieces makes them much easier to adhere to the project!

If you like the very versatile Blended Seasons stamp set and Stitched Seasons dies (here is a watercoloured card made with the set and in future posts I'll be sharing some Christmas cards), remember they're a limited release so get your order in fast!  If you can't wait until 1st August to get your hands on them, join up as a Demonstrator and you can include them in your kit.

Thank you so much for joining us today and we hope you'll join us again next month when we'll be showcasing the new Holiday Catalogue! 

I'm Stephanie Fischer and to keep hopping around see the list below to see who is up next with another great project.

Thanks for visiting
'Til next time
Stephanie

Product List - All available in my online store (Limited release products available from 1 to 31 August 2018)

Poppy Parade A4 Cardstock

$14.75

Granny Apple Green A4 Cardstock

$14.75

Shimmery White A4 Card Stock

$15.75

Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets

$17.00

Big Shot Embossing Mats

$26.00

Big Shot

$159.00