Embossed metal tutorial

Embossing metal is fun and easy requiring only a few items which you probably already have on hand. It makes creating customized 3D embellishments for your projects possible and they look so authentic.  

First of all, you will need a piece of foil.  It needs to be reasonably thick so I often use foil pans which can be bought inexpensively or you might even find in your recycle bin.  You might also want to consider any foil seal you find on a variety of cans or containers.  The one above came off of a coffee tin but you can sometimes find them on cans of nuts or yogurt.  You will also need a block of wood.  Here I am using a wood mount from a stamp which I have unmounted but it could be one from the toy box or the workshop.  

Just rub the edge of the wood block over the foil to remove any wrinkles or embossing and make the surface nice and smooth.  

 Once it is nice and smooth, cut your shape out.  Here I cut a circle for creating the badge I was making for a card.  I used my Nestibilities but you could easily use any other die or even hand cut the shape you want.  

Embossing requires a forgiving surface beneath your metal. Here I have used a piece of fun foam but a stack of newspaper works just as well.  

I wanted a star in the middle of my shape so I centered a star die cut (SX) on the back of my shape and lightly traced it on to the metal using a pencil.  You could hand draw your image or place a printed image over it and trace lightly to transfer the image to the metal. Be sure to reverse any image or words before you emboss so it will be right reading on the front. 

Next, I embossed the image into the metal by tracing the shape with my pencil pressing medium hard.  You have to be careful because if you press too hard you will pierce the metal.  You are better off to trace the shape several times more lightly rather than to press too hard and risk making a hole where you do not want one. 

 You can see above what the star looks like on the front - the outline is raised up - embossed - in the metal.  

 I turned it over and embossed a few more details - dots, another frame and shapes in between the arms of the star.  

This is what it looks like from the front.  You can see here that I debossed (indented) the shapes between the arms of the star by applying pressure with my pencil from the front.  So as you go on, you can choose to emboss from the back and deboss from the front any of the elements you wish to add to your creation.  

You can see from the finished piece that I added some embossing inside the star as well as dots on the outside edge while I debossed all the shapes between the arms.  You could certainly also choose to pierce your metal embellishment.  I would suggest using a push pin over a stryrofoam tray to get uniform holes.  I would suggest piercing from the front so that the ragged edges created end up on the back of your creation.  Consider colouring your embossed metal embellishment using permanent markers like Sharpies or alcohol inks.  

I used 3D foam tape to adhere my shape to my scalloped circle but you could also use brads, staples, stitching, nails or eyelets to secure your 3D embellishment once you have created it!! 

Have fun!!! 

Therese

Technique book pages - moldable foam

I have joined a Technique Book Swap on AFTCM. I signed up for five techniques and this is my first one - moldable foam backgrounds. I did some research on line to see what others were doing and tried the few I had supplies for. I have some Penscore which I used for some of these backgrounds. There is also a product called Magic Stamp which is very similar and works the same way. This foam can be heated and impressed with any texture so the sky is the limit for what is possible.

This next photo shows all the pages I made for my swap using moldable foam!! Top row - PS, cedar sprig imprint and multicoloured dye ink, moldable foam packaging (packaged with a unmounted stamp to be used as a stamping surface), embossing folder imprint and blue dye ink, PS, heart buttons imprint and red dye ink. Row two - fun foam heart, part of a rubber stamp imprint and blue dye ink*, PS, cedar sprig imprint and brown dye ink, moldable foam packaging, part of a floral rubber stamp and blue dye ink. Row three - PS, lace imprint and pink dye ink, moldable foam packaging,

part of a floral rubber stamp and blue dye ink, PS, pressed leaf imprint and green dye ink.

You can see here the little fun foam heart I used to create the blue background* in the previous picture!! It turned out very cool and made a very interesting background. Who knew that fun foam could be used so creatively!!

To create the stamp, heat moldable foam about 10 seconds with a heat gun until it gets soft and smooth and immediately press it into your texture! Hold for 30 seconds or so and you have a new stamp!! The fun foam works pretty much the same way - the thicker fun foam is better for creating stamps this way. Just use a bit of double sided tape to hold the fun foam to a solid surface - piece of wood or thick plastic works well - which you can use as a handle for impressing it onto your texture. Now just apply your ink and stamp away!! They can be cleaned and reused many times if you choose to keep the design you have created. To impress a new design - simply heat again and apply to new texture!! A new stamp!! I have kept a few of the ones I have created in the past because I really like the look of the stamp and how well it makes backgrounds. You can also use foam trays in the same manner but there are warnings on the internet about health risks to heating the foam. It solidifies much more quickly so you really have to be ready when using this type of foam.

If you don't have a heat gun you can use another source but you will have to experiment to see what works and how long it takes to soften the foam. I do not recommend any sort of open flame!!! Consider using a light bulb or electric stove element.

Be on the look out for moldable foam that is disguised as garden kneelers, visors, etc. Anything that has feels like fun foam (spongy) will probably work. The thicker fun foam works better - 1/8" or more.

There is a lot of die cut fun foam available so buy the shapes you want. Otherwise, buy sheets and cut with a die cut machine, scissors or an exacto knife. You can create your own shadow stamps for any of your regular stamps by just stamping the image on the fun foam and cutting out the shape. If you have a Cricut consider using a deep cutting blade to cut out shapes!!

You can use a wide variety of colour mediums with these stamps - ink pads, acrylic paint, textile paints, etc. You can also stamp on wide variety of substrates - paper, cardstock, fabric, wood, etc.

As for textures - the sky is the limit!! Consider rice, pasta, rubber bands, pressed botanicals, rubber stamps, shells, buttons, lace, fabric, placemats, plastic canvas, beads, combs, texture plates, embossing folders, etc. Consider that the image will be reversed so in some cases writing or numbers is not your best option.

Foam trays and fun foam can not only be impressed with an image but you can also add details by using a pencil or pen and scribing the surface. Consider though that this may damage the surface enough that it cannot be heated and reused but a great way to add details to a basic shape.

Foam stamps need to be neatly stored so their surfaces are protected from contact with hard edges which over time will impress their surface and possibly ruin their impression. Thin fun foam ones can be stored in CD cases.

So buy yourself a few sheets of fun foam (craft foam), start playing and make yourself a few stamps!! Enjoy!!

Therese

Cardmaking - Pop up frame card

This card features a pop up frame working well with my theme of adding dimension!! I had seen a card with this frame on a card at Splitcoast and so set about replicating it and later discovered that they had a tutorial for creating it. It does require a ScorePal which I do have so in the end I would have had to work it anyway!! I started with a four square of heavyweight double sided decorative scrapbook paper. If you are making more than one of these the size works well into a sheet of 12x12 scrapbook paper. By working with a scrap piece of bond I discovered that I needed a square just a bit bigger than 2.75" to score the lines for the folds in the right place. So I cut cereal cardboard to the right size and placed it

diagonally on my square. Originally I was marking the two opposite sides of the square so I could ensure that my square was correctly positioned but a few in I realized that I could use the grid on my cutting mat to line up the centers of the sides with the points of my diagonally placed square - too easy!! So the process of scoring them went much more quickly after that. Once I had the square scored I folded all four corners into the middle and adjusted the fold a little to make sure that my corners were nice and tight. Then, all you have to do is fold the points back to the middle of the side to get your cute little pop up frame. I added a colour printed greeting on a neutral layer and added that to a colourful card front.

Thrifty Tip: I also created the cool little dimensional embellishments which I placed inside the frame. These are fun foam shapes all dressed up!! I used a flower die to cut the fun foam, added some pigment ink to coordinate with my paper, poured on some clear embossing powder and heated it with my heat gun. The fun foam with curl and shrink when you heat it. To create the dimension I used a flourish rubber stamp coated with pigment ink to impress the fun foam while it was still hot. Makes very cool little embellishments that are very economical to create!!

Give it a try!!

Therese