Impressive Heat Embossing (AECP Level 2)

Hi. I hope you're having a good start to your week. I've been busy preparing for visitors coming up the past few weeks and then spending time with them exploring Scotland, so card making took a bit of a back seat, despite my best efforts for it not to.

Today I have another three cards to share with you as part of my Altenew Educator Certification Program. This is the halfway point. I seem to have gotten through this round much quicker than the last one!!

Here are my three cards, with more info on how I created them below:

The cards were made for my assignment based on Impressive Heat Embossing by Svetlana Marchenko. There were six lessons in this masterclass, each with a different perspective on taking your heat embossing to a new level. I was inspired by three different challenge blogs. If ever you get stuck in a rut, join in some challenges. They are a great way to get your creativity going :)

If you've been cardmaking as long as I have, you might remember the days when you would heat your embossing powder over a toaster! I know, right?!! Thank goodness for heat guns, haha.

I loved playing around with the watercolour emboss resist effect the most; more on that next.

Card One - Emboss Resist

Simon Says Stamp's current challenge is Stamp It, so for my first card, I went with an emboss resist and some watercolouring. I loved the colours that Svetlana had used in the masterclass, and I loved the pumpkin image in this Stamptember products photo (bottom left), so went with a similar theme of orange and red:

This card was SO simple to make. I started by white heat embossing the flowers using the Altenew Captivating Blooms stamp set. Once heat set, I added little puddles of water into the petals and then dropped in colour using the Altenew Watercolour Brush Markers (Tropical Fiesta set). I used Crimson, Sunkissed and Fresh Lemon.

Tip: I found it easier to squeeze some paint onto my craft mat, and take the colour from there, rather than going direct to paper, as I didn't want to be too heavy-handed and end up ruining it. I added some water to spread the colour around, and I tilted the panel in different directions to create a watercoloured look.

Using a heat gun, I heat set the panel and once dry, I die-cut it using a rectangular die. I thought the panel would look nice with a black sentiment, so I used the Altenew Circle Sentiments set. I die-cut a circle in the watercoloured panel and then stamped and die-cut the sentiment using Obsidian Black Ink.

I then popped the circular sentiment into the hole I'd created on the panel. I wanted the panel to be raised, so I die-cut another two panels and adhered these together, with the watercolour panel on the top.

I then attached this thicker panel onto the card base and added some Altenew Antique Gold Sequins to finish.

I think this would look gorgeous in different colourways. I think it would look really pretty in royal blue and aqua.

What colours would you make it in?

Card Two - Heat Embossing for Colouring

I started my second card by stamping out the flowers and leaves using the Altenew Simple Roses stamp set and some Altenew Obsidian Pigment ink with some clear embossing powder, which I heat embossed. This was one of the first stamp sets I bought from Altenew. I love how enormous the flowers are.

I wanted to use a different colour for the flowers as I wasn't in the mood for something 'traditional' and came across this Fusion Challenge photo, so I thought I'd go for blues and yellows, with a pop of green for the leaves.

I carefully coloured the images using the following Altenew Artist Markers:

• English Country Garden (Set C): Sapphire, Persian Blue and Caribbean Sky.

• Tropical Garden (Set E): Moss, Olive and Parrot

• Sunshine Valley (Set F): Fresh Lemon and Citrus Burst.

NB. The embossed lines can damage the tips of your pens, so when you colour, it's best to take a bit more time.

Edited to add: I got an honourable mention for this card, yay!

To add some depth, I used a Prismacolour Violet pencil for more shading, and for some sparkle, I added some clear Wink of Stellar over the top.

Tip: You'll notice I used yellow with green for the leaves. It's fun to bring in a blend of colours. If you think about it, there are lots of leaves that are multi-coloured, so enjoy playing with your pens.

I then set about creating the background. Using the Altenew Deco Wallpaper Stencil, I pulled out the Citrus Burst Altenew ink cube to match the alcohol marker I'd used to add colour to the leaves, and ink blended the yellow background. I then pulled out some Versamark ink which I smooshed through the stencil again (holding it very still) to create a sticky surface which I then sprinkled with some Wow Clear Sparkle Embossing Powder before heat embossing to set. Once set, I die-cut the panel with a rectangular stitched die, attaching it to the base card.

Tip: When using delicate stencils, take your time when ink-blending. I found this stencil easier to ink blend upside down as it helped me avoid tearing the diamond shapes.

Next, I attached the blue roses to the diamond background and then worked on the sentiment. I didn't have a blue cardstock to create the shadow effect under the word 'Hello', so I created it using the Altenew Sapphire ink cube, which I swiped over some white cardstock. Once it was blue, I die-cut it using the shadow die from the Altenew Hello and Hugs Die Set.

I then die-cut the word Hello in white cardstock and adhered them together before attaching them to the card base. To finish the card, I added some 'bubble' gems from Little Things from Lucy's Cards.

Card Three - Using Stencils for Heat Embossing

While the title of this class is using stencils for heat embossing, Svetlana also taught you how to make embossed die-cut embellishments by repeatedly heat embossing.

For this card, I was inspired by the CASology: Happy challenge. I wanted to do something a bit different from the traditional Happy Birthday message, so used letters for the message instead and kept the card clean and simple.

I used the Gem Frame die from Altenew. I started by die-cutting the gem frame in white cardstock. Adding Versamark ink and embossing powder, I sprinkled my die-cut piece with some gold embossing powder and heat embossed the piece. I repeated this process three more times to build up lots of layers which resulted in a nice thickly embossed die-cut gold shape. It looks so much better in real life.

Tip: Svetlana suggested attaching your die-cut piece to a 'handle' (a piece of cardstock that you can hold while heating the piece) I used some temporary adhesive which worked well. If you don't do this, you can mark your final piece.

Once the die-cut piece was ready, I put the card together. Using the Altenew Dotted Tile Debossing Die, I cut a panel out of a teal green cardstock, which I then die cut with a rectangular die and attached to the base card. I attached the gold Gem Frame to the card base and then die-cut it again to create and attach the central aqua 'hexagon' ish (!) shape.

I kept things simple and die cut the letters 'h', and 'b' (for the words Happy Birthday) in white cardstock using the Altenew Bold Alphabet die set. I cut these three times in white and then once more in chocolate brown glitter paper. I adhered all of the letters together, finishing with the glitter on the top. This created nice thick 'chipboard' effect letters that I stuck onto the 'hexagon'. I added a bit more sparkle with my Wink of Stellar clear pen in between the gold sections.

The chocolate 'chipboard' letters made the card a bit dark, so I lifted the colour by adding a simple sentiment, 'sweet friend', stamped in Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Distress Ink using the Altenew Sweet Friend set. I then die-cut the sentiment in my new favourite sentiment strip die set. As with the glitter piece, I layered the white sentiment on three pieces of scrap card behind it to create dimension.

To finish the card, I added some little aqua pearls around the gem frame.

That brings me to the end of my cards for today. I've started the next assignment so hope to be back soon to share those cards.

Until then, happy crafting! Thanks for popping by :)

Supplies Used:

Please note: I've linked to various companies above and in the thumbnails below. Some of these are compensated affiliate links, and I may receive a small commission should you choose to buy something after clicking through. This is at no additional cost to you. I really appreciate your support.

Supplies Used:

Please note: I've linked to various companies above and in the thumbnails below. Some of these are compensated affiliate links, and I may receive a small commission should you choose to buy something after clicking through. This is at no additional cost to you. I really appreciate your support.