Embossed Vellum Mother's Day Card

Hi there! I'm back from a little *blog break* I guess! I've been busy catching up after being sick a bit earlier this month. I've been busy with design team work and workshop preparations....so now just to get posting some of what I've been up to!

This card features vellum embossing again. I got a question about this technique, and it is really quite simple to do! For this card, the flower petals are embossed.

• For this technique you need some white vellum. I have several kinds here that I use...one is 30# and one is 36#. Both work, but the 36# is heavier and holds the embossing better I think.
• Stamp your image on to the vellum with Stazon or Memories ink....make sure it is one that dries on vellum, and let it dry.
• When it is dry, flip the image over and place it image side down on a foam mat, mouse pad, or something of that sort. I use the red foam pad that I picked up at Joanns. I also use one of these for all of my faux stitching and piercing....but I have a *special one* that I keep with no holes in it for vellum embossing.
• Then, using a dry embossing tool, gently rub the areas that you wish to emboss. When you do this, the pressure and heat of the tool rubbing will gently stretch the vellum and turn it white! Once you get a feel for your vellum, you will learn how much pressure you can exert before you tear the vellum.

For this daisy I embossed the petals, turning them white. Then I took a Copic Marker and colored the leaves on the back side of the vellum and the flower center on the front side of the vellum. I wanted the green to be a bit more muted and the yellow to be brighter. Test your copic colors on a scrap piece of vellum as the colors look different on vellum!

I cut the flower image out and attached it to my prepared card with glue dots. A little hint here....you can easily hide glue dots behind your embossed areas without them showing!

This card is a flocked card by Heidi Grace that has an embossed window in it. I lined the inside of the card in this instance so I could tuck my flowers into it. Butterfly punch is by Martha Stewart and has been embossed with Cuttlebug's Swiss Dots Embossing Folder. Ribbon is May Arts. Both stamps are by Printworks. All of these products besides the Martha Stewart punch can be purchased through The Stamp Shoppe.

A few last ideas on Vellum Embossing:

• The embossing turns the vellum white where you apply pressure.
• To add color, you can color the right side of your image after you've embossed, but be aware this will cover up any white areas that you've embossed; they will be *bumpy* but no longer white. This will be the most vivid coloring method.
• For subtle color, color the back of the image *BEFORE* you pressure emboss, then use *GENTLE PRESSURE* and add your embossing highlights; this will allow a *frosty* version of the color show through along with the white.
• You can also color the backside of the image *AFTER* you've embossed what you want. When you add color now, the white embossing will stay white...just how cool is that?!

Hope this is clearer than a mud puddle to you.....

I made this card for a challenge over at my SBS2 sister's blog....check it out, there are goodies to be won!! Good Luck!!