Today I want to cover heat embossing. I’m sure that there are many blogs covering this, but I wanted to add my viewpoint and hopefully by telling my mistakes, it might save someone else.

My first attempt at heat embossing was a dismal failure. And I really mean dismal. I wasn’t really sure what I was looking for (or doing) but my sister Caro had raved about how much fun it was so I put a heat gun and some embossing powder in my first order. I don’t recall now if I remembered to use the embossing buddy but after waving the heat tool at the World Map image on the card for what felt like long enough, I rubbed my finger over the image and all the powder fell off. It was in the evening and since Caro lives in the UK and I’m in the US 5 hours behind, I couldn’t call for help so I put the tools aside.

After a chat with Caro and reading some articles that a patient friend had found, I tried again and understood what my sister had been raving about. It really is magical watching the powder heat and melt – especially the metallics since the powder is a very dull version of what you end up with. The darker colours (black, cherry cobbler) are hard to see change, especially in artificial light. Of course my first attempt was in the evening and with black powder!

I got on much better after this, but sometimes I’d forget to use the embossing buddy. The powder that this little thing leaves behind does help the embossing powder to only stick where you want it to stick. Caro’s tip was to put the embossing buddy on top of the versamark inkpad. That’s where it now lives and now I always remember to use it!

Some of Stampin’ Up!’s supplies seem a little on the expensive side. When I noticed that on Amazon I could buy twice the white embossing powder for less than half the price, I went for it figuring that the basic colours would match. And I regretted it. There’s a reason for the price and it’s QUALITY! The white that I got just doesn’t look as smooth and connected when melted as the Stampin’ Up! colours that I already have. A pot of Stampin’ Up!’s white embossing powder is in my next order.

I’ve read that you should not wave the heat gun around but also that you should for fear of scorching the paper. I haven’t scorched the paper (yet – presumably I will later on today) but I’m aware that it’s possible. I hold the heat gun about 2 inches from the paper and if it seems to be taking a little too long I wave the gun around just a bit and then come back to where I was. It works for me.

I’ve also found that you can use embossing powder with the regular Stampin’ Up! inks. They dry faster than versamark so you need to be prepared to move faster – have the embossing powder ready before you stamp. By adding clear embossing powder to a regular ink, you get a glossy shine on the image.

To sum up, here are my tips:

1. Start with a metallic and in good daylight

2. Start with a SMALL image!

3. Use the embossing buddy and store it on top of the Versamark inkpad

4. Use Stampin’ Up embossing powder – don’t forget to flick the back of the paper to remove any excess

5. Let the gun heat up a little first and use the second setting (the first is for helping things to dry faster)

6. If you use regular Stampin’ Up ink, move swiftly.

Here’s my card showing blackberry bliss ink embossed with clear embossing powder. It’s slightly out of focus at the top but it does show the glossy shine of the embossing. The gorgeous image is from a retired stamp set that my sister knew I wanted and she managed to buy it in the UK (they are often a month behind in retiring things) and gave it to me for my birthday. Thanks Caro! I have yet to use the matching embossing folder.

Other details on this card:

Base: 8.5″ by 5.5″ blackberry bliss folded in half

Top layer: 4″ by 5.25″ hello honey

Stamp set: Beautifully Baroque (retired)

Ink: Blackberry bliss

Other: Clear embossing powder, embossing buddy, heat tool.