{Spotlight Project} Shirley Experiments with White Embossing

For the Caffeinated Christmas stamp release hop + comment to win, click here.

I wanted to create a card with white embossing and Distress Ink wash background, and I couldn't decide whether to emboss first or lay the wash down first, so I thought I'd try both methods side by side to see which was more effective.

I stamped and white-embossed my images on one card panel using the Artsy Border Maker set by Shery, and on a separate card panel laid down a colour wash:

Then I stamped and embossed the images to the pre-washed panel, and added a wash to the pre-stamped panel:

You can see that on the pre-stamped panel that had the colour added later (on the left), the white embossing is vibrant and better defined than on the pre-washed panel (on the right). I think it's because the layer of colour wash had changed the panel's absorbent properties slightly, allowing the Versamark ink to soak in more easily, and therefore hold less embossing powder. So the moral of the story for me is to emboss before colour washing.

Incidentally, I used Shari Carroll's Distress Ink recipe cards (available as downloads) for my colour palette. I find them really useful, because quite often I reach for the same Distress Ink colours and ignore some of the others, so these cards push me to use colour combinations I wouldn't normally think of. I printed out my recipe cards, mounted them onto black card and put them on an O ring for easy reference.

I stamped a couple of images from The Bee's Knees WorldBirthdayCakes onto spare card, coloured them with the same palette, then added them to the panels, which I'd trimmed and mounted onto white card. Here's a closer look at each card. The first one is using the pre-stamped panel:

This second one is using the pre-washed panel:

You can see towards the right that the embossing isn't as well defined (but it doesn't look as bad as that in real life).


Stamps Shirley used in today's project:

  

Prize alert! Leave a comment in this post for an entry to our Spotlight Projects random drawing for November. We'll pick ONE (1) commenter to win a $10 gift certificate or her choice of 1 ARTplorations stencil. We'll announce the winner in December.

Did you know that we're celebrating Thanksgiving all month long on the STAMPlorations shop? Select stamp sets are 10% to 20% off. You'll find these discounted stamps HERE and HERE. Plus, all orders of at least $12 ship for free anywhere in the world! Use coupon code THANKYOU on checkout. (Psst...if you're a stamp club subscriber, make sure to use your personal coupon code to get an additional 15% off on all products in the shop, including stamp sets that are already on sale. Our shopping cart accepts multiple coupons :o)