Hey there, friends!
Last week I gave you a thorough look at the August Essentials by Ellen release, and today I’ve got a new project to share that features the Mondo Rhododendron stamp set. You may already have some of the Mondo floral family in your stash, and I think this is one of the best in the bunch so far. Coordinating dies are also available, but today I’ll just focus on the stamp set.
One of the techniques I’ve always loved is clean and simple white embossing on vellum. There’s something about vellum that just makes everything feel more elegant, and this technique is fabulous for creating subtle backgrounds with large line art images.
To get started, I swiped my anti-static powder tool across a panel of Essentials by Ellen vellum (one of the best for embossing, if you ask me) and positioned it, along with the Mondo Rhododendron stamp, in my MISTI. I stamped, applied white detail embossing powder, tapped off the excess and heat set it to create the background for my card. Note that if you find your vellum warping while you emboss (a common problem), here are by best tips for fixing that:
- Let your heat gun get very hot before pointing it near your vellum. This may sound counter-intuitive since the heat warps the paper, but that’s where tip 2 comes in…
- Once the gun is hot, keep it moving when setting the powder. This means you may have to go over some areas a few times, but keeping the gun moving (I usually use small circle motions) will help prevent one area from getting too much heat too fast. Think of it like a gradual sun tan rather than one really bad sunburn.
- Try switching the position of the heat gun from the front to behind the vellum. This can also prevent some of the powder from flying off the vellum surface, and another trick for that problem is simply to re-ink your embossing ink pad.
Once the embossing was complete, I trimmed the vellum panel down to 3.5 x 4.75″ and moved on to a bunch of alpha die cutting. Using the Essentials by Ellen Classic Block Alpha die set, I cut the letters for “hooray” – twice in each of my 3 dark colors, and twice in each of my lighter colors. You definitely don’t have to do this, but I like the sturdiness and dimension that builds when these are stacked on top of each other.
To show off as much color as possible, I went for offset lettering with the darker alphas creating the shadow behind the lighter ones. Since ‘hooray’ wasn’t going to fit across my portrait-orientation card, I decided to go for a broken-up look, splitting it onto 3 lines. (See, the rule of thirds is everywhere.) A sub-sentiment also felt like a good idea, and conveniently, I had a ‘have the best day ever’ from the Positive Vibes stamp set already made and ready to go.
Finally, it was time for assembly. One of the beauties of vellum is that you can use its partial transparency over grid paper to ensure everything is perfectly straight and spaced. I placed the panel over my glass mat (which has grid markings on it), adhered the sentiment strip down near the bottom, then followed with each row of alphas. The card needed a little something extra, so I also added a few sparkling clear sequins around the rhododendron. (Speaking of glass mats, mine is this one and you can save 20% site-wide with code ANGELA20. Enjoy!)
When it came to mounting the panel on my card base, I used a mix of foam tape and this clear dimensional gel tape. The foam tape was easily concealed under the alphas and sentiment strip, but the clear gel tape is super handy for harder-to-hide areas, such as underneath small sequins.
If you haven’t yet done so, I hope this card has inspired you to try simple embossing on vellum with some of your larger line art stamps. If you make something similar, be sure to tag me on Instagram @mycraftyperspective so I can check out your gorgeous creations! In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your week and I’ll see ya back here soon.
