Saturday 14 July 2012

CASual Friday - Let's Strip



This week's CASual Friday challenge is to use strips of paper. A couple of weeks ago, I found a pack of neon cardstock at Michael's! I love the pops of bright colour against the white and black. This bold Happy Birthday is a Michael's $1.50 stamp and is popped up on a dimensional (it's a little messy behind there! lol!)

I obviously still have sun cards on my mind - don't forget that you can still play along with CASology's first challenge until Sunday at noon (CST)!


For anyone interested, I share some thoughts on heat embossing:

When I want to emboss in black, I always follow this tip from Lisa Lara. Stamp in Versafine Onyx (it's a detail pigment ink) and then emboss with clear embossing powder - no little black flecks everywhere.

Also, a long time ago, when I was making some wedding invitations, I was embossing the envelopes. Because they were thin, they were burning, so I had to give some thought to how to limit the damage (the envelopes were red and not cheap!)

I covered a heavy piece of cardboard in foil, taped it at the back and I lay my cardstock on it when heating with the heat gun. My theory (which has now been tested by Darnell (you'll love her style - both her cardmaking and her story telling!)) is that the foil reflects the heat and therefore the powder is being heated from the front and back of the cardstock. This seems to result in less powder flying everywhere, and also, in less warping of the cardstock (although it doesn't completely eliminate it). But I find that if you let the card fibres 'relax', the warping pretty much disappears. (ETA - Julie says that she heats the cardstock from the back for a second after embossing and that this helps with warping. Can't wait to try it!)

Hope that helps!

13 comments:

  1. Lovely bright card, Ardyth! I must admit, I hardly ever emboss now (laziness) but if I do, I also use Versafine onyx black with clear powder. The only coloured powders I use are gold or silver, and I use an anti static bag first then give the back of the card a light tap to remove any loose flecks before heating. I'd read about your foil trick on Darnell's blog, so will give that a try next time I've got the heat gun out. Thanks for sharing your tips.

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  2. This is STUNNING Ardyth!!! Gorgeous use of those neon strips!!! I usually heat the back of the paper for just a second after I'm done embossing and that takes the warping away.

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  3. Have I mentioned how I LOVE your cards.. just sayin~

    Great tip! While I don't emboss very often [so messy] - I WILL keep this tip in mind! TFS

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  4. Love your colorful neon strips for the sun rays! My favorite embossing tip is as long as you have a Versamark pad and clear embossing powder you can emboss in any color ink pad you have, even dye inks, just ink the stamp first with the versamark pad and then apply the colored ink.

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  5. Ardyth, I love the neon colors. So bright and cheery.

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  6. Love those neon strips Ardyth. Fun card.

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  7. Absolutely eye-catching and striking! Love love the neon stripes! Thanks so much for playing with us at CAS-ual Fridays! Always a delight to see your work! And thanks for sharing your tip on black embossing--love it!

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  8. I love the neon colors...so fabulous! Thanks so much for playing with us at CAS-ual Fridays!

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  9. So super cute and fun, Ardyth! I LOVE all those neons! And the layout is terrific. :)

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  10. FABulous card! I love the bright neon paper strips and the Happy Birthday focal point is terrific.

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  11. Fantastic!! That grabbed my eye on the thumbnail and I had to click to see it full sized! The neon really pops and, as Andrea said, the focal point was a great design! Thanks for the embossing tip; like many of the others, I don't tend to emboss a lot. I seem to more at Christmas for some reason. Maybe because glossy just seems more like a holiday. :)

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  12. Um, LOVING the neon you're using here!!! This is one fabulous card--new follower! You ROCK! :)

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  13. Love that rainbow of colors. And yes, I ,too, stamp in black and emboss in clear. Works beautifully every time. Thanks for playing along with us at CAS-ual Fridays!

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