Had to play!

Got back from a week of vacationing and visiting family yesterday. I was thrilled to see that some of my Cuttlebug preorders had arrived while we were gone. Today I had to pull one of them out so that I could play a bit before tackling laundry, or heading to the grocery store, and that sort of thing. After all, I hadn't crafted all week!

Here are a couple of cards that I made using the new Friends Forever Cut and Emboss combo die and embossing folder.


The first thing that I noticed about this set is that the flowers are debossed, not embossed. Now usually that's not a big deal to me, but I really think that this would have been nicer embossed. I feel like that would have allowed me to do more with it. Yeah, I could flip it over and use the back, but of course that changes the layout--it's a mirror image--and it "feels" off as a card layout.

So, I tried a different approach. I ran Core'dinations cardstock through the folder instead. I used my sanding block to change the color of the non-debossed areas. Then I decided to try to add more "pop" to the flowers, and I ended up adding bling, Stickles, and Liquid Pearls. I finished by adding one of the die cut phrases from this set and embellishing with a small bow.

This next card was actually made with the first piece of paper that I'd put through inside the new embossing folder. I usually like the look of embossing on patterned paper, but the debossing seemed lost. This is patterned paper by Inque Boutique, by the way.


I ended up trying to bring out that debossed image a bit more, again. This time I used some EZ Tintz by FiberScraps. I applied it directly to my folder, gave it a very light misting of water, and closed the paper inside the folder to transfer some of the ink. It wasn't quite the look I'd been going for, but it was enough to add a little visual interest to the debossing. Again I added a phrase from the die that came with this set, and I distressed it with some Memento ink. I added the fibers for a bit more embellishment.