selective double embossing

I'm not sure why it never occurred to me to do this before, but I decided that I'd try combining creative Cuttling with double Cuttling. This is not to be confused, however, with creative double Cuttling (LOL!)--this was where I used one folder design, left an unembossed area, then embossed that area with a different design. This time I selectively embossed the same area twice, leaving an area of my card front completely unembossed. I hope you followed that. :-)

Now since I didn't use any Cuttlebug embossing folders, I thought I'd better not call it Cuttling, but rather just "embossing". And instead of having that fun alliterative term, creative Cuttling, I went with the more boring but perhaps more accurate description of "selective" embossing. I added the "double" since I embossed twice.

Here are the cards that resulted from my playing around with these techniques....


I embossed the above card using two A2 size Sizzix embossing folders and left the oval opening by using a wooden die cut frame to selectively emboss my card front. The flower image and sentiment are by H and M stamps and were stamped using Memento dye ink.

For this card, I again embossed the card front by using two A2 size Sizzix embossing folders. This time I used a wooden frame die cut with a rectangular opening to leave the space for the flower design and sentiment which are both by Studio G. Again, these were stamped using Memento dye inks.

My original plan had been to further embellish these two cards. I may still add a little something. But I think that the embossing already adds quite a bit of visual interest, which is also the reason why I left the embossing unaccented. I think it stands out rather nicely on its own.

So, that's my latest twist on using these embossing folders. It's fun to double emboss, but if you do this directly on a card front, I'd recommend using a heavier weight card stock that will hold up nicely even through a couple of embossings.

One more thing, you might have noticed that I've lost, hopefully temporarily, my usual blog background and any photos and files on this blog that are hosted by or linked to my personal web site. For some reason my site is down, so those things are unavailable at the moment. I've sent up an SOS to my provider's customer service department, so hopefully things will be fixed up soon.

Equal Time: Cuttling for Cuttlebug Users

Go figure. There are a lot of folks who use the Cuttlebug embossing folders with a Cuttlebug machine and not a Big Shot. ;-) I've read some comments about folks thinking that the Cuttling techniques that I've described can only be done with a Big Shot. I've always thought that the way the machines work is essentially the same, so really Cuttling should be adaptable. I had to prove it to myself though.

For you Cuttlebug users out there, I pulled mine out. It was a good deal that I couldn't pass up, and it's my back-up should my Big Shot ever fail me. It's out of the box now, and yes, Cuttling can be done with this machine.

Here are some how-to's. Thankfully Blogger's photo upload is working well today.


Okay, so there you see my CB with the plates, a couple of embossing folders, a card, my transparency, and the items I'll be using to do my creative double Cuttling (the wood frame and the oval wood die cut).


As usual, put the card front inside the folder and tuck the back part underneath the folder.


Here's that transparency template that I made by tracing the inside of the opening of the frame with a Sharpie. I use this to help me position where I want my frame once I've closed the folder. This is Floral Fantasy, by the way.


Once the folder is closed, I can still see where I want the opening of the frame to be.


I position the wood frame so that the opening matches the traced oval.


Here I'm sliding the transparency out. I don't need it anymore, eh?


Now I've placed the B plate on top of the frame, on top of the folder with the card inside, on top of plate A. As I understand it, usually you'd have another plate B in there. I took that bottom one out. My wood frame is virtually the same thickness as that plate, actually a little less. So this should roll through just fine. The only question is whether I'll need to make a second pass using a shim if it doesn't emboss deeply enough.


Here's the card after it's been rolled through. I like it fine as it is, plus I'm ready to take the next step. LOL!


Now I've tucked my card front inside the Birds & Swirls folder. I pull out my handy dandy transparency again to see where I'd like those birds and swirls to show up.


Close the folder with the transparency still inside.


This time I position my oval wood die cut on top of the closed folder and over the tracing. It's crooked up there on purpose, okay? That's so you can see the tracing. My eyes aren't quite that bad. ;-) I'll straighten it out before running it through.


I've slipped the transparency out and placed the B plate on top of the stack. Again, this wood die cut is conveniently the same thickness as one of the B plates, so I eliminated that second B plate that would ordinarily be in the stack. Top to bottom: B plate, wood die cut, folder with card front inside, A plate.


Here's how it turned out after I ran it through. Maybe it wasn't the best combination, but it's still pretty and it shows that creative double Cuttling can be adapted to a Cuttlebug. And obviously you don't need to do the second Cuttling. You can stop after the first pass as I've described in creative Cuttling. You might also want to peek at creative Cuttling in more detail.

Partial Cuttling for the Cuttlebug works, too. Hey, I've got the machine out, so I might as well put this through the paces as well.


Here's my stack. It's the usual combo. The folder with card front inside between two B plates on top of the A plate. The key is leaving the area that's to be left unembossed outside of the plates so that no pressure will be applied. That's why my folder is just hanging out there.


And there's the partial Cuttling result using the Swiss Dots folder. Only the top part of a top fold card was embossed, and no cards or tools were harmed in the production of this look. ;-)

Diagonal Cuttling works, too.


The two long plates are from Sizzix and are usually used for those long border dies. They're the same thickness as the B plates. They let me emboss at an angle as I've described before.


And that's the result of doing diagonal Cuttling using the Perfectly Paisley embossing folder. I do run that through twice because that top left corner is left unembossed after the first pass, but you can just straighten those long plates and emboss that area. You can also just leave it if you like that look.

I'm going to skip over the double Cuttle because I don't think there was ever any reason to think that couldn't be duplicated with a Cuttlebug machine.

So there ya go! Equal time for fans of the Cuttlebug. :-) I'll just add that I did like the CB fine. I was bummed that the multipurpose platform was too wide to fit through the opening though. I'd rather not have to think about what stack combo to run through the machine, plus that little extra width gives me more room when I'm trying to run things through diagonally. I'll be sticking with what's most familiar to me, so it's back to the Big Shot again. :-)

the 7th Anniversary - DCM

It's midweek challenge time on daring cardmakers. They're starting a series having to do with anniversary themes. To keep us on our toes, these anniversaries are being chosen randomly, and this week's is the 7th anniversary, or cards made using wool or copper.

I chose copper, and here's my card.

I used Cuttlebug embossing folders for the background. The copper cardstock die cuts were made with Spellbinders dies. The sentiment is by Inkadinkado. The butterfly antennae are Mizuhiki cord.

creative double Cuttling

You know, double Cuttling is fun, but I don't do it often. Sometimes the designs can look a little too busy for my taste and overwhelm the stamping. But what if there was a way to combine two designs without it looking too busy? Say, for example, like in this card....


My apologies in advance. I'll be posting this card again for a challenge, but it's also my example for this tutorial. The die cuts are by Spellbinders. The sentiment is by Inkadinkado. But it's kind of nice to be able to leave the embossing to speak for itself rather than having to accent it like I did with my original double Cuttle post.

Here are some step-by-step instructions for creative double Cuttling. Get it? It's a combo of double Cuttling and creative Cuttling. Gee, I'm so-o-o-o creative! Hahahaha!


You can see the supplies above: my Big Shot, a clear plate, a wood frame with an oval cut out (I like this frame because it's bigger than the embossing folders.), an oval wood die cut that is conveniently similar in size to the oval cut out of the frame, an A2 size card, two Cuttlebug A2 embossing folders, and a transparency.


Now I'm letting you benefit from my trial and error. Usually I can eyeball stuff and get it close. I wasn't having much luck this morning though. So, as usual, I went for something more foolproof, yet easy. LOL! I took the piece of transparency and traced around the outside of the oval die cut with a Sharpie. Oops. I forgot to mention the Sharpie earlier, didn't I. Sorry. Do the same with the inside of the oval of the frame. You'll want these tracings to be close to the edge of the transparency, but don't cut off the rest just yet. See how I ended up using them and then decide how much you want to trim off, okay?


So, I placed the card front so that it's inside the folder and tucked the back behind it, as usual. Now, using the transparency, I decided where I wanted the opening of the frame. and positioned it on top of the card.


Here I've closed the folder on top of the transparency. This is why I said to trace near the edge. You want to be able to close the folder. And hooray, now you can see where the frame's opening should go without having to guess.


Line up the frame over the tracing as I've shown above.


Now the transparency doesn't need to be embossed, so holding the frame in place, I slipped that right out. It's easy. Really! Way easier than pulling a tablecloth out from under plates and glasses, but similar. ;-) This is also why I said not to trim the transparency yet. It's nice to have some extra to use as a handle of sorts.


Okay, I've put the clear plate on top and I'm ready to run it through my Big Shot.


And here is how that turned out. It's cool just the way it is, but why stop there? Besides, that would just be a repeat of creative Cuttling, eh? I wanted more!


It's time to put some Swiss Dots inside the Textile Texture design.


Sorry about the blurry photo. You can make out enough though. :-) Same deal as before--I put the Cuttled card front inside the Swiss Dots folder and tucked the back part behind. Before closing, I used the transparency to line up where the oval die should go.


I've closed up the folder, positioned the wood die cut, and slipped that transparency outta there. I put my clear plate on top of the folder and die cut and ran it through my Big Shot.


Here is the end result. I have Swiss Dots inside a Textile Texture frame. It's all set to be turned into the card that I showed at the beginning of this post. Just kind of a neat and subtle way to draw the attention to something at the center of the card, plus it's all done on the card front so the card isn't bulky with multiple layers just making a background. Now you have room to add other things to your card before having to pay extra postage to mail it. :-)

And again, I think this could be adapted to the Cuttlebug and not be limited to the Big Shot, though I have to say that the multipurpose platform is really super for getting things embossed just right. You could also use things other than a wood frame and die cut. I thought they were a fun example of what you can do if you look around and consider the potential of every day things that could be used to selectively apply pressure to different areas of an embossing folder to produce neat effects.