Week 15 - One Layer Card

It was wonderful to see so many new people joining in our challenge last week, with some truly amazing WoW cards. It makes choosing our ShowCASed cards so much more difficult when the standards are so high. We also thought that instead of simply adding them to our Slideshow and our ShowCASe page we should give them the accolade they deserve and so from now onwards we will be adding a short post to show you the ShowCASed cards each week.

A huge thank you too to all those LIMettes who visited our personal blogs to leave a comment... we leave hundreds each week and it's wonderful to receive comments on our work in return.
With the problems with Blogger this past week we apologise as it appeared that we hadn't visited you... we did come but obviously couldn't necessarily leave a comment. 

And now onto this week's challenge... you know it's going to be a 

One Layer Card,

 but what you don't know is that it's going to be...

EMBOSSING

You may use heat or dry embossing.


Chrissie

For this card I began by stamping this new little Artemio frame stamp with  Sahara Sand ink and then embossing with Detail Clear Embossing powder. Then I stamped the trees with Early Espresso and again embossing, but the image came out with the frame bisecting the trees as you can see in the lower image in the picture below. SO then I realised that if I stamped the trees first, then they would have complete coverage and the frame stamped in the lighter ink, magically disappeared from on top of the trees and just appeared behind and around them, after I had done the embossing. Interesting huh!

I did have a fancy for using the buff coloured card, but after my test run decided to use white, where the image had more impact. The bird below, came with the tree and frame stamps but I decided to go with a smaller version from Inkylicious. The sentiment is from Hero Arts, positioned using my Lego (see week 1).

Now on to me, Mandi
Firstly, I must apologise for apparently not getting round to you all this week. 
Blogger breaking down was so not good!

For my card I have, as you can see, stamped flowers. I want to share a little tip with you.
I wanted the Stampendous 'Ruffled Flower' in black as the detail shows up much better using a dye based ink pad, or in this case 'Stazon' I stamped 3 times, going off the edge of the card, then stamped the other flowers randomly in pink [Melon Mambo] and orange [Peach Parfait]
To purchase Stampin Up from me click here
The sentiment I stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with gold. 
To emboss the little dots in the middle of the ruffled flower I used my Quickie Glue Pen. Whilst the glue is still wet, sprinkle with embossing powder and then heat just as you normally would. This is particularly great when using a digital image. You are able to pick out little elements, such as dots, swirls or flower centres.


Many people have expressed difficulties when embossing using black embossing powder. Here are a few tips as there are various ways of avoiding the dreaded black dots.

• The first thing to consider is the type of cardstock you use... certain ones love to grab those tiny suckers and hang onto them. The smoother the cardstock, the easier to heat emboss is the general rule.
• Using a little talc on a cotton wool ball and rubbing it over the area to be embossed acts a little like an anti-static bag.
• A piece of used Tumble dryer sheet is another way which people swear by.
• If card is too absorbent, then too much of the Versamark or other ink is absorbed by the card and is not so attractive to the embossing powder.
• If you use too much heat or leave the heat on the embossing for too long, then a very grainy finish occurs instead a a smooth glossy image.(This is also dependent upon the type of powder used.)

** A little note about embossing. Chrissie has given a lot of tips to you all re keeping your card stock mark and dust free. I'd also like to mention that an alternative way to emboss with black is to stamp with a pigment black ink, then clear emboss. It keeps the detail well and tends to have a 'cleaner' finish. **

The last few days have been very odd with the inaccessibility of Blogger... then with people's posts disappearing, sometimes to reappear minus their comments. All very bizarre, but hopefully this week things will be back to normal. 

DO join us... how inventive can you be?